The Daily Worker Newspaper, August 4, 1924, Page 2

et Page Two TO SCRAP FAITH OF OPPRESSORS Significant Discussion at N. Y. Convention By CATO JONES. (Special “to the DAILY WORKER) NEW YORK, August 3.—The international convention of the Negro peoples of the world, be- ginning its business sessions here today after the ceremonial opening of last night, is dis- cussing the idea of the Chris- tian “Holy Trinity” as being composed of “a black man of sorrows” (Jesus), “the Virgin Mary as a Negress,” and “a Holy Spirit... of imaginary semblance of the black race.” It is a fantastic effort to re- concile the religion so deeply implanted in the Negro race on the slave plantations by their white masters, with a fast growing consciousness that re- ligious taught by masters to slaves were not taught for the slaves’ benefit. Many sad experiences of Negroes with the treachery of preachers of their own race, often subsidized by those who wish to kegp the Negro contented in subjection, are a spur behind the weird plan to accept the white man’s trinity only in black. The fact that the whole religious conception would remain just as en- slaving in black terms as in white, receives slight attention. Revoits Under Religious Guise/ Certainly nowhere on earth-except im a convention of this sort could such a discussion be heard. Many readers unfamiliar with the history of the Ne- gro people would be misled by the preoccupation of a convention with such matters. Yet it is an outgrowth of the historical past of the Negro. In centuries suffering under the lash of slavery, the Negroes found their first and, at that time, the only pos- sible opportunity for gatherings, dis- cussions and organization, in the guise of religious congregations. Such excuses for assembling gave the Ne- gro slave his first social grouping, his first leadership—and indeed, in some notable occasions laid the groundwork for slave revolts in pre-Civil War days. The most famous example was «gem othe revolt led by a black preacher, Nat Turner, nearly a century ago. With this historical background, there has always been a touch of re- ligious ceremonial about Negro organ- izations. Negro meetings of no mat- ter what sort, invariably open with prayer, even as this one is now open- ing. Beginning of Religious Revolt. But he who would let the subject drop at this point, would be badly de- ceived, A close examination will show that even in the observance of the practice in this instance, is an incon- gruous effort to get away from at least the “white man’s” version of the religion which was used by the south- ern slave-owning planter to paralyze the minds of his black victims. The effort in this case is to translate the forms of oppressor’s religion into terms of the Negro’s racial self-re- spect. His unwillingness longer to submit to a white master-caste is gropingly expressed in his unwilling- ness to worship a “white god.” Still wandering in the mists of the religion which helps to enslave him, the black man has at least become discontented with the color of the mist. Anti-Clerical. The Universal Negro Improvement Association, as shown by its published motto: “One God, One Aim, One Des- tiny,” is not an anti-religious organ- ization. But it is distinctly anti-cleri- cal. Week after week its official or- gan, “The Negro World,” thunders its denunciation against the preachers who mislead the race and against “Christian religion as applied by the white man.” The efforts of the or- ganization have done much to free the Negro from the baneful influence of the church which has weighed so long upon the Negro and retarded his e='ightenment. It remains without saying that the organization’s prac- tice may in future tend to hold the Negro in superstition thru its unwill- ingness to reject theology. On the other hand, it may develop from anti- clericalism into Mefinite, modern, scientific rejection of religion and its enslaving influence. Sentimental History. BENTON, Wis., August 3.—This little mining town was today back to normalcy following a big centennial celebration, which was featured by a two-mile pageant depicting historical events. Gov. Blaine was the chief speaker. MONTREAL, Aug. 3.—-The Montreal local of the International Typograph- ical Union proposes a Canadian vice- president of the union at the conven- tion that opens in Toronto Aug. 11. English Flier Held. PETROPAVLOSK, Kamchatka, Aug. 1—Flight Commander A. Stuart Mac- Laren of the British Royal air force, who is attempting a round-the-world flight, was still weatherbound here amt, 4 REPUBLICANS FAKING PROSPERITY (Continued from page 1) id, phase of the depression began in March,” says the latest bulletin is- sued by the New York State Depart- ment of Labor. Enormous Slump. This report covering the conditions in the Empire State, goes on to say: “For the first time in two years wage rate decreases were significant. A year ago, in June, 1923, factory pay- rolls reached the highest point of the expansion in manufacturing which was thén under way. Weekly payrolls were estimated to be at least thirty-eight million dollars. This June they were down to about thirty-two and a half million dollars. This is a cut of five and a half million dol- lars in the weekly income of a large group of the population.” State Industrial Commissioner Ber- nard L, Shientag further says that “The heaviest drop in payrolls for any group of industries is that in the textiles.” Conspicuous decreases have also been noticed in the metal indus- tries, where payrolls have been cut in half. In the automobile industries payrolls have been cut one-third. In all the wearing apparel industries, clothing, men’s shirts, underwear, shoes and leather goods, the same tendency has been evident. Factory Shut-Downs Continue. At Lawrence, Mass., the Everett Mills have just shut down for three weeks after running half time for a while. In Lowell, Mass., the cotton mills closed down for ten days after operating oh a three-day sehedule for two weeks. In Webster, Mass., it is likely that the Slater company will soon throw out of work fifteen hun- dred. The Amoskeag Manufacturing company is planning to go on a three- day schedule, A report just made public in Char- lotte, North Carolina, says that cot- ton mill curtailment in the state is still twenty-five per cent. Layoffs, Wage Cuts, Misery. All Massachusetts shoe centers re- port a slackening in production. In Brockton, Lynn, and Haverhill, op- erations are below normal, about one- third capacity. William (Skinner and Sons, silk manufacturers, the Lyman Cotton Goods Mills, and the manufacturing divisions of the American Thread company. have closed down for ten days, according to Holyoke reports. The Farr Alpaca company is also closing. The Lockwood Cotton Mills, at Waterville, Maine, has decided to Tun on a féur-day schedule all sum- mer. Announcing its decision to shut down for another ten days, the Ham- ilton Wool company said: “It is un- precedented in this company.” The International Paper company mills at South Glens Falls, New York, is still shut down. The Union Bag and Paper Corporation, Hudson Falls, Fort Edward Mills, is continuing to operate on a four-day schedule. The Dwight Manufacturing company of Chicopee, Mass., is to run on a three- day schedule. The New London Ship and Engine company has just laid off two hun- dred workers at New London. The Reading Railroad company has informed the four thousand men at Reading shops and the several thou- sand more in its outlying plants, that all shopmen are to work from now on a four eight-hour day schedule week. Wage Cuts Kept Up. Wage reductions are continuing. The Tamarack Mill at Pawtucket has cut wages ten pereent. In Philadel- phia, there is talk of reducing the wages of the clothing workers. In Haverhill, Mass,, the counter and top- lift manufacturers are demanding that the Shoe Workers’ Protective Union should accede to a wage cut of twelve and a half per cent and a restoration of Saturday morning work. Similar demands are being made by the manufacturers in Brock- ton, Mass. ‘The workers employed by the Panther Rubber Company at Stoughton, Mass, are on _ strike against a twenty per cent wage cut. After operating on part time for several weeks, for the first time in a quarter of a century, the Spencer Wire Company Mills, of the Wick- wire-Spencer Steel Corporation, has decided to cut wages about ten per cent. Business Panorama Dark. “General production thruout ‘the country is, at the present time, run- ning fifteen per cent below normal” says the last issue of Bache’s Review. The preliminary estimates issued by the United States Geological Sur- vey show that the production of bi- tuminous coal for June was the low- est on record except for the strike year of 1922. Anthracite output was the lowe&t since June, 1919, except for the strike months of 1922. The Interstate Commerce Commission is attempting to help the coal market by asking that autumn and winter purchases be made now. Loadings of revenue freight for the week ending July 12, show a decrease of ten per cent from the ‘correspond- ing period of last year. Miscellane- ous and merchandise freight are in a similar condition. Steel and Oi! Down, The iron and steel*industry is still running at about forty per cent ca- pacity. The Bethlehem Steel com- pany, the largest of the independents, has passed its dividend on common stock for the second quarter, There is heavy reduction in the oil industry. At the first of the month copper stocks showed a drop of near- ly three million pounds from June first. Two of the biggest mail order i " ne | che IR ao SR iat Tine tipi aa cinerea houses in the country are reducing their prices by nearly ten per cent in order to stimulate business, In the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank district, there was a further de- crease of nearly four per cent in the number employed and nearly six per- cent in the wages for last month. Iron and steel mills laid off nearly ten per cent of their men in addition to curtailing production. The latest Federal Reserve Bank report shows that production in the basic industries declined nine per cent in June and was, on July first, twenty-two per cent below the level of the first two months of the year. Tho. iron, steel, and cotton, were hard- est hit, the decreases’ Were general in almost all the other industries. Bluffing the Country. Altogether too great stress is now being laid on the billions of dollars that are supposed to be flowing into the coffers of the farmers because of the failure of European crops and the shortages in Canada and some of our own states. The fact of the matter is that even if the farmers were to get afl the money that they are supposed to be getting, but which the speculators are now actually getting thru the rise in the price of wheat, corn and hogs, there would be no increase of pur- chasing power for the whole coun: try. This is true because something like eighty-eight per cent of the wheat produced in the United States is consumed in the country and the additional money that the farmers are supposed to be getting now thru higher prices would therefore, have to come out of the pockets of the country. At best the rise in the much over- advertised farm prices can be only a shifting and not an increase of purchasing power. Besides, many of the farmers have sold their wheat, have assigned it long in advance in order to meet mortgage payments, bank notes, afid tax bills. Then, it will take years of genuine widespread prosperity to pull the farming mass- es out of the hole in which they have been thrown by the last five years of severe depression. The few and scattered signs of re- vival in some of the lesser important industries are only seasonal. In the view of the authoritative financial journal, The Annalist, the present sit- uation is to be summed up as fol- lows: “Unemployment, which in the fac- tory field has already attained an alarming rate of increase is pecoming more marked. The Minneapolis Fed- eral Reserve District sees an excess of farm labor in all sections of the district. Kidding the Country. “But there is no doubt that Wall Street would like to see the country talk itself into a state of cheerful optimism toward the future and is willing to lead the way. It is quite as true in business as in other hu- man contacts that optimism is both contagious and infectious. If such a condition develops, and it would rep- resent nothing more nor less than a psychological change in commercial sentiment, it should first be evidenced in an increase in forward orders, In this one direction Mes the main diffi- culty, Those whose products are a long while in the process of manu- facture have been literally geared to a hand-to-mouth scale, and they con- tinue to be so geared.” : Here we have the real objective of the grand offensive that has been launched to psychologize the country into the elief that prosperity is with us again. The employing class propagandists have political and eco- nomic reasons for their campaign of misrepresentation of the present state of affairs in industry and bust- ness. Fur Workers Tie Up Berkowitz’s Scab Newark Shop TUCKAHOE, N. Y., July 31.—The Fur Workers’ Union is hard on the trail of Berkowitz Bros., who moved here from Newark, N. J., three years ago, where they had operated a union shop, though constantly violating their agreements with the union. Their attempt to operate a non-union shop here is now confronted with rike of their sixty to seventy workers, who demand a union shop and improved conditions, To Compel Testimony, WASHINGTON, Aug. 3.—A legal campaign to compel officials of rail- road labor organizations to testify the United States Railroad Labor Board ontlined here today at a confer- ence between Ben. W. Hooper, chair- man of the board, and officials of the Department’ of Justice. No Radio Opera Here, There will be no broadcasting by radio of Chicago Grand Opera next season. It was such a success—to ra- dio receivers—last winter that there were too many vacant seats at the opera house. Subscription lists opened today. Honduras Torn by Rebels? New Orleans, La., Aug. 3.—The Local age 8c a pound for swine. When the structions from its main office in New York “not to guarantee the delivery of any message to Honduras on ac- count of the revolution.” THE DAILY WORKER FACTION OUSTED- FROM |. W. WIN PLANNING SPLIT (Contfnued from page 1.) Union, contend that the group acted in violation of a rule adopted by the last convention requiring two-thirds majority for any ibgal action of the General Executive Board. Further, that the Rowan-Bowerman group con- tinued to violte this rule after being warned, attacked the right of the gen- eral convention to make this rule for the G. EB. B,, and rejected the peace offer of a proposed board meeting to include all membets, which was at first one of their leading demands. In the special bulletin mentioned above, the membership is solicited for decision on a number of constitutional questions arising in the controversy, such as the power of the General Or- ganizer on the General’ Executive Board, the authority of the adminis- tration in suspending three members who violated the adverse ruling of the last convention on the commutation controversy, and the membership’s de- sire for a special convention to take up the present differences. Decay or Revival. So far, the controversy appears on the surface to be legalistic, and neither side has yet defined or ana- lyzed its own or the opposition’s ac- tion from anl other viewpoint. Neither side has yet offered a statement ex- plaining or justiying their action from a point of view of revolutionary unionism. It remains on the surface as similar in nature to the internal quarrels for control in the regular non-revolutionary unions. The only indication that this controversy may yet assume a nature of a revival of the traditional fighting spirit which has largely been dissolved by the paci- fist and liberal penetration and con- trol, is the activity and prominence of a rank and file committee. If this in- dication does not materialize, and the struggle for control remains unex- plained by either side from the view-|' point of the revolutionist, the con-|- troversy will indicate that it is a crisis of disease and not of returning health. FARMER-LABOR OF PRILA. FOR FOSTER-GITLOW (Continued from page 1) the Local Farmer-Labor ‘Party to unite the workers of Philadelphia for Independent Political Action, It was our hope that a great National Farm- er-Labor Party will be the outcome of the St. Paul and Cleveland Conven- tions held during the months of June and July. “We learn, however, that the Farm, er-Labor Party movement has been be- trayed and prostituted by the so-called Conference For Progressive Political Action. By its endorsement of the in- dependent candidacy of Senator La- Follette it has completely surrendered to the two old capitalist parties, “The LaFollette movement is not a working class movement, and is cal- culated to completely obscure the is- sue of Independent Political Action. It is a movement of small business, man- ufacturers, bankers and rich farmers. The working class has nothing to gain by supporting the small exploiters against their more powerful rivals. LaFollette Danger. “The action of the Pennsylvania State Conference for Progressive Poli- tical Action held in Harrisburg, July 21, and attended to by .a few hand- Picked and self appointed “delegates” shows clearly that the LaFollette movement is a big danger to the Farmer-Labor Party movement of this country. A motion to run LaFollette in this state on the Farmer-Labor Party ticket was voted down, Fur- thermore, the Harrisburg conference decided not to nominate an independ. ent State ticket, but to indorse vari- ous candidates of the old capitalist parties. The Harrisburg conference thus decided to continue the old out- worn policy of ‘reward your friends and punish your enemies.’ Foster and Gitlow. “Against this petty bourgeois move- ment of LaFollette there are the out- standing figures of William Z. Foster and Benjamin Gitlow, the candidates of the Workers Party, whose true working class character no one can deny, “The Workers Party has for the last two years carried’ on and still con- tinues to carry on a vigorous cam- paign for the formation of a truly working-class Farmer-Lapor Party, It is at present the only political labor organization which refused to bertay the working class of this country and which struggles against LaFolletteism dominating ‘the labor movement. “The Second Conference of the| Obregon government has recognized the Russian: Farmer-Labor Party at Philadelphia| as a complete surprise to Latin-Americans .| therefore approves the action taken by | dent-el the National Executive Committee of the Farmer-Labor Party formed at St. Paul in indorsing ‘the candidates of the Workers Party and pledges itself campaign and the candidates of the Workers Party and calls upon all the American Federation of Labor has workers ef Philadelphia te do like-|the cause of Obregon and Calles Send in that Subscription Today. ‘Wise nine tps 9 a Russian Na ea \ ‘ ) _ tions on September's Labor Day, let c! carry on an incessant fight for Turpin and Gloria to Jazz Workers on the Bosses’ “Labor Day” By J. LOUIS ENGDAHL. TOAY: and during the days of the rest of this month of August, the workers in their trade unions will be dis- cussing the celebration of this year’s Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 1. { The discussiéns, the committee reports, the recom- mendations, concerning the Labor Day celebrations will all be a confession of how the organized workers, bankrupt in idealism, possessing no militant program, and lacking in aggressive leadership, do not know how to celebrate a holi- day of their own. * * * * Instead of planning huge demonstrations, raising vital demands against their exploiters, the trade unions will arrange picnics, baseball games, horse races, barbecues, or some other form of outing, without meaning, the only pur- pose of which will be to bring in funds for high-salaried and reactionary officials to spend. Sometimes the affairs are arranged by business agents, organized together for the purpose, who pocket all the proceeds themselves. At other times old party politicians arrange the affalrs for their own aggrandizement. Occasionally parades are held, and an effort made to give them a real working class nature. But these instances are few and far between. Chicago, for instance, hasn't had a parade in years. “It’s no use,” say the officials. “The workers won't come out.” ‘ * * Thus we accept, as something to be expected, the head- line in the socialist weekly, the Oklahoma Leader, of Okla- homa City, Okla., announcing’“MOVIE STAR IN LABOR DAY FETE—WEEK OF ENTERTAINMENT IS PLANNED BY COMMITTEE.” That is typical. * * * °* Glenn Smith, chairman of the trades cofincil’s Labor Day committee, announces that, “Oklahoma City’s Labor Day features will include a visit here, of Gloria Swanson, Mae Murray or Ben Turpin.” This publicity sounds more like Oscar Ameringer, editor of the Oklahoma Leader, and P. T. Barnum of the socialist movement, and not like Labor Leader Smith. Gloria, the vamp, or Ben, the slapstick comedian, are to'give the workers a thrill on Labor Day that will keep them jazzed up in the service of the bosses for the rest of the year, . It is seriously announced that in the event the movie clown, Turpin, comes to town, he will be allowed to lead the Labor Day Parade. Gompers should be at his side. But if “the gilded dolls of the silver screen” appear, they will be permitted to ride in the float with the Labor Day queen. Ballotting on the queen has already started. * * * * This is the Labor Day that the bosses have legalized for the workers. No “red plots” are announced for this day. The day is eo he in every way. Labor Day had a little meaning in the beginning. was intended to offset the drift of the workers to the real holiday of labor, International Labor Day, May 1st. It was in 1882 that the Knights of Labor paraded in New York City on the first Monday in September. In 1884 another parade was held. It was then decided that this day should be set aside as a regular holiday. In 1887, open shop Colorado, with its Cripple Creek strike, numerous struggles of the coal miners, the Ludlow massacre and the kidnapping of Moyer, Pettibone and Hay- wood, made the first’ Monday in September a legal labor _ holiday. : By 1909, Labor Day was observed thruout the United States, we are told, except in Arizona and North Dakota. In Louisiana it is only a holiday in New Orleans, and in Maryland, Wyoming and New Mexico it is not established as a holiday by statute, but in each may be proclaimed as such in any year by the governor. * * It is well that the political spokesmen of organized greed call it “Labor Day.” Otherwise the workers might not know it was a day set apart for them. They will learn, this year, for instance, that all the capitalist politicians will use the day, in conjunction with movie queens, race horses, and sports of various kinds, to drum up a crowd to listen to their usual bunk about the full dinner pail, and the promised prosperity that will surely come in the glorious future if the workers and farmers will only cease listening to the terrible Communists, ‘ o ® * ° This year's Labor Day will’ not be different from those that have preceded it. It will as usual serve notice on the rich parasites that it is time to come back to cities after summers spent at the seashores, the inland lakes or in the mountains. To be sure they must come hack to the cities for a short time before running off for the winter to Florida or California or Europe. But for the workers, Labor Day, the September, has ceased to have any significance, ‘if it ever had any. The task of the Communists is to win all work- ers instead for International Labor Day, May 1st, the day when enlightened labor in all lands lens its challenge in the face of the hostile ruling class, and demonstrates its strength thru its united numbe: While the organized workers, nocently and ignorantly, first Monday in many of them very are making ssi for silly celebr: conscious workers Labor's own holid. First of May. Een crate en MEXICAN RECOGNITION OF RUSSIA PUTS GOMPERS IN ABSURD POSITION ee (By The Federated Press) ‘ WASHINGTON, August 1.—Announcement from Speculation began * e Mexico City that the Soviet government came here, It was known that Presi- lect Calles favored recognition of Russia, but It had not been antici- pated that President Obregon would shoul of this issue before his friend. should come into office. ye ree as to whether Gen, Callies, on the three months trip to: dupbort th exersk a ible the| '" Europe wi 1 Is about to undertake, would get as far east as Moscow. pide ig A One of the humors of the Mexican recognition of Russia is the fact that taken pride both in its sympathy with and In its opposition to any American | an, ider the responsibility of disposing Monday, August 4, 1924 ILITTLE FACTORY SLAVES’ BLOOD ON, LEOPOLD, SENIOR (Continued from page 1.) kept up. The Reliance prison manu facturing trust, which exploits thou- Sands of convicts, must be supplied with its Black Beauty shirt boxes. Nathan Leopold junior was in trouble for butchering another son of the per- verted rich, Profits had to be ground out to pay for the million dolar de- fense of the carefree “Babe.” Suddenly it happened. Donald’s foot, weary from the long hours of standing’ on the hard cement floor, slipped into the relentless Leopold machine, There was a crunching sound. Donald is now seriously hurt, his right leg mangled and crushed, his toes smashed, his bones broken. Dr.'H. M. Ferguson, 50 year resident o fMorris who once before came into the ranks case as the eye specialist who help put the prosecution on the track of the owner of the glasses, now re-enters the case in a less glorious role. Ferguson is thle corporation doctor ofr th Leopold plant. He treats all the accidents in Nathan Leopold’s sweat shop. Leopold Doctor Talks. Dr. Ferpuson, when interviewed by the DAILY WORKER, admitted he is entirely satisfied with the Nathan Leopold plant. He gets all the acci- dent cases, and he admitted there are many. “Steele was pretty badly hurt,” sdid Dr. Ferguson. “I told W. Beckwith, the manage rof the plant, it was not absolutely necessary, but was most advisable, to send Donald to the hospital. Beckwith immediately said, ‘sure, send him to the hospital. That shows how well Leopold treats his help.” But after the DAILY WORKER = porter had telephoned the Morris Hehald, and they had refused to give any information on the case, saying, “he was only slightly hurt,” another reason for sending Donld to the hos- pital became apparent. The Morris hospital is over a mile out of town. Better for the “good name” of Nathan Leopold to have the cripple secluded from the eyes of the other workers, than to have him hobbling around the Morris streets, a walking advertise- ment to the other workers, of the horrors inflicted by the Leopold fac- tory. a While Nathan ts Smiling. At the very moment when Nathan Leopold, Jr., sat smiling in the court room, amused by the $250 a day alienists testimony as to Nathan’s childish phantasies, Donald Steele was writhing in pain at the injuries inflicted by Nathan Leopold, Senior's, machines. While the Chicago kept press is heaping sympathy upon the elder Leopold for the “sins inflicted. by his child,” other children—but poor people’s children—are giving up their best energies, their toil-racked bodies, their dull souls, to pay for these aliea- ists. Nathan Leopold is willing to pay $250 a day for an alienist to save his perverted son from the gallows, but he begrudges even $15 a week to children whom he has been willing to take out of high school in order to roll up his ill spent wealth. see sseeee Cheating the Cripples. wun sw “Leopold takes good care of his in- jured help” esked one of Donald Steele’s companions when told that Dr. Ferguson had said they were weil taken care of. “Like hell he does. They get yanked down to Ferguson, treated and sent home or to the hos- pital. The Leopold factory is sup- posed to pay half the wages, which ja just $7.50 a week. But very often tha men don’t get even that, and they hav eno way to get justice.” SPAIN’S MOROCCO VENTURE A BIG _ WHITE ELEPHANT « . MADRID, Aug. 3.—Primo de Rivera is between the devil and Morroco. The Spanish military campaign in that country has gone from bad to worse and the dictator would fain wash his hands off the whole busi- ness but he finds his hands ties, Recently he announced that the di- rectorate which rules Spain decided to withdraw the troops from many of the outposts held by the army. But when the proposition was broached to the army officers who captured those posts at considerable risk and discomfort, they would not hear of it, Then the Moors waded in so insts- tently that the Spanish troops could not let go even if they wanted to. It looks as if the Moors feared a loss of their favorite outdoor sport it the Spanish troops withdrew. The latest communique trom Mpr- occo is to the effect that Spanish ar- tillery bombarded the positions of the rebel Moorish tribesmen causing many casualties, In the meantime the King of Spain ; basi yt at the watering Places dancing with prepossessin American heiresses. , MILWAUKEE, August 3.—A day off for city and county employes who are by the nature of their work compelled to be on duty Sundays and holidays, ié asked of the council by the City Service Employes’ YR) sage enon oA ch bait ‘