The Daily Worker Newspaper, August 5, 1924, Page 2

~ BIG WAGE CUTS | ACCOMPANYING UNEMPLOYMENT »}1,000 workers in 23 establishments. > Of the 25,000 workers hit by wage cuts Page Two Crisis Shows Failure of Capitalism By LELAND OLDS (Federated Press Industrial Editor) Over 1,100,000 employes of manufacturing industry in the| United States have been laid off} since a year ago, according to the June employment report of the U. S. department of labor. Thisis a drop of 12.9 percent in the number on factory pay- rolls and brings the total num- ‘ber of unemployed factory workers to a level 1814 percent j below the average of the cen- sug year 1919. This means that |approximately 1,680,000 who j had jobs then are out of a job today. The falling off in the purchasing power-of the working class since last } Juneés shown to be even more serious | thansthe-employnient figures would in- atcate. Bige Cut in Payrolls. ‘Tetal lis have been reduced ‘16.38 nee meantng a losssin wages| } workers running at about} }$89500,000 a week, or some $160,000, 1000 for the single month of June. This includes a loss of 4.6 per cent in ) average per capita earnings, which | fell from $26.75 in June, 1923, to ' $25.56 in June of this year. Employment fell off 3.8 per cent in} the single month May to Jume. Pay-| ‘rolls were reduced 6.7 per cent and | per capita earnings 3 per cent during | the same period. Decreased employ- ment appeared in 42 of the 52 indus- tries covered in the report, while 39 showed decreased wage payments and 29 lower average wages. The largest decreases in per capita earnings dur- ing the month were ship building,. 12.2 per cent; iron and steel, 10.5 per cent; carpets, 9.7 per cent; automobiles, 7.7 per cent, and cotton goods, 5.4 per cent. Compared with a year ago, employ- ment decreased in 47 of the 52 indus- tries. In 30 of the industries the loss in employment was over 10 per cent. Total wage payments fell off in 43 the industrieg. The percentages by ‘ich ‘employment, total wage pay- its and avérage wages were re- ‘ducéd in the course of twelve months is shown for’the 15 largest industries in the following table. Two ifistances of slight increase in per capita earn- ings are starred. Employ- Total Aver. ment. Wages. Wage, Pet. Pet. Pet. Automobiles - 16.5 23.7 8.5 Auto tires ......... 10.9 16.5 6.3 Boots agd shoes 13.6 19.0 6.2 Car building and repair................. 22.2 22.7 06 Men’s clothin, 19.4 9.3 Cotton goods ; 35.0 20.0 Elec. apparatus. 7.4 6.9 0.6* Foundries and machine shops 23.8 28.3 59 Hosiery and knit goods.......... - 17.4 44 Tron and steel... 21.6 10.5 Lumber and saw mills............ one * | 3.5 04" ’ Paper and pulp. 3.3 45 13 Slaughtering and meat packing. 7.1 76 05 Silk goods .......104 149 5.1 Woolen goods.....148 23.6 108 Wage rate cuts appear for the first , time as a material factor in the re- {duction of per capita earnings. De- creases averaging 10 per cent were reported, affecting 25,000 employes in 102 establishments. This contrasts with increases in wage rates averag- ‘ing 8 per cent and affecting less than *’ during the month, 13,324 were in saw- - mills, 2,373 in the hosiery and knit goods industry, 2,125 in cotton goods manufacture and 1,452 in men’s cloth- ing. Part Time Operation. Part time operation, however, con- tinued as the chief cause of reduced earnings. Of the establishments cov- ered in the report, 4 per cent were idle, Those operating were running at only 77 per cent of full capacity and 88 per cent of full time. This means that production in manufactur- lug industry during June amounted to not more than two-thirds of the pos- sible full time production of the coun- try's manufacturing plant. Any attempt to estimate the full extent of the unemployment problem in the United States today must take into account the number of workers added to the urban population since 1919 through growth of population, which must have added at least 5, 500,000 to the number gainfully em- ployed, the drift of the farm popula- tion to the cities, and the tens of thousands of coal miners and railroad workers who are lobking tor a job. RUSSIAN WORKERS PARADE IN HUGE ANTI-WAR DEMONSTRATIONS By A. L. PERCY. (Special to The Daily Worker) MOSCOW, August 4.—A tremendous parade of hundreds of thousands of workers and students and Soviet officials concluded the Anti-Caplitalist War Week which the Communists all over the world have been celebrating in his anniversary week of the beginning of the last great war. Similar parades were held in all the cities and towns of Soviet Russia and in many other lands. The trade union council closed the factories at noon so that the work- ers could participate in the gigantic demonstrations. Huge banners and streamers with slogans against militarism and capitalism were borne by the marchers. Speeches were made against capitalist society, and against the Second Internationale which betrayed the workers in the last great struggle of capitalist forces. Nicolai Lenin’s tomb was reopened in the Red Square after the body of the dead Soviet premier had been re-embalmed. Thousands of the marchers , THE DAILY WORKER bearing special permits from the district soviet were admitted. AS WE By T. J. O'F SEE IT LAHERTY. (Continued from page 1) be following him about. But, alas, that is the reward of true greatness. If they desire to advance the candi- dacy 6f Robert M.- LaFollette for president, there can be no valid ob- jection, but, having brought discredit upon their own organization, and made a sorry mess of an opportunity such as comes but once in a genera- tion, our Socialist brethren ought to have the good taste to discretely re- main in the background.” Who is he knocking? Hillquit. * ec ce Many pacifists looked on the Wash- ington Conference as a great victory for peace. We remember Oswald Garrison Villard figuratively slapping Charles Evans Hughes on the back for his pacifist speech in opening the conference. Radicals were not so optimistic about it. They said it was a war conference and not a peace conference. The delegates came armed and left armed. England was repre- sented by the wily Balfour. He did so well that the Empire went out of its way to honor him on his return. Japan was not so well satisfied. Neither was France. The American militarists were not so well pleased. They want to elevate their naval guns and, thus increase the range of their fire. It seems England has been doing this. Hngland will not stand for the change and says it is against the treaty. The American militarists are saying much the worse for the treaty:” ~:-aties are only scraps of paper when they don’t suit. 45. 8 a There were several more or less peaceful} conferences held since the armistice but judging from the fury with which the capitalis} nations are arming it does not appear that Mars is licked yet. The threatened war between Jgpan and the United States over the domination of the Pacific and the exploitation of the Orient has been brought much near- er by the law excluding Japanese. The feud between England and France will not down this side of an- other war. The Balkans are a regu- lar powder magazine with drunken cigarette fiends jostling about. A spark and dfother catastrophe is up- on us. It is clear from the evidence that another war is unavoidable, un- less the working class take power in- to their own hands as they did in Russia. But that would also involve war. Can the workers prevent war? They surely could if they would. But will they? Comrade M. Pavlovitch quotes Lenin on the question of war prevention. The great revolutionist said: “It must be definitely explained how great is the secrecy surrounding the birth of a war and how helpless is an orflinary labor organization in face of a really impending war. It must be explained over and over again in a thoroly concrete manner, how the situation was during the last war and as to the reasons why the situation could not be otherwise. Special attention must be called to the fact that the question of defense. of native country will inevitably be puts the question: “Wherein lies the jority of the workers will inevitably solve this question in favor of their own bourgeoisie.” * * . Comrade Pavlovitch, after quoting Lenin, continues the discussion. He puts the suestion: “Wherein lies the only real means of fight against war?” and supplies the answer: “In the maintenance and extension of an illegal organization for the permanent work against war of all revolution- aries participating in the war. The Communists cannot prevent the out- break of war but they must strive to change this war into a civil war, the world revolution.” The war to end war will be,the class war. RT ata” The Communists say that the capi- talist system, like all previous social systems bears within itself the germs of its own decay. In other words, it is bound to collapse, not because it is unjust or violates the Golden Rule of the pacifists, but simply because it keeps too many stomachs empty in the midst of plenty. Under capital- ism the machinery of production has become highty developed, but owing to the fact that this machinery is in the hands of a few, and the work- capitalism to justify its existence. The capitalist system must go and the sooner it goes the better. There- fore, our readers are urged to join the Workers Party and take a hand in getting rid of the capitalist system and preparing the ground for the erection of Soviet Republics instead of the retten and corrupt govern- ments that now serve the capitalists. Rit es 4 The National Association of Man- ufacturers with offices at 50 Church Street, New York, does not like the DAILY WORKER but the officials of that organization read it neverthe- less. The N, A. of M. sends out pub- licity to its members on the industrial situation and the activities of unions and working class political bodies. In a circular letter dated July 15, it tells its clients that the Citizens’ Al- liance of Minneapolis maintains an employment bureau that costs the business men of that city $10,000 a year. It attacks the Ice Wagon Driv- ers’ Union of Migneapolis for oppos- ing the cash and carry stations, It denounces the DAILY WORKER for its exposure of the Detroit Employ- ers’ Associations’ threat to recruit scabs to break the threatened strike of the street railwaymen, and when the Associated Industries of Spokane, Washington, compelled the education- al authorities to cancel a lecture on the Centralia I. W. W. case, the N. A. of M. officials found the story in The DAILY WORKER. . . . This looks like a very good talking point for the circulation drive now in full blast. During the four months of the election campaign new sub- cribers. are offered The DAILY WORKER for four months for the small sum of $2.00. No better testi- mony could be given The DAILY WORKER than the hostility of the notorious strikebreaking organization, the National Association of Manufac- turers. Ramsay MacDonald in his in- terview explaining what socialism has degenerated into, stated one fact when he gave the capitalists credit for being class conscious. Of course, Ramsay is not, being merely a capi- talist lickspittle. But the workers should be as class conscious as the capitalists. They will learn why by reading The DAILY WORKER. Evy- ery member of the Workers Party who is worth his salt will bring in at least one new subscription during the present campaign. NEW LEOPOLD CRIMES EXPOSED ASSAULTED WAR VET CAN PROVE MURDER WAS AIM West Virginia Lumber Company Responsible (Special to The DAILY WORKER) CASS, W. Va., Aug. 4:—Lawson Me- Million, World War eterans organizer who was beaten and arrested by Ku Klux Klan and West Virginia Pulp and Paper company-owned town offi- cials, will prove by many witnesses when his case comes up in circuit court that he did not resist arrest. The brutally beaten vet can get a hundred or more witnesses, who saw Lincoln Cochran, town sergeant and special company agent, beat McMil- lion with his gun. Company Town. Hob Rose, mayor of Cass, is mill foreman of the company. The rest of the town council and their positions with the lumber conipany are as fol- lows: Dr. W. H. ..annah, company direc- tor. Joe Graves, mill foreman. Bob Hivich, superintentent over railroads and mines, C, Glysple, time keeper. Bill Anderson, mill foreman. George Graham, head bookkeeper. Lincoln S. Cochran, town sergeant and special company agent. K. K, Klatter. The crude letter which the knights of the bedsheet gave to McMillion. reads as follows: Cass, W. Va., July 26, 1924 Mr. McMillion, organizer of the W. W. V. or I. W. W.: You have been seen on our streets for the past six months or more and no one has ever known of you work- ing. No man can gain an honest liv- ing without working, from what we can learn, you are doing your utmost to get men dissatisfied with their work and join the union of men who wiil not work. You are hereby notified to either get honest work and stick to it or leave town, The Cass Klavern of The Knights of The Ku Klux Klan. President Leaves. As Two Congresses Start Quarreling MEXICO CITY, Aug. 4.—The at- tempt to seat the newly-elected con- gressmen is causing tumult and strife between the contéding political parties. The labor-fa ion thain- tains that the Flores followers are try- ing to seat those illegally elected, while the Floristas accuse.the Calles follow- ers (farmer-laborites) of the same at- tempt. Mounted police are patrolling the streets around the congress, while others are watching the examination of credentials. The labor-farmer block, under the leadership of Luis N. Moro- nes, president of the Mexican Federa- tion of Labor, is threatening to form a legislature of its own; the other side threatens the same. In the meantime Calles is going to Europe to escape whatever results may arise from these dissentions. RIVERVIEW—RAIN OR SHINE AUGUST 10th—SUNDAY PRESS PICNIC DAY (Continued from page 1.) boasting to his rich friends there what a good shot he is.” Many other employes of Nathan Leopold told the same story to the DAILY WORKER. “ ‘Babe’ Leopold always liked to get the best of a man in an argument,” Dr. H. M. Ferguson’ told the DAILY WORKER. “The girls around here all fell for him, and he liked that. He impressed me 4s being of very superior intelligence, and classed himself as superior to the every day poor college boy.” The “Babe” liked to come to Mor- ris because Nathan Leopold holds Morris in the hollow o this hand. The busines smen ef Morris blind them- selves to the sweat shop methods and slave-driving tactics practiced on the youth of the town, because the paper mill is good for their business. The workers have to swallow the whims and tricks of the younger Leopold because they don’t want to lose their job. “Babe” took advantage of these cater- ing small town ex-farmers to play with them as a cat plays with a mouse. He came down every few weeks with his father on tours of inspection, lowering himself, as he ut it, chat with the worktrs when mood upon him, But »Leopold junior always maintained thé attitude of class superiority. Did he not prac- tically own the lives of 500 citizens of the town? “Babe” would allow the men he took out to hunt for him to draw three dollars a day pay, but he never gave them any extra money ofr it, the DAILY WORKER is informed. ial _ Want “Fair” Cops. BALTIMORE, Md., August 4.—The unfairness of police in all dealings with workers has attracted the atten- tion of even one of the capitalist sheets of the town. The brutal and unwarranted arresting of striking gar- ment workers who were picketing Fairbanks Feeds the Hungry and Gets the Publicity He Wants By J. LOUIS ENGDAHL, TODAY, hundreds of homeless men who grab an occasional wink of sleep on the grass in Grant Park, on Chicago’s downtown lake front, are still wondering where the next meal is coming from. _ Ps Yesterday, Douglas Fairbanks, who gathers in money by the cartload as a “movie” star, gave them a meal and got another burst of publicity in the daily press. : But today neither the yellow press nor the movie star are worrying about these hordes of hungry jobless. In fact the old party politicians claim they do not exist. * * * * Fairbanks discovered there was an unemployment prob- lem in the land when he sat down to tuncheon with Mary Pickford at a window table of the aristocratic dining salon of the fashionable Blackstone hotel. From the window Fair- banks could look across “Boul Mich,” the European name that has been given to Michigan Boulevard, and see the hundreds of idle men stretched out on the thin grass that joins the cinders from the passing Illinois Central Railroad engines in covering the narrow strip of land known as Grant Park. AGN ee Numerous hotels, like the Auditorium and Congress, in addition to the Blackstone, patronized by the rioh, as well as a host of exclusive clubs front “Boul Mich” and their patrons, like Douglas Fairbanks, cannot help but look out and rest their haughty gaze upon the outcast workers. It is to them a very shocking sight. The police have been busy all these years, walking up and down, hitting the soles of the feet of the tired sleepers, waking them up and chas- ing them away. They have been trying to obliterate this shocking sight. But in vain. The homeless, the hungry, the jobless, after hunting work thru the day in “The Loop,” or around the big shops and factories of the city, always come back for brief solace in Grant Park. The police might just as well try to push back the restless waves of Lake Michigan lapping the shores just the other side of the rail- road tracks, * * * Up north, at Oak Street, the police tried something similar. Bathers from the rooming house district and the slums would press across the “Gold Coast,” residence dis- trict of millionaires along the Lake Shore Drive, and claim the beach as their own. it was very shocking again. There were fights with the police who tried to drive them away. But the proletarian bathers won. And the Oak Street Beach is now one of the most frequented in the city. * * * But there was Douglas Fairbanks at the open window of the Hotel Blackstone’s dining room. He was not worr by the sight of the jobless. It gave him arNidea. All Fair- banks’ ideas are for his own enhancement. Here was a chance to break into the yellow press with a little sensation. _ Fairbanks called his publicity agent and the Black- stone’s headwaiter. Then Fairbanks spoke: “Go over there,” he said, “and see what those gentle- men will have to eat. And give me the bill.” And a few hundred hungry, who were rounded up, were fed one meal at the expense of Douglas Fairbanks, an expenditure that he got back, many times, in the free ad- vertising that he received. * * * * Fairbanks will not repeat that stunt again, not very soon. The big reason will be that such a stunt is only news once. He'll have to try some other stunt the next time. * * * * But the jobless army remains. In these days of grow- ing industrial depression it is daily growing bigger and big, ger. The United States government will not try to feed these growing masses of hungry. The employers want them to clamor at the gates of the mills, the shops, the factories, for “WORK!” to beat down the wage scale of those who still have jobs. The existence of a huge jobless army is a serious neces- sity for the big employers, fighting to maintain and extend their open shop in the nation’s industries. Douglas Fair- banks makes it serve his necessity—to keep continually and dramatically in the public eye. * * * But the time will come when this growing army of hungry and jobless men will begin to take their own con- dition seriously. They will not be content to keep company with the cinders in Grant Park, or any other park. The: will refuse to accept crumbs thrown from the millionaire’s table. They will fight and conquer, they will destroy the social system that creates the hosts of the miserable many, and build a new society that recognizes the right of all, not only to life, but to enjoy life. Oppose Pardon of Rich Criminal MINNEAPOLIS, Aug. 4.—The Min- nesota State Federation of Labor is opposing the pardoning of H. H. Big- low, of Brown & Biglow of St. Paul, who has been sentenced to fine and two years of imprisonment for falsify- ing income tax returns. The prison One “Generous” Boss Gives His Workers, And Son, Business Here's a rate bbes who has Satpal over his business to six of his work- ers. They have made him a handsome ‘ WORKERS PARTY | HITS GOMPERS | » seen r= RIVERVIEW RAIN OR SHINE August 10th --- Sunday _ Press Picnic Day ers who operate it receive for their labor only a small portion of what they produce, there is unemployment, hunger and want. Millions of unem- ployed, chronically unemployed, e living testimony te the inability of due %. , beeen ouwere ey Peer i Leopold junior was in his glory here. He realized, and took as a mat- ter o fcourse the power of his father’s riches, but transferred this power to his personality, feigning that every- one jumped when he spoke because he was a superior human being. their shops made the local paper open its eyes and spout its unorthodox opinion with inky sputters on the front page. “Absolute fairness to both sides,” is the demand that this paper makes of the cops, It’s a good talking point; that's about all, MEXICAN REPUBLIC LATEST TO RECOGNIZE SOVIET GOVERNMENT MEXICO CITY, Aug. 4—The Mexican foreign office announced that It will soon appoint a diplomatic representative to Soviet Russia’ In a short statement the Mexican government stated that it had nothing to do with the origin of any government and recognized the right of each country to select the form. of government most convenient to it. “President-elect Calles is leaving for a trip to Europe and it is expected he will visit Soviet Russia. Mexico was one of the countries to send a message of the Russian government on the occasion of Lenin's death, the so-called Labor government ef England did -ponsennapeeyescunpymnntane ey “ae not have the decency to do. | ? profit during the many years in which they have been faithful slaves of eir exploiter and are now rewarded jefore heaven) with a share in the ne livery business, ! J. R. Emery, president and owner © tthe Union Club Motor Delivery, 175 E. Chicago avenue, made this gesture of generosity to his six oldest employes. The business is worth $100,000 and Mr. Emery, now 60, re- tains a share in it himself as added protection against his ever going “over the hill.” Fred Lorenz, day manager, John Sweeney, night manager; John Fors- berg, shop foreman; James Bray, elec: triclan; Holen Campbell, bookkeeper; and H. G. Emery, purchasing agent. O yes, the last named man is the son of the magnanimous donor. RIVERVIEW—RAIN OR SHINE AUGUST 10th—SUNDAY term is to begin Nov. 1, ostensibly to give Biglow time to arrange business matters, but the delay is being used for the circulation of petitions for pardon, The federation’s resolutions recite that Biglow has been an unscrupulous enemy of organized labor, while pre- tending great concern about law and morals, Explore Forests. VLADIVOSTOK, Aug. 4.—The Mari- time Forest Department is equipping a big expedition to Northern Saghalin and the Maritime Region for explora- tion of large and not-well-know forest areas, This expedition consists entirely of scientific workers and authorities on forestry. Besides engaging ini the complishment of purely practical pur- Poses, the expedition is also to make scientific investigation and to map all the regions it will traverse. Subscription Tod: CUT cer) eee Send in that / Tuesday, August 5, Tyz4 WITH HARD FACTS Faker Rashate Being Branded Traitor ATLANTIC CITY, Aug. 4.—The re- ply of the Workers Party to Samuel Gompers charging the latter with be- ing a betrayer of the workers got un- der the labor faker’s skin, He issued another comminique charging Foster and Ruthenberg with trying to se- cure the endorsement of the Wiscon- sin senator at St. Paul. That this statement was false none knows bet- ter than Gompers, but lies are ‘his stock-in-trade. The Executive Council has not yet issued its endorsement of LaFollette tho the document is reported to be already written up and ready for the press. The injection of the “mobil- ization day” issue may have delayed the publication of the LaFollette en- dorsement, but the labor leaders know the value of publicity and they prefer to keep the newspapermen in a state of anxious curiosity until the psycho- logical moment arrives to spring the news, Punishing His Friends. The endorsement will only go so far as to back LaFollette and Wheeler personally and will make it quite clear that no third party is endorsed. Gom- pers considers this a good way to punish the Democratic party for ig- noring him at the last convention. The latest influential capitalist pol- iticlan to declare for LaFollette is Judge Daniel F. Cohalan of New York. Cohalan backed Governor Smith for president on the Democratic ticket. He supported Harding against Cox in 1920 and switched from the Republi- can party to LaFollette because the Republicans repudiated their anti- League of Nations position. Colahan is anti-British and a jingoistic Ameri- can. He is a friend of William Ran- dolph Hearst and had a big row with Tammany Hall because Charlie Mur- phy opposefl his brother John for the surrogateship. Lowly Camp Followers. The reactionary labor leaders are secretly laughing at the role given to the socialists in the LaFollette organ- ization, They are the hewers of wood and the drawers of water. Of course this does not apply to Morris Hillquit who is aiming at a position of prom- inence as befits a slick lawyer... The needle trades unions in New York largely controlled by the socialist party will be compelled to come across in order to prove to LaFollette that he has more to gain by associating with the socialists than he will lose because of the ayersion of his million- aire supporters to even the word- “socialism.” Replying to Gompers’ latest Iie about the Workers Party trying to en- dorse LaFollette at St. Paul, Joseph Manley, campaign’ manager for Foster and Gitlow, declared that the Workers Party for months prior to the St. Paul convention had carried on a cam- paign of criticism against LaFollette and the fakers at the head of the Cc. P. P. A. At the St. Paul conven- tion Foster, speaking for the Workers Party declared: “The Workers Party will accept LaFollette as a candidate if he agrees to run as a Farmer-Labor candidate, to accept that party’s plat- form and its control over his electoral campaign and campaign funds.” Railway Slaves Get Lemon from Govt. Inf New Zealand By W. FRANCIS AHERN, (Federated Press Staff Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, New Zealand, Aug. 4.—Altho the railway men who went on strike recently in New Zealand re- sumed work on the understanding that their grievances—mainly relat- ing to hours and wages~—would be dealt with by an independent tri- bunal they got fooled. In the mean. time the New Zealand government increased the working hours from 44 to 48 a week. The increase in working hours ap- plies to guards, porters, switchmen, signalmen, maintenance men. store- men, and shop employes generally— all members of the Antalgamated So- ciety of Railway Servants, who struck work. The increase in hours does not apply to locomotive firemen And hostlers, who did not strike. Along with the increase in the work- ing hours is the announcement that the minimum wage is to be raised from $19.16 for a 44-hour week to $20.90 for a 48-hour week. Th) men were entitled to the higher wage bo- cause of the increase in the cost of living without any increase in tho working hours. China Flood Destructive. PEKIN, August 4—With tributary rivers still pouring flood waters into the Tien Tsin delta, the city of Tien Tsin was seriously menaced by flood today, 1 An airplane trip over northern Chihli today revealed the extent of the flood area, hundreds of square miles being covered with muddy waters. Huge crop damage has been done and great suffering caused, _—_—_—— Send in that