The Daily Worker Newspaper, August 7, 1924, Page 4

| FOSTER INVADES MAHONING STEEL VALLEY AUG. 24 To Show Up Fake Labor Leaders and Bob LaF. (Special to The Daily Worker) YOUNGSTOWN, 0O., Aug. 6.—The complete collapse of the last attempt of the American Federation of Labor to organize even a small section of the steel workers, and its criminal waste of the $75,000 fund turned over} to it by William Z. Foster, in his former capacity of Secretary of the Organizing Committee, has made it the laughing stock of the steel work- ers of Youngstown and of the country and has destroyed all fear that Judge Gary might once have held for the former militant effort led by William Z. Foster. This is nowhere more plain than in Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley. *At the beginning of the latest effort led by Mike Tighe, great, promises were made that a corps of orgam izers would swoop down on Youngs- town and “do a real job this time”. The local “labor leaders” said: “This time the “Foster idea” will not be followed”. The campaign did not ma- terialize and the Youngstown labor leaders were left high and dry. Bob Let Workers Die. However a saviour has appeared on the scene in the guise of Robert M. LaFollette—the same LaFollette, who in the great steel strike of 1919, kept mum on the ruthless treatment of the strikers by the steel corporation and its lakeys. LaFollette was then running to cover against the charge of being opposed to the war. The same labor leaders who are now look- ing upon him as a saviour, were busy whooping it up to “win the war for democracy”. They, no more than La- Follette, entered any protest against the eight lives that were lost in the srike of 1919 in the Mahoning Valley. Today the alliance bétween LaFol- Jette, pseudo-Socialists, and the Youngstown fake labor leaders, with the Scripps-Howard newspaper editor and reporters, forms an aggregation known as the Mahoning Valley CPPA. The Scripps paper has always posed as a champion of “free speech, press and assemblage”. Yet Wallace T. Metcalfe, Secretary of the Labor Defense and Free Speech Council of Western Ohio now points out that at the trial of Comrade Andy Kovaco- vich of Farrell, Pa. charged with violation of the sedition law, the pro- secutors in glowing words cited the] attack by LaFollette upon the Com- munists, and expressed the opinion that even this great champion of free speech drew the line at the terrible communists. Two Big Meetings This has not helped LaFollette with the steel workers, and his alliance with the labor leaders who deserted men in the mills is the last straw. Among the Youngstown “labor leaders” much fear is felt because of the announcement that William Z. Foster will speak, as Workers Party candidate for President, in Youngs- town on August 24th. To accomodate the day and night shifts he will ad- dress two meetings—one in the after- noon, a big open air demonstration of steel workers to be held at Avon Park; and the other at night in Wkra- inian Hall, 525% West Rayen Avenue. The steel workers of the Mahoning Valley will attend both of these meet- ings. The Youngstown “labor leaders” will be challenged to show their proof of LaFollette’s friendship for the steel workers. PHILADELPHIA Street Meetings. The enlarged open air committee of Philadelphia C. C. C, has outlined a series of street meetings for the duration of the campaii ‘The meetings will be held in all sections of the city and speak- ers in all languages will address them. The committee ®nnounces the first oti of the a irda, August 7, fram 8. p. m. to Mm. Northwest’ corner Girard Ave. Marshall Street. 8, from 8 p. st corner Front ‘and RIVERVIEW—RAIN OR SHINE AUGUST 10th—SUNDAY PRESS PICNIC DAY TTT LLL LLL OCLC LL Da THE WORKERS PARTY Press Picnic RAIN OR SHINE will be Riverview Park “August 10th, SUNDAY, Admission 35 cents The ticket also entitles holder to reduced rates on all the amusements, ~ Support the Communist Press Auspices: Workers Party, Local Chicago. All profits for the DAILY WORKER and other party papers. ONE MINER TELLS ANOTHER THAT CAPITALISM MAKES THE TROUBLE; JOIN WORKERS PARTY TO END IT John J. Watt, secretary-treasurer, sub-district No. 4 of Illi- nois, United Mine Workers of America, has sent us the following The first was published in the Illinois Miner, the pathetic plea of an old scrapped worker who has not yet “found the way.” letters. The second is Watt’s answer to the moral: JOIN THE WORK- ERS PARTY which the DAILY WORKER adds a “second” and a “third” even, so that all the J. C. Schrock’s will get it. Schrock’s letter is in part: No Work for Old Men. Editor Illinois Miner: Where are we going and what are we coming up against? While some are working themselves to death, working time and half and double time, their broth- ers are idle, can’t get a job and are on starvation. Now if you call that unionism I have another name for such workers. Talk about task mas- ters of‘old. Pharoah was not in it to the side of some of our task masters of today. I am sixty years old, haven't had a job for over a year. I am too old, so they say. Can you tell me what to do? They have talked old age pens- ions but I guess when us old fellows get a pension it will be when we are asleep with our toes sticking straight up. We have had our religious rant- ers for nineteen hundred years and we have the K. K. K. and what have they done to relieve suffering humanity? Nothing but to antagonize. I have been in the U. M. W. of A. as a charter member when it first started in Illinois, have dug coal about 35 years. Now what am I to do? Go down to defeat? I see no other way out. For God’s sake let some brother say or do something that would keep us from becoming Sublic vagrants and vagabonds. Yours in fraternalism, J. C. SCHROCK, Virden, Illinois. Watt’s answer follows: Many Like You, Brother. Mr. J. C. Shrock, Virden, Illinois. Dear Sir and Brother: The article written by yourself that appeared in the Illinois Miner, issue of July 5th, has just been brought to my attention and your statements are true in regards to the conditions that are existing, not only in the Mining Industries but in many other indus- tries, the facts are that in the Fac- tories of this State, not including mines or other trades, but in the Manufacturing plants alone in this State, there are at the present time over 80,000 workers thrown out of work and conditions at the present time look as though many thousands more will be thrown out before this so-called “Stabilization” period * reached. Now Brother |Shrock, what is the fundamental thing that is wrong wherby not only the man past 60 years of age cannot secure work, but many young, strong, stalwart men cannot find employment? You ask that some one show the way out. I am not go- ing to tickle you by suggesting “super-power,” “Stabilization” etc., for they can only at their best just patch up this breaking down system of society and make it just perhaps a little more bearable for a few days. Capitalism to Blame. I say to you that the system known as “Capitalism” can no longer give the workers employment, if not why are you and the other millions of idle workers not employed? Then if it is the “system” that is wrong and we knowing that not only we but our children are going to suffer muck more than we, is it not the right thing to battle to correct the fundamental evil? “Capitalism” which means the pri- vate ownership of the means of pro- duction (the machinery) can at any time tell you whether you will work or starve, that being true should we as workers, who are depending upon “machinery” for our bread and but- ter, allow a few individuals to own fs 3) i OR eyes, plenty of bread, plenty of shoes that machinery and operate it for profifs for themselves, or should all the people own the machinery that |produces the necessities of life and operate for their own use when necs- sary? The problem of producing the ne- cessities of life has been solved: proof: there is an abundance of every thing we need right in front of our held at : Brother Schrock and ends with and clothing, plenty of everything piled up in piles, and all produced by the workefs. Let us claim the right to the goods we have produced, and let us further claim the right to “dis- tribute” those. goods to the ones that have produced them. Isn’t it funny Brother Shrock, that many of us have for years been voting for a system of society that builds poor houses for the WORKERS, that cannot employ the workers, that, takes every thing that the worker produces away from him, after allowing him a morsel with which to keep the bare threads of life together. Isn’t it funny we have been doing that for years and years? Now if we are sincere let’s change our ways of doing things: let’s sup- plant this systém by a new system whereby the workers shall own, op- erate and control, the Machines of production and distribution and make goods and distribute the goods for use and happiness instead of allowing private ownership of those things on which our lives depend. The workers can change this system when they make up their minds to do so, This, however, cannot be done at once as the workers have so been di- divided in their unions, in their relig- ous beliefs, in their fraternal beliefs and in their economic belie¥s that it is going to take a little time yet to make the move, BUT THAT MOVEMENT MUST COME ABOUT AND IF THE PRINCIPLE IS RIGHT, THEN LET’S KEEP HAMMERING FOR THE PRIN- CIPLE. There are millions of workers out of work now, because our present sys- tem cannot hire them. Each piece of machinery that is from now on in- vented will produce more goods and displace more workers, than the ma- chines it displaces. (This applies to Farrington’s Super-Power Idea too.) That ‘being true will not many more thousand be on the verge of starva- tion and out of work, one, two, three and four years from now? Then what will they do? Will they start think- ing that the ownership of the things of life are in the wrong hands, and IF they owned the things they produced, would they starve? Join Fighters. Those thousands, perhaps millions added to what are alreatly idle will start thinking for a way out, shall we that claim we know the way out, start from now predicting what is going to happen and show the way out? I say we must do that thing, we must advo- eate unity on the.political as well as the industrial fields and strive for the ends as stated in this eltter. No immediate relief can we offer, but ulti- mately the system of production and distribution must be changed. Unite with those who are wanting to cure evil so that it will stay cured. Now Brother Shrock, I could go at length telling you of our efforts in trying to put into practice measures that would offer temporary relief, such as the shorter work day, Government Insurance for the. unemployed. I agree that those things might have brought TEMPORARY RELIEF, but the evil would still be with us. I say we will keep on fighting for things that in our opinion will bring this temporary relief, but still we are more interested in permanent relief, and while we are fighting for our membership and the working class as a@ whole we will ever be watching the end of the goal and concentrate our efforts to bring about that happy day. Appreciating your co-operation, ~ I am, with kind personal regards, Yours very truly, JOHN J. WATT, Sub-Dist. Sec’y- Treas. P. S—MORAL—JOIN THE\WORK- ERS PARTY. Morality Is All. (By The Federated Press) WASHINGTON, Aug. 5.— Battling Siki, Senegalese pugilist, is to be de- ported by’the immigration bureau be- cause he married a white or nearly white girl in this country after desert- ing a white wife and mulatto child in Paris. Firpo, the Argentine prize fighter, who tried to bring a girl into the country and was foiled, is safe. He has been received @t the White House, Siki can’t understand the moral distinction drawn between him- self and his Argentine brother. What He Done? WASHINGTON, Aug. 6.—The end of President Coolidge’s first year in the White House has passed. It was a year ago today that Pres- ident Harding died in San Francisco, Mr. Coolidge taking the oath as Pres- ident next morning at the home of his father in Vermont. The President has sent a wreath to Marion, Ohid to be placed on Pres- ident Harding's grave, small tolsen for the great opportunity he was given le his nonentity before the THE DAILY WORKER WORKERS REJECT COMPANY UNION PLEA OF INSULL Electrical Worleame Fight Big Boss Beware of Insull. EDITOR’S NOTE:—The circular letter which the correspondent in- closed is from the office of the pre dent of the Northern Indiana Gas and Electric Company and is con- cluded with the mame of Samuel Insull, The notorious open-shop, anti-labor, company-union plants which the letter cites as examples are: International Harvester (the foul functioning of its company union has been exposed in the DAILY WORKER); the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company; Bethlehem Steel; Standard Oil of Indiana; Goodrich Tire & Rubber Company; Public Service Company of North- ern Illinois; Commonwealth Edison and Peoples Gas, Light and Coke Company. Samuel Insull is president of the last three companies named and is also president of the Middle West Utilities Company. He is chairman of the board of directors of the Chicago and Interurban Traction Company and of the Chicago, North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad; chairman of the executive commit- tee of the Chicago Elevated Rail- ways; and is a director In Chicago City and Connecting Railways Col- lateral Trust. Holding Up Chicago. As head of the “L” lines in Chi- cago, Insull has been holding out his lines from city purchase for an altogether unreasonable sum. Mayor Dever has just passed the buck to the city council to let them take the responsibility for paying Insull’s fancy price or—but they won't dare—using their power of confiscation of prope: for city use. Samuel Insull is “sitting pretty” and is making a deteFmined effort to enforce the open-shbp throughout all the public utilities which he con- trols. We are glad to see the work- ers fight this move of his in Ham- mond, Whiting and Michigan City, but they'll have to keep up the fight and organize so that foxy Insull won't be able to slip his boss-con- trolled company-union plan over on them when they aren’t prepared. ** © eee, HAMMOND, Ind., “Aug. 6.— To the Daily Worker: The enclosed is a copy of a letter which was ‘sent out by the Northern Indiana Gas and ctric Co,, to the employes of the company. This company supplies gas and electricity for Hammond, East Chicago, Whiting, Indiana Harbor, Gary, South Bend and many other Northern Indiana towns. The electrical workers are organ- ized in the Chicago local. If I am cor- rectly informed there has been no written agreement between the com- pany and the union, but grievances and the matter of wages, hours and working conditions have been settled thru the representative of the Chicago local. Workers Reject Company Union. Now, that industrial depression is with us again it seems that the N. I. G. and E. Co., are trying to take advan- tage of the situation and break com- pletely with the union by offering a form the employes’ representation or company union, and all the good old bunk of co-operation between the mas- ter and the slave. It will be noted that the circular letter calls attention to several well-known open shop labor- hating corporations to show how nice- ly this proposed plan is working in those plants. However, the workers in’Hammond held a meeting and voted to have nothing to do with this proposition. A el Remember Betrayal Also a vote was taken recently on the Indiana Harbor Belt R. R. to de- termine whether or not the employes wanted a company union. The employes working in the shops at Gibson voted for a company union as against regular trade unions, while the freight handlers and clerks at the L. C. L. transfer voted to continue with the Brotherhood of Railroad Clerks. This is quite natural as it will bo remembered that the Gibson shops were affected by the calling off of the strike on the I. H. B. by the Railway Employes Dept. of A. F, of L, last winter without having received any concessions from the company, and leaving the “Shops opera with strike-breakers. They wi against the regular trade unions as a matter of course. While the freight] {} handlers and clerks are organized in their regular union and the ballots show that they are not in favor of giv. H. W. GARN ing it up for any company union. PE RR Ba SSI IE Rn A ac SS illness Aa REALS od” RRS RR nc ean aa SR SOR French N. P. Treaty, WASHINGTON, Aug. 6.—] change of ratifications bet: United States treaty between the two concerning the Syrian mandate has been made in Paris, according to word received by the State De: to- ie aoe: beg age Myron 'T. Her- , © Treaty was signed ratified by the Americin pied sometime ago, Lea ex- the vote | b' and France on the|5: CANADIAN WHEAT FARMERS LEARN TO FIGHT WITH WORKERS TO END . ALL CAPITALIST DICTATORSHIP By H. M. BARTHOLOMEW (Communist Party of Canada) EDMONTON, Alta., Aug. 6—-The agrarian crisis in Canada| g is becoming acute. It must be remembered that the farmers of the Nor’West are dependent upon one crop—wheat. This very dependence upon wheat makes the lot of the tillers of the soil even more servile and destitute than that of his confreres “south of the line.” The past five years has witnessed the proletarization of the farmers at an alarming rate. Mortgages and debts have in- creased at a tremendous rate so that the majority of the farmers are completely divorced from the soil they till. ~Tis true that the farmers are still chloroformed by the poison of ‘private owner- ship” but the rapid growth of debts and mortgages is tearing the mask of ownership from off the * face of the farmers. The west- ern farmers are landless peas- ants masquerading in the role of a propertied employer of labor. This rapid pauperization of the farmer is due, to a large degree, to the increasing gulf between the pric- es of industrial and agricultural prod- acts. Thus we find that the prices of what the farmer buys have in- creased about one hundred and twen- y per cent in ten years, whilst the prices of farm products have actually been reduced. It requires no great knowledge of economics to realize that the farmers are yearly becom- ing poorer. Increasing Mortgages. The pauperization process takes the form of mortgages and debts. ‘The divorcement from ownership is con- cealed in this manner from the eyes of the tillers of the soil. He is only dimly aware of the developments pro- ceeding under his very eyes. In the three prairie provinces the farm debts total in excess of one bil- lion dollars. The average indebted- ness is about five ' thousand dollars per half-section of land, And it must be remembered that ninety-four per cent of the farms carry a mortgage. These debts and mortgages are on the increase. Last year the Cana- dian “farmers” enjoyed the largest crop in the history of the country. But the total net proceeds of that crop fell seventy million dollars in comparison with the proceeds of the much smaller crop of the previous year. Moreover, the average price received for the wheat crop was six- ty-seven cents per bushel—or thirty- three cents below the minimum costs of production. Small wonder that thousands of farmers are forced to leave the farms —to swell the ranks of the unem- ployed in the cities! Small wonder that tens of thousands of farmers are face to face with bankruptcy right at this moment. ' An Acute Crisis, The writer has just completed a tour of the three prairie provinces. He knows that tens of thousands of farmers are faced with utter desti- tution. They are menaced with fore- closures, with seizures of crops. The sheriff of the implement and mort- gage corporations looms large and ugly. The situation is rendered more acute by the prolonged drougth which has prevailed over large tracts of wheat lands. The crop yield has not only been greatly reduced in many districts but has been completely wiped out over huge tracts of land. The drought. stricken farmer, al- ready heavily mortgaged and indebt- ed, has no money, mo crops, no feed for his stock—is confronted witn ut- ter. destitution. Nor should we forget, that the in- dustrial crisis which the banking ba- rons have tried to forestall, is hitting the productive machinery of the cities and towns. Steel, iron, textiles, coal, lumber and a host of other in- dustries report reduced production. The ranks of the “bread line” are in- creasing daily. In some towns “the city fathers” have been forced to in- crease the number of families on un- employed relief—in the Pa of July mark you! The international eden is by no neans rosy—despite the frantic ef- forts of Morgan et al to rehabitulate European capitalism. It is becoming increasingly apparent that an acute agrarian and industrial crisis on a world scale is ‘upon us. Destitute Farmers. The dependence of the farmers of the Northwest on the wheat market NEW YORK CITY Party Activities “~ House “Cooling.” ie wee Side Branch has 0} ua at 345 West. ieee where ‘the Greek Branch is it won't do to celebrate thi Hrs even} a “house Pere ster in Cg beets we! an fee cre ned its ing of the campaij jut the ‘est Side on the ‘con rarnuniee map. OPEN AIR MEETINGS. Saturday, August Section 1—Oliver and Madison Sts.— Speaker: Ettliny iBeetion paatiee “Stand So. Biva— rand Street Extenston— Rose P. Stokes and ‘George 5—Stone and Pitkin Ave.—Joe n Say ght St. bictet Mermaid Avo Union ith New Phe ye Riya bon! ver oy 81 eae Ber- » August an- makes the crisis on the-prairies even more acute, On every hand stories Thursday, August 7, 1924 MICHIGAN MEET «, STIRS WORKERS | AGAINST WARS Speakers at Hamtramek Loudly Cheered BY E. CONSTANTINE. (Special to the Daily Worker.) DETROIT, Mich. Aug. 6.—Several hundred workers of various national- ities gathered Wednesday night at the International Workers Home in Ham- tramck, at a meeting of protest held under the auspices of the Workers Party and the Young Workers League. In spite of the extremely hot evening the meeting was a successful one in of hopeless indebtedness and desti-| every way. tution can be heard. The slaves of the farm ate face to face with increasing mortgages, mounting debts, widespread crop seizures and foreclosures, The banking barons, implement kings and mortgage hounds have well-oiled the machinery of debt-col- lection. For many months these members of the ruling class have been laying their plans with care, Al- ready the brutal process of foreclos- ure is under way. Rural newspapers and the rotundas of hotels are clut- tered with notices of sales and ‘seiz- ures—a menacing forerunner of the medicine to be served to the farmers this fall. It is becoming more and more evi- dent that; mortgages and debts con- stitute the immediate manifestation of capitalist dictatorship. The di- vorcement of the farmers from the soil proceeds apace and his true eco- nomic status revealed to his aston- ished eyes. The Farmers’ Union. At this juncture the Farmers’ Un- ion 6f Canada, enters upon the scene. Its recent convention at Saskatoon (held behind closed doors) marks a landmark in the agrarian movement of this country. The assembled delegates realized that they were face to face with a crisis, that the Union must act or go down to discredit. It tackled this Pressing problem of mortgages and debts in a manner which is calcu- lated to send cold shivers of fear down the spines of the bourgeoisie of Montreal. In summary form the pro- gram is as follow: a, Refusal to pay any debts this fall until the farmer is guaranteed eight hundred dollars per quarter section together with feed, seed, stock and equipment. This sum to constitute the minimum wage of the farmer. b. Mass resistance to foreclosers and seizures. Néed I add that this constitutes a tremendous stride forward. After years of wandering in the wilderness of class-collaboration the farmers realize that-only by organized strug- gle against the capitalist class can they better their conditions. Farmers Aroused. Too long have the farmers been fooled with the skulldullery of social pacifism. They have been “spoonfed” on the doctrine of “law and order” and reverence for the sacred rights of private property. But the Farm- ers’ Union of Canada, faced with a crisis, proclaims the class war and mobilizes the farmers against the banking barons. It is becoming apparent to all ob- servers that the farmers are fast los- ing their concepts of being a “small capitalist.” The recent bitter experi- ences have served to tear aside the mask of private ownership and re- veal the farmers in their true status —the hired men of finance capital. The coming struggie regarding mortgages and debts will serve fur- ther to unmask the farmer. It will convince him of the necessity of mass action side by side with his fellow- slave—the industrial worker of the Cities. It will assist in the work of building up the mass movement of farmers and workers organized for the overthrow of capitalist dictator- ship. In this work the Communist Party of Canada will play no small part. a a Klan Rioters Jalled, LILLEY, Pa., Aug. 6.—The eighteen members of the Ku Klux Klan and ten Lilley residents, convicted of af- fray and unlawful assemblage in con- nection with the fatal rioting at Lil- ley in April, were sentenced to two years’ jail. imprisonment in the county E. H. Mlody, an active member of the Y. W. L., presided: Speakers of the evening were: Comrade Owens, speaking in English; Comrade Eleszc- zuk, in Russian; Comrade B, K. Ge- bert, in Polish; and Comrade Kusznir, in Ukrainian. They called the attention of the au- dience to the fact that all imperialistic wars are waged in the interest of the capitalist and that the oppressors of the working class are already mobiliz- ing their_forces for another slaughter of the working masses, altho it’s only ten years since the world war started, during which over 20 millions people lost their lives. To prevent such further wars—the speakers pointed out— workers of the world must prepare themselves for class war against the capitalists of the world to end all ‘wars, The audience applauded the speak- ers enthusiastically and unanimously accepted the proposed resolution con- demning capitalist conspiracies for fu- ture slaughters of the working class and calling the workers of the world to declare a war that will end all wars by abolishing the present capitalistic dictatorship and building up a prole- tarian state governed by the dictator- ship of the working class. Mobilization Day Becomes Political Issue for Coolidge WASHINGTON, Aug. 6.—Now that both the Bryan brothers and John W. Davis have joined in protest against Coolidge’s Mobilization day scheme, and Gov. Sweet of Colorado has de- clared against it, the Coolidge admin- istration discovers that “adequate na- tional defense” is a campaign issue. The Coolidge press is assailing the Foster-Gitlow ticket as anti-militaris- tic, and also in classing the LaFol- lette-Wheeler movement as opposed to the plans and ambitions of the general staff and Secretary Weeks. Two-thirds of the Democrats in both branches of congress are militar- ist, just as are two-thirds of the Re- publican members. y Fliers in Iceland. HORNAFJORD, Iceland, Aug. 6.— Lt. Lowell Smith and Lt. Eric Nelson, United States Army round-the-world aviators departed at 9:15 o'clock this morning for Reykjavik. From Reyk- javik the fiyers will jump off for Greenland. HERE THEY ARE! Special Combination Offer Take them along on your acation. TILL AUGUST 15TH No. 1. Deportations Delirium of 1920, by Louis F. Post.. The Government Strikebreaker, by Jay Lovestone....... OFFER GOO Total eoseresssen Special sales price $2.00. No, 2. Capital Today, by Cahn. Positive Outcome of Phi by Dietzgens Industrial Revival in Soviet pis by Heller... Tota Special sales price $2.50. Both combinations to any one address, including postage $2.00 . Single books at regular price, Any two books selected at 33 pct. discount —— Literature Department, WORKERS PARTY OF AMERICA 1113 W. Washington Blvd. CHICAGO, ILL. Send for them before you vapor out,