The Daily Worker Newspaper, August 14, 1924, Page 6

‘ \ sania on nt ¢ Page Six \ THE DAILY WORKER. Heenan eee eee ee eee Een Published by the DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO., | 1118 W. Washington Blvd., Chicago, Ill, (Phone: Monroe 4712) SUBSCRIPTION RATES By mall: 66.00 per year $3.60....6 months $2,00..3 montha By mall Chicago only) $8.00 per year $4.50....6 months $2.50....8 montas Address all mail and make out checks to THE DAILY WORKER 1118 W. Washington Blvd. Chloago, Illinois J. LOUIS ENGDAHL a t WILLIAM F. DU MORITZ J. LOB Editors ‘Business Manager at the Post- Entered as second-class mail Sept. 21, 1923 rou Office at Chicago, Ill, under the act of March 3, << 250 Advertising rates on application. | iF The B. & O. Railroad Cashes In Announcement is made that the Baltimore and | Ohio Railroad is completing its financial reorgan-| ization that has involved the issuance of bonds totalling $155,000,000, which has increased the fixed charges for interest against the road’s revenue by something more than $2,000,000 per year. The extra $2,000,000 per year surplus value that will thus be diverted to the holders of B. & O.| bonds represents the expectations of the manage- ment regarding the so-called co-operative plan of Wm. H. Johnston and the railroad shop unions. The extra profits that will accrue to the bosses from the enslavement of the unions is considered | such a sure thing that it can be estimated at the rate of two millions per year already. It may mean riches for the bondholders, this B. & O. plan, but it means slavery for the workers. The “open shop” publications all over the country are beginning to praise the B. & O. plan. They have time and again hidden their most nefarious |purposes. It was precisely in the name of such | hypocritical idealism that the grand offensive jagainst the working class was launched by the | bosses in 1921. And to tell the farmers that what they need 1s |not patronage but certain laws and that they are |not mendicants is to heap insult upon injury in |their present acute economic distress, Just as Mr. Davis does not propose to disturb the exploiters in the city, so he proposes to aid and abet the expro- priation of the farming masses in the rural areas. In view of these outstanding features of - Mr. Davis’ campaign manual, and in view of the total | Sterility of the democratic platform we can readily understand the difficult position in which Mr. Gom- | pers was placed and his being compelled to discard, |temporarily at least, his time dishonored practice of offering to barter away the votes of some of the |industr ially organized workers. Gompers and Wall Street In an editorial, appearing in the American Fed- erationist for August, captioned “The Lesson St. Paul Taught,” Mr. Samuel Gompers made his con- fession in bankruptcy: “Granted that Wall Street has exercised a powerful and at times dominating jinfluence upon American national government, |there never has been any real bar to an ousting lot that government, or to popular influence upon that government, or to a voice for anybody who could make himself heard—and it has never been |a Wall Street government in the sense that the | Communists demand ‘a workers’ and farmers’ | government.’ ” Surely, at this old age, Mr. Gompers knows bet- ter than to characterize the United States govern- ment in such an amateurish fashion. The owner- ship of the militia, the army, the navy, the Pinker- | tons, the injunction courts, congress, the press, the | print story after story to show how much more|church, the educational system, and sundry other effectively the Johnson type of bureaucrat can ex- ploit the workers for them than they can do them- selves. The “company union” is going out of favor with the labor-hating employers—they want to hook'up with the better scheme, that pays so much more richly. They want the B. & O. plan of the shop unions extended to cover the labor movement. They want the extra profits, the more intense exploitation, that goes with it. And for the very reason that it is so agreeable to the employers, it is the most dangerous enemy of the workers. The B. & O. plan must be wiped out./This lesson has been again emphasized by the B. & O. bond sales. Get a Member and a Sub The slogan of “Get a new member for the Work- ers Party and a new subscriber for the DAILY WORKER” is the key to the most important prob- lem of revolutionary progress in America. It means to broaden the organizational foundation of the American section of the Communist Inter- national and to multiply its influence. What can be more important for a revolutionist than such a result? It has become necessary ‘to emphasize such slogans as these and to interpret the life-meaning behind them. We cannot allow ourselves to fall into the slothful habit of saying to ourselves: “Oh well, that is just some more advertising.” Such an attitude is merely an excuse for laziness. It is an evasion of the most revolutionary work that faces us in America at the moment. We must make the slogan a battle ery, a rallying of the whole party for a great advance, a call for one of our first effective assaults upon capitalism. For it must never be forgotten that the first battles of Communism are struggles for the pos-} session of the minds and souls of the worker This struggle is against petty bourgeois and paci fist ideas and programs. and carried to a successful conclusion if the Work- ers Party continually draws into its organized work all the new material that is prepared by our campaigns and our educational work. Then the circle of the fight must be extended again by en- gaging new circles of readers for The DAILY WORKER and our other papers. Get a new mem- ber and a new sub is a battle ery! Are you in the struggle? Davis States His Case If, as some cynic declared, the purpose of lan- guage is to conceal thought, then the speech of acceptance delivered by the democratic standard- bearer, John W. Davis, is a masterly contribution to political twaddle. Mr. Davis more than ran true to form in his evasion of the fundamental issues in his refusal to state that he is in the run to serve as the presi- dent of the United States in behalf of the employ- ing class. Every one of the stressed issues was buried in a mass of verbiage. We realize that poli- tics is a form of war, and that in war camouflage is an effective weapon, but it appears to us that the high-priced lawyer has handled his case poorly in this respect. But despite this attempt at melodrama and spread-eagle philosophy in dealing with such issues as the Klan, the League of Nations, and corruption in government, Mr. Davis’ speech of acceptance should prove of service in making more clear to the workers and farmers the fact that his loyalty to the big financial and industrial bosses is un- alloyed. To the workers, Mr. Davis has little else to offer than the fossilized shibboleths which were branded insufficient even by Mr. Gompers. Making “labor a part of the grand council of the nation” and de- manding “the free recognition of the right of all those who work to share in all decisions that affect their welfare,” are monstrous pretensions behind which the leading open-shoppers of the country ’ It can only be extended | > means of oppression and misinformation by the employing class is a real bar to the ousting of the present exploiters’ government by the workingmen. Surely, the ownership of the steel mills, coupled with the feudal domination of the lives of the steel workers is another real bar to working class free- dom. Certainly, the enactment of espionage laws, the power to pass criminal syndicalist laws, the ability to imprison striking workers and to jail working men for political reasons are also real bars which Mr. Gompers either dares not, or re- fuses to face, in criticising the Communists. Yes, the Communists believe in a workers’ and farmers’ government. The working men and the farming massesconstitute theoverwhelming majori- ty of the population. These masses will rule only when they develop sufficient class consciousness to undermine the above mentioned real bars to their political and economic freedom. Furthermore, these masses will attain their victory and main- tain their political power only when they organize a workers’ and farmers’ government which will not temporize with the attempts of the exploiters to restore their lost privileges. If St. Paul has taught the American workers any lesson at all, it is this truth more than any other. That Educational Work One of the most promising developments in the Workers Party has been the deepening of the edu- cational work within the ranks of the membership. Schools for intense study are growing up, slowly it is true, but surely, in New York and Chicago. These schools are equipping the comrades who must bear the burdens of organization and leader- ship in the rapidly growing movement—technrically jby teaching methods of organization, writing and veaking ;,intellectually by giving them a thorough grasp of the theory and practice of the Communist |International, together with a \broadening and deepening of their foundation of Marxian eco- nomics. This educational work does not yield the im- mediate and intense interest, the satisfaction of seeing immediate results, like that accompanying the active work in the class struggle, in strikes, in union disputes, in elect$on and other political campaigns. But if the interest is not so immediate and intense, it is more enduring and, satisfying; if the results are not so tangible they go deeper and affect the future more profoundly. The future of the Workers Party and of the whole revolutionary movement in America will be determined by those, especially by the younger gen- eration, who are taking up this educational work so whole-heartedly and zealously. Its progress is the guarantee of the growth in power and influence of the Communist movement within the American working class. Every wide-awake member of the Workers Party will participate, in one way or an- other, in making it the success it should be, “Strike strategy” was one of the most important subjects of discussion at the recent world congress of revolutionary unions. Heretofore it has been only the capitalists who were able to organize specialized knowledge on their side of the struggle. It has become different since the establishment of the Red International. Soon the labor movement will be finding a corps of skilled fighters at its command. » Russia has another drought in the Volga region. But so rapidly is the Soviet Union recovering from the ruin of war, under the efficient leadership of the Communist Party, that already it announces that it will overeome this second terrible famine without any outside assistance. A new member for the Workers Party is a new recruit to the revolutionary army. Become a recruiting sergeant for Communisny THE DAILY WORKER x Government by By Cc. E, RUTHENBERG, N adknowledging the endorsement of his candidacy for the presidency by the Bxecitive Counoll of the American Federation of Labor, Sena- tor LaFollette sent the following tele- gram: “To break the combined power of selfish interests upon government is the paramount issue of this cam- paign and with the support of or- ganized labor, the farmer, business men, professional mer, and all oth- er men and womeh whose sole in- terest in government is that of good citizenship, I feel confident that i shall win.” It is the boast of the supporters of Senator LaFollette that he has forty years of service behind him, For four decades he has participated in the government of this country either on a state or national scale, ‘We wonder how often during those forty years in connection with the government Senator LaFollette has dealt with “men and women whose sole interest in government is that of good citizenship.” If Senator LaFol- lette honestly answered that question, unless he was utterly ignorant, which we do not belieye, he would be obliged to admit that in 99 per cent of the governmental actions with which he has been connected there has been some other issue than that of good citizenship. All that Senator LaFollette needs to do, in order to recognize the fact that his appeal for government on the basis of good citizenship is pure bun- combe, would be to examine the legis- lation which Kas come before the sen- ate of the United States since he has been a member of that august body. Such an examination would show con- clusively that what the government concerns itself with is the economic interests of the various groups which exist in present-day society. The laws which are passed in the congress of the United States, in the great ma- jority of instances, have as their pur- pose to aid and assist a particular economic group in securing a greater share of the wealth of this country. Senator La¥Follette would admit that we went to war to fight for the economies interests of the capitalists of the country. He would admit that the Shipping Board legislation, the War Veterans’ Board enactments, the Teapot Dome steal legislation, were all designed for the purpose of per- mitting certain economic, groups to further their economic interests. He ould probably be ready to carry still further this explanation of gov- ernmental legislation’ and agree that tariff laws, taxation laws, banking laws, are drafted in order to give eco- nomic advantage to some particular group in this country. Maybe Senator LaFollette would say: Of course this is true, but it is to fight against legislation of this character that he is condvcting his present campaign. In his telegram to the A. F. of L., he proposes to substitute legislation on the basis of good citizenship in place of legislation in support of the economic class interests of groups in present day society. Let us see whether that can be done. One of the driving motives behind the participation of the Railroad Brotherhood in the LaFollette cam- paign is their desire for the abolition of the Railroad Labor Board. Sena- tor LaFollette. supports that demand on the part of the railroad unions. What is the basis of this demand on the part of the railroad organiza- tions? Do they want the Railroad Labor Board abolished because it is a matter of good citizenship and their Hnotive is the promotion of good citi- zenship? To ask that question is to show the utter nonsense of proposing the unity of certain groups on the basis of their sole interest in government being that of good citizenship. The railroad organizations want the Railroad Labor Board abolished because it is an instrument thru which the railroad owners prevent them from achieving better economic conditions for themselves. They want more wages, they want better hours of work, they want better work- ing conditions. e Railroad Labor Thursday, August 14, 1924 “Good Citizens” Board is a powerful weapon in the hands of the railroad owners prevent- ing them from achieving this end, and therefore they are fighting to abolish that board. Their motives are not for good .citizenship, but their economic interests. The same tests applied to any oth- er legislation coming before congress, either under the present Republican, or a Democratic, or a hypothetical administration would show the same results. ° To give another instance, the gov- ernment raises its income thru tax- ation. In levying taxes, it has to deal with certain economic groups in this country. There are the big capitalists with their tremendous income: There are the smaller capitalists with lower income. There are the small business men of various types with still small- er income. There ‘are the professional groups, the well-to-do farmers and the poor exploited farmers, and the wage workers, Any piece of legislation for the pur- pose of levying taxes can be designed so as to bear more heavily or less heavily upon one or the other of these various groups. Does Senator LaFollette contend that it is a question of good citizen- ship whether such taxation legislation shall bear more heavily upon the small business men he represents or upon the wage workers of this coun- try, or does he argue that it. is good citizenship for the little business men not to want to pay the taxes and it ought to bé good citizenship for the wage workers to want to pay the taxes, or where does the good citi- zenship come in? No thinking person will be deceived by buncombe such as is contained in Senator LaFollette’s telegram. The basis of political struggles are eco- nomic interests. Economic classes fight to improve ther position in so- ciety thru using the governmental power. When one economic group tries to hide this fundamental struggle in such phrases as “common interest in good citizenship” it is because it is endeavoring to advance its own eco- nomic interests, at the expense of de- ceiving another economic group. That is what LaFollette and the LaFollette movement is, endeavoring to do. The interests of the business men whom Senator LaFollette men- tions in his telegram and those of organized labor are not the same and cannot be harmonized, The legisla- tion which will come before congress in the interests of the small business men whom Senator LaFollette repre- sents will not be legislation in the interests of organized labor. ‘When Senator LaFollette appeals to organized labor on the basis of good citizenship in place of on the basis of their economic interests as a class, he is trying to fool them thru a eu- phemistic phrase and get their sup- port in a struggle for political pow- er to be used for the advancement ot another class. When it comes to interpreting what good citizenship means, Senator La Follette will interpret it to mean ey- erything which strengthens the posi- tion and improves the economic standing of the smafl business men of the United States. Is organized labor for that kind of good citizenship? ‘Will it follow LaFollette on the bas- is of such a phrase? If organized labor wants to prove to itself that there can be no unity on the basis of good citizenship, let it develop its own economic program and submit this program to Senator LaFollette for approval. Let it demand that business, big and little, which supported the slo- gan “Work or Fight” during the war, now adopt the policy “Work or union wages without work to the unem- ployed.” That test will quickly show that LaFollette’s brand of good citi- zenship is to fight for the economic interests of the class ne represents. The capitalists know their class in- terests and fight for them as good citizens. The little capitalists and small business men of the LaFollette movement know their class interests and, are fighting for them as good citizens, When the workers really become good citizens, they will have a class pfogram of their own and fight for it in place of being hooked by the | catch phrases of LaFollette. LaFollette’s Progressivism Scares No One (Continued from page 1) est financier and dividend-maker which the Utility corporations have supplied in Wisconsin in recent years, gave out the following to the Morning Press of Milwaukee on November 24, 1907, in response to a request for a Thanksgiving Day statement. “‘T am thankful that the Traction affairs in the city of Milwaukee have gotten into the hands of the Railroad Commission of Wisconsin, an efficient | body of men free from local prejudice, and capable of judging what is right. “It is the best thing that ever hap- pened to the Milwaukee Electric Rail- way and Light Company. It will in- sure to the Company fair treatment, and to Milwaukee the best service we can give at a fair rate. ““The report of that Commission, after its hearing on conditions regard- ing the city of Milwaukee here, was the best bill of health ever received by a Public Utility Corporation. The examination ‘was satisfactory to us, and should be to the people, as it cer- tainly was ably ,conducted by their city attorney.’” Mayor Hoan, now a trusted LaFol- lette lieutenant, takes further pains to tell us that: ,“In an address delivered at Madison, February 21st, 1912, H. Draher, Manager of the Bond Depart- ment of the Marshall and Illsley Bank of Milwaukee, before the Wisconsin State Telephone Association, let the cat out of the bag when he stated that the regulation law had been of great benefit to the investors, and gave as his three reasons, in substance, the following: “(a) The law removed the difficul- ties formerly experienced by corpora- tions in obtaining franchises, in that the law itself gave a long and indefi- nite franchise permit to ‘all corpora- tions upon which a long term bond could be issued, “(b) It eliminated what he termed cut-throat competition. “(c) It guaranteed to the investor a return of the money invested by compelling the cities to pay the full value of privately owned plants, whether they wanted to or not, in the event the cities proposed to go into the business. “Much the same spirit of capitalist satisfaction is expressed in the fol- lowing extract from an editorial in the leading LaFollette Progressive paper for Wisconsin: “‘Measured, yet very strong, recom- mendation of the Wisconsin idea of controlling public service corporations was expressed by one of the largest bond and bank houses of the country Spencer Trask, New York—in an ar- ticle published Sunday in the Jour- nal. These bond dealers say that public utility and securities issued under the Wisconsin system > in pronounced demand dmong Y ating bond buyers of the country and that they bring higher prices than bonds issued by unregulated ice utilities elsewhere in comma) “The Wisconsin idea of p attempt to control corporation busi- hess; it was considered with horror by the monied powers; it was consid- ered an arch enemy of capital; a dark plot against Big Business; designed to confiscate the proceeds of ‘thrift’ for the mass of the common people.” The approval with which the La- Follette program has met at the hands of some of the biggest capitalist in- terests in Wisconsin is also very indicated in the following interview given Richard Barry, by an ex-official of the Northwestern Life Insurance Company of Milwaukee in Hearst’s In- ternational for August 1922: “Some of us who fought LaFollette in the early days became his benefi- ciaries after his insurance and rail- road acts got to working.” Employers Reward “Regulators.” Recently the country was quite stir- red over the fact that William G. Mc- Adoo utilized his prestige as an ex- cabinet officer in obtaining employ- ment at the hands of big corporations, like thé Doheny Oil interests and the Republic Iron and Steel Company. It is no secret that this profitable em- ployment lost McAdoo the Democratic nomination and perhaps the presi- dency. But in Wisconsin there have been many such cases of ex-railroad com- mission, or ex-public utility commis- sion officers being employed by the very corporations they were regulat- ing as soon as their terms of office ex- pired. We will call upon so friendly a witness to Mr. LaFollette as Victor Berger to tell us of only a few of the outstanding instances where the La- Follette regulators were rewarded with handsome jobs by the supposedly victimized corporations. Quoting from the Milwaukee Leader of August 6th, 1923, we learn: “P, W. Doolittle, New York and Mil- waukee, formerly of the Wisconsin Railroad Commission is employed by ‘regulated’ public utility interests. “J. P. Cadby, Madison, secretary of the ‘regulated’ Wisconsin Electric & Gas Association, was formerly an em- ployee of the Wisconsin Railroad com- mission, “Edward Strait, a rate expert with the H. H, Byllesby company, was formerly with the Wisconsin Railroad Commission. “Public utility corporations also have taken two of the four men who have been secretaries of the Wiscon- sin Railroad Commission during its existence, ‘Harold Geisse, former secretary of the railroad commission, is now man- ager of the ‘regulated’ Electric Com- pany at Wassau. ~~ “C. D. 8. Cheverell resigned last week as secretary of the commission to enter the service of the ‘r ted’ Middlewest Utilities Company, pri- niga owned public utility corpora- “HL J. Hagenah, former chief sta- tistician of the Wisconsin Ratlroad Commission, is connected with Hage- now vice president of the North Ant- erican Company which owns among other properties the ‘regulated’ Mil- waukee Electric Railway and Light Company... “In Chicago you find the firm of Sloan, Hudele, Tuesdel and Freeman, consulting public utility engineers. Each member was a former employe of the Wisconsin Railroad Commis- sion. “Former Railroad Commissioner, Halford Erickson, who ‘served the state’ from 1905 to 1916, left the rail- road commission to become a mem- ber of the firm of Hagenah & Erick- son, Chicago, consulting public utili- ties statisticians, rélying on ‘regu- lated’ public utilies for its business. At present ‘he is vice-president of the H: M. Byllesby Company which owns many public utility properties and which recently acquired the Wiscon- sin-Minnesota Light, Heat and Power Company, one of the largest Wiseon- sin utilities. “Then there ig, former Railroad Commissioner John H. Roemer, who ‘served the state’ from 1907 to 1915. Mr. Roemer is an officer of H. M. Byllesby & Company, ‘regulated’ pub- lic utility owners, “Then there is Railroad Commis- sioner Walter Alexander, who ‘served the state’ from 1915 to 1917. He left the railroad commission for a position with the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company. At present he is managing Governor Philipps’ Union Refrigerator Transit and Car Company, s privately owned public utility. “A former railroad commissioner. Carl D. Jackson, bitterly remembered by Milwaukee citizens, ‘served the state’ from 1916 to 1922. He is now a public utility attorney in New York —general attorney of the National Electric Light Association and also for the National Gas Association, com- posed of ‘regulated’ privately owned public utilities. The latter was ap- pointed by Governor Blaine whom La- Follette is today supporting for re- election. “Bob” Talks More Than Fights. LaFollette’s state record shows that he has almost limited himself to talk- |met ing rather than fighting against the monopolies. While he was casting’ amorous glances at the White House in 1912: and preparing for the presi- dency, the venerable Senator wrote in the following boastful attitude in his weekly of January 6th of that year: “The general business conditions in Wisconsin conclusively show that in- stead of being led by progressive legislation in has advanced financially and commercially more than the country taken as a whole, Since we organised our state banking inspection apd “supervision in 1904 there has not been a single bank fail- ure among the 507 banks in that com- monwealth with $22,000,000 of capital and surplus, The only failures have been of national banks, thru embezz! it. During the years 1903 bes ud irage preted w a trprataed shen “The clearing house exchanges for Milwaukee increased 117.5 per cent from 1900 to 1910 while for the United States the increase was about 100 per cent. Milwaukee increase was 11 per- cent greater than that of Chicago.” Again turning to one of the leading LaFollette strategists of today, Mayor Hoan of Milwaukee, we are further enlightened as to how LaFollette handled the big corporations with silk gloves while he was governor. In Hoan’s “Failure of Regulation” we read: “Not only were trusts not prose- cuted in Wisconsin while Senator La- Follette was governor but they have not been prosecuted before or since, in spite of the fact that there was then and is now a statute (Section 1791-j) which provides in substance that any corporation organized under the laws of Wisconsin which shall enter into any combination or agree- ment to prevent competition or to con- trol prices, shal] in an action to be in- stituted by the attorney-general of the state, have its charter revoked. “The above statute has been on the statute books since 1897. Since that time we have had Democratic, Repub- lican, Progressive, Tory, and lastly, Bull Moosely inclined governors. “Notwithstanding this splendid va- riety, no trusts have been prosecuted in this state. All of this proves that if smashing the trusts is part of thp ‘Wisconsin idea’ up to the present the idea has not materialized any ns eects results, “It is true that LaFollette recom- mended that the law be changed so as . to provide for jail sentences. But the legislature which he controlled ab- solutely failed to heed this advice, and has not done so since.” Nor have any trusts. been prose- cuted since this date. And when At- torney-general Morgan of Wisconsin attempted to irritate some of the big corporations with fines and dissolu-’ tion orders, Senator LaFollette hur- riedly left Washington to get into the campaign in order to ster Morgan for re-election. . Regulation No Waagon: LaFollete is and has been trying to ‘fly in the face of industrial develop- The fact of the matter is that, economically, great industrial units are both desirable and inevitable. In- stead of dem: that these highly organized industries be socialized and controlled by the Race Follette has been to return the old system of humerous competi- tive small industrial units, ~ If attempted prosecution of trusts is to be considered a criterion of friendship to workers and poor farm- ers, then Coolidge and his anti-labor crew have at least as much right to be deemed friends of the working masses as the Wisconsin Senator. Since the Harding-Coolidge administtation came into office it has brought no less than sixty-one anti-trust suits. The con- tractors and manufacturers in the building trades, the sugar, lumber, pottery, and harvesting machinery corporations have been amongst the