The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 6, 1925, Page 2

Page Two WIRING ILLEGAL IN FIRETRAP fh 1894, CITY SAYS Tenants Say Condition of House Was ‘Roiten’ Faulty electrioal wiring, of which the owners must have been aware, was the most probable cause of the fire at 5832 Blackstone Ave., which killed six people last week, In the op- Inton of chief city electrical Inspec- tor, Tousley. Tousley’s testimony brot out that the wiring had been inspected in 1894, and condemned as dangerous, thecity refusing to allow the current to be turned on at that time. He said that the wiring in use previous to the fire Was worse than the 1894 wiring. Tousley told how after the supreme rourt had declared illegal the city ord- Inance allowing the city to regulate wiring the use of electricity had in- creased. He produced bills of the Commonwealth Edison company to show that electricity is now being used in greater quantities than when the ordinance was enforced. Tell of Rotten Conditions. Testimony of C. D. Bryson, plumber who worked at the building the day before the fire, brought out that the toilets and bathrooms were in a wretched state. Bryson said he was a “boss” plumber, and came to the Blackstone Ave. apartment house Fri- day, after Mrs. Fritz, the owner, tele- phoned him that some of the toilets were not working. He told of one toilet on the second floor which he tried to repair, which he said, “Must have leaked many times.” “Two loose boards on the floor of the bathroom were rotten and water soaked,” Bryson said. “I pried these up and fixed the toilet so that it would flush. However, Mrs. Fritz called me at nine o’clock the same night and told me the toilet was run- ning over again.” H. R. Ditzel, civil engineer, told how he was trapped in his fourth floor apartment, from which he finally es- caped with his 17-year-old paralytic son, Hugo Ditzel, by crawling across on the side of an old bed into a room on the fourth floor of the hotel next door. “I tried to get out by way of the hall,” said Ditzel, “but the smoke and flames barred my way. I went to the window and called for help, but it was 15 minutes before the telephone girls in the hotel put a board across from their hotel room. There was no fire escape to which I had access. I was in a trap, cut off and had no chance.” Tenants Have Many Complaints. That’ the tenants were extremely dissatisfied with the way the landlord kept the house in repair was shown from the testimony of Ida Belle Cum- mings, who occupied two rooms in the rear of the first floor with her mother and baby. Mrs. Cummings said she had frequently quarrelled with J. D. Frazier, agent and part owner of the building, about the condition of the bathroom, about the lack of heat, the poor lights, and the general re- pair and sanitation of the building. “I complained to Mr. Frazier on the day of the fire about the papers he allowed to accumulate under the stairs leading from the basement,” said Mrs. Cummings, adding that the building was “full of rats.” Pays High Rent. Mrs. Cummings said she pays $10.00 per week rent for her two rear rooms. She supports her mother, who is con- fined to a wheel chair, and her baby by working as an adjustor, she said. No Protective Laws. The supreme court of Illinois on ~Oct, 28, declared’ unconstitutional the city ordinance regulating the wiring of electrical current in dwellings, and now any wiring, no matter how un- safe, is lawful in Chicago. Chief City Electrical Inspector Vic- tor Tousley pointed out that since this action of the court, the electric light bills have sharply increased, on ac- count of the added unsafe and former- ly illegal wiring now being used. Landlord Knew of Wiring. “We found violations of the rules, in the burned buildings,” Tousley said, producing wiring that was installed by the tenants, made from old tele phone wires and other unsafe ma- terial, He showed that Frazier must have known of this wiring, in spite of his testimony to the contrary. Tous- ley produced bills sent Mrs, Fritz by the Commonwealth Edison company, showing that in the past few months the electric light bills for the build- ing have increased from an average of $4.50 per month to $14.57 per month for Dec., 1924, and Jan., 1925. Wired in 1894, “The building was originally wired “and we were requested to permit the use of the wiring for electric lights, but we re- fused the request because we consi- dered it dangerous. The home made wiring in use in the building up to the time of the fire was much more dangerous, however. In 1916, we granted permission for the use of five lights which were not to be more than 60 watts in strength. Now, with the unsafe home made wiring, 200 watt. lamps were in use up until the time of tho fire in almost every apartment.” | ENORMOUS PROFITS REAPED LAST YEAR BY CAPITALISTS, WHILE A ‘MILLION WORKERS WERE JOBLESS The Federated Press) endure, reduced by nearly a quarter of a bil- lion dollars. Skims 11 Per Cent off Water U. S. Steel made a 1924 net profit of $152,987,130 equal to $11.07 on each $100 share of common stock. That common stock was originally all |water, its present value being due entirely to the huge accumulation of undivided profits. U. S. Steel conti- nues its extra dividends. Inland Steel made a net profit of $5.517,299 equal to $16.28 on each $100 of common stock. Only in 1917 has this company made a better record and in that year it exploited the war emergency to the tune of $42.15 on each $100 of common stock, Imperialism’s Super Profits. United Fruit, exploiter of the slaves of Central America, made a net profit of $17,294,708 equal to $17.29 on each $100 of common stock. But in view of the 100% stock dividend in 1921 this means a return of $34.58 on each $100 invested. Regular dividends are paid at the rate of $10,000,000 or 20% on the par value before the stoc dividend. The 1928 profits were so huge that 1924 dividends were paid in advance and now that they have been paid over again the stockholders have the equivalent of a $10,000,000 cash bonus. Swift & Co. made net profits of $14, 125,987 equal to $9.41 an each $100 share of common stock. But as the federal trade commission discovered, the $225,000,000 capitalization repres- ents less than $90,000,000 put in by voiced their indignation against the will surely be extended to the rest of the labor movement tomorrow utiless a common fight of all elements is put up against these laws and agdin the present conviction of Ruthenberg and the possible conviction of thirty oth- ers who go on trial after him in the same case, the next one called for trial being Robert Minor, famous car- toonist and publicist. Among the various trade unions and labor bodies that have expressed themselves as per above recently are the Miners’ Local 2376, Christopher, lL; Journeymen Stone Cutters’ Local, Omaha, Auto Workers’ Local 127, De- troit, Mich.; Painters’ Locals 637 and 235 of Chicago, Ill. Amalgamated Me- tal Workers of A., Brooklyn, N. Y., Machinists’ Locals 84, 337, and 390, of Chicago, Architectural Iron; Bronze and Structural Workers’ Union of New York, Locals 38, and 20, I. L. G. W. U., New York; Bakers, Locals Nos. 2 and 6, A. F. L. N. Y.; A. C. W. No. tary that they refused to let the chil- dren go there. They asserted that the building was more than 50 years old, that it was insanitary and that six classrooms were in portable buildings which could not be adequately heated. The school superintendent of the district, William A, Boylan, was fore- ed to grant the mothers’ requests and the children will be kept in Public School No, 33, tho, the officials an- nounced, “temporarily.” This “temporarily” does not at all satisfy the mothgyisand ‘they appoint- ed a committee “Of six to see that their demands are carried out not to have their children go to No. 5. The children were to have been transferred to P. 8. 74, but this build- ing was not ready and will not be for another month, Meantime they were to have been sent to No, 5, but the mothers wouldn’t have it, so the offi- cials are to think it over and then report to the mothers, They prom- ise to let the children stay at No. 83 meantime, and will then send them to the new school. It’s your paper—Build on it! Take a look at the 1924 Profits of the 10 industrial companies listed below and then try to figure how long a system so top heavy with profits can ‘These are not the profits of a boom year but a year in which over 1,000,000 factory workers were forced to Join the large army of unemployed, in which hundreds of thousands of railroad men and coal miners were laid off and the country’s monthly payroll+ investors. The remainder represents the capitalization of profits in excess of legitimate dividends. In other words Swift’s profits for 1924 would be over $20 per $100 of real investement. Profits from Child Labor. National Biscuit Co. made net profits of’ $12,881,530 equal to $21,76 per $100 invested in common stock. Ward Baking Corp. made net profits of $4,369,739. The 312,714 shares of preferred stock represent the entire real investement so that the report of $2.98 per share for each of the 500, 000 shares of Class B common stock means nearly $1,500,000 of sheer vel- vet over and above the legitimate 7° dividends on preferred. 57 Per Cent Spearmint. William Wrigley, spearmint, king, made net profits of $8,539,318 ‘equal to about $57 on each $100 of stock. The year’s cash dividends were at the rate of nearly $36 on each $100 of In- vestment proving that chewing ts a profitable habit but not altogether to the chewer. Why the A. C. W. Readjustment? Manufacturers of wearing apparel were not behind the rest m profits. Hart Shaffner & Marx made $2,041, 383 equal to $13.46 on each $100 share. National Cloak & Suit made approxi- mately $12 a share, bringing the total earned on each $100 in the tast 3 years to over $38. And Endicott Johnson, company union shoe manufacturers, made an operating profit of $6,360, 518 equal to $16.08 per $100 invested. MANY UNIONS RALLY TO AID OF MICHIGAN COMMUNIST VICTIMS AND LABOR DEFENSE COUNCIL Following close upon the heels of the conviction of C. E. Ruthenberg, executive secretary of the Workers (Communist) Party under the criminal syndicalism law of Michigan, many unions and prominent individuals have conviction of Ruthenberg and the criminal syndicalism law of Michigan as well as similar laws of other states. Without exception they call attention to the grave danger of such conviction to the labor movement as a whole and point out that what happens to the Communists taday under these laws #—————______________ 39, Chicago; Machinists No. 91 in Minneapolis and a number of other organizations in New York, Chicago and various other cities. Sunday, Feb. 1, Chicago Federation of Labor re- affirmed its former stand (of 1922) against criminal syndicalism laws and the Michigan attack. At its recent state convention the Musicians’ Association of Michigan, also passed a resolution against the criminal syndicalism law and the con- viction of Ruthenberg, and the trial of Minor and the other 29 indicted. Bury Latest Herrin Victim. ELDORADO, IIL, Feb. 4.—The fu- neral of Phillip Farmer, who was shot to death in the Lymar hotel at Herrin Sunday, was held here this afternoon. Burial was to be at the masonic cemetery near Raleigh, Illinois. get an “Ad” RKER. When you buy, for the DAILY Wo MOTHERS IN STRIKE AGAINST FIRETRAP SCHOOL IN NEW YORK NEW YORK, Feb. 4.—One hundred mothers of 110 children in the Bronx refused to let them endanger their lives in an old school building, took the matter to the school authorities and won the strike in no time. The school officials were forced to give the children better quarters. The 110 children had been transferred to Public School No. 5, at Webster avenue and 188th street. which their mothers found so dangerous and insani- THE DRAMA OF THE GLASS STRUGGLE AS SEEN IN CLEVELAND CLEVELAND, Ohio, Feb. 4.—Ed- ward Picquest, 27 year-old war vet- teran, who has been out of work for months, committed suicide by shooting himself thru the heart. His last words “Don’t worry, I have tried for a long time to be somebody, but | guess | failed.” oes John Glazer, aged 53, a black- smith, ill and out of work said to his wife and four children, “This may be my last night.” A few minutes later they heard a shot in his room, He was found on the bed; a bullet thru his brain, ee Mrs. Highbrow, wife of a leading Cle ind banker, is the winner in a beauty contest at Palm Beach for having the tiniest poodle dog on the beach. U. S. PAYS SCRUBWOMEN $410 A YEAR WASHINGTON, Feb. 4.—Chrawomen employed in the capitol—21 of them are paid $410 a year, All they have to do is to scrub floors and stairs and toilets and railings. Most of their work is done early in the morning and after 6 Jn the evening. Now the appropriations committee of the house has reported favorably on a raise in pay for these 21 women of $2.80 a year. If Coolidge does not veto this extravagance they will get $412.80 each year henceforth, This boost wae allowed to facilitate accounting and de- ductions on the retirement fund, THE DAILY WORKER SENATORS TALK LOUDLY ABOUT KELLOGG'S PACT Charge U. S. Drawn into Europe for 214, Pct. (Special to The Dally Worker) WASHINGTON, Feb. 4.—Senatorial dissatisfaction with the Paris agree- ment, whereby the United States be- came an official partner in the Dawes Plan in exchange for 2% per cent of the money derived from Germany un- der the Dawes plan, and senatorial fears over what the United States may have been “let in for” broke forth anew on the floor of the senate today. Tt came in the form of an impas- sioned speech by Senator Hiram Johnson, republican, California, con- demning the agreement negotiated by secretary of state designate Kellogg, and challenging the authorities to have so acted without consulting the senate, Ralses Important Question. Johnson warned the senate that the Paris agreement brought before it “two very grave and important ques- tions.” These were, he said, “First, the possibilities of what happened at Paris, and second, the question pre- sented by the secretary of state that the executive department of the gov- ernment has the power to determine without the consent of congress what shall be done with a debt to the na- tion,” Johnson pointed’ out that the Bu- ropean press, immediately after the signing of the Paris pact on January 14, “published felicitations and ar- ticles galore that America had altered her foreign policy and was once more in Europe.” “Not only abroad,” he added, “but among our own publicists interested in international aspects, it wis said that America had come to realize her responsibilities and finally had taken part in the collection of reparations from Germany under the Dawes plan.” They'll Pray for Dawes’ Plan. Johnson called attention to the state department to explain America’s position in the Paris pact and said Americans should “pray to god” that the Dawes’ plan “works out in its en- tirety and wholly successfully,” for if so there may be no danger to this country, “but if it works out ill, if it proves unsuccessful, the signers of this collection document will have to do the collecting, Then will come the time when you will curse the day America became a this col- lection document for European debts.” No Klan Ties, Says Head of the Premier Taxicab Company (Continued from page 1) fore very unpopular among the work- ers. As the klan is notoriously anti- labor, there is a belief in trade union circles that the hooded order may have been used by the scab taxi com- pany to injure a rival, The following letter was received by The DAILY WORKER from the ex- ecutive officers of the Premier Taxi company in denial of the statements contained in the published letter: The DAILY WORKER, Chicago, Illinois. Gentlemen: Referring to the article in your daily paper of Monday, February 2, headed “Premier Cab company organizes for Ku Klux Klan,” we deny positively that this is the case. We further deny every allegation made in that article from beginning to end. . This company has had no hand whatsoever nor has any of its offi- Gials, in the sending out of litera- ture or letters, asking Premier em- ployes to become members of the ku klux klan. “This propaganda has been sent out by our enemies in an effort to demoralize this company. We do not sanction such tactics, any more than we would take it up- on ourselves to advise employes to join the Masons or Knights of Col- umbus or any ether organization. No officlal or department head of Premier Taxi company is a member of the ku kiux klan, from its presi- dent down the line. And if any other employe does belong, we do not know it any more t! we do if they belong to any othen order, To prove that th charges are false, we offer $1 reward for the arrest and conviction of the per- “son or persons who ha pread this der rk of ollr ene- mies who are seeking to demoralize the employes of Premier Taxi com- pany and to break down their mo- rale which they know is at a higher lard right now. tn all our gar we have posted signs notify- ing all our employes that this ru- mor is untrue. We employ Jews ‘and Gentiles, Catholics and Protestants, Masons Knights of Colui Elks, white men and colored | alike. The only qualification we demand of our employes is that they come to us with a clean past The only employes we dismiss are those who have proven Inefficient In our serv- loe. We stand staunchly for good oharacter and jonoy, and have always done so the Inception of this company... This applies to bread and their families are forced to depend on tho scanty relief afforded by their union and other affected, Great Merger of Coal Barons Calls for Bigger Battles By the Workers By J. LOUIS ENGDAHL 'ODAY, the dollar press hails with enthusiasm the merger of coal companies controlling 150 mines over 75,000 acres of land, in West Virginia, having an annual production capacity of 21,000,000 tons, “Twenty years ago, perhaps even ten. years ago,” says the Chicago Journal, “the American people would have greeted that announcement with the outcry of monopoly.” The Journal favors the monoply, altho it claims to “fight for the people.” It must needs claim that “the pee- pul” are also in favor of it; that all they ask is, “what differ- ence will it make in the price and the dependability of fuel?” *s * 8 & The readers of the kept press are bligthely informed that monopolization will make a difference in their favor; that it will put the business on a rational basis, meaning that it will eliminate strikes, prevent car shortage, and bring W, P, DEFEATS §, PIN DEBATE, VOTE 126 107 Swabeck Shatters Points Made by Socialist MILWAUKEB, Wis., Feb. 4—An enthusiastic audience witnessed a de- bate between the socialist party and Worker Party on the question of “Democracy versus Proletarian Dic- tatorship.” Arne Swabeck in a masterful fash- ion analyzed all of the points brot out by Ernest Unterman, an old war horse and a theoreticilan of the socialist party. * Class Struggle and Revolution. In answer to the pious appeal of the S. P. for peaceful, evolutionary meth- ods, Arne Swabeck quoted the con- cluding parts of the Communist Manifesto. “The Communists disdain to conceal their aims. They openly declare that their ends can be at- tained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions. Let about system in an admitted chaotic industry. The coal barons will no doubt be glad to have the optimism of these sheets smother the opposition, if it can, of the “dear pee- pul.” To be sure, that is what these same “common pee-pul” voted for when they decided to keep Coolidge in the White House. * ¢ * @ The assurance with which the announcement is made that there will be no middle class opposition to the growing monoply in coal, is a confession that this class is getting weaker, rather than stronger. LaFollette, in entering the presidential elections, gambled that the middle class protest was getting stronger. He is away in Florida now, where he is no doubt trying to forget the “coal problem” as well as other questions in which he tried to interest the small bour- geoisie; always on the side of the capitalist system, however. ec 3p ® With the admitted decline of the middle class from the days when “Teddy” Roosevelt led his onslaught against “the trusts,” there is a corresponding rise of working class strength and consciousness. The great $100,000,000 coal mine merger is a new challenge to all labor. It is not an accident that the news of the merger comes first from the Wall Street financial district in New York City. The firm that is pushing thru the merger has been busy at this kind of work for the past 35 years. This is its greatest effort. It is also easily understood why the merger brings to- gether 80 small companies in the non-union coal fields of West Virginia, in the vicinity of Fairmont, Morgantown and Clarksburgh, where some of the most bitter struggles be- tween the mine workers and the mine owners have taken place. ss. * ¢ @ e The gold of Wall Street supporting coal mine mergers in West Virginia means new &tre to the non-union mining interests. The West Virginia mine merger is a new weapon in the hands of open shop interests thruout the whole mining industry. The consolidated company will eliminate competition, such as it exists, and it will help curtail costs. That means higher profits for the stockholders. Reduced wages, the longer workday and worse conditions of labor, will also help add to the profit mountain, out of which an anti-strike fund can easily be drawn. This merger means more work for cheap labor in non-union fields, idleness for the miners in the organized fields, where union wages and union condi- tions are in force. It is thus easily seen that new and greater struggles lie ahead, not only for the coal miners: of West Virginia, but for all coal mimers. And what affects the coal miners also in- volves the workers in all industries. If the workers do not foresee this the full realization of it will dawn upon them with the development of each day’s new events and needs. There is only one way, however, to face the new and bigger battles. That is thru militant and intelligent organization, politically and industrially. * * &* ® John L. Lewis, president of the Coal Miners’ Union, is the best ally of the mine owners when he makes war, as he does, upon the Communist movement. It is the Communists who lead the drive for an effective, fighting, winning United Mine Workers’ Union. Such an organization would see the Lewis bureaucracy sloughed into the discard. Only the Com- munists point the way not only to a mighty Miners’ Union, but also to the seizure of all power by the whole working class. Wm. Green, former secretary-treasurer of the Miners’ Union, now the head of the American Federation of Labor in Gompers’ place, is in Miami, Florida, meeting with his executive council. He says “nothing extraordinary” will be considered at the meeting. That means that no efforts are being made to resist the new attacks being planned by the exploiters against the workers, But the workers, under the lash of growing unemploy- ment, wage cuts, the longer workday, will realize that extra- ordinary measures are necessary to resist this onslaught. They -will see that the Communists were correct in their analysis of the problem. As a result they will turn to the Communists, in spite of Lewis and Green and all their kind for the leadership of which they stand so desperately in need, in this hour when the master class is consolidating its every ounce of strength. f Se In the organization from ‘al superintendent down, We trust you will give our an- swer as much prominence as was given the above mentioned article. Very sincerely, Premier Taxi Company, PETER A. MORTENSON, Turks Protest to League. GENEVA, Feb. 4.—The Turkish gov- ernment sent to the league of nations today a protest against British inter- ference in the Mosul mixed Jeague commission. Red Revel Masquerad: Il, 37 South President. Ashland Avenue W. L. HAYS, Corner of Monroe and Madison Sts., Vice-president and General Mgr. February 28, Miners Starve As Bakers Boost Bread | VINCENNES, Ind., Feb, 4—Knox county bakers are raising the price of cents a loaf to 10 cents while hundreds of unemployed coal miners charity or starve, Both Bicknell and Vincennes are severely rligg 2. bay ad & wl the ruling classes tremble at a Com- munist revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains and the world to gain.” This stirring appeal for the true teachings of Marx énd against the perversion of Marx- ism by the leader of the Two-and-a- Half International stirred the audi- ence to a fighting spirit and gained its support to the side of the Workers Party. Swabeck exposed the hypocrisy of the fig leaf of bourgeois democracy hiding the iron fist of capitalist dic- tatorship. Did you forget the Berg- er’s case in congress? How about the socialist alderman in New York? he asked embarrassed Unterman. How about the white terror during the steel strike and every other strike? What was the last injunction in the railroad strike if not dictatorship of the capitalist class? Look at Italy, said Swabeck there you can see the iron fist of capitalist dictatorship in all its nakedness, Democracy and Dictatorship. When Unterman attempted to link up the Communists with anarchists on the question of the proletarian dic- tatorship Swabeck quickly came back and quoted Marx: That the transi- tion period from capitalism to Com- munism can be nothing else than the proletarian dictatorship. “Paris Com- mune was the first great lesson” said OUnterman which taught us that we should not use force in the struggle. And to this Swabeck came back with the true lessorfs of the Paris Com- mune as taught by Marx and Lenin that the reason the Paris Commune failed was because they did not exer- cise the proletarian dictatorship. Comrade Swabeck advised Unter- man to read Lenin’s book “The State and Revolution” in order to under- stand that the state arose as the re- sult of the division of society into conflicting _ social groups and since these groups exist the state can be nothing else than the organ of sup- pression in the services of the ruling class. Comrade Swabeck also pointed out that while it is important to have the class consciousness of the major- ity, yet it is of the most vital import- ance that the proletariat should have a party of its own, composed of the most revolutionary section of the working class to guide it toward the final goal of the proletarian revolu- tion, the overthrow of the capitalist order and the establishment of the Communist society. After the debate the vote was taken and the Workers Party was awarded the decision by the audience by the vote of 126 to.9, There will be another debate with the S. P.’ites on the Dawes plan be- tween Max Bedacht. of the Workers Party and Unterman of the socialist party. Our Kids Are Having ONE BIG JOB Carrying Their Communist Message To the Children of THE WORKING CLASS SUPPORT THEIR MOVEMENT Come to the JUNIORS’ DANCE SAT., FEB. 14, 1925 Workers’ Lyceum WHITE GUARDS ARE HET UP OVER MOCK TRIAL OF COUNTER-REVOLUTIONISTS The trial of the counterrevolution which is planned for this Sunday by the Society for Technical Aid to Soviet Russia, is arousing the ire of the local white guards, There is much talk in the Russian colony. The former captains, colonels and generals of the ezar’s army are up against it. There are rumors that one of the defense jawyers is a 100 per cent white guardist and therefore declines to have his name announced before the trial. There is also discomfort in the office of . the local white guard Russian sheet. In the last issue of this paper they attacked Ruthenberg’s speech in Madison Square Garden. They ex- pect to be exposed at the'trial, The trial will be held this Sunday, at 6 Pp. m. at the Soviet School, 1902 W. Division St. AN the proceedings will be conducted In the Russian ee {ie t : t ' i EE A TSE SR a ee