The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 21, 1925, Page 1

— | | | ‘ Insure the DAILY WORKER To the Last Spike! Before March 5 Vol. II. No. 35. GEN AS WE SEE By T. J. O'FLAHERT N adventurous Kentuckian, Floyd Collins, was caught in a passage- way leading to a cavern. His plight attracted the attion of the entire coun try thru newspaper publicity. It was the kind of a sensation that touches the human heart and it was played up to the limit. Circulation managers like that kind of thing. The capi- talist news mongers cared very lit- tle about the sufferings of Collins. Thousands of Collinses die every year in the mines of this country and they receive only a passing notice. 8 URING the world war at least seven million men, the pick of the world’s manhood were murdered on the battlefields of Europe and Asia in a war between rival capital- ist national groups, While the ter- rible tragedy lasted, the governments of the different countries made it a criminal, offense to oppose mass mur- der, Even now in a time of compar- ative peace only the exigencies of pol- ities prevent the government from throwing into prison all those who oppose war. But when somebody dies under dramatic conditions, as Col- lins did, the lachrymal conduits of the capitalist press begin to leak and the public weeps in sympathy. se * 'HERE is hardly a day in the year that miners do not die under cir- cumstances just as tragic as those that accompanied the death of Floyd Collins. They go down into the bow- els of the earth, to slave for a pit- tance. They are in constant danger of death from a thousand causes by ex- plosions, cave-ins, gas. When“the in- evitable takes place; there is a head- line i nthe daily press and then si- lence. The coal operators control mil- lions of dollars. They control thou- sands of newspapers. They do ont like any kind of publicity that might interfere with their profits. se ING GEORGE of England is- ill. So is Gloria Swanson. Gloria and the king are crowding each oth- er off the front page. Shouid the two nuisances pass away at the same time, the king will get the» oremier ~emiore position, not ™ worthy but. because he nominally reigns over more people than ever saw Gloria demoralize a millionaire with a twirl of her hip. ee 'HIS ‘is not such’ a very healthy era for kings, and capitalist dic- tators. Only recently Albania put an ad. in the “help wanted” columns of the ° British papers for a king. There is usually a good crop of kings and kinglets in England, but most of them now prefer a job as porter in a movie theater or to take their chances on marrying an American so- ciety girl. The Albanian job went begging, particularly as one of the prerequisites for the position was a steady hand and quick with the trig- ger. “Bill” Hart might take a shot at it. ese 8 USSOLINI is ill. Some say it is political illness. The mur- derer is nearing the end of his rope. His own bandits are turning on him. His next door neighbor, Primo de Rivera, is in a still worse position. Primo went to Morocco to “clean up” the Riffians but the Riffiians can squint along the barrel of a rifle, and there are now more Spaniards than Riffiians in Morocco, with the differ- ence that the Spaniards are dead and the Rifflians are yery much alive. The regrettable feature of this, is that the poor Spaniards who lost their lives in Morrocco are mostly mem- bers of the working class. oe * APITALIST dictatorships, wheth- er open or veiled are bound to collapse. The decline of the capi- talist system is rapid. Even France js at her wits end to the franc ‘from becoming a vaudeyille joke. Roumania and Germahy are at war. That they have not armies in the field is not dug to any indisposition on either side. They simply can’t af- ford to pay the carfare and they can’t afford to start another military war. So they confine their . efforts to a “civilized” war, the kind that paci- fists like Oswald Garrison Williard would very likely approve. In the midst of this chaos and confusion, Soviet Russia is marching forward, youthful and vigorous with the blood (Continued on page 2) un 5S SRAFFER PO BOK EIGHTH AVE HEW YORK N Y¥ Sethe2s THE PTINN RATER! Chisago, by mat $8.00 Entered ba ladebbi- class matter September 21, 1923, at In Chi¢ago: by mail, ~ “tide Chicagc, by $8.00 per year. mail, $6.00 per year. iso (KERS LEAGUE OF NEW VILL HELP FILL MADISON wvvARE GARDEN ON MARCH 15 By JACK STACHEL, District Organizer, Young Workers League, District No. 2. NEW YORK CITY, Feb. 19.—Spurred on by the gigantic success of the Lenin Memorial meeting the Workers Party and the Young Workers League are to hold a combined press pageant and Paris Commune celebration at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, March 15. *This is the greatest. undertaking of this nature ever ventured into by the Communists in this country, and will necessitate the actite participation of every party and Y. W. L, member| as well as of every militant worker, in this city. This will be an all-day and night affair with a program that will meet the fancy of every one. A concert and ball will conclude the evening program. While others will write on tie pro- gram, etc., I want to use these few lines to impress upon the party mem- bership, the sympathizers of our movement and particularly the Young Workers’ League membership of Dis- trict No. 2, to get on the job. Also I cannot forget the Juniors, who I know will play a great part in this under- taking. The tickets for this affair sell at 75 cents and every purchaser of a ticket will receive one month’s sub- scription to The DAILY WORKER free. Here is an opportunity to get 15,000 workers to read our DAILY WORKER for at least a month. Then with the excellent DAILY WORKER staff at work, I am certain that we can retain at least half of them as regular DAILY WORKER subscribers and readers. - This is the greatest op- portunity we have had for a long time to serve our party and with an expenditure of so little effort. I know of nothing that should receive the preference to this drive for new read- ers, at the present moment. - Tickets come in fives and any one who sells all the five tickets will re- ceive free admission. A free trip to the next party and Y. W. L.’ conven- tion will be given to any member of the party or Y. W. L. that. sells the highest number of tickets. Many oth- er prizes for members and sympa- thizers will be announced shortly Watch the press. I call upon ‘all members of the Y. W. L. and of the Junior section to give all the en at their disposal from now to March to make thi Pagoant-and---Paris.- bration the greatest crane He tory of our party. een WORKERS’ ea sm HAS COURSE FOR TRADE UNIONISTS Lectures on Communist Fundamentals Fridays NEW YORK, Feb. 18.—Oliver Carl- son, well known Communist teacher and lecturer, is giving a course on the “Fundamentals of Communsm” at the Workers’ School of New York. The class meets every Friday, 8 to 10 p. m., at the headquarters of the school, 208 East 12th street. This course is part of the trade un- ion training course given at the Workers’ School. It is intended pri- marily for workers active in the trade unions, and lays special emphasis up- on revolutionary trade union theory and tactics. Comrade Carlson is conducting classes for the Workers Party in Phil- adelphia, Baltimore and other cities in District No. 3. His lectures have been received with enthusiasm every- where and are very. well attended. He has spent two years in Soviet Rus- sia and other parts of Europe. His knowledge of Communist theory and of the trade union movements of both Europe and America make his course at the Workers’ School especially val- uable, Comrades should register now for the class. They will find the lectures interesting and instructive. Remember the date—every Friday, 8 p. m., at the headquarters of the Workers’ School. Expell Communists in Mexico. MEXICO CITY, Feb, 19.—The sec- retary of the Carpenters’ Union of the Mexican Federation of Labor has been expelled from the federation on char- ges that he made strong Communist speeches, The Federation of Labor is taking active steps to eliminate Communis' from the unions, but the rank and file protest against the expulsions is in- creasing, _| “LOONEY GAS” AT STANDARD OIL PLANT CLAIMS ANOTHER VICTIM BRIDGETON, N. J., Feb. 19—In spite of the ‘deaths of five oesedand oll workers from “looney gas” poisoning rece wy this dangerous material is still being manufactured in New Jersey. ‘Robert Huntsinger, the latest vietim, is reported insane and fatally affected by his) work in an ethyl gas laboratory in the Penns Grove plant: here,’ * why “His condition is entirely due to E. C. Lyon, county physician, after dekaiathig' hima tl ‘nature of his work,” declares Dr. Cumberland county hoanital. There is little chance for recovery, says Dr. Lyon. . ‘ \ NOVA SCOTIA MINERS FIGHT COAL BARONS Workers Refuse to Fall for “Arbitration” (Special to The Daily Worker) GLACE BAY, Nova Scotia, Feb. 19. —Since last November the miners here have not worked more than twen. ty days each. It was this extreme un- employment among the miners, reduc- ing them to poverty, that the British Empire Stee! corporation took advant- age of to enforce a cut in wages at the expiration of the agreement on January 15th, The negotiations with the corpora- tion led to the declaration of the cor- poration that a ten per cent cut in wages was necessary. The demands of the miners were formulated at a district convention held in Sydney, Nov. 17 to 24, and included an in- crease of 25 per cent for data] men and a 10 per cent increase for con- tract men. These demands were made on the corporation, with the result that the negotiations came to a dead- lock. The corporation declared its de- termination to force a cut of 10 per cent on the miners and since it was impossible to get the representatives of the miners to aécept this they ap plied for an arbitration board, which the piste a labor, Murdoch, agreed, ‘o immedia District Committee Staunch The minister of labor notified the district executive that they should ap- point their representative, but this they réfused to do. This district ex- ecutive was elected on a “red” plat- form, and they were not to be fooled by the arbitration stunts of the cor- poration and its government at Ot- tawa, Finding it impossible to get the district executive to appoint a repres- entative the minister of labor sent one of his stoolpigeons, Quirk, to per- suade the committee to appoint some- one to the board. This he failed in since he is well known as the faker who has always been used by the cor- poration to sabotage every strike of the miners or steel workers of Nova Scotia. After this failed the minister of la- bor appointed Dr. J. W. Robertson of Ottawa as the “representative” of the miners. This Robertson was a mem- ber of the royal commission that in- vestigated the greviance of the steel workers of Sydney in 1923 and white washed the company in the report. Tools Of Besco When the board arrived here, the district committee branded them as tools of Besco and stated that their only function was to help the corpora- tion put the wage cut over, and that the miners would have nothing to do with them. The board hung around Sydney for a few days, ard then sent in a report to the government, the contents of which have not yet been made public. The district committee has now de- manded that the corporation extend the present scale of wages for four months and that the government ap point a commission to investigate the financing of the corporation. If this can be forced on the corporation, the miners will be in a better position to strike for their demands than they are at the present time. Child Labor Law A Before Legislature A : in Michigan Today LANSING, Mich., Feb. 19.—A _ re- opening of the bitter fight that has been waged here for and against the federal child labor amendment is scheduled for Friday morning. At that time the resolution of rejection offered by Representative Charles Culver in the house will be upon spe- clal order. rar evening the senate labor committee held’ a public hearing on the measiré. A stron lobby of women, repre- senting © én’s clubs thruout the state, is’ no} w éndeavoring to bring pressure’ house members to defeat the resolution. a ion SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1925 <<» 25,000 GARMENT WORKERS IN NY. OUT ON STRIKE Demand Wage Increase and Union Shop NEW YORK, Feb. 19.—White goods workers, silk underwear workers, chil- dren's dress makers, bathrobe and house dress workers are once again striking in New York under direction of the miscellanéous trades district council, International Ladies’ Garment Workers, to gi union organization in all shops and improve conditions. Between 20,000/and 25,000 workers, 95 per cent girlg, are employed in these branches of the garment trades in New York me. Men involved are mostly cu and some pressers, Least Skill Lowest Paid A concerted strike of these different trades after a areful campaign of several months is a new departure in the union's tactiés. Previous strikes were usually the spontaneous rebel- lion against impossible conditions in one of the trades, with consequent spread of the strike feeling to other trades in the garment industry. The white g or silk and muslin underwear w » are and always have been the le skilled and lowest paid workers im the industry. Many native American Negro girls have come into this | ich since immigra- tion has been Wd. Altho they are the hardest to approach with union ideas, the girl ‘izers in charge of the campaign the international have had consi ble success in in- teresting. these kers. ‘Demand Wage Increase ‘Wage increat of 20 per cent, un- ion shop, sanitary conditions and the adoption of the sanitary-label are the union demands im the strike. Prison labor competition has un- dermined the’ je dress trade con- siderably, to the of both worker PA SO eelereeer | Wages in thea trades range aces $16 to $40, but many girls make as little as $14 and even $12. The higher wages are made’by cutters and the most highly skilled operators on the machines. The trades are highly sea- sonal so that average wages are lower than weekly wages: indicate. TEXTILE LORDS NOW CUT PAY IN WOOL MILLS Workers Held Down by Reactionary Leaders By ROBERT MINOR. (Special to The Daily Worker) PROVIDENCE, R. L., Feb. 19.—That the big wage-slashing drive which was supposed to affect only the cotton mills has already cut deep in the woolen mills, had to be admitted today after the 800 weavers of the Atlantic Mills met Monday night in Providence to solve the riddle of the queer pay envelopes. Everyone has been saying during the past three months: “They won't dare to cut wages:in'the woolen mills.” Only last week L*asked a veteran weaver of high skill, a long head, and a longer strike record, whether there would be any strike. He had replied: “Not as long as they confine the cuts to the cotton mills. But if they cut in the woolen mills, then there'll be (Continued on page 3) WOULD CREATE FEDERAL FIRM FOR EXPORTERS WASHINGTON, D. D. C., Feb. 19.— Legislation creating a federal export corporation to sell in foreign markets the agricultural surplus of the United States will be browght from the house agriculture committee, Representative Haugen, republican, of Iowa, chairman of the committee, announced today. War Propaganda Continues. CAMP SKEEL,) Oscoda, Mich., Feb. 19.—The first pursuit group of the army air service today entered on the last of their maneuvers here, carried on to create sentiment for a larger air fleet for the army. WY GRIER, Office at Chicago, Illinois under the Act of March 3, 1879. Published daily except Sunday by THE DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO., 1118 W. Washington Blvd., Chicago, Ill. | VICTIM OF TEXTILE PROFITEERS Sic May 1, BARTOLOME: tched in Mass State” Prison 1924, by Lydia Gidson., O VANZETTI. SACCO-VANZETTI PROTEST MEET IN CHICAGO AT EMMET MEMORIAL HALL ON SUNDAY, MARCH FIRST Every militant worker in Chicago will attend the Sacco-Vanzetti protest mass meeting on Sunday, March 1 at 2:30 p. m, at the Emmet Memorial Hall, Ogden and Taylor Aves. This meeting, which will be held under the auspices of the Workers (Communist) Party in conjunction with tke Labor Defense Council will be participated in by all the progressive organizations in the city including unions affiliated with the American Federation of Labor and the Industrial Workers of the World. Thus Chicago will witness the staging of a tremendous demonstration by. workers as never before to demand the release from jail of Sacco and Van- zetti and to protest against all efforts to jail workers because of their act- ivities in economic and political or- ganizations. Every ‘worker in Chicago should constitute himself a committee of one to announce this meeting everywhere, to bring as many workers as he pos- sibly can and to be on the job in every way to put this meeting over big. Among those to address the meeting will be Jack W. Johnstone, secretary of the Trade Union Educational ‘Lea- gue, Antonio Presi, Italian labor editor and P. J. Welinder, secretary of the Industrial Workers of the World. see Unions Responded in Cleveland CLEVELAND, Ohia, Feb, 19.—Many unions have responded to the call of the Workers Party here for a united front against the frame-ups and perse- cutions of militant workers. A mon- ster mass demonstration of workers will take place in this city on March 1st, in the Engineers Auditorium for (Continued on page 2) MANUFACTURERS FIGHT 8-HOUR DAY FOR WOMEN SPRINGFIELD, Ill, Feb. 19.—The Illinois manufacturers’ association, which controls a good size block of legislators, issued instructions to all its members to fight against the bill introduced in both the, house and senate of the Illinois legisldture aim- ing to establish an eight-hour day for women. The letter, signed by John M. Glenn, secretary of the manufacturers, urges the members to send in reports, “ad- vising why the measure should not pass.” “To the members,” says Glenn's letter, “attention is directed to house bill No, 90, introduced in the Illinois general assembly this week, affecting the work of women in plants and cer- tain other places of employment, ostensibly as an eight-hour measure, It has been carefully drawn with a view of eliminating seasonable em- ployment and all employment which renders service to the general public. “There are no conditions in Illinois, having to do with health, sanitary sur- roundings or social: conditions, war- ranting legislation .on this subject. Please read the enclosed bill carefully, and advise this office promptly your reasons why the measure should not pass and how such a law. would affect your busine: The bill exempts, eapnery workers and telephone workers, from, thy eight- hour day for women, giving such workers a ten-hour day,,, | aid zs MAY INVITE THE ‘SOVIET UNION TO RADIO MEETING Say Question Annoys ’ Cal Coolidge (Special to The Daily Worker) WASHINGTON, D. C., Feb. 19.— Whether or not the Soviet Union shall be included in the invitation list for the world radio conference which is to be called together in Washington next autumn in the latest phase of the Rui in recognition game to annoy President Coolidge. It was in 1912 that thesdelegates of all the chief countries of the world met in London and adopted the Lon. don convention on international regul- ation of telegraphic communication. The American government invited the Peoples of the world to hold their next coriference on this subject in Washington, and the invitation was unanimously accepted. The date was then set at 1917. But ‘the war upset that plan, The telegraph conference which was to have been held in Paris in 1915, and the radio conference in Washington in 1917, were postponed. Now the tel- egraph conference is about to be held in Paris, and the state department has prepared a list of 60 states that are to be invited to the radio dis- cussion in Washington next fall. They won't say whether Soviet Russia is included, President Coolidge, faced with the question, decides that the issue of in- viting Russia may be one which will require consultation with Britain, France, Japan and Italy., That is to say, the big four powers that divided the world after the war will be con- sulted as to whether Russia will do more harm outside or inside this con- ference. All of them now deal with Moscow. Must Have Russia If Russia is to be excluded because Coolidge does not recognize the Soviet | Union, then the chance of reaching an agreement In the conference that will be of permanent value to the world may be questioned. The last Washington conference “settled” the fate of China and Japan and the Rus- sian Far Rast—and immediately China developed a series of civil wars, fol- lowed by treaties, with the Soviet Union on the meth ae both China and Japan, NEW YORK EDITION Price 3 Cents WORKERS PARTY URGES AID 10 IRISH FAMINE Excoriates Free State Government The Workers (Communist) Party of America on receipt of a message from Ireland that a large part of the peas- ant and working class population was suffering from the tortures of famine Immediately took steps to raise funds for the alleviation of the distress in that country. In conjunction with the International Workers’ Aid, an Irish Workers and Peasants’ Famine Relief Committee was organized which is now functioning. The following statement was issued by the Central Executive Committee of the Workers (Communist) Party, on the Irish famine: The Famine Victims 750,000 Irish workers and peasants are now the victims of one of the worst famines that ever visited a na- tion whose wounds inflicted by foreign tyranny and civil war are not yet healed. In a stretch of country that reaches from Donegal in the north to Cork in the south on the west coast, and reaching inland for about forty miles, the poor farmers, workers and fishermen are in a state of destitution. The failure of the potato crop over a large area, the flooding of the bogs thru incessant rain thus ruining the fuel supply and the destruction of the fishing industry on the west coast by British steam trawlers, are given as the reasons for the terrible situation that now exists in a large section of Ireland. A famine is no new phenomenon in Ireland. Oppressed by the British gov- ernment for centuries, robbed of their inheritance by landlords and exploited by the capitalist class, the Irish work- ers and peasants like the workers of all countries have always been within spéaking distance of want. Tens of thousands of peasants and their- families were. driven from. the fertile midlands to the bleak and des- olate west cost, and their formér homesteads were razed to the ground to make room for the cattle of the absentee landlords. Bullocks now roam the land where thousands of sturdy peasants made their homes, The bar- ren rocks are good enough for the peasants, the cattle are more highly prized under capitalism than workers. To Pay Landlord During the famine period of 1845, 1846 and 1847, enough food was raised in Ireland to feed three times the po- pulation, But it had to be exported in order to pay the landlord’s rent. To- day there is plenty of food in Ireland, but the capitalists own it. In 1847 Ireland was governed from Dublin Castle by English officials. Today, Ireland is governed from London by Irish officials obeying their capitalist masters, and watching the agonies of their own flesh and blood in the famine region with a cynicism un- equalled in the history of British mis- government in Ireland. While the workers of Great Britain, the United States, Soviet Russia and of every country are preparing to ren- der assistance to their Irish comrades, the government of hangmen, the Free State junta is preparing a bill that will make any Irish worker who strives to free his native land the yoke of British imperialism lable to death on the gallows, These execut- foners dangle the noose before the “(Continued on page 2) NEW IDEAS NOT RELISHED BY IOWA BABBITS By DAVID COUTTS Special to The Daily Worker) MARSHALL TOWN, Ia., Feb. 19.-— It is a long way from Marshalitown, with its sixteen thousand population, to New York and Madison Square Garden, Such are the extremes of this country that even a few miles gives us sharp contrasts in economics and phy- chology. Back on Main street in Marshall. town the Workers Party rented a hall at the Labor Temple for a meeting. Along comes the International News Service, (A. F. of L.) with a story that the bolsheviks are about to kid- nap the labor unions and drop them into Dante's Inferno or some other hot place, This dire threat was brought be- fore the Trades and Labor Assembly the night before that scheduled for the bolsheviks to arrive. Then a pol itical appointee, one of the delegates, had read an article in the DAILY WORKER which stated that four men Continued on Page 6 4 s 3