The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 12, 1925, Page 3

NOVA SCOTIA MINERS PULL OUT PUMPMEN In Finish Fig ht with Brutal Besco SYDNEY, Nova Scotia.—Desperate and determined to end the unlimited Oppression of the British Empire Steel corporation (Besco), which has prac- tically locked out the miners of Dis- trict 26, the Nova Scotia miners flung down the gauntlet of a one hundred per cent strike last Friday night, which means that the maintenance and pump men, always allowed during erdinary strikes to remain and keep the mine from flooding and in shape for work, are also called out. Maintenance men abandoned the pumps and took away all tools and draft animals. This has forced the company officials to try their hand at manning the pumps in an effort to prevent flooding and permanent de- struction of the mines. This being but a futile effort, the corporation let it be known that it will Permit some of the mines to be de- stroyed, rather than allow the miners to win the strike, The walkout was made in perfect discipline. Union leaders, acting as if they were empowered by law, resolute- ly closed down all “blind pigs.” The strike arose over the refusal of the miners to accept a wage cut agree- ment, which refusal was followed by a practical lockout in several colleries, combined with a stoppage of credit at the company stores, all in an effort to bring the miners to the properly humble frame of mind to force them to agree to the wage cut agreement tather than see their wives and fam- IHes starving. ‘ WAGES AND JOBS CO DOWNWARD IN JANUARY DECLINE $25.46 Weekly Why ‘workers and farmers can’t buy back the full product of their la- bor is shown in the U. S. department of labor employment report for Janu- ary, 1925. In spite of a gain of nearly 1 per cent in factory employment com- pared with December the number of jobs is still 5 per cent of a year ago and most of the heavy decreases ap pear among the manufacturers of toods for the average consumer . The total disbursed in wages ts run- aing more than $12,000,000 a week short of last January, meaning a fur- ther decrease in demand. The only section of the country to report a gain compared with jast year is the west south central, probably reflecting the drift of industry to the theaper labor regions of the south. On the Pegcific coast and in the east sort central states the decline in em. ployment measured more than 7 per cent. Approximately 75 per cent of tne In- dustries covered by the report showed losses in employment. In 18, over 7 per cent of the employes lost their fobs. Among the significant decreas- es were hosiery and knit goods 7.1 per cent, men’s clothing 8.7 per cent, shirts and collars 9.6 per cent, millin- ery and lace 7.4 pér cent, foundries and machine shops 9.8 per cent, fer- tilizers 8.6 per cent, cement 10.5 per cent, pottery 8.9 per cent, automobiles 16.6 per cent, wagons 11.2 per cent, electrical 11.8 per cent, musical tnj struments 9.8 per cent. Average weekly earnings for typi- cal U. S. industries in January,. 1925, were: - Meat DAcking srssvssssssvesnnninessenes Cotton MIN scrsssvsssssessererenssnee Hoslery, knit goods Men's clothing Foundries, machine shops ...... Sawmills 088 Newspaper printing ........... Car building, repair scenes 2814 Electrical .. he department reports that manu- facturing as a whole is employing 82 per cent of a normal full force and those working are putting in 92 per cent full time. This shows tndustry working slightly better than 75 per cent of full capacity. : Changes in rates of wages during the month were predominantiy down- ward, Decreases averaging 3.9 per cent affected 28,000 workers covered by the reports. A majority were in the cotton manufacturing. Talk is up—your shopmate will subscribe! : oy THE DAIL SECTION OF THE TRADE WORKER Page Three A DOSE FOR STREETCAR MEN, CARPENTERS, L AND A SIX ABOR FAKERS, FOOT FOUR SKUNK CHICAGO,—In a recent issue of the paper misnamed the Union Leader which is the organ of the Chicago Streetcar Men’s union, there appeared a@ three page lying attack on Soviet Russia, It was written by a ridiculous fellow named Harry Harn, whom the Union Leader tried to dignify by saying he was “a trade unionist and member of Carpenters’ Local 62.” A Disappointed Prospective Commissar Harn was a member of the I. W. but now poses as a good trade unio most reactionary labor fakers of the A. F. of L. He went into Russia in 1922, like some other fools, expect- ing that because he was an I. W. W., also an ex-socialist, that he would be at once made boss of Russia and would order every Russian worker about. He was quickly disillusioned. No- body paid any attention to him. He was a nuisance and a cry-baby. In- stead of cleaning up the lice in his quarters like everyone else, he only made one more. He remained on a few weeks, then came back. Carpenters’ Local 62 Also Unfeeling, His local union, Carpenters’ No 62, gave him the horse-laugh when he tried to speak. Now his snaky lies Published im the street carmen’s pap- er have brought the following two let- ters, one from a street carman, an- other from one of Harn's compan- ions in his trip to Siberia. They fol- low: “Dear Comrades: Enclosed with this letter you will find a paper, the so-called Union Leader, supposed to represent the streetcar men of Chica- go. But I am a streetcar man who is being misrepresented by this sheet. “I am not a member of the Workers (Communist) Party, but my good right arm is ready to defend the Com- munist movement now, and as long as there is a breath of mfe left in my body. Even at the time of my death I want one of you Communists to speak at my resting place, and I hope before that time we will have a world workers’ and farmers’ government. “I read the DAILY WORKER every day, yet have never found an article in it about the streetcar men and their organization, altho the Surface Lines company violates every. agreement with the men except the wage agree: ment. What is the trouble? Are there no Communists in the carmen’s union? . “The officials of this organization are about the most corrupt of any un- ion in America. Come on, you Bol- sheviks, let’s get these men started on their way to the Soviets of America, “About this lying article of Harry Harn, in the enclosed copy of the Union Leader, I would like to meet the dirty skunk who went all those thousands of miles to Siberia only to count the lice and bedbugs. ‘ “I could take him right here down State street, from Harrison . street, then over to West Madison and down to Van Buren and thru the beautiful ghettos back of the stock yards, and he could see as many vermin as in Russia during its hardest days. Some of these white guards like Harry Harn know more about other countries than they do about this one, “Our agreement expires June 1, this year, so let's get busy educating these workers. “Down with the reactionary officials of Division 241! With Mahon, Quin- lan, Taber and rest of the those who stand in the way of progress toward a Soviet government in the United States! “Yours for Communism, “A Streetcar Man.” Now the letter from Harn’s compan. ion in Siberia: “Dear DAILY WORKER: It seems that some of the reawers of the A. F. of L. publications have been register- ing protests against the continuous stream of lies about Soviet Russia sent out by the A. F. of L. News Serv- ice. In order to quiet and convince them, the organ of the Chicago Street- car Men, calling itself the Union Lead- er, has resurrected a lying and ridic- ulous article written some two years ago by one Harry Harn, member of Carpenters’ Local Union No. 62, of Chicago. “Harn went over in the spring of 1922 to Kuzbas, an industrial colony organized with the object of employ- ing the technical skill of American workers to aid the Soviet government in opening up the vast coal and fron fields of central Siberia. The men who went over, all knew that they were going to a wild region, pretty much on the edge of the world, where material conditions of life would be primitive in the extreme, and also that they were going to a country just emerging from famine and civil war, The first group of all, which was the one of which Harn was a member, was expected to blaze the way for all the rest—to be pioneers among pioneers and anyone with any sense knew that it would not be very easy going, “If Harn had really been anything of the pioneer that he fondly and sen- timentally dreamt he was, instead of a whimpering six foot four baby, it he had had the guts to go thru with things, instead of leaving after a tew weeks, he would have seen order ris- ing out of chaos, the sabotaging, old- time Russian engineers kicked out, the great by-product coke plant in full blast, daily shipments of coke going out to the Ural steel plants and the great machine shops of central Russia, i W., which is not the I. W. W.’s fault, nist and sells his yellow hide to the Sprenninenc everest pounce tentpsoet CHRISTOPHER, ILL. MINE GLOSES DOWN; 500 MORE JOBLESS CHRISTOPHER, IIl.—The East Mine at this city closed down indef- initely on March, 7. The company just posted a notice to this effect, instructing the men to remove their tools and éloh nd clean up their coal. This throws 600 men out of work, This mine was idle seven months last summer, and the mine opened up against the latter part of Sep- tember. Since that time the men have been working two and three days per week. These workers are in very hard circumstances, still in debt to the storekeepers from the last shutdown. The storekeepers now refuse to carry them any fur- ther, so their outlook is black, in- deed. The Lewis-Farrington policy of squeezing the surplus miners out of the mines is succeeding well, and a little more of it will completely dis- illusion the miners who still have any hopes of relief from such a source. To mention Lewis or Farrington in this district today is to create a laugh. Confidence in them Is gone, nothing but contempt and scorn re- main. They are looked upon a op- erators’ lackeys instead of labor leaders. benzol, tar, napthalene, etc., being pro- duced in qauntity, the big power sta- tion in operation, mines, machine and carpenter shops electrified, modern machinery in the mines, and an im- mensely increased coal output. “And more than that, he would have seen a steady improvement in the con- dition of the Russian workers in the industry, wages going up and prices down, the ‘speculators driven out of the villages by the competition of the co-operative, plenty of food where there had been a shortage, and new clothes where there had been rags. “But as it was, the valiant pioneers was completely absorbed in his own comfort. From the moment the group entered Russia he began fussing like an old hen, about this or that incon- venience that the women who were along made light of, wailing over the black bread on which diet the Russ- jans had fought—and conquered—for some five years, and forever calling up visions of the beef steaks of ‘God's own country,’ as he always called it. “It is not merely accidental that a man who is still a laughing stock among those who remember him in his pioneering days should be used by the labor fakers against Soviet Russia. His article, which is just one long wail over personal discomforts, with a few stock lies about conditions in Russia thrown in, is typical of the shopkeeper mind which cannot see beyond its own small dignity and its own comfort, and that shrinks tim. idly from the hardships involved in wresting a new social order from the rotten past: Yours for Communism, “Harry Kweit.” Cleveland Labor Council Gives God Voice But No Vote CLEVELAND, Obio—Not to be out- done by “the official trade union move- ment” of New York, which is actively co-operating in the work of raising fit- teen million dollars for the building of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, the Cleveland Federation of Labor, at its last meeting, seated the Rev. Louis C. Wright as a representative of the federated churches. The federated churches acted upon an invitation extended by the Federa- tion of Labor, The reverend will have the right to take the floor but not vote, “I think it is a fine opportunity to establish mutual understanding be- tween the churches and the federa- tion” Dr. Wright said. Cleveland was the scene of the heresy trial of Bishop William Mont. gomery Brown, last summer. The churchmen are evidently determined to follow up their fight on Bishop Brown with an attempt to innoculate the trade unions of this city against Communist propaganda. on the st by trem 1118 W. Washington Bivd. BEGINNING WITH A BEAUTIFUL COVER fone in three colors by a new revolutionary artist, the March issue of the Workers Monthly, just off the press, includes s; id contributions egies of the workers in this country All articles are generously illustrated with photographs and cartoons @ of Labor’s leading artists—and subscription rates are ex- low at $2.00 a Year—$1.25 for Six Months. © THE WORKER MONTHLY MINERS GET BETRAYALS AND MORE BETRAYALS But Are Invited to Stop Getting ’Em yBy J. M. CHRISTOPHER, Ill.—Do we live in a free country? Are we all born free and equal? Werhaps there are still some Americah working men and wo- men who believe this foolishness, but there are few coal diggers#who still have faith’ in such tommy-rot these days. ‘No better sample of the helplessness ‘0f the workers under capitalism and ‘tiow fate is dealt out to them by thé’rulers of industry, can be given than the situation now con- fronting the Workers in the coal min ing industry. A Typical Case. A typical example of how the mine owners are Using the threat of un- employment 4$' a club to browbeat the miners into'submission, was what’ happened reééntly at the mine of Co- ello, Ill. Coélfo is just two miles from Christopher, and the mine there is “known as the New North Mine which belongs to the Old Ben Mining Co. For some reason not fully explained, the mine discontinued the use of the regular shaft for lowering and hoist- ing men to and from the mine. The shaft was said to have been con. demned, This made it necessary to use the air shaft for this purpose, and the result was that the men wer compelled to start going down at 5:30 a.m. This was necessary in order to get the men down in time for work as it takes much longer than the regular way. Needless to, Say, the miners pro- tested and finally struck, To this the company simply replied that they did not care whether the mine worked or not, and unless the men went back to work they would shut down for good. Enter, the Reactionary Officials. Negotiations, for a settlement were carried on with the company by Sub- District President Lou Fox, and Vice- President D. B. Cobb. These stalwart soldiers of reaction, who are part and parcel of the Farrington machine, fin- | EASTERN PHILADELPHIA WAITERS WON TO LABOR DEFENSE T.U.E.L. Members Show Meaning of Cases PHILADELPHIA. — After a lively discussion, Waiters’ Alliance, Local 279, endorsed the resolution protest- ing the conviction and sentencing of C. E. Ruthenberg to prison under the Michigan criminal syndicalist law. Their delegates to the Central Labor Union were instructed to pass the same resolution at the next meeting of the C. L, U, The resolution was introduced by members of the Trade Union Educa- tional League, and efforts were !mme- diately made to table the question on the grouds that Wm. Z, Foster was inyolved in the Michigan cases and that Foster was a Communist. Several members of the unfon who have known Foster during the great teel strike pointed out that the great industrial corporations were anxious ‘o railroad Foster because he, for the first time, had successfully organized ‘he steel workers for the historic strike, and because his record as a militant and aggressive labor leader stand today as a menace to the open shop interests of this country. After the members of the T. U. E. L. further pointed out that all the other defendants in the Michigan cases have a record of militant activ- ity and accomplishments in the labor movement, and therefore should be supported, there was not a single vote against the resolution. Bath House Workers Pay Boss Merely to — Get Chance at Tips NEW YORK.—Attendants in Bronx and Williamsburgh Turkish and Russ- ian baths are striking with the rub- bers of New York’s lower east side | ablution emporiums. Women work- ally advised the men to go back tojers as well as men are in the strike work under pfotest, which the men for regular hours and regular wages did, and the grievance now goes to the} and the right to organize. The Jew- district board .with.little hope for any- thing better from that source. It is said that some of the men are now going down in the mine as early ag 5:00 a. m. “Moreover, the method of putting men down this mine is un- doubtedly unsafe, due to over-crowd- ing; as 24 men-are lowered down the air shaft at a time. dust a Differént Kind of Slavery. Under chattel slavery the slave owners were fofced to feed the slaves during times when there was no work to do. But “under capitalism the modern wage ‘slave must work or starve. In thé’ face of these threats of unemployment, the workers are in- timidated and the capitalist class, always quick to see their advantage, uses those means to force the work- ers to accept all sorts of dangerous and miserable conditions. The air is full of all sorts of rumors of mines shutting down in Southern Tilinois, and the miner does not know what day he might find himself with- out a job. Piling It On. In the face of this situation, the Farrington machine issues a circular against the organization of the unem- ployed. It is plain to all thinking miners that Farrington is not with the rank and file in the fight to change conditions. Farrington raves about not breaking the agreement, while the operators can and are, getting away with murder, Another good.example of the tactics of the operators is the condition at the mine at Buckner, Ill. Some four or five months.ago the wash house at that mine burned down. Altho there is a state law,against working a mine without a wash house, the company has refused to, build another. They say if the men cannot wash without a wash house they will close down the mine, The men have now been working about four months with- out a wash house, The result is, the coal diggers at)Buckner do their clean. ing up at home mostly. Everyone knows that the shacks where the min- ers live are not equipped with baths. This is simply/another hardship added to the already great number of hard- ships. Under a workers’ government not only will the workers own the mines, but every mine will be made safe and sanitary, Miners! Join the Trade Union Educational League, and the Workers Party of America and fight for a workers’ government, the world over. Chicago, III. ish Women's Guild in the Bronx is assisting women strikers. The strikers are employed in baths where the temperature is high. The rubbers work all hours and any num- ber of hours but are fighting to limit the number to a maximum 54 per week. They are paid no regular wag- es and frequently the employers de- mand that tips be split 50-50 with them for allowing the workers to work in their baths. WESTERN Bindle Stiffs Buck Sure Thing Roulette to Aid Scab Legion YUMA, Ariz.—Opposite Yuma, Ari- zona, with the Colorado River between lies California, and here daily in Yuma we see the floating, wandering workmen. About three-fourths are blanket or “bindle stiffs,” dejected forlorn humans. We have here also, the ruins on Penitentiary Hill, the old, prison hell, with buildings containing about one- hundred cells still intact. On,Friday and Saturday of Feb. 27 and 28 we had the spectacle of wide open gambling without the faintest bleat of protest from the preachers and church people. The object of bringing a large tent, six roulette wheels and other “house percentage” gambling layouts attend- ed by twenty professional house gamb. lers from the California-Mexican bor- der, was to erect a club house here for those gallant strutters—the Amert- can legion. * The faro bank game was taboo, as it is never safe for the house when dealt on the square. The games had a fair play each evening and by whom? American mechanics and laborers, Mexican laborers, Negroes, Chinamen and a few women. The town bankers milled around the tent _ selling “script” for the purchase of checks for playing. Not @ single banker or business man was “suck enuf to patronize the games just the foolish workingmen paid the professional gamblers and to help erectya “club house” for their foe, the American légion. Recommended to All Bosses as the Way to Prevent Strikes LOS ANGELES, Cal., March 10.— Awage increase agreement averting the threatened strike of enginemen on the Senta Fe Coast Unes was signed here yesterday by company officials and brotherhood representatives, Suh DISTRICT MILL OWNERS FIND THAT PROCLAMATION DON'T DO THE WORK UTICA, N. Y.—A few scabs went to work yesterday morning when the mill gates opened, but only about 10 in all, two weavers, two spinners and the rest from other departments of the Utica Steam Cotton mill. Then this morning they | didn't go back—while many more who were working the last four | weeks ‘stayed away, too. Only about 60 are working, including the sec- ond hands, yard men and bosses. LEADERS AGAIN BETRAY WHITE GOODS WORKERS Accept 5 Per Cent} Instead of 20 NEW YORK CITY.—After an agree- | ment to increase the wages of the white goods workers in independent shops 10 per cent, the leaders of the union went into secret conference with the bosses, and at a mass meet- ing yesterday to which only a part of the workers in the trade were invit- ed, smuggled thru an agreement, with only a five pre cent increase, abrogat- | ing the one recently made and which | the members had considered final. The original demand was 20 per cent, but the leaders never held out for that, but immediately lined up some of the independent shops at the} 10 per cent compromise, and later set- tide with the association bosses at five per cent incerase. This will drag the independent shops down to the five per cent rate also. As the situation now stands, piece workers get only five per cent on Piece work, the weekly wage is in- creased by $1 per week and cutters get $3 a week increase. Great indignation is shown by the workers in the white goods industry and the matter will be taken up for further settlement. RED REVEL of the FOSTER JUNIOR GROUP of Brooklyn, N. Y.—March 28, 8 P. M. at COLUMBIA HALL Stone & Blake Aves., Brooklyn, N. Y. A DAILY WORKER sub means another Communist. DISTRICT Carpenters of Los Angeles Inspired for New Battle LOS ANGELES.—A year ago 16 members of the Carpenters’ Union of Los Angeles were expelled arbitrarily by Wm. L. Hutcheson. At that time very little opposition could be aroused to the expulsion policy of the Hutche- son administration. Today the situa tion is different, however. There ts Plenty of evidence of a nation-wide revolt of carpenters against the czar- ist rule of Hutcheson. Los Angeles locals are now taking @ renewed interest in the expulsion INTERNATIONAL TRADE UNION UNITY DISCUSSED Soviet Union Paper Makes Statement MOSCOW—The Soviet trade union central organ Trud, writes as fol- lows regarding the present status of the movement for international trade - union unity: “A lively discussion has arisen as to whether the resolution adopted by the Amsterdam executive represents . @ victory of the right wing or the left wing. British trade unionists, who are friendly to Soviet Russia, are in- clined to regard it as a victory of the left over the right wing. According to their opinion, the resolution im- poses preliminary conditions upon Russian labor. Same as Old Vienna Proposal. “Oudegeest and Stenhuis differ from the British in their interpretation, openly declaring that the resolution Means putting into execution the previous Vienna resolution. They as sert that the Russian trade unions must first apply for affiliation to the | Amsterdam International, and then ne otiate about details, otherwise, there will be a rupture of negotiations. “Which interpretation is correct is shown by a resume of the initial pro- ceedings between Moscow and Am- sterdam. Amsterdam demanded rec ognition of its rules by Soviet labor as,a prerequisite of affiliation, while Soviet labor asked for an uncondition- al meeting with the representatives of Amsterdam for the purpose of dis cussing international labor unity. “The correctness and honesty of th« Proposal of Soviet labor was acknowl edged by representatives of British labor, who in the recent session of the Amsterdam executive, advocated unconditional conference with Soviet labor. How Is Rejection a Victory? “Rejection of the British views, means, therefore, an undoubted vic- tory of the right wing of Amsterdam over the British left. The British voted against the Stenhuis resolution which, however, was carried. Where then, is the left wing victory? “The resolution adopted differs from both the Oudegeest and British mo- tions. It says that Amsterdam is ready to arrange a conference, if So- | viet labor unconditionally affiliates to Amsterdam. Originally, it was only a matter of a conference between So- viet labor and Amsterdam. Now it is an Amsterdam invitation to affiliate, with Amsterdam reserving itself the right to set the date and place of conference. 5 Amsterdam Reverts to Old Stuff. “In our opinion this amounts to the original attitude of the Amster dam executive. Who triumphed? “As our British friends maintair that the right wing did not win, and that they, the British, won, we as- sume that our British friends were de. ceived by the right wing. “Evidently the British have not suffi- ciently fathomed the political mean ing 9f the Amsterdam right wing. We believe they failed to weigh carefully the Amsterdam resolution. “We are convinced that as soon as our British friends recognize the true inwardness of the resolution, they will draw the only possible conclusion, that the task is to put into active op eration, the British-Russian Unity Committee. Russian Unions to Reply. “The presidium of the Soviet Gen- eral Council of Trade Unions wil! shortly @eal with this question. Its resolution will be drafted solely in cases. The following locals have en- dorsed the resolution sent out by Lo- cal 2140 of Detroit against the ex- pulsions and demanding the reinstate- ment of all the expelled members: Huntington Park, Calif., Local 1500. Los Angeles, Locals 2337, 158, 726, 1976 and 884. The committee of the Los Angeles expelled carpenters are visiting all the local unions and demanding that their cases be again taken up and that they be reinstated with full rights of membership. ~ Machinists of Los Angeles, Take Whack at Gag Laws LOS ANGELES—Machinists’ Local Union No. 811, of Los Angeles, at their last regular meeting, adopted a resolution protesting against the crim. inal syndicalist laws in general and the Michigan syndicalist laws in par ticular. They also adopted a resolu- tion against the syndicalist laws of California, against the local and state authorities for their suppression of free speech and free assemblage. Write .us a letter—tell us how you work, what are your wages and shop conditions—and then order a bundle for distribution in your shop, the interests of international labor and unity. “The British trade union leaders who are echoing the desire of the working masses for unity, will now see that they have been deceived and thwarted in their object. However de. plorable this may be, we must Tecog- nize it and take the lesson to heart for future and correct conclusions. Get a sub for the DAILY WORKER from your shopmate and you will make another mem- ber for your branch. (<< S SSS SSS essss In Philadelphia! To give your subscrip- tion or buy copies of The Daily Worker Workers Monthly or any of the foreign language Communist publications, and all Communist literature ——SEE—— The Daily Worker Ageney Lena Rosenberg, Agent 621 YORK AVENUE Philadelphia, Pa, Prompt attention given to phone orders—call Market 6089, UNION EDUCATIONAL LEAGUE