The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 25, 1925, Page 6

THE DAILY WORKER. (te eilRovnas iets a Rl i tr eataeiaatieatsc cea Published by the DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO, 1118 W. Washington Blvd., Chicago, I. (Phone: Monroe 4712) TH by the workers. Unlettéred petty bosses are ac- customed to describing this process of more in- tensive exploitation as “taking it out of their hides.” Unions as combat organizations of the workers are inimical to the interests of the bosses, but unions that organize for production are welcome as the flowers in May. The B. and O. plan therefore kills two birds with one stone—it increases production and it makes the union part of. the profit-making machinery of ‘the capitalists. No wonder William Johnston is hailed as a “constructive labor leader” by the plute press. But the militant workers already, and the mass of the organized workers soon will understand that the Johnstonites are essentially destructionists. They destroy the unions in conjunction with -the bosses. It is no accident that the New York Times praises the B. and O, plan in its editorial columns just as an election campaign in the Machinists’ Union is in progress, an election campaign in which William Johnston and the B. and O. plan are on trial before the membership. SUBSCRIPTION RATES By mall: $3.60....6 months $2.00....8 months By mail (in Chicago only): $4.50....6 months $2.50...8 montha $6.00 per year $8.00 per year A@dress all mail and make out checks to THE DAILY WORKER 1913 W. Washington Bivd. Chicago, Iinele ————. 3. LOUIS ENGDAHL WILLIAM F. DUNNE Bditore MORITZ J. LOBB.......reemene Business Manager — Entered as second-class mail Sept. 21, 1928, at the Post- | Office at Chicago, Ill, under the act of March 3, 1879, ee Se 290 Advertising rates on application | The Party of Action The Workers (Communist) Party is probably engaged in the most intensive activity, in its his- =. tory. On ‘the domestic front it is leading the great) struggle of the left wing in the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America against the Hillman machine—a struggle in which whole sections of the union have joined—with Local 5 of New York} playing a prominent role. A In the United Mine Workers of America it has organized around its program serried thousands of ‘coal diggers; it leads in the fight for unemployment relief, against the open shop drive, against expul- d Haiti and the Monroe Doctrine The French government, irritated by the pressure of American bankers, demands that the American occupation of Haiti be referred to the league of nations. With the suppression of the native population of Haiti by American marines our readers are familiar. Since 1915 the government of the United States has maintained an armed force on that sidna, #6» nutionalisation of the mines, island and conservative estimates of the number In the strike of the Willimantic textile workers |°f Haitians slaughtered in the process of bringing the party and its press are a powerful influence. | hem to a realization of the superior character of In the Machinists’ Union the party supports the | American democracy place the figure at 3,000. center slate of Anderson against Johnston, the} The Haitians are Negroes, French is the language shameless tool of the capitalists. It leads the fight sf au dine Bee ak oes ee a eee eee forces of occupation and the establishment of a amalgamation. Ne bli In the Carpenters’ Union the left wing, organized |“ a hares me TES i around the Communists, have checked the offen-| 1 the western hemisphere the American, gov- ernment has never tolerated interference by sive against the militants in Detroit and Chicago. 8 . European powers. It has assumed the right of The Hutcheson machine has, been defeated tem- na rs porarily. determining unhampered its attitude toward the In the strike of the miners in the Connelsville, other governments and peoples of Mexico, Central Pa., region, the party program against wage cuts and South America and the Caribbean islands. The has rallied the strikers to it. The party press alone jbasis of this attitude is the Monroe _ doctrine; carried the news of this struggle written by work- originally drafted to set forth the position of the United States government in these matters, but ers for workers. * A ‘ Bete In Minnesota the party rallies the workers and new charter under which American imperialism farmers to save the farmer-labor federation from |"J0ys the privilege of overthrowing and setting the middle-cleass politicians, and the Communist ie i peas at its pleasure in the nations to e south. program is the program of the whole left win Ges st aa tation sn PRES of that state. 8 Tn addition to the desire to make a little trouble In Seattle the party has drawn many workers to for its creditors the French government has an- it by its fight in the Central Labor Council and its other 4 to grind. If the Haitian question comes general activity. ‘ before the council of the league a precedent is View York the party’s school is equipping the established for the discussion of other areas of comrades with the knowledge needed for the party sepa oi ie and the appeal of Egypt against British ‘sake. é occupation could be heard. 8 In Chicago the district Intensive Training School The American finance-capitalists have little to lasting for two weeks is pointing out the lessons of fear from this Project even tho the league acts:on the struggles the party is carrying omand train- it. The French will be. made to keep their mouths ing the party comrades from all over the district shut by a gesture of calling the millions of dollars don thele tikes: of short term notes held by the House of Morgan, Great Britain will oppose the setting of any such On the international front, the party has de- Pye ; feated the counter-revolutionary’socialists, in their precedent and the Haitians will continue to be murdered by marjnes. attempt to ‘arouse sentiment, against Soviet Russia ayers q : P 8 The incident is of interest only as showing that and world trade union unity, in a decisive man- ‘ A ner. The name of Abramovich is a hissing and a the Monroe doctrine tas a guarantee of non-inter- byword to the workers of his nationality in this|f"ence by European powers in the territorial ar- country as a result of the party’s activity. rangements of bed vestery hemisphere only La The party is organizing nationwide demonstra- long as America did not meddle in European poli- tions before the Polish consulates to protest tes. < . * ‘ In world affairs American imperialism now holds against the railroading of Stanislav Lanzutsky,| Polish Communist, to the gallows for his loyalty} Ly center. of the de European. go ba hai snahag to the working class. |know that American government policy drives to- Demonstrations before the Japanese consulates| ¥@"d placing them in the same position as the gov- and embassy in protest against the suppression ernment of Haiti—under American financial and of the Japanese working class by the sedition law military control. recently passed, are also being arranged. All over the United States the party is carrying on the organization of relief for the famine-stricken workers and peasants of Ireland in the face of the sabotage of the suffering Irish masses by the cap- italists and middle class. The Workers (Commuhist) Party of America claims to be a party of action. Tt is. : : : This coal field is largely unorganized. Durin Completing the Chain the strike of 1922 the miners joined the United The New York Times, that staunch friend of ;Mine Workers of America, but were betrayed by American capitalism, has come out for the B. and|the Lewis administration and its local henchmen. Ow plan. The Uniontown territory was left out of the Cleve- This makes the chain complete. On one end is}land agreement signed after the strike and the William Johnston, president of the International | miners and their families left to starve or go back Association of Machinists and the entire officialdom |to work on the bosses’ terms. of the American Federation of Labor. In between] The miners continued the strike for many weeks are the yellow socialists—the Milwaukee Leader|with relief being furnished by the Progressive has endorsed the scheme—and the liberal intel-| Miners’ Committee and the Workers (Communist) lectnals. At the other end is the New York Times, | Party. the most outspoken foe of the working class and| Now they are on strike again. Unorganized, they their organizations. have refused to accept the coolie conditions offered The chain is now around the necks of the workers|them by the coal and steel capitalists. They have, and willing hands are drawing it tighter. in this challenge to the coal barons, set an example Beginning on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad,|that the organized coal miners would do well to _ this company’ ufion scheme, disguised as “co-opera: | follow before it is too late. _ ‘“n" and sponsored by Johnston, has spread to the} In the organized fields the Lewis administration Canadian National railways, the Chicago~ andjand the coal operators’ association jointly break Northwestern and the Chesapeake and Ohio rail-ldown working conditions; jointly they try to drive roads. All the railway shop, unions are included |the unemployed miners out of the industry; jointly in the plan wherever it is installed, they make war on the Communists and the left The comment of the New York Times on this} wing. h) . mass betrayal of the workers, is interesting and} But the union is something else than officials. illuminating: ; It is the fighting organization of the coal miners “The very existence of a strong and well |and the officials must not be allowed to destroy organized union is evidence of a fund of crea- | its effectiveness. tive and executive capacity among workingmen The Workers (Communist) Party will do and is which has not-been drawn on by their jobs, The | doing all it can to aid the Pennsylvania strikers in program in question is designed to tap this for | their fight. But the miners should organize and the good. of industry as a whole, instead of | demand admission as a body ‘to the United Mine damning it up by resistance and repression.” Workers of America, As members of the ufifon The Times is a little verbose, but its meaning| their splendid fighting spirit and their numbers is clear. The B, and O. plan, says the Times, is de-| will add strength to the already large and deter- signed to tap a reserve find of energy possessed) mined left wing section, = 2 gpye bie « soy bays ° , . . : Miners’ Strike in Pennsylvania Our news from Uniontown, Pennsylvania, tells of the strike of coal miners in this stronghold of the steel trust. The wages of the workers have been cut from 35 to 50 per cent and a great protest movement, at present embracing about 65 per cent of the miners, is in progress. & DAIL JOHNSTON TALKS TO JOHNSTON AT ENGINEERS’ HALL Empty Seats ‘Greet “B. & O.” Bill (Continued from Page 1). auditorium of the locomotive engin- eers. Everything connected with the C. P. P. A, seems chilled to the bone. In the hall William Schatz, one of Cleveland’s lonely socialivts was nerv- ously walking up and down an isle. He probably had not yet heard that he had been disconnected from the Cc. P. P. A, outfit by his national of- fice. The next thing that came to notice was a rush into the street by one of the audience,’ who there pur- chased two copies of the Workers Monthly, returned, gave one to a friend, and both thén' hid their noses in them. We mention these things be- cause time was passing, an audience was not coming ahd’this seemed all that was occuring. ; Then, going on nihe p. m., Albert Coyle, chairman of the meeting, told the few present that the audience was small, but select, If an absence of workers makes an audience select, then that one was, one hundred per cent, He introduced Peter Witt, the nationally known humorist of the Cu- yahoga valley. itt scolded Coyle for calling a politi meeting at this time of year. \Thé argument was that the reason the audlence was small was because the meeting was being held upon the wrong day of the wrong week in the wrong month. Peter is Long-Minded Peter spoke a long time. He ex- posed the city council of which he is a member. He told the eighty staunch and true present, that the council was owned by the New York Central rail- road and the Union Trust company. He is surely right. But a couple of minutes later he entered into a long defense of the ¢ity’ charter and the Cleveland proportional system of re- presentation. This “people’s” charter must be preserved, he said. And yet, it was upon the basis of this charter and its proportional system of election’ of councilmen that 20 New York Cen- tral councilmen out of a total of 25 were elected at the last municipal election. au ial He closed with a sigh for cleanliness in government. Then Coyle arose to introduce “B. & ©.” Johnston. At this point another noteworthy occurance took place, Peter Witt, in full view of the audience, stuek®his: nose into a red-covered Workers Monthly, and read for some , oblivious to his surroundings, Workers Party liter- ature seems to nte at and bother these gentry some. . Hard Time Starting Johnstone was introduced as one who believes in things that are right, just and decent; one who brought many groups together into a tremend- ‘ous political movement, Nothing was said as to who drove these groups apart again. 18 : “B, & O.” Johnston had a very hard time getting started. His speech was like the sputtering of a Ford with two spark plugs fouled. He looked every bit the defeated politician and the first half of his speech wasrfilled with references to the probability that many there may be awho were disap- pointed and discouraged because of the small vote Li te got. This did not cheer the- aristocrats that composed the a nce one whit. Righteous Finally he said he thought the people did not want a labor party, a class party. The mocratic parties and that was class parties were mo good. In Eng- land there were- but here any progressive mitted that there w to set the world ” said there was tion except in ay. form of govern: to get back our it into tHe hands counselled. © | Prayin, Then came the | the meeting Joh: ing much of the time with his eyes closed and his arms’ou he at one time a sie? During his’ ed in this mann and talked much the creator and gave to all the of a revolu- way. Our us all means it, to place he indulg- than ever Almighty, wt the one he ended hi » Pact is, he never found “himself, dw all his speech, never really got s which means that he is as broken as is his C. P, PLA. Did you ever Well, that’s the in the ocean? n meeting in wr of the coterie prefer the eon- strike, He also nm capital and la- ndence so to make com- only thru un. ference table to th believes that bet) ber there is an fixed and irrevocable 4 plete success attain RAIL WORKERS’ WAGES THREATENED AS CROOKED FINANCING THROWS ST. PAUL ROAD INTO BANKRUPTCY By LELAND OLDS \ (Federated Press Industrial Editor) Threat to the wages of thousands of railroad workers comes as the natural result of the dishonest financing which led the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad into receivership March 18. According to a 1914 report by the interstate commerce commission the company has been deliberately misleading its stockholders and falsifying returns td the extent of at least $100,000,000. / The experts’ report which preceded the receivership should be dismissed as a frame-up to provide the bankers with a pretext to take possession. Talk about Panama canal competition, farm depression, etc., will distract atten- tion from the essential fact that railroad magnates financed a long time speculation of their own by an unwar-4———————_____________ ranted increase in the St. Paul's fund- ed debt, used the excessive interest charges to create the appearance of bankruptcy and so created a situation in which they can take possession at a fraction of the real value of the properties. The road is not really bankrupt. It has shown a net income every year for the past decade, the total being $197,261,000, a fairly decent amount. Total net income for the last five years has amounted to $90,203,000 and for the last two years the yearly aver- age has been over $21,000,000. But the swollen bonded debt of $435,000,- 000, overshadowing the $230,000,000 capital stock, absorbs about $21,000,- 000 in interest charges alone, making it possible to engineer fhe receiver- ship. Deception in Financing. This excessive debt was saddled on @ prosperous road to build the Puget Sound extension to the coast. For purposes of high financing this ex- tension was separately incorporated. As a speculative adventure it should stock to the interested financiers. The deception connected with this ‘financing, as exposed by the inter- state commerce commission includes: * (1) Inflation of the cost of con- struction of the Puget Sound exten- sion and also of the early profits of the extension by charging operating expenses into constructign expense. (Continued from page 1) tunity to appear before the strike committee. By But when I sent in word that I was there, the reply was from Miss Kelle- her that she would take it up, and let me know. Foreseeing this, I had prepared a letter on it from the dis- trict executive committee of the Workers Party. The letter was then sent in, read, and tabled for a week. ‘Thisin the face of diminishing and disappearing space in the capitalist press, and labor papers getting sec- ond-hand reports from the head office of the United Textile Workers. Such |. a suggestion of practical benefit to the cause of the strikers was rejected, because it came from the Workers (Communist) Party. The DAILY WORKER. For several days, the DAILY WORKER had been sold in the Gem Theater, before and after the morn- ing meeting. But today, the chairman of the grievance committee told me in the hall, that many of the girls were opposed to the sale of the DAILY WORKER in the theater. I asked if this was an official action of the grievance committee, to which she replied that it was the opinion of many of the girls. I complied and am sending a letter to the grievance com- mittee, asking if that is the official action of the committee, If it is, a protest will be- made by the Work- ers Party, for discrimination against a working class paper. The religious prejudice of many strikers is affecting the sale of the DAILY WORKER. One young chap, who had bought it before, refused to buy it further, because one article he said called the pope a bloodsucker. He refused to buy a paper which was showing up the profits of the Ameri- can Thread Co. and calling upon the workers thruout the country to come to their aid. That young chap said: “How can I believe your news about the labor movement, when you tell lies about the pope?” However, many strikers get the DAILY WORKER regularly, Miss Kelleher, in answer to another letter forwarded by the Workers Party, stated that the DAILY WORK- ER did more harm than good to the strikers’ cause, and that it should not be sold in the city. I replied that the Workers Party would not give up the right to tell the truth to the working class, or to sell its papers where workers could be reached, I pointed out that capitalist papers were sold in the city, supporters of corporations like the American Thread, company, and that the strikers had sold a capitalist sheet which for busi- ness reasons came into Willimantic for the first time when the strike be- gan, and played up the s' now, having the paper on th ds, little is written about the strik The Strike a Secondary Consideration A strike meeting on the 17th of March, after the parade, had to be adjourned, in order that the v: ma- jority of the strikers might attend services. About 80 per cent the women attend services regularly at St. Mary’s church, During Lent, they march to church every Wednesday and Friday night; and to high mass have been financed by sale of new] Reaction Restrains Textile Workers By this juggling of accounts stock- holders were fooled into going along and investors into taking the bonds. (2) Deliberate falsification of re- ports to the commission to show an investment in road and équipment $100,000,000 in excess of the true cash investment in order to be within the law in floating the bonds, Traffic Equipment Fails. (3) Setting up an eftirely inade- quate charge for depreciation of equipment in order to show a ficti- tious profit. This: produced the short- age of rolling stock which in recent years has prevented: the road from taking full advantage of the increased traffic offered. The company’s charge-off for depre- ciation of equipment was. only 1 per cent per year which means, says the commission, “that its equipment has an estimated life of 100 years, a posi- tion that is wholly indefensible.” By this means the company inflated its apparent net profit by $2,000,000 a year. The present difficulties of the road are of course, blamed on government war time operation. But the exact reverse is the truth. Only govern- ment. operation with its guaranteed continuation of the fictitious pre-war profits and its. provision of credit for new equipment prevented the receiv- ership from coming in 1918 or 1919 instead of 1925. riding by in his: ‘comfortable auto, alone in alarge car. The Church Influence. Church influence is turning many of the strikers from the only work- ing class paper that militantly de- fends their intefests. It teaches them to respect the capitalists, the over- seers and foremen, a policy concurred in by the ‘unidn leaders. They take pride in thé’“fine quality of help” in this town’ of “13,000 which merely makes thé ‘company more ruthless. The aim is to’ have “gentlemen and gentlewomen.” They afe told by the church and union leaders to be. “per- fectly quiet” all the time. & Heavy Pall. The sdmbre pall laid on the work- ers is eVideltt now. One has a feeling of being wéighed down, when he en- ters a mii ‘town, whether it be New Bedford, Lawrence, Mass.; or Dover, Concord, Néw Hampshire; or Pater- son, New’ Jersey (visited frequently by the writéF), The long, “monotonous stretch of masstve strictires of grey stone, or red brick, ‘with row after row of pris- on windows,..-whose framework re- minds one of iron bars, oppresses one, a constant reminder that human be- ings are merely grist in this mill. And near by, the company houses, all one color, that uniformity which the capi- talists warn against, as the future lot of the workers under Communism. The March of the Dead. + At the beginning of the strike, there were regular gatherings at the mill gates, and parades into town in the morning at seven, and one at noon, But the businessmen and auto- mobiled gentry complained that the march interfered with traffic. So the grievance committee, fearing to alien- ate the businessmen, eliminate the afternoon parade, ¢ The morning march continues, at sevén each morning, to the hall. Strict Orders come from the grievance com- mittee that the march must be a quiet one. President McMahon in his speech on Wednesday, praised the ‘strikers for their quiet on the march. Don’t Disturb His Majesty, the Boss! One feels as he marches along, the same as in a prison mess hall, where talking is forbidden by menacing guards, and still carried on by the prisoners thru the corners of the mouth. Men, women, boys and girls, talk while they march, some of them, but there is a hush, a damper on all. One must not disturb the city. The respectable businessmen, and cham- ber of commerce members must not be aroused from their quiet. slumber, after nightly debauchery. The bour- geoisiey must sleep r } mindful of the bitter industrial strug- gle in which 2,500 textile slaves find themselves, . Anti-nationalistic! Every time the Bronx Wnglish Branch of the Workers Party runs an affair, all those present always ask “When will your This one was so enjoyable. branch has it as its Lipa ft these anxious comrades i suspense for at least six months. . AS WE SEE IT By T. J. FLAHERTY. (Continued from Page 1) to make Kaiser Wilhelm a welcome guest in Germany, even if the mon- archists dare not take a chance on re- storing the Hohenzollerns to the throne. This is the result of more than six years of a social democratic government in Germany! _ Kiar ® IHE IRISH FREE STATE govern- ment has announced that it will re- deem, in 1927, the Irish republican bonds issued during the sharp fight against England, since 1916. Approxi- mately $15,000,000 was raised in this manner in the United States. The subscribers will be requested to invest the proceeds in various Irish enter- prises. The Irish Free State has no money to redeem those bonds, But it will secure a loan from Threadneedle Street or Wall Street, and the bankers will own the industries that will be established from the proceeds of the bond redemption. The Free State is a business government. oe 8 OW many millions has William Randolph Hearst invested in air plane factories? This question will not down, in the minds of: those who know the kind of patriot Hearst is, Hearst and his good man Brisbane de- vote columns of space daily to howl ing for the biggest fleet of war aircraft in the world, They now demand that Coolidge repudiate his secretary of war, John W. Weeks, who seems to be closely connected with the battleship builders. Irish Famine Posters in New York Parade Roil Governor Smith \ (Continued from Page 1). play and kept on marching. They were greeted by cheers from the ranks of Irish workers who lined the sidewalk, What the Banners Said The banners carried the following inscriptions: “750,000 Irish workers and peasants are starving.” “The Irish workers and peasants call on their American comrades for aid.” “The DAILY WORKER helps the des- titute workers and peasants while the capitalist press is silent.” “The Free State government is put- ting thru a hanging bill while the workers and peasants are starving.” “Connolly and Pearce died to free Ireland; The Irish Free State lives to enslave it.” “Support the Irish Workers’ and Peasants’ Relief Committee.” Comrade Gralton, Byrne, McKiernan and Mrs. Keog broke into the parade much to the chagrin of the Irish Amer- ican politicians who hate nothing more than an “Abramovich” episode at their respectable St. erin! Day parade: their annual contribution to the cause of Irish freedom. Irish Revolution Veteran But Comrade Gralton shouldered :a Thompson machine gun against. the Black and Tans in Ireland, and he and his comrades were not concerned with maintaining the dignity of the murderous Irish Free State govern- ment. They wanted to bring the agony of the starving women and children on the west coast of Ireland to the attention of the working masses of New York, particularly those of Irish birth and descent. Despite the efforts of the adjutant, the banners were carried in front of the governor’s auto within fifty yards of the reviewing stand when the police forced the unwelcome paraders out. But thousands along the averiue saw the banners and the friends of a real Trish workers republic sent up hearty cheers. Leaflets Distributed Thousands of leaflets telling of the Irish famine were distributed along the line of march and also at several halls thruout the city where dances and other entertainments under the auspices of Irish societies were being held, Communists carried the famine posters in the grand march at one of the biggest Irish dances in the city and were cordially greeted, The Irish Workers’ and Peasants’ Relief Committee besides ‘securing valuable publicity for the famine situa- tion Ireland also did. a good job in exposing the hypocris}* of the cap- italist politicians who were cashing in on their alleged sympathies for Ire- land. Police Bill Hearing Soon. SPRINGFIELD, IIL, March 23-—The Dunlap police bill, which the ban®ers and manufacturers are trying to pass the legislature against the protest. the labor unions, is expected to up in the senate military affairs ¢ mittee Wednesday for a public hear- ing. The bill aims to provide a force of armed cossacks to break strikes, Senator Raps Coolidge, CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa, March 23.— “Might as well appoint the king of the bootleggers ‘to enforce the Volstead law,” Senator James A, Reed of Mis- souri said here, while on a visit to his brother, commenting én Coolidge’s ap- pointment of Charles Warren as at- torney general. Reed objected to War- ren because of his interest in the derstanding and Workers Party hh ration, The of these lame ducke| in th at seven Sunday morning, the usual hour for going to the mill during the week. No rest for the wicked. Last night, as I watched the church was Now it may be answered: “Olir next affair is thé Anti-Nationalist’s Con. cert and Ballon Saturday, April 11, at 1347 Boston Road, Bronx, New York City. Admission fifty cents. Now that ae Does your friend subscribe to the DAILY WORKER? Ask him! ~ ~~ t Je be het ) ry