The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 23, 1925, Page 2

Page Two U, S, IMPERIALISM BOASTS OF LABOR AID IN TRADE WAR Taft Dedicates Temple to Open Shop C. of C. (Special to The Daily Worker) WASHINGTON, D. ©. May 21.— “The higher level of wages in the United States is fully balanced by specialization, superiority of tool equipment and management,” said Francois de Stphalle, vice-president of the Baldwin Locomotive Works, yes- terday, speaking before the 17th an- nual convention of the United States chamber of commerce, This shatters the unqualified boasts of capitalists and their labor Meuten- ants that the wages of American Workers are so much better absolute- ly than Buropean workers, without mentioning that American workers are also speeded up and produce so much more than Huropean workers that, compared to the value of their product, American workers are paid at a lower fate than the European worker, Says American Economy le Secure. De Stphalle went thoroly into the apprehension that America’s position on the world market would be injur- ed when “Hurope is stabilized and its cheap labor bocomes a factor in mar- keting merchandise.” “Even at the height of currency de- preciation in Europe, and therefore the cheapness of Buropean wages, this competition did not materialize. ‘The outstanding fact is that the Unit- ed States is the only great power now enjoying a foreign trade higher than in 1913, not only in money but in volume of goods, “A great asset to American ex- porters,” he continued, “is the Ingenu- ity and labor saving features of Ame+ rican production.” Trade War In Far East. BHohoing the sentiments of De Stphalle, George H. Anderson, former consul general, asserted that Ameri- can manufacturers need have no fear of German and British, “their most formidable competitors in the Far East and in Australia.” Besides these observations on the dominant position of American impe- rialism abroad in its relation to wages at home, Richard F. Grant of Cleve- land, president of the national cham- ber of commerce, attacked the re- straints upon monopoly and private capital by government “meddling.” “Government inquisition of the pri- vate citizen and his business, from the publishing of his income tax to innumerable imvestigations by special- ly constituted; commissions, is becom- ing unpopular,” he said. It is under- stood that he referred especially to the Teapot Donje investigation of Daugherty and the “Ohio gang.” Want no Regulation, A. C. Dodson, coal operator of Beth- lehem, Pennsylvania, also attacked government regulation, of mining, while Robert W. Bingham of Louis- ville, Kentucky, criticized the “cheap demagogue politicians” in congress and opposed any more “farm relief” laws. Last night, the great $3,200,000 building of the U. S. chamber of com- merce built by “open shop” labor, was dedicated by William Howard Taft, chief justice of the supreme court of the United States. Taft Fathered the Outfit. It was Taft, who, seventeen years ago, called together the first confer- ence of capitalists who organized the U. 3. chamber of commerce. He was then president of the United States, Silas H. Strawn, whom Coolidge tried to name as “prosecutor” of the Teapot Dome scandal, but who ap- peared to be too deeply involved in financial connections with the Teapot crowd to be finally accepted as official whitewasher, was named along with William R. Dawes, “Hell and’ Maria’s” brother, to the resolutions committee of the convention. Charging that “excessive specula- tion of the last few months was de- structive to the legitimate purposes of the exchange,” Rothwell awaited the opening of the board of directors’ neeting to present a resolution which woe bar excessive fluctuations in the ain market due to speculation, Menchant Capital Complaine, The spit was expected in board circles. If UR? Tesolution is determin- ed of “national portance,” it imme- diately would be pres\epted to the re- solutions committee ‘Wiich meets later. * Factions in the national Millers’ Federation and many prominent whole sale grocers are backing the resolu- tion because of belief their legitimate business is being handicapped by ex- cessive fluctuations in the market, All the important exchanges are affiliated, thru officials of the national chamber. “ee ¢ * Objects to Price Fluctuation. WASHINGTON, May 21— A wide open split in the ranks of the United States chamber of commerce appeared imminent today over Chicage grain market speculation, now being inves- tigated by the department of agricul- ture. . A faction of flour millers and whole- salers headed by X. J. Rothwell, Bos- ton, president of the Bay State Mill ing company, announced inmodiate approval would be sought on a reso- Yation ensuring gambling on the grain market, CHURCHES’ MILLIONS INVESTED IN OPEN SHOP CORPORATIONS IS CHARGE; PENNSY BONDS NAMED By ART SHIELDS (Federated Press Staff Correspondent) NEW YORK, May 21.—How can a christian church consistently say it stands for the right of the workers to unionize and to receive fair wages while at the same time its church funds are largely invested in stocks and bonds of corporations that deny these rights? This is the challenge presented to the wealthy protestant episcopal church by Dean Lathrop in a leading article in Christian Work entitled “The Churches’ Stocks and Bonds.” The article has attracted wide attention not only for its opposition to the current @—————_—_—___________. investment policies of the church but for its proposal that investments shall in future be made only with concerns that come up to the ethical standards the church has laid down. Christian Theory and Capitalist Practice. Dean Lathrop tells what these ethic- al standards are, They were adopted at the general convention of 1922 by the house of bishops and the house of deputies of the church and declare that “Human rights must take pre- cedence of property rights. There- fore a minimum subsistence wage, and if possible, a comfort and saving ‘wage must be the first charge on the industry...” And it is further em- phasized that labor as well as capital has the right to organization. That is the church theory, but church practice has drifted along old lines. Dean Lathrop shows that the national council has been guided in its investments by financial and not by ethical considerations. The in- vestments are for the most part in bonds yielding secure and regular in- come. Church Millions Behind Open Shop, What these securities are in which the church funds are placed is shown by the annual reports of the various funds, There are a number of big fund groups. The writer has to hand the printed report for December 1923 of the standing committee on trust funds of the domestic and foreign mis- sion society of the church—obtained thru the courtesy of Dean Lathrop. It summaries the $7,843,325.84 of cash and securities in the mission funds alone. It is impossible here to enumerate the more than two hun- dred varieties of securities furnish- ing the mission revenues but nearly all of them are railroad and public utilities holdings whose labor policy is partly or entirely on an open shop basis. One of the corporations represented is the Pennsylvania R. R. In talking to the Federated Press Lean Lathrop listed this enterprise as one whose labor policy was bad and whose se- curities would not meet the test of an ethical evaluation of investments. ORPHAN HOMES SELL CHILDREN INTO SLAVERY Victims Sent South in Car Loads NEW YORK, May 21—A traffic in child slaves was revealed at the Child Welfare Conference at the closing session at the Hotel Biltmore. Mrs. Bennet Smith of Temple, Tex., said that thousands of children from found ling homes are shipped to Texas farms where children are placed in unfit homes to be turned into cotton plantation slaves. To give the sem- blance of legality to these slave deals children are tagged with the names of their new parents. As a matter of form they are adopted by farmers. who use them for heavy farm labor. “There is no kind of supervision,” she said, “over the welfare of these children once they are taken into Texas under the guise of legal adop- tion.” Mrs. B, F. Westmore of Spokane, Wash., made similar charges, declar- ing that very young children are taken in large groups from the congested East to Northwestern states, and, altho legally adopted by farmers, be- come a part of the migratory labor. “The adopted parents of such chil- dren evade the compulsory education laws,” Mrs. Westmore said, “and agents are sent East to arrange for the wholesale transportation to great apple orchards and truck farms.” Children are disposed of as one would dispose of “chickens and puppy dogs” by many of the great foundling institutions,” Dr. Hastings R. Hart of the Russel Sage Foundation declared, saying he had seen crimes committed in the placing of children in family homes that made the blood run cold. Engineers’ Strike in N. Y. to Tie Up Ice Making Plants (Special to The Daily Worker) NEW YORK.—(By Mail.) — With union engineers ordered to quit their posts, more than two-thirds of the ice manufacturing plants in Manhattan and Bronx face a tie-up. , The action of New York local No. 29 of the Stationary Engineers’ Union fol- lows closely a similar move by Local 56 in Brooklyn and Queens, which or- dered its members employed in ice plants out the other day, Both strikes have been called to en- force the union’s demand for an in- crease of about $1 a day in wages and for a union contract. The union has asked for @ rate of $9 per eight homrs work. Jo} J. McDonald, secretary of said that more than 100 swer the strike call here ut sixty plants would hut down on account of means that some 12,- the 18,000, which is sumption of ice at year, cannot be pro- duced. In Brooklyn, \according to Fred Rauscher, secretary of the local, forty- six plants in Brooklyn and Queens are tied up and that 300 men are on strike, 000 tons of ice the normal daily this season of Socialists Show Respect to War Lord BERLIN, May 21.—Outward respect with an underlying attitude of sus- picious vigilance.will be the socialist attitude toward President Hinden- burg, debate in the reichstag showed. ‘The socialists have made but weak op- position to the monazahias NORTHWESTERN LAYS OFF 3,000 MEN FROM SHOPS Move to Cut Wages by Unemployment Between 50 and 55 per cent of the workers of the northwestern railway shops in Chicago are now unemployed and tasting some of the Coolidge “prosperity,” according to the infor- mation reaching the office of the DAILY WORKER. In latter April the railroad announ- ced its intention to lay off 86 per cent of the force of about 7,000 employed. However, this was later changed, and the lay offs took effect on a lesser, though still a great, scale on May 4th, It is estimated that about 3,000 or more are now laid off. In 'the locomotive department a re- duction of forces of from 50 to 55 per cent was put into effect. In the freight car department nearly all the men were laid off. The only depart- ment which did not suffer was the passenger car department, which is riitining a full crew. Action by the shop crafts union is, apparently, undecided. While the lay off is apparently a part of the camp- ign. of the business interests to give the starvation cure to the workers in order to make them accept a wage cut, no word of fighting back has reached the ears of the men from the shop craft unions, The shop chairman at the north- western shops is John Collins, a so- cialist, Coolidge Can't See It. WASHINGTON, May 21—President Coolidge’s mythical spokesman has flatly denied that he is going to call @ new Hague conference of the pow- ers, to codify international law as a necessary preliminary step to Ameri- can adherence to the international court of justice. He sees no need for codyifying the law before joining the court. Hence, the report that Sen. Borah had “sold” the idea to him is worthless, Besides, calling a conference would Tuise the issue of Russ‘an recognition. Borah, in a speech at the university of Michigan, has again demanded that the Soviet Union be recognized in the family of nations, The state depart- ment bureaucracy is still unwilling to support Borah. Coolidge prefers to let the issue sleep. Winter Defends Justice Department. WASHINGTON, May 21.—Congress- man Winter of Wyoming, where Tea- pot Dome is located, has addressed an open letter to the Wheeler defense fund committee, in whcih he heated- ly denies that the conduct of the de- partment of justice toward Senator Wheeler has been a disgrace, as as- serted by the committee in its pub- lic appeal. Winter defends every- thing the department has done to the Montana senator, and deuies that his indictments were secured because he performed his duty in exposing rotten conditions in the department. Farm Boys Worst Exploited. WASHINGTON, May 21. — Boys brought up on farms get less school- ing than any other group of children less even than their own sisters, says the U, S, bureau of education, reporting on a survey of rural schools, The increasing cost of farm labor has resulted in depriving more and more of the-farm boys of the chance to at- tend high school, until now the bu- reau finds them seriously crippled in educational start. in lity oni THE DAILY WORKER { WORKERS! MUST | PUT AN END TO ZANKOV TERROR Fascists Caused Sofia Bombing, Reds Show (Continued from page 1) liberated from the Zankov govern- ment thru guerilla warfare or indi- vidual terror, and warns the torment- ed workers and peasants against the use of such methods of struggle. The Communist Party declares, however, that it cannot condemn those who have sacrificed their lives in the strug- gle against the white terror. The bar- baric regime bears the entire respon- sibility. Workers of World Must Act. “Only a change in the government, of the mad criminals, only the aboli- tion of the emergency law, the resto- ration of the rights and liberties of the working masses, and amnesty, can bring this peasant country back to the methods of mass struggle for the demands of-the workers and peasants. The criminal band ‘of generals and bankers is trying to reinforce its in- secure position thru new mass arrests, thru bestial terror; and thru mass ex- ecutions of the best fighters. In these frightful days of terror that have be- fallen the whole. Bulgarian nation, the Communist Party expects the sup- port of the workers of all countries, especially from the workers of Eng- land, France, America and_ Italy, whose governments are supporting the hangmen of Sofia. Energetic ac- tion on the part of the workers of these countries can still save the lives of thousands of workers and peasants, and help them free themselves from the bloody Zankov regime.” Coroner’s Jury Frees 15-Year-Old Vampire Killer Lucille Wunsch, 15-year-old Thorn- ton high school pupil, walked from the coroner’s inquest here this after- noon, a free girl—exonerated of the murder of Agnes Simneck, her fath- er’s alleged affinity, by a vote of 2 to 1, She plead the “unwritten law.” and the jury allowed her to go free. New Haven Carmen Want More Money NEW HAVEN, Conn., May 21—The trolleymen of Ne’ aven are seek- tink wage rates ased from 55 and 60 cents an hour to 70 and 75 cents; 80 cents and hour for operators of one-man cars and 90 cents an hour for bus operators. The union com- plains that tho trolleymen are sup- posed to have first. call on buss posi- tions, the company has been employ- ing outsiders. The agreement ex- pires June 1, Union demands are filled with President J. K. Punderford of the Connecticut company and will be referred to the trustees for ac- tion. Profits Before Human Safety. NEW YORK, May 21. — The new type of shaft and transmission guard on machines in the meedle trades in- dustries which the»New York state labor board has ordered brought a delegation of manufacturers’ associa- tion agents to the headquarters of the state labor department to protest that the safety measure would cost too much and was of doubtful value. The list of protesting boss organiza- tions include the American Cloak and Suit Manufacturers’ Association, the Associated Dress Manufacturers, the Bastern Millinery Association, the Shirt and Boys’ Waist Makers’ Asso- ciation, the Bonnaz Embroidery Manu- facturers’ Association, the Pants Con- tractors’ Association. Turkey Buys German Submarines. CONSTANTINOPLE, May 21.—The Turkish government has given to Herr Blohm an order for two German submarines to be used for coast de- fense. Blohm represents the Maat- schapij Fijenoord of Rotterdam, a Dutch company owned by the Aeg, Vulcan and Blohm and Visz interests of Germany, omelets Billion Dollar Rall Merger. The much rumored one and one- half billion dollar railroad merger, combining the Southern Pacific and the Chicago Rock Island and Pacific, two transcontinental lines, will soon be officially announced, C. T. Col- lett, general agent for the Southern Pacific lines, declared, German-Pole Dispute Continues. ~ GENEVA, May 21,— Germany has appealed her dispute with Poland over the expropriation by that country of German owned industrial property in Polish Upper Silesia to the world court of justice, Hear Rock Island Plea June 15. WASHINGTON, May 21.— Applica- tion of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific railroad to buy the capital stock of the St. Louls-Southwestern will be heard by’ the interstate com- mercé commission, June 15, it was an- nounced today. © Talk it up—your Capitalist Hope Tries to Put Rebellious Riffs in Class With Indians By J. LOUIS ENGDAHL. TOpAY, American workers are blandly informed, thru the employers’ press, that the trouble the Riffs are making for Spanish and French capitalist rule in North Africa doesn't amount to very much. It is just an incident in the onward march of irresistible imperialism, it is said, like the futile effort of the American Indians to stop the progress of the white man upon this continent. : This is, of course, a confession of blindness to what has been going on in the world for the last Beret and a half, like Senator LaFollette, and his “socialist” following, with the political slogan of “Back to '76.” * * @ @ The Russian Bolshevik revolution destroyed the “social- ist” myth that nations must go thru an intensive develop- ment, under capitalism, before exploitation can be abolishe: and the workers and poor farmers come into power. The apologists. for capitalism support this position by lauding the uplifting influence that capitalist “civilization” brings to “backward peoples.” “Christian soldiers, with Bibles in their hip pockets, murdered defenseless Indians on this continent “for their own good,” so it was said; just as Victor L. Berger, the American “socialist” congressman, defends American inter- vention in Mexico, claiming that a good dose of Wall Street imperialist rule will better prepare the Mexicans for the ad- vent of socialism. * # * @ It was inevitable that the tide of white immigration, ouring across the Atlantic, should overwhelm the American ndian, But it is not argued in the parliaments of Spain and France, nor in the American congress, that the drift of the white human flood is into North Africa or Mexico. It is not new settlements for white peoples that France and Spain seek in Northern Africa. It is an effort to subjugate the African colonials to its imperialist rule, just as Great Britain tried to mainain its imperialist sway over the American colo- nists, ener The Moors of Northern Africa have a centuries’-old civilization back of them. If they are able to challenge European capitalism, as they have already met and rebuffed the imperialist armies of Spain, then the whole colonial po- licy of Rome, Paris and London is threatened, not only in Africa, but also in Asia, where hundreds of millions of rest- less colonials groan under European rule, ready at the first favorable opportunity to rise, in open rebellion. * * * The repeated defeats in Africa of the Spanish military junta may soon result in the ending of monarchic rule in Spain and the inauguration of a bourgeois republic. But French imperialism's troubles in Africa may have greater consequences. The bankrupt French treasury, in spite of its aid from the House of Morgan, cannot meet the heavy drains that an extended war against the Riffs de- mands. After a month of fighting, military operations are being pushed on a larger scale than ever. The fall of the Painleve government, as a result, is already predicted. * .* * . In the French chamber of deputies stand the Commun- ists, raising the cry of the solidarity of French workers and peasants with French colonials, not only in Africa but every- where. Across the world the Communist International sends the demand for the i of self-determination for all peoples, that the capitalist diplomats discussed at Versailles, but that only the Bolshevik revolution has made possible for the world's land surface, all harmoniously united in the Union of Soviet Republics. : : eeee The Riffs of Northern Africa, trained in European war- fare, are not the “poor Indians” of the American continents, easy victims of expanding British, French and Spanish im- perialisms, at their very dawn. Rather the Riffs symbolize one of the insoluble problems of a fully developed world imperialism that is faced not onl with discontented and rebellious colonial peoples abroad, but with the rise of a developing revolutionary working class in the home countries, struggling to create their own Soviet ower. Truly the oppressors are being surrounded on all ronts by the oppressed, pushing forward for the final victory. ca se entia tt lashes: aah sal Bo a Sciatic RED INTERNATIONAL OF LABOR UNIONS GREETS DANISH STRIKE (Inprecorr Telegraph Service) MOSCOW, May 21.—The executive bureau of the Red International of Labor Unions has directed the following appeal to the striking workers of Denmark: f “The executive bureau of the R. |. L. U. sends its fraternal greetings to the striking and locked-out workers of Denmark, and expresses its hope that you may keep up your struggle with determination and steadfastness. In your hitherto comparatively peaceful country too, capital has taken up the offensive, as in the other countries. Compromise and agreements can- not halt the growing intensification of the class struggle, nor reduce the pressure of well organized and concentrated capital. “You can achieve victory in your defensive struggle against capital only thru solidarity in your own ranks, thru the support of all workers, the de- termined will to fight on the part of those locked out, and thru the united front with the workers of other countries. Such insolent attacks on the part of the employers can be prevented only thru international unity of the trade union movement. The lessons you have learned from your struggle should serve you as a new incentive to unity. “Long live international solidarity! “Long live the unity of the international trade union movement!” 54 MINES CLOSED IN PITTSBURGH DISTRICT; 11,000 OUT OF WORK MONESSEN, Pa., May 21.—The last of the union mines of the Pitts- burgh Coal Co, closed down when the mine at West Newton near here closed and the men where ordered to take their tools out. This makes the 54th mine to close down in this district. When these mines are running full it is estimated that between 10,000'to 11,000 men receive employment. The are owned by independent concerns, and several that are running on the non-union or,open shop basis, Pitteourgh Coal Co, says that it cannot operate but on the 1917 scale, All along the valley you can see men tearing down coal tipples and bring out the coal ears, and raile woTIO!) » re still several mines that are operating on the union scale that NEGRO SLAVES ARE BEATEN IN FLORIDA CAMPS Judges Sell Workers to Peonage Farms PENSACOLA, Florida, May 21.—. Negro victims of peonage told in the federal court here how County Judge W. I. Chafin had virtually sold them into slavery in the turpentine camps, and when they tried to escape, had them beaten with sticks until they streamed blood. Those on trial under indictment for violating the United States statute prohibiting forced labor, are besides Chafin, Sheriff C. S, Clark, deputy Sheriffs Thomas Shuler and T. EB. Cw som, G. W. White, commissary man-+ ager, Will Proctor, bookkeeper, Chas. and Alfred Land and M. B. Davis, tur- pentine operators. Sold Into Slavery. Henry Sanders, a Negro, told how he and three others had left the Cal- hount county turpentine ordhard of Land and Davis, and were arrested on a state process from Chafin’s court charging them with stealing $3.00 worth of tools. They were taken to Chafin’s court and “permitted to plead guilty.” “Costs” were then assessed against each, and a $90.00 bond was placed over each worker. They were then taken back to the turpentine camp to “work out the debt.” “The longer we worked the deeper we got in debt,” Sanders said, An- other worker told how in less than, three months of work, they had chalk- ed up a “debt” of $114.00 against him. “T got nothing for it,” he said. “When I tried to leave, I wasechased by arm- ed men and beaten.” “I was caught some miles away and the sheriffs ordered De Witt Stone (another Negro who had escaped) to beat me. He did, as they had guns pointed at him. The Davis (one of the defendants) told De Witt to draw the stick toward him so as to cut my flesh. Three other Negroes repeated the same story. As they appeared in court they had big welts on their bodies as the result of the beatings. George Diamond and Galveston Jack- son, also told of being taken prisoner and forced to labor by court orfer and told of beatings they had re- ceived. The judges practicing peonage in the south have arrangements with the lumber and turpentine interests whereby they are paid so much a head for every Negro who is pressed into slavery in the camps. Many Negroes are murdered, and the “officers of the law” who are party to the crimes, make no move to bring the murderers to justice. . City of Chicago i Sells Valuable Land to Railroad Trust The city council, by a. vote of 36 to 9, passed an ordinance giving the Nickel Plate railroad 255 acres of sub- merged land and an exclusive belt line right of way around the proposed Lake Calumet harbor in return for a channel to be built by the road down the center of the land. The land will be incalculably valuable when the Calumet harbor is comple ted. The Nickel Plate railroad is owned by the Van Sweringen interests, who are backed by the J. P.. Morgan com-. pany. Little Entente Protests Agalnst ‘ Hungary. VIENNA, countries of the little entente, Czecho- Slovakia, Roumania, and Jugoslavia, have sent a note to Marshal Foch protesting against the violatiop by Hungary of the treaty of Trianon, charging that Hungary has created too big an army. Killed to Stop Philandering. The “anwritten law” in a new form, was the plea to be offered here today by Lucille Wunsch, 16-year-old Thorn- ton high school girl, in defense of her attack on Agnes Simneck, 28, the wo- man who “made her mother cry” and whom she hiled to end the philandery ing of her father. Locomotive Firemen Meet. ~ DETROIT, May 21—The thrttoth convention of the ‘of Lo- comotive Firemen and en will open here June 1, continuing for about a month Approximately 115,000 members will be represented. How About More Pay? PHORIA, May 21—Mining {s a pro- fesison and should be recognized as such, Wm. Kidd of Peoria, Illinois, mine inspector, told inspectors from all, over the United States at their annual meeting here. Worker Killed On Job, Olaf Olson, a worker in the employ of the Bates & Rogers Cpnstruction company, Harvey, was struck by an Tilinois Central train while at work and was instantly killed. Spring Dance In New York, NEW YORK, May 21.—The Young Workers’ League of this city will hola its spring ball this coming Saturday, May 23, at the headquarters of the down town section, 105 Bldridge 8& Austria, May 21—The © }