The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 25, 1925, Page 2

FLORIDA COURT SOLD NEGROES INTO PEONAGE Turpentine Operators Are Found Guilty PENSACOLA, Fla., May 24.—A ver- dict of guilty was returned in federal court here against five Calhoun coun- ty men charged with peonage and brutally beating Negroes who were sold into slavery in the turpentine camps by county judges. Those found guilty were Charles Land and M. B. Davis, turpentine operators, and Will Proctor, Carey Whitefield and Frank Daniels, commissary clerks in the turpentine camps. Henry Sanders, a Negro, who was the last witness to testify against the turpentine operators, told how he had been brutally beaten with clubs. “I was told not to run, or I would be killed,” Sanders said. He told how he was arrested and taken before Calhoun county Judge Chapin, charged with stealing a coat. He was forced to plead guilty, being told by Davis, the owner of the camp, that if he refused to plead guilty he would be given 8 months on the road sang. After Judge Chapin had given Sanders to understand tha, the threat would be carried oui, £6 pleaded guilty and was given 90 days under a bond, which was to be worked out in Davis’ camp. But Sanders could not get away, the company chalking up $114.00 debt against him at the end of his ninety day sentence, altho he had been given no pay. He escaped, but was caught by sheriffs and brutally beaten. The sheriffs and Judge Chapin are under indictment. Sanders’ body was examined by the court, and altho the Leating occurred last September, the scars of the beat- ing were still visible. GET A SUB AND GIV= ONEI THREE FASCISTS ARE KILLED IN STREET FIGHTS (Special to The Daily Worker) ROMH, Italy, May 24.—Fighting be- tween fascist troops and anti-fascist workers continues in several towns in Italy. At Rovigot one fascist was killed and another seriously wounded in street fighting. At Adria two were killed and one injured. A mob of fascists wrecked the print- ing plant of the anti-fascist newspaper, Popolo Veneto at Padue, and smashed several shops belonging to anti-fas- cists. They set fire to the Concordi theater, and destroyed several head- quarters and private homes of their opponents. Fighting also occurred at Brescia. Patronize our advertisers. (Continued from page 1) would be back next day without ap proaching any inspectior for a permit to carry on organization work. Conditions in the Briggs plants are perhaps more onerous than in any factory in Detroit. For months: there has been a steady shoving down of the wage scale. Trimmers who have been getting 90 cents and a dollar an hour are being discharged and the lower scale men are being retained. Girls are replacing men at a wage of from 25 to 35 cents an hour. Exper!l- enced painters are dropped and their places taken by unskilled workers op- erating the Duco process spray, at less than half the wages of the skilled workers. Hundreds of girls are em- ployed. The factory slogan is “Step On It!” Local 127 Auto Workers is institut- ing an organization campaign and the noon day factory meetings are in line with the program. Meetings have been held at the Fisher body plants, | Packards, American Motor Body Corp., Briggs, and several other plants. The local meets every Friday night at 55 Adelaide. The Sequel Friday noon saw the sequel to the disturbance started by the managers of the Briggs Harper Ave. plant when the organizers of Auto Workers Union No. 127 attempted to speak. Reliz- ing from the previous faliure that their own private dicks could not eope with the men who were strong for hearing what the Auto Workers’ Union organ- izers had to say, they secured the WANTED: Bound Volumes or Complete Sets of “International Socialist Review” for 1910, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 1915. Published by Kerr & Co, Address LEWIS, c. o. 19 So. Lincoln Street, Chicago, Ml. Detroit Auto Workers Fight Police (Continued from page 1) to force the “open shop” on Gary and bring non-union building workers into Gary. “As a union man do you consider the open shop a good American prin- ciple and a good American institu- tion?” the DAILY WORKER reporter asked. Acts As Strikebreaker. “Well, that’s a controversial mat- ter,” Davis replied. “I wouldn’t care to go into that. For eight years be- fore I came into the cabinet the de- partment of labor has had a policy of conciliation. We are conciliators. If I declared myself for the closed shop the employers wouldn’t have me, and if I declared myself against it the unions woyldn’t like it, so I don’t ex- press myself on that subject.” Afraid to Defend Workers. “What can I say about the lockout, what could I say,” Davis continued “What would you say?” After being told by the DAILY WORKER reporter that a good union man should be for one hundred per cent organization, and _ therefore against the “open shop,” Davis re- plied: “Well, that’s all very well for you to express yourself, but you haven’t got a government job tagged If I was free of a govern- commit ontq you. ment job I would too.” After making this admission that requirements for a cabinet member are cowardice and hypocrisy, Davis continued his handshaking, backslap- ping and baby patting of the local “Moose.” Davis was the honored guest of the United States Steel corporation, which has taken the lead in attacking the union building workers of Gary. He went thru the steel mills with cham- ber of commerce members acting as the reception committee. Steel Trust Ordered Lockout. The men whom Davis praised, after attacking the foreign-born workers, and the Communists, were Gary em- ployers who are assaulting the trade unions. Davis made not a single ‘men- tion of the lockout in his public speeches. The steel trust is directly constructing 103 houses to house workers in the new tube works, and has in addition let building contracts to the Germatta Construction com- pany, the John Larguro company, and several other leading ‘contractors. myself The next move’in the lockout wil be Monday night, when a committee of three, Tom McAl- Uster, Bert Drake and.@. Elkins, re- port to the Plumbers’ Union on the conferences that have, been held with represeutatives of the contractors, Bert Stevens, business agent of the Plumbers’ Union, told the DAILY WORKER. No Agreement Reached. Altho building trades council of- ficials told the DAILY WORKER that the union heads are willing to settle independently with the contractors, it is known that the plasterers have al- ready refused to return to work until the contractors meet the plumbers’ demands. The building trades workers were locked out six days ago, when the Gary General Building Contractors’ Association announced that an agres- services of the Detroit police, and practically the whole force of the Chene and Canfield station were | Suarding the plant from a handful of | organizers. Frank X. Martel, president of the Detroit Federation of Labor was the first to speak. However, Martel had no more than started than he was placed under arrest. Frank Brunton, secretary of Local 127 Auto Workers was also arrested for protesting against the arrest of Martel. The crowd was quick to express its re- sentment against the police and fol- lowed the car containing police and prisoners for more than a block. 6,000 Cheer Speaker. At this moment, Alfred. Goetz mounted the chair. Goetz had spoken at the Briggs plant on a number of former occasions and his mounting the chair was the signal for an ova- tion from the crowd. The local papers stated that fully 5,000 workers were in the crowd. They cheered the | speaker when he denounced the po- |lice for interferring the right of the | workers to organize, and drove home |the point that the police are always on the side of the boss when the workers make demands for improved conditions or better wages. One of the foremen from the shop | tried to curry favor with his masters | by trying to heckle the speaker, but the heckler was quickly squelched by the impatient crowd in a very effec- tive, even tho crude manner. Just when the men were getting ready to return to work and the speaker was Labor Defense Council, Gary Workers Firm Despite Davis ment had been reached by the build- ing trades unions, that if the plum- bers’ demands were met, all of the building trades would strike for a similar increase. The plumbers had been on strike since May 5, Since the lockout the contractors have made several attempts to break the solidarity of the unions by offer- ing separate settlements to various, unions. All of these offers were spurn- ed by the,strikers. Last Thursday, after prolonged conferences, the plas- terers refused to negotiate with the contractors until the entire situation was cleared up. The building trades workers have refused to return to work pending “artitration.” The plas- terers are demanding a wage increase from $11.00 to $14.00 per day. Force Independents to Join, In declaring the lockout, the con- tractors’ association officials admitted that the fight “may develop into an effort on our part to declare an open shop.” But the bankers, including the Midcity State bank, which con- structs houses, and the Steel City Construction company, the Deutsch Construction company, and the other larger bankers and contractors, have used the strike and lockout as a club to force the independent, smaller con- tractors to join the association. “We are cleaning our own house, too,” one banker said, at a meeting of the association, On the first day of the strike, 16 indeperdent contractors were forced into the association, In addition, press- ure was brought to bear on the mate- rial dealers, who joined with the associ. ation, and refused to deliver material to independent contractors. The real estate board, the chamber of com- merce, the commercial club, and other business organizations, all of which are controlled by the steel corpora- tions, joined with the bankers and contractors in the “open shop” drive on the building workers. The contractors’ association made desperate efforts to induce the plumb- ers to return to work and form a committee to settle the wage contro- versy. Stevens, the business agent, explained, however, that the plumbers have no committee with power to make a settlement. ‘Stevens declared that any action would have to be taken by the union at Monday night’s meeting, when all of the plumbers would be given a chance to rule wHat sort of a settlement should be made. Four meetings were held with the plumbers during the strike and lock- out, and at three of these a “concilia- tor” sent by Secretary of Labor Davis, attended, and tried to induce the strikers to return to work on their old wage scale, pending settlement. Davis Lauds Employers. Davis, im his speech at the Moose Home, glorified the fact that American business has set up such a gigantic system of exploitation, and gloated over the Big profits now being made by the employers. “A magnificent mill,” was the term he used for the Gary slave pens where thousands of steel workers toil at wages of 45 cents an hour. “That mill represents -real patriotism,” Davis said. It represents real Ameri- }canism, and we need that kind of Americanism.” ——— making his closing remarks a detail of police came in a Ford touring car. Crowd Battle Cops. The speaker was arrested and thrown into the car whereupon the crowd massed themselves around the car and with shouts of “Don’t let them get him,” and “Take him away,” they kept the car from getting away by holding on to the wheels and fend- ers until the cops forced them to let go by brandishing their guns, The crowd of workers, now thoroly aroused by the vicious treatment ac- corded them, hooted and jeered the cops and treated them to a shower of pop bottles. The cops again had to leave the car and with drawn revoly- ers worked the crowd back and made their escape with the prisoners. Police Reserves Arrive But Retreat. A riot call was sent in and soon the reserves arrived from at least four neighboring precinct stations. The police showed evidence of hysteria and tried to keep the men from the second shift from coming out for their lunches, The men insisted how- ever, and the police decided that dis- cretion was the better part of valor. Briggs employes are very much aroused by the action of the manage- ment and the police and are more de- termined than ever that Local 127 shall have a fair chance to deliver the message of unionism. In all seven men were arrested. They were held for about one and one-half hours and tthen realeased without any charges being preferred against them, This is evidently a tactic which the police will employ in an attempt to discourage the noonday factory meetings. The organizers of Local 127 are emphatic in declaring that such tactis will fail, An open meeting of the Auto Work- ers’ Union was held Friday evening which was well attended and a large number of those present joined the or- ganization, The men in the factories are beginning to resist the oppressive methods the bosses are using. The resentment expressed by the Briggs employes against the bosses and the police at Friday’s meeting is becom- ing general in all the factories in De- troit. Local 127 aims to crystallize this resentment into organizational strenth and will give the bosses the serap of their lives, TRAITORS:BESET WEST VARGINIA COAL MINERS . Shinnston Local Officials a Turn Fihk (Continued from page 1) effect that they desire to surrender their charter and supplies and re- quest C. F. Davis, financial agent to take charge of same.” Operators’ Agents Controlled Local. But Davis goes on to relate cir- cumstances which show that some- thing lay behind the rumor that J. E. Weeks and C. M. Vincent, former president and secrete of Local 4009 had turned in the ter. Further- more, these finks have proceeded to ofganize and incorporite a company union at Shinnston ina dastardly at- tempt to break the U: M. W. of A. from the outside, Davis says: “J. B. Weeks, the for- mer member of the U. M. W. of A., who, it is claimed, wrote this letter to the Fairmont office, is brother to the general manager of the Bethle- hem Coal company, and members of the U. M. W. of A. in northern West Virginia have intelligence enough to realize that, taking'all the facts into consideration, this action is very much on the order of a brotherly af- fatr.” Mass Meetings But No Relief. To offset the discouragement caus- ed by the above finks who had gotten hold of Local 4009, the union officials called a mass meeting of the Shinn- ston miners on a lot across from the Bethlehem mines and reported 2,000 miners and their families attended. In addition, they reported 500 at Cass- ville and 600 at Farmington meet- ings. However, murmurs are heard among the strikers at the failure of the union to give any strike relief and criticism of the high salaries be- ing paid the international officers while women and children of the miners are starving, The miners are, mone the less, de- termined to stick. bythe union and maintain as militant..a fight as the white-livered officialy will permit them to make. The men scoff at the treachery of Weeks and Vincent and say that they will have nothing to do with the company union incorporated by them with the aid of the U. M, W. of A. Attorney John B. Wyatt, under the name of the Mountaineer Coal Miners’ Association, supposed to make an “agreement” with the Bethle- hem company, = ¢ The traitor attomiey, Wyatt, who was lawyer for Local 4009, says that the signets’ of ‘théijeharter for this ‘scab company union, including Weeks, Vincent, Roy Wilson, L. B. Seckman, BE. J. Curry, W. H. Drummond, 0. L. Whiteman and R, D. Burnett, all of Shinnston, were all officers of Local 4009. The membership have got the number of these traitors to the union and promise to give them a severe letting alo: Determined to Fight on All Fronts. While the struggle of the miners is bitter, and they have to fight this inner treachery and the spineless and mercenary fakers like Bittner and Lewis who care only for their own high salaries and aré ready to betray the struggle at any 'point, as well as continuing their picketing in the fight against the operators, yet the miners are loyal union meh and will stick thru thick and thin, thru hunger and privation, because they know that only by struggle can they win, while surrender now will lead to further and even more bitter hardships, RIFFIANS HOLD GROUND AGAINST FRENCH CANNONS RABAT, Moroceoy. May 24—The Moroccan troops are standing their ground against the attacks of the in- vading French army, and despite a severe artillery bombardment, the French have not been able to drive the Riffilans from French Morocco, The Beni Guil tribe repulsed an at- tack of the French forces. ewe Spanish-French Ract Reached. MADRID, Spain, May 24—An agree- ment has been concluded between the Spanish dictator Primé de Rivera and Lous Malvy, representing the Pain- leve government, whereby the two countries will the border line of Spanish and Morocco if the Riffians are subd . The agreement stipulates that the Spanish fleet shall enact a stricter blockade along the Mediter- ranean to prevent the Rifflans from se- curing supplies, Last Meeting of Alexander Charmov To Be Held Tonight. The last meeting of Comrade Alex- ander Chramov be held in Chi- cago tonight at 1080) West 14th street. All his meetings Chicago have drawn big crowds. | After this meot- ing he goes back to York whore vited to this meeting. Admisison is is free. i ocealielaies Got a. “eub” for the oe Workar. Trees, Not Children, First Care of New York, World’s Richest City By J. LOUIS ENGDAHL. TPeR ay. all that money and tender care can do to save the trees in Central Park, New York City, from ailings afflict- ing them, is being done. The Davey Tree Expert Company has been brought in especially to “save them” from death. It is declared they are mortally sick. The park trees are fortunate. The children of the city's congested working class districts are not so fortunate. The New York City Ryvorurants thru many investigations, knows what troubles the children; malnutrition thru improper food, diseases born of overcrowded housing conditions resulting in lack of fresh air, absence of sunlight, and other evils to be found stalking thru every American municipality. But nothing is done. . ° ° e The trees are to get all the attention. The other day, as carefully reported with pictures in the metropolitan press, “seven khaki-dressed men climbed into the dead tops of two gigantic elms shading the 72nd street entrance to the Mall and cut their lifeless and infected limbs from them. Today a systematic feeding of these and many other trees in the park will continue for a year.” But what of the children of the working class? No such tender care is shown them. Their wy and teeth may be bad, resulting in many ailments. Their bodies may be afflicted with many easily curable maladies, But they get no atten- tion if their parents are unable to pay the crushing doctor bills. Any effort to have the municipality look after the children as carefully as it does after the trees in the parks is denounced as “Bolshevism.” * * ° e It is now declared that there is almost no healthy tree Ha the park. They are all ailing. But they can all be made ealthy. They are not affected by the noxious gases that pour from the automobile traffic that continues unceasingly thru the park. a can battle that. The trees have just received too much artificial atten- tion. They have been too well taken care of. They have been robbed of the correct care that nature always gives them. The soil has been packed down so that no water or air could penetrate it. The trees have been deprived of the decomposing vegetation that develops naturally in the open forest. This condition is now to be remedied by the turning of the soil and the use of fertilizers. An effort is to be made, thru every artificial means available, to imitate nature in the care of these trees. ate) a. Similarly, workers are forced to live artificial lives in the great cities. Human nature rebels at being forced to labor 10 and 12 hours daily, or even less, under unnatural conditions; the remaining hours to be spent in an equally artificial manner. The pavements of the streets were never intended as playgrounds for children. Yet* children are forced to accept them because real playgrounds are scarce and parks almost unknown. Homes are not built in great cities, for the care of healthy families, but rather as a means of collecting high rents from workers forced to live in them. New York has officially reported that its housing conditions for workers are steadily getting worse, not better. * * * * New York City, in the days to come, will proudly pro- claim that it has saved the trees in its parks; that the un- natural conditions that were killing the trees have been over- come by artificial means. But the murder of the children, as well as of the grown- ups of the working class, will continue as before. The profit system demands it. An intensely exploited working class, with a low standard of living, results in high dividends for invested capital. That must not be interfered with. So say the capitalists. But the time will come when the workers will demand the same consideration shown the trees in the parks. They will insist that they also enjoy every possible opportunity to combat the artificiality of the present machine age. They will never win that chance under capitalism. They will learn that this victory can only be achieved thru the ending of cap- italism and the building of the new social order—Commun- ism—that abolishes profits and holds first the interests of all toiling humanity. Union Fakers Aid “Open Shop” (Continued from page 1) president and general manager, re- fuses to grant anything, but is willing and even quite anxious to “submit it to arbitration.” The company is said to have named a director, Charles Currie, as its arbiter, while the union has ap- proached J. B. Hannan, exalted cy- clops of the Summit county klan and I. 8. Myers to serve for the union, Union Officials Violate Constiution to, Ald Open Shop. The old contract which expired May 1, holds good until another one 1 made, according to the “gentlemen's agreement.” The situation in Cleve- land, where the carmen were defeated by somewhat similar treachery on the Dunne Will Lecture Tuesday; All Invited At the open meeting of the North- west English branch of the Chicago Workers Party, to be held Tuesday evening, May 26, at the Workers’ Lyceum, 2738 Hirsch Boulevard, Will- jam F. Dunne, editor of the DAILY WORKER will lecture upon “The Na- tional and Colonial Questions and Their Relation to the Class Stru This meeting is expected to at- tract all workers interested in this fundamental problem of the working class struggle with imperialism. All are welcome and there is no admis- sion charged. Sinclair Cannot Appeal Case, MOSCOW, May 24.—~The supreme court has rejected the appeal of the Sinclair company against the decision of the Moscow district court annuling the Saghalien concession, % part_of the union officials, is béing relied upon by the company to influ- ence the Akron workers. The com- pany feels that it has the open shop fight practically won, However, the Akron carmen point to the fact that the offictals of the local and even President Mahon can- not force arbitration upon them on the question of the unionization of the bus men by including them in the agreement, because the union constti- tution plainly’ states that bus men are eligible for membership. If Mahon and O'Neil insist on the open shop they will be violating the union constitution it is pointed out. Subscribe for the DAILY j WORKER! started. STANDARD LOSES FIGHT TO SELL LEAD GAS” But Issue is Not Yet } Definitely Settled . ’ ¥ (Continued from page b 40,000 workers must have been em- ployed in these 20,000 filling stations handling the fuel and that the exam- inations of 30 gave no proof that large numbers of workers were not suffering from lead poisoning, Many Workers Affected, The number of workers who will be directly affected by lead fumes if the new fuel comes into general use, said Mrs. Burnham, can,be gauged by census reports: 286,045 chauffeurs, 81,450 garage workers, 411,182 team- sters and dray men and 40,000 men in the filling stations. A. L. Berres, secretary, Metal Trades department, A. F. of L., took the floor to defeat proposals that sale of the new tuel—recently stopped by the corporation as the result of aroused sentiment, be permitted pend- ing the report of the surgeon general's investigators. Said Barres: “I can appreciate what it means to take the knock out of a motor, but I may say at this time that we are more con- cerned about keeping the knock out of the human make up. From that point of view, Mr. chairman, the American Federation of Labor will at- tack the sale of this gas.” F. A. Howard, Standard Oil man, argued for the fuel, which he sald made one gallon take the place of two, and described tetraethyl lead as sent from heaven to conserve the off supply of the country. Mererly be cause some animals had died in the tests he said his conscience would not permit him to deprive his coum try of the fuel. Eleven Dead, 118 Injured. To which Mrs. Burnham replied- that it was no gift of heaven to the 11 who had died and the 118 who had been poisoned. Mies Harriet Silberman, director the Workers’ Health Bureau, said that, it was not a matter of the deaths of animals but of human beings. She quoted from the boasts of the cor Porations that maximum precautions | were taken, compelling every man to wash frequently during the day, taking full baths dafly and observing other rules for failure to follow which ' his pay was forfeited. Miss Silver man pointed out the injustice of this pay forfeit rule from a corporation profiting from the sale of 800,000,000 gallons at a price 8 cents above the failed to prevent the catastrophes the industry had witnessed. The testimony of Prof. Flinn of Co- lumbia telling how he and another Co- lumbia investigator had been’ injured in tetraethyl lead experiments was a factor in passing the resolution against resumption of production, (Continued from Page 1) tional election as provided by the con- stitution, as John L. Lewis has re- fused to abide by the constitution and have the election returns sent out to each local union. Thousands of miners believe Lewis was defeated and is holding office illegaly and taking this method of concealing his defeat and charges must be made, his removal from office demanded for violation of the international constitution, Art 9, Sec. 36, No Wage Cut. , The operators are attempting to in- 5 fluence the miners to accept a wage i cut to be able to compete with the non union mines. The non union mines are working 40 per cent of the time, on an average not much better than the union mines. A reduction of wages in the union field would re- sult in a like reduction in the union field and both fields would relatively worse off. Wage cuts be fought against and a cam education thruout the district m be started against wage cuts the miners papers and in all of available ways. An increase in wages f n ‘o meet the increased cost of living “nd this end the campaign te THEORY AND PRACTICE OF LENINISM By I. Stalin. With an attractive durofiex cover and fron- tisplece (photograph) of the author, ‘ 85 CENTS Party. Leninism, the application of Marxism in the present is splendidly treated here by a close co-worker of Lenin, and at present secretary of the Russian Communist In this book—destined surely to be- come a classic of Communist litera- ture—the reader will find an impor- tant analysis of the problems before every revolutionary party. A book that should be in the hands of every thinking worker. — Daily Worker Publishing Co. 1118 W. Washington Blvd. Chicago, ttl. period of imperialism,