The Daily Worker Newspaper, July 18, 1925, Page 8

Red Anthracite - color of anthracite is red. Down in Pennsylvania millions of tons of hard coal are produced yearly, and if you look at it closely you will see a red hue covers the mineral when it is hoisted from the bowels of the earth. A flaming red splotch, with tatter- ed flesh clinging to the ragged edges of the coal gleams in the sunlight as it is dumped into the chute, amidst a crashing roar of sorting machinery and a cloud of coal dust. ED with the human blood, and as the boys pick out the dirt from the coal as it passes along the pick- ing tables, they notice not the soft dark spongy scraps mixed with the coal. They are used to it, they have seen it often, it is part of their work. On July 8, three men in the anthra- cite were crushed to death on the main haulage way, as a result of an- other violation of the mining law. The law provides that manholes, “refuge places” shall be made not more than 60 feet apart, whitewashed and kept in proper condition for thé refuge of the miners, when travelling or work- ing on the haulage roads as the trip passes. with the coal cars. But no manholes were near, they were caught in a trap. fens roar of the onrushing trip grew louder, the men were frantic, the cars were almast on them as they raced for a place of refuge. That is a place of safety called a manhole. The law says they are to have a manhole, but the law doesn’t amount to anything to the hard coal mag- nates. What thoughts were in their heads that day as they realized their posi- tion? No doubt, they became aware of the trap in which they were caught, and the impossibility of es- Coolidge Welcomes Enemies of the.Polish Workers E naw ade dl the plone in- formation from Poland: In the middle of the month of July, Count Alexander Skrzynski will visit America. He is Poland’s minister of the foreign affairs. The government of Poland has instructed him to get a new loan from American bankers. On the occasion of his visit to this country he will deliver a few public lectures about the “heaven” existing in Poland at the present time. f7E «arrival of Count Skrzynski should be given wide-spread pub- licity among the Polish, Ukrainian and White-Russian workers of this country. The American workers ought to carry on a special campaign of meet- ings and demonstrations against the terror that the government of Poland is carrying on against the workers and peasants, and national minorities whose territory Poland has occupied. It is necessary to inform the Ameri- can public of the nature of the gov- ernment which this Skrzynski is rep- resenting. With his arrival it is necessary to let everybody know about the arrests and murders of workers and peasants, mass persecutions, the closing of Ukrainian and White-Russian schools, military colonization of Ukrainian and White-Russian territory, by Polish cossacks, and about many other bru- tal acts of the Polish bourgeoisie. ‘ Y to organize demonstrations and protest meetings in the cities where Count Skrzynski is going to speak. 0 is Count Skrayuski? Count Alexander Skrzynski, Polish foreign minister owns the large estate of Zagorzaly in Galicia. In 1909, Count Skrzynski joined the diplomatic corps of the Austro-Hun- garian monarchy and first served as attache in the foreign ministry in Vienna. In 1910, he was appointed as secretary to Franz Joseph’s embassy in Paris. The present “great Polish’ patriot” could not serve the Hapsburg mon- ‘archy for in 1918 the revolution swept away the Hapsburgs and the Count Skrzynski had to look for a cape. They were husbands and fathers, with all the hopes and aspir- ations of healthy men, looking for- ward to the day when they could give their children’a better chance in life than they had, give to them an education, and build a little home for the old lady to be secure in her old age, proud and happy in the knowl- edge of security from the dreaded landlord. | be happened quicker than we can tell it. The trip climbed the ob- stacles, three of them. The entry was a mass of cars, coal and timber. A red fluid mixed with the coal, satur- ated it and passed on along the ditch at the side of the haulage way, and the cold hard coal was covered with a sticky soft fleshy-like substance, and the three men finally found a re- fuge from the murderous operators of the anthracite in Pennsylvania. To make manholes and keep them in repair costs but a few cents extra and the law specifically provides for them. VER 500 men per year are crushed, killed, in the anthracite and 90 per cent of these cases are a direct result of the negligence of the coal barons and from 2,200 to 25,000 per year injured to a major or minor de- gree. But what of that? It costs the company nothing to continue to butcher them, while it would cost a few cents to make ‘and keep man- holes. And besides that, there are too many men in the industry now, 200,- 000 too many of them; at least the operators say so, and J. L. Lewis, the miners’ president, also says so. To hell with the men, human labor power is the cheapest commodity on the American market, squeeze them out, run or starve them out, crush them and fill up fhe manholes. No job. ae ey v minister to Roumania, where he serv- “Count Potjomkin Tawrichesky” money can go for manholes. Paint the hard coal red, to hell with the men, gold is’ God. God is gold in the anthracite. N 19238, the Glen Alden Coal com- pany made $3,125,895. Profits in three months. In 1924, the Lehigh and Wilkes Barre Coal company made $7,404,010 profit. In 1923, the Philadelphia and Read- ing Coal company made $5,375,285 profit. And the Pennsylvania Coal and Coke corporation made $1,115,658 pro- fit in 1924, Those four companies for one year made approximately $17,020,848 profit out of the human blood of the slaves in the hell holes of the hard coal, yet no money for safety for those vic- tims of the insane economic system. ROUND a manhole stands a group of miners, 1000 brothers from the same vicinity with heads bare and bowed. Strong husky men, these min- ers, gathered today at that manhole to lower unto their last refuge place the remains of their murdered brothers. Tears silently flow from many eyes as the final act takes place. The vic- tims were well-known and respected in the community, and the worst part of the tragedy is yet untold. NIGHT down there in the shacks of the deceased miners a coal oil lamp burns. A shadow of sorrow sur- rounds the homes of the widows. The blow was too sudden, no preparation was given them before the mangled thing was wheeled into the house be- fore the burial. A look of black de- spair, and anguish, of woe, covers the face of the wives, their spirit seems broken, their very lives are crushed. The picture is pitiful to be- hold as the little ones cry for “Dad.” “Dad, I want my Dad.” By Alex Reid For a moment I leave the scene of sorrow and look into the Waldorf As- toria Hotel in New Yrk. What a con- trast.” Pointed out to the writer a few weeks ago were the parasites’ wives and daughters of the owners of the hard coal, bedecked with jewels, lounging at a well-filled table covered with all the choicest things eatable. And a couple of slaves waiting on them, to attend to their lightest wants. Sweet music was being sup- plied by a concealed orchestra, and geranium perfume floated thru the air. OOKING back today from the hard coal mines in this hour of sor- row, I recall the shudder I experienc- ed when looking at the sensuous para- sites congregated in the. luxurious hotel eating of the bodies, and drink- ing the life blood of the murdered hard coal miners. S state of affairs must continue in the coal business as long as the system of private ownership pre- vails. Nationalization of mines with control in the hands of the, workers to the end that service and safety will be the first consideration is the only cure for the disease of private ownership and its resulting terrors. And as our eyes wander back to the mines we see a cloud of dust aris- ing in the atmosphere as the coal is brought to the surface and dumped ‘into the chutes, amidst the noise of engines, shakers, picking tables, wash- ers, and crushes, and as the boys pick the dirt from the coal, a soft, sticky flesh-like substance is found and there in the, sunlight we notice that the color of anthracite is red, red as the flames of hell to which the coal bar- ons would consign all rebels against their bloody rule. By B. K. Gebert @a trom 1919. % i922, putting thru) gate to the infamous league of na- The aie Polish republic arose | the military alliance of Roumania and | tions, and when the present Grabski and its government appointed him] Poland, against Soviet Russia. After this he became Polish dele- WENTY years ago, in June 1905, the first mutiny in the Russian czar’s navy took place. The rumblings of the coming revolution were felt all over Russia. The food and the iron discipline in the navy were rotten. On the battleship “Count Potjomkin Tawrichesky” of the Black Sea squadron stationed near Odessa the meat was full of worms, but the drunken docton pronounced it good for consumption, The sailors refused to eat it and the infuriated commander ordered the guards to fire on the mutineers. Comrade Matjushenko, (on the left of the picture) cried to guards: “Comrades! Why should you murder your brothers?!” At these words the commander lost all his senses, and snatching from a guard the rifle shot Comrade Matjushenko dead. But the commander was felled death on the spot by the butt of a rifle from another guard and the revolt was on. The comrade shown on the right of the picture then took charge of the battleship. Most of the bruta) officers who resisted were shot and thrown overboard. The killed sailor was taken ashore and laid to rest under military guard of honor in the harbor. A general strike began in Odessa and the police was afraid to show up on the streets, Thousands of workers paid their respects to the killed comrade. Another battleship joined the revolt, but the rest of the squadron was taken|- away from Odessa to’save it from revolt. The sailors after cruising for a while in the Black Sea finally left the Russian waters, went to Roumanian shores, left the battleship there, and scattered to different countries, government came into power, he was appointed its foreign minister. $ a foreign minister, Count Skrzyn- ski made a treaty according spe- cial privileges to the vatican, prac- tically giving it complete domination over the Polish masses. Besides this he made other agree- ments with the states bordering Sov- iet Russia, organizing them to make war on the workers and peasants’ government. He is a tool of French imperialism, which is carrying on propaganda among Polish immigrants in France to join the army to fight against Mor- occo. T did not surprise us to read of Coolidge’s official welcome to this bitter enemy of Soviet Russia and the working class. He will also be wel- comed by the wealthy Poles and yel- low socialists of this country, who have arranged a banquet here in Chi- cago, to be held at the Congress Ho- tel on July 25. ORKERS of America must know that the real reason for Count Skrzynski coming to America is to get an additional loan for the Polish government, more money for the army which is being trained by French and British officers for war, not only against Soviet Russia but also against the national minorities and workers and peasants in Poland, who are in a death struggle against the bloody gov- ernment of landlords, bourgeoisie, priests and traitors to the working class, a government controlled by Wall Street and French and British imperialists—all of whom are inter- ested in one thing: to keep Polish workers, peasants and national minor- ities in chains, Polish workers and peasants warn the American bankers that when they get the power in their hands, they will not recognize a single dollar of debt to American bankers. American workers then will be sent to collect money from Polish workers as they have been sent to Russia, Lat- in-America and now to China. But will they go? They must not! enna ne,