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THIS PAGE Is Devoted to the Activity and Interests of the Trade Union Educational League (T. U. BLL) : North American Sectien of the RED INTERNATIONAL OF LABOR UNIONS (R. LL. U.) a | THE T.U.E.L. Represents the Left Wing of the Labor Movement. ite | Purpose Is to Strengthen the Labor Unions by Amalgamation of Existing Unions, Organization of the Unorganized, and by Replacing Reactionary and Clase Collaboration Policies with a Unified Program for the Transformation of the Unions Into Organs of Revolutionary Class Struggle for the Overthrowal of Capitalism and the Establishment of a Workers’ and Farm: ers’ Government. —— | | SOMETHING TO FIGHT FOR SEEN — IN SWOLLEN RAIL PROFITS; MAY RAISE WAGE AND STILL PROFIT By LELAND OLDS (Federated Press Industrial Editor) How the railroads have been increasing their profits for stockholders | by laying off men is shown in an analysis of the net income of 38 important roads for the first 5 months of 1925 by The Wall Street Journal. The figures show that a majority have -increased their net return compared with 1924 and that two-thirds report a larger return on their stock than in either 1924 or 1923. é Notable increases in net income for the first 5 months, compared with the same period of 1924 include: Santa Fe 20 per cent, Southern 13 per cent, Louisville and Nashville 32 per cent, + Missouri Pacific 23 per cent, New ] Haven 14 per cent, Chesapeake and WoOBS UA | Ohio 11 per cent, Great Northern 15 per cent, Norfolk and Western 49 per Poor Rule That Don’t Work Both Ways cent, Big Four 26 per cent, Lehigh SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The so- Valley 28 per cent, Wabash 34 per cent, Nickel Plate 23 per cent, Dela- called “emergency plan” of the I. W. W. splitters has had as one of its ware and Hudson 50 per cent and Pere Marquette 18 per cent increase. “Widows and Orphans” Get Fat Profits Indicated returns to common stock- holders for well-known roads compare with the actual returns in 1924 and 1925 as follows: 1924 Pet. 1923 Pct. Railroad the conduct of organization. | Decentralization and local autonomy | has therefore been in the foreground of the split which has given a ter- 17.6 19.3 12.4 12.2 12.3 15.4 Reading .. Atlantic Coast Line Illinois Central Louisville & Nashville 13.1 Southern. ..... 13.6 Santa Fe .. 14.8 Chicago and North western ... Southern Pacific 7.5 10.2 12.9 Union Pacific ... 11.4 143 16.1 | _ Combined Net Profit Gaining. The combined net profits of all: the 25.8 18.6 13.5 11.5 10.1 15.4 Pacific coast region, leaving the lum- ber, agricultural and general con- struction workers wholly without an organ of defense against the attacks of the bosses upon wage and hour standards. No Idea of Democratic Centralization. Among those who ‘have fought against this tendency, without, how- ever, offering a real plan of democra' ie centralization, has been Edward E. Anderson, branch secretary in Sacra- mento of the Agricultural Workers’ Union. Lacking as they do construc- tive proposals, nevertheless Anderson gives in a recent bulletin, some good arguments against decentralization and wild-eyed local autonomy. He says in part: “It takes all of us organized into a compact, self-disciplined body to win out. If decentralization and local au- tonomy is what is wanted, why orga: ize at all—when the unorganized are already so admirably ‘decentralized’ and ‘locally autonomous?’ Decentral- ization carried to its logical conelu- sion is no organization. Is that what we want? r “Is it a wobbly tactic and tradition to run away from a job because condi- tions are poor, or is it our custom to stay and fix them? Why not apply this dictum to the organization? Is the job too big? If so, how are we to organize the workers to carry on pro- duction after capitalism is gone?” Will They Learn from Experience? This might be a poser for the de- centralizers, except for the fact that it is actually the tactic for wobbles who chance to be members of the reaction- ary unions, craft or industrial, to de- ert it and try to make a “perfect and ideal” union of a handful of convinced rebels. So Communists in the I. W. W., who have uniformly led the fight against the “emergencyit plitting away and making a dual union to the I. W. W., call attention to the I. W. W. as a whole that those members who are in the reactionary unions should take this lesson to hearg and “stay and fix them,” 61 42 49 railroads of the country for the first five months of 1925 a mount to $345,- 880,340, a gain of approximately $20, 000,000 over the same period of 1924. The return on the heavily inflated property investment claimed by rail- road owners declined from 43.38 per | cent to 4.27 per cent due to increase im the investment account in the in- terval. f A profit of $72.73 per $100 share re- ported by the Michigan Central rail- road for 1924 shows the possibility of exorbitant returns to the owners in the present rate and wage structure of the railroad industry. The net charges amounted to $13,627,533 on $18,736,400 capital stock. Such earn- ings are the usual thing with Michi- gan Central. Last year stockholders’ Profits amounted to $14,176,448, a re- turn of 75.7 per cent. The New York Central owns $17, 764,700 of this stock and the profits go to the New York Central capital- ists. Boston Mayor Asks Strikebreaker Cal to Trim Building Toilers BOSTON, Aug. ‘Arbitration is already under way in the ca: Boston Street Carmen's Uni pute with the Boston elevated sys for* wage increases from 72. to 95 cents an hour and arbitration’ is on the horizon in the building trades’ dis- pute between the Building Laborers’ Union, demanding increases from 66 to 70 cents an hour to 77% and 80 cents and the Building Trades Em- ployers’ Association, The Boston elevated system was persuaded to follow the union's arbi- tration program by an overwhelming | Strike vote and the new trend of the Building Trades Employers’ Associa: tion towards arbitration follows the declaration of the United Building Trades Council and the employe: rach side agreed to lay before its con- Stituent organizations a proposal of Mayor Curley that the issues be thrashed out by a board of seve) three to come from the labor union three from the employers and the eev- enth man to be appointed by Presi- dent Coolidge. . Closed Union Books Help Bosses. Iam a fur worker and being a non- ‘union man, I am costantly struggling to keep up my existence. The bosses want me to work for half of the wage scale and also. more than eight hour a day. I was not granted a union book yet, altho I made an application more than a year . The former leader of the Furriers’ Union never considered organizing the non-union worker: Now that the clique of the yellow so- cialists were put out of office and replaced by progressive members tiere is hope that they will succeed in Injunction Against Silk Union PATERSON, N. J., — (FP) —The Associated Silk Workers Union, inde- pendent, is contending with an in- junction against picketing, secured in the chancery court in Jersey City b; Eg Israel Kravitz Silk Co. now |yardmen, and three dollar for waiters. \At most of the places the shifts are jhours they must make as much profit kitchen off and on. A m ion, or not have the slightest con- sderation for his physical or mental + ell-being, ears in a kitchen. If the work is not} or steel-mill it is equally as killing. THE DAILY WORKER | CULINARY WORKERS DRIVE: BY TERRIBLE CONDITI FOR A UNION THA (By WORKER CORRESPONDENT} LOS ANGELES, Calif—‘The culin tions in Los Angeles, Since June 1 th organization campaign in this city,” ’ This is taken from a news-item printed in the Souinorn California “Labor | Press” June 26, titled “Red Hot Race for Cooks’ Secretary.” A Deliberate Lic. Tuat this is a deliberate lic is known to every worker in Los Angeles. gen- -———______ —_——_____. Conditions for workers, in eral, are extremely bad in this city. Sut the culinary workers are parti- cularly hard hit. Hours have been engthened, wages decreased, the workers speeded up and, in many olaces, the food, which is part of the wages, has been cut down cither in quality or quantity or both. Usually, by this time of the year, the great influx of migratory workers, whé flock to Los Angeles to escape the rigors of a cold winter east, north and west, have left, and jobs ave plentiful. The migratory workers! have left, but jobs are at a premium. Jobs Few and Hard A dishwasher’s, bus-boy's or waiter's | iob sells at three, four and five dol-! lars. There used to be eight, nine and ten-hour shifts, now it is ten, eleven and twelve hours of the worst kind of slavery, Wages have been reduced fifty cents to a dollar a day. Two dolars and a half for twelve hours work is the stan- dard for. dishwashers, bus-boys anil split up, so that you work most of the day. What is true of the semi-skilled workers is also true of the highly-skil- Jed ones — the cooks. Their hours have been increased, wages decreased --from one to two dollars a day and work speeded up. Union Is Less Than a Joke. Union men and women are afraid to admit that they carry a unfon card. The few “Union houses” that there are, mostly in the vicinity of the Labor Temple. They display union cards, in the window as a matter of | good business policy. Being “Union houses” they can always get a mo- ment’s notice. There Is No Union Scale. respec el ise ise main arguments, decentralization and| the “Union houses”, particularly | Because of the nature of tho work D. L. & W. 16.6 142 local autonomy. _This ery finds foot-/44e, Leighton group, work the male- fi ein gaa Pashisiosk in the Lehigh Valley 12.0 142| bold in the existing confusion in the/neip only nine hours a day. But in kitchen, foul ‘air—grease and filth New York Central .. 12.9 16.9 organization because ofthe I. W. W.|these nine hours they are compelled !o everywhere — back-breaking, brain- Nickel Plate 14.2 151 having not the slightest comprehen-! i, eighteen hours work. And the union Turning slavery, long hours rotten Pennsylvania . 7.6 9.9|Sion of democratic centralization in ¢ irq in the window helps attract a ,W@8e8 @md general atmosphere of great number of organized workers. | The female workers fare even worse state law which “protects” them. rible blow to the I, W. W. fm the {hey ‘can only be exploited in ehgat. (oF he hour shift. However in those eight for the boss as their more physically able brother workers, who have more hours in which to do it. The pay, of course, is for eight hours. The Standard is sixteen dol- lars a week for forty-eight hours. This forty-eight hours is a relative matter. It depends on many factors: The kindness of the boss, the courage of the workers and the conscience of the authorities. The forty-eight hour law for women is violated as often as it is safe to do so, which is quite often, “Must Attract Trade.” One of the obligations of a wait ress or bus-girl is to attract and hold male trade. Waitresses and bus-girls must do this if they wish to hold their jobs. The bosses think that this is not work at all, rather a pleasur. diversion. However many sister-slaves | have told me that this is the most unpleasant and hardest part of their slavery. Imagine a married women, a mother of two or more children, who is forced to slave eight hours a day in order to keep maintain the small family. The husband and children have to be fed, the little apartment has to be swept cleaned. If they are fortunate to have a bungalow then there's still more clean- ing to be done. Then there is the fa- mily wash. The children tear their clothes something scandalous. No matter how hard one patches and sews it is impossible to keep them decently dressed, In short there’s work a plenty. Same Everywhere When she comes to work she is allready tired. But now she has to don a white apron, paint her face and smile pleasently at some gay yokel who {fs trying to date her up. But often it happens that the yokel is neither gay nor pleasant, but downright vul- gar and insulting. However she has to stand it all. Her job depends upon it. Besides, what's the difference, it's the same in all the other places. The cashier, or head-waiter or vaitress, is the boss's stool-pigeon in the dining room, the chef in the kitchen. Workers distrust one another, grumble, but are afraid to voice their discontent, Now and then one, usual- ly a dishwasher, rebels, throws down his apron and tells them all to go to hell! Well, there are plenty of other dishwashers who will gladly take his Job. Maddening Work For two years I have worked in the must bo to work cotinually for two ag strenuous as that of a coal ary workers &re!in very good condi. ey have been conducting u successful ENGINEERS FORM UNION INN. Y, ASK MORE PAY Re-Submit Demand for 25 Per Cent Raise NEW YORK, Aug. 3.—The 3,500 municipal engineers, who were recent- ly unsuccessful in an attempt to se cure a twenty-five per cent increase in salary, have formed a union, the association of engineers of New York, and will re-submit their demands fox better wages and working conditions to the city. The union, which is the largest sin- gle aggregation of the profession in the world, was’ formed “for the ob- ject of securing improvement of sal- ary and working conditions.” At the first meeting several of the engineers called for an immediate strike if their demands are not granted. ff you wash dishes you break your back, If you do yard-man’s work you dont know half the time where you are at, — they drive you so from one thing to another until they drive you crazy. Any restaurant that does any sort of business is a mad house. In Los Angeles there aré two restaurants, owned by the same people, which sport the name “Mad House.” I worked in both. They merit the name. But what is true of them is also true of ell the other restaurants. Those places which display union cards are the vorst of all, crankiness. Any one who works even short time in a kitchen has his tian the male-workers. There is a ©T her nerves shattered, torn to pieces, the restaurant slave does not keep his Aong. The majority of “when it aaa necessary, that is to keep from starv- ing. ee In those two year of slavery I have done everything in the kitchen except being the main chef. Yet I never re- gretted when I lost a job. Whether it fis as cook or pot-washer, what's the d:fference? They kill you anyway. But I am not an exception. The mapority of workers feel the same way about it, Most of us get sick of a job before we even start wort ‘We know what’s in store for us, and only the direst necessity forces us to remain at a job for more than se- veral weeks, Two or three months is a@ considerable period of time. months is long, much to long. There is pot a group of workers who could be got to strike as easily as the culinary workers. Half the time they are striking anyway! They have so many grievances they could enum- erate any number you please in their sleep, A determined drive to organize these so terrible exploited slaves! A call to battle! A strike, a real strike! How it would gladden their starved hearts! Fight? We would fight like hell! What do we care, can things be worse than they are? Have we anything to lose? Only show us how. Organize! Lead! | But it is useless to expect the fak« to do anything for us. If anyone to them that the eplinary workers wish to fight the bosses they would ry | into their little holes aud shiver wit! fright. “Fight the bosses? That's impos sible. The bosses are organized. ‘Th: bosses have mpney, (hey ure strong We are weak. We can only beg them for favors. If }hey are kind enough they will grantjus a little something. If not we willjhave to get along as best we can.” ® “Then what ¢0 we need the union for?” “The union mak “The union makes us strong.” But first we must} « ize something that will function like a union. ‘There's a trettendous amount of or- ganizational wok to be done in Los Angeles. But m group of workers need it more thin the culinary work- ers. The class bonscious, intelligent workers must le&l the way, the masses Six us strong!” BARBERS SPRING A NEW ONE ON REACTIONARIES Support Officials in 7:30 Closing Fight The progressive barbers of Local 548, Chicago, continue to battle against the reactionary machine. Despite sluggings and expulsions, they have} driven the officialdom into a croner |SHOE CORPORATIONS CONSOLIDATE Page Th ree j MAKING UNION AMALGAMATION A NECESSITY; MAKE BIG PROFITS /~ BOSTON, Mass., August 3.--Consolidation of shoe companies into large corporations should lead to easier organization of the 215,000 shoe workers in thé United States. So far, however, only about 20 per cent of the shoe worker? are organized, and these are almost wholly in the small factories. From 60 to 75 per cent of-all workers are employed in one-fifth of all factories, producing 65 to 75 per cent of all + where, to save itself, it has had to| make a show of fight against the| bosses, But the progressives are de-| termined that it shall be a real fight and not a sham battle. Therefofe, | they have issued the following} cireular to all barbers of Chicago: Walk Out of Barber Shops at 7.30 P.M. | After a long fought battle the pro-| gressives in Local 548 have succeeded | in obtaining a universal demand for! 7:30 p. m, closing. | “This battle has not been without ‘asualties, As a result seven of the leading progressives, Joseph Giganti, A. D. Albright, I. Bitingon, A. Knoph B. Polk, Wm, Wolkowsky and Paul Petras stand fined and suspended from Local 548 by action of the internation al officials for having initiated the 7 o'clock closing movement and other progressive measures in Chicago. “Our local officials have fought against earlier closing very bitterly. Now, all at once, they are ordering all union barbers to quit work at 7:30 Pp. m., in order to cover their former discrepancy. “The Chicago progressive barbers} urge all union barbers ia the city to comply with the order. Quit work at 7:30 regardless of what the boss says! Report at union headquarters all violation of the order and see that each case reported is taken care of.| The progressives demand a strike in every shop where the bosses refuse to release the men-at the appointed hour. “We wish to warn our local mem- bership that this calls for wholeheart- ed support to the officials, and fac- tional differences must not affect in any way your conduct as union men. On the contrary, wherever the officials show weakness or laxity the members must unitedly insist that the officials perform their duty. “The expelled progressives renew | their pledge’ of loyalty to unionism, and place themselves at the disposal of the union for active strike duty if a strike should. occur, or any other service they can possibly render. “(Signed) Chicago Progressive Barbers “I, Eitingon, Secretary.” Getting a DATLY WORKER sub or two will make a_ better Communist of you. vm Ton avonnnuennuseeovaNHEEOHEERSHOOUOEO UA EOVOFECONvGeuOonaeeeovpgeOvOgeeonernenHIONNHE shoes made, Good Profit in Golden Rule. The Endicott Johnson corporation, one of the two largest manufacturers shows gross salés of $32 for the Irst six months of 1925. After allowing for all posxible deductions this $36,000,000 corpofytion still has a net profit of $1,970,0f2 over taxes dividends and employes’ profit-shar- ing. ~ This concern, with factorias and tanneries at Endicott and Joknson City, New York, turns out 130,000) pairs of shoes a day. It sells whoie- sale, to retail stores and thru its own shops. The head of the company calls himself “Golden Rule Johnson,” and opposes unionism by so-called welfare measures in his company towns. Another Consolidation. The International Shoe Co. is a $40,000,000 corporation with 36 or more factories, 22 in Missouri, seven in Illinois, one in Kentucky and a sub- sidiary, W. H McElwgin Co., having six factories in New Hampshire. The Shoe Specialty Mfg. Co. of St. Louis is a $25,000,000 branch of the Interna- | tional. The International is « consolidation of numerous smaller companies ac- quired from 1912 on, The company controls tanneries as well as shoe fac- | tories and owns five realty companies. Its net sales in 1924 were $110,240,651 and its subsidiaries’ sales were $44,- 517,840. It had over $7,000,000 sur- plus over all dividends and expenses. The Shoe Workers’ Protective Union claims some organization in several International factories. Brown Shoe Co. is capitalized for $16,000,000. It makes 40,000 pairs of shoes daily and has factories in Mis- souri and Illinois. There are a num- ber of five to ten million dollar com- panies making shoes; over 200 fac- tories whose product is worth more than a million dollars, According to Sanford E. Thompson's figures quoted by the Labor Bureau, Inc., there is much waste in shoe manufacturing. The price of shoes could be cut 21 Der cent, he says, by eliminating wastes incurred by workers waiting for materials and by receiving poor materials. The labor cost of a pair of Shoes fs under $1, Controls Raw Material, But the dominating factor in the shoe industry is the United’ Shoe Machinery corporation, a $75,000,000 concern which supplies shoe manufac- turing machinery and shoe findings, or accessories, of all sorts. This cor- venneen poration owns the United Shoe Ma- chinery Co. of Maine and that of New York and the United Shoe Machinery of Belgium. Besides supplying lasts and other essentials it has a substantial interest in the Turner Tanning Machinery Co. and supplies tanners’ equipment. It | operated 66 factories on January 1, | 1924. Nine of them make shoe and | tanning machinery and the remainder make eyelets, nails, tacks, laste, | brushes, dies, cutters and other find- ngs, It employs 4,800 men and has over six million square feet floor Space. Its patent rights alone are @x- } pected to net $400,000 in 1925, ca | Controls Shoe Machinery, "~ Ry refusing to sell much of its pat- ented machinery the United Shoe Ma- chinery corporation has a tremendous control, over shoe production, It | leases it8 machines to a large extent, jIt has a practical monopoly over the wood heel covering trade, an indis- | pensible part of women’s shoe manu- facturing. i, It has been an important influence in keeping the shoe industry highly competitive by selling or leasing its machinery to many small factories. It is cutting down the export market of American shoe factories by shipping its machines to all parts of the world. Since the war, however, the tendency toward consolidation has gained in the shoe industry and the profits of Unit- ed Shoe Machinery continue as large as ever. geo Los Angeles T. U. E. U. to Have Big Picr* on Sunday, August 9 LOS ANGELES, Calif., — What do you say to a big T. U. EB. L. picnic next Sunday? You workers of Los Angeles ought to turn out in force to share the fun of all the militant unton- ists, rebels and progressives of the la- bor movement who will pull out to the Santa Monica (Freiheit) Beach on Sunday, August 9, There will be games, refreshments and luncheon—don’t forget the lunch- eon! And busses will leave Brooklyn and Mott—also Sixth and Los Angeles at 8 a. m. Or, yoryan take any Blvd. to the Santa Monica Pier and follow the Highway to the, plente Watch for sign: e believe in signs—at first gasoline station. Tickets by Huss are 75 cent including round trip and admission. TTT I "Y ees: The Little Red Library Convenient, pocket size booklets carrying important con- tributions to the literature of the revolutionary movement. No. Trade Unions in America by Wm, 2. Foster, Jas, P. Cannon, ard Earl R, Browder Class Struggle «8. Class Collaboration by Ear! R. Browder “ No. 3 Principles of Communism ss, robes Wins Manifesto. A historical document a. bY Frederick Engels and @ guide to Communist under- vransiation by Max Redacht standing. No. 4 Worker Correspondents by Wm, F. Dunne A brief summary of the derclop- ment of the American Labor more- ment and the rise of the Left Wing within it. A aplendid siudy of the methods of Lator bureaucracy to divert the workers from militant struggle thru the li, & 0. plan, insuranee schemes and workers’ education, The first American: publication of the original draft of the Communist Tells what, when, why, where and how to develop this new and impor- tant phase of Communist activity. New Writers Are sure to develop with the growth of the Com- munist movement in this country. To these now writers the Little Red Library presents an unusual op- portunity, Original manuscripts on any subject, from a working class viewpoint will be given the closest attention, When you _ write, whether it be on social and industrial problems, fiction, poetry or art— Be sure to confine the size of your work from 10,000 to 15,000 words. 10 CENTS A COPY — 12 COPIES FOR ONE DOLLAR. will follow. I knéw them. I know their temper well, first it may be dif- ficult, but once fhey are started they will push beyong all the other work- A Galle: $ must organize a if the local unions, aitresses and start Send one dollar and these four—and eight new numbers, will be mailed to you a8 soon us they are off the press. THE DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO. “The Source of All Communiat Literature” 1113 W. Washington Blvd.