The Daily Worker Newspaper, October 28, 1925, Page 3

’ Government. THIS PAGE Is Devoted to the Activity and Interests of the Trade Union Edacational League (T. U. B. L.) North American Section of the RED INTERNATIONAL OF LABOR UNIONS (R, LL. U.) THE T.U.E.L. Represents the Left Wing of the Labor Movement. Purpose ts to Strengthen the Labor Unions by Amalgamation of Existing Unions, Organization of the Unorganized, and by Replacing Reactionary and Class Collaboration Policies with a Unified Progrdm 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: A TR NARA TP HRD AR bi LEARN HOW TO CIRCULATE THE WORKERS PRESS Form Readers’ Circles Right on the Job By-L. P. RINDAL, (Worker Correspondent.) LOS ANGELES, Oct. 26—Among the workers on the building where the writer is working, two papers, The DAILY WORKER and El Machete, ite have been introduced. This again has led to exchange of opinions and the passing around of other papers, ma- gazines, ete. containing “food for thought.” All the Mexicans on the job want the organ of the Communist Party | | | | | | THE The Sort,of Disunity Which Ruins Unionism Shown at assaic, N. J. bir PASSAIC, ¥, Oct. 26,—Striking loomfixers of “Geta Mills returned: to work after their fight against, a change in w rates from weekly to hourly bart Workers of the Passaic Worsted Spinning Co. con- tinue out on strike against 10% wage cuts and the 74% compromise offered by the company. CASUALITY LIST OF LABOR PILES UP IN MARYLAND Army of 38,972 Injured MERCILESS EXPLOITATION OF YOUNG WORKERS IN OPEN SHOP . PARADISE OF WEST VIRGINIA By REGINA MYROSKI. |of Mexico, and every time they see | yours truly they like to talk about | El Machete in one connection or) other. On the other hand, some of | the .“whites” have learned to appre- ciate the true value of The DAILY WORKER ag the foremost champion | safety ‘ counell, industrial division, for the liberation of the working class |we learn ofa few. very important from wage slavery into a more ad: | characteristics throwing a light on vanced form of social order. the anarchy existing in industry, and Lawyers and: Workers. ‘the cheapness of the lives of those and 139 Killed By PHILIP CHATZKY. BALTIMORE, Md., Oct. 26.—From a weport issued by the Baltimore MOUNDSVILLE, (By Worker Cofrespondent) W. Va., Oct. 26—We hear much about the valian struggles the young workers are making in the different parts of the coun try. We hear of their victories and also their defeats. But how many, sec- tions there are wherein the conditions of the young workers are almost un- bearable, where they are not organized and cannot put up any fight at al against the bossés! than the adult workers, youth, instead of an asset, proves a liability. West Virginia has long been well towards the top of the list in leading the exploitation of the. young work- ers, It ig considered a weelthy state but that wealth, although created by the workers, is not enjoyed by them. Take, for instance, the general con- ditions of the factory, shop, and office workers in this section. Hours are long, wages miserable, and in most cases working conditions almost un- bearable, Look Over This Dump First, we might consider the Mur- phy Co. owing the 5 and 10c. store in this city. The girls employed, are paid the grand total sum of $7.50 per week, hours from 8 till 5:30, and on Saturdays till 9 p,m. On that amount they are expected to meet their living expenses, dress well, look well, and their general appearance must denote prosperity. Youth is used to good advantage (for the bosses) in this instance. Dur- ing the holiday season and especially around Christmas an 8. O. 8. is sent by the management to the local high school, offering to help the students by giving them a chance to earn some extra money. How philanthropic! Wages are thus kept down. Most of the girls employed are of school age staying at home and depending on their parents for a living. An Enamelled Hell Then we have the young employes of the enamel works owned by the United States Stamping Co. Here the wages paid are something like ten dollars per week for the girls, hours from 7 to 5. The work is injurious to. the health, The speed-up system also .is used, enabling some of the work- ers to earn more money, but at what a loss to their health and vitality! The hours for the boys are of course longer, the night shift alone working twelve, from 6 p. m. to 6 a. m. Here also the speed-up system is used and some of the workers, if un- usually good slaves, sometimes earn the grand sum of $25 or $30 per week. The low wages paid force some of the workers to resort to what is common- ly styled by the bosses as cheating. Of course such practice is punished as the bosses see fit. Glass Company Exploitation The speed-up system here is also used. Some of the expert workers manage to'make around $20 or $25 per week if the season is good. But they complain of the low wages that are paid them for glassware that com- mandg such exorbitant prices thruout the country, Only a few cents is paid them for plates that bring in around $20 for the company. The Fostoria Glass Co. boasts of the fact. that it gives its workers a one or two week vacation during the month of July each year, What a misrepresentation! Yes, a vacation, But without pay, But instead of being considered as a vacation by ‘the work- ers it is rather a period of unemploy- ment during which they must suffer. Little Different Than Prisoners — Then we have the shirt factory owned by Gordon, the same man who contracts for prison labor at the state penitentiary here. He is well ae in the exploitation of the ‘kers and certainly takes advant- age of his youthful employes. Around ten dollars per week is paid them. if they work unusually hard but even lower than that is offered to some of the workers. Those who prove themselves good and faithful slaves are rewarded b:+ work “piece work.” They manage to make slightly more then, around fifteen collars’ and less per week, but at what @ cost to their general nealth! The work is sometimes dan- gerous and accidents occur, In all of the above factories nothing is done for the comfort of the work- ers. In summer the heat is terrffic, in winter the cold unbearable! The general conditions are detrimental to the welfare of the workers, Then we have the office workers, whose conditions are more pleasant It is an established fact that they are moré exploited and their ¢—————__ and work more congenial. But they, also, are exploited. Their youth and inexperience proves a liability and is taken advantage of by the bosses. Al- though it is generally thought that they command higher pay than the other workers they in reality are of- fered only around $40 and $50 per month to begin with. The Old, Old Bunk Of course a smooth, well oiled talk accompanies the offer in which pic- tures of future great salary, etc, are flashed before their minds, but many of them never rise above the fifteen dollar per week mark. On that they are expected to always be dressed well, have a large bank account, be able to afford all comforts, etc. There is one thing that distinguish- es all the workers here. They are not organized! Nothing has been done along that line for years. The bosses hate organized labor so much that the workers dare not even think of such an atrocity as a union. Thus they are ‘exploited as much as the capitalists see fit and must bear any reduction in wages, longer hours, or anything else without a murmur, Firms Always “Facing Ruin” Of course, here as in every other part of the world, the firms are al- ways on the verge of starvation when it comes to improving the conditions of the workers. They are always facing ruin and bankruptcy—only the dividends paid, instead of diminish- ing, are increasing and the satisfied grins on the faces of the stockholders A carpenter on the job handed me page from The Carpenter from vhich the following is taken: “Re- cently the M, K. & T. Railroad decid- d upon a reorganization program and »mployed two New York law firms to handle the legal detail required. For this service the lawyers charged $750,000, “Upon being asked to itemize the bill they claimed that under the Esch- Cummins law, $65 an hour was a just and reasonable amount for the services rendered. Yet these same lawyers insisted that 30 cents an hour was a fair and living wage for other railroad’ employes. How was it these lawyers arrived at such a valuation of both their own services, and that rendered by the railroad employes we cannot say, yet any fair-minded man could hardly call it fair or just.” Down with Lawyers and the Wage System! The arguments about what consti- tutes a living wage or a just wage have all ended in “meaningless phrases,” The Carpenter states, ang goes on'to say: “While we all agre’ that a. workman should receive a just wage, who is there to decide what this wage shall be?” At, this point the more advanced workers. will take issue with the organ of the carpenters. There is no usch thing ag a “just wage.” As the work- ers are producing everything, there is nothing’ “just” about it—unless they get all they produce. And when the workers have reached their goal— there will be no master class left to hand out miserable wages—just or un- just. The bosses will then either be in -overalls—working side by side with other useful workers—or find themselves on junk pile forever after. When, capitalism and the wage system are both gone, the 65 dollars an hour corporation lawyers will have to go also. The proletarians of the grow wider year by year. 30 cents an hour type will then rule To add insult to injury the capital-| the world. ists blame the workers for their liv- - ing conditions and theiy lack of cash to the fact that they do not have a bank account. They should save and hoard the wonderful and enormous wages paid them and never be short of finances! What a fertile field for organiza- tion here, but, oh, what a fight would have to be put up to accomplish such @ thing! N. Y. Bootblacks on Strike and Barbers (Federated Press who are engaged in producing the vealth of our nation. During the fiscal year of 1923-24, 139 workers were killed and:38,972 in- jured, of that number 13,283 resulted n disability to some degree, of which 540 were disabled for long -periods or permanently. Classified List. The classification of those injured is as follows: 520 machinists, 407 help- ers, 208 shop foremen, 286 machine operators, 466 stevadores, 166 sales- men and women, 209 auto mechanics, 234 boilermakers, 173 butchers, 605 carpenters, 469 chauffers, 371 car men, 178 drivers, 121 conductors, 114 clerks, 108 firemen, 117 motormen, 125 paint- ers, 107 packers, 148 molders and 92 pipefitters. ¢ It will be noticed that out of the 407 helpers, and an almost equal num- ber machine operators, most are young workers, employed in the Maryland industries, some of them under 16 -years of age, employed’ to a@ great degree by the Federal Tin, and Balts Can Co, where not a day passes without an accident to work- ers. PR Needs “Organization”"—Of Labor. George W. Knapp, jr., chairman of the safety coufcil, states frankly, that more than 10% of injuries were followed by, infections, and most of them could have been prevented by proper care and attention at the time the accidents occured, “The record of accide! in indus- tries clearly shows the ‘of: safety devices and organizations-in plants” Mr. Knapp comes to,the conclusion. The workers of Maryland should learn from those, figures, that their hLY WORKER Page Three Bob Smillie at Scarborough Trade What caused the great strike of international front the 1 workers with strike action, and what port Workers.in England An article by George Hardy, committee, r Sailors’ and Firemen’s Union, prov by stenographic report of the meeting of the maritime ‘board, that Wilson gave the ship owners a reduction of seamen’s wages without the owriers even asking for it. Wilson, add ing the meeting, said: “Now we come, and having taken into consideration what you did last year. We have come to say to you this morning. We will give up that 21 at once—without any argument, without any alarming statements about what is going to happen, and 80 on. We do that, and | hope, Mr. Chairman, and, you, gentlemen, will recognize that in doing that we are doing a manly thing, and certainly in the right spirit, too—quite the right spirit. ‘You might have come here and talked about 30s., or some other figure, but it is better for us which was comp’ lives, the lives,of their wives and children, do not amount to anything under capitalism, where profits are above human life. If you want to thoroughly un- derstand ,Communism—study it. ARE ANY UNIONS PREPARING FOR COLLAPSE OF CREDIT BOOM WITH NEW ATTACK ON LABOR? NOT ONE! , By LELAND OLDS Industrial Editor) « Will labor prepare to weather the storm which bankers foresee as a result of the stupendous inflation due to instalment buying? is suggested by reading the more far-seeing business reviews. that the present half-way prosperity will crack as soon as the speculative This question They hold ou - Threatening alko' building boom ceases producing the .wages which carry the part-time pay- Wi mat ments along from month to month. The outlook beyond 1926 is not promising. NEW YORK CITY, Oct. 26.—800 bootblacks are out on strike and as @ result the residents of the Wash- ington Heights and Harlem section will have to get along with unpolished boots. K The strike was called by the union hat cleaners, shoemakers and boot- “Instalment buying,” says the National City Bank, “is creating a great body of ifidebtedness which will have a first claim on earnings in the future, and while it stimulates business in¢—————————__—____ the present there may be unpleasant )niture and even clothing.” after effects. While the proceeds of borrowing are being expended times are good; but expenditures cannot be maintained above the average produc- tion of new wealth for very long, and when maintained above the aver- age for a time are certain to fall be- low the average a little later while the balance is being restored.” “The almost phenomenal growth of retail buying based on easy payments extending over long terms,” says the Cleveland Trust Co., “has been pro- moted by a multitude of finance com- panies that have started up and con- of the union barbers. Unionization of | tinued in business because they found all beauty parlors will be followed |it easy to borrow the money with and an attempt to organize all ma-|which to operate. This new extension nicprists will be made in the metro-jof easy instalment purchasing has prte=te eéateiet, blacks. The strikers are demanding an increase {n wages and working conditions, and a minimum wage of $22 per week. At the same time the barbers’ union ig planning to capture the white light district, According to James Peretti, organizer of the Journeymen Barbers’ Union, five thousand razor wielders will be on strike at an early date if the boss barbers refuse the demands " greatly aided in lifting auto sales to ; new high records and in bier about a great increase in the sale o! K eee Unie electrically driven household ap to Highest and | pitances.” Increases Production Great Pyramid of Credit. ete The Irving Bank-Columbia Trust Co, DETROIT, Mich., Oct. 26. — The says: “The broad extension of the slaves of the Ford Motor company] instalment method of paying which worked faster than ever last week,| hag made possible this huge volume when a high peak of production, never| of distribution is being introduced al- before attained, was reached with a| most feverishly into many other Hnes | week's record .of 49,004 cars and| of merchandise. It is difficult, if not trucks, impossible, to visualize the great The big day was last Tuesday, when| pyramid of credit which has thus bapa Poni her ing Esters grown up through the instrumentality urday ‘first rious kinds of financing com- transport direct trom the Ford Motor| sn, > company to dealers left Detroit and} ‘The National Bank of Commerce was delivered to dealer at Kal-/ adds: “There is no doubt that an im- amazoo only two hours later, portant proportion of the urban popu- lation of moderate means is already Gitlow is a militant worker;|obligated heavily for instalments on that is why he s barred, ' homes, automobiles, radig outta, fur-l How about laor? Due for Collapse, says Annalist. Commenting on these various re- yiews jamin Baker of The Anna- list says: “This is the dominating feature in the business of today, and it is certainly in large part an unsound feature, both im its sgqcial results and purely as business. Too few busine: men, and certainly too few bankers, see in its right light this furious scramble of discounters, to sell what a large part of their customers cannot afford to buy. A reasoning scrutiny of the current statistics of. business shows pretty clearly that both hopes and prospects of heavy business for the rest of the y are founded mainly, on the belief that the forced buying on an inflated credit basis will continue for at least that length of time, and without any k severe enough to tip over the pyramid, That it will topple over, ultimately, is all but certain.” { Baker quotes a banker in one of the ametie reserve cities who says: “ is at least $5,000,000,000 of part payment paper outstanding— about one-twelfth of our entire nation- al income for a year. This situation cannot continue indefinitely; the first crack in the balloon will bring it down in a heap.” (It, is about % of the annual wages paid factory workers and % of the total wages paid by mines, factories’ and land transport- ation). Baker says: “It is probably not an overstatement to say that the most judicious bankers, all over the coun- try, are making preparations to weather a stormof which there is yet no visible and material indication.” | say that is) what we suggest | want you to understand that this is our offer, and we advise you to un- derstand that this is our offer, and we advise you strongly to accept it” Wilson was conscious that he was conspiring with the shipowners inthe robbery of British seamen, but the scoundrel that he is, hurled epithets at them in front of the shipowners, and the trade union officials who have openly condemned him and hundreds who are conscious of his treachery to the whole trade union movement are quite justified in their attitude, in the light of the latter statement. Again, he sates: “So we offer the £1,” and then goes on to say: “Now | want to tell you this and | want the sympathy of your side in this. The my colleagu these are the men that have to face the ordinary sailors, firemen, cooks, and stewards. | know what they have gone thru, what they have got to be subject to for at least the next month, or perhaps two months.” It is quite clear that he anticipated trouble for his officials and delegates but as far as he was concerned, he felt quite safe, for he again stated to the shipowners: “So far, as | am concerned there will be abuse heaped on me in tons. 1! DO NOT HEAR IT. | AM NOT THERE. | am safely fixed in a place called St. George’s Hall. What does it matter to me if a fellow on a ship is cursing me and saying | ought to be shot. I do not hear it.... The abuse which these good gentlemen will be subject to will mot come from the union men, but from a lot of dirty useless rubbish.” Thanks for the Scab. The chairman then remarked: “Thank you, Mr. Wilson. I understand your offer, of course, includes the short trades?” Wilson: “Everything.” The shipowners then retired for twnty minutes and returned, and the chairman informed the officials of the N, 8. F. ‘U. as follows: Mr. Wilson and gentlemen, You have been very straightforward and frank with us. We want to ac- cept the proposal you have made from the point of view in which it has been made, and because we think that it may be of assistance to us in bringing about other reduc. tions, . ..4, As | said before, it makes it much. easier for us to accept what after all is, you will understand, only a drop in the bucket.” WHAT IT’S LIKE TO WORK IN ONE OF GARY'S MILLS Handling Hot Steel No Soft Job By Worker Correspondent GARY, Ind.—Waiting in line for a job at the Gary works of the United States Steel corporation reminds one of the slave markets in the old days. The workers are lined up against the wall to wait for Mr. Egeberg, the em- ploying agent for the U. 8, Steel cor- poration here. A company thug with @ mouth full of tobacco sees that they stand close to the wall. Finally the agent comes out of the office and starts to walk around and look at the workers, looked them over carefully he goes up to one of them and asks him where he worked last. If the worker gives him a satisfactory answer he is sent into the employment office where he again has to tell where he worked last and if he was ever employed for the U. 8S, Steel corporation before. Blacklist Strikers, After he has Worker, Left Wing Paper of British Unionists, Which Featured the Slogan —"Don’t Be a Scab on the Ocean Wave’'—During the Seamen’s Strike. (BRITISH SEAMEN’S STRIKE SHOWN JUSTIFIED BY WILSON SELL-OUT; AMALGAMATION THE FUTURE PLAN W.'W. seamen who supported their British fellow “ja big noise about George Hardy. to suggest a reduction, and when | If he answers that he has worked in the mills before, they look up his record where they have a card filed away telling everything that you did when you worked there before, If they have you down as one of those who went out on strike in 1919, they suddenly find out that they have ma jobs open “just now.” There is always work for a “chtp- per” but when the agent calls out “chipper wanted” nobody answers, One worker told me that “it was « hell of a job” and that the chipper had to hold an air pressure hammer ia his hands, bending down all the tima, for ten hours a day, The “chipper* Union Congress Buying a Sunday British seamen, that brought into an is to come out of it in the future are seen in the recent issue of the International Seafarer, organ of the seamen’s| as to wear goggles all of the time section of the International Propaganda Committee of Revolutionary Trans te ce ae ee walls a rag that at the end of th hours - one of ge nigeria eet ecatncai rire chippers can hardly po Rog sass d of Haveloc ison’s Nationa! Not Exactly Soft Job, tract attention from his unspeakable betrayal of the members of his own union whom he did not consult at all in the matter, and decided to raise job, but the next day eee back in line again, I waited for weeks before I got a job, and was given one as a catcher in Wilson went to extraordinary! pijet mill. The shearman’s job lengths, issuing leaflets “exposin, Hardy as a “professional red agita- tor,” a “Bolshie,” a “desperado”’ and quite a lot of leaflets calling him a “German spy” because Hardy was imprisoned by Judge Landis along | with a hundred more I. W. W. during the war because the lumber and cop- per miners of the I, W. W. struck for economic demands, at that time stated to be justified by commissions appointed by the president and Sec- retary of War Baker. Poetized Over Hardy Wilson’s N. 8. F, U. put out thou- sands of leaflets merely to attatk Hardy, some on green paper, some in red print on white paper, all at- tractively sensational They even wrote a parody on a Classical old from under the rollers, The bars are cut into pieces eight feet long, and then the shearman cute a sample about one foot long which it is the job of the catcher to take out with a patr of tongs, The weighs about 100 pounds and hot when the catcher has to it, which makes the work very ous. If you should drop one of the sample peices once it would mean good-bye to your foot. Judge Gary Don’t Work at This. After the catcher has taken this peace out he has to stand there with a handbar and watch that the bars fGY Sometimes efter waiting in boone | a long time a worker will take H you song about Hardy, or rather to threaten him, because he had been, so it alleged, a “German spy.” This junk, in part said: “There’s many a pal asleep in the deep, So beware,” Hardy, beware.” Whatever is the outcome of the British seamen’s strike, the organiza- tional side will be-in the melting pot. Two points of view exist; one is to form a new union, another, to join the Amalgamated Marine Workers’ Union and leave the National Sailors’ and Firemen’s Union, and to create a seamen’s section of the Transport and General Workers’ Union. The Seafarer has the following to say on these alternatives: don’t get mixed up. Sometimes when they get mixed you have to climb the steel belt which takes the bars away and separates them. If you make a false step when doing this, down you go with the red hot bars on top of you. After the last piece is cut there is sometimes a piece left three feet long, weighing more than 300 pounds which also has to be taken out with the tongs. When you stand there close to the red hot steel you sweat so much that there are no dry places left on your clothes. You have to work like this for eight hours with no time for luch, since you are supposed to eat your lunch while waiting for more bars to come. Clanging Goes on All Night. When I started to work here I was “None of these points entirely meet | Put on the shift from 4 o’clock in the situation. To leave the N.S, F. U.|the afternoon straight thru until in favor of joining the A. M. W, U.| twelve at night, As soon as I got home would mean little or nothing to Brit-|! would eat my supper and try to go ish seamen, for it would leave the|to sleep, but a fellow can’t sleep well P C, 5. still“existing. The shipowners for the noise keeps on ringing in your Our Advice: Stay in Your Unions. would keep to this pernicious system for blacklisting seamen who were de- termined to fight their friend Wilson. “By amalgamating the two unions the P. C. 5 cannot only be rendered harmless, but could actually become useful in building up a strong, real seamen’s union. We venture to say: the shipping federation would im- mediately disagree on the operation of the P. C. 5, for if it meant forcing every seaman into the union, which would be a good thing, then there is no doubt as to their answer, No New Union. “To build up @ new union is too amateurish and would lead to the confusion already so dangerous to the seamen, It is true that a union could be organized, especially during this dispute. . “It is one thing to organize a union during the heat of a strike, and an- other to maintain it in the face of existing obstatles which will not dis- Appear with the end of the strike, Build Seamen's Section of T. and G. W. U, “Probably the most effective way to end the P. C. 6 is by organizing a section for seamen within the T. and G. W. U. With the backing seamen could get from dockers, they would have power to stop it being used as a blacklist. But if such a section was formed, it should be with the ob- fect of taking in both the Amalgam- No wonder, that, after being caught} ated Marine Workers’ Union, and the with the goods on like this, Wilson | National Sailors’ and Firemen’s Union, looked around for am issue to dis-| With this end in view, a joint meet- | ears no matter what you do, and you always hear the shears cutting and the rollers going. T asked one of the fellows what to do to stop this, and he told me there’s only one thing to do, and that was to go and get drunk, which I find is the thing lots of workers here do in order to try and forget the noise, But the better thing would be to work only a six-hour day and have time to listen to some good music, Of course, the six-hour day will never be given—the* workers will hat to Organize and fight for it, because as long as capitalism is allowed to exist, the management will wring the last ounce of energy out of the steel work- ers for the profits of stockholders, ing of unofficial strike committees agreed to recommend to seamen the following decision: “That this joint meeting of strike committees agree to the formation of @ seamen’s section of the Minority Movement to operate within the A, M. W. U, and the N. 8, F. U for the pur- pose of educating the rank and file towards forcing amalgamation of the two unions, and to urge the forma. tion of @ seamen’s department within the T. and G, W. U, and thus bring about an industrial union of trans- port workers,’” Take this copy of the DAILY WORKER with you to the shop tomorrow, 4 mee —