The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 12, 1925, Page 5

— we STOCKYARDS IN ‘SAFETY FIRST’ CAMPAIGN Use Badges and Posters for Effect By A Worker Correspondent “No accident week” is being “gacredly” observed this week in the Chicago Stock Yards. Posters pictur- ig men in overalls willfully falling off step-ladders and tin signs bearing the magic words “safety first” adorn the walls, The company even maintains “safety inspectors” who are kept busy at other duties, The method of Armour and com- pany in this campaign offers an inter- esting contemplation of this project. Each employee has been given a cel- luloid badge which he must wear con- spiciously all week. The badge proud- ly, sports a star, so that the wedter will feel. important, like a policeman, the picture of the ham he might win if he.diligently wears the badge, a num- ber,, maybe lucky, and the charmed words cidents.” At the end of the week numbers corresponding to those on the badges will all be put into a big hat. A girl slave from the general office, dressed in-white for the occasion, blindfolded ofcourse, will draw a slip out of the hat while everyone holds his breath, then the wearer of the badge with this number gets a ham, free and the cam- paign ends. Meanwhile ...a plintered ladder breaks under the weight of a man opening a valve. He is laid up for three weeks. A man slips on a slimy gut strewn floor. A tubercular hip is tieresult. A worn out wrench slips off nut and cuts a gash in the miéchanic’s head. A rotten steampipe biirsts. Someone is 8calded. And, may- bé. .. the man who’wins the ham will overbalance into an unguarded lard kettle and bé sold on the market ina pail of Armour Simon Pure Leaf lard! UNITED GARMENT LOCAL CALLS ON UNIONS FOR AID St. Louis Clothing Firm Maintains Open Shop By a Worker Correspondent ST. LOUIS, Mo., Dec. 10—Local 26, United Garment Workers of America has issued an appeal in which it calls upon all union men to abstain from purchasing the products manufactur- ed by the Curlee Clothing company of St. Louis which refuses to deal with the representatives of the workers but insists on maintaining the open shop. In its appeal, the United Garment Workers’ Union Local, points out that the Curlee Clothing company insti- tuted the open shop during the war and that it continues to maintain the open shop policy and fires union men as fast as they become known to the spies hired by the bosses. “I am. a booster for no ay) CORRES PONDENCE LIFE OF BUILDING WORKERS IN THE UNION OF SOVIET REPUBLICS AND WHAT REVOLUTION GAVE THEM By NIKOLAI Worker Correspondent. KAPUSTIN. MOSCOW, U. 8S. S. R—(By Mail).—Before speaking of what the building workers of the U. S. 8S. R. have accomplished thru the revolution, we must acquaint the reader as to how the building workers lived and worked in “good old czarist Russia.” Then a We may say that“a ‘building worker as such did not exist. ind Now. They were simply peasants’ who dame into the towns in summer time, because they had no work in the countryside as there was very little land. In the old days building work was undertaken on an. rovincial scale and divided up internally according to’ craft. Jyst before the ommencement of the building seagop, t e contractors sent out their agents ‘from the large towns to hire building’ “workers. The people hired, Jp; this way gave up their passports .t to,,the agents and received an advance, yjuich was hard- ly enough to cover cy journey to town, but they weré obliged to be on the spot. byithe appointed time. The ‘{eontractor gave “apartments and food” for the whole summer,..But what kind of an apartment-diddkdive-in? This was in Petrograd now;Leningrad. The room was 40 square-arshins.and there were neither more morJessthan 21 of us builders in it.c/Pheresis no need to speak of the absolutely worthless soup and the, putrid»meat which was doled out. mus TH Now things are quite different with us. Builders may ‘be*'found in any town as a permanent section of the proletariat. They're’ settled in the town where they‘ live*both winter and summer. > Labor Court Pyotécts Workers. The contractors 6 longer go to vil- lages to choose workers, We set about in a different way. We seasonal work- ers read the newspaper announce- ments demanding building workers, where the branch of the trade and LOUISIANA JIM CROWISM KEEPS THE NEGRO CHILDREN ILLITERATE By JENNIE PINCUS. (Worker Correspondent.) NEW.LLANO, Louisiana, Dec. 10.-Most of the Negroes in Louisiana live on the low, marshy land in the southeastern part of the state. Here is where rice and cotton are faised. Here live none but the poorestand hopeless class of whites as well as blacks. They live in one room, or tWo room wooden shacks, -In most of these shacks such things as glass windows or even wire screens -are a luxury unattainable. During the summer the hot sun comes in freely—so do the mosquitoes, Dur- ing the winter the rain becomes a sea- sonable guest. When school opened, I noticed three little colored girls doing the washing for a neighbor instead of going to school. .Upon inquiry T learned that the nearest school was four and a half miles away. But there was the school bus, it stopped for some chil- dren down the road. “That's just it,” I was informed, “school busses don’t stop for colored children.” When asked if they wished to go to school, these little girls explained that as,soon as the cotton picking season was over, they would try to walk to school, but they explained when the rainy season sets in, the muddy roads kept them from going to school, that’s how it was last year. I decided to pay a visit to the prin- cipal to the local school. When I stat- ed my errand, he looked at me with mingled surprise and contempt. He was the principal of the white school —~and had nothing at all to do with the Negro children, However, I might go and see Mr. Bertrand, the local mem- ber of the school board, Mr. Bertrand was the town's banker, so I could go right to the bank and inquire for him. Having found the bank and the gen- tleman—I proceeded to acquaint him with my mission, “You know that niggers’ School does not open until the-cotton picking ‘ season is over,” Yes, I knew t! children get to | miles away. “4 tion compul- sory in this state?”"'I asked. “Yes, but they cannot compel any child to walk more than two and a half miles to school. And neither can we expect the parish ‘to provide sep- arate conveyances, for every child.” When I informed: him that the school bus passed the home of these children, and when I suggested that the same bus carry the black ag well as white children, this “benevolent” banker stiffened and very curtly in- formed me that they don’t “mix them down here.” To my question as to the reason they did not provide country schools or school busses for these children, he answered, “Because we have all that we can do to provide for the white children, The parish is too “Do Negroes pay taxes on their property?” “Yes, but there are very few who own any property. Those taxes were not enough to provide their children with schools, busses, etc. And be- sides,” he informed me, he was only one of the school board, The parish school board meets at onginns 26 miles away. T have written to them but of course T do not any action to be taken, nor even an answer-to my letter. rmed me. it how will the ol? It is four peal BIG FOUR RAILROADS INCREASE DIVIDENDS FROM 5 TO 7 PER CENT | NEW YORK, Dec, 10.—Directors of the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis railroad (Big Four) in- creased the cash dividend on the common stock from five to seven per cent by declaring a quarterly dividend of 134 per cent, payable x stockholders of record December iy the number of hands required is stat- ed. One may sdy that the 1925 season has shown that we have made great strides ahead in construction work. For thruout the entire great union of republics a shortage of building work- ers is felt. Whereas formerly we had to give up our passport to the con- tractor who compelled us to work for a mere pittance and eat his mouldy food, now altho contractors still exists, our wages are regulated by collective agreements, and when these are in- fringed, the health of the contractors does not improve at the hands of our proletarian legislation in the form of the labor court. Formerly we builders knew no other place than the “trak- tirs” (public houses) and that wae only on Sunday evening. Now we have our own libraries at every large building site. Wliteracy Vanishes. Every year, as in Baku for instance, we liquidate illiteracy among more than 200 workers in two graduations. Every week lectures are read at all building works at Baku at which everyone must be present. It is dif- ficult to recognize our building work- ers as compared with the old build- ers. They are catching up with their brother metal workers, printers, etc. Our network of clubs and rest cor- ners, are heading straight for educa- tion.: The cultural-educational work among building workers has under- taken trade union work as its first immediate task. This work, of course will not be without results, Our sea- sonal workers (as we call those who come for the summer) mostly arrive as illiterates, It is a well known fact that education was formerly inacces- sible to us. Now we not only become literate, but even fully developed peo- ple, able to get our bearings on all political questions. That is what the October revolution has given us building workers. Work But Don’t Slave. Now we do not work on the build- ings from dawn to sunset as formerly, but work voluntarily, eight hours a day, as all workers. But I may add that because of an insufficiency of building workers, in Baku, in some cases over-time is permitted, but not unlimited. The contractor, the fore- man and the employers treat the build- ers in a different way now, and one no longer hears them fouly cursing the workers. Have many changes taken place among you workers in the American building industry during the same period? Baku Carpenter: Nikolai Kapustin, Baku, 'Gogolevskaya Street No, 1, » Non-Party Member of the Azerbeid- jan Butlding ‘Workers’ Union.—Ticket No, 68, fan SHURE a3 DAILY WORKER Workers Write: About ‘the Workers’ Life ORKER ROCHESTER WAR |- ON A.C. W. GANG HAILED IN N. Y. to CHICAGO A. C. W, TO HOLD JOINT BOARD ELECTION Nathan Green Running on Left Wing Program Action Committee Fight to Victory By A Worker Correspondent NEW YORK, Dec, 10.—The defeat of the Amalgamated bureaucrats in Rochester created a great deal of joy among the New York tailors. Where- ever you go among members of the Amalgamated you can see their eyes full of joy. The rank and file of the tailors are only asking: “How long are we going to stand the methods of gahgsterism in our union?” The fact that the Rochester tailors are uniting with the United Action Committee of the Amalgamated of New York and are fighting the bureau- cratic officials and the old fashioned methods that are leading to destruc- tion and slavery among the tailors, brot encouragement to all corners of the trade. It is really the talk of the shop and of the union meetings. It is brot out now that Alex Cohen I played a great role in trying to dis- rupt the meeting of the tailors in Ro- By A Worker Correspondent The Amalgamated Clothing Work- ers’ Union of Chicago will hold its annual elections’fer joint board offi- cials during the early part of next week. Polling places will be announ- ced in a few days. Nathan Green of Local 144 is a can- didate for manager, of the Chicago joint board, run in opposition to Sam Levine, the, sent manager. Runs 0. Program Brother Nath Groen has the en- dorsement and, sypport of the left wing and the ptgg ssive elements in the Chicago organization. He runs upon a program adopted by the left wing the points, pf which are as fol- lows: 1. Genuine unemployment Insur- |chester at which Liptzin and Nelson ance. spoke, The Amalgamated Action 2. Organization of the unorgan- |Committee issued a call to the mem- ized. bers of the Amalgamated in New 3. Freedom. pf minority expres: | York in all the shops, that they should sion. continue not to recognize the agents 4. Reinstate: ment of members ex- {of the union. They say in their state- pelled because of difference of opin- | ment that no one elected these agents ions, and they do not represent anybody. 5. Amaigamation of all The Action Committee also issues a trade unions, declaration to all the members which 6. The shop delegate system. is to be read at all the meetings of the 7. International trade union | revoiting tailors in New York. unity. The strike at Goldenburg and com- 8. For formation of a labor party. |pany, is in full swing. Notwithstand- 9. Against wage cuts in the form jing the fact that the officials are try- of “readjustments.” ing with their gangsters to defend the 10.. Against expulsions of mem- |owners, the workers are determined bers for expression of opinions op- |to strike in protest against the expell- posed to the administration. ing of an old worker and throwing him 11. Against:slugging and gangs- |out on the street. The shop is picket- ter rule, i ed until the worker will be reinstated. TELLS STORIES OF WAGE SLAVES IN PHILADELPHIA FACTORY THAT ILLUSTRATE CAPITALIST SYSTEM By: ANGELO PETERS, Worker Correspondent. PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 10.—One of the meanest men I know is John P. Farmakis, whott¢alls himself a socialist, a good man and a friend of poor people. He is“i@ad of the St. George church at Eighth and Locust streets and is a candy“amd ice cream manufacturer. He is the second richest man among the Greek people in Philadelphia. Farmakis, ‘however, is a hungry shark for gold. He makes thousands a week, but @riés.for more. His workers toil for 12 to 16 hours a day, and what they jaa stead from $14 to $17 ‘Thyge mpg (gabe tit for all bt PRISON FOOD FOR BLIND BABIES IN CAL. INSTITUTION three slaves. A Model Slave. Dietician Fired; Beans Take Place of Eggs One was the Rodel slave. He had By JIM MAC CRADY needle Page Five FARMER IS UNDERPAID FOR WHAT HE SELLS’ AND OVERCHARGED FOR | | WHAT HE BUYS to the farmer by way of high prices, on those that are abandoned. worn. His wife and children in many instances are ragged and look like scare crows; a sight many have seen in Russia before the reign of the Bol- sheviki. Thus we see intelligent and high-spirited people reduced to abject poverty, here in great America, wtih no remedy under the present capitalist system. No high prices set by grain specu- lators or by the government will help the farmer so long as business is done for profit, by the few, for the few. It it a case of 15 per cent of the people robbing 85 per cent of the people, the farmers and wage earners. The business men are quick to point to a farmer who they claim has made good. But when you investigate these isolated cases you find that these farm- ers either inherited a few thousand dollars to begin, with, or married school teachers in the community school and do their own house-work at the same time. Another case they point to is a farmer who is so tight and stingy that he did his wife's den- tal work, extracting all of her teeth. When you ask 90 per cent of the farmers of these states if they can beat the game at farming many will say, “It can’t be done.” When you ask them why, they say there are too many people doing business on Main street, “we can’t pay for all of those fine cars they are driving, and the gas they use; we can’t support all of them.” Thus we see that the farmer is get- ting wise to this graft. He is begin- ning to find out that he must organ- ize with the wage slave, to do busi- ness thru the collective ownership of all the machinery of production and distribution. If this is not accompish- ed the farmer must expect to continue to be underpaid for what he sells and over-charged for what he buys. Movie Piffle Used to Poison. Workers’ Minds Against Soviet Russia By E. W. (Worker Correspondent) CLEVELAND, 0O., Dec. 10.—A car- toon shown.at the Lyceum Theater, biggest movie of the west side, in con- ‘nection with Current Events appears to be the new way of spreading anti- Soviet propaganda. It characterizes a man endeavoring to solve @ word puzzle who is stopped by a seven.letter word meaning some- thing that comes chiefly from Russia. His efforts in trying to find the word makes him late in feeding the ‘cat. The cat entérs,-learns the reason for his being Tal d starts out to help him find the Word. She sits on a rock next to a mule who kicks her to Russia where she enters a place and finds two bewhiskered and barbaric appearing individuals studying a docu- ment which she steals and which been working fof the same boss for (Worker Correspondent) 33 years without pay, just his meals, OAKLAND, Calif. Dec. 10.—Falling room rent and faundry; a few old ¢lothes now and’then. For 33 years, under the ax (economy ax), the ra- tions of inmates of the California 16 hours a day, “seven days a week, twelve months a year. Never rest. school for the deaf, dumb and blind are to be cut in order to keep the He died right “In®the store. He was 86 years old and was John P. Far makis’ first wage worker. He worked till the last. e The old slave twas @ great soldier. He fought in many wars, but not for cost of feeding the 200 children with- lin the 25 cents a day allowance of the state. The cost of the food purchased by |the school for one third of the pres- ent fiscal year was $13,000 while the freedom, He came to America when 12 years old and fought when he was yearly allowance is but $27,000, it was revealed at a conference of Will C. young to free the black slaves, but he never fought to free himself. He then went to sea and saved all his | Wood, state superintendent of public j instruction, and Principals Wm. A. Caldwell and R. S. French and Thos. money. Then he gave this money, all he had, to his boss to help him start |. Mayhew, business manager of the in- stitution. in business. He never got it back. No Eggs—But Beans for Babies. He lost his money and his life for his boss, while Farmakis was piling However, “no under-feeding will be indulged in,” the public report hast- up thousands of dollars. The more money his boss get the less he got. ens to add, but less eggs and more beans will be the order of the day, Uncle George’s Story. | according to the superintendent's “Uncle George," as we called him, told me how he ave his boss, John statement (confession) published in the’ capitalist press. P. Farmakis, mony when Farmakis What more damning indictment of opened a candy store at 210 North Sth street in 1892, He never got it the capitalist system can be thought of than that the especially poor, help- back, he said, and ‘Added: “He is the meanest man in tHe world. My boss legs, unfortunates bereft by nature from birth of the necessary physical has no pity on n Nor for anybody qualifications for life’s battles, these else.” children, themselves products of the The second sla¥é°is named Hrist. He has worked fs?) Farmakis for 20 capitalist system, should be further victimized by being deprived of the years. Long houré) hard’ labor—and for nearly nothingioHe is 64 years old necessary diet for children and a sub- stitute of prison rations instead, as now, nervous and®'sick from over- work: He gets $10.50 a week in the the report continues ‘Miss Alice Heintz, the dietician, was automatic- summer craps: Ne 7 George did. He has no chai be happy and live long. Weeps for Joy at)Workers’ Rule. I told him atibit The DAILY WORKER and heWas nearly crying. He wanted me to tell him more about the workers’ government of Soviet Russia. He was so happy to hear ally dropped from the staff.” of it. He said: “It sounds too sweet and beautiful. It must be a dream,”| No Dietician Necessary with Beans, But I told him more and more till he began to see that it was true. Then he nearly lost his head, he was so happy. The third man is named Halsichadis, For three years straight he has work- ed 12 to 16 hours a day, seven days a week, summer and winter, He says the sooner his end comes the better it will be. So we all know now that John P. Farmakis is stingy and the meanest man to the poor. Hé even cheats his own insides, Becauéd while he makes thousands of dollars, Ke bays only one roll and ‘coffe for’ it and only two hot dogs and coffee for lunch, True enough, there would be no use for a dietician in a children’s institu- tion where the tots were to be fed on beans, Reports coming from So- viet Ru however, indicate that in the workers’ republic where the working man is king, the children have first choice even if the former capitalists have to subsist on beans— Cincinnati |. L. D, Dance. CINCINNATI, 0.,* Dec, 10-—Social and dance will be given by, the labor lefense on Friday, Dec. if, at 8 p. , at 410 Clinton St, Admission treo. later develops to be a “revolutionary j plot.” The cat comes back in as strange a way as she went over, and tells her master that she had found nothing but trouble, which turns out to be the word he was seeking. They dare not show actual pictures of Russia unless they wanted to show the American workers the progress that the workers’ and peasants’ gov- ernment has made—so this is the fot they have their hirelings try to poison our minds with. However, the red star of the east is shining brighter every day, and the workers of the world see it. WORKER CORRESPONDENTS IN THE GLASS STRUGGLE ARE NECESSARY; BE ONE A most important phase of the Workers’ School activities is the preparing of correspondents in the cla’ truggle. Worker correspond- ents’ classes are being held in New York City at the Workers’ School, 108 E, 14th St., every Monday night at 8 p. m. with Joseph Freeman in charge and in Chicago Thursday night at 8 p. m, at The DAILY WORKER editorial office with J. L. Engdahl, editor of The DAILY WORKER, and Arne Swabeck, gen- eral secretary of the Chicago dis- trict, in charge. Workers living in two cities should it once. A number of other cities are making arrange- ments to conduct oc! soon there is a sufficient demand. If you live in any other city find out what is being done about developing worker correspondents in that city. But no worker should wait for the classes before beginning to write, Read carefully every work- er correspondents’ article on this pag ry day. TI if you have something to write to it. Every item sent,to/The DAILY WORKER by a worker correspond- ent will be criticized and helpful suggestions will be» sent. to the worker correspondent, to guide him In performing this m important work, ; RAR UNDER CAPITALISM By A. C. MILLER, Communist Member of the North’ Dakota Legislature WILLISTON, N. Dak., Dec. 10,—A pathetic sight/is revealde to those who may chance to travel thru the wheat belt of the. Dakotas and Montana; not withstanding the fact that the grain gamblers have thrown back a few dollars A Poverty Stricken Picture. Farm buildings are going to pieces on farms that are occupied as well as The farmers’ furniture and bed clothes look U.S. FARMERS WORK 16 HOURS; EARN 60 CENTS Not Told ys Colsatonnlit But by Govt. Official By FRANK HOWARD (Worker Correspondent) YORK, Pa., Dec, 10.—If farmers are not prosperous in this part of the country they, are not prosperous any- where for here we have a soil which is as fertile as any in the United States, a fair climate and available markets, The farmers here work 16 hours a day, from 4:00 a. m, until 8:00 p. m. If a farmer hears of the eight-hour day he assumes that the reference is to eight-hours in the morning and eight after noon. Even on Sunday milk is drawn and hauled to market and the stables cleaned of the week's accumulation. Everybody works on the farm, the women and children out in the fields with the men, The farm- ers look upon the authorities as ene- mies because children: are compelled to attend school until 16 years of age. These children do considerable work on the farms in the morning be- fore going to school and after school is dismissed. The school season is but seven months. When the boys reach the age of 16 they leave the farm to work in the factories because their parents cannot pay them to do farm work, A farmer with a 90-acre farm must'do all of the work himself to make a bare living. When thresh- ing or other employment is procur- able in the neighborhood the farmers will leave their own work to hire out for $2.00 a day. Farmers Earn 60c. a Day. The United States department of agriculture sends Dr. Spillman, chief of the bureau of farm management, thruout the country to advise farmers which crops may be more profitable the next season. Spillman bases his guess’ on data showing which crops are plentiful and which are scarce in this country and in foreign countries. Dr. Spillman says that for the first time in the history of this country cotton farmers earn as much as they pay their hired help. But he predicts that this “prosperity” will soon vanish as China and other countries have taken to cultivating cotton necause of the present thigh price. $1.50 a day for the American cotton grower is too good to last. In one of its farm bul, letins the government states that the average hourly wage of the American farmer is ten cents. At one of his public addresses Dr. spillman was asked jf this figure was correct. “Ten cents an hour applies only to so-called ‘good times,’” he replied “Ordinarily the farmer earns but two or three cents an hour. The daily wage of the American farmer is about 60 cents, a day.” This figure is based upon the in- come.derited trom the farm, after taking dnto consideration the number of hours of work performed by each member of the family; the amount of money invested {nm the property, de- preciation etc. How Gag is Applied. One of the members of this audi- ence asked Dr. Spillman if govern- ment ownership of the railroads would not assist the farmer, by re- ducing the cost of transportation. Spillman replied that that was not his subject; that he did not express an opinion on any matter to which he had not given special study. The United States government has a rule to the effect that any employe of the government who advocates the pas- sage of any law, or who indulges in “political activity” must be dischar. ged from his position. The rule is very elastic and may be interpreted in any way that the Washington re- presentatives of the House of Morgan desire. This explains why Dr. Spill- man and other spokesmen do noe reply to such questions, Farm slavery is one of the worst forms of capitalist mismanagement. Individual farming is unscientific, antiquated and out of date in an in- dustrial age. Agriculture patiently awaits the revolution, The proletar- ians of the cities, who have time in which to learn the lessons of capital ist exploiation, must prepare to lead the farmers in revolt. Russ Children’s ‘Schools to Give Concert-Dance By A Worker Correspondent A concert and. dance will be given by the Federation of Russian Chil- dren's Schools;this: Sunday, Dec. 13, at Schoenhoffen Hall, corner Milwau- kee and Ashland Aves, A good musical program will be presented. Danchie:) till late in the might. Beginning at 4 p.m. Tickets in ad- vance 60 cents, rina: 60 er