The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 19, 1925, Page 5

LEWIS TACTICS KILLED W. VA, MINERS’ STRIKE Anthracite in for Same Kind of Betrayal By R. M. (Worker Correspondent) WHEELING, W. Va, Dec. 17.—A eoal strike, a typical John L. Lewis strike, has had its beginning, duration, ‘and end in the northern part of West Virginia. We know what that means -—lefeat for the miners: *Just'as Lewis is now plotting to be- ‘tray: the anthracite miners: so has he succeeded in losing the,demands for which the miners of northern West Virginia struck—not thru secret con- ferences or negotiations in this case but ‘thru indifference and _ totally ignoring the fact that this section was striking. Evidently, about 1,000. men are not of sufficient importance to occupy even the slightest thought of the labor-class loving (?) president. Lewis Tactics Discourage Men, This section, which compromises the miners of Glendale and Mounds- TH Wor |WORKER CORRESPONDENTS OF UNITED STATES AND.THE SOVIET UNION WILL HAVE EXCHANGE OF CORRESPONDENCE Here is good news for worker correspondents. Bela Kun, head of the Agitprop Department of the Communist Inter- national, has just written the editor of The DAILY WORKER outlining a and the Union of Soviet Republics. in this country, ft therefor pondence from’ The DAILY W Communist International. The in the Soviet press. ‘« y United Statés and the Soviet Union. each othe?s problems. from other countries as well. ville was non-union but when the coal operators attempted to reduce wages down to the 1917 scale the men struck and organized, joining the U, M, W. of A., district No. 6. Great en- thusiasm for the strike was at first shown but due to the inactivity of the John L, wewis machine some lost heart. Instead of doing anything effective and keeping up the courage of the miners only a few hypocritical meet- ings were held presided over by the local preachers, part of the Lewis machine, and also attended by the in- evitable representatives of the law. Yes, the usual dope was handed out— for the men to strike peacefully-and interfere with no one; in other words, let the poor scabs go to work if they so desired. i Trouble of course arose. Many were. arrested, prison sentences. .and fines imposed for even peaceful pick- etting. All sorts of injunctions were passed and lifted until it was im- Possible to tell whether a certain in- junction was yet in effect or had been lifted. Scabbing was begun shortly after the strike but the men were Powerless to do anything for lack of the right sort of leadership. John L. us ust “forgorall about the mien: Business men as usual of course also did their share in breaking the strike, How Strikes Are Lost. Now, although John L. Lewis has not declared the strike at an end it really has been lost. Practically. all of the men were forced for lack of cash and the cold weather to return to work at the 1917 scale, on an open shop basis. A handful is still strik- ing, but most of them were glad to return to work claiming they have steadier work than they. did—steadier certainly, for are ‘they not. supplying scab coal to offset the shortage in the anthracite? ‘ #lowever, conditions are mtserable. Some of the men work as much as 12, 14, and even 16 hours on a night shift—forced to do it to meet their expenses and offset the cut in wages. Of course the miners’ union has! met its death. Oh well, what does the loss of about 1,000 men to the un- ion mean to John L.? He is after bigger game. One poor little coal strike lost and a handful of 1,000 men to the union is not of sufficient im- | plan for an exchange of worker correspondence between the United States Our worker correspondents are all deeply interested in everything’ that goes on in the workshops, the factories, the mills, the mines of the Soviet Union, You have already noticed that this section of The DAILY WORKER id “Some prker correspondence from the Soviet Union. This ae. orkéers inthe Soviet Union also want to hear from the workers been arranged to send the worker corres- SKER to the Agitprop Department of the it of this will be selected for publication In this way closer relations will be developed between the workers of the They will learn to understand better This service will also be increased to include worker correspondence Let. us know what feature of working class life in the Soviet Union, or in other countries that you are interested in, and The DAILY WORKER will let your wishes be known and see that they are fulfilled. Send all letters to the Editor, DAILY WORKER, 1113 W. Washington Bivd., Chicago, III, The Third Prize Drawn for The DAILY WORKER by Rk. Logan. CASE OF FRANK CORISH, COAL portance to even give a thought to— from*John L. Lewis’ viewpoint. You do the job twice as well— when you distribute a bundle of The DAILY WORKER with your story in it. MINER OF MOUNDSVILLE, W. VA. By R..M,,, Worker Correspondent, MOUNDSVILLE; W. Va, Dec. 17. A petition was filed at Charleston, W. /a., for a rehearing of the application for a Writ of érrors in the case ‘of Frank Corish, a'coal mine picket who had beén sentenced last May ‘at Worker* Correspondence will make The DAILY WORKER a better paper -ssend in a story about your: shop, Moundsville, under the Redman act,’ to ten years in the state penitentiary. 1, By asWorker Correspondent Overheard ina grocery store at West 22nd ‘street, Chicago. The woman talking is’ the mother of four children.» She is employed in adfaoctory at 29th and Robey Streets. “Working Woman—Yes; missus I had ‘to quit my job today on account the doctor told me every girl that works there about a year gets the T. B, (tu- bereulosis) and on account I have four children. the doctor persuaded me to quity right away. You can’t imagine how I hated to because if I worked all week | made as much as $16.00 4 week, more than my husband makes, Of course, it wasn't easy. We girls had to stand on our feet 10 hours a day—but just ‘think of the money we made. You know it is very slack now in the stock yards and often my hus- and works only 4 or 5 hours @ day and he only makes 38 cents an hour, But I'm going to hurry up with my shing and look’ for another job. My pvther-In-law, will take care of the © little ones and the other, two, it vin se them in the mud will you bo dly and chase them in the. house, mi’s a Grocery Woman—Oh, don’t worry about those two big kids;* You know one is fiv’ pe ot sus*when -yow and I were kids? Oh, Say, I think they need a dishwasHer ‘in that. restaurant across the street. Why don’t you go there sent you. I know He general! . (If you tell him that J sent you} miybe he'll give you ‘the job. It pays $9 and your dinners at noon. Working Woman — Oh, Missus, wouldn’t that be nice, { em going right home and put another apron.on so I look a little respectable. What is the boss’s name, Jim, alright mis- sus, I thank you for putting me wise to that job. Oh, Ja-a, did you figure my book already? How much do I owe you now? . . . $38.28, well I hope I land that job so I'll be able to pay you a little each pay day, Grocery Woman—That’s alright mis- sus, I know you are honest, But you know if you wouldn't be able to pay me some, naturally I would kave to stop you—but,.I hope you land that job in the restaurant and then every- thing will be alright again, won't it missus? Nepxnbar Working Woman—Well, I got to go now, I think"my caébbagé is burning. Y Ot. v it ‘Corish was one of the miners who at the outset of the coal strike in this region picketed the house of a scab af) Glendale, last April. About 20 al- together were arrested and indicted under the Redman act, which carried ‘a, prison sentence of from two to ten years, Corish was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to ten years at the state prison on a conspiracy charge. The scab, howeyer, who had succeeded ‘in, wounding one of the picketters fa- tally was let off scot free, Needless to say that the picketting had resulted in no harm to the scab or to the coal company’s property, but of course an example had to be made to intimidate the rest of the miners. What shows clearly the class strug- gle and the class injustice in this sen- tence is the fact that a few months afterward a bank embezzler, who had succeededy in» embezzling funds amounting to over half a million dol- lars while acting as cashier at the Benwood Bank, Benwood, W, Va— money deposited by orphans and wi- dows of working men—and who if the law had cared to do so would have about fifteen indictements against him, was tried only on one indictment and given only ten years. All of the other indictments were annulled, Embezzler Has/Swell Vacation. Corish, it he is to serve his sentence will of course meet with the lot of the ordinary convict. Leach, the embez- zler in question, however, is reported having a very “soft” job indeed, work- ing in the office, and it is expected that for good behavior his sentence’ will be lessened... »»» Indications point towards the fact that if the state supreme court refuses to grant the writ of errors on the second hearing the will be brought before the supreme court of _| the county, , bis i oso eenmeanemss \ E DAILY WORKER kers®: Life SILK STRIKERS DRAWCROWDS AT MASS MEETING Textile Workers Pledge * * Support in Fight By A. Worker Correspondent WEST NEWYORK, N. J., Dec. 17. —Silk workers in Hudson county, New Jersey, proyed, by their rousing approval. of what the. speakers said at a mass mieéting, that they were wholeheartedly in support of the Hill- crest silk mill strikers who are now in their eighth week of struggle. This was the first time, except for a previous demonstration held by the United Fronty@ommittee of Textile Workers, that such a meeting had been held in this part of New Jersey for many years. The crowd of textile workers that-.game filled the hall and responded enthusiastically to the call ‘or moral angj-financial support of the strikers, s;) The speakers,at the meeting were Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Carlo Tresca who spoke in-Jtalian. and Albert Weisbord, organizer of the Hillcrest trikers. Eligabeth Gurley Flynn stressed the fact that the only reason why textile. workers had to fight again and again against the same hreats of the bosses was because, while they knew how to fight they did not know how to hold on to what they won by organization. Organiza- ‘ion was the erying need of the hour ind their only salvation. Weisbord spoke on the significance of this strike which was being prolonged so by the bosses. ‘He pointed out that all over the, world the bosses were driving against; the standards of liv- ing of the workers and now had launched thedig first big drives in Am- erica against the textile workres. The Hillcrest strike marked a milestone in the way which the working class of this count had to travel in re- sisting the Wage. cuts and doubling up of work \bf\ the textile bosses, | These remarkgsby the speakers were enthusiasticallfjapplauded by the au- dience of textile workers. The United Front Committee in charge of ‘this’ strike hopes to erystall- ize the favorgble sentiment at the meeting by blishing temporary mill commit “all ofthe mills’ of the distriet. If the strike is very prolonged perhwps it will be necessary to exerbvthemgreatest pressure on other mills t@ force the bosses to come to termg;by means of sympa- thetic strikes,,This will be done as 1soon as possible, In the meantime picketing is going on just’ the same before the mifl"and is preventing the boss from running his plant and turn- ing out cloth ii any quantity. All textile workers in Hudson county mills“ Who wish to organize a workers’ compoil and mill committee in their mill should write or visit the headquarters of,the United Front Com- mittee of Textile Workers there at 398 Broadway, Union City, New Jer- sey. Pocketbook Makers’ Convention Proves to Be Exclusive By A Worker Correspondent NEW YORK, Dec. 17.—When Syl- van A. Pollack'representing the In- trenational Labor Defense, handed his credential to thé national convention of the Pocketbo6k Makers’ Union of America, whicli'fs being held at the socialist part} “headquarters, the Rand School, He Was informed by the convention credetitial committee, that a motion had been passed by the con- vention not to give the floor to thé representative gi any “outside organ- ization.” It is romark@le that a union con- vention can have the point of view, that the International Labor Defense, which is a workers’ defense organiza- tion, is an ‘“qntside” organization when its record sim the past has been one of being “inside” of the battles of the working ¢lass on every occa- sion. olabys By A Worker Correspondent. EST ALLIS, Wisc., Dec, 17.—In addition to the direct and in- direct exploitation of the workers in the shops, there is going on, with the help of public officials, a system of unloading on the-backs of the workers the greater \@rt of the corporation share of the public burdens, An in- stance of this is shown by the follow- jing facts, ' ‘4 C. Ashenbrenner, a worker of this city, who by dint of enormous sacri- fices has managed to acquire a nom- inal title to som’ real estate, is com- pelled to pay $160 on 30 feet of front- age for city light*installation; while the enormously wealthy Allis Chal- mers corporation 18 only required to pay $80 per front)ere for the same purpose. There are undo} many more working class of this bear- A Side ‘Line in Corporation Graft MEN ROBBED:AND KEPT IN FEAR OF ARREST IN WEST VA. SCAB MINES (SECOND PRIZE) By A Worker Correspondent GALLOWAY, W.'Va., Dec. 17.—I want to tell the readers of The DAILY WORKER how the open shop coal masters»here are treating the miners in the Bear Mountain field. | have a statement from one of the unorganized coal miners in this field in which he tells of working thirteen shifts at 12 hours each and In that time he had loaded 159 tons and 60 tons of pick coal. For this he was credited with $102.42, Out of this he was charged $27.04 as follows: $20 for not being able to load whole cut of coal out in one day and for leaving a bottom, down, and to explain the $7.04 he received the following notice in his envelope: “What you are charged $7.04 for is none of your damned business and if you ask for the same | will turn you over to the state police and they will put you in the pen.” So this poor deluded miner came to me and asked me what to do and how to get his money from his master. The answer | gave him was “go back and organize others with yourself and then you will be able to accomplish something.” After. going over this tonnage we find that this man under the union scale would receive $179.50 but un- der the non-union or the so-called “American plan” he received only $75.38 for 13 shifts at 12 hours each, So this is the way the open shop coal masters are treating their men in the non-union mines of West Virginia, We wish to. notify all men to stay away from these fields as the con- ditions are deplorable here and else- where in the non-union coal mines of West Virginia. Toledo Police Threaten Workers with Arrest for Doing Party Work By BUEHLER (Worker Correspondent) Eight workers started from the the Workers’ Book Shop at 8.15 on Sunday morning to distribute three thousand leaflets from house to house in a working class district. This leat- let was issued by the Workers (Com- munist) Party and called upon the workers and farmers of this country to défend the working Class “govern: ment of Russia, The comrades organized themselves into four teams and started down the street, All was going well till one of the comrades. noticed a copper riding around on a motorcycle, He stopped at a fire house, the comrades con- cluded there was.a fire in the’ district. About fifteen minutes later, as one of the teams was going up a street, | along comes another instrument of | the state, a policeman, dressed: in a| nice blue uniform, haraware_ polished | to a high degree. One of ‘the com-| rades took a look at this tool of: cap-| italism, said good morning, and hand- | ed him one of the leaflets. He accept- ed and started to read it. When he discovered the significance of the leaf- | let he ordered the comrade to halt and | asked him if he had a permit to pass out. leaflets. | Although the city law requires none the- comrades answered he thought that one of the committee had it. In the excitement the comrade said to this policeman: “Why! Senator Borah is making a desperate fight in the senate to have the government of this free country recognize the work- ing class government of Russia ‘and we are trying to arouse the workers of Toledo to instruct their represent- ative in congress to help in the fight for recognition of Soviet Russia.” The copper’s answer was, “You better go and tell the gang to get out of the dis- trict. If I find any of you around in a few minutes I'll arrest every one. in the gang.” H The comrade reported this threat of the cop to our team captain we. im: mediately held a meeting on. the street corner and came to an unan- imous decision that we would keep. up | - the. work of passing out leaflets, ar- rest or no arrest. Our courageous de- cision saw us thru and we passed out all the leaflets without one arrest. This reprehensible misuse of public power can however be easily under- stood, when one realizes, that the city government and the Allis Chalmers corporation are to all intents and pur- poses dominated by the same crowd. But in spite of this plain domination by grafting business interests, it seems that the system is still con- sidered not sufficiently satisfactory. There is a widespread agitation being fostered here to change to a system of city manager control, It is made to appear, as if the work- ers ought to be interested in the ques- tion as to whether a council or a city ; manager shall deliver their interests to the tender mercies of the bosses , The workers, who are everywhere the vast majority, must organize for the overthrow. of corporation rule and their political hirelings in the govern: ment, and establish their own exclus- fie both in shops and in, the Page Five The Winners! Announcement by VERY week The DAILY WOR J. Louis Engdahl. KER plans to present three prizes for the best stories sent in by our worker correspondents. This is not only intended to respondence, and to bring out the stimulate interest in worker cor- best efforts of our writers, but also to bring to the front some of the best material that is sent in, in order that it may serve as an exa mple for others, There has been a notable increase this past week in the volume of worker correspondence that ha is. come in. Thru this competition, and other methods of arousing interest in this workers’ activity, we expect the number of stories to grow rapidly in number and quality. N awarding the prizes, preference has been given to stories received from workers actually on the correspondence we are seeking to encourage. jobs. This is the kind of worker Excellent material is being sent in by more experienced party workers, especially by those engaged In trade union activities. We do not wish to discourage their efforts in the least. But they must realize that the success of worker correspondence depends upon drawing the masses of workers in the shops, mills, mines and fi upon this basis that the prizes we FIRST PRIZE—Nikolai actories into this endeavor, re awarded as follows: Bucharin's latest book, “His- It is toric Materialism,” to a worker for the Interborough Rapid Transit Co., the “open shop” subway system in New York City. We cannot give his name, for that would mean in- stant discharge. But he will get his book. SECOND PRIZE—Leon Trotsky’s book, “Whither England?” to a nonparty, foreign-born worker in the non- union West Virginia coal fields, mention his name. It is also impossible to THIRD PRIZE—The original of the cartoon appearing on this page in a suitable frame to Henry Fred, of Chica- go, for his story, “Hunting for a Job in Chicago.” TART now sending in your contributions for next week’s compe- tition. The prizes to be offered mext week are as follows: FIRST PRIZE—“Flying Osip,” stories of New Russia. SECOND PRIZE—Leon Trotsky’s “My Flight from Siberia.” THIRD PRIZE—Original carto: ion to be framed, TYRANNY ROBS of strap-hangers. And with only a wash up. Fifteen or twenty minut ing in line to punch our ti established for us, wonder that we are being maime cur? bling because our organization, a nor dare take up our grievances driving conditions. “1. R. T.” repairmen, let's get Hanting for a (THIRD PRIZE) By A Worker Corresponaent After hunting for,a job for a couple of weeks, I decided to take a job at Sears Roebuck and) company. Of course I knew of the awful conditions under which they, work: there but I was in debt and had to-get something quickly, I reasoned:):Now -before Christmas, and President’ Coolidge’s speech on our ‘present prosperity, surely I can get a job there. .On my ay I even made plans’ which of my debts to pay first, As usual a big “fat cop stood in front of the employment,office protect- ing the law and Order, of the public | ~no—of the compaiy. Inside, two} hundred people, mostly boys, wait. Thru the open door I hear the clerk asking: “How old?” “Twenty.” “Married?” “No.” “Fill out this ap- plication and send it in there. Next. How old?" “Twerity-three.” “Mar- ried?” “Yes.” “We only employ boys. So I made up my mind I am not married and I am only twenty years old, After filling out my application with all the long list of questions answered I waited, My turn now. “Sit down.” Looks me over from top to bottom. “Take this application and walk in there.” our “dail, These must be organized and dents. respondence page, Articles will successfully. “LIVING NEWSPAPERS” HESE should be features of all The DAILY WORKER birthday parties to be held on the second anniversary, Jan. 13, 1926, of It will help develop interest of all workers in our worker cor- plaining what “Living Newspapers” are and how to carry them thru Send in your notices of The DAILY WORKER birth day parties so that they can be given the proper public large numbers of nonparty workers. ~ MEN OF MEALS <The First Prize By A Worker Correspondent, NEW YORK, Dec, 17.—Interborough Rapid Transit repairmen at Lenox & 148th St. toil 9 hours daily to prevent broken axels, split rods, stalling motors and slipping brakes from bringing dis iter to millions measly half hour for lunch, and no es of this half hour we spend wait- e, because there are only six time clocks for the whole 800 of us. The lunch room that the company charitably sublet to a contractor who profit ly in dishing out filthy slum gullion at exorbitant prices. So we don’t patronize it, and we snatch our lunch in any haphazard way. Up to this week we at least had the privilege of buying our. milk from the milkman outside the gates of the yard before ringing out. This Monday this was suddenly stopped. Hereafter we are to buy our milk on our own time during what's left of the lunch time between ringing in and out, so that if before we had no rest now we hardly have any time to gulp down our lunch choking on it the while, Any on us cruel- id at the machines? Any surprise that weary of head and body we become exhausted and accidents oc- Company Union a Farce. The grumbling and discontent among us over this latest act of oppression is at considerable pitch but we are helpless in our grum- “closed union” shop, is a eempany union where the shop steward and grievance committee nelther wish with the management. We shall therefore continue to suffer and bear in silence such and worse con- ditions until we organize into a real union, a union that will get for us-a 44-hour week, real representative shop committees, a full lunch hour, no ringing in and out for lunch, and generally abolish slave- busy and bulld ® Job in Chicago | Young boys wait im this room. I count twenty of them. look at them. Even in their too long pants and too big coats they do not look older than 13. I notice that the young kids were given a slip of paper in addition to their application sheets and sent to a different office. It takes almost a whole day before the red tape is gone thru and you are told whether you will be admitted to the office of the boss Julius Rosen- wald, slave driying “philanthropist” and the older ones were not even ad- mitted to this office. ‘ My turn comes again, “Is your name H. F.?” “Yes.” He looks at me, at the application, at me again— “Are you twenty years old?” “Ye “I can’t employ you.” “Why?” I ask. “Am I too old for you already? Shall I send you my kid™brother who goes to school yet? So this is your Cool- idge prosperity?” He calls out “Next.” A small kid about 13 years old comes in. I continue: “He will be good for your slave driving. He will be good for you at $10 a week.” I walk out. This is how children are being put into industry toetake the place of their elders... They work them ten and twelve hours a day at $10 and $12 a week and they do not need to iG paid for overtime either. carried thru by worker correspon- appear on this page regularly ex- ity and attract | f 4qP eh scion a]