The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 23, 1926, Page 3

— THE DAELY WORKER ET ARTO! ORO LN SMR REAR aR ARERR A RR Page Thréée SWIFT CONCERN TRIES 10 AVOID COMPENSATION Libby, McNeil & Libby) Doctor Aids Scheme By A Worker Correspondent Following an accident to one of the girls in the lard pail department at the Libby, McNeill & Libby plant in Chicago, the company doctor has been making numerous attempts to get the girl to leave the company employ and lose her rights under the workmen's compensation law. As the girl was going across the floor in the lard pail department, which had just been washed, she slipped and fainted. Since her fall she has fainting spells now. She did not have these spells before the fall. Doctor Hands Out “Advice.” She has been under the care of the company doctor and is taking treat- ments from him now. The doctor has told her every time that she went to see him, “You had better leave this work for it does not agree with you.” He has made many attempts to get her to leave the company employ. The workers in the same depart- ment have told her not to leave the company’s employ and have advised her to demand compensation for her injuries. “The doctor is only trying to get the company out of paying what belongs to you?” declared one of the workers. “You just stay here and put in, your claim for damages. Don’t let them cheat you out of it.” Company Cheats Workers. The Libby, McNeil & Libby com- pany is a subsidiary of the Swift meat packing company and every time that the company can escape paying com- pensation for accidents that are caus- ed by company negligence they try to do so. The doctors always tell the girls and men that are seriously hurt: “the work does not agree with you.” Some of the workers leave the company employ upon the “advice” of the doctor and the company pockets what they would have to pay as com- pensation. AUSTRALIA T0 EXPORT GRAIN; HAS HUGE CROP Will Price of Wheat Follow Corn? (Special to The Daily Worker) WASHINGTON, D. C., Jan. 21.— The Australian wheat crop may reach 110,000,000 bushels due to good har- vesting weather, instead of 100,000,- 000 bushels previously reported, ac- cording to a cablegram received by the United States department of agriculture. The final estimate for the 1924-25 harvest was 164,000,000 bushels. Allowing 45,000,000 bushels for do- mestic requirements, the quantity of grain available for export during the current season would be about 65,- 000,000 bushels. “Stand by Lenin’s Russia.” Pledge yourself to the defence and recogni- tion of the Soviet Union. at the big Lenin Memorial meetings. N this gigantic meat packing plant long under a brutal speed-up system, becoming nervous wrecks and victims of rheumatism, tuberculosis large profits for the packers. thousands of workers slave all day and other diseases while piling up Visitors that visit these “yards” only see Armour’s Giant Prison House for. ebor in Chicago | 2 the clean, "dry places. the visitor, The wet, damp, unhealthy rooms are hidden from If conditions in the “yards” are to be changed so that the workers will be able to have better conditions, shorter hours and better pay, they Must organize into unions and fight their masters. The Conference Boards of Meat Packers Hit the Workers (Continued fiom page 1) ordered to report in Chicago to vote the workers a wage cut. Two of these men boarded a Pullman at St. Joseph, Missouri and fell into conversation with a well-known Catholic priest as- sociated with the. National Catholic Welfare Council, The Armour “rep resentatives” told, the “father” that they had been hastily summoned to Chicago by the company and had been given two hours to catch the train. They were obeying orders. Their ex- penses were paid ‘by the company. They were on their way. They were from Missouri, The} didn’t know what the conference was about. They would probably know..when they reached Chicago. Vote Wage Cut, ] This was Nov. 16. Two days later these two industrial legislators joined their fellows from other slaughtering plants in accepting the wage reduc- tion declared by the.company officials. The wage cut was to be effective on Nov. 28. Other packers fell in line with a similar cut the workers, in some instances, being forced thru the same committée-voting farce. The packers announced to the world that a great moral victory had been won, for wage cuts had been accepted with- out a strike, But the publicity guns were fired too soon. A strike was called by the militant workers, who were members of real Jabor unions. All the packing houses were affected. Judges were called in to issue injunctions; state guards were pressed into anti-picket duty. The packers refused to deal with the representatives of the trade unions. They coaxed and pleaded and bribed and coerced the “representa- tives” of their canned committees. | After two months the strike fizzled out and the wage reductions were pushed down the workers’ throats. Swift and company echoed the chorus of joy among the packers when its publicity experts announced with reference to the strike and its out- come: “The whole episode was a justification of our taking our em- ployes into our confidence.” Such epi- sodes continue to “justify” company unions thruout the whole domain of the Big Four. “Wage readjustments” have come easier since that date. The Swift Plan, “Employes’ representation” a la Swift, like the other such schemes in vogue in the industry, has been used to give the workers the feeling that they are securing for themselves, thru their elaborate machinery of di- visions ‘and committees and assembl- ies, such crumbs of welfare and “im- provement” as the management cares to bestow upon them. The plan, as outlined in handsome literature dis- tributed free to the public, informs us that it “inspires interest in the busi- ness” among the workers and gives the employes an opportunity “for learning the point of view of their employers.” The “employe represen- tative,” elected from a plant division is advised by the company to circu- late around among the men and pick up such grievances as he may find and refer them to the committees. The assumption seems to be that the workers are not likely to bring such matters voluntarily to the “represen- tative’ and that he must therefore “make business” for the plan particu- larly in the matter of petty grievances which can be disposed of “satisfactor- ily” by the company plan without cost. The major questions of wages or hours are pushed to the rear and are only given consideration when the company regards the “competitive This Way Points Our Leader To Make The Daily Worker a Mass Paper SEND A SUB! RATES: In Chicago—$8.00 per year; $4.50 six months; $2.50 three months, Outside of Chicago—$6.00 per year; $3.50 six months; $2.00 three months. 20000 LOT rrccsrsereeee Enclosed $.... mos, subscription to The Dally Worker. conditions of the market” as favor- able, Then the committees are ap- pointed to “find the facts’—such as the company,eares to give them—in order to arrive at a decision favorable to both parties! Of course,the highest executive of the company, has’ the final veto power altho it is seldom that issues are permitted to reach him having been smothered in the subordinate committees, , Commenting on this re- tention of final power in the hands of the management, Wm. Bassett, well known industrial engineer says: “Over all, the executives should for the present retaim the right to veto. But I have nevePknown an executive who found it negesbary to exercise the right to veto Out of some hundreds of cases “of* quasi-democratic shop government, have yet to find a rad. ical measure that passed.” Armour, the Autocrat. The same is true of the Armour conference bgard plan. It permits an appeal :to the;czar over all—the gen- eral superintendent. From his decis- representatives) and a company offic- ial will be chosen to make “a survey of wages.” The figures are supplied by the company and explained to the “employe representatives” by the company statisticians and bookkeep- | able to get the warm bath that he ers. The company pets are usually impressed with the appalling com- plexity of the problem. They are made to see how the company might lose money and be unable to pay divi- dends on its stock should the workers get a two-penny wage increase. They are soon found nodding their heads with the company experts and figure jugglers. The suggested wage in crease, after much delay, is declarec impossible, and the chairman passe on to the next item on the agend: This may be the matter of drinkix cups, locker accommodations, athlet clubs or some other momentous que tion upon which the company can ai ford to yield an inch once the wage issues have been shelved. Sell Speed-up to Workers. The chief purpose of the various conference boards and the powerless jon the worker can appeal to god if “employe representatives” is to sell he so desires. The general: superintendent also pre- sides at alkomeetings of the general plant conference, the highest legislat- ive body ovex, all the Armour plants. some idea to the rank and file of the workers. The company committee- men are soaked with “practical eco- nomics,” facts about the business, anti-union propaganda. They inturn No worker's “representative” is ever| Te the salesmen of these poisons to chosen to fill that decisive post. Fur- the workers who are supposed to have thermore, theysecretary of the confer- ence board—z,plant or general — is usually a salaried official of the com- pany who works from the superinten- dent’s office, and is under the thumb of that official. And if some worker should dare to make a request for wages and it should be supported by a threatening number, of his fellows that request may get into the conference board. If it does two company pets (employe “chosen” them. They do their job well, as the stories now appearing in The DAILY WORKER well illustrate, Workers Must Fight Packers. In facing the packers’ claims con- cerning “co-operation with employes,” “the comon interests of worker and management” and the rest of the “harmony and good relations in in- dustry” stuff it would be well for the worker to consider who these pack- ers are. Are they really the ange!s of “With the Help of the Newspaper,” Says Lenin: “and in connection with it, will etrystallize of itself a permanent organization, occupied not only with local but with the regular general work, training its mem- bers attentively to follow political events, to evaluate their significance and their influence upon the various strata of the population, to work out expedient ways of action upon these events on the part of the revolutionary party.” LEARN THIS LESSON OF OUR LEADER! | Tee Nrag- ACT ON IT ores ty and tKia- (2, Do Both If You Can in LENIN DRIVE _ Pr Fite Thousand Mew dike to ere ,; the combined five of “VICEROY OF MEXICO” SHEFFIELD HUNGRY MEXICO CITY, Jan, 21—‘Viceroy of Mexico” Sheffield after playing his ‘nine-hole game of golf at the Mexico City Country Club wag not demanded nor even a sandwich at the club’s lunch room because of the waiters’ strike at the club. The American ambassador then entered his car—without his bath and his luncheon—and started for his mansion. He found the gates of the country club locked and deco- rated with red and black flags. The pickets allowed his car to go thru and then the gates were locked, sweetness and light they picture them- selves to be thru the propaganda of their personnel agents and human re- lations engineers? If they had not been the sworn enemies of every type of labor union for three decades they might be believed in some of their pol- ished phrases of peace. But the workers know the record of the pack- ers in strike time and peace time. The federal commission during its investigation found that the packers them—had used their power illegally to: (1) Manipulate the live stock mar- ket. (2) Restrict interstate and nation- al supplies of food, (3) Defraud both the consumers of food and the producers, (4) Crush effective competition, (5) Secure special privileges from railroads, stockyards companies and municipalities. (6) Use joint funds to employ lob- byists and pay their unaudited ex- penses. (7) Influence with bribes. (8) Elect candidates who would wink at violations of law and defeat thosé pledged to law enforcement. (9) Secure modifications of gov- ernment rules and regulations, Use Press Against Worker. 10) Bias public opinion by the control of capitalist press officials thru advertising, loans and subsidies and by the publication and distribu- tion of false and misleading state- ments, In addition to these innocent divers- ons the packers were found to have et the price of meat food products ar- itrarily without any reference to the competition” they are continually mplaining about to their workers. nd at the present moment the pack- 8 effectually prevent the enforce- ent of the “packers and stockyards ct” passed by congress in 1922 for the purpose of “regulating” a few of their most brutal manipulations. And the secretaries of agriculture charged with the enforcement of this act since that date have sat snuggly in the broad, bloody palm of the packing trust. What Can Workers Expect? Out of this band of robbers do the workers expect to get “justice” thru conference boards, committees or as- sociations? Only a sweet-smelling lib- eral who had never seen a stockyard would answer in the affirmative. The workers can expect from the packers’ company unions exactly what they have been getting—wage cuts, unem- ployment, discharges, speeding-up, spies and all the trimmings that go with a 100 per cent industrial autoc- racy. legislative bodies He will like it! Give your union brother a sub to The DAILY WORKER. This “To the ORDER A BUNDLE! (2 Cents a Copy) Enclosed $. » for a bundle o! copies (at 2 cents) of The Daily Worker tor: NAME svviecoossersnerssscesnssnenscnsnvorenessnseonees Street sessveressosenseeeeeessssseeresrsoecsvossvessoons OMY, scrincoensssttinnebnctetnesliclindindg State... DAWES HAZED FOR ATTAGKS ON SENATORS Turns Chair Over to Young LaFollette (Special to The Daily Worker) WASHINGTON, Jan. 21—-Vice-Pree- ident Charles G. Dawes was publicly hazed in the senate this afternoon for his radio attack upon the so-called fill- buster conducted by foes of the world court. Senator James A. Reed, of Missouri, criticized the vice-president for seek- ing to “throttle debate” on the world court by his radio speech. A moment later, Dawes interrupted Reed to ex- plain his radio speech was aimed at the “senator from New York.” This led Senator Royal Copeland, of New York, to accuse the vice-presi- dent of “inaccuracy,” and to attack Dawes for attempting to “undermine the usefulness of the senate.” Every Man His Own Code, “Of course every men has his sense of honor and ethics,” said Reed. “I, for one, think it would be indecent to attack a man from the floor who has no chance to reply. I leave it to his sense of honor and decency if it is fair to attack me on the radio, Of course, every man has his own code of honor and ethics, “It would be well for super-ritios of this country to know what they talk about before they fulminate im the air.” Reed devoted thirty minutes to ert ticizing the vice-president and he yielded to Copeland for the latter's criticism, only after Dawes explained: “The chair did not refer to the sena» tor from Missouri but to an article read by the senator from New York (Copeland).” Defends “Dignity* of Dawes, “I was in New York long ago when the vice-president made an attesk on the dignity of the senate,” said Cope land. “He held up the senate to ridi- cule and it seemed to me like « dell- berate attempt on his part to under- mine the effect and usefulness of thie body. As I read the morning newspa- pers, it is apparent the vice-president is continuing the same sort of attack. “I read no article yesterday, but sent several to the desk to be print- ed in the Record. I have no dispoet- tion now or at any other time to de- bate with the vice-president.as to my rights and duties as a senator inthis body. I do resent, however, the it® accurate statement of the vice-presi- dent in reply to the senator from Mis- souri.” Resurrect Andy Carne Dawes sat silent under Copeland's remarks, nervously hitting his gold rimmed spectacles against his teeth, The Congressional Record disclosed that Copeland did not read an article but that he had printed in the record a “newspaper account,” appealing to congress to admit some 5,000 Italian world war veterans as nonimmi- grants. Reed, however, had the clerk read an article written many years ago by Andrew Carnegie. It took the clerk an hour and a half, the same time mentioned by Dawes in @ radio speech. Reed said the article was important because lawyers employed by Carne- gie’s money today were among the most earnest advocates of internation- alism. Way Masses!” For the Shop--- For the Union--- To Take to Every Single House in Your Block--- i—