The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 12, 1926, Page 3

COMPANY UNION DOES LITTLE FOR TELEGRAPH GIRL Bosses Run Association; Workers Pay Bills NEW YORK, Feb. 10.—‘The asso- clation is only a graft. We tried td get better food in the cafeteria and couldn't get a thing.” “The association sends you a bou- quet when you die. That's all you get out of it.” .Western Union workers thus ex- “press themselves on the company un- ion given them in 1918; Association rules provide a system of local assemblies, division groups and'a genefal assembly, and a board of<directors composed of vice-presi- dents heading divisions and the gener- al offivers of the association. To be elected’ t6 ‘the general assembly the worker must come thru lower offices, must be’ over 25 years old, two years or more in company service, one year in the association. But—Western ©n- fon in hiring employes:prefers to pick those'under 21, altho advertisements invite ‘workers of 16-25. sufficiently indicated by these in- stances; The chief clerk heads the assembly in one big office, in another the:head supervisor; J. P. Hayes, as- sociation general president, was chief clerk in the San Francisco office. Hayes end G. H. Jenzen attended the first annual meeting, catholic confer- ence on Industrial Problems, Milwau- kee, Wis., July 27-28, 1928, Jenzen said thet he was a national officer, Com- mercial Telegraphers’ Union, prior to the 1917 strike, which forced Western Union to install the company union. Hayes bragged that workers paid as- sociation bills but that employer and employe have “a close relationship.” ‘When the 1917 telegraphers’ strike was called, says one of the workers, the whisper “Western Union never strikes” went around the offices like @ wind from the back alley. Similari- ty of telegraph and postal service a public utility, was used to stop strike talk. For years Western Union has required new employes to sign on the dotted line that they do not belong to organizations which believe in the strike and that they will not join such organizations. A good many Western Union workers accept company propa- ganda fostered by the association but a few realize that whatever improved conditions they have been given have come because of pressure of outside, bona fide trade unions demanding bet- fer conditions and higher wages. . Association of Western Union Em- “ Ployes is. only advisory and in the unlikely event that a dispute is not settled by local, division or general assemblies a board of arbitration steps in with final word. The associa- tion directors choose an arbirtator, the company another and these two chosen select the third, so that rank and file workers who brought the de- mand can scarcely regognizé any rep- resentation in the highest body. $$ SICK AND DEATH BENEFIT} SOCIETIES es Frauen-Kranken-Unterstuetzungs Verein Meet. Tet and bra "rhureday, leets every Ist and 3ri , Wicker Park Hall, North Avenue, Secretary. io WwW. Defense of Class Cébtial Opera House, Wonderful Bargains in DRESSES, TAL OBJECTS, EMBROIDERED Every Article Brand New. Allvat Prices Only a Bazaar Can Off Actors—you will get all DANCING EVERY NIGHT, 799 Broadway, Room Attention, House of the Masses, 2646 PEPPY MUSIC. JOHN VARGA W.. 18th St, Chicago, II By ESTHER LOWELL, Fed. | Who gets company union jobs IN NEW YORK CITY! GRAND BAZAAR NOW GOING ON. Good Time plus Gain at the Annual Bazaar for FEBRUARY 10—13, INCLUSIVE Made by Unions for This Bazaar Special. GRAND CONCERTS EVERY NIGHT. Hungarian Orchestra, Ukrainian Singers, Famous Soldists, Russian Workers’ Dramatic Club, Children’s Orchestra, Young Dancers, Child Combination Ticket for Entire Period $1.00 INTERNATIONAL LABOR DEFENSE, NEW YORK SECTION, VALENTINE DANCE SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 8 P. M. Auspices Young Workers’ Sport Alliance, Hear All Bad re gg and Good Music ee We build, repair and remodel radio sets of all kinds at _ reasonable rates, DO NOT FORGET THEIR BIRTHDAYS WHILE THEY ARE IN JAIL FOR YOU! 1, L. D. News Service. The International Labor Defense sends greetings to the following class war prisoners on the annivers- ary of their birthdays and we urge the workers on the outside not to forget them. Letters mean more to those victims of capitalism than those who have never had prison ex- perience can realize. Drop them a mine that you will do everything possible to get them out of jail. Birth-Dates of Class War Prisoners. March 2, Britt Smith, Walla Wal- la, Wash. March 5, C. A. Drew, San Quen- tin, Calif. March 6, Edgar Combs, Mounds- ville, W. Va. March 10, J. B, Childs, San Quen- tin, Calif. March 10, Fred Suttle, Walla wal- la, Wash. March 14, Ray Baker, Walla Wal- la, Wash. ” March 16, 0. C. Bland, Walla Wal- la, Wash. March 17, Omar J. Eaton, San Quentin, Calif. . ‘ March 20, D. C, Russell, San Quen- tin, Calif. March 25, Pierte Jans, San Suen- tin, Calif. March 26, Joe Clohessy, Folsom, Represse, Calif. f March 27, Joe Vargo, San Quen- tin, Calif. March 31, A. G. Ross, San Quen- tin, Calif. War Prisoners at 67th St. and 3rd Ave. HATS, SHOES, FURS, ORNAMEN- ARTICLES, KNITTED GOODS. er. ll this at the BAZAAR. GOOD music, 422, New York City, , Detroit! St. Aubin, Corner Gratiot. ADMISSION 50 CENTS A tet a a nn ta tn sD tn dn a at tn a tt All Work Guaranteed, I. Call or phone your jobs. | “The Fisherman” »PHBANKA“, word of encouragement and deter. THE DAILY WORKER rc carreras mes sere ancora nearer | 3S Sess a, <a — — — Sos Sosa es ee 2s ra 22 Zs mee SSS a> ZA . =o (From Proletarska Pravda, Kiev.) Uncle Sam Trying to Catch Golden Fish in the Muddled Waters of Europe. Call for Unity of Progressives in the Chicago Amalgamated (Continued trom page 1) ket thru the key local, the cutters, have appointed as manager of the New York joint board one Beckerman, busi- ness agent of the cutters’ local, who believes that all the evils in the trade could be solved (1) by the expulsion of all those who oppose the admin- istration, (2) the use of terror, (3) reduction of wages for the tailors, (4) the institution of piece work. Worse in Chicago. In Chicago our organization has gone from bad to worse, Wage cuts either in form of readjustments or otherwise have been and are taking Place today, but no signs for relief. Union conditions are being done away with, either by the impartial machin- ery or thru the lack of administration to fight against. Unemployment is on the increase, with the administration doing nothing to remedy this situation. We lind workers walking the streets for many months with no relief in sight. On the contrary ~our officials follow a policy of increased production and re- construction of garments which tends to throw many more workers out of employment, Our administration has instituted a reign of terror in our union. They not only terrorize the membership at local meetings, but also slug them when members aré suspected of op posing any proposition that the admin- istration brings forth. A classic ex- ample of that sort of tactics was dem- onstrated at the general membership “victory” meeting held on November 18, 1925, and followed by the brutal attack upon members on the follow- ing Sunday, November 15, 1925. The administration is determined not to permit any opposition and these are the tactics used. Hillman Lies, President Hillman at a Local 39 meeting held Jan, 25 has openly and violently attacked the progressive ele- ments of the Amalgamated and has deliberately lied about those active members who so gallantly fought and are fighting for the building up of our union. At the present time there exists three groups in the Chicago Amalga- mated which are not in accord with the policies and tactics of the present gram of all progressive groups in the administration: (1)—The = Trade Union Educational League composed of militant workers who are constant- ly fighting the administration for their class collaboration policies and their tactics. (2) The “Advance” groupot Local 39 composed of progressives who in the main have shown in the past year their willingness to fight against wage cuts in any’ form and against the slugging tactics of the ad- ministration. (3) The group of pro- gressive workers of Local No, 152 who during the slugging period have ex- pressed their disapproval of the ad- ministration terroristic tactics, The Trade Union Educational League realizes the condition the Amalgamated finds itself in today, It also realizes that no remedy for these conditions could be attained unless there is sufficient pressure from below ~the rank and file, A united front of all progressive and left wing groups is highly necessary, at this time, if we ever have to stop wage cutting, slugging and unemployment in the Chicago organization, and to make the Amalgamated what it was meant to be when it first came to life, The T. U, E. L, js therefore calling for a united front upon the above pro- SENATOR STIRS RACE HATRED IN SENATE SPEECH Fear Negro Influence in World Affairs WASHINGTON, D. C., Feb. 10—Con- siderable dicussion has been aroused thru the Negro press over the speech of Senator Blease of South Carolina in the senate last week, exposing all the hatred ‘and venom of racial pre- judice to such an extent that even the senator’s colleagues refrained from comment or applause. In ‘his argifment against the world court, Sendtor Blease, who owes his election only''to the corrupt disfran- chisement of/the Negro voters in his state, did not’show up the world court as only another measure to facilitate the robbery! and exploitation of world labor, He Based his objection only on the grounds’ of the presence of the Negro in its organization. Stits' Race Prejudice. “I notice that Haiti has a voice in the election “of judges,’ declared the senator appealing to the prejudice of the senators from the south. “I call attention to the senators from the south, while they are voting on this reservation, to the fact that we are voting for a court where we are to sit by side with a full-blooded ‘nigger,’ who has as much right as we have in the election of the judges of this court. I ask them if they real- ize the fact that there may be, and very probably will be, a representa- tive of Haiti as a judge on this court, so that the southern senators are vot- ing to throw the destinies of south- ern women and Southern men into the |laps of black men? Haiti has joined the league of nations and has a rep- presentative in the assembly of the | league who will vote for the judges of the court. Fears Negro Influence. “So has Liberia, as my friend from Missouri (Senator Reed) suggests. Haiti being a member of the league, while America is not a member of the league, would, in all ‘probability, have more power in one sense than the American nation.” Concerned more with his filthy at- tack on the Negro than in his argu- went on the'merits or demetits of the world court, the senator continued: “Why is*the United Stated of Ame- rica to have one judge to sit on this court, whén a ‘nigger’ can, at any time, cast *his ballot in opposition to that vote’'and negative it? Why should not my state of South Carolina have equal vote with a ‘nigger’ repub- lican govefhtient ‘as to who shall sit upon that ‘court? Why should not the states of Georgia, North Carolina, Mississippi ér any other state, or especially ‘the great states of New York and. Illinois and Pennsylvania have a right to say who shall be judges of that court, as much as you give that right to a ‘nigger’ republic?” Harangue Dumfounds Senators. This harangue of Senator Blease dumfounded even the most bitter foes of the Negro worker in the senate, who are usually careful mot to expose their own feelings on this subject so openly and showed fully how much the Negro workér can expect from their supposed “representatives” in the leading governmental body, Mother Bloor Speaks at I. L. D. Meeting in Warren Sunday, Feb. 14 (Special to The Daily Worker) WARREN, O., Feb, 10 — Ella Reeve Bloor will speak in behalf of the pol- itical prisoners of capitalism in the Hippodrome Hall, in Warren on Sun- Chicago Amalgamated, Trade Union Educational League, A.C. W. A. Group, (We urge all, ve groups to commupicate with us for the arrange: ment 04 @ conference) day afternoon, Feb. 14th, She is work- ing under the, auspices of the Interna- tional Labor Defense and is making a tour of the United States, to awaken the workers to the fate of such work- ing class prisoners as Mooney and Billings of California, and Rangle and Kline of the state of Texas, and Sac- co and Vanzetti who are under the heavy hand of the master class in the state from. ghich hails strikebreaker Coolidge, J.P. Morgan’s chief flunky in the White House. Mother Bloor’s meeting will-be held at 2 o’clock on Sunday afternoon and a good crowd is expected to attend this meeting for the committee in charge is circulating the different: lodges in Warren and vicinity. P —— Plan Fufther Amalgamations. , SYDNEY—(FP)—A move to amal- gamaie the Australian lighting, heat- ing and sewerago unions into one or- ganization has been initiated, = TOBACCO GROWERS’ FLEECES MANY By LAURENCE TODD. WASHINGTON — (FP) — Amazing facts as to how the thousands of farmers comprising the (Tri-State) Tobacco Growers Co-operative Assn. of Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina have sllowed thomselves to be oxploited by a few officials of their organization, who have made it a rule of the organizetion that all the crop shall be re-dried before marketing, at a cost of 1.75 cents per pound, are set forth fin the report by the federal trade commission, This study made by one of the veterans of its staff, a friend of cooperative principles, Proves that 118,281,210 pounds, or 48.3% of the total crops for 1922, 1922 and 1924, was re-dried in plants in which cooperative officials or em- ployes were financially interested. $2,000,000 Private Velvet That over $2,000,000 was poid to plants in which cooperative officials or employes were floancially interest- ed, is no more sertiing than the list of these o@iciale and their share in the pretits, The Edmondson Tobacco Co., at South Bosten, Va. is owned in equal thirds, according to the report, by F. R. Ddmonson, warehouseman for the assoctati. R. R, Patterson, Page Th. “CO-OPERATIVE” FARMERS IN SOUTH ative association) Watkins’ salary from the cooperative was $7,000 the first two years and $7,600 in 1524. In the three years their company han- dled over 57,000,000 pounds of associ- ation tobacco. KIll Sapiro’s Protest The fi et year’s profits enabled Pat- terson and Watkins to acquire thoir two-thirds interest without any in- vestment of capital. The second year their concern paid these two coopera- tive officials $82,000 in cash, and at the end of the third year they were credited with two-thirds of $83,955 ac- cumulated profits. The net profit on re-drying the tobacco was 70c per 100 pounds. These cooperative officials had assured their organizations that | it was not practicable for the coop- erative to own and operate its own re-drying plants. The federal trade comunission .investigation shows that the farmers gained nothing, in market- ing their crop, by having it re-dried. This disclosure of economic rotten- ness within one of the best-advertised of the so-called “sound” cooperatives was warmly protested by Aaron Sa- piro. The commission put a now investigator on the case and his re- general manager for the associat'oa at a salary of $30,000 a year in 1922 and 1923, and $24,000 in 1924, and T. C. Watkins, head of the warshouse de- partment and diroctor of the cooper- (Continued from page 1) tions extreme excitement prevails not only among railway men and Soviet |citizens in North Manchuria, but among the population gerierally. “The question of payment for mili- tary’ transportation served Chang as a pretext for the present conflict. Ac- cording to paragraph eleven of the original contract for the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway in 1896, confirmed by the Peking and Mukden agreements of 1924, Chinese troops were to be transported at half rates. “Disregarding this, the military au- thorities of Chang Tso-Lin have been refusing to pay and have run up @ bill of $14,000,000 for transport. Of late they have refused to accept in principle the obligation to pay, and instead have compelled transportation by force, for the purpose of accentuat- ing the business differences into a po- litical conflict pregnant with grave consequences. “Our advices make it clear that re- ports spread in the foreign press that the railway was demanding immediate cash payment are untrue, The latest Proposals on the part of the railway management are: Latest Railway Proposa “First. That the Chinese authori- ties recognize the principle of pay- ment for? military transporation, ac- cording to article eleven of the origin- al contract. “Second. That payment be derived from the Chinese share of the profits of the railway. “Our advices give the following se- quence of events leading up to the present tense situation: “On January 16 soldiers forcibly occupied the northbound train at sta- tion Kwangchentzi, Upon the demand by the railway authorities that the soldiers leave the cars, they seized the locomotive and stopped all work at the station. The next day the military authorities compelled the railway workers, by threats of death, to take a train to Harbin, without permission of the railway administration, disre- garding closed semaphores. This trip, of course, gravely menaced the safety of traffic. As a consequence traffic on the south line was suspended. “Simultaneously Harbin mobs, incit- ed by the authorities, attacked em- ployes of the railway, even attempting to make an attack on the home of Ivanoff, the general manager, On Janu- ary 18, the same mob prevented the departure of the western train from Harbin. “Along with this act of violence by the soldiers were repeated at various stations, seizing and holding up trains and ill-treating workers and officials, until on the 21st, in the face of im- possible conditions, the railway man- agement ordered a suspension of trat- fic, “General Chang Huan Hsiang, Chang Tso-Lin’s subordinate, tried to involve the consular corps at Harbin in the matter, but falled, “The military demanded that the railway employes sign an obligation to obey all their orders, or submit to arrest. On January 21, Chinese railway guards (soldiers) arbitrarily attempted to control the running of THe LENIN DRIVE Aor Fue Thousand New die to THEDANY WORKER = ™onths. Ends F ebruary 15 And maybe you haven't yet sent in a single sub. But— “IT'S NOT TOO LATE! port upheld the first—that the to- bacco trust had done little damage to the growers in comparison to the harm done by cooperative officials who were also privato business men. Situation in Manchuria Is Menacing the southern line. Chinese police or- dered the station master at Harbin to turn over the terminal to notorious Russian white guardists. The station master refused. Thereupon the mili- tary authorities, inspired by the same foreign interests mentioned above, turned to warlike measures and on January 22, they arrested Manager Ivanoff and surrounded the Soviet consulate, forbidding anyone to enter |or leave, even refusing admission to |Gekker and Savrasoff, Soviet mem- bers of the railway board. Karakhan Issues Note. “On January 19, Karakhan, Soviet ambassador to China, sent a note to the Chinese foreign office describing the outrages to date. He said: “In bringing the aforesaid matters to your attention, I must” protest in the most energetic manner against such actions by the military authori- ties, which constitute not only a vio- lation of the agreements, but inflict irreparable damage on the interests of both countries, I request you imme- diately to instruct the authorities to put an end to the outrages and restore order. “I must point out that the govern- ment of the U. S. S. R. has full regard for the sovereignty of China. The government of the U. S. S. R. renounc- ed the right of protecting the railway on the presumption and in the hope that the Chinese authorities would highly appreciate that renunciation ,and, with the maintenance of order entirely entrusted to them, would treat the interests of the railway with particular consideration. “‘T am likewise constrained to de- clare that if headquarters, whose duty it is to protect the Chinese Eastern Railway and to maintain order, is un- willing or unable to secure the neces- sary protection, I shall be ready to dis- cuss with you measures which under such circumstances it would be indis- pensable for both governments to take. “I invite your attention to the seri- ousness of the situation, and the ne- cessity for taking extraordinary meas- ures, and to the grave comsequences that may arise if such a situation is allowed to continue. I must add that my government will hold the Chinese government responsible for damage inflicted by Chinese authorities.’ Chang Warned in Time, “Karakhan on January 20, address- ed a similar telegram to Chang Tso- Lin denouncing Chang Huan Hsiang, and concluding: ‘In sending this I think we have warned you in good time. We cannot therefore bear the responsibility of any con'sequences.’” “On January 22, hearing of the ar- rest of Ivanoff, Karakhan made a fur- ther strong protest, demanding the immediate release of Ivanoff and pointing out all seriots consequences.” On January 23, Mr. Chicherin, Sov- fet commissar for foreign affairs, sent @ strong protest to the Chinese gov- ernment demanding the release of Mr. Ivanoff and the! restoration of order. On January 25, Mr. Ivanoff was set free and the Chinese authorities at | Mukden signed an agreement to recog- nize the principle of payment for mili- tary transport and to settle other dit- ‘ferences by discussion, year; Name Street City State Enclosed months sub. LADIES’ GARMENT UNION PREPARES FOR LONG STRIKE To. Raise $1,000,000 Strike Fund By APT SHIELDS (Federated Press) NEW YORK, Feb. 10.—New York lad garment workers are raising a million dollar fund this month to carry the union thru the general strike in the cloak and suit industry that is likely this spring. The rank and file, by a three to one vote, have sustained the New York joint board in its decision to levy a twenty dollar contribution on each member for the impending struggle. The organization is raising a million dollars because it means business, It must win its program or fade from power in the indsutry. Its selfpre- servation causes it to demand more than wage agreements. It demands union regulation of an industry whose labor standards are breaking down thru the contract system. The former big manufacturers who once employed hundreds of workers in large loft buildings have become jobbers—order takers—who contract out the actual production to smaller shops and these again often sub contract to still smaller establishments that are often little more than family groups. The union is demanding a definite limitation on the number of contrac tors with whom a jobber can deal; it demands that only shops above @ certain size be tolerated and it calle for full right of inspection by rep resentatives of the union. Guaranty of 32 weeks work a year is part of the program for discipline over the industry. Garment making 4s highly seasonal, with seasons becom- ing shorter and unemployment longer, The union declares that the employer must plan his work so as to spread it out over most of the year. The 40- hour week, another demand, calls for something already in affect in the dressmaking branch, * 45,000 Workers, There are 45,000 union cloak and suit workers in New York and on their union strength depends in large measures the power of the Interna- tional Ladies’ Garment Workers 4s a whole. The dressmakers are at present conducting hundreds of shop strikes, and 240 of these shop organ- ization strikes have been settled, Australian Heads i Fail to Fight to ‘ Deport Union Men *‘SYDNEY—(FP)—On Dec. 10, the high court of Australia, by unanimous decision, declared that the Australian federal government was acting illegal- ly in trying to deport Tom Walsh and Jacob Johnson, president and assist- ant secretary of the Seamen’s union, The court ordered the immediate re lease of the men without the formal ity of a habeas corpus writ, The court's decision was timely as the federal government had a warship waiting with steam up to rush the two men out of Australia three days after the decision was given. Following the release of the men suits for $250,000 damages were start- ed against the federal government for illegal arrest and detention. The gov- ernment must pay back $30,000 in lee gal costs to the ution. Kansas City Lekel Defense Bazaar to Be Held on Sunday, KANSAS CITY, Mo., Feb, 10.—The Kansas City local of the International Labor Defense will hold a bazaar Sun- day Feb. 14 from noon until midnight at the Musician’s Auditorium, 1017 Washington, All donations of articles for the bazaar should be brought to the hall and given to the bazaar come mittee. All workers interested in ald+ ing the class war prisoners that are in jail today should attend this bazaar as all proceeds will go towards the defense of frame-up workers, Amalgamate Transport Workers, HOBART, Tasmania— (FP) —Carte ers, drivers, trolleymen, draymen, teamsters and motor men meeting im conference at Hobart decided for the | amalgamation of all workers into one union engaged in road transport work, with the exception of streetcar mem, The new orgamization will have @ membership of 20,000, RUSH! RATES—Outside of Chicago: $6.00 per $2.00 three $3.50 six months;