The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 18, 1926, Page 1

The DAILY WORKER Raises the Standard for a Workers’ and Farmers’ Government is BAIL Entered as Second-class matter September 21, 1923, at tl Vol. Ill. No. 32. Subscription Rates: In Chicago, by mail, $8.00 per year. Outside Chicago, by mail, $6.00 per year. _ THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1926 Publis PUBL) o>” NEW YORK "EDITION THE 1113 W. Washington Blvd. hed Daily except Sunday by ISHING CO., 4 i PH Sx \q ’ “iy Neg on & Ee ey w) Oy tS, / » so MINERS’ GENER. sRIEVANGE ~ COMMITTEE REPUDIATES LEWIS’ SELL-OUT TO THE COAL BARKS By PAT TOOHEY, (Special to The Daily Worker) WILKESBARRE, Pa., Feb. 16.—The general grievance com- mittee of District No. 1, United Mine Workers of America, meet- ing in regular session at Union Hall here, roundly condemned the iniquitous miscarriage characte rized by Lewis as a “contract” and signed by the anthracite scale committee and the operators’ committee at the Philadelphia conference. Long before the meeting wa: s called to order at least 300 rank and file miners packed the hall in the visitors’ section. Their pur- pose was obvious. They were determined to be present at the meeting of the general grievance committee to watch their local union delegates and learn’ what Lewis. Repudiates Convention mands. . Delegate Edmunds, chairman of the executive committee reporting for the executive ‘committee to the regular session called attention to the fact that an agreement was reached be- tween the miners’ officials and the bosses which did not carry a single demand of the miners’ Tri-District convention last July. He pointed out that regardless of the action taken by the general grievance committee at their special session last Tuesday in unanimously instructing Lewis to stand by the Tri-District convention “demands, they were not heeded by the scale committee. He pointed out that the demands fought for all these months were forgotten at this crucial stage, particularly the check-off. Ed- munds was bitter in his condemna- tion of the agreement fs he pointed out an arbitration clause incorporated in it “dressed ap in a.new suit” to fool the miners. < - He was followed by many delegates who bitterly attacked the agreement as formulated. Delegate Sillinsky-of Local No. 699, showed that the five year agreement was more detrimental than good and attacked Lewis for again separating the soft and hard coal miners by the signing of agree- ments which expire at different per- jods and for his failure to call out the maintenance men and decid¥e a 100 per cent strike. He stated, “This contract, as now constituted, carries an arbitration clause, and we have arbitration now whether we want it or not.” Lewis Tactics Condemned, Delegate Hurley of Local No. 1456 attacked the contract and the strike policies of Lewis as “inefficient, wav- ering and frightful.” Ray Delaney, chairman of the general grievance committees, also chairman of the gen- eral mines committee of the Lehigh Valley Coal company, which employs 13,000 miners in a brief speech severity condemned the contract and stated “every Lehigh Valley man will oppose it to the end.” He was fol- lowed by Delegate George Isaacs, ex- district vice-president, who won tre- mendous applause from the packed gathering in his @ttack on the con- tract. He questioned what the pur- pose of Lewis was keeping the men op strike six months and then accept- ing the bosses’ terms, which had been (Continued on page Z.) Painters Local Votes to Retain Radical Members SPATTLE—(FP)—M. Hansen and . W. H. Jones: of the Seattle Painters union, accused of being members of the Workers party and as such im eligible for the Brotherhood of Paint- ers, Paperhangers and Decorators have been acquitted by 88 to 3 by the local. While these trade unionists do|’ not deny their adherence to this point of view the prosecution was unable to rove their definite affiligtion with the ‘party or any other organization alleg- ed to be subversive to American Fed- eration of Labor principles, Southern Railmen Make Wage Demands SAVANNAH, Ga.—(FP)—Simulta- sly with the arrival of L, H. Shep- pard, president Order of Railway Con- ductors, at Savannah, J. R. Burney, local general chairman of the order filed demands with the Central of Georgia and other roads running out ot here for a restoration of wartime wages, A Mike demand was also pre- sented to the railroads by W. J. Col- Mins, general chairman of the Order of Railroad Trainmen. Pres. Sheppard, along with other officials, 1s looking over sites for the erection of a na- tional home for the order, ‘The com: mittee w! ‘also go to Florida. + De- position they would take. N.Y. FURRIERS MEET LOCKOUT WITH A STRIKE | Bosses Set Aside Fand : for Sluggers (Special to The Daily Worker) NEW YORK, Feb. 17, — Approxi- mately 12,000 furriers are on strike, as jthe reply to the lockout ordered last |week by the Associated Fur Manufac- jturers, Inc, The bosses’ association trols 400 Ren 1,900 factories in the ef e, discrepancy. ists in the figures of ‘i |rectly locked out. The employers \claim that 8,500 workers are employed jin the shops they own. Benjamin |Gold, manager of the Joint Board of jthe union, estimates the number at from 3,000 to 4,000. The strike call affects all unionists, whether working for the association or for independ- ents. . The agreement between the union and the association expired Jan. 81. The wage conferences which have been going on since then were broken off because of what the employers term the “radical, unsound, une¢o- nomic, unreasonable, and oppregsive” changes in working conditions’ de- manded by the union. They have almost exhausted the vocabulary in terms by which to condemn demands which will not put a single manufac- turer out of business but will give the workers somewhat better conditions ‘and a little more control over their ! jobs. pet Bosses to Hire Gangsters. The kosses have been gradually locking out union members fof the past several weeks and have sought in every possible way to provoke; a strike, in an effort to turn publi¢ sym- pathy from the workers, charges Gold. An “emergency fund” has been authorized by the manufacturers in order to carry on this fight against the union. Each member of the asso- ciation is to pay a sum equal to one half his yearly dues. The board of directors will use the money “for whatever purpose may be deemed necessary and proper.” Already the gangsters of the city are getting ready for action, as most ef the fund thus raised will be used to hire plug-ugies to beat up strikers and protect scabs, Attempt to Blame Union Miners for | Explosions Fails WASHINGTON — (FP) — Insinua- tions by anti-labor lobbies that recent mine explosions have been due to sa botage because the mines involv were non-union, are stopped by cial statement of Scott Turner, diree- tor of the U. S, bureau of mines, He says that investigations made by the bureau staff do not disclose any such suspicion. Accumulations of gas were to blame, The disaster in the union Orient mine at West Frankfort, Ill, he said, illustrated how deadly acciir mulations of gas can occur in most modern-equipped and coal mines, Five men were killdd’ in that aceldent, out of about 1,000 em- ployed, ‘Turner again urges rock dusting as the most important preventive o! be plosions. Better ventilati¢h, » fer| gulation, of the means of lighting, the guarding of motors, etc., that might ig- nite gas, are also S STARTS THE SAME BEAS so ma * The Trusts Unite Into Super-Trusts and the Banks Into Money Monopolies. BRITISH LEFTS SHOW WAY 10 UNO VICTORY Prevent Split in Ranks of Labor Party (Special té The Daily Worker) LONDON, Feb. 16 — As the result of a persistent campaign of agitation carried on by the Sunday Worker, the English national left wing organ, the progressive trade union forces of the Country have been further consolida- ted and their policy clarified, especial- ly in connection with the tactics to be followed regarding the decision of the Liverpool conference of the labor party that no Communist party mem- ber could represent any affiliated or- ganization at any labor party confer- ence, Three pronounced opinions develop- ed oh ‘the tactics to be pursued; one that the Communists must unreserv- edly obey the ruling and drop out either of ‘the labor party or the Com- niunist Party; a second, that a new party should be formed on the basis of a “relentless struggle against cap- italism,” uniting the thousands who find the Communist Party too radical and the independent labor party too much a liberal organization; and the third, put forth by the Sunday Worker _ (Continued on page 5.) FRENGH IMPERIALISTS BEGIN MASSACRE OF TAX REDUCTION. onuses wean oaMastus || MF ASHRE GOES (Special to The Dally Worker? BEIRUT, Feb. 16.—The warfare between the Druse tribesmen and the French has broken out with re- newed force. Fierce fighting is re- ported in progress between the French and the Druses near Ra- chaya. French artillery is bombarding a village near Damascus where the Druses have a stronghold. French aeroplanes have bombarded the headquarters of the Druse leader Chabandar. Another Red Scare Nailed as Falsehood WASHINGTON-—(FP)— Under the headline Communists Take Revenge, the Washington Star publishes a pho- tograph ,of a church in ruins, and be- neath the picture explains that the reds are demolishing the great cathe- dral of the Russian Orthodox church in Warsaw, in order that no trace may remain of the old regime. Probably not one reader in a hun- dred realized that Warsaw is the capi- tal of the white terrorist government of Poland, and that the demolition of this cathedral was ordered by that government as ancact of anti-Russian rather than anti-clerical symbolism. You bring the “leaders of -the world Communist movement to your shop to make your arguments for your—when fou bring their articles in. The BAILY ORKER to your shop. TO CONFERENCE Opposition Senators Call It Rich Man’s Bill (Special to The Daily Worker) WASHINGTON, Feb. 16.—Planning on a maximum tax reduction of $350,- 000,000, the congressional tax confer- ees,—traditionally known as the real tax dictators of congress,—met today to repair the ruin wrought in the new revenue bill by the senate when it went on a tax slashing spree just before enacting the measure. The ten conferees, five from each branch of congress, while meeting to compromise all differences in the bill at it passed the house and senate, had a far more important goal in an effort to restore $100,000,000 of the taxes repealed by the senate, As the treasury department has warned that the $45,000,000 of reductions ordered by the senate may result in a federal deficit and the senate has instructed its representatives to “stand by” all the reductions, the conferees faced a dificult task to effect an amicable settlement of all conflicting rates, The conferees from the senate are senators Smoot, of Utah, McLean, of Connecticut, Reed, of Pennsylvania, 7 (Continvee on page 2) Echoes of the Scopes Evolution Trial Boasocutot Drank and Held For Transporting Liquor as (Specia The Dally Worker) SPRING CITY, Tenn, Feb. 16—Ben T, McKenzie, former attorney: general of this benighted state, and one of that ignorant galaxy of Southern ys last Saturday. the opposite road. | When one views the antics of such creatures as the late Br able Mr. Ben F. McKenzie, it adds emph stressed. for our mare ‘remote ancestors, the apes, than we have for some ‘ ition in the famous “evolution” trial against the high school teacher, John T. Scopes, was fined $50 and costs for being drunk and disorderly and held to the grand jury on a charge of transporting bootleg booze Evidently the demise of the chief. utor and famous prohibition advocate, William ings Bryan, caused McKenzie to decide to follow EVANSVILLE, attorneys for the a local forum, tion. teltigence. meeting here. This town is too @lose to Kentucky to effects of the new inquisition that is raging against in- Other organizations may arrange a Darrow and his-ass Darrow Barred from Indiana City for Evolution Views (Special to The Dally Worker) Ind. Feb, 16—Clarence §. Darrow, famous Chicago lawyer, is barred from speaking in this city, because of his well-known views on evolution ex- pressed during the Scopes Darrow was invited to speak here under the auspic “monkey” trial in Tenness of The preachers raised such a howl that politicians induced the sponsors to withdraw the invita- cape the tant, the vener- to the observation that we canivhave more respect f our immediate ancestors. é tory. SLANDERERS OF | LW.A. BRANDED IN HOT NOTE Miners Flay | Attack on Strikers’ Relief (1. W. A. Press Service) WILKES-BARRE, Pa., Feb. 16.—In order to silence the slanderous cam- paign of insinuations and false state- ments regarding the character and DAILY WORKER Chica m. IPRIEST AND JINGO PRAISE ARCH TRAITOR AS MACHINE SMASHES DELEGATES OF RANK AND FILE By J. LOUIS ENGDAHL, (Special to The Daily Worker) TOWN HALL, SCRANTON, Pa., Feb. 16.—A catholic priest, the Reverend Father J. J. Curran, was the first feeler that the Lewis regime in the United Mine Workers’ Union threw into the reconvened tri-district convention that gathered here today to pass on the anthracite strike settlement agreed to by the miners’ officials meeting with the mine owners in Philadelphia last Friday. Father Curran heralded the strike surrender as a great vic- His explanation of the settlement reached on “Black Fri- day,” which he went into in some detail, will no doubt bé the interpretation of the agreement that will be offered later by, President John L. Lewis on behalf of his conduct of the strike, ~* The alibi will follow along these work of the International Workers’ Aid in their establishment of relief for the. strikers, instituted. by agree- ment with the latter, the- responsible officials of the general grievance com- mittee of the United Mine Workers of America, and the strikers’ relief committee, has Issued the following public statement, The assertions and slanderous matter have been appear- ing in the local capitalist press and have been circulated also by certain union leaders in the effort to prevent International Workers’ Aid from help- ing to relleve the suffering among the strikers. Raymond Delaney, as chairman of the general grievance committee, and Joseph Hurley and D, A. Edmunds, as chairman and secretary, respectively, of the relief committee, signed the statement for the miners. Sunday, Feb. 14, 1926. “An Open Letter to the Public: “It having come to our attention that certain evil minded persons not familiar, with the conditions and cir- cumstances of the relief work now being conducted under the joint auspices of the International Workers’ Aid and the general grievance com- mittee of District No, 1, United Mine Workers of America, are making pub- lic statements of a slanderous and de- gratory nature. “In order that the truth may be known, we, the undersigned, by in- structions of the entire relief commit- tee duly appointed and elected by the general grievance committee do here- by make this public statement to which we attest our signatures: (1) “That the offer of relief help from the International Workers’ Aid came to the general grievance com- mittee of District No. 1, on or before Tuesday February 2, 1926, (2) “This offer was properly and officially acted upon by the said gen- 2ral grievance committee at the spe- cial meeting of February 2, 1926, (3) “The executive committee of the general grievance committee, upon nstructions from that body, did, sub- ‘equently duly notify .the Internation- il Workers’ Aid of the acceptanee of their offer on conditions which (Continued on page 2) SUDDEN EXODUS OF INVESTIGATORS T0 RUSSIA THREATENED LONDON, Feb. 16, — England's Prominent people are displaying re- ‘markable curiosity about Russi and a virtual exodus of investiga- tors threatens. Lady Warwick, who is a supporter of the labor party, is Shortly to go to Ru with M. dame Rakovsky, wife of the Russian ambassador. Basil Dean, son-in-law of. Lady Warwick and well-known theatrical producer, is ‘eady in Russia. Lloyd George has been in- vited to make a tour of the Soviet Republics, Price 3 Cents lines: First—Arbitration was not agreed 0. Second—This means that there can be no reduction of wages for five years. Third—This was greater victory than if a wage increase had been won and arbitration agreed to. The ingenuity of this explanation is self-apparent. The miners are assured that there can be no compulsory arbitration, they are promised that their wages cannot be reduced, they are even pro- mised that wages may be increased in the future, Pie in the Sky. é In lieu of the failure to get some- thing now for the anthracite coal dig- gers, following their five and one half months’ struggle, the Lewis regime turns the miners’ eyes on the future, and uses the church as its first buffer against any resentment fhat might arise among the six hundred dele- gates “and the thousands of coal miners jamming the galleries in this spacious auditorium, Not only that. In addition a pro- fessional comedian is brought in to conduct a mock miners’ convention, to entertain the delegates, ending with the recitation of a flag-waving poem that was also a bitter attack on the militants in the miners’ union, The first message of greetings to the convention read was from the business men of Nanticoke, near Wilkesbarre, while a telegram was also read from Governor Pinchot, stating his inability to respond to the invitation sent him by the miners’ officials to address the convention, He congratulated the miners’ officials (Continued on page 2.) PROTECT LABOR FROM ‘FRIENDS,’ SAY STRIKERS Biddeford Mager and Police Beat Pickets (Special to The Dally Worker) LAWRENCE, Mass., Feb. 16—A de- legation of striking textile workers of Biddeford, Maine came to this city to gather funds for the relief of the strikers, One member of the delega- tion attended te meeting of the Law- rence Unite~ Front Committee. The outstandj” , point of the delegate’s re- port, tk prevention of peaceful picket- ing order of the Biddeford chief of who is a member of a union, “ywas te subject of prolonged discus- sion in which most of the members took part, The subject opened in a brief yet thoro expose by H. Sidney Bloomfield, who was called upon by Brother Burns to “show-up the kind of apple-sance the mayor of Biddeford was handing out to the strikers.” Expose “Friend of Labor.” Bloomfield said that “the benevo lent act of Mayor Drapean, in giving the strike delegates an official cre- dential and calling upon all to con- tribute to the ‘poor, hungry and needy’ workers while at the same time he permits his subordinate, the police chief to intimidate and arrest the picketers, is sufficient to understand the dual role of the mayor, who also is a union card holder. The mayor has the power to stop the chief's action, but he is simply passing the buck like all lame duck politicians do, Drapean is simply playing the game of the mill owners who own the town including the mayor and the chief, “The signing of the credential will (Continued on ‘age 4) thy do no harm, as it takes some active 1 ™~ ’ ile