The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 20, 1926, Page 9

ett APR ER ANE AT a aed The Gold in Aluminum By Harry Gannes, To the shiny, white, tin-like alu- minum should be the means of An- drew Mellon’s tremendous power and influence in Coolidge’s imperialist exe- cutive committee sounds almost like the plot of one of the tales of the Arabian Nights. Yet the story of Andy’s rise thru trustification is a story of the invention, development and manufacture of aluminum and aluminum ware. The octupus corporations built up around the treasurer’s interests is the center of attack at the ‘present time by the representatives of small capital and the large farming interests in congress. Especially are the repre- sentatives of the middle west capital- ists making a pretense at wielding a verbal big stick against Andy’s alu- * minum interests. What particularly peeves the poli- tical spokesmen of the less fortunate capitalists is the fact that Andrew Mellon, in his position as secretary of the treasury, and as the most in- filuential mind in the Coolidge ma- chine, has been active in getting spe- cial advantages for his aluminum in- dustries all’ over the world to such an extent that he has an absolute monopoly on sheet and manufactured aluminum. Representative Hull of Tennessee, has centered the fight against Mel- lon’s trust around the attempt to re- duce the tariff rate on aluminum so that foreign companies might be en- abled to. compete with Andy’s com- bine and smash his monopoly. How can Mellon manipulate his job so that he can directly benefit his in- terests? The treasury department, as a well-known liberal has pointed out, is the chief point of contact between machine politics and modern indus- trialism; the converging currents of politics and industry flow first thru the treasury, then the white house, and finally into congress. Mellon is the foremost representa- tive of finance capital in public life in the United States today. In attack- ing the Mellon interests, the repre- sentatives of small capital and the large farming interests revert to the old futile Rooseveltian tactics of smashing the trusts, a‘dream and de- lusion at the present stage of world imperialist development, Arthur V. Davis, president of the Aluminum company of America, in testifying ‘before the federal trade commission said: “This company really consists of A. D. Mellon and R. B. Mellon. Of course, A. W. Mellon resigned as a member of the board of directors when he went into the government, and we now have six directors instead of seven. When he has finished his work in Washington, he will again be- come a member of the board of direc- tors.” But Andrew has not relinquished -his 80 per cent of the $20,000,000 stock in this company. Moody’s Man- ual quotes the capital stock of the Aluminum company of America at $18,829,600 with a surplus of $92,153,- 861. The growth of the Aluminum com- pany of America and Andy’s millions is a romance of imperialism. The originally was organized in 1882, to exploit the invention of Charles M. Hall. Only $20,000 was ever invested by anybody, and in a very short time by monopolist meth- ods the company grew into a $20,000,- 000 corporation. The profits of the company have at all times been tre- mendous, In’1912-13 it was paying 15 per cent on a capitalization of $20,- 000,000, which is a return of 180 to 235 per cent on the money actually invested. The company has an absolute mon- opoly of aluminum mining, manufac- turing, production and sales in the United States. Not only that, but ever since the Harding regime it has used every instrument of government available to secure its monopoly and establish a Mke control in every noone! part of the world. . Not content with its gigantic hoid- ings in this country, and acting as a true combination, the Aluminum com- pany of America began to spread its tentacles to other parts of the globe. The actual list of the number of simi- lar properties this trust owns and con- trols outside of the United States would be interesting but is too long to include here. Of the corpora- tions controlled by Mellon, seven are mining properties in various parts of the world; six, aluminum manufac- turing establishments; seven, sales organizations; four, railroads, and eleven, power and public utility com- panies. The entire organization is now capitalized at $111,500,000. President Davis, of the Aluminum company of America has stated that at no time since 1915 has the earn- ings of this perfect example of mon- opoly capital been less than $10,- 000,000 a year, and this after payment of all expenses, taxes, interest, sal- aries, and such graft as naturally goes with so huge an organization. In the debate on the tariff on alu- minum which involves solely the in- terests of Mellon’s industrial child, representative Oldfield of Arkansas said regarding the workers of the Alu- minum company of America: “It cannot be truthfully asserted that labor has been benefited by the increased tariff rates on aluminum. The bureau of census tells us that in 1923 the total value of the produc- tion of the aluminum industry was about $107,000,000. The manufactur ers got $40,000,000 of the $107,000,000 and labor got $19,843,000, about $25 per wage-earner per week in the in- dustry.” ‘ss But the ambitious congressman, not understanding Marxian etonomics, cannot arrive- at a true estimate of the situation. What he means to get at is that the worker is exploited bit- terly by so gigantic an aggregation of capital. But the figure of $25 per Week is by no means accurate. *It is an average that includes the wages paid to the higher flunkies, the whole network of managers and superin- tendents. The wage of the real work- er, the proletarian.in this. industry. .is much nearer $18,00 to $20.00. per week. What is Mellon’s contribution to this tremendous industry? His origin- al investment was $20,000. Now thou- sands of wage slaves grind out $10,- 000,000 a year for him. | | The Petty Bourgeois “Gets Rich” The cartoonist, Jerger, says this is the time when the big sharks are luring the petty business men with “Florida land” and other get-rich-quick schemes. His’ ‘well “oiled '’ ¢0ngressional ma- chine aids him in international com- petition against the few foreign cor- porations he does not control, and he stands secure in a continuation of his blessings because his attackers, like Don Quixote, fight with the weapons and ideas of a capitalism whose tomb- * stone bears the date of 1898. They are certain to meet the same fate as Cervantes’ hero, to be wafted into the air by the windmill of imperialism ) and not too gently buffeted against the realities of the earth. Jewish Rights in the Soviet Union Special Moscow Correspondence. By William F. Kruse. beer after my last visit to Soviet Russia, I returned to the States many questions were asked about the treatment meted out to the Jews in Soviet Russia, Whether these ques- tions were inspired by genuine sym- pathetic interest or by hostile anti- Semitism the answer had to be the same—so far as the larger cities at least are concerned this problem has been so far solved as to fade utterly from notice. But this by no means signifies that nothing has been done on behalf of the vast Jewish popula- tion, Under the czarist government the restrictions against the Jews are well known, Their position was very similar to that in which the Negroes suffer so terribly in the southern states, they were “jim-crowed” or “ghettoed,” forbidden to own land, had laws against inter-marriage, had many industrial pursuits closed to them, were subject to pogroms and super-exploitation, and were permitted to take up only five percent of the attendance in higher schools. In Soviet Russia the Jewish prob- lem is treated as one aspect of the preblem of the national minorities. Their languages is taught, their racial lore and custom are preserved in state, endowed theatres, libraries, museums, eic., so that the intense race pride, common to all oppressed peoples, is transformed into an instru- ment of socialist construction. There are official schools in which the Jewish language is taught—630 of them at present, teaching 100,000 children. In the Ukraine over seven- teen percent of all Jewish children between the ages of eight and fifteen years receive all their schooling in these Jewish school, Thruout Union of Socialist Soviet Poel the ratio amounts to eight pefcent, while in White Russia forty percent of the Jewish children of school age are so cared far. The teaching staff of these peane is of good standard and is constantly being improved. In various parts of Russian colleges have been establish- in connection with the state uni- versities for the training of teachers of the languages of the minority groups. Thus in Moscow such train- ing is given in Yiddish, at Kazan in Tartar and Chuvash, at Kuban in Ukrainian, at Leningrad in Esthonian, at Smolensk in White Russian. Furth- ermore thruout the Soviet Union there are thirty technical and professional schools in which instruction is con- ducted in the Jewish language. The following figures, given as for Nov. 1, 1925, may be of interest in showing. some measure of the intel- lectual life of the Jewish-speaking population of the Soviet Union: Miscellaneous educational circles 648, night schools 80, Jewish clubs or Jewish departments of general clubs 180, Jewish libraries or Jewish sec- tions of general libraries 150, reading huts, 57, stations for liquidating il- literacy 391, travelling outfits for pol- itical education 9, pedagogical tech- nicums 8, agricultural technicums 1, popular universities 2, labor college 1, Jewish departments in higher institu- tions of learning 6. There are state-endowed Jewish theatres in Moscow and . Kharkov. Recently an interesting experiment has been conducted in giving plays in old Hebrew; an excellent company originating in Kharkov is now play- ing in Moscow. and intends to tour Europe and eventually America, There is some hostility among the left theatrical circles in Moscow and the patronage of the theatre is largely drawn from the less radical circles. The repertoire is made up mainly of religious themes, “Jacob’s dream” and “The Golem” being their two favorites. Nickel plated angels and religious mysticism have little appeal here. An American play, “De Deluge,” in which a heterogenous cast awaits death by drowning and becomes ex- ceedingly noble under the influence of the fear of death, only to slump back into the old attitude when this menace is found imaginary, is the only modern note, and hardly a revo- | lutionary one, The setting of this modern play in a semi-impressionistic frame lends some additional interest to it. In the main its appeal in America will be rather to the more conservative Jewish circles, where it May contribute to breaking down prejudice against Soviet Russia. The Moscow Jewish theatre on the other hand strikes a distincly modern, left note of higest artistic level. The Jewish press comprises five daily papers, and many weeklies and other periodicals. During the last year 136 titles were published in the Jewish languages with a total circula- tion of 500,000 copies. Considerable progress is being made in Jewish colonisation of more favor- © able districts. Thus in the last three years forty Jewish agrictltural com- munes, mainly devoted to large scale grain farming with tractors and other modern machinery, have been estab- lished in Crimea alone, They embrace about 950 families, in the main from Smolensk and Gomel, Thus culturally and economically the Soviet government solves the age- old national problem also of the Jews in the only rational and effective manner.