The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 26, 1926, Page 5

THE WAILY WORKER NATIONAL LEAD COMPANY FEARS UNION AGITATION Speed Up Workers with Bonus System By a Worker Correspondent After standing in line for a number of hours at the National Lead com- pany, 18th and Peoria Sts., .mianufac- turers of paints and lead, the’ boss came out and hired a number. of work- ers among which were myself and my partner, When the boss came out and eyed us over, one would think that hé was buying a, horse or a cow. The company doctor gave us a “medical” examination. He asked us if we had good appetites, tapped our stomachs, looked at our teeth and de- clared we were ready to do anything in the plant. ‘We were then placed to work lug- ging around barrels of lead weighing from 150 to 200 lbs. For doing this for ten hours a day the company paid us 47% cents an hour. One of the workers, who was work- ing on the vat where the lead is melted, dropped at his work and was brought up to the doctor by two men. Another worker who had been in the place three years complains that his health is bad and that he intends to leave as soon as things get better somewhere else. The workers do not stay long at this plant, Workers are hired in the morning and many quit before the day is over. When I had worked there for six hours or so I went to the boss and told him that the work was too heavy for “a ten hour day and that the pay was too small. The boss declared that if I did not want to work for that pay or those hours to get out and stay out. The next day my partner was fired. The reason the boss gave was that his partner had “objected to working ten hours a day at 47%%c an hour and we don’t want any damned agitators around.” A bonus system is maintained in the plant. Thru this system the workers are forever speeded-up and the mo- ment that one of them who does not care for the bonus system refuses to lug a double load around on a truck or to rush around as tho he was mad one of the company lickspittles shout “hurry up shake a leg.” ‘The timekeeper in the plant acts as the company spy. He goes from one department to another checking up ito see who is at work, who he is and does all he can to find out if the new worker belonged or belongs to a union or not, This Week’s Prizes! First Prize—A valuable fountain pen. Second Prize—Karl Marx’s “Capital,” Vol. No, 1, Third Prize—Lenin on Organization. Be sure to send your name and address with the story. We cannot forward prizes if we do not know how to "each you, AMERICAN CARPENTER GIVES HIS IMPRESSIONS OF SOVIET RUSSIA The following article comes from an American worker, member of Local 376, United Brotherhood of Carpenters, who is at presént living in Soviet Russia, What he has to say about the workers’ repub- lic will be of interest to all workers,—Hd. Note. . By a Worker Correspondent. KHARKOV, U. S, S. R. (By Mail!)—I arrived in Soviet Russia the 2nd day of. October, 1925, and I saw things that kept me wondering and marvelling at the achievements of the workers’ republic. Iam a carpenter. I did not need to search thru columns of want ads or stand in-line at private employment agencies wondering what the charges would be, I merely walked into the+ — nearest government employment sta- tion where I made my application and received employment and the job is mine as long as I want it. If a worker takes sick he‘is paid full wages until he gets-well, and if he is not able to go back to work he is paid a pension for the rest of his life. If he needs a doctor he just calls one to his home, then takes -the prescrip- tion to the nearest drug store and re- ceives the medicine; without charge. All the hospitals are free to workers. Joins the Union. At the first meeting of the factory I made an application to join the union and was taken in without one cent of initiation fee, because all the of- ficers, including the president and secretary, are workers at the bench and the work ‘they do in their union is without pay. The dues are five kopeks a month which is used for sta- tionery and postage: In the factory there is a club room which contains a library and writing room and a room for social contact, PERSECUTION OF HIS RACE AT THE JONES AND LAUGHLIN STEEL COMPANY TOLD BY NEGRO WORKER ; By a Worker Corresponde PITTSBURGH, Pa., Feb. 24.—The working! cosiditions at the by-product There are also halls for meetings. How Workers Play Over There. In the city: there are large club rooms where workers find recreation and companionship. There is always @ good program going on in those| larger clubs. They contain a gym- nasium and there is danding regularly, | A nursery is attached to each one of those club rooms where workers leave their babies until they are ready to go home. The nursery is provided with small beds for the babies and a train-| ed nurse takes care of them. The ruling class of Soviet Russia} is the workers. The factories belong} to them. They live in the best houses, When they build new homes they are for workers. They can take in a moy- ing picture show or a good play ab- solutely without charge. At the opera a worker pays half price. His fare on street cars is three kopeks while all others pay ten kopeks. And the rule that everyone must work that he may eat is strictly adhered to. t. | United Mine Workers of America, He j was held by Local timprisoned miners 1 : When there.ig no heat—the janitor is By a Worker Correspondent BENTLEYVILLE, Pa., Feb. 24 —| Patrick T. Fagen is advertised as a great labor leader in District ye) happens to be president of this dis- trict. will go back to a local meeting that 278 Bentleyville, Pa., and an interview of a number of progressive miners, that took place in the Pittsburgh district office and a mass meeting that was held against | the 1917 seale drive of the operators | in Marianna, Pa. The meeting of Local 2278 was held | to find ways:and means to help the in Moundsville penitentiary. To this meeting the} miners invited'the progressive miners’ leaders Brother W. Guiler and J. Dates and also the district president. | They all arrived. The hall was packed with about 400 men all interested in their fellow workers in the peniten- tiary, but to‘évery one’s surprise this district president did not come alone, coke ovens of the Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation are very bad. The workers Slave 11 hours a day, 7 days a week and are subjected to the most Severe exploitation, At lunch time 150 men are squeezed into a’ little hut which would not comfortably accomodate fifteen men. old kettles placed in each end of the room, coke which keeps the place full of smoke and gas. This method is used to THE BOSSES AND IGNORANCE ARE ARCH ENEMIES OF WORKERS IN SAW MILLS ON WEST COAST OF CANADA By a Worker Correspondent. VICTORIA, B. C., Feb. 24—Hundreds of thousands of workers in Can- ada get their daily bread by sawing, piling, plaining and cutting lumber. Able bodied young men are paid from 31 to 37% cents an hour, a few cents more in the shingle mills as the cedar dust kills them in a very short time. Con- sidering the cost of living, $70 and $80 4 month do not cover bare necessities, Yet we live constantly in fear of losing even this “paradise.” The bosses ee understand thig and their system of. slave drivi upon. Laws Under Boss Rule. Before the eight hour act passed in the house of British Columbia we worked ten hours and made consider- ably more money. ed for workers eventually serves the masters under capitalism. We receive the same wages by the hours, the same amount of work must be done in eight hours that we formerly did in ten, and as a compensation we have OUT OF WORK? You may be? You want to. know what causes it— How to stop it? READ ; Unemployment By Earl R, Browder 5 cents }| mnies, %, "IN NEW YORK! GRAND BALL & PACKAGE PARTY given by Section Two of the Workers (Communist) Party on SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 8 P. M. at HARLEM CASINO, 116th St. and Lenox Ave. THE FIRST BALL AFTER THE REORGANIZATION! Admission 60 Cents. , ing can hardly be improved | heen given a reduction of $15 a month. We have no union or organization thru which to fight. If the greediest of the bosses cut our wages we order a pint of milk less for our children and continue slaving in the mills, U. S. Capitalists Pay Less, The rumor is that in the United States our work is paid much better. Capitalists know this better than we do and they bring their plants to us in Canada. New saw mills, under Ame- rican management, spring up like mushrooms, but their pay is even less ‘than at native mills, This hag influ- énced Canadian manufacturers to cut wages 10 and 25 per cent. The time is ripe for the workera in our industry to organize. If we would get together and consider these condi- tions the bosses would not be able to keep us so enslaved, Most of the workers grumble, but go no further. But any law pass- |. ‘They should read The DAILY WORK- BR and learn about their class and the way to its emancipation. They should*learn to know that the bosses and our ignorance are our arch ene- They heat up this place by means of Into these they pour coal and keep the workers from remaining there any longer than is absolutely necessary. The toilets which are also in this hut are all dirty with water constantly dripping from tanks over- head. ‘1 But the exploitation of the white worker is mild compared to the per- secution of the Negro worker. The boss compels him to do all the heay- jest work. When the weather is bad the Negro must work out in the rain and snow while the other workers are in the shed. Negro workers are sub- jected to mistreatment by the plant police whose job seems to be to find out which among them are class con- scious, The straw boss, Patrick Duffy, be- ing a willing tool of the owners, never misses an opportunity to spread as much national hatred as possible. Not only that, but the company has stool pigeons to spread hatred between the workers of the same racial group, upon religious, social and cultural lines. 1,500 New Schools in Uzbekistan. MOSCOW, U.S. S. R., Feb, 24.—In 1926 there will be opened in Uzbekis- tan (Central Asia) 1,1500 new schools for illiterate adults, Send in that sub! DON'T LEAVE OUT YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS WHEN SENDING IN YOUR ARTIGLE Due to the volume of Worker cor but had a half dozen of his well fed gang along. Every one of them weighed over 200 pounds. District Officers Neglect Duty. As the meeting was called to order, the progressive, B. Guiler, was given the floor, He pointed out that the district officials were neglecting their positions by not giving the right kind of protection. to these imprisoned men, As soon as this statement was made the “honored” president lost his temper. He called the progressive speaker a liar and called him out on the street fora fight. The miners in the hall protested against this out- break and made the president behave and wait until his turn came to speak, But he paid no attention to the pro- test until a motion was passed that if he did not behave he would be turn- ed out of the hall. When his turn came to speak, he declared it was the men’s own fault they were in the penitentiary. He also attacked the Progressive Miner claim- ing that it was paid for by Moscow and the operators to destroy the union. Now for the interview with this great labor leader, The operators closed over half of their mines in this district to stdi've-the men into sub- mission and td'make them except the 1917 scale, At the few mines that were still working, the miners lost union conditions, one after another house—themthe janitor is surely guilty. The landlord is NEVER guilty. Stiould We Tolerate Such Union Leadership? To show his real character we) | company, and the boss pit two to four men in one place ard’ refused to Pay for dead work, No relief wad given the locked-out miners. They*had to go into non- union mines to”make a living, The whole district-went to the dogs and nothing was dime by the officials to stop it. Profits or Lives? About eight, pf the leading progres- sive miners went to the district offi- cials’ office with,a few proposals and solutions tothe situation, These miners asked fhe officials first if they had any way oy means how to get rid of this situation and that they were respondence that comes to our office every day and the necessity often to ask for more detailed intormation and send suggestions and instruc- tions, we make the following request from our Worker Correspondents: At the top of each page of your manuscript, in the right hand cor- ner, write in plain hand, if you do Not use typewriter, your name, ad- dress and date. At the end of your manuscript add a note stating whether you wish your name to be used and any other instructions re- garding the signing of your article. willing to help along as much as they could, Fagen cut them short in say- ing that there was nothing to be done because nobody can run mines with out profit. The spokesman of these eight miners asked the president what came first, profits or the lives of the miners, *The president laughed this off and said, “would you run a mine without profit.” Again this miner asked what ab@lt the men that were out of a job, The president said “let them hunt a job in some other industry, I can't help them.” They argued this way for an hour without reaching any agreement. At last the miner&§“handed him a pro- gram of action’ and asked the presi-| eo dent to put it before the executive committee meefifig, He promised to do this but nobdtdy has ever heard anything about it since. No action was taken, Mine after mine is open- ing under the 1917 scale, rage Five By William Gropper. guilty, When the coal smokes up the Slug Worker, Now for the mass meeting at Mari- anna, which was called to protest against the Bethlehem Steel corpora- tion for breaking their agreement with the United Mine Workers of America and for opening their mines under the 1917 scale. Before the meet- ing started some progressive miners handed out leaflets, calling on the miners to fight against the 1917 scale and against the rotten officials that are holding them back from a real militant fight. As soon as Fagan read it he became as mad as a bull when he sees red, He gathered his gang of sluggers and went out hunting for the person distributing these leaflets. They found a man distributing leaf- lets and viciously attacked him. and accused the man of being paid by the If it wasn’t for the crowd of men that* gathered around they would have killed him. When they investigated the leaflets stolen from this’ man they had beaten, they found that ft wasn’t what they were after, because the leaflets were: “Hands off China, Stand by Soviet Russia.” Ih their mad fury they, open- ed the meeting»and forgot they went there to speak against Chas. Schwab. When the district president took the floor he wanted to show the miners that Foster, Ruthenberg and the pro- gressives were paid by the company to break the union. The miners knew better. They called him a liar and made him change the subject of his speech, whieh was mighty hard for the “great” labor “leader.” Miners, the sooner you find out what your present leaders are the better for you and your union, ENGLISH MINERS STARVE AS TALK FEST GOES ON Laborites Tell of Dur- ham Workers’ Distress LONDON, Feb, 24.—Labor members of parliament have brot before that body the terrible plight of 10,000 coal miners locked out in the Durham area by their bosses, nine months ago. Three government officials were charged with the responsibility for conditions there. These were the; minister of labor for withholding un- employment benefit, the minister of health for refusing poor law relief, } and the minister of mines for making no effort to settle the dispute. The! authorities were hiding behind an il-| legal decision of the umpire ruling | against the payment of out-of-work | benefits, the labor representatives contended. The debate brot out the fact that of the two coal companies concerned the Consett company had the richest coal seams in England, while the Harton company had repaid the investments of their shareholders four times over in the last twenty years. The cor- porations preferred to starve their em- ployes into submission rather than make the slightest improvements, de- clared labor members. The charity | institutions of that section are filled with poverty-stricken miners and yet there are thousands who cannot get in, they stated, Tory Displays His Ignorance. Smallpox had broken out and was endangering the entire ‘community. This roused the Tory minister of health enough to remark that the dis- se was due to the lack of prior vac- ‘cination and insufficient hospital ac- modations. Even Tories laughed at ‘bis ignorance, Premier Austen Cham- on the statis of affairs in rham, Thereupon the polite labor. withdrew from the tray ] WHITE PREACHERS | BAR NEGRO FROM Your Union Meeting Fourth Thursday, Feb. 25, 1926. W. Wash- 75th and Orexel. 18th and Ashland 180 W. Wash- Name of Local and Place No, of Meeting. Amalgamated Clothing Workers, Joint Board, Chicago, 409 8. Halsted St 548 Barbers, 180 W. Washington $t., t) 8:45 p. m. R ace Relations D @ Y| 576 Barbers, 3010 E. 92nd St. { 342 | 454 480 344 Brewery Workers, 180 ington St. Boiler Makers, Boiler Makers, Brewery Workers, ington St., 2 p. m. Ave Means Little Despite widespread he supposedly “great for} publi success' 121 i . i Workers, 1700 E. 21st St. 1as met this year’s exchange of min 34 Brewery Glade Lopsict saat Baier: sters for one day between white and | 203 Brick a0 Clay, Cnicago Hell inte. “ 5 s day| 214 Brick an jay, Maretens, il. Negro churches on race relations, day | 733 Bridge and ©. 1", 180 W. Washings chure ten S¢. fnterracial the arranged by the to ‘i | Carpenters, 113 S. Ashland Biya, federation sham of | promote 62 Carpenters, 6416 & Halsted St. Gas was ‘verations er the cloak | 341 Carpenters, 1440 Emma St. better race relations under the cloak by pp tbe Sciih, Ghleaps.. 30088 of christianity, the Jim-crow attitude | Michigan Avenue. apse f vhite rehes a 2 © | 504 Carpenters, Ogden and edzie. of the white churches and the com- | 578 Calnentace, 188 W. Washington’ St. mittee has been severely criticized by | 16136 Commission Merchant Helpers, 126 {eat press | W. Randolph St phe: Negro Dress, | 865 Cooks, 166 W. Washington St. Brands Move as Hokum. | 793 pear eh, OE Rey Oe, Bes WORE | worth Ave. A local Negro paper which admits | 794 Electrical, M., 71st and Cottage to such bumkum as the fact that they 115 Rnsivesrs, 9223 Houston Ave. believe “that the solution of the race | 556 Engineers, Morrison Hott, vie problem. must come. thru christians | 888 Firemen and Enginemen, and their churches,” severely casti- 60 by go raga Udi ge 5058 gates the Interracial church federa-| 745 firemen and Enginemen, Ogden tion for their statements that this | nd Taylor. year’s exch; of ministers proved | 17919 Gas House vYorkers, 180 W. Wash- e “greatest progress e histor ington St. pips abroatest.. progress, nthe ‘history’ E ” 45) a Seats winckere, 61 i, ABDI of Chicago in the development of ami- aye 6 a es race re ships betwe e | 76a Hod Carriers, 814 W. Harrison’ St. cable race relationships between th 18 He a aereant Workers, 328 W. white and Negro races” and branded Van Buren St. 318. W:<88rd this and other statements as just| 478 Maintenance of Way, ypc plain “hokum.” 253 Machinists, Roseland,, 11405 Michi- Local ministers of the largest Negro | y52g Machinists, R. R., 113 S. Ashland i ches wl ve s to Ave. churches who allowed their pulpits to| 75, oAYS emolayes Assn, 168. W. } white preachers for this day, were Washinton St., 6:30 p, m. sent to small white churches on th eee ged Council, 1446 W. outskirts of the city—one as far as| 371 Painters, Dutt’s Hall, Chicago p, Vi = y Heights. Janesville, W ninety miles from 266 Piastovers, 2043 W. North Ave. Chicago. A reporter sent to cover the | 597 Plumbers,’ 20 W. Randolph = Pe sermon of a Negro preacher in a white | 753 Plumbers, 417 S. Halste 0 s it being so far away | 307 Printing Pressmen (Paper Box pica Sela shee . Bs: it Wkre), 180, W. Washington St. that he “rode a street car as far as it| go4 Railway ‘Clerks, 549 W. Washing- went, then he rode a bus as far as it ten St. ¢ ¥ ‘ 876 Rail Clerks, 57 E. Van Buren went, and finally walked as far as he a dad could go—and was then almost to the | 668 ee. Carmen, 5445 S. Ashland church.” st Railway Clerks, 2 w. yt ; 1 Railway Clerks, C. M. . PR. | Send Negro Preachers to Sticks. | R., 2703 _W. North Ave. | Negro ministers having friends | 424 Raed Lyaiamen, 127 N. Fran- among white ministers and arrang-| 115 Sheet Metal, Ogden and T i b fh > of thelr pulpits | 121 Switchmen, ‘Ogden and | ing for the exchange of their pulpits 17 Swite\mon, S002 8, Chléaas Rie between themselves were not allowed | 753. Tean.sters, Ashland and Van Buren to act on their agreements but had to| 749 teamsters, 9206 Houston Ave. take pulpits assigned to them out “in| 112. Upholsterers, Ogden and Taylor. 15793 Watchmen (Mun.), 113 S. Ashland 17616 Warehouse Employes, 166 W. | Wood Turners’ Union, Liberty Hall, | 3420 W. Roosevelt Rd. Washington St. (Note—Unless otherwise meetings are at 8 ». m.) the bushes,” where God was evidently less particular. Another minister was sent to a German Lutheran church where he refused to go. The Jim-Crow attitude of the white churches proves the Negro worker can expect no social nor economic im- provement from the white church in| this or in any other world, nor can he | stated all SICK AND DEATH BENEFI expect it from the Negro church that | SOCIETIES co-operates with the church of the whites. Quite obviously he will have | grauen-Kranken-Unterstuetzunge Verein to depend on his own power and Fortschritt Meets every Ist and 3rd Thursday, strength, together with white work- icker Park Hall, ers thru political and economic or- 2040 W. North Avenue. ganization, Secretary. New Art Society in Ukraine. | 4 'E. W. RIECK LUNCH ROOMS KHARKOV, U. §. S. R., Feb. 24.— Six Places A new art society has been establish- 169 N. Clark | 118 S. Clark nn ed in the Ukraine under the name of | Ukrainian Revolutionary Art Associa- | tion, with headquarters at Kiev and | branches at Kharkov, Odessa and Ye- katerinoslav. The association propos- es to establish contact with ‘art or- ganizations in the U. S. S. R. and abroad. 66 W. Washington | 167 N, State 42 W. Harrison | 234 S, Halsted PHONES, HARRISON 8616-7 Specialties: E. W. Rieck Bo: Beans and Brown Bi Fine Soups and Fresh M. Commiceary and Bakery: 1612 Fulton ©t. Phore West 2549 The Movement for World Trade Union UN IT Y * By TOM BELL. Facts—figures—all the most exhaustive material compiled briefly on a most im- portant subject. THE DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO, 1113 W. Washington Blvd, Chicago, Ml, 15 Cents OFF THE PRESS SOON! (About Ten Days) THE LITTLE RED LIBRARY The Damned Agitator and Other Stories by Michael Gold. The Paris Commune By Max Shachtman. ALREADY ISSUED: 1—Trade Unions in America. By Wm. Z. Foster, Jas, P, Cannon and Ear! R. Browder. 2—Class Struggle vs. Class Collaboration. By Harl R. Browder. 3—Principles of Communism. By Frederick Engels, Translated by Max Bedacht. 4—Worker Correspondence. By Wm. F. Dunne, 5—Poems for Workers. Edited by Manuel Gomez. 6—Marx and Engels on Revolution in America. By Heing |f- No. No. No. No, No. No. Neuman. 10 CENTS EACH TWELVE COPIES FOR ONE DOLLAR, i” THE DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO, 1113, W, WASHINGTON BLYD., CHICAGO, ILL. pre ST FE “_— = ———-——~