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

BOSSES SEEK TO CURB WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION N. Y. Legislature Favors Employers NE YORK, March 10.—Workers in New York State are urged by the Workers’ Health Bureau to take ac- tion against the attempts of employ- ers to sidetrack labor’s compensation amendments while pushing thru bills which “would destroy the present ben- efits of the compensation act.” Seek to Rob Blind Workers. One of the employers’ bills (senate bill introductory: number 184) would cut”compensation for eye injuries by ‘per cent, The present law provides compensa- tion for industrial eye injuries, but contains no schedule grading various losses of vision. Heretofore the law has been interpreted so that the sole question involved was whether the worker was industrially blind, If he was unable to perform his particular Job because of injured eyesight he was entitled to compensation. A recent decision of the state courts reversed this practice. In the Stru- ‘bol case the courts held that all kinds of technical eye tests be given equal consideration with tests for industrial blindness. Complicated eyesight schedules were admitted in evidence, which had nothing to do with whether @ worker could see well enough to perform his regular job. Under these schedulés a worker may be declared theoretically normal even when he is industrially blind, and is thus deprived of the full compensation to which he is entitled under the present compen- sation act, The employers are attempting to write these schedules into the com- pensation act by means of Senate Bill Introductory 184. Workers’ representatives who ar- gued against the bill maintained that industrial blindness be the only con- sideration in awarding compensation for eye injuries. They pointed out that watchmakers, railway trainmen, mechanics, sign painters, needle trades workers and others whose jobs depend on their eyesight are indus- trially blind and should receive fu’) compensation. Any attempt to de- prive them of compensation by intro- ducing tests which have no bearing on a man’s ability to continue at work must be kept out of the law. Bosses Seek Compensation Control. The second bill opposed by labor (Senate Bill Introductory Number 35) provides for the creation of a state medical advisory council, with final powers over all disputed compensa- tion cases, The dill was introduced at the re- quest of the employing interests, who claim that the present compensation law is too liberal to workers. The bill would set up a self-perpetrating advisory council of 30 physicians, headed by a state medical director and a deputy director. At a hearing before the Labor and Industries Committee, workers’ repre- sentatives pointed out that company doctors, working for the bosses, would be the ones to be appointed to the proposed medical jobs. In all dis- puted compensation cases the pro- posed council has the right to choose an arbiter, whose decision is final, thus robbing the worker of his pres- ent right to appeal first to the State Industrial Commission and later to tne courts. It would turn over the administration of the entire compen- sation act to the employers, thru their doctors in the council. Get your tickets now for the rnter national concert of the T. U, E. L., Sat., March 13, at 8th St, Theater. DECORATE THE MAHOGANY! IS: SLOGAN OF CHICAGO ALDERMEN, CHARGES M.V.Li “Decorate the mahogany” has be- come the favorite phrase of Chicago aldermen when favors are sought from them declares the Municipal Voters’ League, an organization similiar to the Better Government Association, which hag come to be known the Better Graft Associa- tion. (In its statement the league points out that many of the alder- men have demanded anywhere from $500 to $1,000 for permits to con- struct garages, filling stations or driveways, One aldermen, the state- ment points out, agreed to get a permit for an open-air garage to be constructed closer to a school than the law allows for $1,000. Another alderman is pointed out as having demanded $10,000 to put thru legislation to vacate a subdi- vision, The league declares that it Is now watching the moves that are being made by certain aldermen who anticipate the division of a $16,000 slush fund that will be given to them if a certain piece of legisla- tlon Is put thru by one of the pro- minent law concerns In the loop. Following on this expose of the corruption In the city council, a number of indignant alderman pres- ented a resolution calling for the In- vestigation of this group as well as the Better Government Association In order to raise a smoke screen to hide their gullt, KUSBAS COLONY INCREASES ITS COAL OUTPUT American Colony Is Good Producer WASHINGTON, March 10.—Reports reaching the Russian Information Bu- reau in Washington show, that Kusbas colony, to which a large number of migratory workers from the United States went some years ago, is mak- ing good as a producer, ” The colony, located in the Kuznets Basin, in southwestern Siberia,’ had an output of 426,200 metric ‘tons“of coal last year, and shipped 52,500 me- tric tons of coal and 72,500 metric tons of coke. It built a great deal of new housing, produced chemicals for the dye, military and. medical in- dustries, and developed further plans which will approximately double the PY THE DAILY WORKER By William Gropper. Polish Pan (iandowner): “You Polish jews are asking for help. Keep it up, maybe | (Continued from page 1). preachers, or his teachers, should be- gin a propaganda offensive of the im- possibility of the “poor” boss paying the “exorbitant demands” of the workers, they (the workers) can “rub the circular bearing facts into the bosses’ nose,” as one spokesman of the strikers expressed it. The Gera Worsted Mills. Bulletin 377 of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics was the source which had enabled the re- search workers to open the books of the Gera Worsted Mills, and they have revealed that the New Jersey Worsted Mills owned the Gera. They revealed further that the poverty- stricken bosses had secured $1,145,553 out of the workers of the Gera Mills, before enforcing the wage cuts; in a single year, and this after having al- ready paid interest to the banker, rent to the land owner, taxes to tNe output, of all products this-year:Dhey govertiment ‘and various additional plans contemplate bringing the an- charges. nual coal output to 1,300,000 - tons within ten years. A yearly output of 400,000 tons of pig iron is another item in the program. Wages were increased 35 per cent last year, the selling price of coal was reduced 33 per cent, and labor pro- ductively increased one and one-half times. ‘ Bosses’ Association Head Is Accused of Terrorizing Members Five members of the United Shoe Repairers’ ‘Association have filed a complaint with the state’s attorney charging that the windows of their places of business were smashed fol- lowing their refusal to contribute to the defense fund of Ike Sandler, for- mer president of the association, and his son, Irving, for malicious mis- chief. The five shoe repair shop pro- prietors point out that money was so- licited from them by two men whom they did not know, See TTT TTI LAMM MTOM Read It! March Issue of the WORKERS MONTHLY $2.00 a Year—$1.25 Six Months SUBSCRIBE! The Botany. In fighting the Botany Worsted Mills the workers learned from the results of ,the researchers of the Workers’ School that they are fight- ing one of the biggest textile com- panies in the entire world. A study of the “Standard Corporation Rec- ord” and “Moody’s Analysis of Invest- ments” revealed that the Botany Con- solidated Mills own the Botany Wor- sted Mills, the Garfield Worsted Mills and have a controlling interest in two German textile groups which have 30 affiliated companies in Germany, Hun- gary, Czecho-Slovakia, Italy, Latvia and Holland. During 1924 this “poor” company that has cut wages “in order to get along” loaned $2,000,000 to Ger- man concerns and secured an option to purchase 60 per cent of the stock of that company, The Botany plant itself, which coy- ers 67 acres in Passaic and 44 in ad- joining boroughs, has 10 buildings, 2,200 looms and about 6,000 workers. In 1924 each share of Class A stock received a dividend of $6.43 and each share of common stoc’: a dividend of $2.48, and this before cutting wages. The net profits (after dividends are distributed) of the Botany, during 1923, were $2,880,147. In 1924 the profits and earned surplus ran over $3,000,000 and then they cut wages because they weren’t making enouga out of the workers, Some of the Other Mills. The Forstmann and Huffman Com- pany, which many workers believe to be a small concern, has mills in the Rhur Valley in Germany and owns the merged Forstmann and Huffman Mills of Werden, Germany, with the Augs- burger Kammgarn Spinnerei, The Essex Cotton Mills, a Delaware corporation, in addition to its Passaic Plant, has @ big plant called the Es sex Cottton mills in Newport, Mass. and owns the entire $500,000 of capi tal stock of Taylor, Armitage & Eagles of New York. Its net profit (after dividends were paid) in the year 1924 were $1,346,209. Work and Die. Other reports, which the research workers dug up and which are neither written in the langauge that is intel- ligible to workers nor intended for their eyes, revealed the health condi- tions in which the Passaic textile workers work, The government report lists acel- dents from unguarded machinery, fa- tigue caused by speeding up and by the piece work system, injury to health due to constant standing, bad seating, and eye strain. The govern- ment speaks of anthrax and then in parenthesis calls it by a name that must» be very pleasing to Passaic workers! “Wool sorters’ disease. It describes insanitary shop condi- tions, lack of ventilation, bad light- - gnvansneevannenrncvonanavcncensnnaenerneentncrrremememnemn | “8S Adair laden with dust and fumes. will also get some of it!” Research Class Shows Textile Profits It tells how workers in the wool scouring process and in the dyeing and wet-finishing processes are ex- posed to fumes from benzine, benzol and other chemicals. Then it adds the cheerful news: Two to three parts of benzol in a hundred parts of fresh air breathed for a few hours may cause loss of consciousness. (This means that two-thousandths of 1 per cent of,benzol fumes in the air are enough tp cause unconsciousness.) Mortality Statistics. A study of’statistics as to the death rate among’‘iwool. workers as com- pared to thé “general average death rate of the population of the United States reveals that the death rate is much higher among wool workers in many diseasé’. For example, in tu- berculosis 42!'per cent of wool work- ers between thé ages of 25 and 34 die from thi lase, as against 31 per cent oft al population. Deaths from pneum fa. and Bright’s disease also show, a! her percentage than that of the general population. The result. of these investigations by the ‘Workét's’ School Research De- partment haye made the textile work- ers of Passaic more determined than eycr to fight for the restoration of the 10 per cent ‘that was robbed from thom, for a ibper cent increase, and to demand a general cleaning up of the sanitary conditions in their shops, (Continued from Page 1) The working-class housewives must join the proletarian women’s organi- zations and all women of the working class must join together to fight for specific issues which arise and which strengthen the class-consciousness of the working-class women. Working-Class Wife and Mother, The double burden that the work- ing-class wife and mother bears was pointed out by Matilda Kalousek. Not only do the» working-class women work in the shops and in the factory after marriage; but they must main- tain their homes and care as best they can for their children in addition. There is no-freedom thru marriage for the working girl. There is no normal family,life under the capital- ist system. And while the mothers of the working;elass children are toil ing for 10 hoyrs each day the chil- dren are learning from others the cat- echisms of thp,capitalists—the jingo patriotism which is to prepare them for entering the next war. It 1s up to us workers to organize so that the war which ig, sure to come within a decade will not be used to enrich the capitalists. It,is up to all working- class women to join with the working men under the leadership of the Com- aunist International for the libera- ion of all woikers. Speakers in Lithuanian and in Rus- sian added their words to the general sentiment that the organization of working-class women was a thing necessary and desired. The entertainment, between the speaking, was in keeping with the spirit of the meeting, The meeting ended by a unanimous vote in favor of the following slogans: Raise Fighting Slogans. “For the women in industry— “Equal Wages for Equal Work, “Abolition of night work and over time, “Allowance for women in industry of eight weeks, before and eight weeks after confinement with full pay, “No child labor. “Sufficient well-equipped schools in the working class districts, doing away with Present over-crowded, double shift, toon system in the rotten, ill-ventilated buildings that serve our ol now. —s Chinese Citizens in U.S.S.R. Organize Union MOSCOW, U. S. S, R., March 10.— The People’s Commisariat for Home Affairs has approved the statutes of the newly formed “Association of Chinese Citizens resident in Soviet Union.” On the anniversary of the November Revolution the first Chi- nese newspaper in Russia was issued by the Association. The chief object of the association is to unite the whole mass of Chinese residents in the U. S. S. R. It will open branches in all the towns of the Soviet Union with Chinese residents. |The Association has organized a Com- mission for the promotion of culture among Chinese residents in Sovet Russia. Fight for Merger Costs Sweringen $750,000 WASHINGTON, March 10,—Direct costs incurred by the Van Sweringen brothers in their unsuccessful fight to legalize their Nickel Plate rail mer- ger were $750,000, according to W. A. Colston, their chief counsel. They calculated on a saving of $6,000,000 a year by the deal. Watch the Saturday Magazine Section for new features every week. This is a good issue to give to your fellow worker. Women Urged to Fight as Class “Low rents and comfortable, well- equipped homes in the working class districts. “Low prices on ice, coal and milk. “Free all class-war prisoners. “Help for all colonial people in their struggle for liberation against imperialism, ‘Protection of workers, “No discrimination economically, Politically, socially because of race, color or sex. “Recognition of the Workers’ and Farmers’ Republic, the Soviet Union,” ee Soviet Union Celebrates, MOSCOW, U. S. S. R., March 10 During the celebration of Interna- tional Working Women’s Day the title ‘Hero of Labor” was conferred on all working women who have worked in Russian industries for thirty-five years, The workers in the shops assem- bled in large assembly halls, where the proclamations of Kalinin and Sta- lin were read that pointed out the im- portance of the women working side by side with the men in bringing about better conditions in the Soviet Union and calling on the women to take more active participation in the work of the country and of the Com- munist Party, Among those that were especially honored on this day were two grad- uates of the Odessa Nautical College. One received a captain’s commission and the other an engineer’s commis- sion, They are the first women of- ficers of Soviet ships. Forty women were graduated from motor schools and received licenses to operate trac- tors. In celebrations it was brought out that 21 per cent of the membership of the city Soviets are composed of women and the one-fourteenth of the membership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union are women, The supreme council of the trade unions fnaugurated the new decora- tion, “Hero of Labor,” and proposed various tax exemptions and full sal- ary without work for persons so dec- orated. The order includes men as well as women who have worked thirty-five years, regardless of the umber of their employers. the foreign-born Page Three UNEMPLOYED WORKERS OF NORWAY WILL GET SOVIET UNION JOBS (Special to The Daily Worker) OSLO, Norway, March 10 — The Norwegian Buildings Trades Union has invited the All-Russian Bullding Trades Union to send representa- tives to Norway to take up negotia- tions about the transfer to Russia of unemployed building trades work- ers. The invitation has been ac- cepted, and three representatives are expected, among them the chair- man of the All-Russian Building Trades Union, Bogdanov. The Norwegian Building Trades Union has also had representatives at the recent congress of the All- Russian Building Trades Union, LOW WAGES AND LONG HOURS AID UNION CAMPAIGN Millinery Girls Seek Better Conditions By CARL HAESSLER, (Federated Press) Four thousand women millinery workers are on the road to better the launching of Local 52, Cloth Hat Cap and Millinery Workers Interna- tional Union, last week. A strong charter roll includes several hundred girls and women who want to see the better times they once enjoyed in the industry restored. Wages of 15 to $18 a week for the ordinary worker in mass production is the rule, especially in the small contract shops. High skilled em- Ployes, who shape and trim the model hats used in taking orders from the to $60. The season lasts less than four months during which all statutes protecting women workers in industry are disregarded and the girls and mar- ried women put in 10 to 14 hours a day, seven days a week. Then sud- denly everything stops and there is unemployment of operation at 10 to |20 per cent of plant capacity for the rest of the time. eee Weiboldt’s “Benevolence,” Hot for social service and improve- ment of humanity one day a week and cold to practical means toward that end the other six appears ag the rec- ord of. the Wieboldt department stores of Chicago. Part of the huge profits of this merchandising chain have been allotted the Wieboldt foundation, a charity and social uplift dispensing agency, The University of Chicago, founded by Rockefeller and headed by @ representative of the meat packers as chairman of the board, got a big slice last year. Northwestern Uni- versity, on which Judge Gary of United States Steel sits as trustee with other openshop magnates, got an- other cut out of the Wieboldt cash. But—and here is the test labor looks for when an employer ostenta- tiously turns to public benevolence— the Wieboldts have just thrown out the union-made brooms they long car- tied and have substituted a non-union "ME AND GOD’ NASt WILL SHOW TURKS THE GOLDEN RULE Cincinnati Ex ploites Pulls New Stunt (Special to The Daily Worker) CINCINNATI, March 10.—“Me ané sh, alias “Golden Rule,” the haired exploiter in the loca clothing industry who became famou: by his pretensions to run his plan on the principle of “doing unto oth ers you would have them do t y has again leaped into the lime light by his announcement of a gift o $50,000 a year for five ars for the organization of clubs in Turkey. Turkish - Americar The object of thes« clubs will be to undo the unfavorabl opinion which the Turks how have o Cc stianity by showing them tha Christians can actually live th Golden Rule. As a start the work is to be or ganized in six Turkish cities. It 1 to be modelled on the Young Men’ Christian Association, but will no bear a Christian name nor be openly devoted to promoting Christianity Considerable attention will be giver to physical training. There will br vocational, commercial and busines courses in day and night schools, witi entertainments, lectures and agricul tural instruction, all the regular Y, M wages and tolerable conditions with|C. A. dope. The official announcemen states that education in moral devel opment and higher culture withou mention of Christianity or Mohamme danism will also be given, whateve this is. Nash has stipulated that all Amer: can contributions for this work mus be handled thru the Golden Servic Fund of the Universalist General Con vention. Nash is a Universalist, God Talks to Nash, Like all his recent stunts, Nash go the idea thru religious hocus-pocur wholesalers and retailers, may got $50 |N@8h has had a standing offer of . |large money prize for the best sug gestion as to how to spend $600,00 best. Now it seems that some tim ago Nash heard Asa K. Jenning speak in @ church here on his exper ences in Turkey during the tim when the Greek and Turkish popule tions were being exchanged. Jenning is an agent of the Near East Reliei Immediately God whispered to Nash “This is the way to spend the profit from your clothing business.” Local Sky Pilot Gets His, In addition to the $50,000 yearly fo the organization of the clubs, Nas has pledged $10,000 annually for th same period of time to the support 0 Rev. Dr. John B. Ascham, a Methe dist minister of this city, who is to b in direct charge of this work, Every cent of the huge sum whic Nash is so freely giving away come from the exploitation of the men an women who toil in his factories. Hi generosity costs him nothing, but, o: the other hand, does advertise hi business among church people tremer dously, Memorial Meeting for Lenin in Canton Is an Overwhelming Succes: (Special to The Daily Worker) CANTON (By Mail).—The memc rial meeting for Karl Liebknechi line. The logical next is prison-made brooms, Teachers Make New Demands. Union teachers in Chicago are speeding up their fight to restore de- cent conditions of work which have suffered under the big business ad- ministration of Supt. Wm. McAndrew. The joint program of the Chicago Fed- eration of Men Teachers and of the Chicago Federation of Women High School Teachers demand that their teacher councils as they existed prior to September, 1924 be reinstated. These councils met on school time and rigorously excluded the superin- tendent, principals and other possible dictators and snoopers. They want the 6-hour day cut to 5 hours in the classroom and propose to enforce it by demanding 20 per cent more pay for teachers who have to work 6 hours, in addition to their preparatory work at home and after school, ——— Contractors Fight Building Trades, NEW YORK, March 10.—An “in- Rosa Luxemburg and Viladimi Ilyitch Lenin was an enormous suc cess. In spite of the chilly weathe thousands of people attended th mass meeting held on the Canto: University grounds. Across the cer ter of three platforms hung a lon Streamer with the inscription: “Lon, Live Leninism!” This was presente: by the International Association o Oppressed Peoples. Nearly all th delegates from the Second Congres of the Kuo Min Tang attended. Mer bers of the Central Executive Com mittee presided. After an address by Kan Un-han Borodin, the Soviet -Government’ local representative and special ad viser to the Canton government spoke. He received a tremendon ovation, He told of the struggle whic) the Soviet Union had made agains the imperialists of the world, a figh so similar to that being waged by th Chinese masses. The alliance of th oppressed colonial peoples with th Tevolutionary workers of the grea capitalist nations {s necessary, h said, if victory is to be achieved junction to prevent Westchester “Let us unite,” he exclaimed, “unde county building trades unions from|the banner of our great leaders! Le continuing their strike on the New|us continue their brotherly alliance: Rochelle junion high building because|and complete the revolution whiel non-union cast stone was used by the|they started. Let us work hand h contractor has been denied. The Dec-| hand to make the world happier!” orative Stone Co, of New Haven and Many students, soldiers, worker: H. H, Vought & Co., contractors, are| and women addressed the gathering suing Westchester unions for con-| Their speeches were all in the sam: spiracy under the Sherman law, strain. Get the Paris Commune Edition! Be sure to gaa PARIS COMMUNE EDITION of The DAILY WORKER next Saturday, March 13. The NEW SATURDAY MAGAZINE SUPPLEMENT of that issue will contain the famous article of Lenin, “THE PARIS COM- MUNE AND THE PROBLEMS OF THE DEMOCRATIC DICTATORSHIP"—published for the first time, we be- lieve, in the English language. Written in July, 1905, in the midst of the stirring revolutionary events of that year, the article shows the master hand of Lenin who, more ably than any other except Marx himself, could draw the lessons from the great event of Paris and apply them in the real life of his own time. Don't fail to get the next edition of the Daily Worker Saturday Magazine.