The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 20, 1926, Page 1

Special Passaic Textile The DAILY WORKER Ralses the Standard for a Wor‘ers’ and Farmers’ Gover’ it Vol. Ill. No. 58, 1, sage Im Chicago, by mail, $8.00 ; script'on Rates? Sustae’Eticago, by: msl, 46.00 pet year, THE DAILY WORKER. - Entered at Second-class matter September 21, 1928, at the Post Office at Chicago, Ilinofs, under the Act of March 3, 1879. “SATURDAY, MARCH 20, 1926 Strike Edition Join the Growing Ranks of Worker Correspondents of The DAILY WORKER! Published Daily except Sunday by THE DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO., 1113 W. Washington Bivd., Chicago, IL ea” Price 3 Cents “SPRcAD THE PASSAIC STRIKE!” SAVE YOUR GAS MASKS! LEAGUE ASKS U.S. TO JOIN IN CONFERENCE Court Reservations Will Be Subject (Special to The Daily Worker) GENEVA, March 18 — The council of the league of nations decided to- day to invite the United States to be represented at a conference to be held here September 1, to consider the re- servations made by the American senate regarding her adherence to the world court. The action was taken in a secret session following the ad- journment sine die of the assembly of the league after the admission of its leaders that the deadlock over Germany's admission could not be ended. Revisory Committee. In order to prevent a recurrence of the present sitvation, a committee of fifteen was appointed to undertake Walkout Grows as Ninth Week of Struggle Opens (Special to The Dally Worker) PASSAIC, N. J., March 18.—"“Spread the strike!” This is the slogan of the textile work- ers who are out in Passaic. “Spread the strike to every textile center!” And the workers who have gone thru weeks of sharp battles are determined to continue making their slogan the living reality which is necessary in order that they may beat back the wolves of the textile corpora- tions who are trying to force them to the condition of peons. The biggest picket line since the strike began is expected to mark the opening of the ninth week—the third month—of the bitterly-fought textile strike which already involves over 12,000 workers in the industry. The passage of more than two months of the strike finds the workers in a more militant spirit than ever before, showing every day new examples of working class solidarity and defiance to the police brutality and terrorism | ¢ J 5 which has characterized the PITIABLE! SENATOR B strike from the start. 2 The Strikers Are Undaunted. The vicious violence of the police COMMENT ON CONDITIONS THAT has left the strikers undaunted and By H. M. WICKS. more determined than ever. Olub- bings of men and women pickets are a daily occurrence, and the victims of the capitalist courts, which are un- der the control of the mill bosses, are regularly handed down jail sentences. Bnraged by the unflinching readiness of the pickets to continue their work, the revision of the statutes and regu lations of the body and to made spe- cific recommendations upon applicants for admission, The committee is to report at the September session of the league. Its membership is composed of one delegate from each of the ten nations represented on the council, and one additional delegate from Germany, Argentina, China, Poland, and Switzer- land. oo BIE Tob argentina ciel The inglusion of Argentina ts sig- nificant, for the bloc of South Amer- ican states in the league look to that country, which, curiously enuf, is not in the organization, for leadership rather than to Brazil. The appoint- ment is a direct bid for the Argentine Republic to re-enter the league, A Reconciliation Committee. The selection of a committee for these purposes will merely transfer to it the bitter struggles which have been going on and doubtless this was the reason for its appointment. The leaders will have from now un- til September to frameup some kind of a compromise. It is significant in this connection that the committee in- cludes representatives of each of the nations which applied for entry. Call Preliminary Conferences, In addition, the council decided to call a preliminary conference upon the disarmament question on May 18. A preliminary economic conference, in accordance with the idea originally suggested by Louis Loucheur, the John D. ‘Rockefeller of France, was ordered convened on April 26. se 8 French Press Blames Germany. g textile workers in the East have provided themselves with gas masks after the thugs 2f the mill barons had attacked thém with gas bombs. Gas masks are good to have. They may PARIS, March 1§ — The cabinet met today and approved Premier Briand’s report on the negotiations which filed to settle the league of nations fontroversy at Geneva. The premier insisted that the breakdown will not endanger the peace of Europe nor the future of the league. The press in general condemns Ger- many for blocking the admission of Poland, and thereby preventing its own entry, The nationalists are bitter in their denunciation. The Temps, the government organ, declares that an adjournment. was preferable. to a complete break, fi fe € Chamberlain To Face Critics. LONDON, March 18 — Sir Austen Chamberlain will face his opponents in the house of commons next Wed- nesday, when ja full debate on the league of nations will be held. Sir Austen will explain the events which (Continued on page 4.) WINDOW CLEANERS SENT $800 10 PASSAIC FOR STRIKERS; MORE 10 COME By a Worker Correspondent NEW YORK, March 18— At a well attended meeting of the Win- dow Cleaners’ Protective Union, Local No. 8, a decision was reached by an overwhelming majority vote to tax each member $1.00 for the relief fund of the Passaic textile strikers. The total sum raised to date is $800. The local is determined li in its power to the , other week there _ FEED THE STRIKERS! The Bosses Must Not Starve the Strikers Into Submissiant OW many strikers get relief from the relief committee? That is the question most asked wherever you go. ‘The relief committee gave out noth- ing the first week, It figured that the workers would: be able to live one week after working forty years for the ‘bosses and piling up many millions for ‘them, But the second week we found many stranded. The third wegk we began to give out ti¢kets. In an- ere over a hundred who were in need. Every week added move to the list. The sixth week we had over 1,500 families on the list. Now ft the beginning “of the ninth week we have over 2,600, It requires more than $3,000 a day to barely feed these, a secured for most of th Shoes and clothing must also be. ished. We have three grocery stores and one clothing store. Many of the mer- chants are helping to supply these stores with goods, How do we get the money? Ask Alfred Wagenknecht, He is in charge and. is on the job with lists and has committees in every meeting he finds. Tag days in Passaic and New York have helped much. But the biggest help is coming from the unions, They have acted prompt- ly and heroically. The Associated Silk Workers of Paterson sent jn its first check of $1,000 the second week, More such checks have come” since from them. The Amalgamated Clothing 1 must be $2,000 worth of goods to be sent thru the relief stores. The International Ladies Garment Workers’ locals of dressmakers and cloakmakers have pledged on ‘hour's pay, which will mean over $40,000. Many others have contributed. Many more must help. The bosses have promised to starve the workers back. Shall they do it? The bread line is the weakest link if there is not enuf bread there, If we have enuf bread there is no dan- ger. We must have enuf bread. We have enuf now, but not enuf for to- morrow and the day after unless the workers come with their help, Will they come?:They will. You will get busy now,and collect quickly what you can and send it in, Then collect more, and: more. If all the workers add theirsmite we can holi out’ for another month, and anotl r six months if necessary, f The answer to the’ brutal bosseq is adequate relief. Thebosses shall | ot starve the workersi back. There | je 40,000,000 workers;in’ America who will answer the bosses with funds for the,strikers, It is aypowerful answer. The bosses shall not starve the work- ers back! THE THREATS OF THE BOSSES ‘AND THE REPLIES OF THE STRIKERS Militant Defiance, Is An- swer of the Passaic Strikers to Police By J. 0, BENTALL. PASSAIC, N. J., March 18—The po- Hee of Clifton met six lone pickets early in the morning and told them they could cross the bridge. They clubbed them and sent them back | needed, when the stinking animals, the ilk of the mill barons, are chased where they belong. bleedi: These ickets to Workers Union has come along with the Tnhedhproeé-chtessoee ot tg Y .enoe '@Rr \ pnsided mee ON tile Workers at the headquarters and told the story.\ “Then we must send our big picket line,” said Organizer Albert Weisbord, “and go thru the police line. We must have our picket line of 3,000 in the morning and we must go to Clif- ton, We must pull down the Forst- mann;Huffmann plant,” he told the au- dience at the hall. there.” Pickets Force Way Thru. The 3,000 were there and the police smashed as many heads.as they could. Dozens were injured by “You must be the police have attempted to squelch them by turning the fire hose upon the workers—men and women— drenching them with ice cold water in winter. When this failed, the po- lice tried tear gas bombs, but with as little success, a wave of indigna- tion and anger meeting this piece of barbarism. The strike developed out of the last wage cut—one of a series—which w: handed down by the bloated manufac- turers last, October. ‘The meager. wages of the workers were then re- duced another ten per cent, leaving most of thém with a wage that aver- aged from nine dollars a week, in some caseg/to twenty-two dollars. The degradation that the bosses were forciig the workers into brot them to the point of revolt and they rose in mags and solidified their fore es under the,direction of the United Front Committee of Textile Workers. Strikers Determined to Win. The strikers are determined to win their demands, and their brilliant fight has aroused the sympathy of workers thruout the country. Not only among textile workers of other centers, thousands of whom are. on the verge of striking also, but among the workers in other industries the spirit of solidarity for the Passaic strikers is growing. A desire for moral support has already been ex- pressed by scores of labor unions and other organizations, Financial sup- port is also pouring into strike head quarters. The utter misery of the conditions of the textile workers is in striking contrast to the huge profits which are being made annually out of their la- bor by the textile corporations. While the profits of the companies are con- stantly expanding, the workers are obliged to suffer not only under bad wage and hour conditions, but also thru the speed-up system, and the very bad unsanitary conditions in the industry, which takes an annual toll of scores of workers who die or are ill of tuberculosis, pneumonia and Bright’s disease. No Break in Strikers’ Front. Altho one mill after. another is slowly coming out to join the ranks of the strikers there has not yet been a single break in the latter. The strikers are standing firmly for thelr demands, for it means a question of life and family for, them. Slate Falling After “Windy Shot” Snuffs Out Lives of Miners (Special to The Daily Worker) SPRINGFIELD, Ill, March “18, — George Manuel and Basil Condron, wth of Springfield, were killed n a fall of slate following the explo- sion of a “windy shot” in the Peabody Joal company mine number 52, at Riverton, east of here, early today. The bodies were recovered by mem- bers of the state mine rescue crew five hours after the accident, The men, both shot firers, were alone in the “coal room” at the time of the explosion. Tons of slate buried them. The Last Day of the Paris Com mune. e it dramatized at the International Labor Defe! com: memoration March 19 at Ashland Auditorium, \ (Special to The Daily Worker) WASHINGTON, March 18.—Calvin Coolidge, the strike- breaker president, will never see the Passaic strikers to hear their story of horrible conditions in the industry and the low wages they receive which were characterized by Senator Borah as “piti- able.” Anything from a pugilist or an evangelist to a movie queen, Charleston or cabaret dancer can get an audience with Calvin Coolidge, but when American citizens who are helping to produce the wealth of this society seek to place their grievances before that “down east” Yankee they were treated as impudent impostors by the chief lackey, Everett Saunders, former congress~ man of Indiana, who acts as+ secretary to Coolidge. Turns Down Strikers. On Monday Coolidge started the week by entertaining two champion girl Charleston dancers from the jazz palaces of the Kansas plains who were entertained at the White House in company with Senator Capper, but when Albert Weisbord and the Pas- saic strikers sought to place their grievances before him they were bru- tally told that neither now or ever would they get an audience with Coo- lidge. It is quite natural that this political pigmy, who got his start as @ national figure by breaking a policemen’s strike in the seat of the cod-fish tex- tile aristocracy while governor of Massachusetts should refuse to see people protesting against the woolen trust that first catapulted him into public notoriety. The delegation entered the doors of the White House and were ushered into the presence of the secretary, who is an evasive, shifty individual. Under questioning by Weisbord and Mn Katherine Wiley of the Consumers” PASSAIC WORKERS’ INCOME TAX REPORTS REVEAL LOW WAGES It is the law that corporations have to send in to the federal gov- ernment the earnings of all its em- ployes. It is thus easy to ascer tain the wages paid by the bosses to the workers in the mills. Here are a few samples, The cards read: This is to certify that No. 5001 Chorba, Martha, has received the fol- lowing payments while in our em- ploy during 1925: Wages, $410.65. Then come some envelopes with weekly rates of wages: 54 hours $23.55; 48 hours, $14.50; 48 hours, $15.65; 49 hours, $19; 22 hours, $20.65; and thus the list runs. The girl that got $410.65 was paid at the rate of $8.21 a week and she worked 48 hours a week. That is less than 19 cents an hour. She was cut 10 per cent and that makes her earn another cent an League of New Jersey, he ~ finally stated bluntly that there was no chance for an interview with. the strikebreaker president, Secretary of Labor James J. Davis, well-known for his anti-union record, offers the striking textile workers ar- bitration as a means of settling the strike. This offer of Davis is. made to the strikers after the bosses’ repre- hour less. She wants a 10 per cent increase which would mean a little Over 20 cents an hour, and for the year it would mean only $41. But the bosses think this is too much and so they refuse to grant this little increase, Is it not about time that the workers got together for a real organization that will give them power to get what the bosses do not want to give without a fight? MONTH FREE TO TEXTILE STRIKERS Read The Daily Worker! CO ye AS an expression of class solidarity, The DAILY WORKER Builders of New York have raised a fund with which to pay for The DAILY WORKER to be sent for one month to workers on strike. If you are a striker in the textile mills of Passaic or elsewhere, just write your name and address in the blank printed below and mail it to The DAILY WORKER New York Agency, and The DAILY WORKER, labor's ONLY daily paper printed in the English language, will be sent you for one month without charge. DAILY WORKER NEW YORK AGENCY, 108 East 14th Street, New York City. ‘ In accordance with your offer to striking workers, | would like to have you send me The DAILY WORKER for one month, (Continued on page z.)