The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 23, 1926, Page 2

Page Two DEATH TOLL IN PEKING CLASH GROWS TO 50 Pro-Japanese President Arrests Radicals (Special to The Daily Worker) PEKING, March 21.—The death toll in the clash yesterday between stu- dent demonstrators and the military was far higher than estimated. At least 50 were siain and hundreds wounded, Among the dead are several girl students of the American Univer- sity here. After the collision occurred, the president’s bodyguard quarreled and in the ensuing battle several were president of the Sino-Russian Univer- foreign quarters has been largely in- creased, Order Radicals’ Arrests. The government has ordered the ar- rest of the radical leaders it holds responsible for the agitation which re- sulted in the collision, The most prominent of these are Hu Su-chien, president of the Sino-Russian univer- sity and chairman of the diplomatic mission from Canton; Ku Meng-yu, former head of the Peking National University, the acknowledged center of working class revolutionary pro- paganda; and Yi Pei-chi, a former minister of education. President a Japanese Tool, The president, Tuan Chi Jui, against whom the demonstration was directed, is a noterious Japanese tool and old- time reactionary. He is hated and despised, except by the militarists who are able to use him for their own purposes. The Peking Leader, a local paper owned by an American and published in English, is advocating the cause of the Chinese. Missionaries Protest. The group of ten missionaries who called on American Minister Mac- Murray two days ago to protest against the United States participat- ing in the ultimatum to China, have issued a public declaration stating that the powers’ action at Tientsin involves the violation of international law and is unjustified. The 1901 Boxer protocol provisions, they point out, apply only in the event of imminent danger of an attack on the foreign residents, which they say is not threatened. For the American warships to par- ticipate in hostile action, such as to fire upon the Taku forts in accordance with the note to the Kuominchun leaders, would violate all precedents and greatly and irremediably injure the commercial and financial interests of the United States, the missionaries state. see Tientsin Impasse. TIENTSIN, March 21.—The situa- tion here has resolved itself apparent- ly in an impasse. The Kuominchun commander of the forts refuse to al- low foreign shipping to pass until in- spected by the customs officials and his own representatives in order to prevent Chang Tso-Lin slipping in soldiers and spies as ordinary pas- sengers, s 2's Japan Will Insist, But— TOKIO, March 21.—The Japanese minister at Peking has been instruct- ed to demand that China apologize for the firing upon its warships at Taku, punish those responsible, and indemni- fy the families of the dead officer and the wounded men. Phe note is worded to avoid an abrupt diplomatic break and urges China to act promptly on the request. The demand will be presented to General Lu Chung-lin, commander in Tientsin, and the Peking authorities at the same time. MAY DAY COMMITTEE MEETS TONIGHT AT DAILY WORKER OFFICE The committee in charge of Chi- ©ago’s May Day arrangements will meet tonight at The DAILY WORK- ER office, 1113 W. Washington Blvd, All party nuclei are expected ts ve represented at the meeting. The May First demonstration this year will be held in the Coliseum which has a seating capacity of eleven thousand. The speakers will be Wm. Z. Foster, Jay Lovestone and J, P. Cannon, REVOLUTIONARY ARTISTS JOIN THE PASSAIC TEXTILE WORKERS ON PICKET LINE By MICHAEL GOLD. (Special to The Daily Worker) PASSAIC, N. J., March 21.—The New Masses magazine is to be a publication of revolutionary art and literature. It is to appear on May first, but today was its real revolu- tionary birthday. For the magaine office was closed down, and the whole staff of editors, artists, busi- ness manager, office boys and poets came here to Passaic, to march on the picket lines and to express their Solidarity with the brave textile strikers, Our New Masses group marched in the picket line at the Lodi mill, and in the afternoon we marched at the Gera mill. It was a new experi- ence for some of our group, and they enjoyed the spirit of the strik- ers, James Rorty, one of the edi- tors of The New Masses spoke at one of the meetings. Jos. Freeman, who is co-author with Scott Near- ing of “Dollar Diplomacy” and also a poet, and Hugo Gellert, the ar tist, and Michael Gold were the oth- ers who spoke. The New Masses is planning to form a group of artists, musicians, poets and writers who will appear at strikes in or near New York, and give concerts, poetry readings, etc. in an effort to draw more and more of the radical intellectuals and col- lege students into contact with the class struggle. This is why The New Masses Is being born. Some fine material is already in for the first number, which’ will appear on May first, WARDEN BEATS CONVICTED MAN UNTIL HE DIES THE DAILY WORKER TGHT AGAINST JOINNG WORLD COURT RENEWED League Request Stirs Senate Opposition (Special to The Daily Worker) WASHINGTON, March 21—While world court leaders and the state de- partment maintained a strict silence, the senate irreconciliables showered condemnation upon the league of na- tions’ decision to invite the United States to a conference over American reservations to the world court. They declared the United States could not attend such a conference without the consent of the senate and termed it a plain indication that America’s entry to the court had car- ried the country into the league thru the “back door.” Division of Opinion. There is a division of opinion among constitutional authorities as to whether the state department can send such a negotiating commission without the express authorization of the senate. It is the contention of the irrecon- cilables that the league, as such, has nothing to say about the drastic sen- ate reservations, They are for the consideration, rather, of the individ- ual nations comprising the league. One of the reservations in fact spe- cifically provides that America’s ad- herence shall be contingent upon each of these forty-odd nations individually agreeing in writing to accept the con- ditions imposed by the senate, State Department Mum. Meanwhile, the state department and the pro-court senators generally refused to comment on the situation. Both the pro-courters and the ir- reconciliables have been taking their case “to the country” since the sen+ ate acted last month, and in a num- ber of states the court has been made an acute issue in the forthcoming primaries, This is particularly true Quaint Oriental Appeal; Illinois and Wisconsin, where Sen- Breathes Sincerity (Special to The Daily Worker) BIRMINGHAM, Ala., March 21. — That the horrible mistreatment of prisoners in contract labor camps of the south, exposed repeatedly and just as futilely, is still going on is re vealed by testimony given in the in- quest over the death of James W. Knox, a native of West Virginia, who was beaten to death by the warden. Knox was a convict working in the Flat Top coal mines, which employ convicts by contract with the state. For failure to obey certain orders he was sentenced to be flogged. Warden a Brute. The warden, Charles R. Davis, ac- cording to evidence in the inquiry now being conducted by Attorney General Harwell G. Davis, held the unfortunate man’s head under water alternately in vats of ice-cold and boiling hot water and then beat him with a blackjack until he was almost dead. This terrible torture was car- ried on personally by the warden, who administered all the blows. The dip- ping into the vats was done by trus- ties under the oversight of Davis. Knox died shortly after the beating. To conceal his crime the warden Had the death certificate assign the cause as “self-administered poison.” Kick Negro to Death. Other witnesses told of how Bill Bates, a deputy warden, had so badly beaten up and kicked a negro pris- ener that the man died a few minutes after the brute-had finished. These are but a few examples of the horrible conditions disclosed. A similar revelation in Florida sev- eral years ago caused the abolition ators McKinley and Lenroot are un- der fire because of their votes in fa- vor of American adherence. Campaigning for and Against. Senator Botah and Senator Reed, the irreconciliable leaders have car- ried the battle into these states. They have been followed by pro- court senators to offset their attacks. Senator Robinson, democrat of Ar- kansas, has just returned from such a trip into Illinois, and Senator Len- root has been making speeches in Pennsylvania, to help out Senator Pepper, who is under attack because of his about-face on the court issue. Geneva Fiasco Hurts. The fact that the league narrowly escaped dissolution at Geneva with- in the last ten days in the wrangling over the enlargement of the council, and the revelations made there of se- cret agreements which have well- nigh wrecks the Lacarno peace pacts have not enhanced the league's prestige with the senate. The report on European conditions brot to Washington by Ambassador Hough- ton and Minister Gibson has not served to increase the senate’s desire for more intimate relationships with the league. If the senate now becomes engaged in another acrimonious row, such as that which kept it at fever heat for the week during which the court was being debated, the fighting will inev- itably spread out and into the ap- proaching political campaign in a manner exceedingly distasteful to most of the administration senators up for re-election. Ya ee League Diplomats Surprised. GENEVA, March 21—Surprise was expressed in league of nations’ cir- of the convict labor system of that | cles here today over reports of appar- state. In view of the exposures pre- viously it is doubtful if the Alabama authorities will do anything except to hush up the matter. Build Company Town. WOONSOCKET, R.I.—(FP)—A mill village of 88 houses, a hotel, a restau- rant, dance hall, bowling alleys, drug store, grocery, butcher shop, postof- fice, garage and service station and coal yard is being erected under di- rection of the Branch River Wool Combing Co., Inc., around their new $1,000,000 mill at North Smithfield, R. I, The firm is controlled by Prevost & Lefebvre of France. The company will not directly run the village but its contractor Christopher Ferrier, erecting the buildings, will be act- ing landlord and boss. MONTANA MINERS’ UNION LOCAL PROTESTS AGAINST OPEN-SHOPPERS’ ANTI-FOREIGN-BORN LEGISLATION KLEIN, Mont., March 21—-Local Union No. 3574 of the United Mine Workers of America at its meeting adopted a resolution of protest against the laws that the open shop Coolidge administration is trying to jam thru congress for the finger-printing, card-indexing and photographing of the for- eign-born workers making them subject to immediate deportation the moment they strike for better conditions. This miners’ local of 460 members, most of whose members are American citizens, points out that a reduction of the foreign-born workers to the a! of serfs will lower the living standards of the American workers and calls on all workers to resist the passage of the bills, 4 A . tion, jent amazement in Washington at the decision of the council of the league to summon a conference in Septem- ber to @iscuss the American reserva- tions to its entry to the world court. The proposal for the conference was made by Sir Austen Chamberlain and it was understood here that Sir Aus- ten had informal assurances that the United States would enter such a con- ference. The conference, it is believed in league circles, may obviate the rejec- tion of the American reservations and speed the American entry into the world court. All of the reservations are believed to be acceptable with the possible exception of rescrvation five, which provides that the world court shall not give decisions except after public hearings. It is the con- tention of one or two league leaders that such a reservation would prohibit the league of nations from asking for opinions in confidence from the world court, and it is possible that changes in this reservation will be sought. Farmers Strike Against Cannery. A strike of farmers raising sweet corn for the cannery near Millford, Il, is reported. The farmers demand pay for deliveries of sweet corn based on cost of production plus a reason- able profit, The cannery refused. The farmers have organized and are nego- tiating with the Farmers’ Co-operative and Educational Union. A’ co-opera- live cannery is also under considera- Oil Company Buys Millions of Acres in Guatemala Area NEW YORK, March 21—The Mexi- can-Panuco Oil company announced yesterday that it had acquired con- trol of the Guatemala Syndicate thru the purchase of a four-fifths interest, the remaining one-fifth being held in Guatemala. The oi] company holds concessions in more than 4,500,000 acres of oil lands in El Paso, Isabal, Altaverpaz, Tana Rose and seven other states. The syndicate is capital- ized at $7,500,000 and’ obtained con- cessions directly from the govern- ment, i The oil company already holds 1,000,000 acres in British Guiana, 1,110,000 acres in Venezuela, 300,000 acres in Colombia and producing prop- erties in Mexico. Cleveland Workers Fight Against the War on Foreign-Born (Continued from page 1) 439 of the Machinists [nion, himself an immigrant, told what the measure would mean if enacted. He told about the persecution in Europe and what registration meant. when the authorities could track down a man and hound him from place to place. “Stick together and the people of this city, the majority of ‘whom are of foreign stock, will be protected.” I, Amter, district secretary of the Workers (Communist) Party, analyz- ed the bills, showing just what the foreign-born workers in this country face, Amter took up the bills, point by point, reading from the original and showed the audience that foreign- born workers will not only be regis- tered, but their every movement will be controlled by the federal, state and local police, “by the department of labor and any other agencies that the president may designate. “This will be like Prussia or the Russia of the czars. The worker who comes to this country ‘hoping to find democracy and an opportunity, but who is forced to fight ‘for better con- ditions, will not merely be branded. He may be arrested and immediately deported. That means that he goes back to his native country, where the white terror is raging and that signi- fies further jailing, terture and pos- sibly murder. Fear Organized, Power. “The people at Washington are not afraid of votes. What they are afraid of is organized power.,,Let councils for the protection of the foreign-born be built up in all sections of the country, with native agi} foreign-born, white, black and yellow workers af- filiated to them, then Washington will heed the voice of the workers.” Amter dwelt on the world situation, and showed that the introduction of the bills at this time js not an acci- dent. The working class faces seri- ous struggles. The capitalists intend to reduce the standard of the Ameri- can worker‘and in their shrewdness, attackethe weakest section of the American working class—the foreign- born. When they have subdued them, they will proceed against the native- born workers. “Why are the open-shoppers openly in support of these bills?” asked Am- ter. “Because they wish to use the foreign-born as a weapon to destroy the entire trade union movement of the country. If all the workers of this country stick together and fight, the bill will not pass.” Albert F. Coyle, editor of the Loco- motive Engineers Journal, was the last speaker of the meeting. Coyle pictured the degeneracy into which American democracy had fallen, and asserted that only the united strength of the workers would be able to re- store it to the original form. Carl “Settee acted as chairman of the meet- eB. The meeting was preceded by acon- ference at which the Cleveland Coun- efl for the Protection éf Foreign-Born Workers was formed, Fifty-one organ- izations sent delegated or credentials to the conference, Trade tinion locals, fraternal organizations, sick and death benefit societies were among those sending delegates. The conference was very enthusiastic, An executive committee of seven- teen was elected, which in turn elect- ed an executive council of seven, in: cluding the four officer's elected by the conference. ‘The officers gre: J. Gal- lagher, president,’ Mts. A, Kulczar, vice-president, EB, A, Duchan, secre- tary and Joseph Keller, treasurer, The other members of the executive coun- cil are Anna Morgan, I. Amter and M. Shatz, The executive committee will pro- ceed immediately to form language sections of the council, and develop the work among the trade unions and all language groups of workers in the city, Practically every nationality was represented at the conference, which thus was widejy international in aspect. The Cleveland Council for the Protection of Foreign-Born Work- ers is planning a broad campaign in this city. Adopt Protest Resolution. Resolutions were adopted at the mass meeting and at' the conference n the morning condemning the anti- foreign-born legislation that is now be- ore congress and calling on the for- ign-born workers to join the trades mions and both native and foreign- »orn workers to join the Council for the Protection of Foreign-Born, Peer le ad SSeS SR ca DEE bey StS aS 1 SE SONS eee OO OO ooo Wall Street Is Trying | to Hide Its “League” Role in the Smash-up By J. LOUIS ENGDAHL. Tos loquacious Ramsay MacDonald, who showed the work- ing class of Great Britain how not be premier in a labor government, seeks silence as his only refuge in the face of the chaos that wrecked the league of nations at Geneva last week. MacDonald declares, “The less said the better.” That is also the attitude of Wall Street's international bankers who speak for the American government in European affairs. Money always chooses to work in the dark. In all the pages of comment and explanations incidental to the Geneva holocaust, the attitude of the United States and It was left to Edgar Ansel States. they have money to loan. Mussolini’s spokesman at tion. board. ° ° powers from the league. claim. It is interesting, however, cies of the league of nations since the war. labor. * ° e American imperialism has nothing to European threat to exclude the Central and South American Under the Monroe Doctrine the United States claims sovereignty over Pan-America and the exclusion proposed would be a recognition by Europe of that its influence on the disastrous results attendant on the league break-up received little or no attention. Mowrer, the correspondent of the Chicago Daily News at Geneva, to tag on a little explana- tory paragraph to the end of one of his dispatches, declaring: “The last word rests with the bankers, chiefly those in the United It is belleved that they alone can decide whether backsliding and nationalistic Europe merits financial trust and whether the trouble makers should be encouraged, chastised or ignored.” The last words-rest with the American bankers because The United States government stands solidly back of them. This was first clearly evidenced when Coolidge put his “O. K.” on the Dawes plan. Geneva could not have taken his aggressive attitude at Geneva without American inspira- The Mussolini dictatorship is the financiers. This: was clearly shown in the extremely favor- able war debt payment terms granted the Italian govern- ment, followed immediately by a loan of $100,000,000. Mus- solini becomes Morgan’s puppet on the European checker- pet of American , e ° lose by the to watch the imperialist poli- parallel those of the Inter- national Federation of Trade Unions (the Amsterdam Inter- national), dominated by European socialists who have been collaborating with their capitalist governments during and The Amsterdam International would divide the world as follows: Pan-America under the domination of the American Federation of Labor; Western Europe to be the main stamp- ing ground of the International Federation of Trade Unions, allowing the Red International of Trade Unions jurisdiction over the Union of Soviet Republics and Asiatic countries. Revolutionary workers the world over will, of course, struggle against any such artificial division of international Probably the most outspoken assailant of the league, among British politicians, is Lloyd George, who directs his shafts at the “caged nations snarling and scrambling over the bone of contention” .... “The heroes of Logarno have gone home bedraggled after their many carousals.” But it was this same Lloyd George who was war premier of Great Britain and acted as midwife at the Versailles Peace when it spawned the league. Lloyd George doesn’t like his own offspring. But he cannot disown it. What all American workers must realize is that the European situation plunges toward new wars. American great finance has involved the United States in that situation. When that war comes might will strike again for Soviet millions of European workers ule thruout all. Europe. Wall Street hides its moves. as possible. American labor must not be silent. It works in secret as much It cannot shout too loudly, so that tens of millions in the shops, mills and mines over the nation will clearly hear, that the work- ers of this country must and will stand shoulder to shoulder with European labor for the triumph of the working class. (Continued from Page 1) taken into consideration by a com- mittee which the mayors will appoint. The employers further ‘stated that they were ready to take up complaints with their employes individually, if they return to work, but that they will not recognize the union, To Crush Workers’ Strike. Now Secretary of Labor Davis pro- poses the very same thing—that the workers return to work uncondition-,| ally and that the demands be arbitra- ted by a committee composed of one from the employers, one from the workers, and one appointed by Secre- tary of Labor Davis, and furthermore, that the employes of each mill and each department be dealt with sepa- rately. This means further division of the workers and refusal even to recognize the right of the workers to organize. The plan means that the workers shall go back to work without a union, and that a committee of two to one worker may then discuss for months the simple demands of the strikers, at the end of which the workers will get nothing, as they will have no union and no power to do anything in the situation. Dozens of similar cases and experiences have already occur- red in which the workers went back to the mills and then got nothing from the bosses. Only the other day in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, the textile workers who submitted to a similar plan to that of Secretary Davis, after months of arbitration secured a deci- sion that the wage cut was justified, Meanwhile the mill turned out the orders, and now the workers have no union and no power to fight against this decision, Fight Against Miserable Conditions, The textile workers are fighting against the most miserable exploita- i ait ‘ Need of Greater Solidarity Shown tion in the country—against long hours, vicious speed-up system, and unsanitary conditions, They are fighting for the restora- tion of the wage cut, and for an in- crease in wages to meet the high cost of living, They are fighting against unsanitary working conditions and for a reduction in the working day—ele- mentary demands that have been achieved long ago by workers in the United States. Secretary of Labor Davis has nothing to say about miser- able conditions of the workers. He plays the game of the employers. No worker will be fooled by this propo- sal of the government. “ Secretary Davis’ proposal is in line with the entire policy and practices of the Coolidge administration, which trom the very beginning has acted as the most powerful strike-breaking machinery for the employers, and has ulways taken the side of the bosses, sven in fhdustries where the workers are most miserably exploited, In making the proposal, the agents of Davis consulted with the mill own- TWENTY-ONE. WORKERS DIE IN ALABAMA SCAB STEEL PLANT EXPLOSION BIRMINGHAM, Mar. 21—Twen- ty-one workers were killed outright at the Woodward tron company works when a furnace exploded re- i ing a flood of white hot metal, Six more workers are expected to die. All Birmingham steel plants are run on an open shop basis. Ac- cidents such as tl above occur frequently in the ' “industrial Mec- ca” of the south, which is also the Mecca of the “American plan,” CHICAGO I. A. M. ORGANIZATION DRIVE BEGINS Rank and File Members on Union Committee (Continued from Page 1) proven by the government's analysis of income tax returns of corporations last year, According to these reports 10,168 corporations made, net profits of $1,427,495,889, The magnitude of this tremendous industry can be better understood by a comparison with the figures report- ed by other manufacturing establish- ments. Such a comparison shows that the metal manufacturers made more than one third of the net profits of all the manufacturing corporations. ‘Ten thousand firms in that branch of manufacturing made net profits of more than 50 per cent of the profits reported by nearly 70,000 other cor+ porations engaged in manufacturing other commodities. Metal manufacturers made more than half as much as all the banking and other financial corporations in the country and two and one half times as much as all the railroads. By examining the facts it is found that 192 big companies or less than two per cent of the total is enjoying the cream of the profits. The 192 cor- porations are tucking away in their safes net profits of more than one million dollars and some have report- ed incomes of more than $5,000,000. The smaller concerns average @ smaller margin of the profits and of course the general trend is to con- solidate \the smaller enterprises into bigger industrial combines and kill the small competitors. The conditions in the open shops and expecially the bigger corporations are deplorable. Machinists are work- ing from nine to ten hours at @ wage of from 50 cents to 80 cents an hour. Specialists are of course worse off yet. In the shops controlled by the Metal Trades Association a reg- ular spy system is maintained in order to prevent organization. In the International Harvester Co. and other similar concerns company unions have been organized in order to prevent the influence of real trade unions, These company unions must either be destroyed or be made to function as trade unions fighting for the interests of the workers. In these great corporations skill is no longer the predominating factor and the specialist has taken the place of the skilled mechanic. The great number employed in these shops are unskilled and semi-skilled work- ers such as machine operators, as for example, punch press, drill press, screw machine, lathe, milling machine, etc. The machinists’ union recognizes this fact which is set forth in the leaflet calling for the tool and diemakers, machinists, specialists of all kinds and helpers to join the union. The initiation fee is also re- duced to such a minimum that every worker in the shops can afford to join. The initiation fee is only $6.50 and all machine shop workers reading this article should immediately make their application at the office of the union; 113 S. Ashland Blvd. Big Job Ahead, The problem of organizing this gi- gantic industry is a big task and can not be accomplished overnight but a start has been made and if a real mass campaign is carried on and all unions in the industry would unite their forces in a real organization drive this would no doubt pave the way for the amalgamation of all these unions into one industrial union cap- able of carrying on a real struggle against these great corporations and wrest some of these gigantic profits away from them and ultimately take over the industry for the benefit of the workers in the industry. ss ers and have avoided entirely the committee of the workers, Tools of Big Business, ~ Davis, who is carrying out the orders of big business, is a tool of the bosses and is an enemy of the workers. His arbitration scheme means the betrayal of the interests of the workers, That is why the mill owners have already agreed to his plan, The textile workers who have suc- cessfully carried on their struggle against tear gas bombs, arrests of pickets, and long-term sentences of strikers, will not be fooled by this new maneuver, Stick firm and figlit for your de aands. The only safeguard against our employers is a strong union, Need Labor Party, The police, courts, mayors, and ~ ca¥inet ministers now in control of the city and national governments are the agents of the bosses, They are there to do the bidding of the mill owners and of big business, The workers need a labor party, a party of the wo which will oust the politicians of the mill owners, and will put ldbor representatives in con- trol of government. Only thru organ- ization and struggle will you win your rights. (Communist) Party, Worke: Passaic Local id District ee No. 2. a ESS CP DAGRE tient ree Sea See ete SE EP ae Sense a en EE eee, Executive Comm (New York and New Jersey.) ‘ OSS ELS "EEN ne 9 eae SSS a eS URN SRSHE ERT ae TY cS Van SER ne ne ESOT OSE SI eS ee Ne eRe ths BO Rats we SSE A Pe A SEE SSE a EN eT EE ENE |