The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 6, 1926, Page 5

1000°"WORKER. CO) MAY COMPANY STORE WORKERS MUST BE SPIES Betray Fellow: Worker or Lose Job By a Worker Correspondent CLEVELAND, April 4—In some fac tories» spies, stools and rate are em- ployed from ordinary detective ‘agen- cies, This is a relatively expensive method for the employers, who have found other and simpler means of de- tecting “undesirables” in their em- ploy. The May company, one of the large department stores of Cleveland, asks an applicant to fill out an elaborate application blank. In bold letters it states that “the filling out of this blank is not compulsory. If you have any scruples against doing so, or an- swering the questions fully do not do 80.” But if you have any scruples or fafl-to fill out all the spaces you are told that your services are not wanted.. “We-only ask you to fill out an appll- cation in justice to those already in our employ, who look to us as mor ally responsible for those who we make their companions and associates in the store.” Pays Starvation Wages. To be sure, the company is con- cerned about the welfare of its em- ployes, while it pays the same starva- tion wages that all department store slaves receive. You do not, however, merely serve the company in the ca- pacity of a clerk or some other em- ploye. You are expected to be a spy —and to do so free of charge. The blank contains the following: “Would you consider It your duty to report, In writing or otherwise, any act or conduct of your fellow employe that you consider against the interest of our business?” Must Act as Spy. A very slick proposition and one you must agree to or you are not en- gaged. One applicant failed to fill out the space, and when’ questioned by the office man, declared that he would keep his mouth shut and would do his work, but that he did not consider it his duty to report about a fellow em- ploye. That was the duty of the super intendent. He was told thatthe com- pany was very sorry, but it could not engage him. Another quéstion is, “Should we employ you, will you agree. to keep the amount of your salary con- fidential?” Why should a worker tell the other employes what he receives? It might create dissatist among them if he got higher wages, and surely would cause resentment in him- self tf he discovered that"he had of- fered his services at a figure far be- Jow that which the others ‘were earn- ing. A fine scheme to keep'the work- ers divided. 5 Must Join Company Unlon, Finally the statement: “There is connected with the May company a beneficial association known as the May Company Employes’ Mutual Ben- efit Association. In consideration of receiving employment by the com- pany, do you agree to becomes a mem- ber of this association?” Why this covert compulsion? Be- cause the May company knows that in the company union—which is what the association is—the workers are held in bond and can easily be checked up. A democratic country, with free and equal opportunity for all! We say: A superb, voluntary spy system with services gratis to the boss! Women Must Work As Hard As the Men In the Briggs Auto Shop By a Worker Correspondent DETROIT, April 4.— Girls and women are forced to work in the Briggs Auto Body Manufacturing oompany as hard as men for 35, 40 and 42 cents an hour. For working eight and ten hours a day they receive the low wage of $2.80 to $4.20. THE DAILY WORKER 13-1927 NEW PRIZES Now, For Our Worker Correspondents 1 For Best Stories Sent in During the Week to Appear in the Issue of Friday, April 9: |-—-KING COAL,.a fine working class novel by Upton Sinclair, Cloth. bound for your library, 7 year’s subscription to the LABOR DEFENDER—a prize for 12 months. good ia the numbers published (8) of the Little Red Library, ‘Win one of these prizes with a short account of wages and conditions in your shop. Make it short—give facts— give your name and address. enn The Circular Distributor By M. PERLIN, Worker Correspondent. On a very cold day, when It was snowing and a bitter cold northern wind blew the snow in all directions, a man with a bag suspended from his shoulders was placing a paper folder underneath my back door. | noticed hls hands'were half frozen andl asked him to come Into the house to warm himself. z He told me that he cannot waste much time in any one place. He is one of a group of bill peddlers to whom a foreman Is assigned to watch them closely that they shall not spend too much time in any one place. : “I can't stay and yet | must, for | must warm myself,” he said and seated himself near the kitchen stove. After he had thawed out a little he sald to me: “This is a world, such a world. 1 announce to people that there are good fur coats, good sults and shoes to be had and yet | go about In torn, threadbare clothes... 1 get $2.80 a day and only work three or four days a week. How can I afford to buy clothes?” With this, he thanked me for the little warmth he had received In my kitchen and he again went forth to tell other People of all the good things there are in this world for others but not for himself. PROFESSOR THROWN OUT OF JOB FOR SHOWING STUDENTS HOW THE PACKING HOUSE WORKERS LIVE By a Worker Correspondent. DENVER, Célo.;’ April 4—Professor Grove S, Dow, head of the depart- ment of sociology-in-the Denver university, was recently notified that his services would no eit be required at the end of the present school year. For a number ‘ ms Professor Dow has conducted a class in sociology at the Denver Labor College which was one of the most popular courses. His class has been recently engaged in making a survey of the newsboys employed on the ‘streets of Denver, which forced the city,.council to adopt an ordinance prohibiting children un- der the age of twelye;from peddling newspapers. Previously children as young as four and five years haye ped- dled papers on the-streets of Denver at all hours of the day..and night. Students Shown'-Workers’ Plight. The latest ‘survey Of Globeville, commenly known is**“Packington,” showed too much té"siit the conserva- ive element at the Denver university. Conditions wers “fond tn working- men’s homes, in that suburb of Den- ver that would’ ‘shock hardened in- vestigators. Working class families, some having as high as seven children were crowded in two or three small rooms,. living in the most primitive fashion imaginabie, Poverty, unem- ployment and the rigors of winter have added to their misery so that they have practicailly,been forced to rely on charity for an existence, It 4s reported that most calls for help to the community chest have come from this section of the city. Packinghouse workers in Denver are mot organized at present and have been working only a few days each week during the past year, Worried Big Business. Professor Dow, is.outspoken on his ideas on evolution. . The editor of the Denver Express said editorially that “Big Business, which supplies the funds for the support. of schools and colleges is not s0,,.much concerned over the varioys, brands of religion taught therein as it is with the varl- ous brands of economics.” He has written several books: “So- ciety and Its Problems,” which is in Most of the work in the shop con-| use in three Colorado colleges and is sists of punch press operations, weld- | used in the Denver ing, sewing, cushion making, spring making, etc. All of the female work ) use it. A high school book: university, and 140 colleges and universities in the nation “Intro- MUCH RED-TAPE TO GET A JOB AT DODGE PLANT COALDIGGER IS FRAMED -UP BY - COMPANY DICKS Force a “Confession” Thru Third Degree By GEORGE PAPCUN, (Special to The Daily Worker) WASHINGTON, April 4. — Three special officers of the Bethlehem Mine corporation at the Ellsworth, Coke- burg and Marianna plants were charged with assanlt and battery be- fore an alderman,here on March 29, by Joe Petroff.ef:Ellsworth and sim- ilar charges were made against two of them by Gully! Merchant of Hast Marianna, Doctors verify the charges of Joe Petroff.« It is claimed by the Bethlehem Mine eorporation that Joe Petroff set his hduse afire when the coal company ordéred him to vacate it. It is also stated that he had his household effects all packed up and they were in the, house when the fire broke out. y40 After the burning of the house, the officers took Joe Petroff and put him thru a third degree. Petroff claims that the officers beat him with a club, handy-billy, and the butt of a revolver and that one held. a revolver to his head while the other fired a bullet into the floor. He said they took him prisoner as the fire was in progress and gave him the third degree for six hours. He also makes a statement that he would have confessed to any crime to be freed from the torture which he claims he was subjected to. These are some of the things that the coal companies of western Penn- sylvania are using in their attempt to break the morale of the coal miners in this region and in trying to make them accept the 1917 scale. They are trying. to frame-up the dif- ferent minerg:so)that the other work- ers would besdiscouraged and would go to work. ree Washington doc- tors who exammed Petroff said they found finger-prints on his throat and swelings and outs about the head. The coal operators are now becoming more militant in-their attacks on the coal miners in trying to force them to go to work,..Every day one hears about explosions, bombings, and beat- ing up of miners. A former miger also charges the same officers with beating him up as he was working on an automobile near his house, The,names of the accused officers are ag; follows: Lewis W. Kranz, Oscar: .Re--Check, and J. Spencer. The at of the Bethlehem Mine corporat are defending the accused officers. Attempts have been made to run ‘thé mines at Ellsworth, Cokeburg and ina on the 1917 scale. s Must Wait In Lines In|Sues U. S. Government Cold for Hours 8y a Worker Correspondent HAMTRAMCK, Mich. April 4,— Many workers are looking for a job here. One morning over 500 workers gathered at the Dodge plant at five eee ee are o'clock in the morning. They waited until seven o'clock to see the em- ployment manager. As the workers arrived at four in the morning they were told to line up. Special dputies in uniforms, act. as watchmen, lined up on the abreast. kept the workers: bo and Gets Soaked for $2,338,481 as Result (Special to The Daily Werker) WASHINGTON, April 4. — The company, owned by the St@ndard Oil company of New York, had poor luck in the court of claims here when a decision was handed down regarding its claim for damages against the government. The case grew out of the refusal of who also! the corporation to accept the rate of $4.15 a deadweight ton a month for ardwalks 8iX|the use of four tank steamers requi- sitioned for government use in 1917 Comrade Rykov, Chairman of the Page Five People’s Commissars, Speaking at the “Red Putilov” Works, Leningrad, U, S. S. R. Condemn Debt-Cancellation Talk (Continued from page 1.) thing Winston Churchill speaks for the best interests of Great Britain when he demands cancellation. I don’t believe he speaks for British self-respect or for the mass of the British people.” Senator Dill, (D) of Washington, interrupted Reed with a declaration that the Italian settlement was on the basis of 27 cents to a dollar and the British pact upon a basis of 86 cents to a dollar. Reed denied this, citing, figures which showed the present value of the Italian settlement to be about 38 cents to a dollar. Howell Protests Cancellation, The increasing talk of debt cancel- lations by European statesmen is be- ginning to arouse considerable protest on the part of American represent- atives. Typical of this attitude were the remarks of Senator Howell, (R) of Nebraska, in his attack upon the debt settlement. “Before the echo of the last gunfire in the great war had scarcely died away,” he asserted, “a project was ini- tiated in Europe for the cancellation of every one of our war debts, It penetrated the chancellories of that continent, it stalked to the peace table, it reached across the Atlantic and clasped hands with our international ‘bankers, it intrigued our trade asso- ciations and chambers of commerce, it instituted a subtle and all-envelop- ing propaganda that worked while many of us slept. Attacks British Settlement, “Following such a barrage, the Brit- ish debt commission finally came to Washington and the cancellation pro- ject, as remarkable at it may seem, actually triumphed. The British set- tlement provides for cancellation, pure and simple. It was justified upon the now, high-sodnding theory of ‘ability to pay.’ “Then followed a debacle-provision for the cancellation of ten more of our foreign debts; the ‘ability to pay’ theory working in favor of certain other nations, but when its applica- tion would have been favorable to the United States it was forgotten, on the ground that having cancelled Britain's debt, that of our strongest creditor, we could hardly ask any other nation to accept less favorable terms. Roumania and West Virginia. “As an example, it has been report- ed and not denied to my knowledge that Prince Bibesco, the former Ru- manian minister, was recalled as a consequence of his insistence that his country could and should pay its debt of $47,000,000 in full. Yet the settle- ment now before the senate provides for cancellation, altho Roumania in- cludes 122,000 square miles, 17,500,000 people (both doubted as a result of the war), and its interest-bearing war debt, including the amount due the United States is but $267,000,000. “West Virginia has but a fifth of the area and an eleventh of the popula- tion, and yet,\its share of our interest- bearing war debt is almost identical, $266,500,000. Were Roumania’s debt as great in proportion, it would total $3,185,000,000." Edge for Approval. Senator Edge (R) of New Jersey, said that, as a business man, he con- sidered the agreement before the sen- ate a good business proposition. He admitted the discount granted Italy amounted to about 75 per cent, com- pared to less than 18 per cent granted Great Britain. In his opinion, those opposed to the agreement should de- monstrate that it is possible for Italy to pay a greater sum than 25 per cent. of the debt. With the possible excep- tion of Great Britain, no nation in the world was laboring under so heavy a tax burden as Italy, he said. Borah Makes Statement. Senator Borah took up the com- plaint against debt cancellation yester- day in a speech drawn by a question from Senator Copeland, (D) of New York, who asked him if he thot that “these countries abroad are ever going to make full settlement of the pay- ments promised?” “I am* compelled to say that from the campaign in England, I think the program for cancellation is now on,” was Borah'sibrief answer. Predicts Mussolini's Exit. In hisospeech for approval of the Italian debt-settlement, Copeland de- clared that Mussolini and his policies were not the point at issue. “In the nature .of things Mussolini will dis- appear from, the stage ere long,” he predicted... He stated his belief that there would be a general remission of war debts in the next quarter century. England.and Belgium would never pay one-half ,the amounts stipulated in their respective settlements, he pro- phesized, _ Not According to Program. Pat Harrison, (D) of Mississippi, charged that the Italian debt plan violated the republican campaign pledge to base all settlements on that granted Great Britain. Playing for Time. The debate threatens to last for days yet, as it may be interrupted any moment by the Brookhart election contest and the Judge English im- peachment case. The democratic-in- surgent opposition considers that the longer they can kéep the matter on the floor, the better is their chance to win over enuf wavering senators to pass the motion for a recommitment. If that succeeds the general issue of foreign debt settlements will be dragged into the November elections. INSTALLMENT PURCHASING PLANS At seven in the morning the employ- | for war purposeg. The shipping board ment office opened. Twenty-five work-|had proposed that the company should ers at a time were let into the yard. |accept this rate in full settlement of They were told to line up single file the claim. against a wall and then they passed ‘When suit was’ brought the govern- the employment manager. Here the ment set up a eounter-claim amount- manager sized them up. Instead of | ing to $5,289,017.) ‘The decision granted asking what the worker could do, each |the concern $2,950,536, which was the worker had to tell what kind of work |amount originally offered by the gov- he was seeking. ernment, but als@ found the counter- A number of workers that the |claim justified. The net result is that Manager thought were needed were |the Statndard Transportation company sent to one side, Here another man- will have to pay the government $2,- ager asked them questions. When the | 338,481, which ig the amount the cor- workers were sent into this room |poration is out of pocket by refusing many thought they had been given the original offer. jobs. But they were soon brought down to earth. Out of the fifty or sixty that were sent to one side only five or ten got jobs. The others Car Repairer Sues Railroad for $10,000 CAUSE BIG BUSINESS MUCH WORRY By LELAND OLDS, Federated Press. Labor wants the good things of life—autos, homes, radios, pianos, furni- ure, electric appliances, etc.—Labor made them, uses them and might as ell keep them, even tho the installment purchase system breaks down. Financial wizards are worried about too much installment buying. The industrial activity of the past three years has been sustained by a combina- tion of good wages with partial payment schemes enabling labor to use some of the good things it produced. » Baltimore Raises $575 The Farmers Loan and Trust Com- pany of New York estimates that $3,293,411,878 worth of autos, washing-| for the Passaic Strikers; machines, vacuum cleaners, phono- * graphs, furniture, pianos, jewelry and Mayor Refused by ‘ermit radio equipment is sold annually on prow . the installment plan, A preliminary| BALTIMORE, Md., April 4.—$576 POLICE TRY TO STOP STRIKERS’ RELIEF MEETING Perth Amboy Priest Tool of Bosses By SYLVAN A. POLLACK, ‘ PERTH AMBOY, N. J., April 4.—Ap+ parently jealous of the “prestige” that their brother police officers in Page saic are obtaining, the police officials of Perth Amboy attempted to stop a meeting arranged to raise funds for the relief of the textile strikers of Passaic. The Perth Amboy ReHef Commit tee, who were in charge of the arm rangements, had engaged, Washington. Hall, on Fayette St., and advertised |in the local. papers that Albert Weis- bord would speak. The police notified the hall keeper. that the meeting could not be held and made him return the deposit to the arrangements committee. “At | first the committee in charge thot that the meeting would not be held, so they notified Weisbord that it was called off, but later they were able to obtain a small hall located on Him street. Strikebreaking Prtest. At morning church services on the day the meeting was held, Father Kish of the Catholic church amnoune ., ed to his flock that anyone emong them that would attend the meeting would be expelled from the church, . and he further stated that a “snoop _, ing committee” would be on hand te report back to him the names of those who disobeyed his orders. Hall Crowded. . The Elm St. hall was crowded te the doors, including a good quota of police and the Catholic snooping com- mittee. At first the police stated that they would not allow the meeting to be held but later they changed thetr mind. The chairman opened the meeting and introduced Morris Rosen, of the Carpenters Union of New York City and a delegate to the New York Oen- tral Trades and Labor Council. Rosen launched into e bitter attack on the actions of Father Kish fn try- ing to prevent funds being raised for the relief of the striking textile workers. “Thousands of strikers are starving and this meeting was called to raise funds for relief,” declared Rosen. “His hatred of the workers is guided by the fact that he is-a tool of the capitalist class.” Rosen pointed out that the workers are. the majority of the population and all actions should be for their benefit. Ted Deak, one of the Passaic strik- ers, also spoke describing the strnug- “ gle that the textile workers are put- ting up for the most elementary rights. It was, announced at the end of the meeting that Weisbord would speak at a meeting which would soon be ar ranged in Perth Amboy, The Boston American Negro Labor Congress Has Pleasant Social BOSTON, April 4—Never before th the history of conservative Boston have colored and white workers min- .; gled so promiscuously as they did at». the first social and entertainment of the American Negro Labor Congress. At that social were represented all * races, colors, and creeds. Nobody © would have dreamed that there ever was such a thing as race prejudice. Nobody would have believed that re ligious intolerance ever existed. Cok ~- ored and white patrons talked to gether, ate together, and danced to- gether, This motley crowd of races an@ creeds was first brot to its feet by the significant phrases‘of the “Inter national.” An intense spirit of har mony was created and this was maim tained and even augmented by follow- ing songs. ‘Interspersed among these ers on the punch presses reust wear | duction to the principles of Sociolo- overalls. They must eat their cold | gy”; “Social Problems of Today” are lunch-box dinners in an atmosphere |two other books written by him. A heavily laden with dust and smoke} book entitled “Crime and Its Preven- and around greasy machines. tion” is about to. come off the press It 4s impossible to go out of the/for distribution. Another book to be plant to eat as only a half hour 1s/| published soon is “Society and Its allowed at noon for lunch. Intoxi- | Problems.” cated foremen and rowdies. who are usually spies, clerks or some such lackeys of the boss, mistreat the girls. As long as the shop is unorganized the boss will always have his own way. The girls and women in these shops should join hand in hand with the men in fighting the conditions that now prevail. , ery out, Labor Body to Investigate, The Denver Trades Assembly has instructed its committee on. lectures and public institutions to. investigate the cause of the dismissal, The dele- was kicked out because his teaching methods were too thoro to suit the contributors to the million dollar en- dowment fund recently raised, most ‘of whom are prominent labor exploit- ers of Denver, The student body protested to He- ber R, Harper, chancellor of the Den- ver university, with ‘fesolutions and handbills condemning the dismissal. The above goes to show that when @ real scientist beg! 10 do sincere work {in our schools and colleges the people who furnish the money soon find some grounds to have him kicked ec sera ens> were told there was no work, after waiting for several hours in this room: After a number of workers have been interviewed and seemingly hired by the employment manager they are told to take a seat. A messenger boy then takes them to the superintendent of the department that he is wanted |"@ #lleses is d for. Here he undergoes an examina- tion by the superintendent. The superintendent then puts an O. K. on a slip given the worker from the second employment man, On this survey by the domestic distribution department of the United States cham- ber of commerce indicates that install- ment selling reaches $5,000,000,000 an- nually, This is about a sixth of the entire amount spent by consumers at retail stores. It is about half of the in Wages Withheld ie BALTIMORE, #pril 4. — D. C. Wen- ner, a former car mepairer, has brought sult against the Western Maryland Railroad for $10,000 back pay, ‘which i@ him for a period since March 22, 9916. This claim is made under the terms of a railroad labor board decision. It is the first of a series of 131 suits for sums totaling $900,000, which former shopmen are to bring for collection of back pay. sip is placed whether the worker 18 | ney aggert that the company violated to work on day or night work, the Cigteament it signed with their The worker then goes back to the junions in July, 1921. This agreement employment office. A third employ-| was ratified by rulings of the railroad ment manager makes out his applica-{iabor board. The men were forced tion, If the worker is not a citizen he |out on strike by the action of the ig told to get his first papers. They |company, which finally broke their used to send the worker for a physt- | gtrike, cal examination, but this practice has| Members of the Brotherhood of Lo- now been discontinued since the work- |comotive Engineers and of the Broth- ers are insured without a physical ex-|erhood of Locomotive Firemen are amination, now in the sixth month of their strike The wages paid the worker after he |to make the company live up to gn- goes thru all this red tape is but 45 |other award of the . cents an hour. If the worker fails to keep the, pace..the speed-up system] “Say it with your ‘pen in the worker has set:he ig,flred with little cere |correspondent page of The DAILY mony. 9 WORKER.” aa annual wages paid factory workers. The fear of the business world that the workers will not be able to keep up their time payments, that the de- mand for goods will decline, that goods already sold will be returned to the dealers, and that the glut will produce industrial depression, is ex- pressed by President Marseles of Montgomery Ward, the mail order house. He says the effects of time payments 8: “will probably be a postponem: ofthe business down- turn, but the result is bound to be that the ensuing depression will be more acute and of longer duration than it otherwise would have been.” HOLLYWOOD, Cal. April 4, — The Cecile B, DeMille studios announce they are planning to, filma picture of the life of the Negro jn the United tat The cast is to, gonsist entirely t Negro actoFs, jgouiy was raised for the textile strikers of Passaic at a united front meeting here participated in by the Civil Liberties Union, Workmen's Circle, Workers Party, Amalgamated Clothing Work- ers’ Union, socialist party and other workers’ organizations. At a previous conference of rep- resentatives of these organizations it was decided to stage a tag day for raising funds for the strikers, A depu- tation went to the board of estimate twice for a jag-day permit and were refused on both occasions, The first time the mayor said: “We cannot issue a permit to an uncharter- ed organization.” The second time a Qelegation went with a request from | a chartered organization and were re- fused the permit anyhow, Drys Raise $50,000. WASHINGTON, April 4.—The Anti- Saloon League today initiated a drive to raise a “battle fund” of $50,000 to combat the wets In hearings before the senate Judiciary committee next week, ae SEND INA spirited songs were music and speeches of unusual quality. Victimize Home Ownera, WASHINGTON, D. C., April 4 = Many persons have been victimed by the Zenith Lawn Accessory company, a firm with numerous mail addresses “ engaged in selling a grass seed mix ture for lawns under the coined name ©, “herbae prati.” The post office de- partment has denied the company the use of the mail, An analysis of the mixture made by the department seed testing labora- tory showed it to be composed mainly of meadow fescue and Italian rye grass. The victims have paid as high as $1.50 a pound for the mixture, whereas, according to the department, the constituents of the herbae pratt’ mixture could have been purchased from reputable seed firms for not }more than 1 to 20 cents a pound, Traveling agents are still active thru- out the country selling “herbae prati” by house-to-house canvass and to local seed handlers, . a Police Brutality. si SPRINGFIELD, Il, April 4, = Charges of brutatity will be faced by © thtde ‘policemen before the ‘‘etvil service commission late today. The chargés hinge on arrest of two men” following a robbery, Two other -of-'! were cleared recently of similag’ # es, be ~