The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 7, 1926, Page 3

ar camer rset THIS PAGE Is Devoted to the Activity and Interests of the Trade Union Educational League (T. U, B. L.) North American Section of the RED INTERNATIONAL OF LABOR UNIONS (R. LL, U.) The T. U. E. L. Represents the Left Wing of the Labor Movement. Its Purpose Is to Strengthen the Labor Unions by Amalgamation of Existing Unions, Organization of the Unorganized, and by Replacing Reactionary and Class Collaboration Policies with a Unified Program for the Transformation of the Unions Into Organs of Revolutionary Class Struggle for the Overthrowal of Capitalism and the Establishment of a Workers’ and Farm- ers’ Government. ANUAAEUUAOUONOOOEAOUOOUAENOELOOENOGOGEEOOUUOEEOEOUGEEEOEG THE STEEL TRUST PROFITS GO UP $12,000,000; WAGES AT STANDSTILL By LELAND OLDS, Federated Press. How steel trust employes were gypped out of their share of the in- ereased prosprity of 1925 is revealed in the annual report of Gary’s industrial ‘creased prosperity of 1925 is revealed in the annual report of Gary’s industrial produced as they received in 1924 the average annual pay would have been $1,953. But this is $125 more than they actually received. Profits however went up $12,000,000, The 249,833 employes of the United States Steel corporation produced in 1925, goods which the trust sold for $928,150,726. This figure does not include a large amount of intercompany pusi-. ness which raises the gross business of the corporation to $1,406,505,000. For their work the employes received $465,740,355 in wages. In 1924, the 246,753 workers turned out products which sold for $842,969,442 and receiv- ed $442,458,577 in wages. Thus the ‘receipts of the corporation for the workers’ products increased $85,181,- 284 or 10 per cent, while the wagus paid for the actual work increased enly $14,281,778, just over 3 per cent. The increase in corporation receipts was six times the increase in wares. The increase over 1924 in*the com- peny’s receipts per worker was nine times the increase in the average ‘wage paid the individual worker for dhe work. The company’s gross sil+s per worker increased from $3,412 in 1924 to $3,716 in 1925 or $304. The everage wage increased from $1,794 to $1,828, only $34. Table of Wages and Profits. The table shows for the years since 1914 the average daily wage paid by United States Steel, the average year- iy wage, the value produced per em- ploye and the owners’ profit per ¢m- ploye: Steel Sales Profit ‘Trust Daily Yearly per per Exp. Wage Wage Work. Work. 1914 $2.97 $905 $2,122 $100 1915 3.29 925 2,546 Ta 1916 3.36 1,041 3,378 1,811 1917 4.16 1,295 4,500 1,102 1918 5.38 1,695 4,794 596 1919 6.17 1,900 4,260 570 1920 7.00 2,173 4,562 5387 1921 5.73 1,736 3,419 483 1922 4.91 1,501 3,358 4i4 1923 5.73 1,800 3,806 639 1924 5.74 1,794 $3,412 ° 621 1925 5.77 1,925 3,716 683 Last year’s steel trust profit gives the holders of common stock a re- turn of $12.86 a share, As the aver- ‘age stockholder owns 56% shares this means an average return of $727 to people who contributed no work what- soever to carrying on the industry. A year ago the average return to stock- holders was $666. The big financiers get a much larger chunk than the average stockholder. George F, Bak- er with his 58,650 shares gets over $750,000 of last year’s profit compoar- ed with about $690,000 he got in 1924. Pres. Coolidge’s 50 shares bring him $643 for doing nothing. This js more than the average worker in the corporation gets in wages for 4 months’ work. Chief justice Taft is also. a stockholder, So was the late Pres, Wilson, This year marks.tie 25th anniver- sary of Unite States Steel. Since 1901 it has rolled up profits totaling $3,682,886,191 of which $2,171,000,000 ‘was available for dividends. It has paid cash dividends totaling $1,279,- 963,785, Common dividends hav amounted to $631,544,001 which ‘s sheer velvet as practically all the common stock at the beginning was water. The corporation has put valve behind this worthless stock by rein- vesting over a billion dollars out of excess profits in the industry. ‘Cautious Cal’ Welcomes * * Reactionary Laborites WASHINGTON, April 5.—President Coolidge and Secretary of Labor Da- vis have received the London Daily Mail's special party of eight anti-radi- cal trade unionists who have been sent to America to report on the close and relations between American employers and employes, and on the wages paid to American labor. Failing to secure any notable pub- in Washington for their views, party was taken by Daily Mail correspondents to the National Press to meet newspaper men, In their first statement, made at American Federation of Labor head- they announced that théy were opposed to ‘the “‘bolsheviks” in ft ih Jabot movement who class hatred.” mi A e é i WOODWARD IRON GO.1S A RABID ANTI-UNION SHOP 21 Workers Victims of Bosses’ Greed NEW YORK, April 6.—“Killing of 21 men in a blast furnace explosion in Alabama is a crime against the work- ers,” declares the workers’ health bureau, “It is a crime which must be charged against both the industrial profiteers and the authorities in that state. Four hundred tons of molten iron bursting from an 80-foot ore- melter, pouring over its victims, burned them to death. Four dajs after this terrible disaster occurred.no move had been made by any govern- ment agency to investigate its cause or recommend methods for preventing similar outrages.” Open-Shop Plant, The explosion occurred at the Woodward Iron company plant 10 miles west of Birmingham. Heated full blast, the furnace blew up before the time for the cooling process to, begin. Two other workers had been killed in a similar explosion at the company’s No. 1 furnace two weeks previous. “All steel and iron plants in and around Birmingham are op- erated as non-union plants,” says the bureau, “and for years the owners have bitterly resisted all efforts to unionize their employes. They force their workers to toil 10 and 12 hours a day and flagrantly ignore the most urgently necessary safety measures. “We are informed by the Alabama State Federation of Labor that 15 of the victims at the Woodward plant were laborers, who received from 35 to 50 cents an hour for a 10-hour day; four were millwrights, who got an ay- erage of 60 cents an hour. When the inevitable catastrophe occurs what becomes of the dependents of the vic- tims? The most the workers’ widows may expect to receive is 30 per cent of the husband's average weekly earn- ings, provided, however, that this award does not exceed $12 a week. The period of payment is limited to 300 weeks, Only $10 is awarded for burial. 2200 Lose Lives Annually. “Annually 2200 workers in the metal: industry are killed in the United States. In 1920, 1921 and 1922 a total of 661 deaths were caused by indus- trial accidents in Alabama. In 1922 an explosion killed 91 coal miners in Dolomite Mine No. 3, owned by the Woodward Iron company. The Dolo- mite is a gaseous bituminous mine. In 1924 two miners were killed by a dynamite explosion in the same mine and one man was electrocuted. “Unorganized workers are helpless victims of an industrial system which first exploits their labor, forces them to work under conditions which end in disaster and death, and then leaves their widows and children a humiliat- ing pittance with which to hold body and soul together, Only thru the strength of trade union organization can workers defend themselves against intolerable working conditfons, Catas- trophes like those in Alabama call for immediate organization of all unor- ganized workers into trade unions and a determined campaign to wipe out all preventable accidents and occupational hazards,” , Weavers Strike, FALL RIVER, Mass., April 5.—Six- teen nonunion weavers at Stafford mill No. 1, Fall River, Mass, are striking for three cents per cut wage increase, They operate 24 looms at 24 cents per cut. The plant has been 4 opreating only a few weeks since its | f] T. BOSTON & MAINE ROAD SHOPMEN FIGHT BOSSES Five Workers Demand Their Jobs Back BOSTON, Mass. April 5. — The fight of the five suspended Billerica shopmen on the Boston and Maine railroad goes on for re-instatement. The Boston and Maine railroad fired five shopmen because they dared to go to the United States department of labor commissioner and present the grievances of the workers in the Bil- lerica shops for adjustment. The superintendent of the shop fired the five and when the workers called a meeting to discuss the griev- ances, the bosses told each of the workers that if any of them went to the meeting to discuss the grievances they would lose their jobs. ‘ Fire Workers. Those that spoke at the meeting declared that they were sure they would be fired for criticizing condi- tions in the shops. The workers in the shops were bitter over the way in which the bosses cheated them on the piece-work. The men point out that the company underpaid the piece-work- ers and that company had failed tc live up to promises it had made the workers, The workers further point out that the company has been firing workers that have worked in the shops for three to four years because they were anable to stand the pace in the piece- work departments, The excuse the company gave for firing the men was that they had “mis- represented” their case before the la- HE DAILY WORKER LABORERS AND PAINTERS’ STRIKE IN FIFTH WEEK Building Trades Work- ers Aid Strikers CLEVELAND, April 5.—The strike of the painters and laborers, which began on March 1, is in full swing. Only the small contractors have signed up, but the big employers are determined not to give in. Almost daily the open shoppers issue state- ments deélaring that the wages they are paying ate far above the average and that ifwages are raised it will mean an Snfolerable increase in’ the cost of bullding operations. They even go 80 far as to- threaten that if the workers -persist in their demands, it will mean a slow-down in building operations ‘in Cleveland, Undaunted, the painters and labor- ers continue ‘their strike. There is no outlook at present of the big con- tractors yiélding. The season has been @ poor ofie for the building trades and the 0 shoppers are taking ad- vantage ng Day by day there ap- pear advertisements for “union paint- ers and ding laborers.” The open shoppers intend to break the strike if they can, A situation of this kind should not be allowed to continue in Cleveland. The building trades are well organized in this city and yet they have not been able to force the contractors to terms, The district executive committee of the Workers (Communist) Party, Dis- For the Health | | B Kas Saratov state department of health in collaboration with the Saratov University opened March 19 an Institute of Occupational Diseases. health of the Russia workers will be preserved by the research work of this institute, and by actual ald, There are 20 beds for the sick, a laboratory, a |’ clinic, dispensary and an experimental department. Page Three of the Workers | The The Saratov University will also use the institute for social hygiene work. standard of decency shall be reached. “Many of the independent contract- ors have signed up and work is pro- ceeding on the small jobs. The big jobs, like the Union Depot and the Bell Telephone building, are tied up. “Building operations will remain at trict No. 6, has issued a statement on|# Standstill on these jobs till the the strike, and states that “all the or- bosses are forced to recognize the de- bor board. In the same statement the officials announced that they were will- ing to meet the five workers, allowing each worker a representative to pre- sent their case, Demand Hearing. The strikers immediately sent a let- ter to James H, Hustis, president of the road, telling him that they were willing to appear before him or any impartial committee and present their case. They also insisted on being able to pick whoever they wanted to rep resent them at the investigation and also demanded the presence of the United States department of labor commissioners at the hearing. The management set a date for a hearing and when the department of labor commissioners and the workers arrived at the agreed place the bosses refused to allow the department of labor commissioners to enter. The workers left the place in a body, as each had made the agreement that they would defend each other. A let- ter was sent by the workers to the toad head asking for a hearing ac- cording to the statement made by the official and insisted they would not attend any hearings unless the depart- ment of labor officials were allowed to listen. Workers Party Aids Fight. The Workers (Communist) Party sent the following letter to the shop- men praising their efforts in the fight for reinstatement and pledging them aid in their struggle: “Mrg Archibald Harris, “Chairman of the Suspended Men, “Billerica Shopmen, “10 Ashland Street, “Somerville, Mass. “Dear Sir and Brother: “The Workers (Communist) Party wishes to express its fullest sympathy and solidarity with you in your fight against the railroad magnates of the Boston and Maine railroad, for rein- statement. We shall be glad to assist you/in every possible way in order that you may be successful in your demands. Our press and our machin- ery is at your disposal, whenever you may need it. “Incidentally, our research depart- ment has clipped an article from the New York Times which we take great Pleasure in sending you. As you will note, the article shows that the Boston. and Maine railroad earned $5,468,909 during: the year 1925, which was the best year since 1916. The railroad should be very well able to afford a considerable increase in wages for its employes on this basis, “With every wish for your success, Tam, “Fraternally yours, “Bert Miller, “District Organizer, “Workers (Communist) Party.” “Trade unions are the rvoir of the majority of the socially decisive part of the proletariat.”—C. 1. Thesis bast} Appearing Every Satdrday is alone good reason to apni de amt ee ee EE ting Sect lan ne ARE al i he ae es Club of Brooklyn, New York Po on all helpers to join the club. Meetings every FRIDAY night, 8:30 p. m., at ganized workers employed on the jobs |™2ds of the workers, and sign up. where the painters and laborers are now striking must declare sympa- thetic strike. Every man out! That will bring the bosses immediately to terms.” The statement which is illustrated and is being distributed in shop bul- letin form’to the strikers and the building trate workers that are still at work, reads as follows: “Fellow Workers: “For more’ than four weeks the painters and “building laborers in the city of Cleveland ‘have been on strike. The strikerg are firm in their determi- nation to win. The painters have put up fair demands: a five-day week and $1.37% per,hour. It is needless to state that the. painters are engaged in a trade that is very harmful to their health. Thisiis_of little consequence to the buildithg contractors. As long as they ake profit, the health and well béefig of the workers does not bother them: “The five-ddy week is a just demand of the painters. It would make their work a 40-hour week. That should be the demand Of all workers in industry today. The painters are taking the lead. iy “The building laborers are demand- ing an increase from 87% cents to $1 an hour. The building contractors de- clare that the wage is too high, and is far above, what is being paid in other cities. The Cleveland contract- ors never tell the bricklayers of this city that they are not getting the wage paid bricklayers in New York. The laborers cannot work more than 200 days a year. That means a wage of about at most $1,600 a year. Goy- ernment statistics demonstrate that the workers require at least $2,200 @ year to maintain themselves and their families in decency. The labor- ers are determined that the American “The capitalists of this country are making tremendous profits and are looking for foreign fields for invest- ment. The workers are having a hard struggle to make ends meet. While the workers go about idle, money is being shipped abroad to bring in big- ger profits for the capitalists. “The open shoppers are organized and are determined not to surrender , to the workers. “Organized workers of Cleveland! “The fight of the painters and la- borers is your fight. “The painters and laborers must succeed in their fight, otherwise it will be an obstacle to the demands put up by the workers in other trades to bring up their conditions to a decent level. “The building trades are the best or- ganized and can best carry on the fight. But they must’ be aided in order to ensure victory. “What must the erganized workers of Cleveland do? They must lend all support to the striking painters and laborers. More than that. “All the organized workers em- ployed on the jobs where the painters and laborers are now striking must declare a sympathetic strike. “Every man out! That will bring the bosses immediately to terms. “Organized workers of Cleveland! “It is time to*put up the following demands to the employers: “1. General forty-hour week in in- dustry. Every union should fight for its inclusion in the next agreement. “2. Increase in wages especially for the lower paid ranks. “3. Common expiration date in all building trades agreements, “Make these common demands— fight for them—show solidarity! “Workers (Communist) Party, “District Six.” SHUTDOWN OF W.VA, MINES LAYS OFF 1,700 Attempt’ to Starve Out oUnion b By GEORGE PAPCUN. o (Workér Correspondent) WHEELING, W. Va., April 5.—Over 1,700 union ‘Miners were thrown out of employment April 1 when five mines were shut down for an Indefinite period. Two''thousand more miners are expected to be out of work very soon, ef The mines' hut down April 1 were the Lincoln mine at lancing, the Stan- ley mine at Blain, both the property of the Lorraine Coal and Dock com- pany and eniploying 680 men; the Barton mine ‘of the Barton Mining company, employing 200; two mines of the United States Coal company at Dillonvale, employing 600, and the Flushing mine at the Massillon-Bel- mont Coal company, employing 200, Starve Them Out. Tt seems that the Coal Operators’ Association is pursuing a policy of first starving the miners at the mines, after which it will try to enforce the 1917 scale, as has been done thru eastern Ohio, West Virginia and western Peyneylvania, This adds to the thousands of coal miners that are out of employment at Present, Of course the coal operators, to hide the real motive behind the closing and shutting of the mines, give flimsy excuses, such as, “Expiration of the railroad fuel contracts and gen- eral depression of the coal industry the field is responsible for the dowa of the mines.” The miners how ridiculous this statement of the coal operators is. We know that the same excuse was given in western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and other parts of eastern Ohio, where, after starving the miners, the coal opera- tors began to smash the union and tried to force the miners back to work under non-union conditions, On Guard. The miners must be on their guard against the next move of the coal operators and they must also see that the officials pursue a real fighting policy against the coal operators should the coal operators make a move to try to make the mines non-union and reduce them to the 1917 scale, Atlantic City Walkout Looms, ATLANTIC CITY, N. J., April 5.— Painters, decorators and paperhan- gers have obtained their union de mands for wage increases of $1 a day bringing the scale to $11 and $10, Other unions have failed to get the average $2 increases asked and are preparing to strike. Building would be tied up by such a move, When that argument begins at lunch time in your shop tomor- row—show them what the DAILY WORKER says about it. REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING OF THE CHICAGO LOCAL GENERAL GROUP OF THE TRADE UNION EDUCATIONAL LEAGUE will be held on WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7th, 8 P. M. at the NORTHWEST HALL, Corner North and Western Aves, All Militants Should Attend This Meeting! ADMISSION FREER, About 15,000 gold roubles ($7,500) has been spent for renovating and equipping the bullding of the institute shown above, OPEN SHOPPERS OPPOSE PROFIT- SHARING SCHEM Rock-Bottom Wages Are Enough Says Boss By CARL HAESSLER, Federated Press, Profit sharing in industry gives the worker distorted economic ideas and destroys his enthusiasm for hard work, states a communication circulating in Chicago employer circles. It is issued by the National Association of Manu- facturers, the nationwide open-shop organization, and it is signed by C. B. Wheeler, chairman of its employment relations committee. Wheeler is vice- president of Eaton, Crane & Pike Co., makers of writing paper in Pittsfield, Mass. Another member of the com- mittee is W. M. Wood of Decatur, Ill. Use as Club Over Workers “The initiation of a profit-sharing plan can only spring from a desire to enlist a sustained loyalty on the part of employes,” writes Wheeler in open- ing his attack on the scheme, from which great things were expected im- mediately after the war tn the way of keeping labor quiet and contented. He defines profit sharing as a “plan where- by employes, including wage earners, regularly receive a predetermined share of profits as a part of their com- pensation.” It’s an awful bad idea, one gathers from his critieism, because it gives the worker the tail end of a notion that you can sometimes get some- thing for nothing, which is the secret of capitalism. As the open-shopper neatly puts it: “During a given period the worker may be inspired to the maximum effort of which he is capable and find that his share of profits is less than for another period during which he is consgious of less deter- mined effort. A system which pro- duces such a result distorts the worker’s thinkings and promotes eco- nomic fallacies.” Why Give Them More. Another rotten thing about profit sharing seems to be that all this extra cash is really an insult to the em- ploye. “It comes to the worker in the nature of a gratuity,” Wheeler rea- sons, “which he secretly if not openly resents.” The rockbottom market price for his labor is what a worker has coming to him plus a margin for speeded pro- duction, improved quality or definite economy, Wheeler tells his fellow open-shoppers. Such a wage policy he respectfully submits as “a safer, more conservative and in every way a more scientific method than the method of profit sharing.” Get behind—a copy of The DAILY WORKER every day! RulL.U, SESSION TAKES UP. JAPAN LABOR QUESTION Schumann Reports on 8-Hour Day (International Press Correspondence.) MOSCOW, U.S, S. R., March 15 (By | Mail).—The sixth session of the execu- tive of the Red International of Labor |Unions adopted a resolution upon the | werk of the revolutionary trade unions |for the study of social-economie i. |tlons, The session then heard tl report of Comrade Taki Hara upon |trade union movement in Japan. Taki Hara described the s€Vére eco- |npmic crisis and the persecution on the part of the government under which the Japanese revolutionary |Working-class movement must de velop. The reformists have built a | block with a government and they sa- |botage every attempt to establish the junity of the working class. | The Yiekikai. | A particularly crass example of this is their refus formation of |ants’ party, whi n was formed by reve- lutionary elements and later on dis- solved by the government. The revo- lutionary center of the trade union movement, the Yiekikai, struggles for unity, organizes the unemployed and fights the efforts of Amsterdam to swh- jugate the Japanese trade union move- ment, Ws Browder Speaks. . romrade Browder (U.S. A.) stressed the necessity of the establishment of connections between the Japan- ese and American workers and sug- gested mutual workers’ delegations for this purpose, Losovsky. et Comrade Losovsky pointed to th great significance of the Japanese working-class movement for the in- ternational proletariat. Reformism, which is supported by the whole force of the state apparatus, is very strong in Japan. No, after the destruction of the workers’ and peasants’ party the reformists are forming a moderate labor party, which will undoubtedly be a great hindrance for the work of the revolutionaries, The left trade union center has al- ready reached a very considerable de- gree of political maturity. A struggle must be carried on for the unity of the trade ymion movement and for the establishment of firm international re- lationships. Japanese Backwardness, Comrade Saller (R. I. L. U.) ex- plained the reasons for the ideological ‘backwardness of the Japanese prole- tariat in comparison with the Chinese proletariat and declared that the cause of this backwardness came from the incorrect tactic of the Japanese revo lutionary center towards the labor Office, Eight-Hour Day Report, Comrade Schumann then made the report upon the question of the eight- hour day and social legislation. He went into the situation in the various countries in detail. The eight-hour day, which was won in the revolution- ary wave after the war, has been for mally abolished in some countries dur- ing the attacks of the reaction and in many other countries it is now ig- nored, Eight Hours Firm in Russia. « The only couftry in which the eight- hour day is firmly maintained is the soviet union. In the same way the laws for the protection of women and children were abolished or limited in practice, The speaker then dealt with the question of labor arbitration, the unemployment exchanges, the factory inspection, social insurance, etc., ete., and pointed out that the leaders of the revolutionary trade union movement would have to pay the greatest atten- tion to the question of fighting for the re-establishment or the maintenance of the eight-hour day, and to the gen- eral questions of social legislation, Your neighbor wilt appreciate the favor—give him this copy of the DAILY WORKER. ‘RUSSIA TODAY Report of the British Trade Union Delegation to Soviet Russia. Giving facts on all phases of life and conditions in Russia today. The famous report of an official body of British labor on education, trade unions, rights of small nationalities, factory conditions, etc. A most complete report that should be in every workers’ library, $1.25 Duroflex Bound $1.75 Cloth Bound THE DAILY WORKER 1113 W, Washington Blvd, id ER ee | |