The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 17, 1926, Page 5

5 Ronee : ! The First Prize Winner. { BOSS IN FEAR OF UNION FIRES MOST OF CREW Workers Must Organize to Win Higher Wages By LABORISTO (Worker Correspondent) Well, I have had my first job here in Chicago—and got fired! I arrived here five weeks ago from a large in. dustrial town in the east and was fortunate enough to get a job after the first week. It was in the sheet metal department of the Hornthal company, manufacturer of funeral sup- plies, Roosevelt road, near Robey St. The shop was quite Nght and pleasant but the boss in that depart- ment Was quite the opposite, His name is Ed Strom and he is the gloomiest and most. morose fellow I ever met. During the four weeks I worked there, I saw him smile only once, and that was no smile, but a hideous grin, ‘ Large Labor Turn-Over, I. soon found out, that the shop was a hotel for travelers. ‘Very few of the workers in the department had been there longer than two months, The piece work pay could not have been very good either, since exeprienced workers had a hard time making over seven. dollars a day. , Well, I worked there for four weeks, The first Saturday in April, Mr. Strom played a clever little joke on us, (A Tittle late April joke, I guess.) noon, when we left, he stood at the door with a bunch of checks in his hand and without explanation what- ever fired about 70% of us, I must have looked somewhat sur- prised when I accepted my check, for he grunted; “I guess you know what's all about?” “No, I'll be damned if I do,” I an. swered, “Well, next time you get a job be. have yourself,” he said. “Well, but what the hell is the big ided?” I protested. “I know,” was all he answered, and Teft. Fear Union. Then I grasped the situation. A few days before, a young chap. had started to work in the departniént and had gone around and told us, that 1000 peta Correspondents’ Class to Meet Every Sunday Nite in Denver DENVER, Colo., April 15.—At the last meeting of the Workers Party Comrade Lee W. Lang and James A. Ayres were appointed instructors of the Workers’ Correspondence Class in Denver, composed jointly of mem- bers of the Workers Party, the Young Workers’ League and the Young Pio- neers. The class meets every Sunday even- ing at the home of one of the com- rades, Another important step taken at the meeting was the election of a May Day celebration committee. Comrades Peter Panagopolos, Lee W. Lang.and Byron Andrews were elected on the committee and they were given in- structions to make this year’s May Day celebration the biggest in the history of Denver and to secure other organizations to join in same, Many thousands of leaflets will be distribut- ed as well as thousands of copies of the special May Day edition of The DAILY WORKER. The party is also anticipating the opening of a permanent headquarters which can be of service for various organizations every day of the week and also will be open every evening. The readers of the daily will hear more from the workers of Denver in At} the future than they have in the past thru the pages of The DAILY WORKER. ‘ The Third Prize Winner. ‘OHIO LEATHER IMPORTS SLAVE DRIVING BOSS ‘|Workers Gave up Union, Now Helpless: (By a Worker Correspondent.) GIRARD, 0., April 15.—The' Ohio we ought to organize. For my part.I| Leather company, one of the large Said: “Sure, we ought to. I am game.| open-shops of the leather combine lo- You find out what the rest of the fel-);cated in Girard, has brot a new super- lows think about it. You can rely i intendent from Salem, Mass., in prepa- upon, me.” So that was my “misbe, havior”! _Mr, Strom had evidently heard the whispers . .about.. organization . and scented a conspiracy. And in order to erush it in its bud, he immediately, fired 70% of the whole crew, » \e> Paymaster Has Rifle. Now I understand another thing, too,*that seemed ‘comic. Every Satur- day*the paymaster went around, ac- conipanied by an assistant with a revolver at his side. Well, that is nothing unusual, but this last Satur day I could not help laughing aloud; when I looked up and saw our pay. master accompanied by still another’ guy, carrying an old rifle in his hand. Probably Mr. Storm has had the old thing dug up and carried around in order to make an impression upon his 50 cents per hour slaves and scare them from making any further at. tempts at revolting. If the mere mentioning of the word organization puts such a fear in a company, that it must fire the whole gang in order to protect itself, the workers will surely some day learn the strength of that word, and act ac- cordingly, WORKER CORRESPONDENTS, ATTENTION! "All worker correspondents of our foreign language press are urged to send in their names and addresses sta. ting for which paper they write, It is very important The American Worker Correspondent 1113 W. Washington Blvd. Chicago, Il, WORKER CORRESPONDENTS’ CORNER Worker Correspondents! Don’t Forget That May Day Is Coming By J, LOUIS ENGDAHL. ration of a drive which will mean a big saving to the company at the work- ers’ expense, He is to receive a salary of $800 a month on condition that he will save the company $4,000 a month. The workers get 42c an hour. The old superintendent, H. T, Hil- dredth, was scrapped like so much rubbish. A few years ago, at a time when the employes of this concern had struck for better conditions, Hildredth was brot from Rochester to break.the strike. Now he is replaced by Bar- ron from Salem, Mass., because the company needs a man to do the job of super-slave driving, and this time Barron fills the bill. With the carrying out of the new Policy man after man is being either sent back to the machines or displaced entirely and sent adrift to seek an- other master, The workers are grumbling, but they are in no position to resist the new speeding up and laying off of the men, for they have been dreaming foolish and visionary dreams. When they lost their strike a few years ago they dropped their organization com- pletely. Now comes the sequel. They are not organized and they must pay the price. : A‘ worker correspondents must unite in an effort to make this years: international May Day a bigger event than ever. . ‘The total number of correspondents of The DAILY WORKER Is now rapidly approaching the 500 mark. That means nearly 600 excellent con- tacts that The DAILY WORKER has with the working class. Those con- tacts must be made use of for May Day. Here is a suggestion on how to do this, Get Interviews with the _ workers on May Day. Get the workers talking about it’ What do the workers in the steel mills, the coal mines, the shoe and textile factories of New England, on the railroads and ships, in the lumber camps, on the land, everywhere, think about May Day? A lone worker somewhere may about it. A group of workers at the know much about May Day. Write lunch hour may develop an interest- ing discussion, Write about it. Some workers may know nothing of May Day, or its significance. Write about that, too, Above all, worker correspondents, be careful not to push yourself too far to the front In these discussions, That might make you a target for the boss, who is the enemy of the workers’ holiday, International May Day. But storles of these interviews, statements and discussions can be gotten by live worker correspondents without risking thelr jobs. “These stories will be published lm the daily from now. on until May Day. 4 that will COLLECTORS FOR PASSAIC STOPPED BY Ri. POLICE Strike Fund. Collection Before Mills By a Worker Correspondent PROVIDENCE, R. 1, April 15.—Six members of the Passaic relief com- mittee were held by the Providence police this morning for an attempt to collect money and distribute strike bulletins at the gates of the Wanshuck mills, owned by United States Senator Jesse Metcalf of Rhode Island. “You cannot collect money or dis- tribute that paper here,” said a plain clothed thug as he showed his police badge. In answer to a question by one of the workers he replied that the company (Metcalf) owned the land and street for ten miles on either side of the works. Cops Arrive. The committee went outside the rail which bounds the factory and there tried to do their work. Imme- diately a police patrol wagon with six stalwart minions of the law were on the scene. The sergeant asked for a copy of the paper. It was given him. When asked whether it was alright to proceed with the distribution the sergeant ordered the questioner to get off the sidewalk. “This is a newspaper,” the ser- geant said to the plain clothes man. “We cannot take.them for giving this away.” Again he ordered Murdoch to get off the sidewalk, where he was listening in on the conversation and. pushing for a decision as to whether it was within the law to distribute a newspaper. “Get to hell out of here,” he roared, The committee refused to budge until he said whether they were violating any law of the state. Mill Workers Sympathize. Meanwhile the mill workers came out and a sympathetic crowd of tex- tile workers gathered to see what would happen. Despite the presence of the police and without being solic- ited these workers contributed $3.85 to the strike fund. Back came the bold sergeant, quite hot under the col- lar and roared to the workers: “Get to hell out of here or I will have you arrested for obstructing the sidewalk,” and, turning to the collectors: ‘You get into this car and see what the captain has to say.” So the collectors rode in a Packard car to interview the big chief. Before Cap. “Why did you, come down here’ Who sent you into Providence to cause trouble?” the captain asked Murdoch, the first to be questioned. “Did Reid tell you you could do this? What right have you to help this strike?” When it was explained that there was a committee at work in Boston on which he, as a member of the machin- ists’ union, served and that all the sincere unions in the city were help- ing the strike the captain changed his tone. “But you attack our govern- ment, the president and the police,” he wept, pointing to the bulletin which lay on his desk. “President Coolidge should use his position to order an investigation of the textile industry, and the Passaic police have no right to club working women and children for walking on the streets,” was the reply. “Prosperity.” “There is prosperity in the textile industry and this is due to the exist- ence of a republican administration and the leadership of President Coo- lidge,” said the captain, “Does $10 a week spell prosperity to you?” he was asked. He asked again: “Why don't you go back to Scotland if you are not satisfied with this country?” “Scotland is just as bad as America,” was the reply. The workers are or- ganizing all over the world to change their conditions, Try to Connect Reid. During the questioning they tried to connect Reid with the distribution of the bulletins At the mill gates. This is an attempt to frame him as inciting others to violate the state law. Reid was the workers’ candidate who ran against Metcalf for United States sen- ate in 1924, Metcalf introduced the two-loom system in his mills in 1893 and locked out his workers for 13 weeks, only taking half of them back at the end of that period. Reid as a schoolboy collected money for the locked-out workers. Today Metcalf tries to frame him because he is the workers’ leader in Rhode Island against the wage cuts and lengthening of hours. The work- ers of Rhode Island should remember this incident at the next elections, TO WORKER CORRESPONDENTS! When you send in news be brief, Tell what, who, when, where and why! 250 words but not more than 500, Always use double-space,: ink or typewriter, and write on one side of the paper only, Tell a complete story In as few words. as possible. You are NEWS correspondents—don’t philosophize, ra ao +1 SRR The American Worker Correspond- ent is out. Did. you get your copy? Hurry up! Send in your subi only 60 cents, 5 THE DAELY WORKER Page Five Read The DAILY WORKER and learn how the-trick is done. enjoy It just-as you did. of the local, hand them.a sample copy. THE WINNERS HE first prize, “Whither England” by Leon Trotsky, goes to a Chi- cago worker whose article is headed, “Boss in Fear of Union Fires. Most of Crew.” It is well written and a good article, proving fo work- ers the importance of organization and how much It is feared by their! enemy, the boss. The second prize, “The Awakening of China” by James H. Dolsen, goes to another worker in Chicago. His article, “Belson Fires Worker For Union Talk,” takes up the same subject and proves the very same fact. The third prize, six months’ subscription to the Workers Monthly, goes to a worker in Girard, Ohio, who has written “Ohio Leather Im- ports Slave-Driving Bo: This article shows the workers their folly of dropping their own organization, It tells of a new speed-up system that is crushing the lives out of those retained and throwing others out on the scrap heap as so much old useless junk. The lesson in this article is also that workers must unite and fight together. For the best stories sent in during this week, to appear in the issue of Friday, April 23, : » Worker Correspondents CAN WIN THREE NEW BOOKS! 1° PRIZEWASelected Essays,” by Karl Marx. A book of great im- portance, ied for the first time in English. A new book, just off “the press. ; rhe PRIZE"The Awakening of China,” by Jas. H.’ Dolsen. An un- usual publitation—and a beautiful one—ready now! gre PRIZE A Moscow Diary,” by Anne Porter. A record of im- pressions 6f the first workers’ government. Py a, DO IT THIS WAY: Make yout’ story brief. Write on one side of the paper only. Give facts. Give your name and address. Write about the job. The First Number Is Out! You Piglet / AMERICAN WORKED CORRESPONDENT A Magazine By and For Workers in the Factories, the. Mines, the Mills and on the Land is Price 5 cents Subscribe! Only 50 Cents Per Year! Become a Worker Correspondent! Write for Your Paper! RICAN WORKER CORRESPONDENT, TON BLVD. ‘ ) 1113 W. waa CHICAGO, ILL, t’s a Good One, Isn’t It? PASTE IT UP! Put it in some place in the shop where other workers can see it—where they can chuckle over it and And those fellows In your union will easily~see! the point— If they want to see some of the other good things in wary issue of The DAILY WORKER ite it up In the hall figieTnay A Vemnaa rasema-nypran Uikarckoro omend 143: The next (seventh) issue of ‘Prolet- Tribune, the Russian living newspaper published by the worker correspond- ents of the Novy Mir, will be ‘out Saturday, April 17, at the Workers" || House, 1902 W. Division St. Beginning at 8 p. m. Admission ‘is 25 cents. This living newspaper is appearing now regularly every month and is very popular with.the Russian workers. Open your eyes! Look arounar There are the stories of the workers’ struggles around you begging to be written up. Do It! Send it in! Write as you fight! The Second Prize Winner. BELSON FIRES WORKER FOR UNION TALK Open-Shopper Fears An Organization Drive By SAM HERMAN (Worker Correspondenta Last Sunday just as I was about te leave work Mr. Belson the open-shop boss of the Belson Manufacturing Co, called me into this office and told me that I was fired for & an article about his shop to The DAILY WORK- | ER. Of course everything I had writ- ten in the article was true. In fact’ that was the reason why Belson fired me, Workers Underpald, I pointed out that the men were um. derpaid, that they received at least 25 per cent less pay for the work they were doing than union men receive, I pointed out the need of a clean room for eating lunch, instead of eating lunch right in the dirty shop where we do our work. I pointed out that the men are not even supplied with such things as soap and towels, and that some of the worst open shop firms supply their men with these, I also pointed out that this shop, with its*unswept floors, wooden stair- ways, refuse, oil, and waste was @ regular firetrap. I called attention to the old fashioned, filthy toilets, un- lighted and built Hke narrow boxes. I showed that there are no guards on the machines and that the men stand in constant danger of being injured, And on top of this the men are com- pelled to slave 9 hours a day, Belson Fears Union, I ended up the article by pointing out to the men how necessary it was for them to join the Machinists Unton in order to improve their conditioné and get a raise in pay. This must have given the union-hating Mr, Belson an awful scare for he knows very well that if the men are organized into e union he will have to give up some of his profits to the workers in the form of higher wages. Mr. believes that the bosses should organ- ize but he doesn’t want the workers to do the same. Workers of the Belson Manufactur- ing company! Do you realize that by joining the Machinists Union. you would be able to improve your condi- tions and raise your pay? The only way in which a worker can stand up against the boss is by joining the un- ion, workers work under much better con- ditions and much better pay than in open shops. It {is the business of every worker with common sense to Join the union. Workers Joint Union! At present the Machinists Union is conducting a city-wide drive to get all metal workers into the union. Espe cially for this drive the inftiation fee has been lowered to $6.50, Ordinarily the fee is 4 or 5 times as large, And the dues.are only $1.75 a month. Workers of the Belson Manufactur- ing company take advantage of this opportunity! Now is the time to join the Machinists Union. Don't hold your head down and work like a slave. Join the union and deal with the boss collectively. Win the 8-hour day, 44 hour week, higher wages and better working conditions. Come down Fri- day, April 16 to the Machinists’ Hall, 113 S. Ashland Ave., at § p. m. SEND IN A SUB. The Worker Correspondents on the Job THE STUDEBAKER WORKER ISSUED WORKERS (COMMUNIST) Vol. 1 BY THE STUDEBAKER SHOP NUCLEUS Not PARTY, SOUTH BEND, IND. Who Are We? We are workers in the Stud ditions in the factory,” any also of the working clans of America and of the world... This paper will appear regularly will consider it such. Read The Daily Worker The Dally Worker is a workers’ . tran a story In January about the wage cuts in our plant. Many of you got a copy at the time. It prints stories from workers wr) berg Ford Plant Tt te our hope that you and other automobile, plants, as well as from other industries. Have it mailed to-your house each day. Send your subscription to The Dally Worker, 1113 W, Washington Blvd.. Chicago, Il, Price: $6 & year; $3.50 for six months; $2 for 3 months. Send your sub today. (Or send for @ ‘sample copy). Phoned in from the Departments No. 290. Woods, foreman, charged the group for 8 broken glasses, which they were not re- sponsible for. But what do you expect from one who scabbed in the strike two years ago? No. 244. Enamel Room. The atmosphere ie so bad that the men cannot breathe properly. But the profits roll in, so why should the com- pany worry? No, 224, Two months ago there was a gen- eral cut of 20 per cent in the windshield departe ment. Two weeks afterward, the group sys tem was started which agalh meant a cut of 6 per cent, The checker steals 10 to. 12 Jobs trom, the group each day joing on in the Detroit Plant of the Corporation? The Studebaker Worker, belleving that we must stand together with our brothers and sisters working for the same company, will get information about con- ditions in that plant, and will print it. Wate for it! ‘The more we think of the owners of Studee baker, the more we like our dog. All workers should support the International Labor Defense which fights for free speech Indiana, Join the LL. D, si Belson ~ In shops that are unionized the~ The worker correspondents of South Bend, Ind., helped to issue a shop bul. letin In the Studébaker plant, It consists of four pages, 8 by 10 inches, and i Is called “The Studebaker Worker,” the above being a reproduction of the» first page. All. the material for this paper was gathered by the worker com respondents in ba Plants ‘Thie shows what can be done’ when the worker” ints are on the job. ee