The Daily Worker Newspaper, June 24, 1926, Page 3

SENTIMENT FOR UNION SPREADS IN GARY MILLS Workers Sen’ the Value of Organization GARY, Ind., June 22, — “We need more mass meetings like that one we had at the Turner Hall. More should be called and we have got to think about organization,” is the sentiment expressed by many of the workers in the steel mills of the Illinois Steel company, a subsidiary of the U, 8. Steel corporation, See Need To Organize. The explosion in the by-products plant which was due undoubtedly to the negligence of the company has caused many workers in the steel mills to realize the need of a strong union to maintain better conditions for them and to make impossible such explosions in the future. “The sentiment for union organiza- tion is growing in the plant since the explosion,” declared one worker to The DAILY WORKER reporter. “The workers see now what they're up against. They see that this way their lives are threatened daily. The com- pany don’t care. The worker has nothing to protect him. He fears to lose his job. He is afraid to kick about the dangerous situations he must work in, They see now that they have to get together if they want to protect themselves.” Arrest DAILY WORKER Newsies Gary police attempted to stop the sale of The DAILY WORKER in front of the steel mills by arresting two of those selling the paper at the gates. The two DAILY WORKDR newsies were brought to the jail for an “in- vestigation.” After looking at The DAILY WORK- ER, the police captain ordered the release of the two as no city ordi- nance could be found that prohibited the sale of The DAILY WORKER at the plant. DETROIT RUSS WORKERS PROTEST THUR, AGAINST CHICAGO SCAB PAPER The Russian workers of Detroit will hold a protest meeting Thurs- day, June 24, at 7:30 p. ms at the International Workers’ House, 3014 Yemans Ave., Hamtramck, Mich., against the employment of scabs In the Chicago Russian counter-revolu- tlonary sheet, Russky Viestnik Rassviet. A representative of Chicago Typo- graphical Union No. 16 will be the main speaker of the evening. Ad- mission is free, and all Russian speaking workers of Detroit are in- vited. The paper claims to be published by “Russian trade unions,” but the management refused to deal with the printers’ union and the workers went on strike. The publishers put scabs in place of the strikers, Miners Offer Their Blood to Save Life of a Fellow Worker HIBBING, Minn., June 22.—When Homer Sherman, a young iron mine worker, was run over by the tender of an ore train, severing one arm and both legs, no bosses of the Oliver Iron Mining company stood at his bed- side as did five fellow workers, offer- ing their blood if it would save their buddy. While the doctors declared trans: fusion to be useless, the five miners waited at the ‘bedside to the last, hoping that the doctors might change their minds and take their blood. The bosses of the company, which is a sub- sidiary of the United States Steel cor- poration, were absenty LENIN ON ORGANIZATION Volume |, Lenin Library In this new book Just off the press By LENIN: State and Revolution nnmnnmenn2s Conte Imperiatism .. Infantile Sickness On Co-operativi THE MENACE OF OPPORTUNISM. By Max Bedacht. The revolutionary movement has its rs from within, 'This booklet is @ timely warning against them, and a guide to correct principle. Cents "READ ALSO of Communism,” the orl; inal "draft of the Communist ana fo pele ela anism Pent aasaKt Gary Coroner, By B. BORISOFF, and JAMES GARNETT. IN Monday morning of last week a terrific explosion occurred in the by-products plant of the Illinois Steel Corporation. Seven ambulances, we are told, were pressed into service to carry the dead to the undertaker and the injured to the hospitals. A cordon of police was thrown around the plant, a cordon of police around the hospital. Newspaper re- porters from Chicago were not per- mitted upon the scene of the disaster, nor relatives or friends to see the in- jured or the dead. Rumors began to spread around the city. Some of these rumors placed the number of dead as high as fifty. There were others ru- mors that corpses are secretly buried or burned in the furnaces of the steel plant. The people were aroused, the people wanted to know the truth. But secrecy prevailed. No assurance of an open public investigation came from public authorities, The coroner left the city. There was to be no in- quest until his return on Friday. Peo- ple waited in agony. Friday came. blige inquest took place in the morn- ing and in the afternoon the_re- sult of the coroner’s investigation was told to the people of Gary by the local paper. The headlines said: “EVANS RULES ON CAUSE OF CATASTROPHE Opened Valve Allowed Gas to Es- cape, Is Inquest Verdict.” The verdict of Coroner Evans was quoted as follows by the local papers: “The 12 men were killed as a re- sult of an explosion of gas, the cause of which is unknown, but ap- parently the result of some person unknown opening a valve and allow- ing gas to escape, it becoming ig- nited from some undiscovered ’ source.” The verdict was based on the testi- mony of three witnesses. They were Major K. M. Burr, head of the safety department of the steel company; Glenn A. Recktenwall, assistant su- perintendent of the coke plant, and Fred A. Weber, pipefitter at the coke plant. All three witnesses disclaimed any responsibility of the company in the blast and blamed it upon “some em- ploye being careless and opening a valve.” Officially, the case is closed. As far as the Steel Corporation, the coroner and other city authorities are con- cerned, the dead victims of the ex- plosion may rest in peace and the surviving workers learn the horrible lesson of “negligence” presumably committed by “some employe.” But the verdict of the coroner is not ao cepted by the people of Gary. The job of whitewashing the Steel Corpo- ration and of throwing the blame upon the workers of the plant is done too crudely to inspire any credence what- soever. The shamelessness of it was glaring thru the lines of the news- papers’ report. In the mind of any even half intelligent man this report arouses many questions. For in- stance, all of the three witnesses at the inquest testified that in their If a gas valve was opened by “some employe being careless and opening a valve.” Pipefitter foreman, Fred A. Weber, testifies that “after the blast the lines were examined before the gas was turned back into them and then were inspected four times after the gas was turned on. None of these examinations revealed any defects.” If a gas valve was opened by “some careless employe,” how is it that the above metnioned examination did not reveal such open valve. N order to secure an official reply to this and other questions per- taining to the inquest into the causes of the explosion the writers of this PASSAIC RELIEF CONFERENCE IN EVERY CITY OF THE NATION IS DEMANDED BY RELIEF COMMITTEE PASSAIC, N. J., June 22.—Passaic relief conferences are scheduled for five big cities during the present month, as workers and friends of labor rally anew in support of the textile strikers right to live and have a union of their own, Chicago will lead the procession on June 16, with a relief conference in Ashland Auditorium, at which Clarence Darrow, the great labor lawyer, Albert Weisbord, strike organizer and leader, and Stanley J. Clark will be SAYS U.S, AIDS |s== REVOLT AGAINST CHAMORRO RULE A Different Dictator Is Probably Preferred (Special to The Daily Worker) WASHINGTON, June 22. — Gen. Emiliano Chamorro, military dictator of Nicaragua, has cabled the state de- partment, under date of June 10 and June 11, bitterly complaining of the alleged rough work of Lawrence Den- nis, the American charge d'affaires in that country, Says U. S. Invites Revolt. He recites that on May 19 Dennis told various prominent persons that if it was necessary to make ten revolu- tions in order to throw Chamorro out of power, the effort would be justified by the result. Chamorro says that Dennis has invited political leaders to meet at the American legation to dis- cuss fhe situation, and that as a re- sult of this activity, and of handbills circulated by Dennis, a new revolution is about to start. Inasmuch as Chamorro seized power last summer after a progressive re- gime, supported by the small labor movement of the republic, had been duly elected to office he cannot un- derstand the refusal of Secretary Kel- logg to recognize him. Offers to Be a Good Boy. “I cannot understand,” he cables, “in what way the greatness of the United States would be lessened by my stay In power.” In a further cablegram Chamorro charges that Dennis told him person- ally that “he was going to undertake a campaign to enlighten the Nicara- guan people about the necessity of forcing me to retire from power, and that in case I did not retire voluntarily the United States would compel me by force, because they were going to accomplish their purpose whether I was willing or not.” ye These messages were not made pub- lic by the department, but by an agent whom Chamorro has stationed in Washington. Turkey Takes What She Can Get from British Interests ANGORA, Turkey, June 22.—Turkey has accepted the offer of British oil interests which rule the puppet sultan On June 24, organized labor in Pittsburgh will send its delegates to a conference in that city for the pur- pose of organizing relief for Passaic. In Brownsville, Pa. a relief confer- ence will be held on June 27, Cleveland will have its conference June 29, and will have two girl strik- ers, fresh from the’strike area, to re- port on the progress of the strike. New York Conference June 25. In New York City, a delegate con- ference to organize relief for the strik- ers will be held June 25 at 8 p. m. in Labor Temple, 244 East 14th street. Invitations to this conference were sent out two weeks ago and have met with a lively response. Many unions have signified their interest in the conference and a large attendance is confidently expected. Already scores of duplicate credentials have been se- turned to the New York office of the General Relief Committee, Textil: Strikers, at 799 Broadway, room 508. Invitations have been sent to all labor unions, workers’ fraternal organ- fzations and symapthetic associations in New York City. Every effort has been made to cover all these organi- zations, and those not receiving invita- tions are earnestly requested to com- municate at once with the New York office of the general relief committee. Must Do Something in Every City. The general relief committee is mak- ing a nation-wide’ effort to organize relief conferences in every city in the United States. All workers, all friends of the working class, all sym- pathizers with the Passaic strikers’ struggle against the mill bosses’ at- tempt to cut wages are asked to rally to the cause and help organize these conferences, Every city and town should be organized on the basis of intensification and extension of relief work. In cities where there are not enough labor unions, sympathizers should get together and organize relief confer- ences, with the help of whatever inions or workers’ fraternal organi- zation there are in the fleld. For Right to Organize. This, the twenty-first week of the struggle, finds the strikers standing ag staunchly as at the start of the strike. Police brutality, oppressive jail sentences, exorbitant bail bonds (in the case of Weisbord $50,000), in- junctions and other means of oppres- sion by the boss-controlled courts, gas bombs, newspaper misrepresentation. all have failed to break the splendid spirit of the textile strikers, The textile strikers stand for the right to organize the unorganized, We want a union! We want to live! We want the wage cut back! We want to escape the old starvation! The New York furriers have won their victory, Our’s cannot be long de- layed. The new slogan is “Now on to Passaic! Add another victory for labor, Everybody help.” SEND IN A SUBI THE DAILY WORKER article went last Saturday morning to interview Dr. E. E, Evans, the cor- oner, We found him in his office. The questions we asked him and the answers of the coroner follow: Question, Who conducted the in- vestigation? Answer. Oh, dozens of agencies; government man, state safety board man, the mayor, mill officials, county officials, police. Q. Is it not true that the represen- tatives of the press were barred from the scene? A. No/‘"fthe Gary Post-Tribune re- porters were there thruout the in- vestigation. ° When it was pointed out that some newspapermén from Chicago were barred froin’the scene of the accident and from witnessing the investigation, the coroner replied: “They Probably were. They have no busineSs here. This case concerns only the state of Indiana and the city of Gary.” Q. Were you at the actual scene of the accident? A. Noi" Q. Wefe any of the workers of the by-produéts plant interrogated? A. Nol) Why should they? They know nothing about it. No one will ever know, Q. Inlyodfir opinion, workers who worked im the plant and who know the plant could throw no light upon the cause of explosion? A. No, they couldn't. Here the coroner became angry and objected to “criticism” of the manner in which the inquest was conducted. He was assured that the object of the interview was not criticism, but the establishing of facts. The interview proceeded: Q. Was there a change in the per- sonnel of the foremen just prior to the explosion? A. No. Q. Was there a complaint of leale NEW LONDON WEAVERS TO SPREAD STRIKE “Tie-Up the Ed Bloom Shop!” Strikers Cry NEW LONDON, Conn., June 22.— Weavers. employed by the Ed Bloom company who went on strike 10 weeks ago as a protest against a 25 per cent wage cut are now seeking to extend the strike,to other crafts at work in the Bloor Fplant—namely the loom- fixers, warpers, spinners, winders and quillers. Cut Winders’ Wages. The windérs are mostly young girls. Recently their wage was cut 10 per cent, and the warpers were cut $2 a warp. Theispinners are unable to earn more;than $16 a week, while a quiller’s limit is $18. When the weav- ers walkediout their pay-rate was so low that some of them had to work 70 or more’ hours to make a living wage. Strike Demands, Demands of the weavers are: 1. Restoration of the wage previ- ous to the cut and 1 cent per yard in- crease; 2. Recognition of the union; 3. Time and a half for overtime, Efforts of the company to resume work in the weaving department with strikebreakers have failed. The strikers are getting strong financtal and moral support from other labor unions and from other organizations here. Corticelli Aids. Various workers who had quit the Bloom firm obtained jobs at the B. and A. Cofrticelli company’s mills. Recently the weavers’ union learned that Ed Bltom visited the Corticelli offices and ¢onferred with the heads there. Immediately afterward all the former Blogm employes were “laid oft” by the’ Corticellis. Affidavits made by numerous strik- ers at the union’s request attested that they had made an average wage of $23 a week before the cut and an average of $17.18 afterward. Young weavers of short experience, running only three looms, could make only $15 maximum wages. Prominent Speakers at Pullman Sacco- Vanzetti Protest A mass protest demonstration to demand a new trial for Sacco and Vanzetti has been arranged by the Chicago Sacco-Vanzetti conference for Friday evening, June 25, 8 p, m., at Turner Hall, 200 B. Kensington Ave., (between 115-116 streets.) This is one of a series of meetings being held thruout the country, and the committee expects a large turn- out. The speakers will be J, T, Vind of the South Chicago Trades and La bor Assembly, J. Louis Engdahl, la- bor editor, and Antonio Presi of the Anti-Fascist Alliance, who will speak in Italian. ey Your n the favor—; ing gas just a few days prior to or on the morning of thefexplosion? A. No, there was never any com- plaint. There couldn't be any gas leaking, because it is of such a foul odor that it would have been detected at once, Q. Could the explosion be caused by increased pressure of gas? A. No. Q. Is there a rule for examining the apparatus for safety between shifts? A. I don’t know of any such rule. The mills have a million rules on safety. The mills are the safest place in the city. More people are injured or killed in the streets outside the mills than in the mills. For safety I would prefer the mills to any other place. Q. Isn’t it true that many more men are seen in Gary with heads or arms bandaged or with missing fin- gers than in most other towns? A. No. You newspaper men come here with prejudices. Who are you, anyhow, to come here to ask all these questions. You must be from some Communist or socialist paper. Q. Was the apparatus examined for safety on the morning of the ex- plosion? A. I did not ask about it. Q. About an open valve being the cause of explosion, do you think any of the employes would proceed to open a valve without getting an order to do it? A. No, I don’t think so, Q. Do you think someone opened the valve with the intention of suicide and to blow up the plant? A. No. Q. Do you know whether any valve was found open when the pipes were examined after the explosion. A. I don’t know, Q. Was a man by the name of Laflaur working in the plant? His ces Page Three . Dr. E. E. Evans, Conducted Fake Investigation of Stee! Mill Death Blast brother was looking for him and could not locate him. He was presumably in the plant on the morning of the ex- plosion, Dr, EB. BH. Evans, the coroner, called up the safety department and asked Major Burr, the head of this depart- ment, whether there was a record of | such a man in the by-products plant. The answer was negative. The cor- oner said it was necessary to know the first name of the man in order to make further investigation. As to the rumor about there being more killed than officially recorded, the coroner said that one of the em- ployes said that he counted 26 dead, but when he was asked whether he would be willing to make a written statement and swear to it, the man desisted. The coroner did not men. tion the name of the man. The inter- view was at an end. It showed that the coroner did not make a real at- tempt to ascertain the true cause of the explosion. It showed that he took unquestionably the opinion of the of- ficials of the plant without even at- tempting to critically examine it, while neglecting to question the work- ers of the plant where the explosion occurred, presumably ‘because he thought that their testimony would be of no value; that he maintains the opinion that the mill is the safest place in the city; he did not know nor care to find out how many work- ers were working in the plant where the explosion occurred, nor did he care to see the plant after the explo- sion took place. Under these condi- tions the coroner’s inquest becomes a sham and a farce. The workers of Gary must demand a congressional investigation of the explosion, conducted in such a way as to safeguard the workers who will testify from being intimidated and vic- timized by the steel trust for telling the truth about the conditions in the steel mills. NOTED ECONOMIST GIVES TEXTILE BARONS’ POVERTY PLEA HARD RAP BEFORE SENATE TARIFF COMMITTEE By LAURENOE TODD, Federated Press. WASHINGTON, June 22.—That the profits of the Passaic woolen mills have been so high that they could easily absorb & wage increase of 10% and still be generous to the stockholders, is proven in a supplementary state- ment filed with the senate committee on education and labor by W. J. Lauck, economist for the Passaic strikers, Lauck testified in support of the Sheppard resolution, proposing an investigation of the wages and profits in the highly- protected textile and metal industries. The hearing took place May 26. Presi- dent McMahon of the United Textile Workers of America was one of the chief witnesses demanding an inquiry into the coincidence of starvation wages with high tariff rates. Lauck took eight typical grades of cloth manufactured in Passaic, and secured reliable data as to the cost of material, labor and overhead, the selling expenses and profit in each case. These are the first authori- tative figures to be published on these costs since 1912. They show that the labor cost of woolen and worsted, cloth made in Passaic ranges from’10% to 30% of the mill selling price, averaging 20% for all cloths. That is to say, the total labor costs range from 438c to $1.02 a yard, while the net profits of the mill range from 12 to 83c a yard. As the cloths sell, at the mill, from $2.00 to $6.25 a yard, a wage increase of 10% would increase the selling prices from only 5% to l4c @ yard. Bosses Profit. From April, 1922, preceding the en- actment of the Fordney-McCumber tariff law, Lauck points out, prices on cloth had advanced 21% by April, 1926. The strike which has now lasted 20 weeks in Passaic 1s due to a 10% cut in wages by the Botany Worsted and other mills, which en- joy a 73% ‘protective tariff. He con- cludes that this protection to the manufacturers does not help the work- ers, and is a positive detriment to the domostic users of these goods. Suppose the mills granted this wage Increase of 10%, says Lauck; would they be obliged to increase the sell- ing price of cloth? He answers that they would not. On oloth selling at $5 a yard, the labor cost is 55c while the profit is 86c, Taking 5%c out of the millowner’s 35c would still leave a profit of 291%%¢ to stockhold- ers, The net average earnings of the Botany Mills for the 7 years end- ing Dec, $1, 1923, were about 97% on the invested capital, and the New Jer- sey Spinning Co. for 16 years averag- ed 53% and for the years 1916-1917 its profits were 105% a year. Effect of Wage Increase, A wage increase of 10%, Lauck de- termines, would add only 15c to the labor cost of a suit of clothes sell- ing at $30, even if it were passed on by the manufacturers and merchants to the consumer, We suggest the organization mittee by the labor and fraternal a il alan tae oebe in, anh A Warning to the Workers Who Suffered ~in the Gary Steel Mill Explosion PB y not sign any agreements with. the Stee! Corporation dealing with compensation for injuries you received. Do not give up your insurance policies or premium books, Secure first the beet of legal advice. END OF SESSION NEARS WITH MANY BILLS UNDECIDED No Hope for Farmer Relief Action (Special to The Daily Worker) WASHINGTON, June 22.—Congress prepared for adjournment today, ac- companied by threatened filibusters and eleventh-hour ultimatums con- cerning pet bills, none of which prob- ably will materialize. Adjournment of this, the long ses- sion of the 69th congress, is set for June 30, and the outlook today was for this program to be carried out de- spite the usual flurry and scramble to obtain last-minute action on favorite measures. Important Bille Hang. Unless there is an unexpected shift in the plans, congress will go home a week from Wednesday to see about getting itself re-elected, leaving a number of important matters hanging in midair. This list includes farm re- Met legislation, the ratification of the) French debt settlement, disposition of Muscle Shoals, and the rivers and harbors bill. A vote will be had some time this week on the McNary-Haugen bill for farm relief, which the Coolidge-Melion wing of the republican party has pro- nounced “economically unsound” and which the Dawes-Watson-Western group has portrayed as admirable from every standpoint, economic and political, No Farm Bill Hope. The Coolidge-Mellon group, sup- Ported by sufficient democrats, have the votes to kill the MoNary bill any time it can be brought to a vote. That vote, when it comes, is expected to sound the death knell for any agricul- tural legislation this session, leaving members of congress from western states to go home and face their angry constituencies, “The party is going to hear about this on election day,” said Senator Ar- thur Capper, republican, of Kansas, one of the farm bloc leaders, of a Legal Aid and Rellef Com- organizations, i A las U.S. MARINES « ALONE SUPPORT HAITI'S RULER People Offer Reward for His Death Acknowledging that he was kept im office only by the bayonets of United States marines, occupying the suppos edly “independent” republic of Hattt, the Haitian president, Louis Borneo, |who is visiting the Eucharistte Com | gress, fran’ bid for continued occ pation by United States troops, in an interview here. Coming from a ring-kissing seance with Cardinal Mundelein, Borno, whe was greeted on his arrival at New York by a hostile gathering of his countrymen hurling uncomplimentary remarks at the head of their republic, which they claim he sold to Americas imperialist concessionaries, gatd: “Haiti is most calm and peaceful, Remove Your Marines, and Goodbye Borno. Borno added, however, “But remove your marines and you would restore the terrible st of revolution that obtained in 1915. It is mot yet time to withdraw.” In verification of the statement that at least Haiti would be an unpleasant place for its present president if the United States marines were with- drawn, Congressman EB. B. Rouge of Kentucky, who traveled to the United States from Haiti with President Borno, declares that the cab driver who took the party to the boat et Port au Prince told the congressman confidentially, “If you throw the pre ident overboard em route we will give. you $50,000.” A Grudge Against the Sharks, Moreover, said the congressman, Haitians gathered at the pier to wit- ness the departure of their somewhat unpopular ruler, loudly cried out even higher bids than the cabman had of- fered if someone on the voyage would only relegate Louis Borno to the com: pany of sharks and porpoise. “It is merely the impatience of’: small group of men who were once in power,” said Borno, “They would be in power again were it not for Ameri can marines.” The Haitian president, to justify himself, became very indignant at the former state of affairs in Haiti, say- ing that before the marines came 160 political prisoners were held in Hat- tian jails. He was silent on the num- ber the marines have in jail or sleep- ing in newly-made graves on the land seized by concessionaries. Grand Rapids Unite . in Fight to Release Sacco and Vanzetti GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., June 225+ A united conference called by tie Grand Rapids unit of International Le bor Defense was held here today to organize and centralize the protest against the planned execution of Sacco and Vanzetti and to give ald to the two innocent Italian ‘workers. Nine organizations, representing 500 workers, participated in the confer ence. It was decided to circulate petitions urging a new trial for Sacco and Van- zetti, and to send resolutions to Gow ernor Alvan T. Puller of Massachu- ~ setts and to the labor press. A mass protest meeting will be held in the early part of the month of July with Max Shachtman, editor of the Labor Defender, as the principal speaker. 4 SEND IN A SUB! 4 You'll be proud of this book. it FREE with 100 points (a yeare sub to The DAILY WORKER). RED CARTOONS without sum scription sells for $1.00, RATIONAL LIVING To Reappear. — It its last issue, RATIONAL LIVING, the radical health magazine, announced ita suspension for one year, due to, the voyage of its editor, abroad; The editor has had to extend hig stay in Hurope. But soon after hig, return to New York, at the end of the summer, the magazine will be published a, regularly in the future. @ year ago,