The Daily Worker Newspaper, June 24, 1926, Page 5

= 1000 WORKER CO) PONDENTS BAD AIR IN SHOPS AND MILLS INJURING HEALTH OF WORKERS WHO FAIL TO REALIZE DANGER (By G. TURNER, Worker Correspondent.) NEW YORK, June 22.—The effect of impure air on the health of the workers in shops and factories is generally underestimated, Men and women working in crowded, ill-ventilated, overheated shops, can hardly realize that a good many of their physical ailments, or what we call occupational diseases can ‘be traced to bad air, Factory Inspection, The New York State Factory Investigation Commission reports that out of 4,860 factories investigated, 88% were unfit to work in. The air in these work rooms was stale, vitiated, over-¢——————_________, heated and generally impure, due either to the overcrowding of the shops, closed windows, insufficient ventilation facilities, or dust on the floors and in the air of the work rooms, It was also brot out by the commis- sion that in these shops workers suf- fer from fatigue, headaches, bronchi- tis, anemia, indigestion, and general lack of resistance to colds, etc. Among these workers there is also a great Predisposition to tuberculosis. Local. In New York city, during one year, 800 bakers were examined medically; 453, or more than 50 per cent of them, suffered from one or more of the above mentioned ailments. In the majority of cases examined, the ill health of the bakers could be directly traced to the unsanitary conditions of the bakeries where they worked. Ina few cases, the report showed a lack of resistance to disease of any kind. Out of 613 tailors examined, 500, or more than 80 per cent, were suffering from some ailment directly traceable to ill-ventilated and unsanitary facto- ries. It is further reported that most of the patients in the state insane hospi- tal come from the congested districts of Greater New York. They worked in unsanitary, crowded, ill-smeling workshops and lived in congested, un- sanitary tenement houses. The Needle Trades Shops. Most of the workers in the needle trades are very well acquainted with these overcrowded, unsanitary work rooms. They call them the “sweat shops,” where they spend the best part of their lives in coining their health into profits. The high cost of floor space in the factory districts of New York city makes overcrowding almost inevitable. Added to this congestion, there is almost always an ynheard of disre- gard. for ventilation, the. windows be- ing tightly closed in the winter. Dur- ing the summer months the windows are opened, but even then we find that overcrowding, the body heat and odors, the dust of the machinery, the heat generated by the electric motors, ete., more than counteract the little fresh air which comes in thru the open windows. In the morning, when the factory is first opened, the smell in the shop is most noticed in contrast to the air outside. One can generally hear the workers say: “The smell in here can knock you out.” In an hour or two the workers become insensible to the smell and keep on breathing in the same foul air all day long. Many workers do not even go out of the shops for lunch, so that neither they nor the factories get any airing thru- out the day. It is little wonder then, that the health and strength of the workers is gradually undermined and many workers become mental and physical wrecks. Observations. In the good old days, before the restriction of immigration, one could see young, red-cheeked, healthy look- ing “greenhorns” from the “other side” pouring into the dress shops to earn a livelihood. A few months, or a@ year passed and a transformation took place in these workers (mostly girls), They became “Americanized,” without pep, without color, anaemic, sickly looking appendages to the ma- chines. This goes on year in and year out and very little is done to im- Prove the unsanitary conditions in the needle trades shops, We now have our health commis- sions, factory investigations, factory laws and legislation, etc. Yet, in spite of these, our masters with steady un- concern continue to disregard all sani- tary laws and regulations whenever they can get away with it, which is 99 times out of a hundred. The workers, on the other hand in unblissful ig- norance, make hardly any effort to safeguard their. health and vitality. BY JANUARY The odds are enormously against them, What Can Be Done, It appears from the report of the New York state department of labor that at present there are two types of laws on the statute books of Amer- ican states, which provide for proper ventilation of workrooms. Eight or ten states ‘provide for @ minimum cuble space per occupant in a work- room (usually from 250 to 400 cubic feet). Some 20 states require that factories should be “sufficiently” ven- tilated. The cubic feet requirement, by no means insures good air—in a poorly ventilated factory the air is impure, tho the place may not be over- crowded. 1, The workers must be taught to realize the effects of unsanitary work- ing conditions upon their health, 2. A thermometer can be placed in every workroom, which should register about 70 degrees, not above. 3. Periodic ventflation of the work shops every day afew hours during the day by opening the windows top and bottom, so that the hot impure air can escape thru the upper opening and the cool purer air may come thru the bot- tom. The time lost in the periodic ventilation will help safeguard the health of the workers and the workers must insist on it. 4, Regular scientific and medical inspection of work shops, followed up by sanitation legislation and enforce- ment of Jaws. 5. Workers’ committees should be organized to watch for the ordinary, everyday enforcement of sanitary con- ditions in the shops. These commit- tees must be made up of the most en- lightened and. active workers in the Place, becausé on their daily. vigilance and care depends the health of the workers, They will also be faced with the task of getting the workers to realize the importance of the sanitary requirements to the extent of insist- ing on them and fighting for them. What this fellow likes best in The DAILY WORKER is the stuff that he wrote himself, Did you ever write? See how you'll like it! Summer First Picnic of the Season! Festival Sunday, June 27th, 1926 PLEASANT BAY PARK Bronx; New York ATHLETICS, GAMES AND DANCING FROM 10 A. M. qiNTit MIDNIGHT Music by Double Brass Bend* Busses From and To the Station. . Auspices: Workers Party, District 2 DIRECTIONS: Take Bronx Subway or “L” to 177th St, then take Unionport car to Unionport (end of line), Broadway Subway to 18iet | St. then crosstown car to Unionport. ‘Tickets on sale at: Jimmie Higgins Book Shop, 137 University Square; Workers Party, 108 Bast 14th Street; and all party headquarters and newspapers, Place; Frethett, 30 Union Admission 35 Cents. ) 13 1927 WIN THESE BOOKS For the best story of work- er correspondence sent in this week, to appear in the issue of June 25, you can win THESE PRIZES: A Hagens on Organization. Beautiful cloth bound edi- tion of a book no worker can be without. joclal Forces in American History, by A. M. Simmons. The only radical interpreta- tion of American history in @ new edition just issued. —My Flight From Siberia, by Leon Trotsky. A story of escape from exile, in an at- tractive board-bound edition. 3 Textile Machinery Improvement Don’t THE DAILY WORKER sa : | the picket line? aw Page Fi PASSMC POLICE SHOOT AT GIRL STRIKE PICKET ame Jail Textile Workers for Ghon Siuclaie Talking to Scabs (Special to The Daily Worker) PASSAIC, N. J., June 22.—A new Police offensive has started in Pas- saic, The police are now concentrat- ing on making “battery and assault” (Copyright, 1926, by Upton Sinciair) WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE. J. Arnold Ross, oil operator, formerly Jim Ross, teamster, drives with his young son, “Bunny,” to Beach City. In the hotel they meet Ross’s lease-hound, Ben Skutt, who has arranged for Ross to meet a group of property owners, whose land Ross is anxious to get because it contains oil. A number of oil Promoters bribed a few of the more influential ones in an attempt to get the lease. Skutts enters with Ross and the boy when the discord is at the highest charges against the strike pickets on point. He areompts to get them to sign a lease with Ross. Bunny is sitting near the window taking it all in. A boy appears at the window. je tells the filmstest excuse. A number of the} Bunny he is Paul Wathine and the lady of the house hie ame towe away strike pickets were clubbed and a girl strike picket was shot at because they had dared to talk to scabs and try to convinee them they should join the strike. Fifteen Arrests In One Day, Fifteen afrests were made in Lodi, Garfield, Wallington, Passaic and Clif- ton in one day of pickets who dared to approach scabs and ask them to join the strike. Samuel Swaba, while walking past the Botany mill, was attacked by the police when..he spoke to a worker. He was dragged into the mill by po- lice thugs-and badly beaten. He was beaten again as he was taken to the patrol wagon: » Anthony Tath was ar- rested at a union meeting at 25 Day- ton avenue as he was waiting to go to from home, but he is afraid his aunt will send him back. Bunny sn into the kitchen and Paul eats his fill. The two become fast friend house, however, things go wrong. The meeting breaks up in a row and Ben Skutt come out disgusted with the wrangling small owners. How- ever, Dad is drilling in nearby Prospect Hill and goes over to arrange for early d 'y of new derricks at the lumber yard. The roads are bad. Dad goes to 8 local official. He makes arrangements for the roads to be quickly re- paired and slips a roll of bilis into Mr. Benziger’s hand. As they go out, Bunny tells Dad about Paul, the run-away son of a family of “Holy Rollers,” ° . ° e ll Here was a moral problem which Bunny debated within him- self: was Paul Watkins crazy, because of the way he behaved? If so, there must be a crazy streak in Bunny also, for he had been enormously impressed by Paul, and could not help thinking about him. He had paid a tribute to Paul’s sense of honor, by resolving that he, Bunny, would permit himself the luxury of not being a liar—not even in trivial things. Also, the meeting with Paul had caused Bunny to become suddenly aware what an easy time he was having in life. The very first morning, when he opened his eyes, lying in the deep soft mattress of the hotel-bed, with its heavy linen sheets so smooth and white, and its warm blankets, soft as fleece, and striped the color of ripe strawberries—at once his thought was: how had Paul slept that night, without shelter and without cover? Had he lain on the ground? But grand- ‘3 Paul Shoot at Striker, Lucia Alfonzi was shot at twice by County PoliceéMan Huesler and was later arrested. by this bosses’ tool. Improve Conditions By a Worker Correspondent LAWRENCE, Mass., June 22. There are onlf ten workers in the Dewey room of the Arlington mill and these ten workers have to work like hell for 48 hours a week to make the immense wages of $19.68. The wages for this room total up to $10,233.36 a year; if the workers are all lucky enough to work every day for the full 52 weeks, which never happens, The combined capital and property value of the Arlington Co. was $19,- 000,000 in the year 1923-24, and we can stake our next wage cut that they have increased fit since then. Yet these cheese-faring pikers, who claim to be generous and good to us work- ers, are introducing a new machine that will throw ten of us out on the street. The Dryer and the Dewey machine She had spoken to his mother, who is a scab, in front of their house. The woman ran into the house and her policeman son came out and shot twice at the strikers’ feet. Bomb outrages, which local papers continue to attribute to strikers, altho police have been “unable” to locate the perpetrators, were repudiated by the United Front Committee in the following statement: Repudiate Bombings. “The United Front Committee of Textile Workers, at its last meeting, after discussing statements appearing in the press of the various bomb ex- plosions that have taken place in dif- ferent parts of the city, definitely went mother, if she saw you even sitting on the ground in the evening, would cry out that you would “catch your death!” And down in the spacious dining-room of the hotel, the thought of Paul with- out breakfast had quite ruined the taste of grape-friut in crushed ice, and cereal and thick cream, and bacon and eggs, and wheat- cakes with maple syrup. Paul would be going hungry, because he was too proud to eat fodd until he had earned it; and some strange perversity caused Bunny, in the midst of comfort, to yearn toward this fierce anchorite who spurned the flesh! The morning after the meeting at Mrs. Groarty’s, Bunny had sat under a palm-tree in front of the hotel, hoping that Paul would come by. Instead, there had come Mrs. Groarty and her husband, bringing Mr. Dumpery, and followed by Mr. and Mrs. Bromley, with their temporary friends the Jewish tailors. It was a deputation from the “medium lots,” explaining that they had continued their meeting until one o’clock that morning, and on record Se most vehemently | 14 dacidad to rescind their community agreement, and go each repudiates any suggestions that the “ 4 : bombings took*place under the direc-|™M™an for himself; now the “medium lots” wanted Dad to take tion of strikers. their lease. Bunny told them that Dad was out in the field with “The United Front Committee of |the geogolist; they might wait for him, but Bunny knew how em- Textile Workers is unqualifiedly op-|phatic Dad was about off-set wells, so there was no chance of his posed to such. outrages. It knows |taking a small lease. used to be separate, but two weeks ago some sucker had a bright idea for the boss, and they have now fixed a sprayer on to the Dryer and whenever the cloth comes out, it is immediately sprayed, not by the men, who have hungry families to keep, but by the machine, that is hungry only for work. To save one 19,000th part of their wealth the bosses will throw ten workers and their families, into the hell of unemployment, They are not giving us other work like they say in their advertisement in the paper, they are taking our jobs away. We workers don’t object to the machines helping us with our work, but there should be some way of keeping our jobs. The machines they are inventing now always seem to put us out of work and put money into the bosses pockets. Why is this? oT, Judge Killits Is * ° Lenient with the ao A * Millionaire Kirby By a Worker Correspondent. CLEVELAND, O., June 22.—Josiah Kirby, millionaire financier, pleaded guilty before Federal Judge John M. Killits on a charge of conspiring to influence prospective jurors in his fed- eral trials for using the mails to de- fraud and was sentenced to two years in Atlanta and $2,500 fine, Previously Kirby was sentenced to seven and one-half years on the fraud- ulent use of the mails. Whether the sentences will run concurrently or in sequence is not yet known, but the lenient treatment Kirby has received thus far gives rise to the belief that the former will be the final decision. Unlike the treatment accorded pov- erty-stricken criminals, Kirby is be- ing given plenty of time to wind up his affairs. When sentenced in March the federal judge permitted him to go to California for three months in or- der to arrange his business. Kirby had no sooner arrived in the sunny climes when local attorneys spread the rumor that he was suffering from tuberculosis. Mr. Kirby is now given an additional month to enjoy himself before going to Atlanta, where it is believed he may have to spend a month or two until doctors in Cleve- land can “prove” that he is dying from tuberculosis, Judge Killits’ courteousness is due to the fact that Kirby is not a class war prisoner, Kirby was the head of the $30,000,000 defunct Cleveland Dis- count Company. Meat Market res ig Serene tat After which Bunny took a seat on the bench next to Mrs. credit the staikers, is not. surprised Groarty, for the purpose of finding out whether Paul had re- that the police have not been able to | Véaled himself to her. Bunny confessed to her that he had done find the perpetrators. . something very wrong the previous evening; he had failed to lock Is It a Bosses’ Frame-Up? the kitchen door after looking out on the porch. Following his The Next Issue of the New Magazine Supplement — SATURDAY, JUNE 26 will be of special interest to Negro Worker # William Pickens if Field secretary of the “Nm * tional Association for the People, writes a splendid feature of the Anaconda Copper Company of Mom tana: “The Copper God” # C. O’Brien Robinson 2 Contributes a short story of * the dark South—a touching story of the experience of a small Negro boy with lynch- ing and religion. Be sure to read: “Lennie Quits Prayin’.” # The Gary Disaster and Lynchings An editorial on the problems 3. “The story is recalled of how in the | program of telling the exact truth, he stated that somebody had Lawrence strike of 1912 William) sone into her kitchen and taken some food; Bunny had promised Wood, the head of the American : b Sostss Compuny, was convicted of not to tell who it was, but it was someone who was very hungry, having instigated several bombing out. |@"4 Bunny had felt sorry about it. If Mrs. Groarty would let him rages that took.place in Lawrence |—@nd he hauled out his little purse. during the strike. It is not at all un- Mrs. Groarty was all aglow with pleasure at the delicacy of likely that the bosses here may be | feeling of the aristocracy; she had quite fallen in love with this trying the same trick. What do the | strange little fellow, who was so pretty to look at, with sensitive peers ae eee res ot the werk: | red ling Hko'a xirl’s and at the.came time had,the menners.of an ers, and if the bosses can instigate elderly marqui. thi lik h the throwing .of-bombs that would kill 'Y Marquis, or some ng e t at, as Mrs. Groarty had somebody and. then fasten the blame |COMe to know such persons in moving pictures. She refused his upon the unfé# or some striker, why | Money, at the same time thinking what a shame that her fortune not? It has been done before, as| had not been made earlier in life, so that her children could have Lawrence shows, and the desperate | worn such lovely clothes, and learned to express themselves with situation in which the bosses find | o1q-fashion le; ! themselves at the present time may ed elegance! well result in.their attempting it now.” iS eee —<—<— eee" Six Killed When [BRITISH LABOR LEADERS TO FACE tae Deron Train | ANGRY RANK AND FILE AT JUNE 25 lumps Off Tracks TOURS, France, June 22.—Six per- sons were killed and 30 injured when} LONDON—(FP)—While members the Paris-Bordeaux express jumped |of the British Trades Union Congress the track at Vouvray, seven miles|general council refuse to reveal all pointed out that most of these were either left or with the left wing ten- dencies and yet they were unanimous from here. SESSION OF TRADE UNION CONGRESS BROOKLYN, N. Y., ATTENTION! CO-OPERATIVE BAKERY | . IN THE SERVICE OF THE CONSUM! Bakery deliveries made to your home, FINNISH CO-OPERATIVE TRADING ASSOCIATION, tno, re (Workers organized as consumers) \ INTERNATIONAL WORKERS’ AID HOLDS OPEN AIR MEETINGS IN NEW YORK NEW YORK, June 22. — The In- ternational Workers’ Aid open air meetings to ‘aise funds for the camp for the Passaic strikers’ chil- dren continues?to attract hundreds of workers nightly, Nanoy Sandésky, youthful Pas- saic strike leadér, spoke at two large open air mestings at Columbus Circle & 59thSt.,, and Broadway & 96th St. A collection of $62 was taken up. f The following meetings are to be held this week: Thureday, June 24, at Prospect Ave, and 163rd St. Friday, June 25, at Cleremont Parkway and Washington Ave, iturday, June 26, at St, Anns Ave, and 138th St. Restaurant Brooklyn, N. Y. the facts connected with calling off the general strike until the labor con- ference June 25, a spirited debate goes on between the left and the ex- treme right. Ramsay MacDonald, J. R. Clynes, C, T, Cramp and others approve the action taken by the council. Others denounce it as a cowardly betrayal. The division of opinion within the council was revealed by Secy. A. J. Cook of the miners, Fight Right Wing. ‘e have been fighting not only against the government and the own- ers, but against a number of labor leaders, especially the political lead- ers, whose position has been comprom- d,” Cook told an audience of 5,000 miners, “When the story is written some men will forever hang their heads in shame,” he continued. As an example of servility on the part of the council he told how a committee went to see Baldwin, “but the prime minister had gone to bed, and a big chap came in and said: ‘Gentlemen, it is time to get out.’” The London Daily Herald which is controlled by the Trades Union con- gress censored Cook's speech for mak- ing a bare reference to that. The la- bor weeklies, which for the moment are united in opposition to the gen- eral council, printed it in full. Get Answer June 25, Members of the couneil are in a sad predicament. One ofithem, H. H. ing a central labor body cannot answer that, you will have to wait till June 25.” He denied the charge that ‘the strike was ended by timid compromisers. Elvin disclosed that negotiations which led-{o the 6nd “ds of Hi in the decision to call off the general strike. At the same time members of the general council admit that no prep- arations for the struggle were made until a day or two before the strike was called, The government had pre- pared months ago. It is also pointed out that the strike was not general, that only sections were called out at a time, thus allowing the government to make gradual adjustments. At no time during the strike was there any break in the solidarity of the workers. Against the few thousand who stayed at work, hundreds of thousands came out from industries not called on strike, The recent Labor party victory in a London by-election is proof that tle Public is in sympathy with labor and the general strike on behalf of the miners. The seat was previously held by a Conservative having been lost by the Labor party on account of the forged Zinoviev letter in 1924. The general strike was the predominating issue, Baldwin and other members of the government on the one hand, and important members of the Labor party on tho other contested the elec- tion bitterly. The voters refused to give the government a vote of con- fidence and J. P, Gardner, the Labor party candidate, got a majority of 3,611, Zion Hospital Burns, ZION, Ill, June 22.—Seven hundred persons, including twenty-five inva- lids, today were driven to the street when the huge four-story Zion home [here was destroyed by fire. The rambling wooden strueture, which oc- cuples an entire block, burned for four hours before*th®* combined fire of, the general strike had been in the |departments of Zion, Waukegan, IIL, (8, Swales, Tillett, Brom- | and Kenosha, Wis. were able to check of the Negro worker in the North and the South—time- ly, interesting and with the added feature of a splendid drawing by the noted prole- tarian artist Fred Ellis # Upton Sinclair Brilliant writer, pens a not “To An American Capitalist.” Jack Johnstone replies to Sidney Hillman on the question of amalgamating the Needle Trades Unions. Florence Parker |sends another special story to The Daily Worker from London to show what happened to Mr, Brown in the great British gen- eral strike. A Story of Lenin Deals with our great leader dur ing the Bolshevist Revolution. , And the Events of the Week ina ; FULL PAGE OF CARTOONS by M. P. (Hay) Bales Order a Bundle at 3% Cents a Copy. THE DAILY WORKER 1113 W. Washington Bivd. CHICAGO, ILL, 110904 LOT scrsennennes Enclosed $.........000- turday, June copies of, the Sa B: Advancement of Colored’ ee Si ate oo id ook Se a RR ek oe ee ee