The Daily Worker Newspaper, August 15, 1926, Page 3

SARA MOAR BE AMES as i | ' WORKERS IN R. HOE AND CO, GET LOW WAGES Speed-Up System Is In Operation By a Worker Correspondent NEW YORK, Aug. 13.—R. Hoe and ‘Company employs several thousand workers, Its plant occupies several Square blocks on the lower east side of Manhattan. Printing presses, ma- chines and saws are manufactured in this plant, Work Day and Night. The plant is going twénty-four hours aday. Three shifts work in the plant. Before one oan get a job in this plant he must answer about 40 questions, If the worker answers these questions to suit the boss then he is assigned to a department in which he is to work, ‘When you arrive at the department you are assigned to the foreman tells you something about the company. You are then placed next to another worker and told to watch his move- ments and see what he does. After standing next to this worker for two hours the foreman assigns you to your Place at a bench. Speed-Up, For the first few weeks you work on the week work basis. Every once ; in a@ while the foreman comes over to you and shouts “Shake it up! Put some pep into you!” etc. The work is dangerous for the eyes. You must wear goggles to protect them. The goggles are of cheap glass and after a day’s work your eyes be- come sore. * Young Workers. Those working on the week work basis receive 42 cents an hour. Piece workers do not even make that much, for the company pays very cheap prices. Young workers are in the ma- jority in many of the departments. Many quit after a few weeks in this department. Most of the young lads are from the farms. They have left the farms, where it {s impossible to eke out an existence on the soil, and come to the city and become proleta- rianized. One of the workers in this plant has been working over 35 years, He is making but $18 a week. The v plant is unorganized. PRAYER OF A FORD SLAVE Our Father Who art in Dearborn, lenry be Thy Name. Let pay-day come. Thy will be done in Fordson as it is in Highland Park. Give us this day our six bucks (plus 40c.?) And forgive us for our laziness, as we forgive Thee for speeding us up. Lead us not into intelligent thot or action, But deliver us from all Freedom. For Thine is true slavery. Thy power over us for ever and ever, Amen.— From a Fordson Worker. (Reprinted from the Ford Worker) Open your eyes! Look around! ‘There are the stories of the workers’ struggles around you begging to be written up. Do it! Send it in! Write as yar fight! $9 will bring you a year’s subscription to The Daily. Worker if you -send it BEFORE AUGUST 15th. $1 brings RED CARTOONS —the greatest publica- tion of proletarian art ever issued. SEND FOR BOTH An Interesting Sight— The Better Babies Contest— Illinois State Fair Springfield, Aug. 21-28 All Our Work Guaranteed, ‘SEMINARY TAILORS CLEANERS & DYERS Pressing—Repairing—Remodeling Hats cleaned and blocked—Shoe Shining Parlor—Laundry 812-14 Fullerton Ave., Chicago, Ill. Phone Lincoln 3141 Dolsen. Subscribe! year, Published monthly. SWIFT AND CO, USE BORDEAUX BONUS SYSTEM Get More Work for Less Money By a Worker Correspondent The packing-house workers in Swift and company are being initiated into @ new and novel speed-up system un- der which it will enable the company to get the equivalent of overtime work out of the .workers for less than straight time pay. A staff of white collar slaves are busily engaged in smoothing out the details of this new method by which the company will be able to better ex- ploit the workers. The system that these white collar slaves are working on is the “Bordeaux system.” Under this system the laborers are Paid 42% cents an hour. A certain amount of time is allotted for the per- formance of each operation, If the worker is able to produce the work in less time than that set he is to re- eeive a bonus. If a worker produces a job that requires three hours, ac- cording to the standards to be work- ed,out by the Swift and company ef- ficiency experts, in two hours time, he is credited with his two hours time at regular pay and with a “Bordeaux hour.” ‘The “Bourdeaux hour” is paid as a bonus at an approximate rate of 314-5 eents an hour, This ig a most in- genious method of depriving the al- ready underpaid worker of 11 cents foran hours’ work, This system is made very complicat- ed so that it would more effectually be- fuddle the workers who were starting to get wise to the old piece work system, From the Detroit Ford Worker Christ Conoff, a Rouge plant work- er, was sent home because he was sick from overwork. He went to the city hospital, as his lungs were weak. He wrote to Mr. Ford telling about medical or financial assistance until he got well again. His wife was about to be confined at this time, so he had endless trouble. Here is Ford’s answer:— Mr, Christ Conoff, Herman Kiefer Hospital, Detroit, Mich, Dear Sir: Your letter of recent date, addressed to Mr. Ford, has been handed to the writer for reply. Mr. Ford does not make loans of any kind whatsoever and consequently would not be inter- osted in the matter referred to in your letter. Yours very truly, (Signed) Vv. L. Sheviin, Assistant Secretary to Henry Ford. The American Worker Correspond- lean Worker Correspondent Is only 50 cents per year. Are you a subscriber? GINSBERG’S Vegetarian Restaurant 2324-26 Brooklyn Avenue, LOS ANGELES, CAL. To those who work hard for their money, | will save 50 per cent on their dental work. DR. M. RASNICK DENTIST 2050 Center Ave., Cor. Errin St. PITTSBURGH, PA, We Call for and Deliver, “WORKER CORRESPONDENTS BY JANOARY 13 1927 Worker Correspondence for stories sent in this week to appear In the issue of Friday, August 20 5 enh IMPERIALISM,” by Loula Fischer. A new book on the story of Oli and the part America plays in this struggle. bound edition. Maniatis OSSIP,” Stories of New Russia. Unusual stories by the most significant of the new Russian writers, 37 AWARSNING OF CHINA,” by Jas A. addition to every workers’ library, To the American Worker Correspondent to learn what and how to write. his condition and asked for either’ air with regular programs. piano and son ( tone; Johnson Sisters, tenor; Hickey and Johni 10:00 to 11 Muni 4 PRIZES Cloth- A new book that makes a splendid 50 cents a “Write as You F ight” Should Be Motto of Every Active Worker By M. PERLIN. (Worker Correspondent) Clarence Darrow, at a political meet- ing, declared that “the best represen- tative that can represent me is my- self.” This statement {s very true when applied to the workers. Nobody in this world can describe the workers’ life as the workers themselves. The miner who works in the dark recesses of a mine and goes thru in- numerable dangers while at work, is the only one that can tell the world about the working conditions and life of the miner. The same is true of workers in other industries. The farmers, steel mill workers, rail- road men, seamen, factory help, store clerks and office help can best portray their conditions and bring home more forcibly the need of changes in their lines of work. : It is the duty of every worker to write for the workers’ press, Where shall a worker correspondent get his stories and his news is a ques- tion frequently asked, Under the capitalist system the life of the worker is filled with misery. He is looked down upon, abused and robbed at every turn. All the worker correspondent need do is look around and note these happenings. At times conditions become so unbearable that the workers are forced to go out on strike, tant. “Write as you fight” should be the slogan of-every worker correspond- ent, Brooklyn to Have Concert for Relief of Passaic Strikers By a Worker Correspondent. BROOKLYN, N. Y., Aug. 13.—A con- cert and mass meeting will be held at the Brownsville Labor Lyceum, 219 Sackman street, on Friday evening, August 20, for relief of the striking textile workers of Passaic. Admission is 35 cents. ‘ Goldman Shop Workers Must Pay the Bill By a Worker Correspondent Mr, Goldman, main boss of the Gold- man’s Young Men’s Clothing Co., Mil- waukee Ave. and California, held a party recently to celebrate his fif- teenth wedding anniversary. The party was a gorgeous affair. The foreman at Goldman's factory in describing the party let it be known that Goldman had spent a great deal of money to entertain his guests. He estimated that this must have cost Mr. Goldman at least $500. At this party this “benevolent” boss presented his wife with a $2,500 bracelet, The workers in this shop are poorly paid. It is they who are footing the bills of the Goldman wedding anni- versary celebration, Send a sub now and get the sp cial rate of five dollars for a year’s subscription and the pleasure of help Our Daily. | WCEFL Radio Program Chicago Federation of Labor radio broadcasting station WCFL is on the It is broadcasting on a 491.5 wave length from the Municipal Pier, TONIGHT, 6:00 to 7:00——Chicago Fi 30—May Gordon, accordian, Frank Culman, bari. rohostra. — jan, the little Irish Hawailans, 9:30 to 10:00—WCFL Syncopators, 00—Dance music from ¢ r Auditorium by Chew, 8:30 to 9:00—Mon 9:00 to 9:30—Ja. wh “As the crow files” Captain Girier and Lieutenant Ordilly, left and right above, cover the 1,580 miles between Moscow and Paris In a non-stop flight The need of keeping workers in other cities informed as to the progress of the strike is very impor- THE AILY WORKER aa In Moscow-Paris Non-Stop Hop F rench F liers Set New Record 44 of 14% hours. This establishes, they claim, a record. They are seen here belng greeted by their compatriots after the landing at Le Bourget, the Paris air port, PICKETS SHUT — BIG FOUR RAIL GARMENT SHOP | BROTHERHOODS IN BROOKLYN) TRY NEW BOARD I. L. G. W. Settles with|Present Wage Demands to Coolidge Men NEW YORK, Aug, 13.—(KP)—Pres: ident Coolidge’s railroad mediation board set up by the Watson-Parker bill passed by congress wil listen to the arguments of the Big 4 transportation brotherhoods and the railroads “until this matter is settled.” Fifteen representatives of the brotherhoods are presenting the work- ers’ demands for wage increases of $1 to $1.25 a day. ‘Conductors, firemen and trainmen are giving their case first, trying out the new mediation ma- chinery. The board is to hear both the workers and the employers and try to bring them together. The make-up of the board appointed by Coolidge is distinctly anti-labor, judged by past performance. Rail un- fonists had hoped that with a better break on the board the new mediation machinery would work more for them than the railroad labor board which they practically repudiated before its demise, W. G. Lee, president of the Brother- hood of Railway Trainmen, and L, BE. Shephard, president Order Railway Conductors, headed the union delega- tion. Vice-president J. G. Walber of the New York Central is speaking for the eastern railroads. Seventy-Two Shops NEW YORK, Aug. 18.—Seven more Settlements were made yesterday by the settlement committee of the Cloak- makers’ Union with the independent manufacturers, making the total 72 since the. beginning of the strike July 1, ; An intensive drive to close non-union shops operating in Brooklyn was be- gun when 150.members of the general picket committee were diverted to that borough for picketing. The first shop to succumb under the new effort was the Cucol Cloak Company, 70 Jackson street, Greenpoint, which closed its doors, Arrest 15 Piokets. Eleven union pickets were arrested in Manhattan, seven of them being promptly freed by Magistrate Dreyer in Jefferson Market court. The four others, arre; on disorderly conduct chages, were freed on bail and will be arraigned later. Louis Hyman, chairman of the gen- eral strike committee, speaking in Arlington Hall, 19 St. Marks place, to cloakmakers ‘who were unemployed prior to the strike call, ridiculed as- surances given by officials of the In- dustrial Council to their members that they can supply them with labor in the present emergency, Charity Begins at Home. Hyman pointed out that these of- ficials of the Industrial Council are un- able to obtain workers for their own shops, let alone workers for other manufacturers, Hyman called efforts to attract unemployed cloakmakers to struck shops futile and bound to fail. Mass meetings are being held daily in many halls. New York Republicans Will Meet September 27 NEW YORK, Aug. 13. — The repub- lican state committee plans to hold a state convention at Madison Square Garden, Sept. 27. SEND IN A SUBIi “Oily” John’s Nephew Fined for Smuggling (Special to The Dally Worker) NEW YORK, N. Y., Aug. 13. — J. Sterling Rockefeller, great grand- nephew of John D. Rockefeller, was fined $476 for attempting to smuggle a number of articles into the United States without declaring them to customs officials. A search of this youth after he had walked off the French lner France revealed that he had tried to smuggle thru a pair of binoculars, fourteen razors, an expensive pipe and two automobile ornaments, SEND IN YOUR SUB TO THE DAILY WORKER! 30 thern TMlinois Needs Youth Conference By “GERRY” Dowell, Il, EN we look at some of the youth conferences which have taken Place in various parts of the country (New York and Hast Ohio) we can begin to see the young workers taking more of a realistic attitude to their problems. In southern Illinois we also have conditions that affect the young work- ers in general, This can be principally seen among the young miners who have important parts to play in a un- fon that is confronted with a crisis, ‘The most important need of the young miners and adult miners is the organization of the unorganiged. conducting this wi sary for the miners’ union, the ener- getic mustering of the entire organiza- tion is necessary. Without the moral, financial and general support of th organized section of the miners, the ary tasks in the building of a strong union. Without a militant leadership the task of building a mighty union is frustated at every turn of the road. The pioneers of our movement strug- gled fiercely to put the United Mine Workers’ of America on the map. That section of labor's history is filled with many bloody scenes which expose the role of the bosses and their govern- ment. In the coming period the hard lot of the young miners will push many of them to the fore in the union, The progressive spirit of the young miners will make them find their way into the folds of the left wing under a militant leadership. A youth conference held in this ter- ritory will mean a real alliance be- tween the left wing and the young workers. Ali efforts should be made by the militants in this section to pre- pare the ground for such a youth con- ference. They should talk the idea over with the young trade unionists in their locals and line up other ydung workers for the proposition, As soon this phase we mu: the same time recognize that the leaders of the union |as we are strong enuf we can begin (the Lewises and Farringtons) have | making plans for the running of such absol te do thei 9 set Page Three aa ee By Upton Sinclair (Copyright, 1926, by Upton Sinclair) WHAT HAS GONE BEFORG, When “Bunny” Ross, son of J. Arnold Ross, California olf operator, is thir- , teen years old, he goes with Dad to Beach City to sign an oll lease. There he } meets Paul Watkins, near his own age who had run away from his father’ Poor ranch in the San Elido Valley because the family were “holy rollers.” Hie 1 ' 1 | brother Eli is a cripple who has fits and “heals” people. From time to time Bunny hears from Paul and sends money to his family. In the meantime Bunny is learning the oil business with his Dad who, along with other oll operators is profiting by the war that had broken out in Europe. Bunny persuades his Dad to go for a quail hunting trip to San Elido Valley, There they meet the Watkins family and Bunny becomes acquainted with Paul's sister, Ruth, whom he likes. While hunting, they locate oil on the ranch and Dad wheedles it out of oid Watkins and also buys adjacent property secretly. In the meantime Bunny starts to high echool at Beach City and falls in love with a fellow student, Rese Taintor. When they are ready to drill Bunny and Dad go back to the ranch te . Girect the work. They persuade Paul to come to live with them and work ae « carpenter. Paul had be living with a lawyer who took an interest In him and left him a legacy of books when died. Paul and Ruth live in the well sight. Eventually the well is begun and Ell, now turned prophet and the pet of wealthy adherents to the faith, makes a blessing as the Grilling bee gins, Bunny goes back to school and finds himself tiring of Rose Taintor, Ce ee ack near we Dad came to the cabin after a couple of hours, and lay dow: for a while to rest. They had got the body out, he said, and had’ telephoned for the coroner; he would swear in several of the mem as a jury, and hear the testimony of others, and look at the body, and then give a burial permit. Paul had been to the dead man’s bunk and looked over his things and put them all into a box to be shipped to his wife; Dad had in his pocket half a dozen letters that had been found among the things, and because he didn’t want Bunny to think that money came easy, or that life was all play, he gave him these letters, and Bunny sat off in a corner and read them: pitiful little messages, scrawled in a childish hand, telling how the doctor said that Susie’s heart would be weak for a long time after the flu, and the baby was getting two more teeth: and was awful cross, and Aunt Mary had just been in to see her, and said that Willie was in Chicago and doing good; there were cross-marks and circles that were kisses from mamma, and from. Susit and from the baby. One sentence there was to cheer up Dad and Bunny: “I am glad that you got such a good boss.” Well, it made a melancholy Thanksgiving evening for thems they ate a little of the feast which Ruth had prepared, but with- out real enjoyment. They talked about accidents, and Dad told - of something which had happened in the first well he had drilled —they were down only thirty feet, when a baby had crawled down | into the cellar and slid into the hole. It had taken a couple of | able-bodied men to hold the mother back, while the rest of them tried to get the child out. They fished for it with a big hook on the end of a rope, and got the hook under the baby’s body and lifted it gently a few feet, but then the body got wedged some- how, and they were helpless. The child had hung there, not screaming, just making a low moaning sound al?the time, “U-u-u” like that, never stopping; they could hear it plainly. They started men to work in breaking the ground with crow bars, scraping it into buckets with big hoes, and the men on top hauling the buckets out with ropes. When they got below the baby, they ran in sideways, and got the baby out all right. The hook had sunk into the flesh of the thigh, but without breaking the skin; the bruise had healed and in a few days the child was all right. A strange thing was life! If Bunny had stayed home that day, he’d have taken Rosie Taintor to the foot-ball game, and - - at the moment when poor Joe Gundha had plunged to his doom, Bunny would have been yelling his head off over a few yards gained by his team. And now, in the evening, he’d have been at a dance; yes, Bertie actually was at a dance, at the home of one of her fashionable friends, or at some fancy hotel where they were giving a party; Bunny could see, in his mind’s eye, her glaring shoulders and bosom, her dress of soft shimmering stuff, her bright cheeks and vivid face; sho would be sipping champagne, or gliding about the room in the arms of Ashleigh Mathews, the young fellow she was in love with just now. Aunt Emma would be all dressed up, playing at a card-party; and grandmother was painting a picture of a young lord, or duke, or somebody, in short pants and silk stockings, kissing the hand of his lady love. Yes, life was strange—and cruel. You lived tm the Hittle | narrow circle of your own consciousness, and, as people said, what you didn’t know didn’t hurt you. Your Thanksgiving din- ner was spoiled, because one poor laborer had slid down into a well which you happened to own; but dozens and perhaps hun< dreds of men had been hurt in other wells all over the country, and that didn’t trouble you a bit. For that matter, think of all | the men who were dying over there in Hurope! All the way from.- — Flanders to Switzerland the armies were hiding in trenches, bom~ barding each other day and night, and thousands were mangled just as horribly as by an overshot in the bottom of a well; but you hadn’t intended to let that spoil your Thanksgiving din~ ner, not a bit! Those men didn’t mean as much to you as the quafl you were going to kill the next day! i Well, the coroner came, and they buried the body of Joe; Gundha, on a hill-top a little way back out of sight, and with, a wooden cross to mark the spot. It was a job for Mr. Shrubbs,, the preacher at Eli’s church; and Eli came along, and old Mr. Watkins and his wife and other old ladies and gentlemen of the. church who liked to go to funerals. It was curious—Dad seemed, glad to have them come and tell him what to do; they knew, and he didn’t! Obviously,-it didn’t really do the poor devil any good’ to preach and pray over his mangled corpse; but at least it was” something, and there were people who came and did it, and all you had to do was jist to stand bare-headed in the sun for a while and hand the preacher a ten dollar bill afterwards. Yes, . that was the procedure—in death, as in life; you wanted some- thing done, and there was a person whose business it was to dp that thing, and you paid him. To Bunny it seemed a natural phenomena—and all the same, whether it was Mr. Shrubbs, who prayed over your dead roughneck, or the man at the filling sta- tion who supplied the gas and oil and water and air for your car, or the public officials who supplied the road over which you drove the car. Dad sent a telegram to Mrs. Gundha, telling her the news and adding that he was sending a check for a hundred? lars to cover her immediate expenses. Now Dad wrote a explaining what they had done, and how they were sending: dead husband's things in a box by express. Dad carried ii to cover his liability for acidents, and Mrs. Gundha would be by the insurance company; she must present her claim to industrial accident commission. They would probably allow five thousand dollars, and Dad hoped she would invest the mo in government bonds, and not let anybody swindle her, with stocks or other get rich quick schemes. So that was that; and Dad said they might jist as quail shooting, and forget what they couldn't help. And B said all right; but tn truth he didn’t enjoy the sport, b his mind somehow the quail had got themselves mixed u Jee Gundha and the soldiers in France and he couldn't | : fun out of mangled bodies. Sy : f (To be continued) adie «sass