The Daily Worker Newspaper, September 2, 1926, Page 5

FIRST PRIZE WINNER AUTO COMPANY AT FLINT, MICH, COERCES VOTE General Motors Tells Flint to Appropriate By a Worker Correspondent. FLINT, Mich., Aug. 31. — After a threat issued by the General Motors corporation, not to use their newly ac- quired $4,000,000 plant unless the vo- ters of Flint, Mich. install a new sewer system the “Loyal” Filnt City Coun- cil has decided to give the voters an- “sother chance to make good. The General Motors corporation re- cently bought out the huge plant of the Flint Motor Co. at the fancy price of $4,000,000 for the purpose of manu- facturing the closed Buick bodies now being made in Detroit, and recently tied up several times on account of labor trouble. The city fathers of Flint immedia- tely got busy and asked the voters of Flint to favor a $220,000 appropriation to install a new sewer system to ac- comodate the General Motors corpora- tion’s program of still further expand- ing the former Flint plant. On August 17 the voters of Flint defeated this measure, and immediately Mr. H. H. Bassett, president of the Buick Motor Co, issued a statement to the effect that the new $4,000,000 plant will be left idle and the Buick bodies continue to be made in Detroit, unless the voters of Flint change their minds and put in new sewers for the General Motors corporation, ‘One of the reasons why the Flint voters turned down the new sewer proposition is that in the thickly po- pulated sections of the east and west side of Flint where the workers live, there are no sewer accomodations, while the south side where the $4,000,- 000 plant is located, already has sew- ers and is not built up at all. Immediately after the statement by Bassett, in fact the same day, the local politicians appeared before the city council with a resolution request- ing that the sewer proposition be giv- en another vote. “I am satisfied that the citizens of Flint are loyal to their town, loyal to their institutions, to the General Mo- tors... (!) I have heard it stated that the sewers to be built were for the benefit of the General Motors cor- poration, This is not true. General Motors never asked for anything it was not justified in asking for... General Motors is only asking for what the city has always done in the past 20 years,” said the man who intro- duced the resolution, And now the citizens of Flint will again be asked to vote huge sums of money to improve the property of the General Motors corporation at the ex- pense of the health improvements in the working class residential sections, It should be borne in mind that the huge majority of the Flint voters are employed by the General Motors cor- porations. A subscription to The DAILY WORKER for one month to the mem- bers of your union is a good way. Try It. the first booklet on the subject: “ORGANIZE THE UNORGANIZED By Wm. Z. Foster, A timely pamphlet of’ in- terest to every worker in and out of the organized labor movement. + 10 CENTS. - GINSBERG’S Vegetarian Restaurant 2324-26 Brooklyn Avenue, " ea ANGELES, CAL. . 1000 WORKER CORRESPONDENTS BY JANUARY 13 1927 SESQUI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATES SALESMANSHIP; CRUDE AND DIRTY (By a Worker Correspondent.) PHILADELPHIA, Aug, 31.— Sesqui-Centennial one hundred and fifty years in which to perfect the idea of business enterprise for private pro- fit. The exposition is blatant, crude, as is America today, flaunting its patnted stucco salesrooms over the flatness of the filled-in marshland. For sky-line, the monotony of flat roofs . . with here and there an ornamented turret. The most significant statue is an enormous bottle of Bromo-Seltzer, force- ful warning to those whose constitutions ere too weak to stomach modern "Sang," every turn of the artificial “lagoon,” as your imported gondola glides over the bloated carcass. of a dead cat or Pulls up alongside the roller-coasters of “Treasure Island.” Russian Room Brighter. There are other interesting con: trasts, which stand out in spite of the slipshod, half-finished state of the ex- position. In the art exhibit for in- stance, after wandering thru dozens of rooms filled with dull portraits and still duller landscapes, you suddenly come upon a burst of color and mo- tion in the Russian room. One can- vass in this room has caught the spirit of the whole. huge show. Across its face marches the typical American proletariat army ... derby hats, pick axes, shovels, market bas- kets bursting with “Uneeda Biscuits,” all neatly labeled, and in the back- ground, the menacing smokestacks of our industrial towns not forgetting the ever present reminder of the next world war, T. N. T. Two rooms away the walls are cov- ered with the most exquisite Persian Tugs. Attached to one of them is a card which states that it was woven “by a slave,” for the entrance of a Mosque... and bears the inscrip- tion: “Only in the service of the Lord, do I find Life.” Advertising Started Early. On a quiet street they have succeed- ed in reproducing a part of beautiful old Philadelphia... Here is Wash- ington’s house and Franklin’s, and the Gerard house with the old “counting This landmark greets you at ¢— house,” the first Philadelphia bank. Here too is Franklin's old printing press noiselessly turning out the first copy of the Philadelphia “Public Ledger”... March 25, 1886 , ,-. “Price One Cent.” It is interesting to see that for its eight columns of news there are eight columns of ad- vertising, proving that “Old Ben” was a worthy ancestor of his successor, “The Saturday Evening Post,” and knew how to turn a penny for profit. That the exposition is primarily concerned with furnishing a medium for advertising American business in- terests goes without saying. Our old friends of the bill board and street car cards greet us at every turn. Wrigley’s, Waterman’s, the B. and O. railroad vie with the Wall Paper As- sociation and Standard Ol for your eye and your money. Japanese Typewriter, Even the Chinese and the Japanese have caught the fever. Next to a Chinese typewriter which can write up and down or sideways, one sees portraits of American children skill- fully embroidered in colored silks for the small sum of $200 and the Japan- ese Export Corporation displays life- size figures of Japanese men in native costume, topped off with American felt hats. But the crowds are bored, they can see all this any day in any one of our 100 per cent American cities, with a few skyscrapers, a traffic cop, an am- bulance and a fire engine all thrown in for the same price, A STORY ABOUT YOUR JOB or any WORKER CORRESPONDENCE sent in this week may win one of these prizes (winners announced in je of Friday, Sept. 10). Y baa Sy COAL—A splendid novel by Upton Sinclair, in a cloth- bound edition. F ' Py igieub WING. UNIONISM—By D. J. Saposs. A new book every worker should read. 1 OoPane AND SHADOWS—By Ralph Chaplin. A beautiful book of poetry written by the noted working class poet. SECOND PRIZE WINNER Workers Party Nucleus Makes Durant Motor Co. Forego Plan to Cut Pay By a Worker Correspondent. ELIZABETH, N. J., — There is a plant here known as The Durant Motor Co., making Durant and Star cars. The conditions were as bad as in any other open shop in the country. Last February there was a shop nucleus of the Workers Party organ- ized. The nucleus proceeded to work and started to issue a bulletin known as the Durant-Hays Hunt’ Radiator. The bulletin was very well received by the workers and was well read by them, It described the bad condi- tions in the shop and urged the work- ers to organize, Last June the company made an at- tempt to cut the wages of the up- holsterers and trimmers. A strike fol- lowed which lasted for a few hours and the men won the wage cut back. While the men were out and were standing on the sidewalk ' near the plant, Mr. Hilfers, of the New Jersey Federation of Labor came asking what the trouble was. The men told him all and said that they were willing to join a union. As they were all up- holsterers they succeeded in forming a local of that union. Meanwhile work- ers of other departments heard about it and also started to organize, but aa there wags no union they could not be admitted, so they formed an A, F. of L, local known as “Auto Body Work. ers’ Union.” Both local unions are functioning well and have already their respective charters, Last Friday both locals held a joint open meeting which was well attended. Workers are showing a very good spirit, as since they started to organize, thelr conditions are improv- ing. The Machinists Union is also coming into this drive and those three organ- izations will most likely sueceed in organizing the plant and establishing a basis for organization in the auto in- dustry, ee. \ DAILY WITH A 8UB, THIRD PRIZE WINNER LOCAL 38 OF 11.6.0, TRIES UNION DRIVE Left Wing Executive to Organize Girls By WILLIAM LUPU, (Worker Correspondent) NEW YORK, Aug. 28. — (By Mail) After many years of unmaterialized efforts by former administrations to organize the dressmakers, the left wingers. have launched a vigorous drive against the dressmaking scab holes of this city. The task, however, is now more perplexing than ever before. Of the varied problems, two are most menacing: First, how the apa- thetic ladies’ tailors may be enthused, to help organize their competitors, the girls; second, how to stave off des- tructive criticism, which springs from the bitter opposition—the right wing. Unity Prime Requisite Local 38, comprising several crafts— ladies’ tailors, alteration tailors, thea- trical tailors, and custom dressmakers —has, ever since its inception, for al- most two decades, grappled with the vexing problem of unorganized dress- makers. From Bad To Worse. The problem has, of late, become more serious than in past years, the trend of fashion tending to create “soft work,” the kind of ladies’ ap- parel that girls produce at wages forty percent lower than men receive. Fashionable Fifth Avenue shops, in- variably, catering to their patrons’ fancy, whose vogue whimsies have lately been Parisified, display soft line modes, for which fabulous prices are paid to the highly reputed fashion shops, in comparison to the meager wages of the dressmakers, Lack of Spirit. Year after year, the ladies’ tailors were wont to bear competition until they have settled down, indifferently, working wherever and whenever they chance to find a job. Some of them, being misled to aban. don the hope of ever succeeding in or- ganizing the girls, have adopted a pes- simistic attitude, even when the under- paid girls are willing to help in union- izing the dressmakers, Left Wing on Duty, The executive board, however, has faithfully resolved to forge ahead, bar- riers notwithstanding, until Local 38 will have organized the dressmake: and raised the standard of conditions for all of its members. |they strike they may ratse their THE DAILY WORKER Page Five:- «4 2 : Latest Prize Winners Among Our Worker Correspondents The prize winners this week are ae follows; F First Prize: It goes to the writer at Flint, Mioh., who telis us about the General Motors corporation, the Morgan combination tn the auto In- dustry, The prize Is a year’s sub- scription to the COMMUNIST IN- TERNATIONAL, official organ of the Communist International. Second Prize: This prize, a copy of “Left Wing Unionism” by David J. Saposs, goes to another auto- mobile worker. correspondent who writes about the Durant Motor Co, Elizabeth, N, J. Third Prize: New York gets this prize, a copy of “Bars and Shadows” by Ralph Chaplin as the result of a story sent In, about organization work In the needle trades in the metropolis, Send in your story. It may win one of the prizes next week. A.C, W. MEMBERS PROTEST AGAINST PIECE WORK PACT Resent New Concession in Montreal By VICTOR FRANK (Worker Correspondent) MONTREAL, Aug, 31. — The last meetings of Montreal Locals of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers’ Un- ion proved to the general officers of the union what the workers think of the new concession to the Montreal clothing manufacturers, The official press of the Amalgama- ted Union for the last few weeks talks about the “victory” of the Amalgama- ted general strike in Montreal, and now they declare that the members must agree to plece-work, because this is the only way to bring the manufac- turers back to Montreal from the lit- tle country places where they ran away from union control, Much Bitterness. It 1s hard to| believe the bitterness that prevails now amongst the Mon- treal Amalgamated members. They all agree that piece-work will bring more demoralization into the Montreal clothing market than there was before the general strike. The general office is threatening to withdraw the charter and financial support if the membets will not endorsy their policy. The sentiment against the new piece-work polity is such that press- ers’ local decided to tax their mem- bers five dollars each to form a fund to fight piece-work, The same senti- ment prevails amongst the operators and cutters. Which Will They Do? The Montreal Amalgamated mem- bers are awaiting further actions of their general officers, The problem is: Will the general office of the Amalga- mated Clothing Workers take into consideration the strong sentiment of their Montreal members condemning piece-work or will they go over the heads of their members and bring in the system against which the workers are protesting. It is foolish to believe that the Montreal clothing Workers will be able to compete thru the piece-work system with French girls unorganized and in the small country towns of Quebec province. Collector For Passaic Discovers Shopkeepers Oppose; Workers Help By M, PERLIN (Worker Correspondent) During the house to house collec: tion in Chicago on August 22 I had some experiences that may interest other collectors, In a bakery at Divi- sion and California a worker sweeping the floor searched his pockets and gave his only ten pennies, saying, “I wish I could give ten dollars.” The customers gave something, but the nicely dresi young man at the cash register 8 ‘I wouldn't give a cent for the strikers because they are no good, They want higher wages and shorter hours, and that isn’t good.” nearby a short fat fellow with beady eyes and an ofly rigar said, “I’m the boss of this store md I don’t want you to bother my customers.” I went ahead without paying any at- tention to him, and he threatened to have me thrown Out, I threatened to strike Of his customers, and was very good. He gave mo @ quarter, apologized, and invited me to proceed with the collection. Floored Him With Marx At another place the boss wanted to debate, “See here,” he said: “The are fools, They stay out of work half a year, and even if they gain a little raise in wages, they have of Marxian economics that the work- ers have nothing to lose but their chains, When they work for low wages they only prepare for them- Ives a time of unemployment; when wages, If he wasn’t convinced, some others may have been. orate $e Send The DAILY WORKER for one month to your shep-ma oo » CALIFORNIA LABOR BACKS LABOR’S FOE Socialists Refuse to Take United Action By WM. SCHNEIDERMAN, (Special to The Dally Worker) LOS ANGELES, Calif., Aug. 31, - “When thieves fall out,” it is possible for honest workqrs to find out the true state of affairs in the California political situation. The two outstand- ing candidates tor the republican nom- ination for governor are F. W. Rich- ardson, present governor, and Lieut. Gov. C. C. Young. Richardson {8 the most ultra-re- actionary that ever ran the state of California, He is supported by the {Southern Pacific railroad interests, be- cause he placed one of their leading officials on the state railroad com- mission, which has saved the Southern Pacific million of dollars. In return for this slight favor, the head of the Southern Pacific donated $10,000 to the campaign treasury of Governor Richardson. The latter is also supported by the infamous Los Angeles Times, which carries on the most vicious attack upon organized labor of any newspaper in America, A Fake Liberal. Richardson's chief opponent is C. C, Young, who poses as a liberal and pro- gressive, with the support of the Hearst newspapers, Senator Hiram Johnson, and “Boss” Parrott, who runs Los Angeles, Young was a supporter of La Follette in the last presidential election, but was discreet enough not to do so too openly, and to this day maintains a benevolent neutrality re- garding Coolidge and Dawes. One of his most powerful backers is Paul Scharrenberg, secretary of the Califor- nia Federation of Labor, and head of the state conference for progressive political action which, together with the socialists, conducted La Follette’s campaign in California in 1924, How To Tell “Friends of Labor.” Young has the official backing of organized labor, in view of the recent action of the Los Angeles Central La- bor Council in endorsing his candi- dacy, which even went so far as to circularize its affiliated membership to register republican for the primary elections, As California is normally a republican state, nomination virtually amounts to election. The Central La- bor Council went further, and en- dorsed a number of other candidates for office, some of whom are notorious- ly anti-labor, The unique method they use is by counting the number of timés they voted for a measure endorsed by La- bor, and if it outnumbered the votes for measures disapproved by Labor, then they were “friends of labor.” One of the ways in which some of these anti-labor candidates secured the en- dorsement of the Central Labor Coun- cil, was by their “wet” record. Silent on Repressive Law. Young is in no sense a labor candi- date. For 16 years he has been a part of the state political administration, posing as a liberal. At the present time, when asked about his stand on the criminal syndicalist law, under which nearly 100 I. W. W. members were sent to San Quentin penitentiary, he refused to commit himself for fear of alienating the support of some of the “respectable” people who are be- hind him. The labor party which flourished in Los Angeles three years ago is long dead. The socialist party has nomin- ated Upton Sinclair for governor, and has so far refused to join with the Workers Party to place an independent United Labor Ticket in the field, fear- ing to lose its place on the ballot. If they place technical considerations above the interests of the workers and farmers, then they are surely dis- credited in the eyes of all militants, Socialists Refuse United Action. Even their own locals are sending in inquiries to the state headquarters of the socialist party as to what stand they are taking in regard to the Com- munists’ proposal for a united front. The indications are that the Workers Party will be forced to place its own candidates in the field, and continue its fight to unite labor's forces on the political field, Garment Strikers Ask A.C. W. For Strike Aid ROCHESTER, N. Y., Aug, 81.—An appeal from the 40,000 striking cloak- makers of New York, who have been out for nine weeks, has been received by the Amalgamated Clothing Work- ers’ executive committee, President Sidney Hillman announces, The ex- ecutive will appeal to its membership to aid their fellow garment workers. 55 Years a Convict. WAUPUN, Wis., Aug, 31. — “Old Bill” Maxwell, 81, one of the oldest convicts in the United States, was given a cake topped with candles to- day, the 55th anniversary of his ar- rival at the state penitentiary here. He was convicted of murder. He never has attended chapel, a moving picture show or a baseball game at the prison, Labor Defense Rally, Laber'| Day, Sept. 6. Speakers: Gurley Flynn, Covington Hall, Dr, Peters, J. P, Cannon and C. E, Ruthen- By — Upton Sinclair (Copyright, 1926, by Upton Sinclair) WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE, J. Arnold Ross Is a wealthy Independent California oll operator who was firet Jim Ross, a teamster and then a merchant before he went into the oil business, Bunny, his son, Is a sensitive boy, learning the oil business and now going to high school. Dad has a fleld in the San Elldo Valley on the Watkina fanch. The Watkins family are holy rollers. Eli Watkins has become a religious fakir with a church of his own. Bunny had met Paul Watkins when they were both much younger. He liked Paul who had run away from home because he didn’t like the religious discipline imposed by his father. Paul is now a carpenter in the new Watkins field and his sister Ruth is keeping house for him. The Watkins field is really Bunny's and he has been made very wealthy thru the bringing In of a great Well which haw grown to fourteen dere ricks. In the meantime war with Germany looms and the men in the oil fleld under the leadership of an organizer for the Oil Workers’ Union, Tom Axton, prepare to strike for an eight-hour day and a raise in wages. Paul becomes a leader of the strikers and a battle is on between the oil workers and the Oil Operators’ Association which supplies thugs and gunmen to the various operators, including Dad, during the strike. Bunny is back at school and receives the reports only thru the press. He is somewhat sympathetic to the strikers and doesn’t believe the calumnies printed in the press about the strikers, e ° . e Vil The German submarines had sunk one American vessel too many, and America was going to war; Congress had been sum- moned, and the whole country was on tiptoe with belligerency. The newspapers had pages of despatches from Washington and New York, and from the capitals of Europe; so it was not sur- prising that the news of the Paradise oil strike got crowded out. Once in a while you saw an inch or two bured in a back page; three strikers had been arrested, charged with beating up a strike- breaker on a dark night; it was declared by the operators that the strikers had attempted to set fires in the district, and that Ger- man agents were active among the trouble-makers: some little thing like that, to remind you that three thousand men, and the wives and children of many of them, were waging a desperate struggle with starvation. Dad of course had daily reports of what was happening, and 3o Bunny got the news. Little by little the operators had gathered up a supply of men, paying them extra wages, and bringing them to the field. They were seldom skilled men, and there were many accidents; nevertheless, a number of the wells were back on pro- duction, and in two or three cases some drilling was being done. But on the Rosg tract everything stood idle; and Bunny could see that his father was irritated by this situation. He was losing a fortune every day—and at the same time losing caste with his associates, who thought he was either crack-brained, or a traitor, they could not make out which. Of course, the Big Five were glad enough to see one of the independents cutting his own throat, but they pretended to be indignant, and spread rumors and propa- ganda against their rival, and magnified the trouble he was caus- ing in the field. Bunny could see all this, and he got the sting of it from the gossip which Aunt Emma brought home from the clubs, and Bertie from her house-parties and dinner-dances. And then he would think of the men, clinging pitifully to their hope of a better life, and his heart would be torn in half. There was only one thing that could justify Dad’s course, and that was for the men to win; they must win, they must! It was the way Bunny felt when he sat and watched a foot-ball game, and cheered himself hoarse for the home-team. He had an impulse to jump into the arena and help the team—but alas, the rules of the game forbade ‘such action! There had been more trouble with the guards at the Ross tract, and Dad was going up to the field, and Bunny went along for a week-end. It was springtime now, and the hills were green, and the fruit-trees in blossom—oh, beautiful, beautiful! But human beings were miserable, millions of them, and why could they not learn to be happy in such a world? It was springtime all over the country, and yet everybody was preparing to go to war, and form vast armies, and kill other people, also groping for happiness! Everybody said that it had to be; and yet something in Bunny would not cease to dream of a world in which people did not maim and kill one another, and destroy, not merely the happiness of others, but their own. They came to Paradise and there was the strange sight of idle men, hanging about the streets; and of guards at the en- trances to all the oil properties. There was somebody making a speech on a vacant lot, and a crowd listening. It was a great time for all sorts of cranks with things to teach—itinerant evan- gelists, and patent medicine venders, and Socialist orators—the people heard them all impartially. Bunny found that his read- ing room was being patronized now, there were men who had read all the magazines, even to the advertisements! Dad interviewed a committee of his men. It was an impos- sible situation, they reported, the guards were deliberately making trouble, they were drunk part of the time, and didn’t know what they were doing or had done. Therefore the union had put up some more tents, and the men in the bunkhouse were about to move out. Those who had families, and occupied the houses, would try to stay on, if Mr. Ross would permit it; there was no place for the families to go, and they dared not leave the women and children alone in the neighborhood of the guards. Dad in- terviewed the captain of the latter, and got the information that the men had liquor, of course; how could you expect men to stay in a God-forsaken hole like this without liquor? ~ ‘ Bunny went up to see Ruth and Meelie—the place to get the news! The girls were hard at work baking, but that didn’t occupy their tongues, and from Meelie’s there poured a stream of gossip. Dick Nelson was in the hospital with a part of his jaw shot away—that nice young fellow, Bunny remembered him, he had worked on Number Eleven well; he had knocked a guard down for dirty talk to his sister, and two other guards had shot. him. And Bob Murphy was in jail, he had been arrested when they were bringing the strike-breakers into the Victor place. And so on, name after name that Bunny knew. Meelie’s eyes were. wide with horror, and yet you could see that she was young, and _ this was more excitement than had ever come into her life bef ihe If the devil, with his hoofs and horns and pitchfork and burnt smell, had appeared at a meeting of the Tabernacle of the : Revelation, Meelie would have enjoyed the sensation; arid in the same way she enjoyed this crew of whiskey-drinking, curiae ruffians, suddenly vomited out of the city’s underworld into her peaceful and pious springtime-decorated village. (To be continued) \RAAAADARAAAAABAARARRRA MA BROOKLYN, N. Y., ATTENTION! CO-OPERATIVE BAKERY Meat Market Resta: IN THE SERVICE OF THE CONSUMER. Bakery deliveries made to your home. FINNISH CO-OPERATIVE TRADING ASSOCIATION, (Workers organized as consumers) 4301 8th Avenue lawn