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

}| ty a | Organized Labor—Trade“Union Activitiés | SHOPMEN DISCOVER WHAT RAISE News and Comment Labor Education Labor and Government Trade Union Politics OPEN-SHOP FIRM BLAMES TUNNEL DISASTER DEAD City Committee Seeks to Aid Company By JOHN MIHELIC, (Special to The Daily Worker) KANSAS CITY, Mo., Sept. 22.—The investigation of the Kansas City Wa- terworks tunnel disaster, which took the liyes of eight workmen, that is being conducted by a special commit- tee appointed by Judge H. F, Me- Blroy, city manager, shows. plainly that not only was the Smith Brothers, Inc., the firm doing the job, at fault but they,are now brazenly seeking to place the blame on the eight dead men who lost their lives, Place Blame on Dead Men. By placing the blame on the déad men, the company seeks to escape prosecution for criminal neglect and avoid paying any money to the wives and orphans left destitute, Byron Taylor, gang foreman and father of three children, who lost his life, is being singled out for special blame. On. being questioned by Mr. Mur- ray, director of public works, Charles §, Foreman, general superintendent, said that he thought the dead men were at fault as after the fan was repaired, they should have waited long enough before going into the tunnel, for the air to clear. He said that he did not know who ordered them in, but it was his opinion it was Taylor. Nothing is said about the slave driving methods that always are used on foremen by companies of this kind, Further investigation brought out the fact that the gas had given trouble before. This was the third explosion and the air line was inade- quate, Mr. Murray then asked the follow- ing question which created quite a sensation: Ask Sensational Question, “You say that there were three ex- plosionsy-Ono at 4,700 feet. -Ome-at 2,000 feet. And the last one at 2,600 feet. Isn’t it true that you have found the gas problem more difficult the far- ther the tunnel got under the river?” Bar Newspaper Men. Before answering, Mr, Foreman ask- ed that newspaper mei be excluded from the room. He said, “The way things have turned out the publica- tion of this testimony may furnish lawyers with material for a few suits.” ‘Wwspaper men were then excluded. * When the meeting ended, Mr. Mur- Tay refused to give out Foreman’s an- swer, + Coroner’s Investigation, Chief Deputy Coroner Dr. C. S, Nel- son was refused admittance to the tunnel by the Smith company, unless he furnished $6,000 indemnity bond and signed an agreement exempting the company from all ability, George C, Grant, a local trade unionist, and ‘ chief engineer of the Warneke Bak- ery was selected to represent the coroner’s office in an investigation of the cause of the explosion. Dr, H. E. Moss, coroner of Jackson county, Mo., said the selection had been made on the recomendation of Charles B. Nel- son, secretary of the Central Trades Council which had been asked to rec~ ommend a competent and impartial engineer. Mr. Grant’s experience is said to be very extensive in tunnel work, Send us the name and address of a prog jive worker to whom we can send a sample copy of The DAILY WORKER, é LENIN oe Organization No worker can con- sider his reading com- plete without this in- valuable work. Add it to your brary and tenes Sildnet PSS! Nett our ler ae Ons the first and , nec steps tae of la- bor.” In ld cloth-bound brary, $1.50 THE DAILY WORKER 1113 W. Washington ‘Chigage, Me Make no e An important wie 1 ATTENTION— — NEW YORK COMRADES! for stingy, Fy October 25th, place. UNDER B. & 0. PLAN REALLY IS; LESS DINNER AND LOWER WAGE Rejection by Baltimore & Ohio shop- men of a wage cut disguised as an in- crease turns the spotlight on a Wall Street Journal analysis of the profits of this road. The B. & O. is consid- ered the leader in the labor-cooperat- ing-with-capital moyement. . Quoting figures showing. that the railroad made $5,095,000. more. profit in the first 6 months of 1926 than in the same half of 1925, the journal.predicts that this earrier’s net, income. for the entire year will exceed $50,000,000 for the first time in its history. The journal's figures show that the 1926 profit for B. & O:.common stock- holders will run at least 100% larger than in 1913 and 90% ahead of the average profits of the 10 years 1906-15, it will mean: about. $16 a share, more than 3 times the present dividend rate. Financial circles are speculating on big probable increases in B. & O. divi- dends, ~ The following table shows B. & O. net yearly income sifice 1916 and the profit to common stockholders after interest payments, ete, since 1913. Net income was not reported on a com- parable basis prior to 1916. In the years 1918-20 the government rental and guarantee brought profits up to about the average of 1914-16. B.&O. Net oper, Profit for Profits income common $50,100,000 $26,700,000 43,034,087 20,793,508 38,084,323 16,319,689 42,133,129 22,422,036 23,735,005 4,375,373 21,941,696 6,388,891 26,434,295 7,245,480 27,045,298 8,580,022 27,668,294 5,042,105 22,593,969 8,095,230 27,491,027 13,184,390 10,723,248 9,200,567 13,334,250 Same Wage, More Work, More work per employer is one big reason for this year's B. & O. profits. In the first 6 months of the year ope- rating expenses absorbed only 76.3% of the road’s gross receipts as against 79.1% in 1925. Transportation costs fell from 37.3% to 35.7% of gross reve- nue. Maintenance expenses dropped from 36.2% to 85%. Since 1922 the proportion of revenue going to operat- ing expenses has declined from 82.16% to 76.3% and is expected to go below 73% this year. All this means a stead- ily increasing share of the railroad dollar for stockholders. Yet the B. & O, is still stalling on wage increases and conditions: which have been grant- ed to shopmen on many other roads. The company’s answer to the re- quest of the shopcraft unions for an increase in wages and for restoration of time and a half pay for overtime on Sundays and holidays proved to be a sugar-coated attempt to reduce total wages still further. Vice-president Galloway, in charge of operation and management, proposed an increase of 2c an hour with fime and a half Sun- | days and holidays on condition that the men give up 5 minutes of their regular 20-minute lunch period and agree to check in and out of the shop on their own time. Pay for an extra hour a week for checking in and ogt has been an established union corftl tion on the railroads for years. ‘When the unions found that taken altogether these proposals would cut wages by thousands of dollars instead of raising them, the men rejected the offer by an almost unanimous vote. Galoway then withdrew the offer of the 2c an hour increase. That worker next door to you may not have anything to do to- aight. Hand him this copy of the DAILY WORKER. Resolution Adopted at the Second Annual Conference of International Labor Defense Resolution on Organization. HE foremost task confronting In- ternational Labor Defense is the organization into a compact member- ship body of the tens of thousands of workers who are sympathetic to its ofthe first¢year of essarily devoted to practical: defense tasks and the popularization of the de- cisions of the first conference, This task has been well done. The pledges of the first conference have been writ- ten into deeds. The idea of unity for non-partisan labor defense has gained wide support. The I. L. D, has en- deared itself to all class conscious workers and has firmly established its Place as a part of the labor move- ment, A solid foundation has been laid for the organization, The task now before us 1s to build upon this foundation. The sentiment for labor defense and for the I. L. D. must be organized. The workers sym- pathetic to the aims of the I. L. D. must be welded togethér into a com- pact, dues-paying functioning organ- ization. This is the slogan which must guide our work during the next year. 1HE old practice of conducting de- fense work by loosely-organized committees, hastily constructed only during periods of extreme emergency, must be replaced by a permanently functioning membership organization carrying out a continuous activity and drawing ever-wider circles into its ranks, The building of such a membership defense organization, Which has al- ready been started by the I, L, D., has @ great significance for the labor movement as a whole, as well as for the immediate victims of class per- secution. In thefirst place a perma- nent functioning membership organ- ization for labor defense, as has been demonstrated already during the past year, constitutes a powerful ever- ready machine for propaganda and agitation which completely deprives the exploiting clasé ‘of the Possibility of railroading militant workers with- out serious protest. The I, L. D., by extending its organization, is becom- ing more and more an effective fight- ing instrument, able. to contest every attempt to victimize workers and dis- couraging many persecutions which would be carried out if there were no organized movement publicly to ex- co, ||| Pose them and fight against them, HE I. L. D., drawing thousands of members into its ranks and into manifold activities all of which Natch for announce- SN pe eradtmainmaneaneny are directly related to the class strug- gle, becomes a school of solidarity and class consciousness in which many workers gain their first lessons in the labor movement. and take their first steps into actual participation in the class struggle. New forces. of energy and enthusiasm -are thereby continually directed into the main stream of the labor movement and the class struggle. , The I. L. D. will grow in impor- tance and significance as the conflict between the workers and their ex- ploiters grows more acute, Its pow- er and effectiveness as an auxiliary to the labor movement will then be a hundred-fold greater if the work of organization has been carried on un- interruptedly; from month to month and year to year, and a mass mem- bership has been schooled in its prin- ciples and trained in its work. si hig conference believes the time is now opportune to launch an organization campaign on a nation- wide scale. All members and units of the I. L, D. are called upon to con- centrate the main energy on this work of organization during the coming months. Immediately after the con- ference the national executive com- mittee shal] draw up a comprehensive plan for the campaign and drive it forward with speed and energy to a successful conclusion, First and feremost, the organization campaign must aim at organizing new branches and strengthening the ex- isting branches, since the branch of individual dues-paying members is the rock-bottom foundation of the I. L, D. Secondly, the campaign must be carried on to secure the affiliation of all sympathetic organizations as col- lective members contributing a stipu- lated regular monthly or yearly amount to the support of the organ- ization. \ ‘AND in hand with this campaign, there must be carried on a cam- paign to bring these affiliated organ- izations into the main stream of the defense work. Every effort should be made to have the unions and other affiliated organizations send delegates to the local I, L. D. and participate actively in the work. Wherever pos- sible, reports should be made directly to the unions and other bodies affill- ated. Ways and means should be de- vised by the I. L, D, locals to see to it that the individual members of af- filiated bodies take direct part in the work, In view of the fact that ih the first year of its existence, in spite of the enormous difficulties, the I. L, D. suc- ceeded in organizing 150 loca) units, with 20,000 dues-paying members, the conference puts forward as a perfectly reasonable and realizable ob- jective, 50,000 members during the next year and an affiliated collective membership of 250,000, . The conference calls upon all units and members of the I, L, D, to rally around the slogan of organization and to press forward to the goal set with spirit and energy which has characterized -all their work during the past year. ch): crn dag AS YOU FIGHTL 2 Ie oe 1 eR THE DATLY WORKER ry a a én Page Fiva U.S, STEEL C0, HIDES NEWS OF WORKER'S DEATH Policies’ and Programs The Trade, Union Press Strikes—Injunctions Labor and Imperialism 13 Hours By. SIDNEY BLOOMFIELD, (Special to The Daily Worker) WORCESTER, Mass., Sept. 22—In their attempt to keep accident figures low by keeping idents secret, the American Steel & Wire company, a |local subsidiary of the United States | Steel Corporation, kept information of the death of Brnest Laperriere, 25 |years old, from the police authorities for over 13 hours, Killed in Cave-in. Laperriere was killed by a cave-in OHIO OPERATORS BEGIN-DRIVE ON BELLAIRE UNION |Open Mine to Run on) 1917 Scale Police Not Informed for | By GEO. PAPCUN. (Special to, The Daily Worker) BELLAIRE, Ohio, Sept, 22. — The sub-district miners’ union headquar- ters at Bellaire gave out a statement on Sept. 17 which declares that the first effort to break the miners’ union in Eastern Ohio is planned by the coal operators at the Lucy mine five miles west of Bellaire. The office of the company refused either to confirm or deny the charge. Rumors are to the effect that private guards are already guarding the coal company. No confirmation of this was given tha company neither did they deny the report, The Valley Camp Co. tried to sign an agreement, but the miners refused unless the company would sign up the three mines at Elm Grove, W. Va., which the company is trying to run on the 1917 scale. Sheriff's Statement. When Sheriff May Dunfee was asked whether private guards were on duty at the Lucy mine, she said she had been so advised and that she was sending down a deputy sheriff to con- fer with the officers of the mine or- ganization. guards as deputies and would refuse to do so, She also said that she would not send down any regular deputies to the Lucy Mine as they could not be spared. 1917 Scale. The Valley Camp Coal company is trying to run the three coal mines at Elm Grove, W. Va., on the 1917 scale. According to J. J. Snure of the Valley Camp Coal company it will try torun the Lucy Ming, and pay the Jackson- ville agreement. They will try to im- port scabs to run the mine at Neffs, Ohio. In this way they tried to divide the miners, Ai West Virginia mines belong to the Eastern Ohio sub- district which has its offices in Bel- laire, Ohio. Hardboiled _Militarist Elected. WASHINGTON, Sept. 21— Major Gen. Charles P.\:Summerall, command- ant of the second corps arta, New York, today was-selected as chief of staff of the army for a four-year term beginning next December. Summerall is reputed to be a hardboiled disciplin- arian. He will*succeed Maj. Gen. John L, Hines, ‘who will retire. NEW PASSAIC A. F. OF L. UNION AUTHORIZES RELIEF COMMITTEE TO CONTINUE AID TO STRIKERS By Federated Press, Difficulties put in the way of the western office of the General Relief Committee of Textile strikers are disappearing with the publication of the following letter. ‘The letter ts on the official stationery of the United Textile Workers of America, affliated with the American Federation of Labor, and reads: LOCAL UNION NO. 1603, United Textile Workers of America, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor and the International Federation of Textile Workers’ Associations. Sept. 14, 1926, ¢—————___"______ “To Whom It May Concern: “Thig is to certify that the textile striker8 of Passafe and vicinity are now members of the United Textile Workers of Amierica, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. “The United Textile Workers of America have requested the general relief committee of textile strikers. to” continue to function in the relief field. Therefore, co-operation given the gen- eral relief committee in the organiza- tion of relief conferences, in arrang- ing various affairs’ for the collection of funds for the relief work, in vitaliz- ing the contributions to the reliet by local unions of the A. F, of L. will be earnestly appreciated by the textile strikers and their’ Local Union 1603 of the United Textile Workers of Amer- ica, Fraternally yours, (Signed) “Gustav Deak, _! “President.” To Show Film. In Chicago, where the labor official- dom first looked askance at the relief work, the A, F, of L, affiliation has en- couraged the committee to arrange for a showing in October of the Passaic strike motion picture film. This is expected to draw a large attendance from trade unionists. The film will also be shown in Milwaukee, Detroit and St. Louis, In Mid-Weat Cities. Pee UME renee Also declaring that she | had not sworn. in any of the private) while working in a ditch at the South | Works, one of the three huge plants/| of the American Steel and Wire com- pany in this city, dying of internal in- | Juries, multiple abrasions of the body. fractured ribs and a crushed chest, according to the medical examiner who viewed the body at the City hos- | pital morgue. | Pollce Ignorant. The police authorities knew nothing ‘of the accident until the body was re- covered by fellow workmen. A pri- vate inquiry, at which a number of witnesses of the accident were pres- ent to tell their stories, was held be- |hind closed doors at the south works. | Clinton S. Marshall, district manager | |for the steel company gave a lame ex- | couse, stating that he did not know! why the police were not notified of the accident, and in the same breath declared that he thought likely that it | was not considered necessary, | | Laperriere was working in the ditch |with two other men when a water} |pipe close by burst, flooding the ditch, | | His two comrades managed to get out, | | but before the could get out Laperriere | was caught by a falling wall of debris, jand in a few seconds the entire dugout | | was filled with water and debris, | Frantic Effort. | After shutting off the water a gang | of fellow-workers started frantically | jin their attempt to locate their com-| rade. The body was found in an up-| |Tight position at 5 o’clock in the af-| ternoon, but because of the dangerous { condition of the ditch, it was impos-| sible to reach it until 11 o’clock at | night. | Safety Fraud. This steel plant holds weekly meet-| ings of its so-called safety committee, but whenever a practical suggestion | for the safety of*the employes is of-| | fered by a member of the committee, | the officials of the company turn them down upon one pretext or another. P 10-Hour Shifts, But the officials of the corporation never tire of telling the workers te be careful, while at the same time} they push the men by all sorts of} schemes, speeding the men and the machines, working in ten or twelve- hour shifts night and day. ‘Is there any wonder that the plant is produc- ing such huge profits for the United States Steel Corporation which is al- ways keeping information of accidents secret? And is there any wonder that so many accidents occur under the speed-up system? PASSAIC AND VICINITY the strikers, now in their eighth month of struggle. Milwaukee held a suc- cessful picnic, clearing over $500, Must Continue Relief. “The strikers were led to believe,” says Relief Organizer Rebecca Grecht, “that the mill owners would deal with an A. F. of L. union, but as soon as they affiliated with the United Textile Workers they were told that the own- ers would deal only with a company union, So they must keep on fighting until the owners are forced to terms. The organized labor movement Is backing them splendidly.” Western relief headquarters are in room 803, Federation building, 166 W. Washington street, Chicago, 1. W. A, Strbet Meetings, ‘The International Workers’ Ald, New York, will hold the following open air meetings the coming wee! Wednes Sept. orner of 7th St. and Ave. Thursday, Sept. 23—Corner of Aldus St. and Southern Boulevard. Ligh Ee Sept. 24—Corner ef Intervale and Wilkins Ave. WCFL Radio Program Chicago Federation of Labor radio broadcasting station WCFL is on the air with regular programs, It is | broadcasting on a 491.5 wave length ot: 6:30-—Fable Lady--Stories for '40-The Florentine® String Trio; pink Warner, Hazel Nyman, Dan ir, Jimmie & 9:00-~Alamo Cafe Dance Orehestra. 8 FiY00—-Alame ntertainera, es ee ee ed a = !begun to swim in the familiar alarming way. Upton Sinclair (Copyright, 1! » by Upton Sinclair) I Even amid such agonies and thrills, Bunny, being young, had his personal life. On his way home after drill he ran into Nina Goodrich, one of his class-mates, turning a corner in her |car, clad in a bathing-suit with a cape over it. Upon such little | things do one’s life-destinies depend! She slowed up and called, |*Come have a swim with me!” He hopped in and she whisked |him down to the beach in two minutes and in five more he had {hired a bathing suit and got into it, and the two of them were |running a race along the sand. Nina Goodrich was one of those lavish Junos, of whom Cal- ifornia brings to ripeness many thousands every year. Her limbs were strong trunks and her hips were built for carrying a dozen babies, and her bosom for the nourishing of them. She had fair hair and complexion that had not come out of a bottle and her skin was bronzed by hours in the surf, in those fragile one-piece bathing suits the girls were wearing, which revealed considerably more than fifty per cent of their natural charms. Never could a man who took himself a wife in Southern California complain that he did not know what he was getting! The two swam down the shore, a long way, not.troubied by the chill of the water; they ran hand in hand on the beach, and as they went back to the bath-house, Nina said, “Come have supper with me, Bunny; I’m tired of home.” So Bunny slipped into his clothes and she drove him back to her home and while she changed he sat in the car and got up his next lesson in nine- teenth century English poetry. The poet called attention to a chain of natural phenomena: The sunlight clasps the earth And the moonbeams kiss the sea: What are all these kissings worth, If thou kiss not me? They drove to a cafeteria, an invention where Californta* fish and California fruits and California salads are spread out before the eyes in such profusion as to trouble a nineteen year old Juno already struggling to “reduce.” There was nothing so safe as celery, said Nina, it took space and time; while she munched, they sat by the window and watched the sun set over the purple ocean and the slow fog.steal in from the sea. Then they got into the car and without saying a word she drove out of town and down the coast highway; one of her hands was in Bunny’s, and he, searching the caverns of his methory, remem- bered having heard Euince mention that Nina had had a desperate affair with Barney Lee, who had enlisted a year ago and was now in France. They stopped at a lonely place and there was a rug in the car and pretty soon they were sitting by the noisy surf, and Nina was snuggled close to Bunny and whispering, ‘Do you care for me the least little bit?” And then he answered that he did, she safd, “Then why don’t you pet me?” And when he began to | oblige her, he found his lips held in one of those long slow kisses which are sure fire hits on the silver screen, but which the cen- sors cut to a footage varying according to geography—00 in Japan up to 8,000 in Algeria and the Argentine. It was evident that this nineteen year old Juno was his to do-what he pleased with, there and then, ahd Bunny’s head had He had never got the ache of Eunice out of his soul, and here at last was his de- liverance! But he hesitated, because he had sworn to himself that he would not get in for this again. Also from some of the English poets he had begun to hear about a different kind of love. He knew that he didn’t really love Nina Goodrich, she was all but a stranger to him; so he hesitated, and his kisses dimin- ished in ardor, until she whispered, ‘““What’s the matter, Bunny?” He was rattled, but a sudden inspiration came to him. “Nina,” he said, “it doesn’t seem quite fair.” ° “Why not?” “To Barney.” He felt her wince as she lay in gone, dear.” — “IT know; but he’ll come back.” “Yes, but that’s so far off; and I guess he’s got a-girl in France by now.” “Maybe so, but you can’t be sure; and it don’t seem quite right that a fellow should go risk his life for his country and some- body else steal his girl away while he’s gone.” So Bunny began to talk about the front and what was hap- pening there and how soon the Americans would get in and how he expected to go right after graduation and about Paul and what he thought about Russia, and what Dad thought about Paul; and the young Juno continued to be in his arms, but with a more sisterly affection; until at last the fog began to chill even their young blood and they got to go and the nineteen year old Juno put her arms about her escort and gave him an espe- cially violent kiss, declaring, ‘Bunny, you’re a queer fellow, but I like you an awful lot!” (Continued Tomorrow.) AAAAAAAAAADAAAABAABAARABAAAEABREDRDARREARAAARRRARRRRD his arms. “But Barney is upline + THE DAILY WORKER, Saturday, September 25 OCTOBER 16 The New Magazine becomes @ separate publication—with more new features to enable our “THE LITTLE RED SCHOOL HOUSE,” by Oliver Carlson, “THE GREAT LABOR STRUGGLES OF 1880," by Amy Schechter. “THE CONFESSIONS OF AN AGENT PROVOCATEUR"—A sensational docu- ment. “TEXTILE CONTRASTS, Coffman. readers to enjoy the best labor weekly even issued in this coun- try. You will get it with The by Ramon DAILY WORKER. Secure subs for The SUNDAY WORKBPR from your shopmates to give them the first contact with the militant movement. {Take ad- vantage of the unusually low rates offered, to send four subs! “INTRODUCING MR. H. ©, FRAYNE,” by Y. Zack. “A CAPTAIN OF INDUSTRY,” by Max Shachtman, CARTOONS—REVIEWS and another In- staliment of “The Theater Season In Moscow,” by Ruth E, Kennel, FOUR SUBS FOR 20 WEEKS FOR $1.00 — i reduc : t + bgasiek IRR +a Ss ase ELS