The Daily Worker Newspaper, October 8, 1926, Page 5

iy : ‘ sa THE: DAILY ditbadd SAN oN The Ford Motor Cb. 14 Years|| 4 W Ago and Today By CYRIL LAMBKIN, NN the life of an industry 14 years constitute a brief span. But in the automobile industry the last 14 years cover the whole period of growth of a baby industry not only to maturity, but to first place on the list of manu- factures by value in the United States, Well do I remember the Ford plant 14 years ago. In the fall of 1912 I came to Detroit and immediately se- cured a job in the Highland Park plant, This plant was the only Ford plant then. The output: of cars for the fiscal year then ended was 76,150 compared with 1,990,995 in 1925. The number of workers employed at that time was about 9,000 as against about 115.000 in the three plants this year! The: Big Boom Year, ‘T was the year 1912-1913 which was the great boom year of the Ford business. So fast were the orders coming in that production could not keep up despite every effort. Work- ers did not come in sufficient num- bers to the shop employment office, and so, it is told, Ford employment agents stood on street corners solicit- ing workers at higher pay than they were receiving elsewhere, Those were the days before the conveyor and the speed-up system were in use, The work day was’ one of nine houfs and the wages of the great majority of the workers ran from 22 to 34 cents an-hour. The work of moving the assembled parts from one part of the factory to the other was certainly crude and ineffi- elent compared with the methods of today. All over the place men could be seen pushing trucks from one de- partment to another. Even the bodies were brought on auto trucks, lowéred ‘onto small trucks operated by man- Dower wheeled to an elevator which took body and man up to the fourth floor where was located the body room, From there after the trim- mings were attached the bodies were again moved by truckers to the final today when the body moves on an au- tomatic conveyor, which brings it directly over the chassis just as it is completely assembled, and it is lowered onto the chassis without the loss of a minute, | New Methods Come. OWEVER, already the steps were taken by the company which were destined to make’ it the model of standardization and efficiency. For long periods at a time. things were moved from one place to another to the consternation of many workers. But gradually it began to be noticed that things were so placed that they moved to the next step in a regular ordér which eliminated unnecessary movement. Tt was also at that time that the first beginning of a general speed-up system wag introduced. And this too was cfude at the start, Many fore- men and sub-foreman were used to drive the Workers. But how much better a moving conveyor serves such & purpose ‘against which the wrath of the driven worker cannot find ex- preabictt so’readily. 7 95:00 a Day. ig about the end of 1918 or. the beginning of 1914 that the Ford Motor company announced its radical policy of the’ 8-hour day and $5.00 wage per day for all men’in the em- ploy of the’ company at least six months. Curiously enough the new scale did’ not apply to the women {| workers of whom there were several hundred. Along with the $5,00 day- was in- troduced the s6-called sociological do- partment. The work of this depart- ment was the most outrageous inter- ference with the rights of-the in- dividual. The “sociologists” put you thru a’refined third degree. They vis- ited your home, ldoked into your bank account, looked over your insurance policies, your purchases of lots or homes and even the necessities of life. It was a hard ordeal to submit to, but most of ‘the “workers consid- assembly where it wag attached to |ered the 8-hour day and the $5 a day the chassis. It is altogether different | wage a fair price to pay for it. When WORKERS SHOULD SEND IN STORIES ABOUT THEIR SHOPS; ESPECIALLY WORKERS IN AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY By ROBERT W. DUNN. ~~ ‘* I have looked in vain among the contributions of the various worker eorrespondents for descriptive articles on such employers’ devices as the company union. Certainly there must be a number of workers, with a flare for writing, who find themselves caught in the meshes of somo sort -of management introduced the group in, surance plan, First it annouriced in the employe magazine—company edl- ted—that the scheme was voluntary. Only those who really cared to sign up for the frill would be given the “opportunity.” In practice it didn’t work out this ‘Spend a Pleasant Evening | In the Reading Room - of the agement had not expected any oppos!- tion. The boys would find it healthier to conform, Much along the same line. “Voluntary.” 4 The lad who etill held out was given @ special lecture by the assistant superintendent. He was made to un- derstand that refusal to take the in- surance was equivalent to signing his own discharge papers. For reasons of his own the young worker decided to sign on the dotted'line. The “vol- untary” insurance plan was thus 100 Per cent enforced. Studebaker’s could write to the trade journals and tell of their marvelous plan accepted by all their workers. Z (No, there are no such things as trade unions in this plant. It’s the company’s policy to keep them out. All relations are between the indi- vidual and the boss. Not even a com- pany ‘union ‘to ‘provide the bluff of pseudo-collective bargaining.) ~ 1h Most Plants. In practically , every. Plant some such scheme ag this is in opefation, It is value to students of labor to these schomes are put over pt over, What are the effect of such schemes upon work- ers and ity into trade unions? ions, benefit associa- tions, etock ownership plans, company magazines, the Ford company after a few years thought that the expense of the army of “sociologists” was no longer war- ranted the department was discontin- ued, altho there is still some nosing into private affairs, Since then great wealth was amassed at a rate almost unknown in the annals of industry. Railroads, boat lines, coal and iron mines, timber tracts all came into the control of Ford. And recently one of the lead- ing aeroplane factories of America also. But the workers received an average increase of only a dollar a day, which makes the general daily wage one of $6.00. Speed-Up Grows. By oor by yedr the mounting produc- tion meant not only great new wealth for the Fords, but it meant also @ speed-up system the strain of which could be endured with diffi- culty, It was then this summer that the thought of a 5-day week was born. Two days a week rest meant a little more relaxation for the workers so they could better endure the strain, and incidentally it meant quite a say- ing for Ford. There was some talk among the workers of 6 days’ pay for 5 days’ work. But, altho increased pro- duction fully warrants this, the raise did not materialize, except to a small portion of the workers who received a raise of only $2.00,a week instead of the $6.00, expected. HERE is disappointment in the hearts and minds of the Ford workers. But it is a disappointment that leads not to despair. Rather it is the kind that will generate the idea of organization. It will not be long before they realize that Ford with all his wealth is no match to the organized power of the .more than hundred thousand workers he em- ploys. When they fully realize this they will not only help themselves materially, but at the same time they will contribute enormously to the ac- cumulating strength of the whole American working class girding its Ucan party in a pinch, in Washington when rumors were spread turned a jaundiced eye on the ante- room of the league of nations as tho ated, Mistance, so he was not willing to sive credit where a debit was duo. loins for a final conflict with capital- ism. TEC fom | CORRESPONDENT. ve tm cain Me Ae 8 apeine Prien 8 Cunlt Dat He Mast Also Writel Get a copy of tne American Worker Correspondent. It’s only 5 cents, SUBSCRIBE Only 50 Cents a Year. The American Worker Correspondert 1118 W. Washington Bivd., Chicago, Il. Dead World Court Only Good One Says William (Senat.) Borah WASHINGTON, D. C., Oct. 5.—The United States may be down on the world court but it 1s never out until the one or the other is dead, accord- ing to Senator Borah, the wild man of the Idaho pampas, who seems to be against everything but the repub- William B, Borah happened to be that Calvin Coolidge. had world court is known to the ‘niti- The senator likes Cal—at a “a Hence his cynical spiel. Despite the worthy Borah's pesst- ‘ ) Auto Wolkers Must Be MEN-Not Robots uramoaiy wo REY i mh il UTOMos! : FACTO RY] A clever European wrote a play In which the characters, workingmen, ‘were ide of machinery. This is very reminiscent of a Ford worker, It it Is high tlme for not only the slaves In the Ford works but all other auto- mobile “robote” to assert themselves as men Instead of continuing merely as little cogs In huge machines that grind out profits for Ford, Durant, Dillon, Read & Co. FIVE-DAY WEEK ANNOUNCEMENT COMES AT TIME WHEN LAY-OFFS » ARE DUE IN DETROIT INDUSTRY iH * By LELAND OLDS, Federated Press, Auto workers in Detroit, where the American Federation of Labor convention opened Oct. 4, are at the mercy of giant con- cerns competitig for a markét which is far too narrow for the full productive power of the industry. It is even chances that unemployment -will be handed out as a christmas present. At least that is the story told by employment figures of the Employ- ers Association of Detroit. on the payrolls in the last week of the year and that nearly 70,000 of those employed in February had been laid off by June. There is considerable fluctuation in the. average earnings of workers in the auto industry. Wages for January are about 20% -less than those paid in November. This means that -em- ployes of the big automobile plants suffer occasional part-time as well as Periodic idleness, : The latest word trom Detroit ex Plains that Henry Ford has found the S-day week a howling success, Small wonder he likes it. Following the rules of mass production which he has made a feature of American industry, he simply speeded up the conveyers and other machinery by which raw materials go in at one end and a fin- ished machine comes out at the other, The working force had to keep the pace, They turned out as much pro- duction in 5 days as in 6, but for 5 days’ pay except where paid on a Diecework basis. Henry got the dit- y; ference in added pou ch ahesamamats, 00 Sidebars Al Smith to AE adi aM Aidedaa lime wks. oe Had os Jackass |?0°" German boy who rose up to Employment in Detroit has been on the upgrade since June, the advance to August adding somewhat over 20,- 000 to the payrolls. But the level is still 2% under August 1925. U. 8. department of labor figures for em- ployment in auto plants thruout the country show a gain of slightly more than %% over August 1925. The de- partment’s index of employment in auto industry does not show quite such violent changes,as8 in Detroit. Fluctuations in employment In De- troit and thruout the automobile in- dustry are shown for last 12 months in the following figures based on August 1925 as 100%, Department of labor figures showing average weekly wages in the industry are shown in the 3rd column; q ae y., Upton Giaclair } (Copyright, i926, by Upton Sinclair) Ix Bunny spent that summer “playing about,” as the phrase ran; he read a few books on the international situation, he studie ad some of the confidential reports of Vernon Roscoe’s foreign agents and watched the derricks climb over a couple more hills of the Ross Junior tract. Bertie telephoned, insisting that he should make his debut into society at the camp of the ultra- fashionable Woodbridge Rileys, located high in the mountains, in a “club” to which only the elect might attain. Here people boated and swam but otherwise lived as complicated lives as in the city, tangled in the.same web of social duties and engage- ments, and dressing several times a day. They drank a great deal at dinner, and danced to the music of a Negro jazz orches- tra until day-break, after'which the young people would go horse- back riding and have a laté breakfast and sleep a couple of hours before keeping a luncheon engagement. Here Bunny got, to. know Eldon Burdick, who had been his sister’s fafored suitor for a couple of years. Just what was their relationship Bunny: was not sure; Dad had ventured a jest about an approaching wedding, but Bertie froze him; she would attend to her own engagements, w ith no parental meddling. Now Bunny discovered that,the pair were quarreling; he could not help overhearing them, and seeing tears in his sister’s eyes. She was angry because Eldon would only spend a week-end at the camp, and he was angry because she punished him by dancing too often with some other,man. But neither of.the pair offered any confidences to Bunny and he did not seek them. Eldon Burdick was the youngest son a family of old Cali- fornia land-owners. Their holdings lay in the outskirts of Angel City, and every ten years or So they would sell off a chunk for “subdivisions,” and this development would so increase the value of the remainder that the family grew richer all the time, despite the fact that forty people, young and old, spent money for every- thing they could think of. Eldon was a handsome, dashing sports- man with a tiny black moustache, after the fashion of a British army officer; he held himself erect and stiff and Bunny discov- ered that he had a military mind. Bertie must have mentioned her brother’s dangerous ideas, for Eldon invited the younger man for a horse-back ride, and proceeded to sound him out. Eldon himself was an amateur patriot, in the proper sense of the abused word amateur; he was letting his string of polo-ponies stay idle all summer, while he did his part to save society. It did not take long for him to uncover the deeps of Bunny’s peril. The boy had got by heart every one of the Bolshevik formulas; that the people of Russia had a right to run their own country in their own way; that our troops had no business shoot- ing and killing them without a declaration of war by congress: that people in this country had a right to express the above con- victions without being beaten.or tarred and feathered or sent to prison or deported. Eldon pointed out that all this was merely camouflage, the convenient formulas whereby criminal conspira- tors sought to cover themselves with a mantle of legality, “free speech” and “civil rights” and all the rest. The Soviet savages had repudiated all these princtples and it was our business to fight them with their own weapons. Bunny listened politely while his companion explained the ramifications of the Bolshevik plot. Not merely had these trait- ors sought to give the victory to Germany, they were now or- ganizing a propaganda machine to overthrow civilized. govern- ment all over the world; they were stirring up- Negroes, Hindoos, Chinese and Mohammedans to rise and exterminate the white race. They had secret organizations with hundreds of thousands of followers in this country, they published or subsidized some eight hundred papers, all preaching class hatred. How could any verin; Tictany . man of decent instincts make a truce with this monstrosity? ioe Moet tne; ee corte Gye 4 Employment Employment Ave, It was indeed terrifying, and difficult to answer; nevertheless, lation of Detroit, ahow in the last 12|*"4 Wa9es Detroit’ U.S. Wages) Bunny stuck it out, we had no right in Russia or Siberia, and if months a fluctuation in the number | Aus. 192 100.0% 100.0% $31.60| 4 would let the Bolsheviks alone, they couldn’t hurt us, When rmployed from 129,104 at the end of Sail ekg baad wae peed we suppressed people’s ideas, we made: it seem that we couldn’t the christmas..month to 270,895 in) 1 ts 3082-1097 ~—~=«35.37 | ANSwer them; ‘when we smashed up meetings and threw hundreds ee Revel yeas * gape Dec, 1925 . 52.9 1044 24,05|0f people into jail for trying to attend meetings, we simply ad- employed at the peak were unem-|Jan. 1926 .......107.1 104.8 28.42| vertised the ideas we were trying to suppress, we made lots of ployed in the last week of December | Feb. 1926 ......110.8 107.1 33.82] other people sympathize with the victims. Look at those Rus- while a sixth of them were again out | March 1926 ....110. 109.8 33.87| sian Jewish boys and girls that had been arrested in’ New York, of a job in June. April 1926 .. 106.3 33.84) all of them under twenty; they had done nothing but distribute Figures Talk. oa) es ies aie a leaflet appealing to the American people not to make war on These figures mean that taking. De-|July 1926 . 99.2 30.39 | Russia, yet they had been tortured in Jail until one of them fied, troit as a whole about 200,000 workers | Aug. 1926 .. 100.7 32,6g|and the rest had got sentences of twenty years! When Eldon necessary to peak production were not let hiay Burdick discovered that Bunny was defending vermin such as these, he first became hot, and then he became cold; and soon Bunny noticed that others of the guests were cold and his sister came to him with flashing eyes, declaring that he had ruined her social career. So Bunny went to visit Henrietta Ashleigh, at the beach- home of her family; located on a beautiful blue lagoon, with little white sail-boats over it, and yellow and grey cliffs covered with Spanish bungalows of many tinted plaster. Here, gliding about n a canoe, Bunny tried to justify his ideas, but met no better success. Henrietta had an invincible prejudice against Bolsheviks and Bunny suspected the reason—she had heard about the na- tionalization of women, He would have liked to hint to her that to mention such a subject to Henrietta, she would not have been his ideal of feminine purity. So Bunny had to motor up to Angel City and take Mr, Irving out to lunch, in order to have some one to tell his troubles to. But Mr. Irving made matters worse by giving him an article from a Socialist paper, written by an English journalist who had just come out of Russia, telling of the desperate efforts the Com- munists were making to defend their cause. The party had con- scripted fifty per cent of its members to go to the front and die— that was what it amounted to, for even a slight wound was often he doubted the truth of these stories; but if it had been possible-> - mism the opinion here ts that it would take @ hardy political wight to spon- sor the league of nation’s miscar- riage nowadays, In fact only wealthy liberals and reactionaries in thelr second childhood care to ne seen walking on Pennsylvania any more with the Jeague’s unbaptised progeny, fatal, when there were no antiseptics anywhere in a country of more than a hundred million people. On twenty-six fronts the Russian workers were waging battles against a host of enemies, In Finland alone the counter-revolutionary general, Mannerheira, had slaughtered a hundred thousand people suspected of sympa- thy with Bolshevism; he had done it with American guns and American ammunition and his troops many of them wearing American uniforms. In cases where the troops had been beaten by the Bolsheviks and forced to retreat, the American Red Cross J | my Na’ i 1 Puce “where he js today.” The four leading candidates are all If He Wins in New York | ¥¢t 0 the iauor question, tho their (Special to The Daily Worker) Ng platforms are only damp. eee NEW YORK, Oct. 5—Al Smith’s|_ MADISON SQUARE GARDEN, N, nomination for the presidency on the democratic ticket hinges on his vic- Y., Oct, 6-—Representative Ogden L. Mills, the wealthy scion of an old tory in the coming gubernatorial elec- tion in New York. WORKERS (Los Angeles, Cal.) BOOK SHOP | 322 WEST SECOND 8T, ‘% Jabor library ie hore for your convenience, There je also a | New York family, was nominated by the republican state convention to- splendid selection of books for, your purchaso, Hours; 8 p, m, to 10 p, m, Tel, Metropolitan 3265 ~ No matter what your ailment, for nif Expert dinciegiorls and Gola Raovite rage on Cor, Wy 28th BH, e VELA, a ros senate 6:00 ef Chicago Federation of Labor radio broadcasting station WOFL {1s on the But |" with regular programs. It ts broadcasting on a 491,56 wave length from the Municipal Pier, TONIGHT me opens. F Pederasion of Lay ong Mates bul nw ombtey” e day to oppose Governor Al, Smith in November, Mill's name was the only one to go before the convention in accordance with the pre-arranged plans of the leaders, Al is running against Ogden L, Mills, republican, Mills is a millionatre and Al, the Wall Street servant, is going to pull off all his Fulton fish market tricks to prove to the yoters that the iwsuo is the poor man versus the rich, & good tssue almost anywhere in New York City outside of i of Fifth avenue and Wagnor to Run The democrats Judge Robert B. Wa, the United Btates | Was being taken good care of; he had had another Jet had burned millions of dollars worth of medical supplies, for fear that they might be used to save wounded Bolshevilxaatdiers and Bolshevik women in child-birth. Somehow, when ¥ that things like this were happening in the world, y enjoy drifting about in a canoe on a beautiful lagoon! Bunny went back to Paradise, and studied and th waited. There came another post-card from Paul—jam former one, cold and matter of fact; Paul was well and b Ruth; he hoped that the family was well, and also the F junny now knew the world-situation sufficiently to under i that Paul wrote such a card, and even to imagine the ® biterneta t Paul must feel to be compelled to write it, (Continued Tomorrow.)