The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 14, 1926, Page 5

) militant trade unions, OPTICIANS FIGHT FOR BETTER PAY, WORK CONDITIONS Are in Fourth Week of New York Strike By a Worker Correspondent. NEW YORK, Dec, 12,—Highly skill. ed mechanical opticians, industrially organized into the United Brother- hood of Optical Workers are now in the fourth week of their fight to gain recognition and enter the ranks of With the les- fons of two previous attempts since 1916 fresh in their minds, the optical workers are out to win the following demands: recognition of the union, closed shop, 44-hour week and pay for nll legal holidays. Tho highly skilled workers, the average wage is less than that of the hod carriers. Bosses Fight. Knowing that plans had been laid before the strike was called for @ na- ‘ PRIZES TO BE OFFERED THIS WEEK Again, three very splendid books are offered as prizes for the best worker correspondent storles to be sent In next week. Every worker should have one of these booke In his library. Send In that story today! Here are the prizes: ae Heresy,” by Bishop Brown, a book destined for as great a popularity as the author’s first one. Cloth-bound, B= Avarening of China,” by Jas. H. Dolsen. A book to be read TODAY by every worker. Q-—"My Flight From Siberia,” Leon Trotaky’s famous story. FIGHT OF PAPER BOX MAKERS FOR BETTER WORKING CONDITIONS MARKS By FRED HARRIS, Worker Correspondent, NEW YORK, Dec, 12.—One of the most determined battles which is fought at the present time is the strike of the Paperbox Makers’ Union in New York City, ‘ ; This group of workers which thru starvation wages was forced on its present controversy is showing a persistancy and a high degree of heroism which will mark their fight as an outstanding event in the history of labor unionism. oy Maintains Pickets Solid. sticks, so that he was unable to leav During its ten weeks of strike the weithonas Maiieicned! J be . TRE GALCY PRODUCTION INCREASES FOR-GOODS FOR MANUFACTURER, BUT DECREASES | IN CONS ERS GOODS, REPORT SHOWS}| rn By Letano OLDS, Federated Press. The seasonal improvement in factory employment thruout the country | which began in August failed to carry on into October, according to the U. 8. department of labor, The general level which maintained a lead over 1925 thru the first 9 months of the year has fallen back to the October 1926 | OUTSTANDING STRUGGLE OF WORKERS Honal campaign to organize the uD-| union has maintained a solid line of wards of 30,000 optical workers in Dickets, despite the fact that assaults the industry, the bosses are making|py the police have been a daily oc- every effort to break the morale of the workers by spreading defeatist propaganda among'them, writing them Individual letters, offering increases {x} wages and the notorious B. & O. plan of organization, The answer of the optical workers was manifested In redoubled efforts to picket lines end a greater determination to win. Out of town optical workers will benefit by a victory in New York and may render moral and material aid in the following manner: 1, Be on the lookout for work sent from New York. 2. Print handbills for shop distri- bution, warning of the strike and to flisregard news ads for strike break- brs, 3. Make shop collections. 4. Prepare the stage for a branch of the national organization in your tity. : All aid and communications will be acknowledged by the Relief Commit- tee, Unived Brotherhood of Optical Workers, Labor Temple, 14th St. and Becond Ave., New York City. Prolet-Tribune Will Be Out Dec. 18, The next number of Prolet-Tribune, the Russian living newspaper pub- ished by the worker correspondents i Novy Mir, will be out Saturday, bec. 18, at 8 p. m., at the Workers’ House, 1902 W. Division St. A picture vf the audience will be taken at the tequest of the worker correspondents vf the Soviet Union. The picture will | be sent to Soviet Russia. COMRADE SHEARS IS A GUT-UP! Clippings, cartoons and articies tre coming in from all over the pountry. Comrade Shears sends them in! Comrade Shears is every com- de in all. cities who sends ese clippings to help our torial staff make The DAILY ORKER the live workingclass paper it is. Become a Comrade Shears! Clip what you see in other pers on anything of interest labor. ECOME A CUT-UP WITH A URPOSE! To better understand the present situation in the Russian Communist Party, read the earlier and now plained in LENINISM . vs. TROTSKYISM » b G. E. Zinoviev i, Stalin L. Kamenev The Daily Worker Pub, Co. 4113 W. Washington Bivd., CHICAGO, ILL, rd currence, The number of injured men and women who have suffered at the hands of the police reads like a cas- ualty list from @ front line trench, Brutal Treatment By Pollce, Just to pick out a few names from the sworn affidavits of the general manager of the strike committee, Fred Caiola, to show the severity of the struggle: Jacob Arkin, beat up by the police, three teeth knocked out; Anna Leinhard, Charles’ Sanfatello, White, Ruth Sharoff, severely beaten by the police with fists and night- sticks; Abraham Seltzer, who was grabbed by Police Captain Mangen, beaten up by him, thrown on the ground and then kicked about; Dan Julo, who was the victim of a razor which was wielded by a scab; Rich- ard Gradino, who escaped death by a narrow margin when he was shot at, the bullet laying his scalp open; Rose Baul, who was terrorized by scabs, who cut and mutilated her with razors and then beat her senseless. And then there is the case of Jacob Usha- lock, who was taken by the police into the offices of the Famous Paper Box Co,, and amid the bosses and the police beaten up with fists and night- PATERSON SILK WORKERS HOLD MEETING, DEC. 14 By a Worker Correspondent, PATERSON, N, J., Dec. 12.—The second of a series of silk workers’ mass meetings will be held next Tues- day evening, Dec. 14, at 8 o’clock in Carpenters’ Helvetia Hall, 66 Van Houten St., Paterson, N. J. ‘The organization of the broad silk workers is the immediate object of the present campaign which has been launched by the Associated Silk Workers’ union. The need of a strong organization within the “shops is be- ing shown to the workers by the wage reductions and attempts on the part of the employers to abolish the eight- hour day and substitute the nine and ten-hour day in its place. The plea of outside competition is again very much in evidence. The multiple-loom system is now quite general and the employers are attempting to break down the resistance of the workers and compelling them to work longer hours for less pay. To Stimulate Campaign, In order to stimulate the campaign the mass meeting for next Tuesday has been decided upon, A number of prominent speakers in various lan- guages will address this meeting which will be held in. Carpenters’ Hall which has been the scene of many memorable silk workers’ meet- ings. The first meeting of the present campaign was held on Nov. 19, and was attended by over five hundred silk workers representing all the na- tionalities in the industry. Demand Uniform Prices, ‘The installation of a uniform price | list for rates on piece work weaving | will be insisted upon by the union. | ‘The general organization headquar- | ters af 201 Market street is the place where workers who are desirous of | joining the union or members of the, union will receive information about | the campaign. Milwaukee Labor Out | for Sacco-Vanzetti By a Worker Correspondent, MILWAUKEE, Dec. 12. — A new trial for Sacco and Vanzetti, con- | demned Massachusetts labor radicals, is urged on Gov. Alvan Fuller of | Massachusetts by the Milwaukee Fed- erated Trades Council, e Why don’t you write it up? It may be interesting to other workers, Use your brains and your pen to aid the workers In the class struggle, OAM i i ) These are just a few names from the list of injured strikers, all of whom were doing picket duty. How- ever, if these brutalities were intended to weaken the fighting spirit of the striking paper boxer makers, then it has missed its purpose, for the strike is still in full swing, and fought very vigorously, General Manager Caiola stated that a general conference has ben called for Dec. 13 of all labor unions of New York} to be held at the Labor Temple on 14th street, for the purpose of enlisting the united effort of all organized labor in the city. Caiola stated: “The paper box manu- facturers have made a nation-wide campaign out of this controversy. We shall follow suit and enlist the help of all labor forces to defeat the bosses in their nefarious aim of destroying our union.” The demands of the union are for a 44-hour week and a minimum scale of wages of $25 for the unskilled and $35 for the skilled workers, The condi- tion up’ to this time has been: Work- ing hours not regulated and running as high as from 50 to 60 per week, and a wage of $15 for unskilled and $25 for skilled labor. Howevér, the trade is seasonal and the average rate of wages was about $10 and $18, re- spectively. 3,000 HAMMOND. WORKERS FACE JOB LAYOFFS Car Plant Speeding Up Before Shutdown By JOE PLOTKIN (Worker Correspondent) HAMMOND, Ind., Dec, 12. — The Standard Steel Car company, which employes 3,000 men during their reg- ular season, is rushing to get all the orders out by Dec, 31. When the orders are completed, all the men will be laid off. The plant will ‘then be shut for two or three months, and during that time new machinery will be installed, During the present rush the men are working overtime every night and also all day Saturday and Sunday. For all of the overtime, including Sunday work, they are getting straight time. £ ” Face Starvation, During the layoff, starvation will be staring into the faces of the workers’ families. The men will not be able to get other jobs; most of the other plants are working half time with re- duced forces, It is rumored that the government will take over the Standard Steel Car company for the manufacturing of airplanes, | mark. The total distributed in wages, however, continued to gain, increasing | 3.7% in October to a level nearly 24%% above October 1925. This resulted | |from gains in fulltime operation. | Factory wages in October 1926 averaged $27.20 a week compared with about $26.60 in October 1925. ‘ This report, like those immediately preceding, shows marked increases ‘in employment,.compared with 1925 in industries manufacturing new pro- | ductive power but sharp reductions in¢— industries prodaeing goods for the consumer, Productive capacity grows tho consumers can't purchase all that can be turned out today, “The outstanding ains over the 12- month period,” shys the report, “were in metal industries; iron and steel, structural ironwork, foundry and ma- chine shop products, machine tools, electrical -machingry and steel ship- building. Notable, decreases in em- ployment in thi8s.cOmparison with Oc- tober, 1925, are.shawn in all the tex- tile industries ,Pxcept cotton goods (which shows a small increase), auto- } mobiles, hardware, steam fittings, saw- mills and millwork, cement, stamped ware, cigars, carriages and wagons.” More Steel Workers, Plans producing iron and steel prod- ucts all the way from pig-iron to the finished machine tool or skyscraper girder employed 5 per cent more workers than a year ago and paid 7.6 per cent more a week in wages. But the huge automobile industry reported 12 per cent fewer workers than in Oc- tober, 1925, and a reduction of 15 per cent in the amount paid each week in wages. The textile group shows heavy cuts both in employment and in total wages thruout the garment trades. In men’s clothing there was 4 per cent fewer workers and 3.4 per cent less in wages, in shirts and collars em- ployment was,down 5.5 per cent and wages 6 per cent,.in women’s clothing 6.5 per cent and 12.1 per cent, while in millinery and.lace goods there were 15.2 per cent fewer workers than in October, 1925,.and total wages had been reduced 12.6 per cent. See Thru Hoover, This lack of ‘balance between pro- duction of productive equipment and production for® consumption worries business men «who attempt to fore- cast the future)of industry. Calling attention only tosthe general employ- ment figure, Secretary of Commerce Hoover radiategzoptimism. He is a good press agent. for Coolidge pros- perity. But the!best business observ- ers know thatthe foundations of pros- perity are. shaky and discount Hoo- ver’s wind as‘siiuply for popular con- sumption. Below1923 Level. The factory “employment level is 7% per cent below the 1923 average | CAN PROPAGANDA BUT CAN MORE VEGETABLES, SAYS HOME ECONOMIST That a family. consisting of 488 persons can .on.an average, live on $1,434 is the estimate given by Ina S, Lindman, a food specialist and home economist of Muncie, Ind., in and address at the *convention of the American Farm Bureau. It is evident that she is speaking from the employers’ point of view, as her figure tallies almost exactly with the estimate of $1,400 made by the Na- tional Industrial Conference Board, an employers’ group. The department of labor has com- puted that it required $2,300, when food was somewhat higher than at present, to support “in health and decency” a family of man, wife, and three children. Even lopping of the .12 of a child, Miss Lindman’s esti- mate evidently does not presuppose health and decency. She budgets for “shelter” $192 a year, Where could a Chicago work! er, for example, get shelter, much less a home, for that sum? To raise this standard of living, the working class housewife is ad- vised to put up more vegetables in glass jars, and 10 to 18 per cent under any of the years 1915 to 1920. High per capita wages do not mean a sufficient distri- bution of money to let the workers as a class buy anywhere near the goods which industry can produce, Late reports suggest that the rail- roads may come to the rescue, using some of their.enormous 1926 profits for equipment and supplies. This would prevent a real slump in 1927. Coupled with other devices of the financial oligarchy, it might even maintain the myth of republican pros- perity until the next presidential elec- tion. But the ultimate’ stimulus to industry comes from the purchasing power of individual consumers. It is inadequate today and becomes more inadequate with each year of exces- sive return to the investing class, ‘BREAKING CHAINS’ GIVES VIVID PICTURE OF REAL RUSSIAN LIFE “Breaking Chains” is a Soviet film to be shown in Chicago, Dec. 18, at Ashland Auditorium, that compares favorably with the best that Hollywood or any.other studio has produced. olution, counterrevolution and reconstruction, It is a seven reel story of romance, rev- This picture was reviewed favorably in the New York Times by Walter Duranty and also praised highly by a correspondent of the Chicago Daily News as well as others. “Breaking Chains” is unlike the usual picture with the usual plot and over-acting that is served to us, plications. social, the collective. two leading characters, a hero and heroine, who are in love, they do not limit themselves to love-making (as is the case with so many American movies), but they find time to partici- pate in the life of “ue community in which they live and are concerned. about problems/ such \as children’s homes, workers? meetings, electrifica- tion of their village and the like. Leads e Factory Workers. The mayi and woman playing the leading roies are former factory work- ers and their ro'es in this picture as factory workers are acted with a nat- uralness that could not be attained by actors who are not familiar with the life of factory..workers, their dif- It is a photoplay of life with all its im- In it is portrayed not only the individual aspect of life, but the While there are #— ficulties, problems and aspirations. The whole play is carried on naturally and smoothly, without the exaggera- tion and distortion that marks the movies generally, Volumes of written matter could hardly convey the life, activity and plans of the Russian people as does this one single picture. No one desir- ing to know what is what in Russia can afford to miss seeing it. The International Workers’ Aid urges all who received tickets for “Breaking Chains” by mail to remit payment at once and return unsold tickets, Office, 1553 W. Madison street, room 803, Chaplain Siiys Our School War History Is Bedtime Story WASHINGTON, ¢> That some of the school histories treating of the world war Will make America “the laughing- stock of the world,” is the assertion of Lieut, Col. Thomas J, Dickson, senior combat chaplain with the U, 8, army in France. » | The chaplain as been examining 52 American, school histories in the congressional library and the bureau t education, He finds things that are ridiculous, absurd, and stupid.” In The Student's American History, by Montgomery, he learned: “The great German navy, the kaiser’s pride, was delivered over to the allies with- out firing a shot.” Where, asks the chaplain, did the battle of Jutland, with 45 battleships and 14 cruisers, come in, The Beginners’ American History tells of Red Cross dogs, trained to go out and search for missing soldiers, A bedtime story, says Col, Dickson. Elsewhere, straagic retreats on the part of the Germans are painted as glorious victories,fer the allies, Scott Nearing Speaks at Salt Lake Despite Reactionary Protests SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Dec, 12. Neither the Sons of the American Revolution, the “Daughters of the American Revolution, nor the Ameri- can Legion, were able to keep Scott Nearing from speaking in Salt Lake City under the auspices of the Uni- versity of Utah, “I don’t care what Nearing talks about,” Franklin D, Riter of the revo- lutionary sons hotly declared in his unsuccessful crusade, “I dof't care who his auditors are, whethershis talk is censored or if he just reads the lords’ prayer or the 28rd psalm, the objection is simply the appearance of a man of his reputation under the auspices of the university.” Nearing, who is a former professor of the University of Pennsylvania and former dean of Toledo University, spoke on “Whither America,” | “The pen \o mightier than thé sword,” provided you know how to use ‘t. Come down and learn how in the wockep.corraspondent’s clasean, | nal Wo. ae Page Five ? 3 The Manager’s Corner - Building—But Not for a Day. Heaperience is often an expensive but effective teacher. The present financial crisis of The DAILY WORKER, bad as it ia, will have been valuable for us, if it will havd taught us that to build our paper into an effective mass organ, we must have an energetic and well-organized network of agents thruout the country. The entire future of The DAILY WORKER depends upon this important factor. Unless we succeed in this, we can- not hope to establish The DAILY WORKER on a firm ant sub- stantial basis. These agents, at least one in every town and section, must serve as the live connecting links between The DAILY WORKER and the masses.. They must serve as the vanguard of The DAILY WORKER, as our confidential field agents. They are the ones who will push’ The DAILY WORKER into ever-widening circles of the working class, organizing free distribution, circulation and subscription campaigns. They areithe ones who will keep us constantly posted on the important industrial news of their particular locality. The DAILY WORKER agents will be the backbone .of The DAILY WORKDR. A second-rater cannot do this work. It requires imagina- tion and initiative to develop practical: schemes for circulating our daily. >It requires the courage to face rebuffs and disap pointment. It needa someone with force and push. With such @ comradein each important city and community in the United States, The DAILY WORKER can laugh at the prospect of future financial crises. These agents will be able to gather around themselves a group of enthusiastic boosters, who devote themselves ardently to the task of building up our paper, Our foreign language comrades have been able to establish such organizations, as singing societies, dramatic clubs, etc. arranging various ao- tivities for the benefit of The DAILY WORKER. We can do the same, and improve upon their methods. Those who are supporting The DAILY WORKER during the present financial difficulties will be glad to learn that the management is determined to lay the basis for a broad, sup- porting organization for our paper, so that we may be insured effectively against the recurrence of these difficulties. important task, we invite the fullest co-operation readers. To this of our BERT MILLER, YELLS ‘RED’ AT COMMITTEE ON SCHOOL FIGHT Defense Society Attacks Citizens’ Group NEW YORK, Dec. 12. — Major Richard A. Charles, secretary of the “American Defense Society,” an or- ganization of fascist principles, at- tacked the citizens’ committee of 100 that is fighting the school boards, ac- tion in denying promotion to three high school teachers, as an “organ- ization of reds.” in a speech before the government club. Charles’ topic was “Where the Red Begins.” “Must Stop Reds.” Charles painted for the club mem- bers the “insidious activities of the Reds,” and warned that “It is time to stop. the bootlegging of ficticious and wrong doctrines in this country.” The citizen’s committee, he said,iis seeking to coerce and intimidate the members of the board of education in- to “foregoing their oath of office,” by urging the promotion of Dr. Abraham Lefkowitz, Miss Jessie Hughan, and Miss Ruth Hardy, Committee is Radical. “This committee pretends to be a cross-section of the ‘population,” Charles raged, “but I have investigated them, and find that they are all radi- cals, Twenty-seven are niembers the Civil Liberties Union.” Mussolini Praised. Following Charles’ speech was one by Count Ignazio Thaon di Revel, president of the Fascisti League of North America, who told how won- derful “Mussolini was, He said that Italy is now a “unionized nation, a syndicalist state, with capital, intel- lect, and labor all united to serve a common end. Fascism 1s based on recognition of the home, religion, and the “sacred right of private property and the right of class co-operation,” he said. Warns of Japan. W. B, Shearer warned the club that America must build more ships for national defense, because “Great Brit- ain, our potential enemy, and Japan, our natural enemy, are forging clear ahead of us,” “There is little differ- ent between Japanese, British, paci- fist, and Bolshevist objectiv: he said. “It is to weaken America. i WASHINGTON, Decs 12.—A super highway, stretching from coast to coast, is proposed by Senator Dupont of Delaware, The highway would pass thru mu- nicipalities of les# than 2,500 popula- tion, strictly avoiding the “big towns,” GINSBERGS Vegetarian Restaurant 2324-26 Brooklyn Avenue, LOS ANGELES, CAL. IN PHILADELPHIA There- are only two places to eat— HOME AND AT Hartung’s Restaurant 610 Spring Garden St. Home Open trom 6, a. m, WHOEVER? Thousands of ti sold by those who\ rece! by mall. We must have the money to meet the expenses ingurred in connection with the showing ot the pleture. Please do not make it necessary for us to expend postage and time to write to you individ- ually, but make settlement at once. / Anyone holding tickets for the showing and who could not get In on account of the crowd can use the tickets for the showing on De- cember 18, at the Ashland Aaditoriiin Ashland and Van Buren. INTL, WORKERS’ AID, Room 803. 1553 W. Madison St. GIVE THE CHILDREN FAIRY, TALES FOR WORKERS’ CHILDREN Herminia Zur Muhlen Color Plates by Lydia Gibson A book,of beautiful stories that are. sure to be liked by both grownups and children. Thous- ands of copies were sold imme- diately on its publication, Over twenty black and white illustra: tions and four full-page ‘color plates illustrate these splendid stories that breed the fighting spirit of revolt. Bound in durofiex $ .75 Cloth bound 1,25 RHYMES OF EARLY JUNGLE FOLK, by Mary Marcy—with over 70 beautiful wood-cuts. Cloth $2.00 FLYING OS8IP—Stories of New Russia Paper $1.60 Cloth $2.50 KING COAL, by Upton Sinclair— A splendid working class story of the coal mines, Paper $1.00 Cloth $1.60 RED CARTOONS—Over seventy beautiful cartoon in a 9x12 book, Board bound $1.00 THE DAILY WORKER PUB. CO. 1113 W. Washington Blvd, Chicago, Hl.