The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 24, 1927, Page 5

| 1 | 1 / | j News and Comment Labor Education Labor and Government Trade Union Politics PROSPERITY IN FRISCO SHOWN TO BE A FRAUD Few Have It, While Thou- sands Starve By HOWARD HARLAN (Worker Correspondent.) SAN FRANCISCO. — The most prosperous year in our city’s history has just-elosed, according to the daily press, Bank clearings—the barometer of progress—never attained such dizzy heights as in the year that has just passed. Building permits have .surpassed all previous records, and palatial new structares Lave altered the physiognomy of our city in the last twelve months, Property Raises Property valuations are increas- ing weekly, imports and exports are leaving all previous records in the shade, the San TFrancisco-Oakland bridge project has been brought im- measurably nearer by the concen- tratec efforts of our civic politicians, and the first budget reduction in twenty years has been recorded. The Other Side ‘All these factors spell prosperity and optimism in abundance but, alas, there happens to be another side to the shield. The reverse side indi- cates little of the prosperous condi- tions just enumerated. : 20,000 Are Jobless Here we learn that ’Frisco’s unem- ployed army exceeds that of any year since the records were kept. Over twenty thousand potential workers are prohibited by economic conditions from having contact with a job. The | employment sharks are themselves ‘next to. being unemployed. Some of them find it necessary to remain closed for days at a time. Even the large offices, which in the summer season are the scenes of intense ac- tivity, are now displaying black- boards and posters with less than a dozen positions available to prospec- tive job huriters. ] Must Seek Charity | | | °° While families of producers are! suffering privation, and thrown on the charity of the public, much ado | is made of building permits, bank clearings, increased exports, and re- duced taxation, while Brisbane ad- | vises all from the North, and the | ‘South, and the East who are not en- joying their share of the natipnal prosperity to pull up stakes and come to sunny California, the home of peace and abundance. What a strange world! : Housewives’ Council Demands Support for Box Makers’ Concert |. The United Council of Working | class Housewives, 80 E. 11 St., N. Y. | ., which has been keeping up the kitchen for the last twelve weeks for the Paper Box strikers is ap- | pealing to all labor organizations to help the strikers win their just bat- le. Their call is as follows: “The Paper Box Makers Union, | the union of the strikers, is arrang- | ing a grand concert and bail for the | 11th of February on Lincoln's Birth- “day eve, at Star Casino, 107th St. and ark Ave, New York City. This | gieat entertainment must be a suc- cess. The workers of New York must show to the strikers that they | are not alone in this battle, that the | workers are supporting them. Also “the stubborn employers must know ‘that the strikers will hold out as long as necessary until they win their de- “mands. i: » “The workers can prove their loy \alty to the box irikers by making | the concert and ball a success. “ “The U. C. of Workingelass House wives is appealing to all labor or ‘ganizations and to the various women | organizations especially to sell tickets _| and collect ads for the program jour ‘| nal of the concert. The money is || being used to feed the strikers’ fam | ilies, Help them win.” | Negro Conference Secy. | Hails Daily Worker | 1 feel that the coming to New York Jot the Daily Worker will mean a Y it deal to the Negro Worker. The apér can keep him in’ touch with world labor, and inform him about on . ‘The work that the A. _ L, C. has been trying to do will be, greatly strengthened.—Mary Adtms, Former Secy., A. N, L, C. ' The and ag oer Work- urs’ Workers will Amalgamated have an entertainment and ball at the “Lyceum,” 86th St. and 3rd Ave, New York, Friday, Feb, 11, 1927, YOUNGSTOWN, 0.—The worker | in the several steel mills of this city | (Passaic of Ohio) are living under as unbearable conditions as if they were prisoners in a Siberian salt j mine during the regime of Nicholas, the Last of Russia. | Low Wages, Long Hours General labor is paid for at the | vate of 44 cents an hour, $4.40 for a {long and hard day of ten hourse | | Even this cannat be had by everyone. | Hundreds of workérs go to the em- ‘ployment offices every day in | search of anything at all. Skilled | and semi-skilled are more than will- | ing to take an unskilled workers | place, anything to keep the wolf from | | the door, Make Use of Jobless | The large army of. unemployed | hanging around are not entirely over- | looked by the slave-drivers, or bosses, | as we call them. when speaking in their presence. Every day we hear MILL WORKERS IN YOUNGSTOWN, 0, SLAVE LONG HOURS FOR LOW WAGE. (By a Worker Correspondent.) | the same old threat: “If you don’t | | do it there are lots of men around | | the employment office who will be} | glad to come in and do it.” This! threat helps Mr. Slave Driver to in- | tensifv his attitude and to swing | | his economic lash in a ferocious man- | | ner. The Workers Know | Class collaboration is not yet vis-| ible in the mills of Youngstown. | | Workers are told in no uncertain | | language who is who and what is} | what. So we have no difficulty in | reglizing that as workers we have, | nothing, absolutely nothing, in com- | mon with our masters. | |. The mill workers have already re- | ceived the news of the immense pro- | | fits that were derived from their labor” during the last year... While the idle parasitic, stockholders are | getting these vast profits, the work- ers who produce them have not even a week’s bread ahead of them. WORKERS MOBILIZE TO HELP CLOAKMAKERS SAVE UNION; SUBSCRIBING FOR LOAN OF $250,000 | Mass meetings of workers are be- ing arranged in many cities, and in response ty a general demand for detuils of the New York strugg!e, the Joint Board of the I. L. G. W. sent Max Levine, member of the out- | of-town committee, on a speaking itour of the West. He will speak in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and Petaluma, California, in San Antonio, Dallas and Houston, | New Orleans, Jacksonville and Sa- vannah. Miss Anna Litvakvos has been placed in charge of a commit- | toe ein Philadelphia, which, as a re- | sulz of the conference of representa- tive workers held there last week, is sending in $200 a day on their pledge of $20,000 for the bond issue of the four most powerful Jof . New York | | locals, 2, 9, 22 and 85..'The bonds, in denominations of $25, $50, $100 and $800, bear intevest iat .aix, per- | cent and mature in#three years. | | Financed By the Membership | The 1. L. G. W. strike i’ New-York was’ financed by ‘the ‘‘menibership, principally by taking’ out loans. There was a genéral ‘response to- | wards the call from Néw York, and amounts were receivéd as follows from the I. L. G Pie Ath these cities: — Philadelphitt, © $114000; © Chi- cago, 6,000; Boston, $4,000; Balti- | more, $17,000; | erson, $1,500; St. Louis, $1,288; De- Hartford, $1,200; Pat- | troit, $800; Los | Cleveland, $800. > This response from. the member- Angeles, $1,200; | given jobs. | help with housework for a few days. \in Bellevue Hi | were sent out-on farm work, some to | #Ppear at Fllis Island before the im- WORKER “MAY DEPORT MAN. PASSAIC POLICE . | ; BEATING CRAZED |Hospital Reports Him | |. “A Public Charge” Because he is suffering from in- sanity as a result of a brutal beating by Passaic polite while he was on the textile strike picket line there, immigration’ authorities are now in- | | vestigating the alien standing of { Abraham Zaretsky, 23, a former re-/ | sident of Passaic. } + Policies and Programs The Trade Union Press Strikes—Injunctions Labor and Imperialism MANY JOBLESS IN STATE OF WASHINGTO No “Prosperity” Thére | Zaretsky is now. in Wellevue Hos- | pital suffering from dementia prae- cox. . While he was on the Passaic P pickét line last March, he was brut. | ally attacked by police, his mind} totally wrecked as a result, | —Wages Low (By a Worker Correspondent.) TACOMA, WASH.—The combined; His two sisters, both working for | federal and city free employment of-| small pay, attempted to keep him in fice reports that in the past year 9, private institutions, but fotmd that 797 men and women applied for jobs; | their limited finances would not per- and 7,138 men and 458 women were | mit this. When doctors advised that In December 304 asked | lye might be cured by convalesting in for work and 298 were given work. | the mountains, they scratched and That looks as if conditions here | seraped and finally managed to save were fairly good. But they are not.| enough to supvort him there for a | Let us consider this report. fmonth. Still his condition did “hot But Jobs On Short-time improve. It says nothing as to what kind of | Their poverty, making it impossible | jobs or how long the work lasted.|to keep Zaretsky in a private isti- | Many of the women were wanted to | tution, forced his sisters to place him | 1° sOpeR Immediately, Most of the rest probably were sent | the hospital officials notified Imini- | to the berty fields of the Puyallup | gration authorities at Ellis Yeland Valley for a few weeks. Very few | that he had become a “public charge”.. of the men were placed on what! ‘ R might be called steady jobs. Some! Zaretsky's sisters were notified to the berry fields and canneries in sea- | Migration commissioner. He question- son. Most of them were sent out as |¢d them regarding his status as an casual labor, a few days digging for | @lien, the cotintry from which he house foundations perhaps, and simi- | came, and their ability to keep him | lar work, or putting in a load of | ftom being a “public charge”. wood. They burn wood out there,| In the opinion of legal experts seraps from the lumber mills, and’ questioned about the case, unless his after the trucks dump it at the curb | sisters keep Zaretsky in a private in- it has to be put away. Most of the/ stitution, which their finances will men hired are for such work. Very | not warrant, the immigration author- short-time jobs. | ities may have grounds on which he Long Lines of Job Hunters (may be deported. Zaretsky entered ; | this country in a legal manner, in There are many factories here, > Page Five ’ The Manager's Corner Twenty thousand workers jammed Madison Square Garden. in New York on Saturday, January 24th on the occasion of the anniversary of Lenin's death and the ar- rival of the Daily Worker in New York City. Twenty thousand worker's cheered enthusiastically every mention of our paper, and pledged their material and moral sup- port. To veach this vast crowd, the human voice unaided would have been totally inadequate. It was therefore necessary to employ the devices produced by modern sience for the purpose. With the aid of electrical ampli- fiers, it was possible to veach the furthermost recesses of the great auditorium aid its topmost galleries. With the aid of this wonderful invention the slightest sound from the platform was heard distinctly by every worker in the audience. The printing and publication of a newspaper alone will not insure its reaching a large circle of readers. No matter how much we improve the quality of our paper, that fact alone will not be sufficient to build up its circulation. To reach the furthermost recesses of the labor movement, to reach every section of the work- ing class with its message, the Daily Worker must have the aid of what I might call “human amplifiers’, com- rades who devote themselves to the promotion of the paper, in all their available time. Without this help and support the Daily Worker will find it as difficult to reach the workers as the Madison Square Garden speak- ers without the electrical amplifiers. From this. moment. on,.every comrade who reads the Daily Worker must make it his business to broadcast the reputation-of the paper widely. Workers should be urged. to read it. Newsstand dealers should be urged to handle it. Those who are out of reach of the news- stand should be urged to subscribe. In this way the Daily.Worker will. quickly become a mass organ and a powerful weapon for the workers. Bert MILuer. INDUSTRIAL SURVEY COMMISSION OF NEW YORK IN TIGHT GRIP OF EMPLOYERS; DELIGHTED BY ATTACK ON 48-HOUR BILL; JEERS SUPPORTERS By ESTHER LOWELL Will New York women workers get their long-promised 4@Qoupeweek law from the present legislature? Will the workmen’s compensation law be changed to stop the-almost endless delays made possible by court appeals? How much of the labor legislation sponsored by\the State Federation of Labor is going over? When the State Industrial Survey | 8 Joint Board to obtain funds to varry | win towards the needs of the union 23 lumber mills, furniture factories, | — smelter, ete, They never hire from on the fight. Help From Many Cities. An additional $1,000 has been re- ceived from Chicago for the bond issue, $200 from Milwaukee and £1,000 from. St. meetings have been held, The pro- gressive members of the Shirt lroners union, who pledged $500 ,have turned in another $100, having bought bonds ‘already to the amount of $350. The millinery workers, who. have already raised $4,700, bought another $1,000 worth of bonds on’ Wednesday’. The bond issue, of $260,000 is guar- anteed by the Joint Board and by the Louis, where mass | i |has not ceased. The conference of! the: employment offices. Every day active trade unionists in New York | there is a line of men asking for work | Monday pledged $100,000 in sub- | at every one of these places. Some- scriptions toward-the loan, andeasked | times a few are hired. But always, for only three weeks time -to do it | there is.an oversupply of workers. and Shop subscriptions for the loan | an undersupply, of jobs. And. so | vet results. ‘ . }wages are kept low. $3.40 for an | ‘There have been liberal contribu- eight. hour day. is supposed to be the | tions through the Workmen’s Circle | has |during the strike. 16 gave $188; 67) ve $58; 84, $5 ic . rate ingthe.umber. mills. $100; 99, $50; 224, $40; | $50; 284, $58; 226, ; : 470, $50; | 482, $75; , $1003. 715, | $100; 718, s1b0, and many others. | PATERSON STRIKE ON 272, workers, _ FINDS COMPANIES PROMISE MEN PENSIONS IN FAR DISTANT FUTURE T0 DRIVE THEM HARDER TODAY Promises of corporations to pay form of pensions when they get to be 65 to 75 years old are being inerease- | ingly criticized by competent authorities. Organized labor is interested in upon trade unionism. Warren B. Catlin, Bowdoin College economics professor, has some stinging com- Problem: “More vital and serious still is the effect of pension systems upon the independence ‘and bar- | gaining power of the workers. The employers’ argument that it will promote good con- duct and decrease the liability to strikes proves too much, Ih- dustrial peace is desirable; but, like other forms, it may be bought at too dear a price; and for all the large expenditures of the corporations the worker stands to pay the bill. “The absence of strong labor organizations in practically all industries having pension sys- tems, aside from railroads, is more than a coincidence. The prospect of a pension binds the workman hand and foot, and robs him of that mobility which is his greatest bargaining asset. In like manner it discourages all collective efforts to improve wages and other conditions for the mass of employes. An older employe, approaching pension- able age, is not likely to stir up sedition among his fellows and get himself discharged in conse- quence. In fact, it has” been charged that in time of strike men already on pension have someti been forced to act as strike-breakers or lose their pensions. Professor Catlin is referring. to the railroad companies’ action be- fore the threatened tieup of 1916 as well as in the 1922 strike and pres- ent action of Western Maryland R.R. against engineers firemen,—old pensioners being c: out to break the strike. Catlin concludes his sec- tion on industrial pensions: , | “It seems ungracious always to be questioning the motives behind employers’ gifts; and no doubt any method of providing COLLEGE ECONOMICS PROFESSOR INVESTIGATES; EXPLOSIVE SITUATION Tt} ; 9 sometimes runs as low as $2.50, some- | the cards were stacked against them | Commissione times up to $4.50 for a few skilled | ‘SIX PASSAIC STRIKERS YIELD TO THIRD DEGREE: | PLEAD GUILTY OF BOMB PATERSON, N, J.--(FP—Feeling six Passaic strikers, charged with | bombing the homes of two scabs, | ‘veached a compromise with the prose- cution, The men entered a plea of non yult to a misdemeanor indict- meat in return from the dropping of | ‘a felony bill. The lesser charge ‘Ac- | | cuses them of having explosives with | the intention of destroying property.) Commission reports to the le _| employer,—while he wae around. ‘And factory forewomen were brewght to ture on Feb. 15, its recommendations will. form the basis for any new labor laws or changes to be made this year. What the Commission can be expected to propose is indicated in its make-up and conduct to date. Big Business Control There are three Democrat legisla- tors to six Republicans among the | * The representative | of “the public at large” is James| W. Gerard—Woodrow Wilson’s am-| bassador to Germany. The em-| ployers’ representative is Merwin K.! Hart, a Republican and counsel for! the Utiea textile manufacturers. The man chosen by the legislature to représent JIabor is Emanuel Koveleski, vice-president of | the the effects of the pension practice | ments in his new book, The Labor| their workers deferred wages in the | for the superannuated man is better than none at all. But the chances for oppression lurking in corporate pension plans make one hope that some other rem- edy may be found.” That remedy has long been advo- cated by the Pensylvania Old. Age |Pension Commission. The commis- ‘sion is fighting “for state old age ipensions as the only way to meet | \the increasingly difficult problem of caring for the 1,800,000 dependent | aged persons over 65 in the United) States. A scientific system under | state control is the only pension | scheme that can serve the workers, | the Commission finds, with a grow-| ing number of impartial pension ex- perts. But, according to the New York Times, “fear of government action is not the least of the reasons for the spread of private pension plans.” . Some of the 400 large corpora- tions using pensions to keep work- ers in hand are: Colorado Fuel & Tron Co., E, I. DuPont de Menours Co., General Electric Co., Interbor- ough Rapid Transit Co., Intl. Har- vester Co, Jones & Laughlin Steel Co. Otis Elevator Co., Philadelphia Rapid Transit Co., Pittsburgh Coal Co., Pullman Co., all the Standard Oil companies, United States Rub- ber Co., U. S. Steel Corp., and many railroads, led by the Pennsylvania, ‘ } ‘4 South Philadelphia Street Nuclei, Y. W. L. Greets STRUGGLE MAY SPREAD By Worker Correspondent bursts that have been occurring in this town of historfe class warfare. have culminated in an unorganized | and spontaneous strike that has tied |up one mill, Garfinkle and Ritter’s sill underwear shop. again, a few days ago, and went to the Y. W. CG, A. to make further plans. The “Y” at once administered to them a real dose of class evllabora- tion, told then that it coukl not con- sent to their plans for struggle, and shut the door on the representative of the Associated Silk Workers’ Union. girls heard all this, and saw that the organizer from the union was not to be allowed to speak’ to them there, they put on their hats and coats and marched to a hall where they conld talk. A picket line is established, the rest of the shop is on strike, the first visit from the police has been braved, and the demands are clear: (1)— Restoration of the wage cut, (2)—A it will spread. Another strike is on in a union silk shop, where the boss had got into the habit of ignoring the union, be- cause of a long period of industrial pacifism. A crude denial of a griev- ance brought action. , Eight More Miners Burn in Gas Explosion WILKESBARRE, Pa., Jan. 23.— Hight miners were burned, one seri- ously, when, an explosion of gas, be- lieved to have resulted fro man elec- trie spark, wrecked the cooper vein of the Peach Orchard Colliery, Glen Alden Coal company, here today. The injured follow: dition serious; Clifford Hay, 41, city; Anthony Wyssocki, 28, city; The DAILY WORKER On Its Third Birthday. * Felix Tomasheski, 19, Hanover; Leo Dobinski, 82, city; Anthony Chris- topher, 35, city; Konstansti Martin, 46, city; Peters Conitzski, 43, city. The first six are in local hospitals while the condition of the last two | th pecciee their removal to their land carries a maximunt penalty of State Federation and delegate of the ‘three years. The felony count adde | Hotel & Restaurant Workers, Intl. the intention of injuring persons and | Union to American Federation of | PATERSON, N. J.—Sporadic out- | >! oners. | About fifty young workers, who) ted he had no | had probubly never heard of a union, walked oat when -the wages were cut | When the extited and_ rebellious | union, If the strike lasts very long “ Stanley Kresge, 38, Parsoris, con- |. brings five to ten years. | The compromise came the/second | , day of the trial of three of fhe pris- Policemen on t! witness stand had been badly their denials of third ity. Sidney Turne | who prepared the fegree brutal- stenographer, en down questions, f police and prisoners but reconstructed 2 narrative state- ‘ment. Me admitted that in the case | of Tony Poncho, a Slav, he relied ow an Italian captain of detectives, aa | interpreter, But the third degree statements | none the less proved damaging in a} hysterical middle class community | from which jurors were drawn. Other | indictments would have been brought up later and defense funds would not last. The six men will be sentenced | January 28. -Five other cases in an- | ether county are not affected | and answer: | Over the Top for Daily Worker Drive, but This Nucleus Keeps On Going Editor, DAILY WORKER: En- ‘closed find money order for $21.50, | $12.50 of which was contributed by | the Ukrainian Russian Club of Endi- | cott, and $9.00 of which was col-| | lected at a nucleus meeting, { Our nucleus, which consists of 16 membere, has already passed . the 19% mark. We have turned in $86.50 to The But we didn’t stop our work. Every | member of our nucleus has a book) of certificates and we are trying our best to sell them, We are also proud of our district No. 4, to which we belong and which was the first to got over the top in this campaign. ‘ i Fratornally yours, -'~ A. PANASIK, Financial Secy. Endicott, N. WASHINGTON, Jan. 28,—Arbi- | tration of the Mexican land law con- troversy faded somewhat into the background today, despite indications Labor conventions, Lives On Accidents: Henr¥ Di Sayer,” exéeutiye sects) tary of the Industrial Survey Gomn- | mission, is executive. difector of the Wolff Industrial Sérvice Inc, —‘Phis orgenization has 16 offices” and) braneh stations in New York and Brooklyn. It exists to give emer- geneycand regular treatnient to in-| | juréd-Workmen. It does not purport | to give-them legal -advieé “6h” how-to apply for-compensation:-Fimployers send thelr. worker anizk- tion” in: ~oF* physicians. - Industrial, Survey The hostility of the Commission to legislation favored by labor is evi- dent at its hearings, Theélaborate attack of employers’ Agent® on the proposed 48-hour law for women. is example enough. Both old-line. p litical. parties have’ promised to pass ja 48-hour law to supplant the ptes-| \ent 64-hour week allowed. | Seabury Mastick, who introduced the Senator | | 48-hour bill, sits on the commission. His only audible support, outside of | labor’s. representative, is Frederick | L,. Hackenburg, Democratic assem- blyman who tries to bring out labor's viewpoint ‘from his own political angle. Vor Equally Hard Work Woman's Party members have tes- | tified repeatedly against ail protec- tive legislation for women workers, They have brought in so-called | ‘working .women”—a well-known few who are trotted out whenever needed—to testify that they lost jobs | cause of women’s hour legislation. | Employers have given Woman's Party free access to-their factories | to take a vote—in the presence of | the employer—of the women workers | on whether they want the 48-hour law.” Representatives of the Con- sumers League of’ New York, avhich | favors: the shorter work-week, se~ survey of working women’s opinion, | Seer at Girl The Woman’s Party of course found that the women workers didn’t want anything different from their | dispute by arbitrated, wan rm ‘one are “lawyers and| farmer. i | Henry T. Hunt, ex corroborate Woman's Party members’ | testimony before the Industria] Sur- vey Commission. But when @ live- wire young working git} came to the Commission and told of @nanimous sentiment for the shorter work-week in factories she worked fn and visited. the Commission treated her lightly. One of the Gommissioners offensively remarked, when he was chided about a question, that he “was meerly passing on the exhibit!” Misleading Questions Here is an example of the tricky arid nasty questions Hart blandly asks for the employers: “Do you feel that women should be permanently discriminated against from getting work by these laws te- stricting them from working as long as men?” Mary Anderson, Director Women’s Bureau, U .S. Dept. of Labor, ducked from under the query by saying that as a government official she should not have to answer. Somnolent Sessions But more important than the em- agent’s questioning is the amining of Sayre, executive secretary of the Commission. Sayre is a former commissioner of the New York State Labor Dept. His queries are more smoothly put than Hart’s but serve the same end of trying. to confuse witnesses to commit them against the labor legislation. Sen- "| ator James S. Truman js an ally of Hart and the reniaining commission- ers generally are absent or sleeping. The public’s representative is pos- sibly too typical of his appointed eén- stituents in that respect, although he wakens to question when any wit- ness implies that employers are not obeying fully the present labor law or otherwise fulfilling what he sup- poses their objigations should be to- wards their worker: Mass Meeting Protests Pullman Co. Policy of Low Wage Plus Tipping A mass meeting Chureh, New York, at Community addressed “by r of Cinein- y Le Te Dy president nati, Dr. Norman Thomas J. Curtis, State Federation Labor, James Weldon Johnson, A. A. C. P., and A. Philip Randolph, general organ- izer, Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters adopted a resolution in sub- DAILY WORKER campaign so far.|on the subway or in print shops be-| stance as follows: Ten thousand porters and maids do necessary work on the railroad for the Pullman Go. They ace paid on an average of, after expenses are deducted, of $44.00 per month, which is not a living wage. Porters have to take tips to eke out an ckistence, which is degrading, and the average from tips is only about $58 ~per | eured no such cooperation in their month. The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters has been organized partly to do away with this practice of tip- ping, by securing « living wage from the company. But it is charged that the company discharges porters who. join. .the Brotherhood, and the mass meeting to be the sense of that body that the | that lone excoption is listed as a protests both against these dis- vasocagen and against the low wage.