The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 12, 1927, Page 4

ef THE DAILY WORKER, q ba \ r \8 id a i Farmers’ government THE DAILY WORKER Published by the DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING co. Daily, Except Sunday New York, N. Y. SUBSCRIPTION RATES By mail (in New York only): By mail (outside of New York): $8.00 per year $4.50 six months $6.00 per year $3.50 six months $2.50 three months $2.00 three months 83 First Street —— ae Phone, Orchard 1680 Address all mail and make out checks to THE DAILY WORKER, 33 First et, New York, N. ee erase os roe da : J. LOUIS ENGDAHL } Editors WIDESAM PODUNNE( (+87 orec tet oete i BERT MILLER .Business Manager Entered as second-class mail at the pos ice at New York, N. Y., under . the act of March 3, 1879, Adve: on appl SS The McNary-Haugen Bill The McNary-Haugen bill supported by such reactionaries as Frank 0. Lowden, former governor of Illinois and’ aspirant for the presidential nomination on the G. O. P. ticket, and by Charles G. Dawes, vice-president of the United States, passed through the Senate yesterday. Farmers who may expect that this bill, provided it gets safe- ly through the house, will help to ameliorate their conditions should remember the old adage of the “Greeks bearing gifts.” What interest has the millionaire model farmer Lowden in the farmers’ needs outside of a desire to capture votes? Who is mative enough to believe that Charles.G. Dawes, millionaire bank- er and oil magnate, weeps over the misfortunes of the tillers of the soil? As the United Farmer points out in a recent editorial this Dill is designed to protect the investments of the capitalists who have sunk their money in agriculture. The McNary-Haugen bill would assist the banks in the agricultural sections. Instead of relfeving the farmers it is evident that the farmers would be taxed still more to relieve their exploiters. ‘ The United Farmer puts the McNary-Haugen bill in a nut- shell for us as follows: “The McNary-Haugen bill provides fer a Federal Farm Board of twelve members, appointed by the president of the United States. There does not seem to be much chance for any radical, or fighting farm organization to render assistance to the bankrupt farmer through this plan, for it provides: “(c) The Secretary of Agriculture (who is ex-officio a mem- ber of the board) shall, within thirty days after the approval of this Act and biennially thereafter, with the advice of such farm organizations and co-operative associations AS HE CONSIDERS TO BE REPRESENTATIVE OF AGRICULTURE IN ANY DIS- TRICT, (1) fix the date on which a convention in such district shall be held, (2) DESIGNATE THE FARM ORGANIZATIONS AND CO-OP: ATIVE ASSOCIATIONS IN THE DISTRICT ELIGIBLE in such convention, and (3) DESIGNATE THE NUM- SPRESENTATIVES AND THE NUMBER OF VOTES to which each such organization or association in the district shall be entitled. (Emphasis ours.)” We cordially agree with the United Farmer that the farmers should organize and unite to fight for their own interests. They must join hands with the workers in the industries and under the banner of a Labor Party struggle to overthrow the capitalist system which exploits all producers. Under a Workers’ and labor in the mills, mines, factories and rail- roads and in the fields will solve their own problems and will no longer be used as political footballs by millionaire “farmers” and the political tools of the money lenders. When Plays Go Cold. One of those periodical drives to cleanse the stage of semi- ‘nudity is now on in full blast. Several plays in which the female portion of the cast wear a little less raiment than they wear going to church in summer time have been raided by policemen acting under the instructions of the acting-mayor and the district at- torney, who are also acting under the pressure of newspaper cir- culation managers who must crusade for something to win back the circulation they are losing to the pornographic tabloid sheets. The managers and casts of three plays were taken to night, court to the accompaniment of booming flashlights. The owners of those plays are reported to be in a merry mood. Some of the plays are said to be “flops.” One newspaper tells us that one of them was on the verge of closing for lack of patronage. The man- ager was afraid the raiders were not coming. His leading lady was ill but she must appear at the peril of her life. Here was a chance to jazz up a dying play. It could not be missed. The police arrived, got their pictures taken with the leading ladies decently clad in costly furs provided by the New York cit- izenry that has nothing behind the eyes but considerable in the jeans. The pictures got on the front pages of the newspapers that refused to parade honking ganders thru the streets to draw public attention to the foibles of Mr. Edward Browning. When the respectable newspapers come to the conclusion that they have extracted the last ounce of circulation value out of the morals crusade, they will develop hydrophobia over some other public evil. In the meantime the salacious plays will be given a new lease of life and the gaping audiences will continue to strain their eyes while the winds of fatuity whistle thru their mental . Vacuums. Hypocrisy is the essence of bourgeois morality. Dr. Norman Thomas of the socialist party informs us that | * he was invited to a liberal dimmer, which was organized for the purpose of giving left wing leaders in the garment industry an opportunity to present their case to the public. Dr. Thomas is extremely sympathetic to the principle of free speech, but since the Communists do not believe in democracy, and since Dr. Thomas must choose sides, he prefers to stay with the reaction- aries who do not believe in democracy. Dr. Thomas is where he belongs. Police commissioner McLaughlin reports a considerable de- crease in all classes of crime over 1925. Unless our memory is at fault a considerable number of crimes have been committed by the police against strikers during 1926. We do not recollect the name of a single capitalist who was clubbed, arrested and jailed during this period. Aimee McPherson is gathering in the shekels in Chicago. She blames the devil for her recent troubles. Without the devil what an army of evangelists would be forced to work or starve? Get Your Union to Telegraph Co { | \ | | Arriva | } ‘ 4 q . N Sunday, January 9, there took place, in the City of Mexico, an impressive reception, to Comrade Alexander Kollontay, the Plenipoten- tiary ltepresentative from the Union of So Socialist Republics. This reception was held at the Russian: Club of Mexico City. In spite of the fact that the rece; | o’clovic sn the evening, people began {coming es early as six. And long |befure the meeting was formally ;| opened, every bit of available space, including the hallway, was filled to | capacity, the crowe even overflowing the sidewalk. Comrade Kollontay arrived eight, and the people waiting for her broke into prolonged applause. The speech of greeting, on behalf of the meeting, was made by Com- rode Frenco. Greeting by Kollontay. | Comrade Koilontay spoke as fol- lows: “Comrades and citizens: “I thank you sincerely for this which { am mez here, This recep- tion is the more dear to me that it proves a spiritual connection between the Union of Soviet Socialist Repub- lics and the Russian Colony here. probably left the territory of the union long ago, and others have prob- ably left even earlier. As I am but recently from Soviet Russia, you may prevailing there. If one were to go there now with the assumption that he would find there a complete real- ization of Communism, he will un- doubtedly feel disappointed. For he will find there only the process of Socialistic construction, an intensive process, taking place at an enforced pace, “But it is clear that this construc- tion cannot be terminated as yet. I consider it necessary to speak in great detail on this subject as this is against us by our enemies. One ofte! hears the reproach that no visible prosperity has been realized in the, Soviet Union, self, the owner of an enterprise, o: an industrial or a commercial estab- ‘lishment, ;which found itself in a condition of extreme decay. Let us suppose that this enterprise was put in the hands of another person. Imag-| ine also, that at the expiration of a certain period, say of nine months, there have taken place in this estab- ishment notable improvements. Still, in spite of these improvements, those around him are heaping abuse upon the owner, saying in effect, the fol- lowing: “What kind of establishment this? Its productivity, it is true, has increased noticeably, its deficit has been wiped out, there is no doubt o: its having made many important im- provements. Yet, is there any use it having such an establishment, which aoes not give all at once a profit of: 100% 2?” “Are not the charges thrown against the Soviet Government of a similar character? Beginnings Were Difficult. “The Soviet Government began its existence in unbelievably difficult | conditions. At the time when the So- viet power was just emerging, the country was in a state of a dreadful dilapidation, the inheritance of the war, More than that, the Soviet Gov- natural and other disasters, such as the blockade, intervention, the famine in the Volga districts, ete. Under such circumstances, the reconstruc- the superhuman efforts of the Rus- sian proletariat, headed by the Com- munist Party, is due the resistance to the pressure of the whole capital- sufferings endured by. them. I re- peat, not to the Soviet Government, but to the crimes of other nations, in intervening in Russia, should be charged all that the Russian people | have endured. “The Soviet Government remained | true to its cause. Out of the unheard ‘of difficulties it continually lead the | country to complete economic restora- tion. And at the present time, it \can be truthfully stated, that even in |an economic sense there is no more | stable government than that of the | Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. |The advantage of the Soviet Govern- |ment over other powers consists in that there is no such chaos as can be ‘observed in the capitalist countries. Production, and, in fact, all national |economy, is being conducted accord- |ing to a previously conceived plan. Foreign trade is a state monopoly in the Soviet Union. Thus the state has the means and the power to control industry, and direct it, by, when ne- cessary, reducing production in one branch while at the same time in- creasing it in another. “One of the chief indications of the state of the national economy is the national budget. Considering the conditions of the national budget | of the union in the years 1928, 1924, 1925 "and 1926, we find a continual id} Speech by Kollontay on Her in Mexico | tion was advertised to begin at 8) at} hearty and friendly reception with} “Many of those present here have) rightly request from me an exposi-| tion in detail of the conditions now, one of the chief reproaches directed} Well, imagine your-| 8 is} ernment had to suffer a whole lot of! tion was very difficult. And only to/ ist world, only through such efforts. did the Russian peepte outlive all the| ngress Today! f | growth in the Soviet economy. In | 1924 the government's budget had a | deficit of 836%. For the year of 1925 the deficit expressed itself*in the fig- ure of 4%. And for the year of 1926 the budget had no deficit. Is this ;not sufficient testimony to the im- provement of the economic state of ‘the Union of Soviet Socialist Repub- lies? “The Soviet Union is a country with an overwhelming majority of the agricultural population of the peas-| ants, From the 144,000,000 compris-| ing the entire population, 120,000,000) {live in the small villages, thus leaving} | only 24,000,000 as the population of! the cities. Thus the economic situa- | tion of the peasants is of greater significance. Let us look at some) statistics concerning the cultivated) area, during the years 1913, 1920 and} 1924, In the year 1913, the cultivated) land of Russia\amounted to 88,000,-| | 000: desyatinas (acres). In 1923 it) | amounted ‘to 73,000,000, and in 1924} | it surpassed the pre-war figure, hav-) |ing reached 104,000,000. This is in-| | disputable evidence of a growth and} | improvement in peasant economy. | Explains Unemployment. “As to unemployment in the Soviet public, it assumes a specific char- lacter, that differs most essentially from the unemployment in other| countries. The unemployment in the} Soviet Union results not from disin-| tegration of industry, not on account of the workers losing their work, but on account of the influx of workers} from the villages. This gravitation| |of the peasants to the towns indi-) cates not so much a still existing dif- | ficult situation in certain parts of | the peasantry, but more still a de- sire of,the peasant youth to live near centers of culture. The youth wishes to study, wishes to construct its life on a new basis, by | “As to the state of commerce at | the present moment, there is no com- parison with the conditions existing) previous to the revolution. As the | most. striking example, let us take foreign trade. During the ezarist lays, the principal objects of produc- | tion were purchased abroad, while at | the present time the main commodi- | ties imported from abroad are mach- ines for the increasing of production. | “One of the most often heard re- proaches against the Soviet Govern-| ment, is that it is giving big conces-| sions to the capitalists of foreign countries. But this charge is com- | pletely groundless. Previously, all the riches of the land where found in} the hands of foreign capital. But) at the present time, in spite of what our adversaries may say, the conces- sions granted by the Soviet Govern- ment are very few. So, for instance, ; Germany, which received from us the greatest number of concessions, counts throughout the Republic only twelve concession societies. England bad eight such societies, Norway, ree. gives | “The Soviet Government much attention to the economic im- provement of the Jewish people.) Those Jews who wish to remain on the land as agricultural workers re-| ceive all kinds of assistance neces- ®ary from the government. Many Jews | have colonized in the Caucasus, in ,the Crimea, in White Russia, and in} | the district of Homel. The majority ‘of these colonies find themselves in |a state of prosperity, “One repeatedly hears charges against the Soviet Government for) its severity towards its enemies. It is strange to hear blame for this |from a country like the United | States. This country led a not less | violent struggle for its independence, |when it was not yet the United States, but a colony belonging to Eng} \land, and George Washington, who | headed and led the struggle for this | independence, is to this day the na- tional hero. The difference btween| the struggle for independence of the | United States and the Russian Revo- | lution is simply this, that the Russian Revolution forced out not only the foreign exploiters, but its own nobil- ity and land-owners, who were not in the least better, but perhaps worse! than foreign exploiters, “The lives of the workers in the Soviet Union are being continually improved. The average worker re- ceives 612 rubles a year. Unemploy- ment is continually diminishing, and | for the skilled worker unemployment has ceased to exist long ago, In fact, a lack of 100,000 skilled work-| ers is being felt at the present time. Medical ‘Treatment Free. “All the workers have the right to free medical treatment, as well as to sanitariums, “The Union of Soviet Socialist Re- publics is a beacon light for the) workers of other countries. These see the conquests of the workers of Soviet Russia, and they conceive the. hope that the time will come when for them will also be established a new day of greater justice and pros- perity, “Comrades, I will conclude my speech with greetings to you in the name of the Soviet Government, with the exclamation: “Long Live the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and its final triumph! and this Rus- sian Club in Mexico,” J, T. | to his job. | capitalist publicity machine | else he would be a cipher. CHAPTER XX The Dedication I Bunny was alone in the roaring city of New York—six or seven | millions of people, and not many | known to him. There were repor- ters, of course—it made a “human interest” story, fate snatching one of the oil magnates away from the Senate inquisitors. The country was near the end of a bitter presi- dential ‘campaign, and the smallest item about the oil scandal was of importance. Also Bunny had cable- grams and telegrams of sympathy —from Verne and Annabelle, from Paul and Ruth, from Rachel and her father and brothers; yes, and one from the Princess Marescu, signing herself, with old-time near- ness, “Vee-Vee.” He purchased his ticket home, by way. of” Washington, and on the train he read the back newspapers, with the day by day account of what happened to his boyhood dream of a great oil field; enor- mous oceans of flame rolling over the earth, turning night into day with the glare, turning day into night with thunder clouds of smoke; rivers of blazing oil rushing down the valleys,-and a gale of wind sweeping the fire from one hill to the next. A dozen great storage tanks had gone, and the whole re- finery, with all its tanks, and some | three hundred derricks, licked up and devoured in that roaring fur- nace, It was the worst oil fire in California history, eight or ten mil- lion dollars loss, In Washington was some one for Bunny to tell his troubles to—Dan Irving! They took a long walk, and the older man put his arm about Bunny and told him that he had done everything possible in a diffi- cult situation. Dan could assure him that he didn’t have to think of his father as a bad man; Dan had made it his business to know, and could confirm Bunny’s judgment, American big business men all pur- chased goverriment, they all justi- fied the purchase of government. It was something that had shocked Dan in the beginning, but he had | come to realize now that it was a system; without the purchase of government, American big business could not exist. ‘You saw it writ- ten plain in the instinctive reaction of the whole business world to the oil scandals, the determination to damp them down, to make nothing of them, to indict and prosecute, not the criminals, but the exposers of the crime. So they got to talking politics, which was the best thing for Bunny, to divert his mind and get him back Dan had been doing what he could in this presidential campaign, but he was sick with the | The whole had been set to work on a new job, to glorify “Cautious Cal” to the American people—this pitiful little man, a fiffh-rate country politician, a would-be store-keeper, he was the great strong silent statesman and the plain people’s hero! One thing, and one .only, the business men expected of him, to cut down their income taxes; in everything The newspaper men were disgusted by their job, but all were helpless, their papers at home would take only one kind of news. . And here was poor Dan with his labor press service, a score or two of obscure papers, perhaps a hundred thousand circulation in all, and most of the time not enough money for the of- fice rent. . “That's what I want to talk to you about,” said Bunny, “Before I left France, Dad gave me a million dollars in Ross Consolidated stock. I don’t know what it'll be worth since the fire, but Verne says there’s full insurance. I’m not go- ing to touch the principal till I have time to think things over, but I'll put a thousand dollars a month of the income into your work, if that will help.” “Help? My God, Bunny, that’s more money .than we've ever thought of! [I’ve heen trying to raise an extra hundred a month, so as to mail free copies where they would count.” Said Bunny, “T’ll turn the money over to you with only one provision —that you're to have two hundred a month salary. There’s no reason sense of impotence. why you should run yourself into . debt financing the radical move- ment.” Dan laughed. “No reason, ex- cept that there wouldn’t be any radical movement if some didn’t do that. You’re the first really fat angel that has appeared in my sky.” “Well, wait,” said Bunny, “till T find out Just how fat I'm going to be. I’ve an idea my friend Vernon Roscoe will do what he can to keep me lean. He knows that whatever tee will go to making trouble for im. “My gosh!” said Dan. “Have you WITHDRAW ALL U. S. WARSHIPS FROM NICARAGUA! NO INTERVENTION IN MEXICO! HANDS OFF CHINA! *Note on Modern Art.—He’s only a humble barber on Barrow Street. But already his talents have been recognized in, the best, circles, Scarcely a night when he is not called to some fashionable night club to paint persexs | of consequence, He specializes on eyes. Indeed, even more specialized than | that—restoring black eyes to their natural color. Painstakingly he covers the blacks and the blues with flesh tints to match the skin of the sitter. At $3,an eye. The lady who brings us this information says she got her | black eye—and the resultant acquaintance with this artist—falling down a staircase, but that’s another story. We are privileged to be the first to announce that the Ameri- {can government is about to change its official slogan. Due to the increasing number of embarrassing questions about its poli- cies, especially in places like China and Nicaragua, it has decided to abandon the time-worn “E pluribus unum” and to adopt in its place: “Tell it to the marines.” “Socialism Fashionable in London.—Socialism is all the rage in old Lon- don town. The well-mannered kind, you know. The New York Times spreads the glad tidings that “Cupid is to bring to British Sotialist ranks a new recruit... . Miss Ursula Spicer, daughter of Sir Albert Spicer, marries Sydney Potter, the assistant editor of the socialist organ The Miner... . They will marry in June but meanwhile Miss Spicer will help her fiancé conduct a campaign against the British policy in China... . It is stated + | that among the wedding guests in June will be Oswald Mosley, the socialist M, P., who married Lady Cynthia Curzon. . . In a word, it’s being taken up by the very best people, my dear, and is sure to have a wonderful effect on the socialist movement. Tone, you know. Already the laboring classes and their likes are being gently forced out. The new rich, and social climbers generally, are the chief problem; they are beginning to look upon socialism as the best way to meet the smartest set in society. But there is no fear, my dear. Our London society has tact and poise, what the French call— I forget for the moment. Anyhow society will see to it that only the oldest families remain in the socialist ranks before long. *Straton for President.—The boom proceeds apace. Rev. Dr. John Roach Straton has announced that his first official act, if elected president of the United States, will be to jail Nicholas Murray Butler. This alone should make every one of our readers rally to his support. “Birth of the Dulaks.—The Russian expert of the New York Sun tells the world on the 9th inst. that “DULAKS AND KULAKS FIGHT PEASANT VOTERS.” It is to be expected that classes which rhyme so well should be on the Same side against the muzhiks. The Dulaks, for your information, were invented by the linotyper. They slipped into a dispatch through a typographical error—a mere matter of D for K—but you can leave it te the headline writers to feature the error. * * * Re the Peaches-Browning Show: White Plains, the court record shows, is not nearly as white as it’s painted. A NICE LITTLE VAUDEVILLE ACT, ESPECIALLY GOOD FOR THE NEW JERSEY CIRCUIT: Sia Passaic cops, graceful dancers. Words by the National Security League, music by the American Leyion, and ballet by Fred Marvin. We are the strong right arm of the law, Heavy of fist and square of jaw, We carry a club for an ornament, But we DO club a guy when he isn’t a gent, When he isn’t a gent, When he isn’t a gent, WE represent the government. (They do arm calisthenics and swing clubs.) We play little games, we officers do, One’s called “Bang” and the other is “Shoo.” Bang is played with a downward whack, And shoo is played with a poke in the back, A poke in the back, A poke in the back, You know what all work and no play did to Jack. (They join hands, play ring-around-the-rosie and London-bridge-is-falling-down.) Our pay is small, so you can’t blame us, If we don’t protest or make a fuss When. somebody slips us a little dough— : A man has to live somehow, you know; Be his station high, Be his station low, A man has to keep his Ford on the go. s (They do an Egyptian dance with much back- ward and forward extending of palms.) We never use profanity, Politeness is our vanity, If we slug a fellow over the head, It’s only because he’s a god-damned Red, A god-damned Red, A god-damned Red, You can’t imagine how well we're bred. (They bow, tip their helmets, help each other across the street, smile, and pose courteously, « but break off for a fierce:) But we DO club a guy when he isn’t a gent, When he isn’t a gent, When he isn’t a gent, WE represent your government. —ALKALI AL. / That's a Clubby Little Act, Al. The Statue of Liberty will be fifty years old on February 22, With characteristic enterprise this department has arranged for the old gal to be interviewed on the occasion. Unfortunately she has been facing the ocean all these years and may have a distorted view of affairs. From time to time during these fifty years we have run across statements made in Miss Liberty’s name which would indicate that she doesn’t quite realize what’s going on behind her back. On the other hand, her fixed position has saved her temper and these statements are pervaded by a rset ia wholesome optimism. In any event her views should prove in- esting. j seen the things we've been sending out about Roscoe's foreign conces- sions, and what the state depart- ment is doing to make him rich? That story would beat the S side lease, if we could get the Sen. ate to investigate it!” (To Be Continued.)