The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 17, 1927, Page 6

i t , nme Sac cameufiazed under the stereotyped phrases of the-industrial ef- no introduction and divers spies and detectives, to scotch the THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1927 - THE DAILY WORKER Published by the DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO. Daily, Except Sunday 88 First Street, New York, N. Y. | Phone, Orchard 1680 Entered as second-class mail at the post-office at New York, N. Y., under the act of March,3, 1879. 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 Address all mail and make out checks to THE DAILY WORKER, 83 First Street, New York, N. Y. J. LOUIS ENGDAHL } OOS WILLIAM F. DUNNE { BERT MILLER Editors Business Manager z rates on application. What Does President Lewis Mean by “No Backward Step?” The proposal made by President Lewis of the United Mine Workers at Miami to the coal operators’ representatives, i. e., a commission of technical experts to devise ways and means of overcoming waste in the industry certainly is not in line with the “no backward step’’ slogan with which the rank and file delegates were beguiled at the Indianapolis convention. This move of President Lewis is nothing less than acceptance | of the principle of compulsory arbitration coupled with something | still more dangerous—the organization of efficiency machinery in co-operation with the operators. That such a proposal can be} made in the first few days of the negotiations is proof that the main line followed by the Lewis machine at the recent conven-! tion—that of bringing the UMWA into line with the worker- employer-co-operation-efficiency-unionism doctrine of the Ameri- ean Federation of Labor—is to be given its practical application | in the negotiations in Miami. There is no essential difference between the Lewis proposal and that of the operators who put forward a scheme for com- pulsory arbitration with persons appointed by the United States supreme court as the final board of appeal. President Lewis| wants a board of technical experts. There is no difference ex-! cept over the personnel of the commission. This of course is important but upon the main principle President Lewis and the coal barons are in agreement. This is the beginning of the major operation that it is hoped the United Mine Workers will submit to without much protest. The efforts of the Lewis machine have been directed to chloro- forming the membership so that, as is the usual case with major operations, the victim suffers no pain until he recovers conscious- ness. | The essential organs of the union are to be removed if this scheme goes through. The will to fight for control of working conditions by the union is to be paralysed. At the convention the Lewis machine did its best to destroy all rank and file resistance in advance of negotiations with the operators but it did not succeed. It did succeed in convincing} large numbers of delegates by its onslaughts on rank and file} democracy and its unscrupulous repudiation of the former mili-| tant traditions of the union that it had in mind just such a plan as has been broached. Against this preparation for surrender to the coal, barons Advert icleney experts, flavored to taste less nauseating, the left wing will fight with all its might. The negotiations, even in their early stages, have shown! that the slogan of “Save the Union” raised by the left wing! correctly puts the problem which faces the UMWA on March 31 when the Jacksonville agreement expires. “No backward step” for the coal miners means no reduction in wages—either by an actual cut or by a worsening of con- ditions—and immediate organization of the non-union fields, The operators will change their tune the moment the UMWA| drives in earnest into West Virginia, western Pennsylvania and/| Kentucky with the full force of the union behind its organization campaign. 100,000 more miners brought into the union while the ne-| gotiations are going on will enable the UMWA to take the of- tensive. Rank and file pressure on an officialdom which puts nego-| tiations ahead of organization is the answer the left wing will| make to the retreat of President Lewis. , | Fred Marvin Has a Consgeltor, | The New York Times announces that Mr. James Oneal, prom- _inent socialist has added his mite to the efforts of Fred Marvin, of the late New York Commercial, William J. Burns, who needs “Communist menace” before it pulls the props from underneath the capitalist system. Mr. Oneal is alleged to have given the “low down” on Com- munism in the United States. He is reported to have pried into the innermost recesses of Communist Party organizations. “His} book on American Communism is intended to fill in the blank spaces in the D. of J.’s scrap book on the revolutionary movement in the United States. But we fear that Mr. Oneal arrived on the * scene too late. __ The field has been ploughed too often. The soil has become impoverished. We fear the shekel crop will be poor. “Exposing” the Communist movement was a paying proposition until the capitalists discovered that a subscription to The DAILY WORK- ER would supply them with all the necessary information. Then the stocks of the stool-pigeons fell and most of them were forced to take a job with the prohibition enforcement department of the it difficult to turn their hands to something else. We noticed Max Eastman’s book exposing the Communist Party of Russia lying in a second-hand book-stall on 4th ‘avenue, ' marked “5 cents.” Those who can afford to curb their impatience to learn what Oneal has learned about us, outside of what the detective agencies have already published, can save money by waiting a few months until they see the nickel sign on Oneal’s latest “exposure.” Another “general strike” against Communism and even Mor: ris Sigman may get a free lunch*’at the White House. ,Sociations whose main object is to THE LANDLORD AND HIS VICTIM ‘ ea Capitalism’s Solution of the Housing Problem. The Farmer in the Nitrogen Age. By H. T. AHRENS | HE present congress, like its| predecessors, will discuss farm re- | lief measures. The discerning far-| mer no longer looks upon this farci-| cal action with any seriousness. He! realizes it is just a fake fight staged for his benefit in order to have him remain a partisan voter. Nothing will be enacted to help the farmer; the metropolitan press will blame the farmer for the failure by saying the | argument that the lack of unanimity | of the latter as to the remedy to be} used was the cause of not obtaining | relief, * | Co-operative Marketing. Other pseudo-friends try to give proof of their interest. hy advising | the farmer to co-operate in market- | ing. ‘The farmer is not only robbed by those who juggle his products but he is subject to greater exactions from the industrial and transportation in- terests. Co-operation in marketing would only prevent insignificgnt ex- action compared with those en by the monopolists of transportation. The farmer to a great extent re- lies on succor from a number of as- inspire him with false hopes. In reality these associations con- stitute the masked batteries from which the interests fight and defeat | their unsophisticated dupes. | These associations have a taboo on| the, discussion of political or kindred subjects and the members conscien- tiously toe the mark. . The Grange of Washington at the state assembly last summer was so conscientious that its members refrained from dis- cussing their misery or demanding relief. The taboo ridden Polynesian would be very proud of his brother of the Grange. The agricultural tragedy is con- temporary with the world war. When the Entente declared the illegal blockade against Central Europe the price of wheat, also cotton, went be- low the cost of production. The in- visible government of America ‘was more interested in the welfare of the people of the entente than in their compatriot farmers. There was not an earnest remonstrance against the illegal blockade, Kept Prices Down. Upon the entrance of the United States into the big slaughter a gov- ernment price and absolute control of wheat was established. Wheat. was the only commodity which was de- nied a competitive market. As a this rule the priee of wheat should have been $3.50 per bushel, but by reason of the government established price, the wheat grower only re- ceived $2.20. The commission houses, as former- ly, were retained as intermediaries, reaping exorbitant profits. At the conclusion of government control the U. S. grain corporation found a fund of $50,000,000. + The government appropriated this sum, ‘refunding was not fashionable in this case, The farmer had positive | ‘bushel. The banking interests deemed proof that he had been robbed inas-, much as the price of wheat went} above $8.00 per bushel when govern- ment control was abrogated. Very few farmers received the benefit of this price, as they no longer were owners of wheat. | Prices Went Down. | The year following the cessation of | the war the price of wheat settled down to a little above $2.00 per) this price too high. The farmer was | deflated through the action of the almighty reserve banks. Credit was refused to the purchasers of wheat. | Without any warning wheat became | a dead commodity. Not a bushel of | wheat was purchased during a num-| ber of days. The stunned farmers’ | world stopped with a jolt. When commerce, through the per- mit of the reserve banks, was: re- sumed wheat was purchased at one dollar less the late price. The new established price became the perma- nent quotation. Last year we ex- ported wheat to a point where it be- came uncertain if there was enough left for home consumption. The threat of the banking interests no doubt was severe; there would have been excessive speculation at all former times, but it seems no one dared to take hold of the market. Every argument was brought out to lower the price of wheat, In one} instance the arrival of 30,000 bushels | at a terminal point was used as suc-| cessful argument for the lowering of the price. In view of the whole mat- | ter the farmer is fully entitled to the | conclusion that he is the victim of deep plots. Government Won't Help. The farmer is entirely too optim- be given through government action. | There are too many factors which, from the viewpoint of certain indus- trial and financial interests, forbid the inauguration of any artificial re- lief measures. Prosperity of agricul- ture ‘would mean a general rise in prices on account of a greater in- crease and devaluation of the cur- rency with a higher cost. of living as & consequence, This would entail the inability to compete with European industrialists on the world’s market. At present a precarious hold on for- eign commerce is retained by speed- ing up labor and keeping the farmer deflated and furnishing farm prod- ucts at low cost. It is only too ob- vious that’ the domestic market is destined to suffer on account of the submergence of the farmer. The in- from the world’s markets. Hence the opposition of the interests against wny relief measures of importance, Principal Factors. ? The chief factors which cause the unfortunate conditions are as fol- lows: | ‘ 1.—The abyssmal ignorance of the farmer regarding economic and politi- cal questions engendered by the slush dispensing metropolitan press, ‘ 2.—The exactions levied upon the farmer in the way of contribution to- .masses of the world owing to unfa- i | plants which formerly furnished the \istie when he hopes that relief will- wards enormous dividends on watered values, and the upkeep in general of a top heavy system. 3.—The opposition of the “powers | that be” toward any artificial relief measures, 4.—Purghasing in an artificially in- flated market and selling in the world’s market to impoverished pur- chasers. 5.—Having to compete on the in-| ternational market with people who make less demands on life and who do not bear the burden of such a heavy economic super-structure as the American farmer. 6.—The elimination of horse trac- tion, meaning less consumption of farm products, 7.—The elimination of grain con- sumption on account of national pro- hibition. 8.—The under-consumption of the vorable conditions brought about by the severe exploitation by the inter- ests and bearing the burden of a top heavy economic system. Hete Comes Nitrogen. A new actor is about to enter upon the world’s stage, reeking with blood and corpses. Nitrogen in the hands of the militarists is a cruel agent of death and destruction. In the hands of the farmers it is humanity's friend and benefactor. Nitrogen is the main ingredient used in making explosives, at the same time it is the rehabilitant of robbed soil. The process of manufac- ture has been cheapened to such an extent that the Chilean nitrate can no longer compete with the synthetic product. * Germany had to rely on synthetic nitrogen for making explosives. The death-dealing product are now being used to make nitrogen for agricul-; tural purposes. Germany, by the use of nitrogen as a fertilizer, has re- duced the importation of cereals to a very gveat extent, with the pros- pects of having a sufficiency within a few years, . Plentiful As Air. The supply is inexhaustible inas- much as it is derived from the air. Other wheat importing “countries are certain to follow the example of Ger- many. The ‘scientists are so enthu- siastic about the new agent and the revolutionary changes that will be forced upon the world through its general use that they make the pre- diction that this will be called the nitrogen age, The first to feel the effects of nitrogen will be the wheat be readily calculated. When the ef- fects of this revolution in agriculture are felt greater expediencies must be used than those incorporated in the Haugen-MeNary bill’ Then the peo- ple will have to choose if nitrogen shall drive humanity into the caves end jungles or wHether it shall be the force which will compel human- ity to shape economics to conform to our advancement in science instead of using economic methods inherited from the ox-cart period, “All hail to the nitrogen age!” v Rachel had published a brief ar- ticle about Bunny’s return from abroad, quoting him as saying that he intended to use his inheritance for the benefit of the movement. And this statement had attracted the attention of a bright young newspaper woman, who had written a facetious article: MILLIONAIRE RED TO SAVE SOCIETY And now jit’ appeared that there ‘were a great many people who had ideas as to how to save society, and they all wanted to see Bunny, and waited for him in the lobby of his hotel. One had ‘n sure cure for cancer, and another a perpetual mo- tion machine actually working; one wanted. to raise bullfrogs for. their legs, and another to raise skunks for their skins, There were dozens who wanted to prevent the next war,,and several who wanted to start colonies; there were many with different ways of bringing about socialism, and several great poets and philosopher® with manu- scripts, and one to whom God had revealed Himself—the bearer of this message was six feet four and broad in proportion, and he towered over Bunny and whispered in an awe-stricken voice that the ‘words which God had spoken had been set down and locked in a safe, and no human eye ever had beheld them, or ever would. Several others wrote that they were not. able to” call be- cause they were unjustly confined to asylums, but if Bunny would get them out they would deliver their messages to the world through him. There was one more “nut,” and his name was J. Arnold Ross—no longer “junior.” He had a plan, which he had been turning over and over in his-mind; and now he gath- ered his friends to get their reac- tion. Old Chaim Menzies, who had been a long/time in the movement, and watched most of its mistakes, Chaim was working in a clothirig shop, as usual, and giving his spare time to getting up meetings. And Jacob Menzies, the pale student— Jacob had got a job teaching school for a year, but then he had been found out, and now was selling in- surance. And Harry Seager, who was growing walnuts, and escaping the boycotts. And Peter Nagle, who was helping his father run a union plumbing business in an open shop city, and spending his earn- ings on a four page tabloid monthly ridiculing God. And Gregor Nikol- aieff, who had done his socialist duty working for a year in a lum- ber camp, and was now assistant to an x-ray operator in a_ hospital. And Dan Irving, who had come from Washington at Bunny’s ex- pense—these six people sat down with Rachel and Bunny at a dinner party in a private dining room, to discuss how to save society with a million dollars, Bunny explained with becoming modesty that he ‘was not putting forth his plan as the best of all possible plans, but merely as the best for him. He wasn’t going to evade the issue by giving his money away, putting off the job on other people; he had learned this much from Dad, that money by itself is nothing, to accomplish anything takes money plus management. Moreover, Bunny himself wanted something to do; he was tired of just looking on, and talking. He a big paper, but he had no knowl- had thought for a long time about edge of journalism, and would only be a blunderer. The one thing he did Know was young people; he had been to college, and knew what a © college ought to, be, and wasn’t. “What we’re doing—Rachel and Jacob and the-rest of us Ypsels— is trying to work on young minds; but the trouble is, we only get them a few hours in the week, and the things that count for most in their lives are the enemy’s—I mean the schools, the job, the movies—every- pline, a personal life, with service to the cause as its goal. . Rachel will agree with me in this—I don’t know if anyone else will—I think one reason the movement suffers is . that we haven’t made the new moral standards that we need. Our own members, many of them, are personally weak; the women have to have silk stockings and look like the bourgeoisie, and their idea of freedom is to adopt the bad habits f the me ve nip movement real- ly meant enough to socialists, th wouldn't have to spend money ed ANEW NOVEL By c Upton Ginclair | tobacco, and booze, and imitation | finery.” | “Dat let’s me out!” said old Chaim Menzies, who had already | lighted his ten-cent cigar. | The substance of what Bunny | wanted was \a labor college on a |*tract of land somewhere out in the country; but instead of spending | his million on steel and concrete, | he wanted to begin in tents, and | have all the’ buildings put up by the labor of the students and teachers. Everybody on the place was to have four hours’ manual labor and four of class work daily; and they were all to wear khaki, and have no fashionable so¢iety. Bunny had the idea of going out among the colleges and high schools, and talk- ing to little groups of students, and here and there seducing one away new dedication. Also the labor un- ions would be invited to select promising young men and women. It was a thing that should grow fast, and take little money, because, with the exception of building ma- terials, everything could be pro- duced on the place; they would have a farm, and a school of domes- tic arts—in short, teach all the nec- essary trades, and proyide four hours’ honest work of some sort for all students who wanted to come, (To Be Continued). Organizing the Unorganized. Dear Comrades: Since the arrival of The DAILY WORKER in New York it has al- ready accomplished big things for the workers of New York and the class struggle in general. The DAiLY WOXKKEK is not only writing labor news, but is also. or- ganizing the unorganized. Here is how it happened: The shops of “Myers Hats, Inc., where ladies’ hats ure made, has been for years a fifty- fifty shop, half slave and half free. Phe men operators were members of the Millinery Union, while the girls, copyists, were left in the cold and ne- glected by the bureaucrats of the union, unorganized for years and years, until the happy arrival of ‘The DAILY WORKEK on the news- stands of New York. One of the girls of the shop, Jean is her name, began buying and read- ing daily the oniy labor paper in New York and \was deeply stirred by its message to the workers to organize, Jean at once began organizing the unorganized girls. Her appeal to the 20 girls of the shop. to join the union and strike for better conditions was | just the thing they were waiting for. Jean, with the ability of a leader and heart of a rebel, with the aid of a few other girls of Myers’ shop suc- ceeded in getting the girls to go to the millinery local union to register and organize into a body and demand recognition from the boss, that he is ite aeal with the girls thru their union, and not individually, as he used | to do in the good old times. The boss, tearning of the union | movement, fired Jean and eight more | girls and declared that they can never again work in his shop. ‘the rest of the girls refused to go to work with- out Jean and the other fired girls who dared to agitate and organize the exploited and insulted girls into a union, and a strike was declared. The boss tried to fill the places with scabs and tried all kinds of tricks in order to confuse the striking girls and force them back to slave tor him without a union, promising all kinds of sugared conditions, but seeing that his tricks didn’t work, he recognized the union and took ail the girls back and sent’ down his few scabs, So, The DAILY WORKER was in- strumental in organizing the unor- ganized girls who had been for years exploited and insulted and criminally neglected by the decaying bureau- cratic officials of the Millinery Union. [orm ae Of Floyd Dell’s Book On Upton Sinclair Next Saturday's New Magazine section of The DAILY WORKER will carry another installment of Floyd Dell’s book on the life of Upton Sinclair, the famous novel- ist and agitator. The book will be published on May 29, this year, from football and fraternities to a | i exporting countries hi t 4 More power to you, comrades of The ie government. , rule the price of wheat. is double the | terests must choose between the two will roe a tie ay rare ge aad ake t Bot oe to get some stus | DAILY WORKER, Long live The Hh Fred Marvin and a few others still hammer away on the old| price of corn. . oi and of Aree beige ariel The effects upon the exporting | twenty re ghee pik ae life, | DAILY WORKER. ; b vil but those fellows ar in th i The quotation for the latter was| reduction of the domestic market of | countries when the: wheat ing | a x bl ABE OLKEN, < _ anvil but those fe e so Jong in the game that they find $1.78 per bushel; in accordance with! less iniporténce than the debarment| eoontrice tennce me poem if we can't build a list disci-. | WITHDRAW ALL U.S. WARSHIPS FROM NICARAGUA! €SS Today NO INTERVENTION IN MEXICO! HANDS OFF CHINA! oid See nn LOM ail L Get Your Union to Telegraph Con