The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 15, 1927, Page 1

N ————_$_$$ $$ ______ The Daily Worker Fights: For the Organization of the Un- organized. ‘ For a Labor Party. For the 40-Hour Week. eS Vol. IV. No. 52. CURRENT EVENTS By T. J. O}FLAHERTY,. ES itad a Tammany leader cannot always keep his cubs satisfied. Most leaders have this trouble but in political parties with a mission that rises beyond pork chops and lots of them, leaders battle for fol- lowers on the basis of policy. Tam- many spurns such idealistic infantili- ties. It talks the only language its clientele understands. It talks jobs. Now, it appears that in the wigwam one Mr, James J. Hagan, leader of the 7th ward a revolt has flared out and a new tiger is sharpening his ivories for the old leader’s jugular vein. The new leader has organized a club and thus armed is ready either to win completely or to force old man Hagan to come across with something that will satisfy the cub’s hunger for power for the time be- ing. J *. . NE of the principal charges made against Mr. Hagan by his rivals } is that he is guilty of handing out jobs to aliens from Brooklyn, New Jersey and other lands that are to the Tammanyites of the 7th ward even as Canaan was to the Israelites. Furthermore Mr. Hagan dug up div- ers sons and other relatives whom he placed on a generous payroll. This filial attribute of Mr. Hagan is a good talking point for leaders of the oppo- sition when conversing with ward citizens whose sons and other rela- tives have not been able to connect with a salary while engaged in the pleasant occupation of collecting campaign contributions from ‘pros- yerous speakeasy proprietors or counting the stars on a policeman’s uniform. ort LEXANDER KERENSKY is a variety artist. Besides deliver- ing a lecture against the Soviet Un- ion last Sunday he also played the stellar role in “He Who Gets Slapped,” the slappee being a Czarist female, now employed as a designer or art- ist, erensky is reported to have carried himself right gallantly thru the ordeal tho the &cerbity of his speech was partly attributed to the application of the female glove to a chin that is trying hard to jab the atmosphere saucily after several years of disappointments. Kerensky tried his hand at prophecy but the trick js. growing stale, paper reporters transferred to paper his prediction that the Soviet Union was tottering with less than their customary alacrity. Here is a prophet who is dishénored in hig own country and without honor in any other. * * . HE favorite indoor sport these days is discussing Sinclair Lewis, who is enjoying himself in Paris or in the rural districts of England and leaving the arduous task of counting his royalties from his latest novel to a technical secretary. “Elmer Gantry” (not Emil as this column for some unaccountable reason had it yester- day) is received with varied feelings but the book-buying public empties its pockets for it. Indeed, it has been suggested with some degree of justice that Lewis should turn over a certain percentage of his royalties to the chureh which provided him with such a remunerative subject for a novel. the meantime critics will quarrel over the question: “What is art?” and Sinclair Lewis will wish them luck. NE of the most fruitful ways of gathering publicity nowadays is to sue Henry Ford. There is quite a lively competition among wealthy (Continued on Page Two) Won't Tell Who Shot Him. BOSTON, March 14.—Police today were trying to learn the’ identity of the murderer of Luigi De Bonis, better known to his friends as “tough Louis”, who was shot down in Brigh- ton as he left the apartment of a young woman, according to policg De Bonis died after hours of refusal to tell who shot him. Impassionate pleas of members of his family were of no avail nor were the requests of police for information heeded. news SUBSCRIPTION RATES: In New York, by mail, $8.00 per year. Outside New York, by mail, $6.00 per year. Sapiro Charges Ford Evades Main Issue Irked ocean Henry Is Mum | About Communism DETROIT, March 14,—Charging Henry Ford with “evading the issue,” attorneys for Aaron Sapiro, noted organizer of farmers’ co-operatives, this afternoon pleaded with Federal | Judge Fred S. Raymond to elimin- ate the auto king’s “plea of justifi-| cation” from the million dollar libel suit brought by Sapiro. The libel suit, growing out of a series of attacks on Sapiro in Ford’s Dearborn Independent, developed into a maze of legal technicalities. | Ford, however, drew first blood) when the court ruled out an amend-} ment which Sapiro’s counsel sought | to insert into their bill of complaint. | Calls Sapiro Communist. | In attacking the “plea of justifi-| cation” in which the auto king said) he would prove all charges against Sapiro, the latter’s attorneys de- clared Ford had not defended the al-} leged libels in scores of instances. | Two of the alleged libels, stressed by Sapiro’s counsel, were statements in| the Dearborn Independent that the | | Jewish movement led by Sapiro to} control American farmers, was a} Communist movement, and that other nationally-known Jews had | aided Sapiro. . Otto Kahn Also Communist! | [The Ford articles charged that Kahn, Bernard Baruch, Albert A.| Lasker and Julius Rosenwald had/ helped Sapiro. It was contended by William H. Gallagher and Robert S. Marx, Sapiro’s counsel, that Ford’s “plea of justification” did not prof- fer any proof of these charges. Charges Communist Zionism. It was charged that the Jewish| movement in America was a Commu- nistic movement, and that it was the Sapiro plan to make American agri- culture Communistic, said Marx. Ford denied that there was any.in- nuendo in the statement and denied that it referred to the plaintiff, that is not a justification of the libel. If the “plea of justification” should be struck out, it was said, Ford would be seriously handicapped in his defense. Ford is placed in the humiliating position, of either trying the impos- sible task of proving the big busi- ness man, Sapiro, a Communist, or of arguing that it is not slanderous or libelous to falsely call a man a Com- munist, a distasteful confession’ for the anti-Bolshevik Ford, Supreme Court Upholds Face Powder Trust In Right to Set the Price WASHINGTON, March 14. — The supreme court today denied the peti- tion of the federal trade commission | for a review of an adverse lower court decision in its effort to force | the Harret Hubbard Ayer Inc., al-| léged to be the third largest manu- | facturer of cosmetics in the country, to cease an endeavor to prohibit price-cutting by local dealers, The principles in the case, the com- pany contended, already bee: laid down in the Fo om sa A * Rich Americans Shocked. PARIS, March 14.—The American colony was shocked tonight when it was learned that William Wallace Cle- ments, who described himself as the son of William Lawrence Clements, prominent banker and manufacturer in Bay City, Mich., was under arrest charged with passing bad checks, “BUY THE DAILY. WORKER AT THE NEWSSTANDS PASSAIC, NJ, WORKERS ATTEND \ RUTHENBERG MEMORIAL MEETING ¢ ‘ial To The ly Worker). PABSAIC, N. J., March 14.—More than workers jammed into the Workers’ Home, 27 Dayton Avenue chere yesterday afternoon at a Ruth- enberg: memorial meeting. Most of those who were present were textile workers who recently ended the fa- mous textile strike that lasted for - over one year and obtained interna- tional icity. The principal address was made by Rebecca Grecht of New York City, well known speaker of the Workers (Communist) Party who addressed the ‘assembled workers on the role of C. E. Ruthenberg in the American labor movement. “For A Labor Party.” She pointed out his activity in ASICS TO6CE ah ce SM a RENAL a fighting for a labor party, against imperialism, and the need of new ele- ments joining the Workers (Com- munist) Party to try in a small meas- ure to fill up the gap in the ranks. That the working class must now unite its forces because the capitalist |, class, happy at Ruthenberg’s death, might use it as an attempt to fight the advanced labor movement. She also showed that Ruthenberg was not an isolated figure striking out blindly, but was a part of the International Communist movement that is continuing to struggle for the advancement of the working masses. Other speakers were Ray Ragozin, also of New York "= of Cocaine on Two) NEW YORK’S LABOR DAILY THE DAILY WORKER. Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., under the act of March 8, 1879. There Ain’t No God, Say Princeton Boys, Shocking Press Club Let skeptics know that knowl- edge creeps even into the ivy-cov- ered walls of Old Nassau. Five hundred and fifty-seven Princeton students out of 1061 who answered a religious questionaire formulated by C. B. Garnett, Jr., have decided that they don’t believe in a God | who wears whiskers and who jug- | | gles thunderbolts. This information has shocked the Princeton Press Club which has re- fused to divulge Princeton’s relig- ious turpitude to outside newspa- pers. Fall of Nanking to Nationalists Imminent ‘Report General Chass Ready To Abandon Shanghai BULLETIN. LONDON, March 14.—The fall of | Nanking to the Nationalists is con- sidered imminent, according to a Cen- tral News dispatch today from Shang- hai. The Nationalists are less than 30 miles from Nanking. It is reported that General Chang Tsung-Chang is preparing to abandon Shanghai and | withdraw to the northward. * * * SHANGHAI, March 14.—The Na- tionalist armies are moving on Shang- hai breaking thru all opposition. Re- volutionary propaganda is causing havoc in the ranks of the militarists and detachments of troops are going lover daily to the Nationalists. The Yangtze squadron of the Chin- ese navy lying off Woosung has gone ever completely to the Nationalists. ‘The squadron consists of 22 vessels which are said to have raised the Na- Chang Chung-Chang is seriously worried over the situation and is con- sidering beating a “strategic retreat” northwards. In addition to other mis- fortunes his subordinate leaders are deserting him. a aaa Loss of British Prestige. LONDON, March 14.—The defeat suffered by the British when the Na- tionalists took over the Hankow con- cession has weakened British prestige in China with soldiers of north and south, and the growing confidence of the Chinese in their ability to handle the imperialist troops is considered a serious angle of the situation by foreign office officials. The foreign office has instructed Sir Miles Lampson to send an at- tache of the Peking embassy staff to Hankow to keep in touch with Eugene Chen. ‘ A recently recruited body of White Russians paraded in Shanghai last Sunday with detachments of soldiers from the warships of the imperialist powers lying in the Shanghai har- bor. Exaggerated reports of friction among the high leadership of the Koumintang is being circulated by Reuters, the British official news agency. The Associated Press in China depends on the British agency for its information. 648.9 Cutting Northern Railroad. LONDON, March 14.—The principal developments gleaned from the tur- moil of the Chinese situation, by dis- patches received in London, are: 1.—Shantung soldiers stationed in the vicinity of Shanghai are levying a daily tribute of $15,000 on the local merchants and business associations. 2.—Nationalists, working behind the northern lines, are tearing up the railroad in several places. 8.—Wellington Koo, in a message to Universal Service and the London Daily News, declares: “Special privi- leges must go.” He demands the re- turn of the concessions. 4.—Koo, talking to the Daily News correspondent in Peking, explained that no appeal’to the League of Na- tions or the World Court on the sub- ject of treaty revision is planned. * * * Delegates to Gather In ‘Hands Off China’ Meet, Labor Temple The New York “Hands Off China Conference” will be held tonight at 7 p.m, at the Labor Temple, 14th Street and Second Avenue. Delegates from many trade unions, labor fraternal organizations and lib- eral groups will be present and help formulate a policy that will prevent BUY THE DAILY WORKER AT THE NEWSSTANDS NEW YORK, TUESDAY, MARCH 15, 1927 Public Hearing WOODEN CARS ON INTERBOROUGH — Housing Report On Expulsion ed PUBISHING CO,, 33 First Street, New York, N. Y, Published Daily except Sunday by THE DAILY WORKER FINAL CITY EDITION Price 3 Cents ~ Allows Higher Wodden cars of the- Interborough | ‘ ‘ |when it became apparent that there | |Rapid Transit were responsible for . ‘ would be considerable delay in re- lby walking the ties to the station/ CAUSE TWELVE INJURIES IN CRASH As Urged Fur Joint Board Demands “Rank and File” Trial The persistent refusal of the reac-| Fur Workers’ Union and the A& F.| against members of the New York Furriers’ Joint Board, is ample proof | that these chargés are false, so Ben| |Gold, manager of the Joint Board, | | states in a letter sent yesterday to the | |International’s _ Genera] | Board. | “Although these right wing offi- cials loudly announced that they had |proof that the gurriers had given graft to the: New York police during | }last year’s strike, they have never jdared bring us to trial on this or any | lother of their» clumsy, frame-up | charges,” said Gold. In his letver he |aceuses. the officials of fearing “an| | exposure of your treacherous acts,” if \the facts were told in public; and he} jchallenges them to try the Joint} | Board before a committee of the rank | | and file. a Expulsion Mlegal. | Gold’s communication also points) out that the constitution of the In-| ternational Fur Workers’ Union states | that “no local can be expelled except | by the ‘ convention. itself,” yet on| March 2nd the officials simply an-| of the International which brings, as | a reason for expulsion of the Joint Board officers, the charge that they relinquished during the strike the de- mand for equal division of work. As the right wing well know this was relinquished by them and President Green when they tried to negotiate a settlement of the strike behind the backs of the Strike Committee and the workers. Schachtmai Approved. In answer to ather one of the charges ‘the® Joint “Board voncernthg the transfer of funds to the General Strike Committee—a procedure which is always customary in every strike— Gold reminds the International that President ‘Oizer Schachtman approved this transfer of funds. He was a member of the Strike Committee at the time, and remained one until his mysterious disappearance to partici- pate in the Washington frame-up con- ference. Autos, For Gangsters. The charge made yesterday by right wing leaders that the Joint Board pickets were cruising through the fur district in automobiles is absolutely untrue, and was probably made to prepare the way for the Internation- al’s gangsters to begin operations in the fur market in cars just as the guerillas of the cloakmakers’ right wing have been doing for some time. Thugs Scared. Since the International’s official gangsters tried to attack fur workers last Wednesday and met with such sorry defeat, they have not been fre- quenting the district go regularly in their efforts to terrorize workers into registering with the International. automobiles, they will attempt to re- sume operations. The fur workers’ | picket committee will be on hand as usual, walking—not riding—through the market and protecting all workers | organization Committee.” Greek Workers , Meet. Greek fur workers are called to a meeting arranged by the Joint Board on Wednesday night right after work. There will be a discussion of recent developments in the affairs of the union, especially the right wing In- ternational officials’ attempt to make use of the Greek workers in the at- tack upon the Joint Board and all progressive forces in the union. “Prophets of Doom” And “Elmer Gantry” Held on Murder Charge LOS ANGELES, Mach. 14, — Mrs. Margarét Rowan, evangelist, famous as the “end of the world prophetess” because of a prophecy made two years ago, and two co-defendants, |the injury of -12 passengers, one | serious, when a five-sectioned Ninth | | Avenue “L” train, north bound, ; Gloat Over Success. |crashed into a rear end of a Sixth| Almost at the same moment as the | Avenue train of similar makeup at|accident due to the penny-squeezing |the 66th St. Station, just off Broad-| tactics of the I. R. T., Fred Hedley, suming operations. way yesterday afternoon. Ready Excuse. The official alibi of the Interbor- tionary officials of the International) ough was “slippery rails.” Scores of passengers from trains | the president of the company, and | Mayor “Jimmy” Walker were posing jfor cameramen and patting each other on the back in celebration of |the first run of the I. R. T. trains at of L. Investigating Committee to hold | stalled south of the scene of the col-|the new station at 7th Avenue and |@ public hearing on the charges made | lision risked death onthe third rails | 47th Street. Dismiss Ruthenberg’s Executive| | Case. Before \ Supreme | (Court; Death Cancels WASHIN March, 14.—-The test case of Ruthenberg was formally dismissed today, follow- ing official notification of the su, preme court of the United States of the death of C. E. Ruthenberg, General Secretary of the Workers (Communist) Party. The case was an appeal to the supreme court by Ruthenberg from a conviction of criminal syndicalism in Michigan, following upon the Bridgeman arrests and frame-up. FORM RIFLE CLUB nounced that the locals were expelled | and the Joint Board dissolved. | Gold also points out the hypocrisy | FROM UNIONIZING CHICAGO, March 14.—More than 3,000 workers employed by the Wes- tern Electric Company’s Hawthorne plant, located just outside of Chi- cago participated in the sharpshoot- poration. i _ne™ More Sport... ,0 i+ to the big variety of sports fostered by the company to prevent its work- ers from thinkine along lines that might lead to trade union organiza- tion, According to those who are ac- quainted with the situation, the use of sports by open shoppers, to keep thei rworkers in subjection is a good argument in favor of labor sport's intensifying their activity. Biggest Branch. tern Electric is the principle western production department. of the electric trust. Other branches include tele- phone, telegraph, communication, ra- dio, public utilities and hydro-electric production. SINCLAIR'S FATE WAITS DECISION Doubtless, with the protection of| OF TRIAL TUNGE Today’s decision of Justice William Hitz, who has been presiding at the trial of Harry F. Sinclair, indicated from the thugs of the “Special Re-|for refusing to answer questions ‘asked of him by the senate oil scan- dal investigating committee, will de- |cide whether Sinclair’s attorneys suc- ceeded or not in their efforts to ter- of the Furriers’ Union at Bryant Hall | minate the trial by 2 tangle of legal | technicalities. These defense attorneys have been arguing for three days that the ques- {tions which Sinclair refused to an- | swer were not “pertinent” to the sen- ate inquiry, and they have devoted \themselves to attacking on legal grounds every.point of the commit- tee’s procedure, If Justice Hitz upholds their con- tentions, the trial will end immedi- ately. If they are overruled, the | jury will decide the case. ‘Darrow Not Worried Over Suicides, Nor SAY DECISIVE BATTLE RAGES |\Diaz Attacks While U.S. Disarms Sacasa MANAGUA, Nicaragua, March 14. —Intense fighting is reported in that territory lying between the towns of |to dispatches received here tonight | from the war zone. This battle, between the federal troops and the rebel forces, may be the decisive factor in the Nicaraguan | affair, close observers of the situation | declared. The result of the battle is not known. | Marines Intervene. IN NICARAGUA Muymuy and Tierra Azul, according | Room Rent New York Governor Shows His Satisfaction A decided victory for the New York landlords in their fight to mulet city workers out of additional rent was won for them in the recommen- dations found in the State Housing Board’s report just made public. While the governor’s commission recommends that the Emergency Rent Laws be continued until June, 1928, it nevertheless, advocates- that the law shall apply to all apartments renting for $15 or less a room in New York City, instead of $20 or under as at present. False Friend. The pretensions of the Tammany governor, Al Smith, as a “friend of the people” is once more riddled by his statement upon receipt of the re- port of the Housing Board in which he expressed satisfaction with its | recommendations, | “Their recommendations seem fair and just to me,” he said. It is the “hope” of the board that by June 1, 1928, housing conditions in New York City will have im- proved from the tenants’ viewpoint ;to an extent where the emergency laws can be permitted to die. Landlords Encouraged. In the meantime, whereas those | paying rents on a basis of $15 and |less per room, will continue to get The constitutional government of|the benefits involved in the emerg- Nicaragua of which Juan Sacasa is|eney rent laws, those paying more president, has beaten the American Will again be at the mercy of the |appointee, “President” Diaz complete- landlords whose morale has been The Hawthorne plant of the Wes-| jly, but has been cheated out of all his | gains by the policy of occupying with U. S. marines all territory his troops capture. This has given Diaz a chance to reform his army. | Rushing Arms. The Diaz government had massed ing tournament staged by the cor-/its forces near Muymuy, which is the| | Sacasa stronghold. Larg?-shipments of arms weré |Three million cartridges, 3,000 rifles jand 200 machine guns were included |in the shipments sent to Diaz. munition for Sacasa is seized by | American forces and destroyed. \State Department Will |Net Help Sen. King Get |Past Haytian Puppet WASHINGTO. March 14.—If Senator W. H. King (D) of Utah, succeeds in entering Hayti it will be state department intercession in his shalf, it appeared today. - State de- | partment officials said this morning |they were “powerless” sto aid the | Utah senator, who has been classed |as “undesirable” by the Haytian pres- jident and barred from the country. Despite the American occupation of | the little republic by a permanent gar- | |rison of U. S. marines, and the fact |that most of the governmental func- | tions there are conducted by marine | officers, officials of the department | explained that Hayti is a sovereign power and entitled to exclude anyone , her president sees fit. In this case Hayti “saw fit” to exclude a critic of Coolidge. ek Ske, WASHINGTON, March 14,—Sena- or W. H. King, democrat, Utah, has apparently abandoned any hope of visiting Hayti and the state depart- sent is secretly elated that the “in- ident is closed,” it was learned to- night. Senator King is believed to be en route to Santo Domingo, having left Porto Rico, where he received notice from President Borno, of Hayti, that e could not land in that republic. The state department made the usu- al formal protest to Hayti and com- rounieated to Senator King at San juan, Porto Rico, that nothing could he done in his behalf. Senator King iid not answer the department’s tele- | gram and has not been officially heard | | | from since. “Most Crime Traced To Economis Causes,” Am- |} through his own efforts, and not to} greatly strengthened by their pres- | ent victory at Albany. Pressure isnow working two ways on the New York cave dwellers just | below the point where the “emerg- lency” laws begin to function, it is revealed in the report of the commis- tion. From below, families are leramping themselves into smaller | qudrters, if-onty: to find better homes, The gun play is a recent addition | pushed yesterday to the battlefront. | and deserting the worst houses. Con- struction within the past four years have been without precedent, it is reported by the body, but the relief reached only those families able to pay the higher rental. | Poorest Suffer Most. By its own admissions the gover~ nor’s commission makes clear that the plight of the great masses of the New York workers is still as fright ful as it ever was. “The present shortage in New York,” the report says, “is most in the range of $15 a room a month and below.” Declaring that “the board has been impressed by the amount of over-crowding and conges- tion which appears to be a part of the permanent living condition® of New York City,” it concludes with the startling statement that “the temporary congestion due to the emergency of 1920 and 1921 has un- questionably passed. But there still remains a condition which is ex- tremely dangerous from the physical and moral point of view. Many in» dividual cases were called to the ate |tention of the board tn its publie hearings.” Frightful Crowding. | An almost ironic twist is given to | the recommendations of the commis- sion by its recital of evidence of ex- |treme suffering and conditions dan- | gerous to the public health. It quotes |testimony of Dr. Louis I, Harris, |Health Commissioner of New York City, who said a study made in Sep- | tember and October, 1926, by the | nurses of the Department of Health, | revealed frightful over-crowding | many parts of the city. LOVISIANA JIM - GROW HOUSING: RULED ILLEGAL WASHINGTON, March 14. — The |segregation law of Louisiana: under | which white and Negro comm | blished, was held invalid by in Dr. J. F. Balzar, a pastor, and Miss Mary Wade, a nurse, were ordered | held to answer today in municipal) dent suicides are not significant court when they appeared for prelim-| enough to worry about, Clarence Dar- inary hearing on a charge of con-/row, noted criminal lawyer, declared spiracy with intent to mrtyder Dr. | today. Bert E. Fullmer, titular head of the} narrow declared there is no danger WASHINGTON, March 14.—Stu- | Declares Hackenburg ALBANY, March 14.—Declaring that “90 per cent of all crime can he traced to economic causes,” As- semblyman F. L, Hackenburg, N. | Y. C. democrat, made a fiery at- ‘eme court today. | Benjamin Harmon alleged that the | New Orleans ordihance and the state \law upon which it was based violated | the fourteenth amendment to the feds jeral constitution giving Negroes equal protection of the law, H Seventh Day Adventist Reformed Church. Increases Circulation. DETROIT, March 14, (FP)—Since the beginning of the yealr the De- troit News, owned by the Detroit Federation of Labor, has increased Jits circulation 16%. of American plays or literature cor- rupting the public. | “Iam against censorship for litera- ture and the stage,” he said. a situation that will adjust itself. If a play goes beyond all limits of de- cency the public will stay away, or if they keep going, isn't it a sign that that’s what the public wants?” “Tt is] tack on the Baumes Crime Com- mission. “The Baumes Commission,” said in a speech in the state a sembly, “has made a recommen tion, which, if it is enacted into law, will entirely destroy the present efficient system of probation in New York City.” Under the New Orleans ordinance, a majority of the residents on any street determined whether it to be a building permit was refused Benjamin Harmon on the ground that he was converting a house in a white com- munity into a “double cottage,” rented to a Negro, | : “white” or a “Negro” community. A ~