The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 16, 1927, Page 6

THE OATCY . ORKER, NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 1927 Roar of Niagara Broadcast Page Six TIMBERS: A Sketch JOSEPH KALAR. 2d for a moment and on his feet. With an effc lifted up a hand to cae TIN ERE TO THE NEWS Ruthenberg, Agitator,| Showed /abor’s Knuckles’ to the Capitalist Class By J. LOUIS ENGDAHL. |covered with reddish hair, clasped and unclasped. He gave a squeal of pain and fright as the removal of a timber brought one leg of Olson to brush away the drops of sweat that| view. A leg perpendicular with the beaded his forehead. and clung heav-| ground, a leg alone, stuck up in the ily to his eyebrows. His feet, as|air with such infinite indifference. he looked upon them, seemed dim,|a leg oblivious to all the Hurry and dista away from him. They were! bustle going about it for its own|? heavy, plowing through the yellow/sake. The foot was in a heavy, '! dung-mixed hog-fuel. Those danmed | slightly worn brown shoe; the over-|: Fs wf 3 f ,|horses ... alls were blue in color, and having| : E. RUTHENBERG accel agitator pes Sweet Jesus but it’s hot! Nice! slipped down, due to the perpendicu- + workers. He seized aieatece ah ye ieee ., | Place to spend the summer for three|lar position of the leg, revealed a spread hy belief ea the ea gaag Ae for which he struggled, |b vcks and six bits a The sun! dirty gray sock gartered with a red|{ in the ranks of the working class. u up, gives 2 yel-| rag. and | Despite the bungling of the men, before the injured man was almost entirely } cleared. His head was still covered |! a huge 12x12 timber that had|- s with thou-| rolled down the hypotenuse angle of | : f feet of his and stopped on the back of | © inte lum- his neck, pressing his head into the noises of the | dirt and hog-fuel. As the timber} / conglomerate | was removed, a glaring red stain was spirational stuff—self-help, onward and upward. I submit some verse from the “Association News,” organ of the Association of Maintenance of Way and Miscellaneous Foremen, Mechanics and Helpers of the Santa Fe Railroad System, one of our nation’s cutest little company unions. As the lines are anonymous I leave it to you to guess whether they were chiselled by a mechanic or a helper.” The lines in question follow: IT PAYS. M He rang in a little sooner | Than the fellows in his shop; And he stayed a little longer When the whistle blew to “Stop”! He worked a little harder And he talked a little less; He seemed but little hurried And showed but little stress, For every little movement ‘ ' His efficiency expressed. | t } “What your column lacks,” Bob ‘Dunn writes, “is the solid in- | $ * « * Ruthenberg, for instance, took great pride book that contained numerous clippings from v issues of Cleveland’s capitalist newspapers of many ago. Here were the memories of his e: revolutionary movement, when he had wr to the capitalist sheets, that they had pul t the socialist position on the issues before Cleveland’s workers at that time. These “letters” covered a multi-| nin in ¢ tude of subjects, but they always Soha x morstbe & overture of industry, merged into a , a stain outlined clearly by the that was engaging the attention of labor at that par-| qafinite rhythm. ‘The shrill buzzing ellow of the timber. The w whining through a water lace was raw, smeared thickly There mill, like ng a y through two upo: at Thus his envelope grew just A little thicker than the rest. He saved a little money ’ In a hundred little ways; 4 He banked a little extra ticular moment, and they brought results. of a man’s Ruthenberg’s scrap book also contained numerous soaked timber ... the rush and roar| with clotted blood. When he got a little raise. clippings from the socialist publications of that time,| of carriages ... the cursing of team-| “For Christ's sake boys, hurry,”| Now it’s very little wonder English afd foreign-language, but especially the Chi-| stors on wagons loaded high with| squealed the superintendent, “get a That he murmurs with a smile, cago Daily Socialist. Some of them were announcements | ¢,o;) aromatic lumber .. . the thump ri _ Abe | As he clips his little coupons; of meetings. Others told of routine party activities. But| (¢ timbers sliding down the chute “Are the little things worth while?” stretcher or something; get him to the hospital, the poor fellow.” ... most of them told of party campaigns that were being 1 the snoring of the planing mill| waged in the Ohio metropolis, and attracting attention. |” * | Long cool timbers were coming out It was no accident that Ruthenberg clashed with the | of the mill with a regularity that in ¢apitalist state in the streets of Cleveland. Ruthenberg,| was itself a rhythm, long cool tim-| The injured man, apparently, was still alive. He breathed only with great difficulty, a rasping gasp end- ing in a liquid gurgle. He seemed to breathe through the pores of, his the “Agitator,” a word that has often been translated | into “soap boxer” in the vocabulary of the revolutionary movement, developed the open air demonstration against capitalism to a high level. Cleveland has a giant public square that is supposed to be dedicated to “free speech.” At least this claim is| made on a monument crected in memory of Tom John-| son, former liberal mayor of the city. | * Ruthenberg learned that agitators are tolerated in| peace times. But when capitalism has a big job to put! over, like the world war, when the hostility of the masses | becomes a mighty disturbing factor, then it shows its | teeth. That is the way capitalism showed its bitter | hatred of and hostility to the message that Ruthenberg | had to deliver to labor. It put the agitator in jail. Ruthenberg was tolerated up to the time that he made} his speech against the war. Since then capitalism has| made bitter war against the Communist agitator, fearing him even while dead. * * * But even within the socialist movement of the pre-/ war days, the agitator was not looked upon with great favor among big sections of the Party. The warn-| ing repeatedly issued was, “Don’t go too far.” It was! urged that the Socialist Party be considered respectable. | To the extent that Ruthenberg tried to show the bared knuckles of the working class to the enemy capitalists, to that extent he was anathema even among many so-called “leading Socialists.” It was argued that the revolutionist “scares the votes | away.” It was declared that “if you go too far” you| ean’t elect anybody. ‘ The state of Ohio, especially Cleveland, was con- sidered one of the reddest spots on the American so- map. Yet at one time Ohio had mayors and uncilmen in more than a dozen cities, while ultra- social democratic Wisconsin could claim only Milwaukee. When the war broke there were. both aldermen and a member of the school board in office, chosen as so- cialists. To be sure they were all expelled by the 100 per cent pay-triets. But that was only a tribute to the fact that Ruthenberg was leading a section of the party that was maintaining its loyalty to socialist prin- ciples. * * * When Karl Liebknecht came to the United States in 1910-11, speaking in different sections of the country, | he also spoke in Milwaukee. It was on the eve of an election. Victor Berger nearly expired in a fit of hys- teria at hearing the revolutionary message that Lieb- knecht delivered to Milwaukee’s workers. He furiously charged that the chances of a socialist electoral vic- tory had been spoiled. The Milwaukee social-democratic leaders spurned Karl Liebknecht in 1910, just as he was fought by the German social-democrats in the war days at home. But Cleveland, Ohio, gave to the revolutionary move- ment of this country an American Liebknecht in Ruth- *-enberg, the agitator. Liebknecht defied German capi- talism in the streets of Berlin. So did Ruthenberg in the streets of Cleveland. * * * Capitalism tries to belittle the influence of the Com- munist agitator. The New York Times declares, in speaking of what it terms the “exaggerated notion of _ the strength of Communists in the United States,” that “the events of the last few years have shown that their (the Communists) power has waned, despite the skillful efforts of Ruthenberg to fan race as well as class hatred.” This editorial utterance is out of harmony with the previous declarations of The Times, in practically the game column. It was The Times that ridiculed the ar- guments of James Oneal, appearing in his most recent attack on the Communist movement, that the forces of Communism had been considerably weakened. Oneal had arrived at his conclusion by the processes of arith- metic. Although mathematics is an exact science, The Times, in its previous issue, argued that even figures may lie and replied to Oneal accordingly. * * * Oneal had compared the membership of the Com- munist Party with the numbers that paid their dues into the socialist party, which mounted to more than 125,000 previous to the war. But The Times said the Communists, the members of the Workers (Communist) Party, were more skilled, energetic and zealous in carry- ing on the work for Communism than had previously been the case with the membership of the socialist party. Members of the Workers (Communist) Party, therefore, it pointed out, count for more than the type of membership that had been enlisted under the pre- war banners of the socialist party. * This is merely saying that the spirit of Ruthenberg, the agitator, is the spirst of the great percentage of the membership of the Workers (Communist) Party, whereas that same spirit had been bitterly opposed in the socialist ranks, wherever it expressed itself. * * ” It is that same spirit that develops and grows within the broadening left wing of the American labor move- _ Ruthenberg, the agitator, was successful in his strug- “gle for Communism. This is shown in part by the “fact that the reaction denounces practically every left wing and opposition movement, no matter in what or- ganization of the workers it is found, as Communist and Bolshevik. It is an admission by labor's enemy that the class struggle is developing and growing on the side of the workers, and a confession of fear that it will triumph. More agitators among the workers, forward energetically in the spirit of Ruthen- ie, il increase that fear of the capitalists, but it : also lift the hopes of the workers for their eman- _sipation a. \ e | awaiting him. ‘|heayy feet hit the ground. bers, saturated with water ... He climbed on the timber chute and scowled at the peavey that lay Where the hell was Bill, and his partner? This was a hell of a mess, for sure. The tim- bers were jammed to a_ fearful height on the chute. Weil, he’d wait for Bill and his partner. No use tackling it himself, too bad a mess. | Olson and his partner tugged on| their peaveys in a furious effort to extricate a timber from the jam and | roll it on a wagon. It wouldn't) budge. They tugged again, growl-| ing. Olson walked to the center of the wedged timber, inserted his peavey, and tugged furiously, curs- ing. The timber moved. His part- ner shouted a warning. The timbers began to move in a mass. Olson, paralyzed with fear, attempted to run to one side. The timbers rolled un- der him, his feet treading. sudden the entire timber jam gave way, and, as Olson dove off head first, slid off the chute, burying him underneath. Men rushing, streaming forth, go- ing somewhere. A moment before a dead calm, a soothing quiet, men walking about like chilled ants, with bloods in a torpor. A. man was killed . . . Jesus! Jesus! The wagon, on which the timbers over to an alarming angle, being held up on the right side by a huge mass of timbers that had bounded beyond it. (The horses, untouched, but at first deeply frightened, were now breathing quietly. Horse-flies, heavy with blood, crawled drunkenly over their rumps.) “O Christ! it’s no God damn use,” said Old Bill, the teamster, “no use fellows, the poor bastard must be ground finer’n the slivers of hell, he must.” The superintendent arrived on the scene, a huge man, with paunch and cheek that trembled like jelly as his There was a hint of tears in his voice as he urged the men on, and his fat hands, with short pudgy fingers, thickly Of a} were to have been loaded, was tilted | | whole body, for with each breath his | hody would rise, his mouth would be jconvulsed into a hideous distortion, |revealing pale gums the color of. pork,. and teéth clotted with blood, for a moment would remain rigid, then of a sudden seeming to collapse, |it would sink into a loose mass of | quivering flesh. ¥ A truck removed Olson, with the superintendent standing on the run- |ning board and four men steadying | the stretcher on which the inert body lay. | “Yessir,” said Old Bill, to who- | ever would listen, “he was standing right here, on the wagon he was ‘standing. I told the dam’ fool to get off but, no sir, he knew better. Jesus, haven’t I worked around this god damn mill ever since it started? I | knew what I was talkin’ about, let} me tell you.” “That reminds me,” said one of the oilers, his face smeared brown with oil, “you never know when you're next. I remember once in the lath mill, when a young feller got killed. You see he had. . . “Sure I saw him. I bet I wasn’t | fifteen feet from the chute when the | timbers gave way. He tried to jump, | but the logs rolled under him and he | just dove off. Sure I seen him, wasn’t I right here.” . |. j | The superintendent came back in |a hurry. Fat, flabby cheeks, the |color of fatty pork, that shook as | though made of jelly as the heavy |feet were lifted and set down. “What the hell do you birds think you’re doin’, anyhow? I’ve got a good notion to can the whole shootin’ |match of you. Come on, move on |there. One of you fellows go and | get an ax and shave the blood off |this timber.” . . (And always the rhythm, an un-! |ceasing regularity. The heterogen- |eous noises of the mill merged into |a definite rhythm, and the sawmill, | like a huge, sleek well-fed cat sat on | its haunches by the river licking its | paws. Long; cool timbers were com- |ing out of the mill with a regularity that was in itself a rhythm, long cool timbers saturated with water.) competitive capitalism has placed on only 53.3% of capacity and that the for 1926 as follows: Flour mill opera- tion in 1926 January ..... February March .. April . May June . July +. August . September . October November . December 2 The overexpansion of the milling industry has been recently remarked by the food research institute of Stanford University in a study of the | world wheat situation. It says: “Overextension has led to excessive competition the world over and tariff policies in many countries are tend- ing further to increase the excess of milling capacity, The American mill- ing industry faces liquidation and re- adjustment. There is much redun- dant capacity and equipment that cannot be put into operation or car- ried indefinitely on the books,” A glance at the financial reports of 8 large milling companies shows that this overexpansion has been re- flected in stock dividends and that grain farmers and consumers be- tween them are expected to pay a toll on the resulting excessive capi- talization. The Standard Milling Co., OVERCAPITALIZATION IN FLOUR INDUSTRY SHOWN TO BE RESULT OF CAPITALISM By LELAND OLDS (Federated Press). A tremendously overexpanded milling industry is one of the burdens | the wheat farmer, according to figures compiled monthly by the U. S. department of commerce. The department reports that in January 1927, 1026 of the country’s flour mills operated at average operation of the entire year 1926 represented only 54.1% of capacity. The barrels of wheat flour produced by the mills reporting to the de- partment and the percent of capacity operated are shown month by month Wheat flour Percent of produced capacity + 8,679,028 bbls. 53.6% 7,429,297 50.0 8,288,698 47.4 7,589,263 44.9 7,418,410 44.0 8,004,972 47.6 9,569,966 57.0 ++ 10,447,090 62.1 10,843,480 67.0 10677,536 63.3 9,618,240 58.9 8,908,920 53.0 eee 107,474,895 54.1% producing Hecker’s Flour, “H-O” Oats and Force, has given its stock- holders 3 stock dividends adding more than 70% to its capitalization, | Pillsbury Flour has paid stock divi- dends of 150% and 20% thereby, tripling its capitalization, The Wash-| |burn-Crosby Co., producers of Gold Medal flour, has increased its capi- talization about 50% through stock _ dividends, | Reorganization of the industry by the bankers will undoubtedly incor- porate all the excessive capitaliza- | tion, with additional water pumped in to give the promoters a generous rakeoff. An approach to monopoly will enable the resulting trusts to make a profit at the expense of farmers and consumers. An alter- native would be the milling industry controlled by farmers selling direct to consumer cooperatives. ‘|to his ear phones, which he inside his diver’s| Mayor Wm. Laughlin of Niagara Falls, N. Y. (left arrow), Mayor Harry Stephens, of Niagara Falls, Ont. (center arrow), G. L. Bowe, Niagara Falls Chamber of Commerce, right arrow—watching the installation of a microphone to broadcast the roar of the falls. Noth- ing will be allowed to go to waste there apparently; they harnessed the water power, and now they profiteer on the roar. Better Pugilists for Congress By WILLIAM PICKENS. E have been wondering what to do with our ex- prize fighters. SEND THEM TO CONGRESS. Harry Wills and Jack Dempsey could certainly make themselves better “felt” in that august body than can the type of representatives whom we have been sending there, and who seem not so able to hold their own in the great fist-debates on the floor of that body. Let us send better athletes to Congress. It would not be an unprecedented thing: for in 1832 Abraham Lin- coln, then 23 years of age, “qualified” for his first po-| litieal race by winning a wrestling championship. In that year he out-wrestled Jack Armstrong, Champion Wrestler of the Frontier, and ran for the General As-| sembly of Illinois, on the strength of that achievement. This started his political career. When Charles Sumner, of Massachusetts, was debating | the question of Negro suffrage, some of the “gentlemen | from the South” who were opposed to it, came forward with hickory sticks to uphold their end of the debate. But now, since “the gentlemen from Texas” and “the; gentlemen from New York” have decided to use only the old-fashioned fist, we should nominate and send up our finest in the next congressional elections; like Dempsey, Delaney, Greb, Wills, and such others, whose fitness could not be in doubt. It might be well to make Tunney the president of the Senate, to insure general order. When a fellow is being nominated for any position, we ought to consider the qualities which best fit him to fill that position: today in the Congress of the United States we need stout arms, heavy fists and hard skulls. We hear that the democrats and republicans are con- sidering the opening of training camps, to prepare fit candidates for the championship go of 1928. Diver “Plugs In” On Sea Floor of Corpus Christi, ma bottom id poy Bay a pipe line, yet he sn’t lack companionship. A radio. enthusiast, Page, has in-| stalled a receiving set on the barge from which he de- scends. He plugs one end of a long coil of heavily in- | sulated wire into the radio box and attaches the other helmet. - Before descending tunes in a favorite station, then climbs down the ladder. “It works and there isn’t any static either,” is. his enthusiastic report. Photos show Paige “tuning in” and descending to his work, : SS SaeuEIREEEEEEeie Agitate For Better Subways! 4 Editor, Daily Worker:—-Annonneement in the capi-| talist “Daily News” that Jolin’. Gilchrist, chairman of the Greater New York Transit Commission, has summarily ordered the I. R. T. and the B, M. T. trac- tion interests to keep all subway ‘and elevated stations, including rest rooms and lavoratories clean, indicates that the transit commission realizes that the filth in subways is a menaco to the workers of this city. If the transit commission is really interested in the health of New York workers why doesn’t it see to it that the rules which it suggests are really enforced, in- stead of being content with mouthing phrases and for- getting them promptly? The workers of New York cannot depend upon the transit commission. The labor movement, especially the Central Trades and Labor Council, should persistently ee for improved subway conditions.—Mare Stone, lew York City. F if Coolidge will go west for 12 weeks to learn how the poor farmers live. Pictures of palatial homes where Coolidge may stay. during this period are already in the papers. THE LOW- DOWN ON THE STATUE OF LIBERTY: AN INTERVIEW By Jake, the Demon Reporter Miss Liberty is a tragic figure, and no insult intended, Under her hard unruffled surface there beats a heart in anguish. Her career has been a mistake from the beginning—she was never cut out for the role. Her instincts are all the other way. In her old age—she came to these shores exactly fifty years ago and she was no chicken when she got here—she is friendless, forgotten. For the first time in her long dull life she consented to lay bare her soul to a reporter. Hers is a case of wrong vocation: the lady on the pedestal never meant the kind of liberty that’s been tied to her. On the contrary, she got her notions in the land of her birth, France, and first put them into practice in Paris. “I am shocked,” was her first remark, “that anyone should bother to interview me. Nobody cares—” “But—” your reporter, who is something of a steeplejack, tried to reassure her as he settled on her under lip. “Yes, I know, I know,” she interrupted. “My picture is on postcards and on the joker in the poker deck. They’ve got me worked into ash trays, fancy needlework, the masthead of the New York World and any number of trade-marks and advertising displays for candy, laxatives and what have you. I know that my name is mentioned an average of 3,485,008 times annually in July Fourth, Rotary, Kiwanis meetings and the like. I know that there is some vague reference to me at liberal tea parties and the like. But what about me— not my picture or my name, but myself?” “You mean—” exclaimed your reporter, who has what amounts to a sixth sense in delicate matters touching upon female psychology. “Exactly,” she ejaculated happily, “I knew you would un- derstarid. Have you ever been to Paris? Anyhow, what I mean, honey, is that I am a woman after all. Jake, tell them out there that in the name of liberty they have made a prisoner of me. Let them try to imagine, if they can, the horror of being stuck up in the middle of the bay, thinking, thinking, thinking . . . while the breezes waft hither the sounds of jazz bands, booze parties, revivals, debates on monogamy and other forms of entertainment! Was it for this I came all the way across the ocean—and travel wasn’t so interesting then, dearie. Nothing then to match the stolen romance on ships nowadays. Sare I overhear things as the big liners pass.” “Then why,” the reporter queried as he mounted higher to observe a far-away dreamy look in the old girl’s eye, “why did you come?” “Are you sure you can keep a secret, Jake?” she asked. Before the kind-hearted reporter could stop her, however, she told all. Luckily it is unprintable, which saves the re- porter, who is getting thirsty, the job of writing it. The gist of her confession was that she had to leave Paris. She left, indeed, under a,good-sized cloud. She had carried her ideas of liberty a lot too far, even for Paris. “No, no,” she exclaimed, “it wasn’t the July Fourth brand. It was the kind—well, its the kind the moral turpitude clause is all about. I came to conquer, full of French wiles—and look what’s happened to me! Oh hell, it’s just like you Americans ‘to import something foreign and to misunderstand it com- pletely.” ’ After which she sighed, endangering the life of your re- porter who luckily has nine of them, and asserted, or at any rate said: “It‘s terrible, terrible! stand it.” 5 “Of bronze, lady, of bronze,” the reporter corrected her gently and jumped into the bay. One must be made of iron to Add to the White Man’s Burden.—The principal trouble is that say aren’t grateful. They don’t know what they’re missing and don’t care. We bring them civilization on a golden platter, but they just turn away. Take, for example, the situation in Liberia. There’s stone Rubber Company anxious to spend about $100,000,000 in that, Africa, The Department of Commerce gives this picture of Lil gratitude: “With an uncivilized population of at least 1,500,000, it seem reasonable to suppose that many thousand laborers might ul- timately be obtained for plantation work. ... Practically alf their meager wants are supplied by their own initiative.. To ind any considerable number of them to change fully their present of living would require great diplomacy on the part of the employers wishing {heir services, i “Engagements of gangs are made, as a rule, for six months, beyond which period it is difficult to induce the men to - When, therefore, it is borne in mind that only toward the part of their term of service do the laborers begin to understand or display any aptitude for the somewhat specialized work they are often called upon to perform, it will be seen that the efficient dis- charge of their duties can only be looked for during the latter por- tion of their period of engagement, On the arrival of a new everything connected with their instruction must be begun at one i y r