The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 4, 1927, Page 1

HANDS OFF CHINA! STOP ATTACK ON THE SOVIET UNION! THE DAILY WORKER FIGHTS: FOR THE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNORGANIZED FOR THE 40-HOUR WEEK FOR A LABOR PARTY Vol. IV No. 95. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: In New York, by mail, Outside New York, by mail, $6.00 per year, $8.00 per year. W Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office at New York, N, Y., under the act of Mareh 8, 1879. NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MAY 4, 1927 <3 PUBISHING E. Published Daily except Sunday by THE DAILY WORKER CO,, 34 First Street, New York, N. Y. FINAL CITY EDITION Price 3 Cents COOLIDGE QUARRELS WITH BRITISH OVER CHINA “BIG FOUR” LIFE INSURANCE OFFICIALS RETREAT UNDER CHARGES OF WORKER Metropolitan Chief Hides Behind Cloak of Silence When Queried on Exposé of Frauds Past Events of Insurance Expose On April 11th The DAILY WORKER commenced its ex-| pose of the evils of the weekly payment life insurance business. | The chief offenders are the “Big Four,” i. ¢., the Metropolitan, | the Prudential, the John Hancock and the Colonial Life Insur-| ance Companies. | On April 21st, William F. Dunne, editor of The DAILY | WORKER, wired Governor Smith calling his attention to the} charges made in the Harrison articles which charged fraud,| misuse of “mutual” funds, interlocking directorates and gross| overcharging. | On April 27th Governor Smith replied saying that he had instructed Supt. of Insurance Beha to make inquiries into The | WORKER charges. | On April 29th Mr. Beha wrote to The DAILY WORKER | asking for copies of the articles, although marked copies of | the articles had been. sent to him since the beginning of the | series. The matter now rests in the hands of Mr. Beha. The in- dications are that Mr. Beha will “pass the buck” to the Gov-| ernor by recommending a legislative investigation. By CHARLES YALE HARRISON | H I am iriformed that reporters who | aint 0 have tried to get the officials of the} “Big Four” to comment on Governor | 7 Mi L ft | | | Smith’s inquiry action were met with | the cowardly, “we have nothing to} say.” In particular, I,am told, that when | Robert Lynn Cox, second vice-presi- dent of the Metropolitan Life Insur- | Sacco-Vanzetti Editorial In Boston Newspaper Wins the Pulitzer Prize The editorial in the Boston Her- ald, October 26, reversing that pa- per’s stand on the Sacco-Vanzetti case, was selected yesterday as the year’s outstanding editorial by the Pulitzer Prize Committee. The Herald, a conservative Bos- ton morning newspaper which had consistently joined the rabid. red- baiting against the two Italian workers since their arrest in May, 1920, suffered a change of heart last fall after the pounding of mil- lions of workers on the doors’ of Dedham jail. The workers’ protest arousing intellectuals and jurists to the significance of the case, the Boston Herald tardily swung around to advocacy of a new trial. Usually considered the best news- paper im the city, the Herald’s stand created a wide impression. JOINT BOARD OF FURRIERS SIGNS WITH TRIMMERS, Webster ' Hall Meeting Ratifies Pact Enthusiastic approval of the agree- ance Company, was approached by a press correspondent he said who ask- ed him if he had any statement to | make 6h the goverior’s” action, fe-. plied, “no—no, I have nothing to say.” Won't Answer. In the face of the specific charges which the WORKER has made about the “Big Four” weekly payment life insurance business in general and about Mr. Cox in particular, Mr, Cox can think of nothing more manly than to take cover in silence. The following excerpts are taken from charges laid to Mr. Cox or his associated comrade in arms: “The day before the “industrial” life insurance companies were to come | up before the insurance investigating committee (Armstrong Insurance In- | Assem- | vestigation—1905) . blyman Robert Lynn Cox, at that time a.member- of the committee, was in- strumental in moving that the com- mittee adjourn to draft its report, “Industrial” insurance was never in- vestigated. “Shortly afterwards Mr. Cox was appointed manager and general coun- sel of the Association of Life Insur- ance Presidents at a salary of $20,000 per year. e is now vice president of the Metropolitan Life with an an- “nual salary of $38,000. This is con- siderably more than the $1,500 he re- ceived as assemblyman . If he | was not corrupted that would make | interesting news.” j In this series of articles evidence | was adduced proving that the “Big | Four”, i. e., the Metropolitan, Pruden- tial, John Hancock and the Colonial | . Life Iinsurance Companies are guilty | of misuse of “mutual” funds, that | rates are employed which are out- rageously high, that the directors of the “Big Four” are also directors in the banks and railroads in whose se- curities billions of “mutual” funds are invested. Banker Also Director. It was further proven that Mr. Albert H. Wiggir, the president of the Chase National Bank, (which al- ways has an average of $20,000,000 r\ in Metropolitan Life funds on deposit) ‘is also a director of the “Big Four.” We have shown that “Big Four” and executives draw enor- inflated salaries running into ds of thousands of dollars per \Per man, while on the other , the clerical workers employed combine are the lowest paid orkers in the country. have charged the “Big Four” making their policy conditions h and unfair that of all ter- d policies only 1% are endow- and only 9% are paid in death is. We have shown that 75% of many more. ox can do is shake his head » “we have nothing to say.” nor Smith has ordered Supt. James A, Beha to make lontinued on Page Two) RS! STOP THE MURDER RACCO ANN YO NZRTTT In Blasted Mine | -EVERETTSVILLE, W. Va., May 3. | —Caly., a-faint. hope .that..57..re- maining . entombed miners in the Federal No. 8 mine of the New Eng- ‘land Fuel and Transportation Co, |may have escaped the deadly gas | which swept through the mine after \the terrific explosion Saturday was |revived here today when veteran | miners suggested that a group might | have taken refuge in an airway about |a mile and a half from the mine | mouth, Everettsville was an armed camp |today, companies of West Virginia | national guards having pitched camp |near the mine. | Gas Is Thick. mine, despite the efforts of the own- ers to avert explosions through the use of rock dust, that mine officials | fear further blasts momentarily. Coroner Martin M. Moore, of Monongolia county has impaneled a jury to probe the cause of the blast, | but the inquest will be delayed until all bodies have been recovered and the mines had been cleared. Find More Dead. Shortly after noon today six bodies were found far back in the main heading. The bodies were not re- moved from the heading which is about 5,000 feet back from the en- trance of the mine. Rescue crews early today came upon the body of an unidentified man off the main heading. The body was not immediately removed from the mine. The death of Tom Daugherty, a tipple man who succumbed in the Fairmont hospital swelled the toll to twenty-four. oe Second Mine Still Burns. FAIRMONT, W. Va., May 3.—One of the worst mine fires on record in West Virginia was raging today in the Virginia and Pittsburg Coal and Coke Co., mine at Kinomont near here. x Although 250 men normally are (Continued on Page Two) Sacco and Vanzetti Shall Not Die! \Beha Leaves Town To Draft Report Ordered by Smith Superintendent of Insurance Beha, who was recently ordered by Governor Smith to look into the ‘complaints em- bodied in the: insurance expose ar- ticles being published in The DAILY WORKER, left for Richmond, Va., in order to give his undivided attention to the investigation. A polite secretary informed all and sundry that the superintendent will he bagk in New York on Monday- ment signed by the New York Joint | | Board of the Furriers’ Union with the | Fur. Trimming Mayufacturers’ Asso- | ciation, Inc., was given yesterday af- | ternoon by over 1,500 fur workers, ‘who have been locked out of their shops for réfugal to register with the | scab union of the International. | The workers gatheredvin Webster | Hall about 1.30 p. m. after holding a | great picket demonstration in the fur FLOOD DICTATOR THINKS 172,000 TO DROWN OUT Main Refuge Camps “For Whites Only”. | | BATON ROUGE, La. May 3. —} With residents evacuating at least| fifteen towns and villages in North-| eastern Louisiana, former governor | John M. Parker, federal relief dicta- | tor forthe state, stated today that the | | rising Mississippi waters threatened | an area with a population of 172,000 | lin half a dozen parishes bordering the west bank of the river north of | Baton Rouge. | Parker is the “Flood Dictator” ap- pointed by Secretary Hoover after his investigation here, during which the | sacrifice of the residents of Louisiana | \living below Poydras levee was de-| | cided upon. 7 | | It is ,expected that Parker will| }carry on Hoover’s policy of diverting the river flood damage onto the poor- | jer residents, and saving the richer) | taxpayers at their expense. | | Northern Louisiana Flooding. | | Flood waters which have been} coursing through Arkansas for ten | days have passed over the Louisiana | boundary, inundating large actions | of East Carroll, West Carroll, Cata- |houla and Morehouse parishes. Con- leordia parish had been gradually | ‘flogding since the opening of the! | Glasseock break last Saturday. Evac- | {uation orders have been issued for a| score of towns in Avoyelles and St.) | Landry parishes, which are threaten- + ed- bya Break in-the Bayot De Gigjize’ -levee at Big Bend. t | The greatest peace time mobiliza- tion of relief forces the state ever! (has known is functioning today in an # effort to avert, further disaster. | Militia Patrol. Fourteen National Guard units | Gas is so prevalent throughout the | patrolling the levees at threatened | points, sendirig hourly reports of river | conditions to general headquarters here, When danger is imminet at any | market during the noon hour. A} picket demonstration was also held | before work in the morning, and on | | both oceasions thousands of workers | joined in this display of solidarity | point, militia engineers in the office | | with the Joint Board. |of Adjutant General L. A. Toombs, | The Webster Hall meeting heard | adjoining that of Governor Parker | Ben Gold, manager of the Joint | Plot the probable course of the pver- | |Board, explain the new agreement | flow waters on contour maps. From | with the trimming association. This | (Continued on Page Two) | differs from the agreement made at} aha ears Ss see ciated Fur Manufacturers, only in the fact that it allows 10 hours of over- |son, with time and a half in pay- ment. Shops Signing Up. “Not only will this agreement af- fect the shops of members of the trim- ming association,” Gold told the workers, “but there are already a large number of individual shops who have made application to join with the trimming association and thus avoid being drawn into the internal union fight. “The officials of the Associated Fur Manufacturers chose to cooperate with Matthew Woll and the other right wing, reactionary A. F. of L. leaders in the attempt to smash the furriers’ union. They deliberately plunged the fur shops into turmoil in their efforts to force the workers to register. Those employers who were interested primarily in production and not in union affairs have resented this, and have decided to sign a con- tract with the Joint Board which will insure peaec so long as its terms are obeyed.” ’ All phases of the right wing attack upon the furriers’ union were discus- sed at length by the workers at yes- terday’s meeting. After some opposi- tion by a few workers, it was decided to elect a committee of 50 to visit the International’s Sub-Committee last night and acquaint them with the wishes and demands of the union members. Smoke Out Officials. This step was decided upon as the best means of clarifying the present situation in view of the many peace rumors which have been current, and to determine whether or not such talk on the part of certain International officials had any meaning or not. The Committee of 50 was delegated to demand that the International of- ficials either issue a call at once for the convention which should have ‘been held this week according to the union’s constitution; or that these officers, who are now maintaing their posi- tions illegally shall withdraw at once {Continued on Page Five) the close of the strike with the Asso- | SORMENTI CASE |time per week durjng the busy sea- | | | } | ARGUED BEFORE HIGH OFFICIALS Whether Enea Sormenti will be condemned to death by the United States government through the ex- pedient of deporting him to Italy will be decided by the board of review | of the labor department within 10 | days. } The case of the noted Italian edi- tor, who fled Italy to escape death | at the hands‘of Mussolini’s fascists, was presented to the board ‘of re-| view by Clarence Darrow, the noted | Chicago criminal lawyer, Arthur Gar- | field Hays of the American Civic | Liberties Union and Albert Shorr. They argued that the department of labor has no right to deport a man to a foreign nation where he is in danger of being killed. Chajrman | A. BE. Cook of the board was told of | Sormenti’s sufferings in Italy, of | Mussolini’s numerous attempts to ‘silence him through imprisonment, | how he was beaten and left for deac by the blackshirts and how he es-\ caped to America. Stay of 60 Days Asked. A stay in the deportation order for 60 days is asked, so that Sormenti in case the order is not revoked, may have an opportunity to make ar- rangements to go to some other land than Italy where certain death faces him, The board promised to make a fur- ther examination into the case. Ii its decision is favorable, a precedent will be created of great importance | in shielding workers from the furies of anti-labor governments. The International Labor Defense, through Rose Baron, appealed for) workers and all people interested i: | the fight against fascism to join in the fight to save Sormenti from de- | portation, | | of Meeting to Hear Truth About Nanking Outrage Horace Robeson, American mis- sionary who has just returned from China, will be one of the main speakers at the mass protest demonstration for Hands Off China that will be held at Union Square on Saturday at 12 noon. Robeson, who was _ présent, when Nanking was bombarded and shelled by the battleships of the imperialist powers, will tell the truth about that famous incident. The “Hands Off China” commit- tee that is issuing the call repre- sents over 85 labor, liberal and anti-imperialist organizations. On its executive commttee are: Harry Ward, professor in Union Theologeal Seminary. Timothy Healy, vice-president of the International Brotherhood of Firemen and Oilers. Louis Budenz, Editor of the La- Saturday Union Square bor Age, } William Pickens, field secretary for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peo- le. Scott Nearing, Lecturer and au- thor of “Dollar Diplomacy.” | H. Linson, president of the Chi- nese Students Club, Columbia Uni- versity. Lewis Gannett, Associate Editor of The Nation. James P. Yard, American mis- || istration is also indicated by a state- ment made by President Coolidge to- day, advising Americans to regard | with suspicion any stories purport- ing to state the government’s attitude toward China that originate of Washington. Although President sionary, just returned from China. }| SACCO CAREFUL IN- SCRUTINIZING REVIEW LETTER Lawyer Presses for His Signature on Document (Special to The DAILY WORKER) | BOSTON, May 3.—Nicola Sacco is} standing adamant against signing any | document for a review of his case which implies admittance of guilt. His comrade in Dedham jail, Bartolomeo | Vanzetti, is‘ said to have written a; letter to Governor Fuller telling of the | frame-up and simply asking for a} review of the case. | Sacco has conferred several times | with William G. Thompson, chief de- | fense counsel, over the possibility of | CABINET SPLIT ON TORY COOPERATION MacMURRAY SHOUTS FOR ULTIMATUM |\Fake Trial for Mme. Borodin and Four Envoys; Communist International Scores Murder HIGHLIGHTS OF TODAY’S NEWS | 3.—Mme. Borodin and four jarrive at Peking for “trial” on lating propaganda; report Char |of imperialist powers to provok Government at Hankow welcom Chinese policy is reported to be | Although certain die-hard |joint ultimatum on the part of the imperialist powers, and look with fa- vor upon the British proposal for the occupation of the Yangtze Valley and the eventual partition of the whole China, other members of the cabinet favor a more cautious policy. | Kellogg-Hoover Battle. Observers here point to the revival of the Hoover-Kellogg battle before the Pan-American Congress as one eign policy within the cabinet. | The uncertain policy of the admin- outside * Coolidge mentioned no names, it was! Jobvious that his thrust was directed / at the British, who have been endeav- | oring for some weeks to drag the nited States into joining them in a stiff ultimatum to the Nationalist government. Cal Cautious, Not Friendly. — administration is not interpreted as an indication that Coolidge regards the Nationalist government at Hankow with any greater friendliness than he has before. It has long been sus- pected that powerful financial inter- ests have been exerting their influ- ence against rash action, and Cool- idge’s statement is regarded as the proof of their success. The Chinese trade and rivalry with Britain are their reasons. The British press has heen filled of the American government’s Chin- ese policy. British newspapers have carried such headlines as “America any part of the letter being construed | as an admittance that he had any! part in the South Braintree payroll | murder seven years ago. Petitions for) pardon invariably carry the confession | of guilt with a plea for mercy, and| Sacco on past occasions has fought! clear of all such petitions. | Several people who have known Sac- co closely are being used by Thompson to persuade him to sign the document which the attorney wants to present to the governor as soon as possible. Won't Open Files The Department of Justice will re- fuse to open* its files on the Sacco-| Vanzetti case. Attorney General Sar- gent has informed Senator David I. Walsh of Massachusetts, Walsh in-| formed the defense committee today that his efforts to persuade Sargent that the files should be opened be- cause of the department’s activity in assisting in the frame-up were un-! availing. | The senator was informed however | that the department holds nearly 500 communications protesting against! the electrocution of the two Italian workers on July 10. | Baltimore Joins In Sacco Keview Appeal BALTIMORE, May 3 (FP).—Five | hundred persons attended a Sacco- Vanzetti labor mass meeting in Bal- timore on May Day. Albert Weis- bord, organizer of the Passaic tex- tile workers’ strike, was the chief| speaker. Resolutions Were adopted | demanding freedom for the two prisoners, In response to an appeal by V. F. alverton, of ‘the Hands Off China | Deserts Allies.” The British imperial- | ists have expressed in no uncertain terms their chagrin at their failure to drag the United States into an open war against China. MacMurray Wants War. Coolidge’s statement indicates that Minister John V. A. MacMurray’s views differ considerably with the views of a majority of the cabinet. MacMurray and a large portion of {the consular service would push the United States into an imperialist war against Nationalist China. . . . British to Send Planes. LONDON, May 8,—Plans for send- ing a large air force to China were mapped out yesterday at a special meeting of the cabinet, it was learned today. The meeting was attended by Earl Beatty, Sir George Milne, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, and Sir High Trenchard, Chief of the Royal Air Force. . To “Try” Mme. Borodin. PEKING, May 3.—Mme. Borodin, wife of the Russian adviser to the Hankow government, who forme rN lived in Chicago, arrived here tonight together with four Soviet Russian dip- lomatice couriers, to face trial on trumped-up charges of disseminating | Propaganda in China. Mme. Borodin has beer in Tsinan for two month and her attorney has permitted to see her. The trial is regarded as another attempt on the part of the imperialist powers to goad the Soviet Union into a war. trial t heen * Foreigners Reopen Business. (By Nationalist News Agency.) . * indication of the differences over for- | This reversal in the policy of the | for several weeks with acrid criticism | 1.—Report split in cabinet over China; Coolidge, under pres- sure from financial interests, scores British propaganda. 2.—British plan to send more planes to China. Soviet Union diplomatic couriers trumped-up charges of dissemin- n9’s action new attempt on part e Soviet Union. 4.—Asiatic Petroleum Company resumes business in Chang- sha; Chen assures American business men that the Nationalist es foreign trade, WASHINGTON, May 3.—The split in the cabinet over the growing wider and wider. members of the cabinet favor a { Seven Years Ago Sacco Vanzetti Case Began In Murder of Salsedo Here Seven years ago today Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti learned that on the previous day their friend, A. Saledo, had been found dead on the sidewalk in front of the Park Row Building. He had been held incommunicado for some time in the New York offices of the department of justice on the fourteenth floor of this building, following the notorious Palmer red raids of 1920, The New York American, seven, years ago today, stated that Sal- sedo had been murdered. The mys- tery of his death was never solved, Because of his mysterious death, Italian radicals all over the coun- try expected and feared further persecution. As a result of this, Sacco and Vanzetti with two other Italians made an attempt to hide the literature they had been dis- tributing in protest against the red raids, Their efforts brought about their arrest as “suspicious charac- ters,” and several days after the arrest they were charged with the South Braintree payroll robbery and murder, for which they were convicted and sentenced to die. ‘Commonwealth Wires To Governor Fuller | Faculty and students at the Com- | monwealth Labor College at Mena, Arkansas, have added their voices to the appeal to Governor Fuller to re- | view the Sacco-Vanzetti case with the jend of freeing the two framed-up | workers. | Commonwealth is a part-work, | part-study labor school in the Ozark | mountains with a student body drawn | from all sections of the country. Wil- liam Zeuch is director, Charge Bankers in Booze Deal Romolo D’Aloia and his brother, | Vincent D’Aloia, bankers and brokers | of 261 New Main street, Yonkers, were arraigned before United States Com- | missioner O'Neill in federal court here yesterday charged with possessing | and manufacturing liquor and held in $1,000 bail each for hearing on May 24, German Comrades — Guard Ashes of ——G.E, Ruthenberg | | By J. LOUIS ENGDAHL. BREMERHAVEN, Germany, (By | Mail).—In the name of the Com- munist Party of Germany, I take over the ashes of our dead comrade, the leader of our American Communist Party, for their safe conveyance over the soil of, Germany.” As Wilhelm Kasper, member of the | Central Committee of the German |Communist Party, and one of its representatives in the Prussian Land- tag, finished speaking thse words, | the throng of workers gathered in the great open plaza before the Weser- YConference, more than 60 persons) HANKOW, May 3.—The Asiatic| munde-Bremerhaven Railroad Station, volunteered to picket the British con-| Petroleum Company (the great Bri- proke into the singing of “The Inter- sulate on Friday as a protest against British and other foreign imperialism! in China. Resolutions opposing oa eign coercion of China, Mexico and Nicaragua were adopted, f tish oil company) station at Chang- sha has reopened business to relieve the oil shortage. A German firm is handling its business until the Han- (Continued on Page Two) | national.” | The German Communist Party, next to the Communist Party of the (Continued on Page Three)