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

Page Six THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, MONDAY, MAY 16, 1927 The Rough Road (Continued From Last Issue). The telegraphist Smirnov entered the room, accompanied by several sailors. They were all armed with revolvers taken from the officers. | He took in all the prisoners with a/ quick glance and said in a command- | ing tone: | “Calm yourselves, sirs, It is all, over. You will not be touched.” In answer came a joyous sigh, full! of gratitude, “You are to allow no outrages on part of the crew, If this order is disobeyed you will face the revolu- tionary court martial.” “Ave, aye,” boldly answered watchmen. “The corpses must be removed. Throw the electrician overboard and carry the sailor out on the upper deck.” Smirnov then left the room with} his suite. As I had leader of the mutiny as it should be: qui firm in a crisis. the supposed, he was the This was just | , intelligent and VIEWS OF “HAND: S OFF CHINA” MEETING AT UNION SQUARE. Views of monster mass meeting to protest against intervention in China and to fight against the war danger. At left is seen Rose Pastor Stokes on the speakers’ platform; at right is Alexander Trachtenburg addressing the crowd. be taken out to open sea. What steps would they take in this direction? My thoughts were interrupted by the appearance of the ship’s cook in the doorway. Very tall and stout, he now presented an imposing ap- pearance, He was arrayed in all his finery, a snow-white cap and a spot- less white apron, He entered the Stewards appeared, removed the|mess-room pompously as though he corpses, then washed up the blood | were our chef, glanced at the pris- with cloths and mops and brought the| oners and spoke clowly in a bass mess-room back to order. * * * To our surprise, the turbulent mood of the crew soon calmed down. Even our guards seemed bewildered. Evi- dently everyone was wondering what was happening on the other ships. It| was not difficult to guess that there the rebellion was delayed. This re- joiced us little for if the sailors even | suspected that they were threatened | with danger, we could expect little consideration. The twelve watchmen, | armed with rifles, would leave us dead | men in an instant. Moreover, I, and | the other officers who were in my| ; | service. Two pounds of meat for confidence, remembered the admiral’s | cach man. Pray the Lord it will con- words: the ship taken by mutineers | tinue thus.” would immediately be sunk by the | Mphaia Haat! pealatined che Of the other ships. From that quarter de- watchmen, rubbing his hands de- struction was all we could expect. | tightedly. : Our “Thunderbolt” stood in the} “The cook went out with his head] middle of the squadron. They could | not miss us at that distance and one} volley was sufficient to destroy us| completely. We had just seen death, | horrid and disgusting and it was with a shudder that we waited for the mo- ment when tens of large-calibre guns would spit steel and fire at us from their wide maws. I do not know what my assistants thought of it, but l honed that the sailors would rather twist off the stupid old head of the admiral. A dark shadow of un- certainty hung over our lives. * * * | The captain of the guard was the | gunner, Gasihin. The other men stood but he sat heavily on a chair near the | door. His head, covered by a peakless forage cap, was slightly bowed in thought. His face, wide in the| temples and tapering toward the| chin, was gloomy and immobile a8 a mask and his grey eyes receded un- der the beetling brows. Occasionally, without turning his head, he flicked us with a side glance. Sailors began| to appear in the mess-room. Ap parently they came from the upper deck with good news which they com- | municated in whispers to the watch. Gasihin himself and his men became | more cheerful, whispered to each other, smiled. It was not difficult to conclude from this that the other ships had gone over to the revolution. I addressed our watch: “May I smoke, comrades Gasihin turned to me and sald kindly: “If you please. the revolution.” I took a silver cigarette case from my pocket, took a cigarette from it, then offered it to the watchmen. They did not refuse. We puffed away. I felt more at ease, as though a cold hand which had been clutching my heart had loosed its hold. Only now I noticed that my former subordinates, the officers, electricians and junior officers, gazed at me with envy like a dog at the master who is consuming a savory meal. I was ir- Titated by this servility. What did they hope for now? “Why do you not smoke?” quired. The answer was accompanied by a polite bow. “We will, with pleasure, if you do not object,” “I am a prisoner as well as you,” I exploded. “There is no difference between us. Here is where you must address yourselves.” I waved in the direction of the watch. They wilted. “IT think all were given permission to smoke.” . It will not harm I in- There was a clicking of cigarette | «ases cnd a scraping of matches, Hope shone In their eyes. . . * A sailor ran in and whispered something in Gasihin’s ear. The latter ordered all the engineers to re- turn with the messenger and sent a convoy of two with them. At first we were afraid that they would be shot but our fears were soon dispelled. We had taken several of ‘the engine parts off for the winter and the machinists had now decided to have the engines ready in case of emergency. The stokers too were busy, raising steam .in the kettles. I was greatly pleaséd by this cau- tiousness, and was anxious to see how the mutineers would proceed further. The ships were standing in ice at the dock, Tee-breakers would have to be used before the ships could , | voice, roy accenting the “o” in his Viadimirski accent: “It is warm and light here, yet look at them cower.” He turned to the watch. “And I, brothers, am cooking a dinner for the crew.” The men looked at him in surprise. “What possessed you to cook dinner at night?” “How else could we celebrate our success? What joy it is to have the officers’ cool'."or my assistant. Ah, such soup as ~2'll have! You haven’t tasted the like since you entered the thrown proudly back, as though in- 1, specting the vesse! . * * Two hours more of tortuous wait- ing passed. taken against us. Some of the prisoners sat on the chairs and on the divan, others stood around, lounging against the walls. Several were con- tinually blowing their noses. I grew tired of this and decided to talk to our guards. Crushing down my loneliness and desperation, Tt as- sumed a jesting and carefree tone: “You put it over us well, brothers. You had the ship in a moment, as though according to schedule.” “You can’t dawdle in a case like this,” one of them muttered. The gunner Gasihin turned to me with a shrewd smile: “And you had prepared to resist?” “To tell the truth, our position was ed “Oh, we know everything,” he in- terrupted me. “We even know that Lieutenant Brasov wanted to blow up he ship and you forbade him. He couldn’t have done it anyway.” This last astonished me. I stared at Gasihin with my mouth open. “Here is something I did not ex- pect!” “Of course you did not expect it because you considered us ignorant cattle.” retorted hotly. | But Gasihin continued to stun me | with new data. “That is very noble of you, only I | will tell you that we know all your spies.” | At his last words, some of the ar- |rested junior officers seemed to | shrink and hung their heads lower. I immediately drew the logical de- | duction: this is why everything on | my ship was so peaceful till the right |moment came. We had not had a single political arrest throughout the war. Our secret agents, being known |to the sailors, were perfectly harm- jless to them and useless to the ad- ministration. But then where did the crew get all our secrets? Was one of the officers a traitor to his caste? My muddled head throbbed with ideas, trying to solve this puzzle, At midnight they served us with dinner. We were waited on by our stewarts. The officers were given soup in tin bowls but of me they made an exception--they gave me a | plate, a silver spoon, and a napkin. | The soup was rich and contained a | great deal of meat, While the watch- men were consuming their soup with | wolfish appetites, smacking their lips | and perspiring, there was complete absence of appetite among the offic- ers as there was still a taint of hu- man blood in the air of the mess- room, And yet we ate as though ‘forced to do it. After dinner, according to Smir- nov’s orders, I was told I might re- tire to my cabin if I wished to do so, but was strictly forbidden to appear {outside the officers’ quarters. | boatswain, Soloveikin, was given his | freedom. Overjoyed, he exclaimed: | “Humblest thanks, comrades! I am wholly on your side. I quarreled with the crew only for appearance sake.” “Not so thick, boatswain, not so thick—-we’ll find you out anyway,” Gasihin told him, The boatswain swore many oths to attest his faithfulness to the revolu- tion, No new measures were | “T never thought that of sailors,” 1| ‘The | officers’ corridor and, leaning over ay left shoulder, whispered cautious- ly. “Sir, I know all the instigators and can give definite proof.” “Go to the devil,” I hissed. “What good are your lying tales to me now?” He slid ahead of me and, stooping, passed quickly into the quarters of the crew, * * I was extremely surprised that nothing in my room had been touched; everything was in its accustomed place, | ing my cigaretts, I returned ‘to the | mess-room. I wanted to see what was happening on the other ships, | So, complaining of a headache, I ask- ed the captain of the guard for pert mission to mount to the upper deck for a few moments to get some fresh air. I was given polite permission and one of the watch was told to accompany me. We mounted by the officers’ trap. As soon as my head appeared above deck, a gust of wind splashed my face with cold. On reaching the deck, I looked around; at the first glance everything appeared as usual, the squadron was in the same posi- tion as during the day, the ice had not been broken and continued to hold the waters of the harbor in its cold fetters. As last night, ragged clouds tore swiftly across the sky and between them, in the dark and dis- tant heights, shivered the goldeh splashes of stars. There was only one change: on the naked masts of all the ships, large and small, heavy and swift, glowed crimson lights. These told all—the border of the new era, joy and hope for some, tears and despair for others. To be sure, in the distance one glimpsed a mighty | fortress, dark and silent; evidently |there had been no uprising as yet. Perhaps its heavy artillery was train- ed on our squadron. But could it stop the unbridled onslaught of revo- lution? | I glanced at my towers; all were turned so that the muzzles of their | guns faced shore, all the cannon were trained on the iron-bound embank- ments. On the bridge passed the dark forms of sailors, looking through glasses, The ship was preparing for} | battle. Evidently all the squadron was on its guard. On the farther side of the fortress, nearer to us, glimmered the occas- ional lights of the city. Procegding toward it along the ice was a large | party of sailors. They were evi- | dently going on shore to start the rebellion there. I had a wife and daughter in the| city. I had seen them only yester-| day. Will I ever see them again? At | this thought something seemed to strike to my heart and deep in my soul a cord snapped. I stood with my hands in my pockets, feeling as lone- ly as if the whole world had betray- ed me. Three paces away stcod a watchman who would put a hayonet or bullet into me at the slightest sus- picious movement on my part. *. * * I turned my head at the sudden sound of screams and curses. A few men were dragging the boatswain, Soloveikin along the deck; he was hanging back and pleading. “Brothers, what are you doing? Let me go. I will swear by all that is holy that I said nothing. You may This was a good sign. Tak- | Robert W. Dunn, chairman of the “Hands Off China” meeting at Union Square, New York City, Saturday afternoon H. M. Wicks denouncing Coolidge-Kellogg policy of in- tervention in China and explaining British and American conflict and danger of new world war. city and fortress were in the hands of the revolutionists. This averted the serious menace threatening our squadron. The revolutionists were now safe. * * (The Captain is Tried by His Crew.) | Smirnov, taking advantage of the| moment, sxouted, “Vote! All those against the captain raise hands.” Not a hand was raised. Even my enemies remained motionless. Every- one looked embarrassed, as though caught in a treachery. A lusty voice shouted. “Toss the comrade, toss the cap- tain!” “Toss him, toss him!” caught up the others. The crowd of shouting sailors rush- ed at me as though storming a fort. joyously wardly on the deck. The sailors again caught me up, but gently this time, and carried me to my eabin, howling the Marselleise. My wife has just returned from market with her purchases and com- plaints. “Can you imagine it, Vasili? Meat has gone up five kopeks all of a sud- den and they say that soon there will be none at all,” I widen my eyes in feigned sur- prise and ask, “How is that?” “That is because there are only vulgarians left in Russia, You had better stop writing, Vasili, and bring in some wood. I must start the fire.” The matter cannot be put off—I must obey my wife. My guards brushed aside, countless hands tossed me into the air with such gusto that all the buttons flew off my coat. My head rolled, my arms and legs were almost dislocated. When it was over, I was too weak to stand on my feet and staggered awk- A slight breeze from the window rapidly turns the leaves of my old notebook. It too wants to learn of my past. 4 Yours as ever, V. A. Vinogradov. THE ENDY MISSISSIPPI] FLOOD COULD BE PREVENTED, SAYS ENGINEER WHO PLANS NILE RIVER CONTROL By CHARLES P. STEWART. (Exclusiye Central Press Dispatch to the Daily Worker). WASHINGTON, May 15.—Mahm- oud Samy Pasha undoubtedly has told more floods “where to’ head in at” than any other man in the United ask the captain—” “Liar, traitor! We heard you our-| selves.” | “Have mercy, comrades. You'll} make two orphans.” “You should have thought of that! before,” a stern voice answered him. States. M. Samy is Egyp- tian minister in Washington. He’s an engineer. His engineering spe- cialty, at home, is making the Nile be- Near the railing he sank down on his knees and, unable to speak, moan- | ed piteously. The night whistled) mockingly through the rigging. For a moment the gloom was torn by a burst of fire. The wind caught up and carried into the darkness the sounds of a revolver shot and a dy- ing scream. | There was an abrupt command, “Heave!” And the dead body of Soloveikin thumped on the thick ice. I looked overboard; there, on the glassy surface of the water were the dark spots of corpses-—the first mate, Ismaelov, Lieutenamt Brasov, the electrician Golovin and others whom I did not know, Perhaps the same fate would be mine. I felt the blood thicken in my veins, Night hung heavily over the earth. A cold wind tore through the dark- ness. From countless masts glowed the rays of swinging red lights. O Russia! Where are you bound? When we came down again, I was permitted to retire to my own cabin But when I went to my cabin for cigarettes, he followed me into the for the night. have. Regularly every year, since long be- fore the first phar- aoh began building pyramids, the Nile has started to go on the rampage, just as the Mississippi did this year. With equal regularity, the river con- trol folks have taken the Venerable stream in charge, adapted all the solid part of it to soil fertilization, utilized all they wanted of its liquid ingredient for irrigation purposes, and emptied the rést out into the Medi- terranean, as casually as you'd drain the water out of your bathtub. * Of course it mustn’t be assumed that the Nile control system was as perfect when Moses was still living | | ‘Samy, PASHA tee in Egypt as it is today. Even then it possibly was better | than our present, Mississippi River however, he assures us, it’s as depend- able as a flivver factory. They simply don’t have Nile valley floods, M. Samy says. They have irrigation, because they need it, but it’s regulated to a bee’s knee. * + * M. Samy put all his trust in levees. They have gates in them to let out such water as the crops require—that much and no more—and that’s all they do let out. They’re stronger levees than the Mississippi's, and higher. They have a five-foot safety margin, instead of only two feet, as on the Mississippi. Some are set back from the river half a mile or a mile and some are not, depending on the circumstances, In places there are two sets. “Oh, yes, the initial expense is high,” agrees M. Samy, “but they pay for themselves.” * * ” There also are revetments where they're needed, and the river’s course is given a certain amount of direction, but in the main the system is one of levees, ? As for breaks— “There’s no danger of breaks,” says M. Samy, “if leaks are stopped promptly, and that’s a mere question of careful watching, and having plenty of men on the job the minute they're needed,” * . * Forestry experts blame destruction of its headwater timber for the Miss- issippi’s unmanageability. system, but M. Samy doesn’t feel that The Nile rises in the Abyssinian POR Those Men of Old. Gg wate SST : This year will be famous in sport | as the year of the great “comebacks” | of the athletic G. A, R. Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker have proven that altho the aged flesh might be weak you can still sock the ball with spirit. Meanwhile old Grover Alexander, a pre-civil war old-timer who still car- ries a pack o’ chewin’ in his hip pocket, contrary to the rules of the} new type of college intelligentsia ball player, is pitching in a style that makes us believe the old soup bone that earns his salary will never wear out. * * = Meanwhile Tilden, who has been tennis champ since Hector was a pup, together with Hunter, has beaten the German Davis cup team and has put the Holland team in dutch. Looks as if his form means a possible Davis cup championship. Youth must be!/ served, but when old Tilden does the! serving, youth is in a helluva fix. | ° * * | Which brings us back to the noble art of cauliflowering ears. Jack Dempsey is reported socking ’em for} a row of ash cans in his training camp. Sports writers are reporting} enthusiastically that the severe train-| ing Dempsey has gone thru has put him into shape-that promises trouble for the present champ and marine re- cruiting agent. Wherever the elixir of youth has been found is a mystery. It must be that the big financial} profits of modern professional (s0-| called) sport has put new vigor into petrifying bones. When Miss Mildred Wine« land, freshman at Wittenberg College, Springfield, O., isn’t oc- cupied with her debating activ- ities as a member of the first year team, she finds time to act as sponsor for the Ohio National guardsmen. She is wearing her sponsor’s uniform, above, } | siieacaiy | In these times when the clouds of war are on the horizon, our capitalist | militarists are using every means at their disposal to raise the war hyste- | ria among the population, Sex appeal {to the young men of fighting age is |one of the means as is shown by the illustration. A few weeks ago Soviet property was destroyed in Peking and only the other day the Arcos Ltd., a Soviet institution was raided in Lon- . |don, The next step will no doubt be |the raiding of the Soviet Institutions jin the United States. All this is be- |ing done in order to provoke the | Soviet Republics. Their growing pow- ,er is felt by the Imperialists and ev- | ery attempt is being made to thwart jit. The United States is not innocent of all these maneuvers as we are go- | Subway Stuff. | “Where the hell do ya get that) stuff,” I says to him. “Whatta ya} mean, a five dollar cut per week?” | “Just like that, Jack?” “Ya damn right! Whatta ya mean” I says to ’im. “Ain’t I worked five years, in this dump? Didn’t I start for twenty-five and work up to thir- ty?” “And he cut ya back to twenty-| ” “Sure. That’s what I told ’im! Here I says, “I puts in five years workin’ like hell f’r you and now I’m where I started.” “What'd he say to that?” “Well, business is slow he says, we have to cut down expenses. Ex- penses hell, say I. And how about my expenses? I’ve cut ’em down now as} much as I can. I gotta eat don’t I?) Believe me boy, I told that bird some- thin’.” “Good stuff!” “And that’s what I get f’r stickin’ when the strike was on. I says. When | the other drivers walked out two) years ago I stayed. And this is what) I get! Believe me that guy had no come-back to that one!” . “Atta boy, Jack, ya don’t get any-| where by crawlin’.” “No, sir, I just hatta get it off my chest!” “Well, whatta ya goin’ to do now? Get another job?” “No-o-o0, not yet. I ain’t goin’ to let ’im run me out like that, boy! I’ll stick I says to the boss. I'll stick awright. I’m not a Russian Bolshe- viki. Believe me boy, I told that guy somethin’. I’m no damfool I told him. Not by damsight. Ya don’t catch me lettin’ those guys get away with it!” | “Hot stuff Jack. They kin pull that stuff on dumb foreigners but not on us guys born here.” “You said it! Jeez... here’s my stop. See you at the poolroom to- night, Jim. S’long.” “S'long Jack.” now as always. If their trees were swept away, would the Nile still be controllable ? M. Samy shrugs his shoulders. Never having tried it under circum- stances, he doesn’t know, Yet he has vast confidence in his well-guarded levees. It’s hard to convince him Miss- The morning after the mutiny, the that’s boasting much about it. Now, | mountains, They're thickly / wooded, |issippi floods are inevitable. ’ “ ‘ |ing ahead full steam making prepara- tions for war. Suffice it to say the growing propaganda and the strength of the Army, Navy, National Guard and the Citigens Military Training Camps. The raid on Soviet property in Peking was done with the consent of the American Minister to China, The Youth of this country must fight all attempts at militarization, protest against the part taken by our gov- ernment in the murder of Chinese workers, and peasants and express solidarity with the Chinese Revolution jand the Soviet Union. JOHN POST. Protectors of Our Homes The protectors of our Homes amd Country, the “American Legion,” is having special jails in Paris/to ac. commodate the delegates who will meet there in convention this summer, They under no circumstances will be allowed to mingle with the ordinary criminals, Those will be the days when these Super-Patriots will repeat the battle of the “Marne” in a Gin Mill. Marks the spot where the sub blank will be found, Just put your name on ft, clip it out, add a dolar (it di matter how old it ist) send it to get a year's sul seription to the Young Work. er. Here's the add e Young Worker Ed, Committee, 33 First St, New York, N. ¥, Xx HERE'S @HE Spot. Enclosed $1 for a year's sub to the Young Worker, Name Street . City .. State =