The Daily Worker Newspaper, June 11, 1927, Page 5

THe NEw MAGAZINE Section of The DAILY WORKER SATURDAY, JUNE 11, 1927 This Magazine Section Appears Every Saturday in The DAILY WORKER. EDITOR'S NOTES dimnaanaeiiiin OY ALS CUTRLMAN 83 IGHLY ruinous effects of the flood disaster in the Mississippi Valley, and the immediate need of large scale governmental ac- tion for the relief of the flood victims, are becoming a political issue of first class importance. The only people who do not see it yet are the flood victims them- selves and their real friends all over the country. The Coolidge administration, as well as all capitalist politicians, are fully conscious of the political meaning of the flood situation, and are acting in strict accord with the “best” inter- ests of the big banker, merchants and industrialists, Why does Coolidge refuse the demand of the flood victims for an extra session of congress? For a while it looked as if the political opponents of the Coolidge administration in the capitalist camp would, upon this occasion continue to “embarrass” the president and support the demand for an extra session of congress. But this did not happen. As the days went by, the following fact became clearly established, namely, that all capitalist politicians, regardless of party, and all big capitalists, are ir- reconcilably opposed to the calling of an extra ses- sion of congress and to any kind of governmental “interference” in the relief and rehabilitation of the flood ‘area. ‘ The meaning of this opposition to congressional action became still more obvieus, when upon the initiative of Hoover big business began to speak on the matter. It then developed that our big bank- ers, merchants and industrialists have very definite ideas of their own as to how the flood sufferers should be “helped.” These ideas are, first, that congress and the government keep their hands off the whole matter; second, that whatever funds may be necessary for flood rehabilitation, these be sup- plied by bankers and other capitalists in the form of loans to those capable of being rehabilitated; and, third, that the big bankers be given full liberty to handle the whole matter in a “regular business way” extracting as much profit from the situation as will be possible. As a matter of fact, the United States Chamber of Commerce is already proceeding to act on this theory. According to press reports, the executive committee of the United States Chamber of Com- merce held a meeting at which plans were laid out for the raising of several million dollars (from two to fourteen millions) to be advanced to certain groups in the flood ates as loans. * * President Cooldige refuses to appeal to congress, but he willingly makes his appeal to Louis EF. Pier- son, president of the United States Chamber of Commerce; and Mr. Pierson is quite willing and agreeable. Why, not? Here is a “swell” opportun- ity for enterprising big business. Large sums of capital are needed for rehabilitation. Tens of thous- » ands of people are in urgent need of funds to re- build their homes. If congress were to come forward with large appropriations assisting the homeless in their present hour of need, there would be small opportunity left for business sharks to enrich them- selves at the expense’of the flood victims. But as matters stand now, the road is clear for the big capitalists to step in and take charge of the situa- tion. This they are proceeding to do. The voices of the flood victims are stifled and ignored.. The demands of the farmers, workers and small business men are dismissed as of no consequence. All capitalists and all capitalist politicians are united on this point: exploit the flood disaster and the consequent misery of nearly a million people for the greater glory of American enpitaliom. A * As to the Flood Control Conference held in Chi- cago, June 2-3-4, some very interesting developments took place there. Mayor Thompson of Chicago had a good deal to do with the calling of the confer- ence. In point of attendance, and the volume of publicity that it called forth, the conference was undoubtedly a great success. The Chicago press re- ported the arrival of 12,000 delegates from 27 states. But what did it produce in terms of effective relief action? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Here is the essence of the decisions adopted by the Flood Control Conference: Be it r lved that We urge immediate and effective relief be extended to all present sufs (Continued on Page 2). THE GRADUATION CLASS ALEX BITTELMAN, Editor By MAURICE BECKER Wages and Working Conditions in China Exploitation That Breeds Revolution HINA’S first modern factory was established at Shanghai in 1890. In 1925 there were 122 cotton factories, employing about 200,000 workers. Other lines of Chinese factory industry are grow- ing with like rapidity, and the pressure of Chinese competition is being felt on the international market. - China, with her vast stores of natural resources and her population of about 440 millions is becoming a factor with which the entire industrial world must reckon. : ‘ What are the labor conditions under which these Chinese goods are being produced? According to all of the evidence they are frightful. Powers Hapgood, returning from a recent visit to China, reported that he found workers striking to have the workday cut down to 12 hours! He also found children of eight and ten at work in the fac- tories, and children of ten and twelve, inside the mines, pulling baskets filled with coal, because chil- dren were cheaper than mules, Now comes an English observer, C, L. Malone, who has just completed an exhaustive study of working conditions in China. His findings have been published by the Independent Labor Party of Great Britain. They are so detailed and so well presented that they are well worth a careful study by American wage-workers, who will sooner or later be forced to compete with Chinese industrial enter- prise. Factory Work. As has been said, 'modern industrialism, spreading outwards from the small foreign self-governing communities, known as Concessions or Settlements, is growing up side by side with the local indus- tries run on primitive lines and to some extent dis- placing them. A very rough estimate, made some years ago, leads one to believe that there may be 1,500 modern factories in China, besides thousands of semi-modern ones, many of which are simply ex- tensions of home industry, the so-called factory being really an overgrown workroom or shop. How many persons are at present employed in modern- ized industry in China it is difficult to say. 153,918 workers are said to be employed in factories in Shanghai, by far the largest industrial centre. It is said that all over China the cotton mills employ 209,759 “laborers”—though what exactly this term includes, I do not know; and that there are 300,000 persons employed in silk factories, making rather more than half-a-million in these two predominant factory industries. Beyond this, there do not seem to he even rough figures. Possibly there are 2, . 000,000 to 4,000,000 persons employed in modern factories, a tiny percentage of the whole popula- tidn. It must, however, be remembered that forty years ago there were practically none and that in- dustrialism may spread at an immense speed; as witness the emergence of Japan, in about half-a- century, from a state of mediaeval feudalism to the position which she now holds—ranking amongst the foremost industrial nations of the world. Although there are but few what we should call industrial cities in China, machine-run factories, since their first introduction some forty years ago, have sprung up like mushrooms, and it is said that modern in- dustrial enterprises of one kind or another, cither Chinese or foreign, are now to be found in more than fifty different centres. While, therefore, in considering the factory areas of China, we are looking at what are at the moment, as it were, only small spots in this great continent of agricultural and handicraft workers, they are tremendously im- portant spots, because of their tendency to spread, because of the growing industrialization of China. Especially important are they to the workers in the west, whose livelihood has been cut away from under their feet by the erection of factories in China, to do the work hitherto done by mills in Lancashire and elsewhere, This, however, is not perhaps the whole story, certainly not in this gen- (Continued on Page 5).