The Daily Worker Newspaper, October 27, 1927, Page 1

| IB 02 TERECNE ECRIN AN NFI _ THE DAILY WORKER FIGHTS: FOR THE ORGANIZATION OF THR UNORGAFIZER | FOR THE 40-ROQUR WEEK FOR A LABOR PARTY Vol. IV. No 245. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Im New York, by ma Outside New York, by mail, $6.00 per year. THE DAILY WORKE Entered as secnnd-class matter at the Post Office at New York, N. ¥., under the act of March 3, 1579. il, 88.00 per year, NEW YORK, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1927 Published daily except Sunday by The DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO, 33 Firat Street, FINAL CITY EDITION serie New York, N. Y¥. Price 3 Cents OVERLOADED EMMIGRANT STEAMER | BLOWS UP WITH FEARFUL LOSSES Owners and Fascist Government Allowed Old; Troop Ship Mafaldi to Race Atlantic RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, Oct. 26.—With an apparent effort} being made by the Italian consular officers here and the owners of the ship to conceal and minimize the extent and nature of the tragedy, facts made public at a late hour tonight indicate that a fearful slaughter has occurred among the crew, and perhaps extensive loss of life also among the steerage passengers of the old Italian government troopship, Principessa Mafaldi, lately used as an immigrant barge by®—~ the Navigazione Generale Ital- jana. The heaviest loss was among the engine room crew. Crowd the Engines. \ One day overdue, and running | to make up lost time, the Princi-' pessa Mafaldi’s rotten old over- strained boilers burst when the ship was nearly at the end of; her journey from Genoa to Rio.) The wreck took place just off the} low rocky islands called the “Abrol- hos.” It was at first thought that the steamer had run upon a reef. In ad- dition to her crew of 230 persons, the Principessa Mafaldi, only a 9.200 | tons, carried packed together like sardines at least 827 third-class pas- | sengers, The owners report it at that. | But stories of the survivors place the) number higher. i Loafers Are Safe. On her upper decks, the ship had fairly luxurious accommodations in which were fifty-two first-class pas- sengers and 89 second-cla: passen- | gers. The officers of the hip re-| tained command during the disaster, | and every one of these passengers, 1 | comparative safety high above the bursting boilers, found a place in the | ‘rescuing steamers and was saved. It appears that the crew and the com- mon immigrants were not so fortun- ate. Brazilian and other shipping rushed to the scene of disaster at once, on| receipt of the news of the wreck. | Owners Rush Excuses. | An official statement says there are 450 survivors on the Steamer Formosa, 500 on the Steamer Altona, and 200 on the Steamer Empress Star, and an unknown number on the Steamer Voltaire. Immediately on receipt of this in-! formation, the head office of the Navigazione Generale Italiana wire- lessed from Genoa that there were only 1208 persons aboard the ship, and that therefore there were nearly all of them saved. : ¥ | Poor Safety Inspection. ! The Italian fascist government has much relaxed inspection by safety en- gineers, formerly at a high level in Italy, and no one but the government and the officers of the company really know how many were crowded into the vessel. Neither is under any compulsion to tell. The first rescue ship to reach the scene was the French freighter For- mosa, which arrived about 9 o'clock. The stricken vessel The majority of the passengers were Italian emigrants bound for the Italian colonies in Brazil and Argen- tina. Other vessels which reached the seene of the Mafalda’s foundering were the Athelona, the Epirestar, the Avalon, the Pihay and the Athemas. Crews of these vessels assisted in the rescue work. ' * * * ' GENOA, Italy, Oct. 26.—Crowds of anxious Italians continued to besiege the offices of the Navegazione Gen- erale late tonight begging for the names of those saved and of those re- ported missing. Most of the crew of the Principessa Mafaldi have their homes here, and ere were also the frantic relatives ott the 800 emigrants aboard the ves- sel'\at the time of the disaster. Spe-_ cial \police were summoned. \ Evien the later news of the 1,200 or rescued failed to calm the crowd, Many settled down for an SiLnight vigil before the doors of the offices. | “Stock Market Reflects Depression in Steel; | Other Stocks Sinking) After wavering for a number of | days the stock market took a downward plunge yesterday. Steel common dropped as was natural after the showing for the third quarter, which was a disappoint- ment to even the most pessimistic of the Wall Street speculators. Steel has fallen off more than 21 per cent from last year’s third quarter report. General Motors is also wavering, but this was to be expected due to the appearance of the new Ford car. Even rails are lower as reports indicate a decided falling off in business, especially car loadings. j vt lara 4 doc Ge EOE OEY more ? | Ny NEEDL WORKERS CHEER LABOR SPEAKERS “Red” Night in Harlem Tomorrow Evening | feta ae, | More than 1,000 needle trades workers who packed Bryant Hall at Sixth Ave. and 42nd St. last night cheered speakers who urged them to vote for Workers (Communist) Party candidates in the election Nov. 8. | The speakers included Ben Gold,} manager of the Furriers’ Union Joint Board; M. J. Olgin, editor of ‘the Hammer, Jewish Communist month- Benjamin Gitlow, Workers Party candidate for assembly in the fourth Bronx district, and Charles S. Zim- merman, of the Cloak and Dressmak- ers’ Union Joint Board. “Red Nights” Planned. Final preparations for the party’s Red Night rally in Harlem tomorrow night are completed, the New York district office announced yesterday. Ten open air meetings will be held at all the most important corners in the district. A hundred speakers will address the assembled workers on im- portant working class issues of the campaign. At 10:30 p. m. all the meetings will end in a mass assembly at 110th St. and Fifth Ave., where Gitlow; William W. Weinstone, district organ- izer of the Party; Bertram D. Wolfe, director of the Workers School; Re- becea Grecht of the Party district executive committee; Juliet Stuart Poyntz, Party candidate for assembly in the 17th District; James P. Can- non, of the Party central executive committee; Jack Stachel, national or- ganization secretary of the Party; Robert Minor, editor of The DAILY WORKER, and Ben Lifshitz, Party candidate for alderman in the 50th District, Brooklyn. Bronx Indoor Rally. An indoor meeting will be held at the Bronx Party headquarters at 542 East 145th St. tomorrow night. Local candidates and H. M. Wicks, of The DAILY WORKER, and John J. Bal- lam, fo the Central Executive Com- mittee of the Party, will speak. Louis A. Baum, secretary of the Photo- graphic Workers’ Union, will preside. The housing situation in the Bronx will be discussed from a worker's point of view. Two large indoor meetings will also be held Sunday at 2 p. m. at Finnish Hall, 15 West 126th St., Harlem, and Ambassador Hall, 3861 Third Ave., the Bronx. Stachel Will Speak. The speakers at the Finnish Hall meeting will include Stachel and Juliet Stuart Poyntz, Party candidate for assembly. ‘PRAVDA' REFUTES VORWAERTS’ LIES MOSCOW, Oct. 14., (By Mail).— The Communist International ‘has published an appeal to the workers and all toilers all over the world to protest energetically against the fascist terror in Lithuania, against the Lithuanian hangmen who are cruelly oppressing the workers of Lithuania. * * * Pravda Nails Lies. Pravda refutes a lying report of the Berlin Vorwaerts concerning an alleged speech of comrade Stalin supposed to have been published in the Pravda on the 2nd of October and concerning an article in the same tone alleged to have been published in the Pravda. The Vorwaerts reported comrade Stalin as having said that 37 factories in the Soviet Union had been turned over to the production of poison gas and incendiary bombs. This clumsy lie of the social demo- cratic organ is easily refuted, for Pravda is easily to be obtained in Germany and any reader of the Vor- waerts can assure himyelf that no such speech (a speech which by the way was never made) and no such ar- ticle appeared in the Pravda of the (Continued on Page Four) E TRADES — LABOR DEFENSE & Workers Continue Their Protest Against Being. Held Up By Red Cross. WASHINGTON, D. C., Oct. 26. -——-The headquarters of the Red Cross here, of which President \ Coolidge is nominal head, are! | much worried over widespread re-! volt which is apparent all over the} country against their methods of compelling workers with a regular salary to “join” the organization. The yearly drive will go on in| the Brooklyn navy yard in spite of Admiral Plunkett’s attempts to! avoid something like a mutiny prohibiting it. The admiral ha been talked to by his superiors} and has yielded. | But Thomas J. Mahoney, chair- man of the shop committee of the} 3,000 naval yard machinists, con-| tinues his protest, and similar ac-| tion, embodied in resolutions from | local union and impromptu meet- ings of the unorganized in factor- ies, railroad yards, and even ship- ping offices continue. The Red Cross national office does not make | | these resolutions public. | i FIGHTS TO FREE ZEIGLER MINERS Filing of Petition Stay Sentence a Mont! ZEIGLER, Ill., Oct. 26.—The five Zeigler coal miners who were ordered ‘o prison by the Illinois State Su- vreme Court will be locked in the tate penitentiary in December, un- less a successful fight is made to free them. A vigorous effort is being made by The International Labor De- fense, thru Atty. Wm. Holly, to file a oetition for rehearing, on the grounds that the first trial of Henry Corbish- ley, Steve Meanovich, Ignatz Simic! and Eddie Maleski was before a hopelessly prejudiced jury, and wa entirely unfair in other ways. The effect of the petition will b automatically to stay the sentence o: “from one to fourteen years” unti “he court term which convenes thi first Tuesday in December. If th petition is successful, a retrial will bc ordered. Three Cases Reversed, The supreme court did not sustair the convictions in the case of three 0! the defendants. Mike Karadich wa: released because it was not his cor rect name under which he had beer tried. Stanley Paurez and Frank Cor- bishly (whose brother Henry is one 0: the five to go to prison) were freed because there was not even th slightest pretext for the prejudicec verdict of the court, and there haa been practically no evidence intro- duced against them. All the defendants have been and are active fighters in the labor move- ment and have the confidence of hun- dreds of the miners in the town of Zeigler where they were framed-up by a combination of the operators, the Ku Klux Klan and corrupt labor of- ficials. 20,000 Insurance Workers in Union Is Goal of Drive By ART SHIELDS. (Federated Press.) Three big life insurance companies employing a total of mor ethan 20,- 000 office workers are now under the fire of a campaign by the Bookkeep- ers, Stenographers’ and Accownt- ants’ Union of New York. Beginning last week with the drive against the mammoth Metropolitan Life, the union executive board decided yester- day to carry the fight to the Equi ble and the New York Life companies as well. “We are tackling the biggest field of unorganized workers,” said Leon- ard Bright, president of the union, “and the poorest paid. One worker in every five in New York slaves in the offices and many of them do not get more than $12 a week.” Since the big radio and mass meet- ing offensive started the union is be- ing flooded with letters from women clerks telling of their troubles. This morning one from a veteran employe of the New York Telephone Co. tells) of girls working for $10 and $12 in, the accounting department, with $1 raises every 9 months. The writer,) after 25 years’ service is in danger of discharge as “too old.” Haley Fiske, the brisk old septe-| gennarian president of the Metropoli- tan, is finding his press-agented repu- tation as a kind father of his cm- ployes torn to shreds in the letters (Continued on Page Five) tec War On Coal Teapot Dome Principals | x ate] Say He Oliieed Secrecy ‘Browder Gives Communist, | Left Wing Support, to the Theo. Rooseves, ui, assistant Sec- retary of the Navy at the time the feapot Dome frauds in vil lands went hru. His former associates say he the one who ordered naval officers » keep their mouths shut about it. Ahy, Teddy Didn't “now a Thing About Teapot Dome Graft! WASHINGTON, Oct. 26. - Al- hough assistant secretary of the avy during the period the Teapot ome oil conspiracy was_ being otched in his department, Theodore ‘nosevelt, son of.former President >nosevelt, denied flatly that he knew nything about the oil leases. Roose- lt came before: the Fall-Sinclair nspiracy trial jury’ at the call of ha prosecution today to bolster up ‘e government’s contention that ex- ‘oeretary of Interior Albert B. Fall, nd not the navy department, played he dominant role in the leasing of he Teapot Dome naval oil reserve to Yarry F. Sinclair. Knows Nothing of Leases. Owen J. Roberts, government curn- ‘J, asked him first about the navy’s ‘war plans” for storage of naval fuel vil. Roosevelt said the plans called ‘or 45,000.000 barrels in storage. “Colonel,” then asked Roberts, ‘when did you learn of the leasing £ Terpot Dome?” = “The latter part of April 1922,” he ~onlied. “Prior to that, did you know the “serve was to be leased?” continued Roberts. “No.” Busy With “Disarmament.” Roberts was satisfied, and turned him over to Martin W. Littleton, Sin- clair attorney, for cross-examination. “What were you doing from Janu- ary until the latter part of April 19222?” asked Littleton. “I headed the naval experts to the Naval Disarmament Conference and also handled the fight in congress against reduction of the navy.” “And that took all your time?” “The major part,” qualified Roose- velt. “Then you had nothing to do with the oil leases?” “No.” Roosevelt was excused. Fooled Other Bidders. The prosecution also let the jury ‘ear how several oil men, eager to aequire a lease of Teapot Dome called on Fall for information and failed ‘o get any. So secret was the leasing of the reserve to Harry F. Sinclair, New York magnate, held, in fact, that one »perator stood ready to take the stand ind tell how he made his call at the interior department three days after "all and Sinclair had signed the con- ract. He was assured he would have an opportunity to bid when the proper time came. Injured Worker Given $45,000 Verdict by Jury JERSEY CITY, N. J., Oct. 26. — After less than a half hour’s delib- eration a jury before Judge Ackerson in supreme court, here yesterday re- turned a verdict for $45,000 in favor of Charles Thompson, 88, a Negro, of 266 Wayne St., Jersey City, in his action for $100,000 against a build- ing firm, for the loss of his left leg. The defendant in tne action was \the Linde-Griffith Company of Fourth St., Newark, builders and bridge con- tractors. The lease was signed April 7, 1922.} | Strike at Mass Meeting {| TRINIDAD, Colo., Oct. 26.— Support of the Workers (Commun- | ist) Party and the Trade Union \I Educational League was pledged’ | | to the miners’ strike by Earl Brow- | der, editor of Labor Unity, speak-| | ing to mass meetings of strikers here and at Aguilar and Walsen-| burg. “AUGIE KILLED “IN FIGHT OVER ~— ALGW.U, SPOILS. | i | $175,000 Given Sigman, | By Jobbers | That “Little Augie,” recruiter of | thugs and gunmen for the right wing administrations of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ and Fur- riers’ Union, was killed by a rival for this “business” is clearly indicated by developments in the arrest of two lsbebs yes “Little Augie” was shot and killed Oct. 15. Police officers and Tammany Hall politicians friendly to the late “Little Augie’s” employers gave cre- dence immediately to reports that he was killed in a bootlegging or dope eud. With the arrest Tuesday of Jacob Shapiro and Louis Buckhouse for in- vestigation in connection . with, the slaying, however, his alliance with the administrations of -the Furriers’ Union and the I. L. G. W. U. was made cicarer than ever. Developments | (Continued on Page Five) | Jail Two Pickets | as Grocery Clerk \ Strike Nears End With two pickets awaiting trial for alleged assault and with more ‘than 600 of the union’s 800 members |back at work under union contracts, the strike of the Retail Grocery and Dairy Clerks Union is nearing an end, Hyman Kowarsky, settlement ‘committee chairman, reported last night. | “We expect to see the rest of the 200 men returned to work within two days,” Kowarsky said. “In fact, many of the bosses where the 200 men lwere employed have signified their willingness to sign our contract.” The cases of Willie Hoffman and | Jack Gordon, pickets arrested last \Tuesday night at Westchester Ave. ‘and South Boulevard, have been post- ;poned until tomorrow morning. They will appear in the magistrate’s court jae 161st St. and Brook Ave. { ‘Lovestone Talk Opens, Workers School Forum; U. S. Subjects Stresse The 1927-28 season of the Workers School Forum will open at 108 East 14th St., Sunday at 8 p. m. with Jay Lovestone, executive secretary of the Workers (Communist) Party, speak- ing on “Political Prospects for 1928.” The second lecture of the season will be given by William F. Dunne, of The DAILY WORKER, on “The American Labor Movement in 1927,” Nov. 18. No lecture has been sched- uled for Nov. 6 because of the Rus- sian revolution anniversary meetings arranged for the Central Opera) House, New Star Casino and Arcadia | Hall that night, according to a forum | it ‘announcement yesterday. | Lovestone will analyze changing class forces and their effects on American politics, the announcement continued. Other lectures scheduled thus far are “Chemistry and the Next War,” Robert MacDonald, Nov. 20; “Amer- ica and the Next War,” by Robert Minor, editor of The DAILY WORK- ER, and “Corruption in the American Labor Movement,” by William Z. Foster, secretary of the Trade Union | Educational League, Dee. 3. Colorado Governor Sanctions Field Workers BIG U, Ii. W, OF A, UNION JOINS STRIKEs AGUILAR MINERS OVERRULE DISTRICT OFFICIALS; 200 PICKETS ARE JAILED Total of 126 Mines Closed; Defense and Relief Committee Organized Governor Sanctions Mass Arrests of Strikers; Gunmen Beat Workers By EARL BROWDER. WALSENBURG, Colo., Oct. 26.—The strike situation and recent developments here are as follows: : 1.—The Aguilar local of the United Mine Workers has voted to join the strike in spite of instructions from District President Felix Pogliani and other officials to stay at work. 2.—The big Boncarbo mine has been closed. 3.—6,000 miners are on strike and more are joining every 126 mines are shut down. 4,.—200 strikers are held in various jails. 5.—Roger Francezon, secretary of Colorado Miners Defense and Relief Committee, Box 87, Walsenburg, has issued an appeal to the labor movement for aid. This strike is a real mass movement that is sweeping the rank and file into action. The Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, the Rockefeller con- cern which dominates the state, has instructed its state and coun- y officials to jail all active leaders. Governor Adams has sanctioned the mass arrests of strikers and pickets. These arrests followed the outlawing of the strike by the State Industrial Commission in violation of the law under which it is ¢onstituted. District President Pogliani of the official clique of the United Mine Workers is reported by the Rockefeller-owned press to be in conference with the coal operators. Gunmen beat up and seriously injured J. B. Childs on the picket line today. How Mrs. Santa Bernash Broke the Rockefeller Line in Berwind TRINIDAD, Colo., Oct. 24 (By Mail).—The closing of the Berwind mines in Las Animas county following the march of the pickets led by Mrs. Santa Bernash was a drama of the class strug- gle staged in one of nature’s theaters—with death hovering near. Up Berwind canyon to the highway bridge near the Ramey, mine came the pickets with Santa Bernash in the lead. day. Meet at Ludlow Monument. The picket line had been organized by Kristen Svanum of the J. W. W. in the shadow of the monument erected by the United Mine Workers of America to Louis Tikas and the rest of their martyred dead, massacred at Ludlow. Above the bridge are three mines of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company—Tabasco, Toller and Berwind. Soqse tore The bridge must be crossed to | get to the mines. Rockefeller guards had driven an auto cross- ACQUITTED FOR ways upon the bridge, block- KILLING WHITE mete GUARD PETLURA women pickets piled out of the autos as the bridge was reached. Guards on foot met the pickets. FP, C. Bennett, superintendent o: PARIS, Oct. 26—Samuel Schwartz-!F, and I. mince was in latte ae hard, slayer of General Simon Pet-| guarding party. lura, White Guardist bandit who ter-|| As the pickets approached the rorized the Ukraine, and slaughtered bridge one of the guards shouted: | All of you are under arrest!” thousands of Je’ ‘ ‘ te Into Action. sacres was acquitted yesterday. Not | Mrs. Bernash sprang forward. She even a jury composed of respectable /heiq the hand of a 15-year-old girl French citizens could resist the | picket as she approached the guard. wealth of testimony proving that Pet-/" «Show us your warrants,” she lura_ dir olesale murders in| shouted. “You can’t arrest us with e, or bring themselves to| out warrants.” ine their avenger. It was about 6:30 a. m. as the Schwartzbard repeatedly declared | guards challenged the pickets. There on the stand that he had killed Pet-|was a short parley. Meanwhile 26 ause of the Jews murdered /carloads of miners en route to the n pogroms. Petlura, like}mines in the canyon had stopped be- other W! Guard generals subsi-|hind the pickets’ cars below the dized at first by the Germans and | bridge. later by the Allies. killed thousands! Ten of the pickets turned back to of workers in his attempt to separate |talk with the miners in the approach- the Ukraine from the Soviet Union. ing cars, Cheer Schwartzbard. “Go to the mines, get the men off i i . the tipples and we’re with you,” the Pandemonium reigned in the halls! miners told the pickets. of the department of justice when the Battle. verdict was announced. Schwartz-| Mrs, Bernash started thru the line bard was wildly cheered. ‘of pickets. The guards stopped her. “I did not see how it could be She swung hard with her fists. otherwise,” the defendant said when| Three pickets rushed to the the verdict was announced. (Continued on Page Two) | in a series of mas-|