The Daily Worker Newspaper, November 25, 1927, Page 4

Page four THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1927 i DRS MELA an en SN — King George, “Big Bill” Thompson, The Teachers’ Federation, The Manufacturers Association and the Chicago School System The Real Intent. By ARNE SWABECK. | This pastor declares that the co: “Bie Bill’ cmpson’s holy cru- | mittee will pr ad by taking tes sade to make George “keep his |mony from organizations such as the royal sncot o Chicago” is com- | American Legion, 4t and ing to a » close. The tim- | the Sons of the American Revolution. ae lated. with the|He further declares that it will be the policy to only now look back at ain | Volur also Treen tno nd see Tommunist. The true intent of ; ymmittee is made clear by the on.as mayor of that the third member is the vowed to ck president of the Illinois Manufac- mouth Roel turers’ Association, Colin C. H. Fyffe. l-p 0) »Andre . * pigeon” McAndrew, Manipulating the School System. x dodging by the big corpora- riotic bunk shooting reality was noth- a big pi aign which has depleted the Chicago city n fund. The schools operate ee eet sanmoke sere hidingsmuch | der ible overcrowded condi- ve an eae: ” * * \throughout the city as many as three teachers ereanization the city ela es meeting simultaneously in the taxation proble “Hotbeds of “Big Bill’s” campaign developed, | same room and. as many as 50,000) Sedition.” children not now provided with seats. The platoon system of teaching is he covered various hotbeds of | being established. This means a fac-| Brit Propaganda. School books|tory system of education; housing Ameri istory seemed even to| about 1,200 children in schoots built Sergent Jasper had | for about 800; keeping tncm rotating flag to the staff|from one class room to another for Montrie and excluded the|the various lessons; one teacher f Molly Pitcher. The Chicago | handling as many as 200 to 250 chil- sity, the Rockefeller institution | dren a day. At the end of 1 there d to be a British Castle set-|were already over sixty schools| British lion’ upon the Chi-| operating under this go school pupils. John Bull propa- nda was found lurking upon the the Public Library. This sedition was to be stamped out com- pletely and the objectionable books burned. “Big Bill’s” campaign won the approval and ende ment of the Grand Dragon of the Illinois Ku Klux Klan, while some Chicago preachers sent resolutions of sympathy to his | ystem. Rockefeller Education. Both the | junior high platoon system and the chools have been pushed | by the Rockefeller foundation and by the bankers’ and employers’ repre- sentatives of the School Board. Both are designed to, restrict education of | Workingelass children. They are merely to become workers anyw will*make them and less education |for the children of the broad masses. |M. S. Martin, Boston, Ma: ‘America est ng Ge Ey: Se George better objects of exploitation. Twelve | % Historical Precedent city schoc have so far been con- This reminds me of a story, now|\oY%ed into junior high. going the rounds, of the mayor in Minneapolis, twenty rs ago, who Destroying Teachers’ Councils. removed all the bibles from the li- The destruction of the Chicago brary of that y because they re-|teachers’ co s went a long way to- but made no men- g|capitalist r on proposed to run Me- s, the superintendent (arid the King’s stool-pigéon) | mall stuff, such as spitting | ; but Bill said this is a of of an issue wider purpose, —but that is another story. The Political Steam Roller. McAndrew began his term as superintendent of Chicago schools in 1924. According to his own admis- sion he was brought here from the East by powerful business interests “to loosen the hold of an ‘invisible empire’ within the schools,” meaning the teachers’ organization, and in par- ticular, the teachers’ councils func- tioning within the schools. Also to establish the platoon system of edu- eation and junior high schools based upon intelligence tests. Politically he belonged to the camp opposing “Big Bill’ Thompson. Teachers’ Wages. Prior to the last mayoralty elec- tions a new salary schedule for the school teachers was proposed, pro- j ward furthering the educational re- struction schemes imposed by the} epresentatives. Teachers’ councils had existed as a recognized part of the school system since 1913, | the teachers forming a council with- in each school without the participa- | tion of any of the administrative of- | ficers. The councils naturally took up the | issues of effective education and made | |vecommendations, but they also | served to help protect the intere of the teachers, hence the campaign for their destruction; a campaign | which was by no means resisted as militantly by the Teachers Federa- tion as the protection of their own interests should have dictated. Real Issues in The Present Situation. As the smoke clears away from all the hypocritical, patriotic bunk shoot- ing the real issues stand out. The big corporate interests want to econ- omize on educational expenditures, as far as it concerns the broad masses, so they may continue to escape taxes. These Chicago plutocrats want to as- sume full control of the educational system; the city government is the tool to carry out these plans. Stalling the Teachers’ Federation. | | John & Cornelis Mrko, | Jacob Frost, viding for increases for certain} J, Lewis Coath, Mayor Thompson’s | categories, with no funds with which | man, the president of the school| to meet it. In fact the schools’ | board, threatens to cut the wages of treasury was depleted and nothing! the several thousand school teachers, further came about the proposal. The | under the plea of a depleted treasury; teachers have had plenty of experi-| yet holding them in suspense. On ence, during a number of years of| June 5th he promised a wage in- wage increases being voted by the|crease by September Ist. On June] School Board just before a mayoralty election, with no funds available, to be followed by a wage cut im- mediately after the elections. Thompson’s “Man Friday.” When Thompson became mayor he proceeded to get control of the vari- ous city institutions, inclu School Board. His man J. Lewis Coath, was placed in ae po- sition of president 6f the board. His first act was to threaten a teachers’ wage cut and to fire McAndrews be- fore the fail school term began, charged with insubordination and later also with being a “stool-pigeon of King George.” In the subsequent trial, conducted before the school board, and still go- ing on, McAndrews was gradually lost sight of. The issue became the one of British propaganda. Writers of history were accused of being “un- American.” Thompson brought wit- nesses from all over the country; a former congressman, John J. Gor- man; a former justice of Washing- ton State Supreme Court, Frederick Bausman and a former editor of the magazine “Fatherland” suppressed during the war, Frederick Schrader, who is now accused by others of be- ing “pro-German,”’ as well as the erstwhile socialist Charles Edward Russell. H. L. Mencken, as another staunch American, was also invited to testify but declined. Bringing in City Library. From this trial the campaign against British propaganda developed to embrace the city library. Thomp- son invited the board of trustees to resign; they refused and he is now endeavoring to get control of that board. An official library purger has been appointed in the person of U. J. (“Sport”) Herrman. The latter threatened to burn all such seditious books found in a city bonfire. The alarmed citizenry applied for an injunction st book burning, but the investigation still goes merrily on. A library investigating committee has been appointed of which Dr. Preston Bradley, Pastor of the People’s Church, is the chairman. 30th he declared that a 20 per cent! wage cut would be necessary. On July 8th, he stated that it must be} either a wage cut or bankruptcy. On| July 27th he hoped it would be pos-| sible to avoid a wage cut. On August! 21st he again declared a wage cut to be necessary and on September 30th | he stated that the teachers’ pay would be safe from a cut. The intention evidently to keep the Teachers ‘ederation guessing and as little pre- | | pared to fight back as possible. | The Taxation Issue. | The Chicago Teachers Federation | as well as the organized labor move- ment have majutained time and again that there would be no depleted treas- | ury for city educational or any | other useful purpose if every corpora- | tion and wealthy individual were} made to pay taxes according to the value of their properties. But tax | dodging on a grand scale is permitted and tax fixing has become a regular profession. Millions of dollars now remain in the pockets of the big exploiters, | which should go into these treasur- | ies, because of the altogether too low valuation of the big taxable proper- ties. The valuation of taxable prop- erties is in the hands of the Board of Assessors and the Board of Review of which Charles V. Barret, who is | “Big ’s” political sidekick, is the jhead. The full valuation of taxable property in Chicago as determined by these bodies in 1926 was less than four billion dollars, when it should perhaps have been nearer to the 30 billions. Property Values. It is estimated by the School Board itself that property values in Chi- cago have increased $500,000,000 since 1821, but only $80,000,000 has | been added to the total taxation valuation for the same period. The remainder escaped taxation, and that alone means a loss of $6,000,- 000 to the city educational fund. The property valuation of Chicago central business district, as deter- | Sunday, Nov | WORKER mined by the Board of Review 1926 and which forms the basis for | the present tax tion, amounts to al total of The manufac- | i turers’ apy ed the valuation of ies at the sum of cre} y means the amount escaping taxation, A Concrete Instance. The Union Stockyards Co., has been assessed on its 185 acres of land and a value of buildings at $11,000 per acr making a total of than a million and a half. The Stockyard | Company’s own apprai filed by Department of A; ulture at} hington, D. C., ows a_ total claimed valuation of $130,000 per acre, amounting to a full value of | $18,000,000. These are but a few examples of | billions of dollars worth of property | escaping taxation; depleting the city | treasuries and curtailing education To overcome this depletion of the} educational funds and avoid a teach- | wage cut the capitalist politicians | have for a long time threatened to | submit the alternative of such wage {cuts or an increase of tax rates to a} | popular vote, counting on the voters; preferring the wage cut, when as a matter of fact all that is needed is| to enforce the existing rates and in| j with which to fight back the attac The Teachers’ and the Workers’ Problem. The Chicage Teachers Federation collecting a campaign fund of $100,000, plied through voluntary | contributions of $25.00 per teacher, | The federation officials have an- nounced that the money will be used {to compile the necessary information for an equitable and just tax valua- tion. While it is necessary to fight for such valuation, the problem ot the present Chicago schools’ situation | has infinitely greater ramifications and demand the united aetion of the | Teachers Federation and of the whole labor movement. What is Needed. The record .of the Chicago School | Board is sufficient to emphasize the need of organized labor concentrating | on a demand that there be a sub stantial! labor representation on the board. The value of teachers’ councils as | they existed in the past has beer | generally recognized, except by thc capitalist interests who were naturally cpposed, A militant fight conducted by th Teachers Federation,’ supported by | organized labor would surely go : | long way toward re-establishment c | the teachers’ councils and readily | |and Naturally it is a task for the whole | labor movement of Chicago in con- junction with the Teachers Feder tion to fight for the abolition o: the factory system of education as represented by the platoon system the junior high. Ht is an ad- ditional task to fight for the abolition of child labor and for school attend- ance for children up until 16 years lof age; to fight for a tax valuation which will impose upon the big cor- porations their full share of taxation | out | adcpendent political action, u | gest the further extension toward « ! and make funds available for ad- ditional schools and equipments as well as decent wages for the school teachers. The Lesson—a Labor Party. ‘The experiences of this long drawn fight of the Chicago teach and of the labor for a correct solution of the schools »yroblem has proven that it makes not she slightest difference whether the | S aaninl ;| been translated back ity administration is in the han of the republicans or the democrats. Whether it is Dever, who established {cAndrews, or whether it is Thomp- son, who established J. Lewis Coath, he capitalist interests will impose heir will. That itself is suffic’ o show the need for working class to carry ' fight for their demands ively to success, through their trade make those who possess the realli j operation with students’ a parents’ | unions, and in addition, through their le pay the taxe More Contributions to||' | Ruthenberg Daily | Worker Sustaining l Fund Tl. Sam Blein, Chicago, B. Sherban Dry Cleaning Co., Campbell, Ohio Martin Kerr, Campbell, Ohio. Campbell, Ohio 00 John Neyerges, Campbell, Ohio 1.00 Den Nertela, Campbell, Ohio ..1.00 John Cosma, | St. Florescen, |Emil Taratuski, Mt. Vernon Nucleus W. Vernon, Ohio Campbell, Ohio Campbell, Ohio Philadelphia P:, Mt. Ohio M. L. Vawter, Finnish Worker: A land, Ore. | Working Women’s Organization of Astoria, Astoria, Ore. 10.00 Polish, Ukrainian & Russian Workers, Hegewisch, Ml. 10 Joseph Selman, (collected) Mimi NS Ys kaos. rane: 4.00 Mandwell, (Int. Br. Rochester) Rochester, N. M. Engleman, Boston, Mass. M. Kopach, (collected) Detroit, MCD ieee ang ares 2.50 New York Lettish Educational Society Astoria, L. I, N. Y. 5.00 The Siegel Family, Ontario, Galif. 900 Joseph Sobek, Wilkinsburg, Pa. .1.00 jestabl councils, By ©. 1. Ay One of the relics of the tzarist re- }gime is unemployment. National economy ruined imperialist and civil wars has been re- hed this year. Industry and other branches of our | national economy have not yet suf-| ficiently recovered to provide useful social labor for all the unemployed youth. On June ist, 1927, there were | 162,712 unemployed young workers jin the U. S. S. R., only 10.7 per cent of whom had any employment prev- | Those who were employed | receive without exception dole from the | previously an unemployment state. The state mak special grants in aid of unemployed young workers} Last year, for instance, roubles were granted for the strug- gle against unemployment among youngsters in the RSFSR alone. The Ukrainian government also granted 1,000,000 roubles for this purpose. Other federated republics--White Russia, Uzbekestan, ete.—also give grants in aid of the unemployed youth. * * Labor exchanges do their utmost to get work for the unemployed young- sters. In our union it is established by law that all adult and adolescent P. Dubrowsky, Akron, Ohio. -00 | Frank Lehti, Fort Myers, Fla. . K. Martinchek, Chicago, Ill. Mrs. Margaret R. Valinchus, Wilkes Barre, Pa. ......05.. 1.50 |Leo P. Lemley, Philadelphia, Pa.1.00 John Brazinich, Nazareth, Pa. ..2 eT W. Mellin, (collected) Waukegan, nl. Riahstere asetielscsi na ce the 4.25 Alma Mickelson, Detroit, Mich. 3.00 Mary Mokrovich, Detroit, Mich. 2.00 Street Nucleus No. 7, Detroit, Mich. Sarah Victor, Detroit, Mich. Street Nucleus No. 6, Detroit, Mich. .. Emil Taratuski, Philadelphia, Pa. 1.00 Alajos Kava, Cleveland, Ohio 5.00 Harold Robins, Bronx, N. Y. | Gleveinnd Mecting of Party Functionaries EVELAND, Nov. tionarie Dist 7.50 24.-A Fune- ’ meeting will be held at the Office, Ontario St., on -27 at 10 A. M. Ail mem- bers of Section cutive Committees, all nucleus organizer-sec: agit- props, industrial organ DAILY and liter agents, ers, rature |those for work among women and Negroes and for the Y. instructed to attend. This will be a very important meeting, and any functionary who does not attend will have disciplinary action taken against him, W. L. are A general membership meeting will be held at the District Office on Mon- day, November 28 at 7:45 P. M. to discuss one of the important cam- paigns of the Party. This campaign will involve the entire membership of the Party and must be thoroughly discussed and understood if results are to be obtained. ANELW NOVEL oo 14.50 | | Editor, workers who are for some reason or 1,250,000 | {own labor Tato | their known as a “leaving grant.” by the} to the pre-war level only | = Aid Jobless _ youths. 4 in USSR dismissed from the employment receive place of what is This “leaving grant” amounts to two weeks’ earnings, apert from the pay for work done. This grant is to help unemployed workers during the pe- riod they are looking for new em- ployment and to tide them over the period when they are not y to the unemployment dole labor exchange. The dole must not be less than one-sixth of the averd monthly wage of workers ‘ii the given iocality. from the In addition to this, special publi¢ |works are organized—cleaning gat> |dens and streets and setting into or- der workers’ quarters on the outsk of towns, ete. to give employment to youngsters out of work. Labgr artels are formed out of these | unemployed which provide youngsters out of work not on!y with rt useful employment, but also with the | necessary training. State organs open workshops of all sorts in order to train youngsters for any speciality. At the labor ex- change, the greatest demand is for workews with a specialty. Having re- ceived| this special training in the state workshops, unemployed young- sters find it easier to get work Mor over, all unemployed enjoy special benefits in regard to taxes, rent, and municipal rates. The Workers Forum | Labor Conscripted in Vermont. put under martial law. All labor has {rifice part of their DAILY WORKER:—The| bosses may wax fat. 95 /\entire Vermont flood area has been Milk Price Boosted. This Vermont situation is another | school | movement, nt | more | et entitled | wages that the! been conscripted. The wage rates are jattack upon the standard of living of $7.00 for a 9-hour day for skilled la-| the workers. This time the only se- bor in the building trades, $4.50 for a | vere sufferers from the flood are the | 9-hour day for unskilled laborers of| Boston and Maine, and the Central | all types. This means that by declar-| Vermont railroad, a subsidiary of the | ing a state of emergency, Governor|New York Central, and several milk Adams of Vermont has oe able to| companies which are part of the trust | break the power of the A. F that supplies the large cities of New! |which was strongly organized in| England and New York. And the milk | Montpelier and in White River Junc- |trust will not suffer much because the \ tion. |price of milk has been raised one cent a quart in New England, Only the railroads and the power trust have really suffered and they are trying to make good their: losses out of the workers. This we oppos Workers should not believe the ads for “Help wanted in Vermont” and! Misleading Ads. Wages have actually been reduced iand hours lengthened for the workers ‘of the Boston and Maine Railroad. Advertisements promising — higher wages and shorter hours are false and |the workers must be warned. Gover- jnor'Adams’ loyalty to the Boston and/should assist the Vermont workers Mainz, which requires its repairs to|maintain their wage scale in spite of | be made at the least cost, is not the | the strike-breaker, Adams. workers’ loyalty. It is not a patriotic | B. B. RUBINSTEIN. luty-of any kind for workers to-sac-| Montpelie Buy your tickets at The DAILY WORKER |) office, 108 East 14th Street and help The DAILY WORKER and this theatre. Limited Engagement From November 22 to December 4 The NEW PLAYWRIGHTS THEATRE production of THE BELT now playing at the 29 33 MacDougal Street. Telephone Spring 8363. Performance every evening (except Monday) including Sunday at | 8:40, Matinees Thanksgiving and Saturday at 2:40. | The first modern Labor play to debunk company unionism | and the so-called prosperity in the Ford factories. | PROVINCETOWN PLAYHOUSE. | Max Rheinhardt and His: Players Present A Magnificent Spectacle MAS RHEINHARDT, with the com- panies of the Deutsches Theatre in Berlin and the Josefstaedter The- | atre in Vienna has_ his. circular, revolving stage going at the Century, eee Park West. play is Sha i e- speare’s Midsum- mer Night's Dream, Max Rheinhardt | wouldn’t recognize it. In the first place it seems to have in ‘the middle !ages some time by Bottom, -at-a time when he wore the ass’s head. It com- | pletely kills all of Shakespeare’s deli- cate whimsicality and preserves all of his aristocratic scorn and slander of the working class. About: half the |time when Shakespeare says “fairy,” the German version uses the word for “ghost,” and the rest of “it is the | same. Inspired by this version, no {doubt, Puck himself, Shakespeare’s merry little devil, becomes..a: mongo- |loid cretin, stupid when not diabolical, |reminding more of Andreyev’s “Ana- thema” than of any possible creation | jof British yeomanry, at a time when | they still took the Maypole seriously. However, that Sokoloff who acts Puck is a first class acrobat and tumbler. The presentation, in spite of this, is /a masterpiece of stage craft, undoubt- {edly a beautiful and wonderful per- formance, and the result is. achieved hardt technique. j} actors, who prove that Europe is in-} deed in a bad way for talent if these |are the pick of the continent. The} | principals are stilted and clumsy, the | ptites-seem to have been selected | from--motives inspired by some kind of psycho-analytic over correction— !for slimness only, Some more grace- fuil-German maidens, even if a trifle Neither is it strictly’ due to the Bl wey devices employed by Riciuaran | |The mere mechanical equipment is, |after all, not new, and not entirely isfaectory. The revolving stage, as |such, has its faults. One of them | seems to be that it always looks the same, There is always the mound in jthe center, either a hill or a stair- case. The circular runways are per- manent fixtures, some times dis- guised as forest paths, and some times as hallways, but always in the | same position. The use of phosphoresently glowing veils, whether done with paint or lights, is old in spiritualist seances; the plan of crowding many pretty | gifs on a rising slope is a favorite | burlesque stunt, the front entrance, | obtained by putting the orchestra in \ the gallery somewhere or behind the | wings and bringing the stage floor own MG the level of the pit is a_fur- but! Shakes peare | almost entirely by the peculiar Rhein-| It is not due to the] more buxom, would have been better. | NINA TARASOVA ' | Who will give a recital this evening | of Russian and French folk songs for |the People’s Symphony Concerts at |the Washington Irving High School. ther modification of another burlesque scheme. But Rheinhardt’s genius seems to |be that he adopted all of these crude novelties, and with the hand of an artist made them part and parcel of a definite program to achieve a par- | ticular artistic triumph. The result is altogether charming—a creative ‘synthesis that has little suggestion of | the humbler origin of its parts. The | temptation to turn mere playacting into pageant and ballet is quite grace- fully yielded too, I am happy to say. The spectacle of long processions of gorgeous figures marching over the ‘hills into the far distance is some- thing to remember.—V. S. MOSS OPENS NEW THEATRE IN RIDGEWOOD B. S. Moss opened his new theatre, the Madison, situated at Myrtle and Wyckoff Aves., Ridgewood, last night with a program of vaudeville and mo- tion pictures, The inaugural program included Harold Leonard with his Waldorf- Astoria Orchestra and Ethel Norris; Ida May Chadwick and her group of six girls; Harry Lang and Bernice Haley, who offered a group of songs; Paul Remos and his Midgets, and Billy Reed and Lew Duthers. The photo feature was “Underworld” with George Bancroft, Evelyn Brent, Clive Brook and oe Semon playing the chief roles. WALTER a lweue in Ibsen’s comedy N “AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE” an B'way at 62d-St. | Hampden’s ning al ie, Matinees Wednes and Saturday BOOTH = . of B’way atinees Wed. & S: f BSCAPE with Leslie Howard atre, 41 St. W. of B’way 40. Mts. Wed. &Sat.2:30 “The Tal of Mary Dugan” ard Veiller, with ‘The Desert Song Haniday & Eddie Buszell vend Year [IMPERIAL A s. Thurs, avans with Robt Biway with MUI W John Golden The LADDER LYRIC THEATRE, 42 St, | j W. of B'way. Byes. 8:30, i. Mats. Wed. Mats, ‘GARRICK DNEY and MARY ELL ick Players in the M TAMING of C a RAC -—Eve. Post. Bway, 46 St. R¥s. 8,3 “hea., gus ate “the new +e ranean: “Starr. "IMMORAL ISABELLA? with JULIUS MeVICKER RITZ Th. W. 48th St. Mats. Wed, & Sat, {Rome THE DAILY WORKER! {3 Henry Miller’s Pass the Paper to a Fellow Worker! — The Theatre Guild presents —, PORGY Republie { Mats. Wed. Bernard Shaw's Comedy «DOCTOR'S DILEMMA Guild Mats.Thur: Max Reinhardt’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream” a. Central Park West . 8:00 CENTURY. Mats, at » Fri and Sat. Chanin’s W. 45 St. Royale. Mts. Wed, Sat. AbD Performances Except Mon. & Thurs. Winthrop Ames “Mikado” Gibert'& Sullivan y—1OLAN'THE” SOF PE NZANCEY a sq Thea. W.44 St.Evs.8.30 _ERLANGER'S Mats, Thurs. & Sat. THE MERRY MALONES ‘The: 30 Matinees Thurs. Sat. {Grant Mitchell iericin parce, ‘THE BABY CYCLONE (W.43 SUR 6 , DAVENPORT THEATRE 138 EB. 27th St, near Lexington Ave. Evenings 8:15. Mat. Sat. 2:16, Phone Madison Sq. 2051 ~ “HAMLET” with BUTLER DAVENPORT and an E: cellent Cast. lwm. Fox presents the Motion Picture eS) TIN: R LS) a bincctra ey W. MURNAU By HERMANN SUDERMANN Symphonic Movietone Accompaniment ‘ Sj, Thea. 420 St, W. of Times Sq. wie DAILY, 2: NIGHT A'T 8:30 WASHINGTON IRVING HIGH SCHOOL TARASOVA In first concert of Peoples’ Symphony Artists’ Recitals series, Six concerts including most noted artists on the goncert stage, by subscription ONE DOLLAR. Tickets on sale at door, Knabe Piano