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Page ) Six THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1927 THE DAILY WORKER —————————— Published by the NATIONAL DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING ASS'N, Inc. Daily, Except Sunday $8 First Street, New York, N. Y. Cable Address: , SUBSCRIPTION RATES . By Mail (in New York only): By Mail (outside of New York): .00 per year $4.50 six months $6.00 per year $3.50 six months $2.50 three months. $2.00 three months. Phone, Orchard 1680 “Daiwork” ‘Address and mail out checks to THE DAILY WORKER, 33 First Street, New York, N. Y. ‘ Sy WE. nn eee snes : Assistant Editor.... ...ROBERT MINOR ...WM, F. DUNNE Entéred as second-class mail at the post-office at New York, N. Y., under the act of March 3, 1879. “Educational Orders” for Munitions—-Another Step in the a War Program The war department has taken another step in adjusting in- dustry to the needs of the imperialist war program. F This is the real meaning of the announcement by Secretary 6f War Davis that “educational orders” for munitions will be placed with private manufacturers. With a huge warship program launched and military and naval aircraft to be built in huge swarms, with the entire country divided into military corps areas and skeleton military units or- ganized in all principal industries, with a network of military training camps established and auxiliary organizations like the Boy Scouts, the Red Cross and volunteer military intelligence services in operation, the manufacture of munitions in large quan- tities constitutes the next development in the war program. So efficiently has the war machine been working that it is only when attention is called to its activities by some announce- ment marking a new stage in the carrying out of its plans that any substantial opposition is aroused. | THE GOAL OF GOOD-WILL AMBASSADORS By Fred Ellis (Street News “Turn your country and its natural resources over to us,” says Morrow. “One flag is as good as another providing it is Wall | Street’s Flag.” It is characteristic of the middle class elements who are pro- | testing the plan of the war department, that they base their oppo- sition almost entirely on the’ proposal to have war munitions manufactured by private concerns instead of by the government. Similarly, the opposition of the spokesmen of these elements in congress and the senate to the naval program is based largely on the cost to the taxpayers and a certain abstract desire for peace. The various developments in the war program of American imperialism are the result of parallel developments in its program o— By WILLIAM F. DUNNE. Forty-four of the indusirial classi- of world conquest. As the struggle for markets and for sources | fications reporting to the New York of taw materials sharpens—and the industrial depression in the | state industrial commission show less United States will intensify this fight for markets—the militari- | Workers employed than a year ago. zation of this country is speeded up. For the working class the recent announcement of the war department means that the menace of imperialist war has crept | crease of 5 per cent in the payroils. In November there was an actual linerease of 20,000 in the number ot unemployed in New York and a de- The industries affected most were closer. It must be the signal for more effective struggle against | the heavier enterprises, metal work- imperialism in all its manifestations. The labor movement can not trust the official leadership to ut forward a program for struggle against the war danger and “yally the workers for this struggle. These leaders have shown already that the attack on the unions which is part of the imperial- ist program finds them unable and unwilling to mobilize the labor movement even in a fight where the life of the unions is at stake. | With a leadership that is part of the imperialist machine, with unemployment acute, with such unions as the United Mine Workers under the heaviest attack in their history and militariza- tion developed at a terrific pace, the labor movement confronts a crisis of the utmost sericusness—a crisis of so acute a character that delay in mobilizing the whole movement for a counter-offen- sive carries with it the danger of destruction. It is in this light that militant workers must view the present | situation and take up the task of organizing the working class to save the unions and resist the Wall Street program by all possible | states. | Uthat the announcement of | activity by the Ford plant in Detroit jing especially showing a steady de- | crease. |Similar Conditions in Other States. Similar conditions appear in other The New York World reporis renewed has brought thousands of workers to that city who can find no jobs. |The World says: “The announcement also failed to |take account of the fact that in the |rebuilt Ford plants there is a greater leconomy in the use of labor than marked the plants of less than a year |ago—Mr. Ford did not spend $56,- |¥00,000 for new tools without pro- viding for greater efficiency.” (Our | Emphasis.) Another glittering dream has faded--that the revival of produc- tion in Ford plants would have a tre- mendous rejuvenating affect on in- means, presidential elections. ai The Work Editor, DAILY WORKER: “I want to say a few words im ap- Pn of one of the 1 ar features in The DAILY —the brilliant red cartoor Bis. These powerful d:. the class struggle have a v «) { pre- senting the important nes cf the day, as no front page headiine can , do. For instance, what words can bet- ter describe the murderous black treachery of Chiang Kai-shek, than »the picture in. Tuesday's ixsue, por- traying the pois’ ous serpent (Chi- ‘ang) wading in tne blood of his for- z co-workers while he adjures the Kite monsters of imperialism (bat- ’ Aleships) to join him in his fiendish slaughter, How inspiring is the symbo! of the workers’ and farmers’ solida. cv! The hammer and sickle takes on a new Significance when you actually see in Wednesday's issue) the workers _peasants convert their working tools into weapons of war and back te back, fight on for freedom from all exploitation. The epic drawings on the last page of The DAILY WORKER make a wonderful revolutionary album. I cut ‘them out every day and peste them e a “red cartoon” book. In that way Tam acquiring 9 pictorial history of ‘he class struggle from day to day i 4 a this seething period of world Cc. K. My LER. : The organization of a labor party appears more clearly as the | major task of the labor movement in this imperialist epoch when - there is open advocacy of munition manufacture on a war basis. The struggle against imperialist war danger and the militariza- tioii-of the masses must be made a dominant issue in the coming With a labor party in the field and organizing its fight around | this central issue, some heavy and effective blows can be dealt | ang Wall Street government and its program. The ‘“‘non-partisan” pol-|have created the phenomenon of per- | icy—support of candidates on the tickets of the Wall Street par- | manent ties—only makes it easier for Wall Street to carry out its plans for | militarization at home and conquest abroad. | dustry in general, that the arm | unemployed would dwindle. Es, leiaily in the publications of pro onal optimism has an effort been ade to picture Ford as the savior of American prosperity. The fact is |that the appearance of the new Ford |car has increased unemployment | Detroit rather than lessened it. The standardization of equipment, the specialization of iabor proce: the speed-up system already unemployment. Industrial depression finds a huge corps of job- |less workers created during a perio: {of high industrial activity to wh |are being added millions of worke thrown out of employment by the \curtailing of production. | Department of Labor Examples. | The Department of Labor empha- \sises the efficiency phase of the de- | velopment of industry. It has cited |previously the remarkable increase « $6|in production in the glass and shoe for one year’s sub to T YAILY | industries brought about by the in- | WORKER. troduction of machinery. It calls at- The DAILY WORKER is fin edi- | tention now to the application of |torials wonderful. This is a town in|™achinery and efficiency methods to |which politics is never mentioned, | CoPPer fining. In one plant where leven the subject of Labor Unionism | Survey has been made it is shown is taboo. The system of espionage in| thet from 1918 to 1927 the number so thorough and so continuous that, | of workers decreased from 578 to 233 |seemingly, by mutual consent we talk | While production increased: 10 per jonly about the weather and business | °¢*t- Further installation of ma- land tha latest @cardals:s But ‘nnem-|cunery: and increased efficiency will ployment which is greater in these bay cities than it has been since 1913, fava : \is beginning to waken the people, and |. Instances one 1 |I can hear things said that never were | tiplied espe | said before in this place. there was a high | ers Forum Editor, DAILY WORKER: Enclosed please find check tion with only of indu | It seems people are so willing to|!abor movement made no real at- jput up with any kind of wage slav- |tempts to adjust the labor movement jery, vote for the boss, lie for the} to these changes. Fallacious Theory. | boss, crawl in the gutter for the boss, | so long ‘as they get ‘that little pay | On the contrary, the theory that efficiency of the American |check no matter how small, on Sat- the urday. They will faithfully say their| worker was responsible for high prayers to the Great God “S. 0.” until| wages and that union-management jhe fails them. Actual unemployment | cooperation, essentially based on a \is the only thing that will arouse the | fallacious relationship between out- | American working man. And he is put and wages, was to be the salva- beginning to stir with discontent even |tjon of the workers, aided the capi- on this coast. [ am so grateful for|talists in putting over the speed-up the loyal work you eastern comrades) without effective protest being are doing and wish I could do more | aroused. to help. | With best wishes for the success of the cause. What to Expect, Now that “the general field of tn- dustry is not in a really prosperous Yours for the revolution. condition” (The Amnalist, Dec, 16), “ < | | substantial improvement is to be ex- | discernible, in| feeling ve | first | prosperity.” |seeure the same amount of produc- | activity the official leadership of the | SOME TASKS FOR THE LEFT WING Capitalist Press Admits Unemployment increasing unemployment will be used as an additional weapon against the unions and the living standards of the masses. The Annalist gives us a hint of what to expect. Speaking of the wage cuts in the textile industry and what it calls “the general fact of our industrial production overex- pansion,” The Annalist points to the necessity for curtailment. It says: “The situation in cotton textiles is the logical outcome of excessive pro- ducing equipment, all of it kept in motion by excessive use of capital. it is a situation which exists in es- sence, though in variations of detail, in all of our large industries, steel being lately the most eioquent wit- ness to this fact. (Our emphasis.) Transiated into ordinary Kngiish the above means. that ‘The Annalist is advocating a drastic reduction production of basic industries, and every worker knows that this means inereased unemployment and wage cuts—the workers are always picked nut to bear the burden of industriai reorganization—in Europe it is called rauionaiization.” * Depression Not Seasonal. Also of importance is the fact that The Annalist makes no pretense of oelieving that the present depression of a seasonal character, or that it will be, ot brief duration; rather it warns its clients that no immediate “There are no reasons now says The Annalist, “for confident that the regu- seasonal advance is the certain tage of a new era of high pected, lar | The New York Times Chimes In. | The New York Times in its issue for Dee. 26 comments editorially on | the unemployment figures of the | United States Bureau of Labor Sta- stics, which show that for October iA 242 per cent of the workers | were jobless if the 54 manufacturing }industries for which the statistics jare compiled furnish an adequate picture of the situation. We may be |sure that the Department of Labor does not exaggerate the extent of unemployment since it is one of the most ardent boosters for “Coolidge prosperity.” | The Times reaches no particular |conclusion, but its extensive treat- ment of the subject is of itself evi- dence that the most conservative | section of the capitalist press al- ready sees unemployment as a seri- ous problem. . Chicago and Points West. The Chicago Daily News for Dec. 21 heads a story, “Bread Line Here Longest in Years.” The news item that there was formed “the | iongcst bread line Chicago has known | since 1918.” To the particular bread iine in question only single men without homes in Chicago were ad- mitted. Families are listed sepa- rately. Unemployment on a national scale and in an acute form is here. The standard and authoritative financial, ecomonic and trade jonrnals of the pitalists make little if any attempt | to disguise the serious nature of de- pression, Most of them do not try even to hold out hope for an imme- diate change for the better, No Isolation of Jobless, The unemployed must be organ- ised, The unions must fight for the unemployed, Agitation for city, stato and national relief must be started, “Work or union wages” should be do- manded, in}. The responsibility for unemploy- ment and the misery it causes must be placed squarely where it belongs— on the capitalist class and its gov- ernment. Union officials who have aided in the demoralization of the labor move- ment by their policy of surrender to the efficiency schemes of the capi- talists must likewise be held respon- sible. The present leadership con- demns the labor movement to help- lessness. Left Wing Tasks. The militant section ‘of the labor movement, the organized left wing, has the task of stimulating and lead- ing the labor movement in the fight against the curse of unemployment and its causes. The inner contradictions of capi- talism are smashing the fiction of “permanent prosperity” in America, and ever more millions of workers and their families are feeling and will continue to feel the suffering the profit system makes inevitable. No Fatalism. But to accept as inevitable that this misery must be borne uncom- plainingly and that nothing can be done is to play the game of capital- ists and their publicity agents. The right to full maintenance at the expense of industry and govern- ment must be fought for. The de- grading charity of the professional almsgivers must be replaced by a program of struggle, and the whole labor movement enlisted in the battle to maintain and better the living con- ditions of the working class. The seriousness of the unemploy- ment menace must not be left solely to the understanding of those work- ers who feel its effects. directly. The whole working class must be drawn into the fight. Garden Spot of South ts | Worker, Farmer Purgatory | (By a Worker Correspondent Enroute| thing. Since then we have no sure To Jacksonville, Fla.) The thing which has been most vividly impressed upon my mind by today’s journey is the great number of deserted farm houses one sees out of the train window. He is impressed too with the run-down, delapidated condition of most of the houses that are still inhabited. .There are vast numbers of dirty, ragged urchins. Some approach the train at the sta~ tions with their wares. In addition to these one sees “razor- back” hogs, tick- infested cattle, a poor work horse or mule here and there, an occasional flock of fowls, and a few garden patches of truck. Of course one also sees from time to time a well-kept plantation, with house and out-buildings modern in appearence. Almost invariably you see on the same plantation the boarded shacks of the tenant farmer or worker as noted above. Paint Unknown. The general impression one gets is that house paint is unknown in this region. True the plantation homes and the cities and towns thru which you pass belie this impression. But even in the cities one finds slums, where most of the white and prac- tically all the black workers live. The scenery along the entire way is monotonous, save for an occasional growing field or glimpse of the blue waters of the gulf, despite the fact that the realtors, and Chamber of Commerce boosters depict this as “the garden spot of the South, the play- ground of America.” When we stopped at Madison a man, in overalls boarded the train and took a place in the seat just op- posite me. As the train slowed down for the next stop ventured to ask him why there were so many deserted houses along the road. “You must be a new comer in these parts” he remarked. “Yes, this is my first trip thru this parts,” he remarked. Farmers Hard Hit. “Well, stranger,” he began, “we farmers in this region have been hit pretty hard in recent years. During the world war we made pretty good, but soon after the war, prices in cot- ton, which was our money crop, took 6 big slump. And shortly after that tho boll woovil struck this section, and money crop. A few of the more well- to-do farmers have began raising to- bacco, which has been paying fairly well of late. Others are trying corn, sweetspuds, goober peas, sowing beans etc. But prices on the whole ain’t been, nothing to brag about.” Many of the farmers who lost to the boll weevil, were never able to get back on their feet again. Being unable to meet their taxes and other bills, they were gradually forced to move off and let the bankers take their farms. “What percentage do you think have been forced to desert their farms?” I asked. ‘ “I should say from 85 to 40 per cent.” Picture Not Overdrawn. I talked to a number of other peo- ple along the way and found that my informant’s picture of the situation in West Florida hadn’t been overdrawn. One man told me how the farmers used to take their produce over to Jacksonville and sell it to the mer- chants. Earlier they had taken it over and peddled it out. This was suddenly stopped. First they put a licence of $75.00 on any one who wished to peddle. Very recently they put a $250.00 tax on any one sell- ing to the retail merchants. So now they must sell to the wholesalers and commission merchants and take from ten to twenty per cent less for their stuff. Of course city workers must now pay a considerable higher price for food stuffs. Naturally the whole- salers and commission merchants must be protected in their profits re- gardless of poor workers, farmers and their families. What else is the Profit System for? Purgatory For Workers. Western Florida may be the land of sunshine and flowers as it is pic- tured by the realtors, or paradise for southern exploiters, but it is little short of a purgatory for the poor farmers and wage workers. It will likely continue to be until these latter, who make up the great part of the population, get together and thru or- ganized effort take over political and economic power, and set up a work- ers’ and, farmers’ government as the workers and peasant farmers of So- jet Russia have done, The most’ logi- cal step looking towards this change is a si Party or- By EDWARD J. BRUEN. 'WO fellow-workers were discussing the Tammany Hall move from Fourteenth to Seventeenth Street in one of the be-whited, open-faced eat- ing places that modern ideas have de- veloped. “It’s a damn shame to move the old place,” one asserted. “Don’t worry about it,” answered the other, “as long as you have your city job they will always be able to hold you up for your salary assess- ment, and whatever else they can take away from you between times.” “TALKING about moving,” con- tinued the first speaker, “I see where they are going to turn over the old tenement in City Hall Place where Cardinal Hayes was born to the church. Do you think the Cardinal is going to move down there to be among the poor?” “Are you going crazy?” asked the well-informed friend, “what would he do that for?” “They say Jesus Christ always lived among the poor, don’t they?” “Yes, my boy, but he wasn’t a New York Cardinal.” «¢AL. SMITH never comes near the old diggings any more either,” volunteered the first speaker. “Why should he go near Oliver Street” answered the smart lad, “when he can have the taxpayers pay $60 a day or thereabouts for his keep in the Ritz-Carlton?” “Don’t you think he'll ever go back to the old street to live?” “He never will, if he can help it.” Nose HAPGOOD and Henry Moscowitz, who threw together a life of Governor Smith apparently for campaign consumption, in their futile attempt to liken him to Abraham Lincoln, make comparisons between the boys he associated with and those that Lincoln associated with in Springfield, Illinois. It’s to be hoped that the rest of their material is more authentic than this Lincoln statement, any ten-year old schoolboy knowing that Lincoln was a full-grown man with a full- grown beard when he first saw Springfield. MES: Alderman Pratt of the Standard Oil millions was the subject of discussion among a group of women who cast their votes for her last month. One told how the office seeker had mounted to her flat on the fifth floor and how kindly she spoke and how she played with the children while her secretary gave the “old man” some cigars. “She said she was going to come to see us often,” she went on, “but I haven’t seen her since.” “She told me the same,” laughed another, “but I guess my old man is right when he told me I wouldn’t see A “LABOR BANK” IN LOS ANGELES By WM. SCHNEIDERMAN. LOS ANGELES, Cal., Dec. 28.— The collapse of the Locomotive En- gineers’ banking ventures has made labor banking a topic of debate among trade unionists in America, and a few words about a “labor bank” which was started by the trade union move~- ment in Los Angeles might be timely and revealing. The People’s National Bank is one of the flourishing institutions which is pointed at with pride as an example of the success of trade union capital- ism. Members of organized labor who established this bank are still waiting for dividends, as it has taken several years to put the bank on its feet, and it is still unable to declare dividends. The unions holding stock, however, are willing to carry on in the fond hope that some day “their” bank would prove a success and credit to their class collaboration schemes. Fakers Buying Control. Very few know the real status of the People’s National Bank. A high official of the labor “spilled” some very interesting facts” about the latter, in the process of an attack on a rival group of labor- fakers who had organized the Lincoln Holding Corporation and the People’s Mortgage Company. It seems that the latter concerns had been systematically buying up the stock in the bank, altho it paid no dividends, with funds that they could have more profitably invested in in- terest-paying mortgages. Evidently, some financial interests outside of the labor movement are financing them in this venture, in order to get con- trol of the bank. Capitalists May Soon Control. Labor officials did not realize what was going on until fully 1,800 shares were in the hands of the Lincoln Holding Corporation, and only 2,501 are required to hold a majority of the stock and a controlling interest. They then sent out a call to unions and in- dividual members who held stock in the bank, to turn over proxies (vot- ing power) to the Central Labor Coun- cil representatives, in order to get enough votes at the next shareholders’ meeting to maintain their majority. Each group has now approximately the same number of votes, yet it is practically certain that the bank will pass over into the hands of a group of financiers in January. It will still continue as the People’s National Bank, “Labor’s” bank, but the Cen- tral Labor Council will have about as much voice in it as they have in ny trong Farmer-Labor for two years straight we lost overy- ganization for the 1928 campaign. Bank of Italy. : movement »