The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 27, 1928, Page 2

rhe Oe ee caddie THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1928 Los Angeles Takes Leading Place in Daily Worker Subscription Canpaign REISS DIRECTS CALIFORNIA TO DRIVE VICTORY | Detroit, Nearest Rival, Promises Struggle Los Angeles has. leaped definitely into first place in the national sub- { Seription drive to collect 10,000 new > Subscribers for The DAILY WORK- ER. Scores of subs are being rushed daily by Paul Reiss in fat enve to the office of The DAILY WORK- ER, and the present score shows the California district far in a ce of its nearest rival, Detroit. But Detroit promises a strong fight for the lead. Every means is being employed by the Los Angeles dis t to retain Teadership in the offensive which is being carried on in every section of the United States. Paul Reiss, The DAILY WORKE. @gent for the California district, i directing the campaign on a scale tha is the envy of the rival territor Spreading The DAILY WORK thruout the California section, the big drive is bringing the only militant English labor daily to increasing thou- sands of California workers. The membership is backing Reiss to the utmost but it is pointed out that they cannot support him too ac- tively, Every sub collector should get behind the drive in California andj keep Los Angeles in the front rank Position it has won. SAVE “WORKER” Labor Must Rally to De- fend Its Press (Continued from Page One) out on $1,000 bail apiece but their Yearrest is only a question of days, perhaps of hours. “Thousands of dollars are needed to continue the defense of these three leaders and of The DAILY WORKER which is threatened with extinction while confronted with the unbearable costs. of the court proceedings which the United States government has forced upon it. “Only the most united and imme- diate action of the militant American working class acting as one unit can Save their daily paper from destruc- tioh and its editors from burial in the federal jails for years. $4,000 Must Be Raised. “Four thousand dollars must be raised by Wednesday. sible to think of anything more ur- gent than this demand with which the American working class is faced. It will close its ranks to meet it as it has met and defeated the on- slaughts of its enemies before. “Four thousand dollars must be taised by Wednesday. Rush your contributions to The DAILY WORK- ER, 33 First St., New York City.” COPS DISPERSE MINERS’ MEETING “Don’t Need Relief,” Says Robertson (Continued from Page One) sist them in winning th t to maintain the Jacksonvil ment. Robertson did not accept the chal- lenge, but when Magliacano — pro- eeeded to introduce Helen Zaikowski, he declared that there would be no More relief speaking. “Ail of you Who are miners must leave the hall at once or you will be expelled from the United Mine Workers of Ameri- fea,” he shouted. The great majority ‘of the audience stayed, protesting - yigoriously. Helen Zaikowsky insisted on speak ing to the Polish miners on the for relief, but Robe that “they don’t need ‘the best part of the districi. were shouts of “We do need relief. That is a lie.” Robertson rushed over to one protesting miner and asked him for his name. This probably ‘means expulsion from the union. Robertson then ordered the state troopers to expel the miners from the hall, which they did with their “elubs as persuaders. They did not club the audience, however, because no resistance was offered. And this is the way Mr. Thosint Robertson, cog in the Fagan machine, is helping the striking miners win the great struggle in which they ar engaged. While the Pennsylvania- Ohio Miners’ Relief Committee at 611 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pa., or- ganized by the rank and file, gladly cooperates with all workingclass or- ganizations, engaged in relief work, the highly paid disorganizers of the Lewis-Fagan-Murray machine . are sabotaging all constructive activity in behalf of the striking coal diggers. ke and agree- phad $4000 NEEDED 10. It is not pos- | company agrees to stand responsible ‘Two Girls Hurt in Factory Blaze in N. Y. Facing smo and flames poured from build. ing at 458 Broome St, New York, many workers nar- rowly escaped death in the fire that gutted the building. Two girl workers were ser- iously hurt and had to be removed to a hospital. Some | of the buildings in! this part of the years ago and pre- sent a constant menace. Firemen were forced to climb the fire escapes to pour streams of water on the roar- such as this, start- ing in one of these buildings, imme- diately endangers the lives and homes of workers living in the neigh- borhood. Workers Mistreated at L. I. Hospital; Emergencies Wait Recently at a Long Island hospital, a child with a crushed foot turned away by a clerk because she arrived a few minutes after linie hours. At the same hospital on the same day a prospective mother was forced to wait several hours for treatment at the pre-naial clinic. At a downtown hospital, near the East River water-front, the seamen who are beaten without cause daily by the police are turned away and told to go Bellevue Hospital. Workers Mistreated. Nowhere are the workers and their families held in more contempt than in the clinics of the hospitals of New York City. When a worker seeks} treatment in a dispensary, he is foreed to undergo a long rigmarole of grilling questioning, most of it useless, and, many of the questions are intended to embarrass him. In any non-municipal hospital clinic in his city, treatment is refused a worker if he cannot aiford the fees, which are from 50 cents to a dollar, not including drugs and such treat- | ment as X-Ray ($3 to $10), electrical baking or massage ($1 or $2), and pathological examinations ($2 and up). . Slight Reductions. Some of the “charitable” hospitals grant slight reductions for clinical | treatment to a worker after he has been investigated by the social ser- workers. Very few workers with self-respect feel comfortable while undergoing ihe ordeal of such ques- tions as “What does each member of you family do?” or, “Can any one vouch for your inabilty to pay the regular fees?” or, “Are you abso- lutely sure you cannot pay the regu- lar rates?” or “Can you get a reter- ence from your employer?” Waits For Hour. If a worker is injured on thé jot and rushes to the dispensary of non-municipal hospi.al for treatment he is made to wait for an hour or sc before he can even see the clerk Then a whole barrage of questio: are fired at the injured worker, who is, of course, in pain. Unless he has brought along with him an authori- zation from his employer or foreman or other such person, in which the for the fees for the treatment, he must wait another half hour or so until the clerk decides to telephone he worker’s employer to verify the) fact that the worker has been injured on the job and that the worker in fact does really work for the com- pany. Many times the employer will not admit the worker is in his em- ploy, in order to avoid paying for the treatment. In. this case the worker must either pay himself or remain untreated. Hospitals are lst to give free dispensary |? reatment to the proletariat of the ne taiguborhioed: The treaimeni ren- dered free at any hospital is the most hasty, casual and careless which. a callous and clumsy intern can give. Of course, a full fledged doctor some- ’| times looks on, but that is all he does. Specialized Clinics. ‘The hospitals main.ain specialized clinics for each type of ailment, such as dental, eye and ear, nose and throat, pre-natal, orthopedic and genito-urinary. A specialist in each line is supposed to be in charge of each. Each special clinic is ope: about two hours a day, two or three lays a week. The specialist supposed to be ir charge usually arrives a half hour t an hour late, Meanwhile a mol of keenly suffering patients hay been sitting or standing around f hours. At last the great man ar yives, and alighting from his cai struts into the clinie with his nos: in the air. The specialist looks on ap provingly while an intern does th: actual work to the best of his noi over-great ability. Usually less thar half of the crowd of hopeful patient: who have been sitting around foi hours are taken care of by the tim: the clinic hours re. over. The resi i - _ \ risky thing. are told uncivilly to go away. If a worker is suffering from a bad case of hemmorhoids, he is told to come back “next Tuesday,” when the next proctology clinic is to be held. Told to Come Later. If a worker’s wife brings in a child whose throat feels like u fire, she is cold to bring the child back when the next nose and throat clinie will be held. In the clinics of the hospitals of New York a worker’s overalls are a uniform of shame and a target for insult from clerk and doctor. The poor clothes of a worker’s wife are held in contempt. The respect wiih which a clinic patient is received by the clerks and the tone in which the patient is spoken to and the treat- ment that is given are all determined by the patient’s clothing. In any hospital a richly dressed person wiil rush in ahead of a long line of work- ers demanding ins.ant treatment and by a little tipping here and there will get it. The emergency surgery clinics are from 9 a. m. to 5 p. m. If a worker is injured at work outside these hours and comes to a hospital dis- pensary for treatment he is forced to wait as long as an hour before an in- term will condescend to come down|* to the dispensary and treat him. At a downtown hospital near the water- front it is almost impossible for a worker or member of his family to} obtain treatment for an accident after 10 p.m. At other hospitals it is nearly as difficult. Hack Doctors. The specialized clinics, for instance the dental, are’ jokes. The worst hack dentists and students at dental colleges are in charge and to have 2 tooth pulled in a dental clinie is a But a worker cannot ften afford to pay the large fees nded in a dentist’s office, and so must take what he is given in the clinic. It is the same in the eye and var and nose and throat clinics. The reatment rendered a worker is cur- sory and careless. But the fees of cialists in these lines are from a visit and ‘up, more than a work- meager income permits. The tment rendered the worker or his ily at the pay hospitals is no- where decent. Treatment Unspeakable. At the city hospital clinics, such as city were erected | ng flames. A fire | i GRAND JURY AS FRAME-UP SPEEDS Blame Cappelini for the Reign of Terror | (Continued from Page One) | and hails the formation of Save the Union Conferences by the organized i miners of the bituminous field. | The statement for the defense of Bonita, Mendola and Moleski follows: | Defend the Victims of Cappelini’s Reign of Terror. “The coal companies and the cor- | rupt Cappelini machine in District 1 re about to claim three more vic- They have arrested and will attemnt to railroad to the electric | chair Sam Bonita, Steve Mendola and | Adam Moleski. To Prevent Murder. “This conference of rank and file miners from all sections of the an- thracite tri-districts, held at Wilkes- Barre, declares onr emphatic deter- mination to prevent by every pos- sihle means the legalized murder of Bonita, Mendola and Moleski. “The facts show clearly that Frank Agati with whose murder they are charred died while he was making an unprovoked attack upon these the members of Local 1703 (Pittston) who culled on him to urge action in support of the just demands of mem- bers victimized by the schemes intro- duced by the Pennsylvania Coal Co. Responsibility Shown. “We declare that the responsibility for the death of Agati rests upon the shoulders of Cappelini and his henchmen, who have instituted a svstem of violence and unparalleled terror which has resulted in the mur- der of such honest rank and file lead- ers as Thomas Lillis, and more re- cently of the near murder of Sam Grecio, by hired gunmen and assas- sins, with the object of terrorizing the rank and file of the union into complete submission to the corrupt rule of the machine in the union which serves the coal companies. “We pledee our everv effort to rally all workers for defense of the latest victims of the alliance between the bosses, the government authori- ties and the corrupt officialdom of] the union which is betraying our union. “Save the Union Conference, “STANLEY DZIENGELEWSKY, “Chairman. “GEORGE PAPCUN, secretary.” ee ae | Following is the conference’s state- ment of solidarity with the striking soft coal miners The Rank and File Sneaks. “To Our Brothers and Fellow Trade Unionists of the Bituminous Fields. “Greetings! “We, the representatives of the rank and file of all districts in the anthracite coal fields, hail your cour- ageous struggle for the preservation of our union. importance of the battle you have been. waging in the face of tremen- dous odds and difficulties. You are repelling an attack by our common enemy which is being directed against the entire labor movement and more particularly against the union which we have jointly built in the course of many years of struggle and sacrifice. Your courage and self sacrifice in the face of every form of suffering and privation has been an inspiration to ussas" well as to every worker who realizes that the interests of the working class can be preserved and advanced only through militant re- Bellevue, Governeur or Kings County, where no fees are charged and which are the last refuge of the worker, the dispensary .treaiment is. un- speakable and often downright bru- tal. Thousa of workers and mem bers of their famnilies come here after being refused at the non-municipal hospitals and are quickly shoved thru the doctor's hands with litle or no relief. The round of personal ques- tions barked at the patient is more tmbarrasing here than anywhere. The discrimination and mistreat- ment sutfered by workers at Kings County Hospital, Brooklyn, revealed recently, does not take place at that hospital alone. Kings County is no worse than Bellevue or any other city hospital or, for that ma‘ter, the non- municipal hospitals where payment is lomanded, Social Service Department. Social service is one of the “char- ities” supported by the wealthy of w York as a salve to their con- sciences for their wholesale exploita- on of the workers and as a sop to workers. The ladics who hold ucrative jobs doing social! service ork are forever burrowing their »ses into the squalid and miserable 1omes of the workers and all th< ‘ood =aecompl d by them is in- tigation, investiga ion and more nvestigation. They are the first to lenounce any efforts of the workers o better themselves by mass ac.ion. They are the darlings of the liberals ind the hirelings of the bosses. They sontent themselves with publishing ‘eports and sending the children of he workers on an excursion to the country once a year, sistance to every attack. ‘ Crisis Defined. | “The crisis in which our union finds. itself, in consequence of the vicious brutal attack of the rich and powerful mine onerators backed by every agency of the government which they completely control, is fur- ther ageravated hy the incompetency and betrayals of those who have usurped power in our union and are eoneerned only with the possibilities for enriching, themselves at our ex- pense. We are gratified therefore to learn that you have recopnized the necessity of organizing your forces through Save the Union Conferences for struggle as well against the trai- tors within our own ranks, the Tewises, the Farans, the Murrays, et al, and against our open enemies, |\ the coal operators. whom they serve. This conference is evidence of the fact that we have reached the same conclusion. Support Is Pledged. “We are fully aware that your struggle against the operntors ac well as against the labor fakers at the head of our union is our strugel> as well as yours. We are determined to lend our every effort in support of this, your struggle and ours. Wr pledve ourselves to increase manifold cur activities to raise relief funds, to elect food and clothing to make pos- sible your continuing your just fight till victory has heen won. We shall three dulv elected renresentatives of |* Lovestone, in Debate, Says y Workers Need Revolution “It is a long time since we had a revolution, and it is about time we had said Jay Lovestone, executive secretary of the Workers (Commu- We fully realize the |” ste ” BONITA HELD FOR, ‘Machines Hhinksie: pam pia — 1 spa ae a | } i t in Danville, Ill. Below, another view of a stripper The giant stripper is the latest monster machine at the disposal of the coal operators. Photo shows such a machine to be installed It will throw hundreds of miners from their jobs during the course of the next year. The giant stripper is taking off overburden and a smaller shovel follows to dig the uncovered coal. at work. another,” nist) Party in answer to the question, in a debate Friday night at’ Irving? — Plaza, Irving Pl. and 15th St. George Hiram Mann, a lawyer and a repre- sentative of the S. Rankin Drew Post of the American Legion took the negative in the debate and described American democracy as “ideal.” “But this time we will combine the revolutionary experience of our fore- fathers with that of the Russian Re- volution, unite the class-conscious workers and the farmers under mili- tant Communist leadership, crush the} bourgeo: and build a working class republic. “Price of Progress.” When Lovestone spoke of the hun- dreds of thousands of unemployed workers who form long breadlines along the Bowery, Mann said there were marvellous opportunities in this country which make it possible for “a man who is poor one week to become rich the next,” and explained that “the breadlines are the price of progress.” Lovestone pointed out that nowhere in the world are workers so intensely exploited, or become old so quickly as in this country. He quoted Prof. Ir- ving Fischer, professor of economics at Yale, as estimating that 93 per cent of the people in the United States live below the standard of decency set by government statisticians. “In no country in the world are workers slaughtered, maimed, crip- pled and killed as in this great democ- racy which is cursing us today,” Lovestone declared. “There are more of our workers killed in industry each year, than there were killed while America was in the war, as the price for stock dividends.” Mann urged his audience not to believe Lovestone’s estimate of con- ditions here, for, he said, “never in the history of the humar race have so many opportunities been available to everybody as now.” To prove his contention, Mann said, “I ask you to believe it, because I believe it with all my heart!” In answer to Lovestone’s assertion! that the great wealth of the United} States is concentrated in the hands | of a very few. that 15 per cent of the | j peonle in this country own, 90 per cent of the wealth and 25 people no: sess 82 ner cent of the railways, Mann | declared, “It®s not true thot wealth} can be measured by railroads and: banks. It must be measured, rather, | by spiritual things like mother-love.” | When Mann lauded the courts of the United States, cries of “Sacco and} Vanzetti” came from the audience. | He aioreieer ed the challenge, how- | “Does America Need a Revolution?” ever, and Lovestone demanded that he answer: “Why are government troops used to shoot down workers? Why do we have long breadlines? Why are in- junctions used only against workers? Why is the right to organize and strike denied? Why are the blackest | butchers everywhere supported by American gold? “Why are Americans bombarding an unarmed and defenseless people in Nicaragua? Why do 93 per cent of the people of this country live below decent standards? Why are farmers foreed to give up their farms and move to the cities? Why are Negroes treated like chattel slayes? Why does American industrialism kill more peo- ple than in any other place in the world?” Lovestone asked. In reply, Mann pleaded for “faith” and “love.” He didn’t know about Pennsylvania, but in New York there is free speech, he said. As to Musso- lini, and the injunction is the fruit of 14 or 15 years of legal experience,” he | said, “and I am not prepared to an- swer. that question now, but we be- lieve in law,” he said. Blames Republicans In referring tc living standards, Mann declared that it was hard to live on low salaries in New York because Tammany “jacks up taxes,” but in Philadelphia, where the re- publicans are in control you can live in pretty good shape on these salaries. “Every American is endowed with a sense of humor, and we can hear | things that would incite European mobs to murder, and all we say is, ‘some baby, where does he get that way?’ We believe in work, and so/i are attended by the ‘angel of self- respect.’ } “As to the rest of the questions, I don’t know the answers. I’m not pre-| pared to answer them. But,” he con- cluded facetiously, “if you don’t like it, elect Mr. Lovestone president!” In summing up, Lovestone declared, “We propose to fight for everything that helps the workers and hurts the capitalists. 100 ner cent of the wealth | | is produced by the workers, and 100 per cent must go back to them. In i the Soviet Union this is not only a theory, it is an accomplished fact. Tf our revolution is slow in starting, we will make a quick finish, and this country will be ours in a real sense!” Prior to the debate, Morris E Taft appealed to the workers present to help the striking miners. Bertram D. Wolfe, director of the Workers School, acted as chairman. nose of paying high salaries to “or-) ganizers” who keep out of the fields which they should organize. To Organize. | “Likewise, we shall organize our forces in these districts for the strug wla to clean out the treacherous of- fieials who have secured their offices | hy counting out our real leaders whom} we have duly elected and maintain themselves by shameless collusion) with the bosses, and with all the| forces “of reaction, so that we may! ance more regain the union for the} membership and make it the power for defense of our interests which it ones was. “We are with you. “Clean out the corruptionists. “Win the strike. “Save the union. send this relief directly through the committee you have established (the Penna. Ohio Miners’ Relief), so that it shall reach you rather than those ‘who exepend the funds for the pur- “Save the Union Conference, “STANLEY DZIENGELEWSKY, ‘Chairman, “GEORGE PAPCUN, secretary.” ny egresyod T.U.E.L. To Hold Theatre Party The Yiddish Art Theatre, 12th St. {and Second Ave., has been taken over fdr a performance Thursday night of ' the play “Thieves,” by the Trade Union Educational League sections of the Joint Board of the Cloak and | Dressmakers’ Union. The. proceeds will be used to help; pay for a membership drive which the’ League sections of the various locals! will start soon. Tickets for the theatre party can be obtained at the offices of the “we have no use for him here, | STRIKE NEAR‘AS [, R. T. FIRES TEN MORE UNION MEN (Continued from Page One) one man, Pat Connolly, expells mem- bers without a txal or hearing; then the company which uses Paddy Con- nolly as a mere rubber stamp, fires the men for being expelled from its own pet creation.” No Help Here. In the meantime, union officials were still seeking their long promised interview with Jimmie Walker. The mayor who is known to be working hand in hand with traction interests continued to play their game by stall- ing off the meeting another day. The excuse he gave was that he had an appointment with a dentist. While the mayor makes such lame excuses, workers are being fired, the union is being struck a dangerous blow, and the ranks of the men are being de- moralized. This is the purpose of Walker’s delay. The next step, it is believed, which the traction-controlled mayor will make is to stall off action by means of “conferences” with the union offi- cials. The mayor will pretend to be very considerate and sympathetic just as he was in 1926 when the striking motormen went to call upon him. He will stall off all action long enough for the company to prepare its. full attack, On Saturday The DAILY WORK- ER carried a warning to the thou- sands of, traction workers who are now readnig this paper. The DAILY WORKER has a duty to perform to the working class and especially to the traction workers in this critical hour. Must Strike. It repeats this warning more em- phatically now. Its predictions of two days ago have already been borne out. The DAILY WORKER said Saturday that the Interborough traction ‘offi- cials had only contempt for such a “reasonable” policy as the Amalga- mated officials are boasting about. This is seen in the discharge of 10 more of the -best “key” men on the lines, No self respecting worker or honest labor leader will permit workers to be fired without using the only de- fense weapon possible under the cir- cumstances: a strike. Same As 1916. This situation is not a new one; the game being played by the trac- tion barons with the conscious or un- conscious support of the union offi- cials is almost step for step the game played in 1916. Wor this reason The DAILY WORKER reprints here a few paragraphs of the history of that per- iod: (The Interborough had made an jagreement to recognize the union.) “From the very first moment it be- jcame evident that the Interborough jhad only/agreed to a settlement in order to gain time for its customary union-smashing preparations, Yellow Dog Contracts. “Yellow , dog, individual contracts were distributed on the lines imme- diately as the union officials had agreed to arbitrate the differences which still remained between them land the company. Workers were \forced to sign these yellow-dog con- ‘tracts on the pain of dismissal. Scores were fired for refusing. The men jcomplained to the union, but Fitzger- ald, the Amalgamated vice president in charge, hesitated and did nothing. “In the meantime the Interborough began the work of herding its strike- breakers with feverish haste. The men were all for immediate action. But the Amalgamated officials with their ‘reasonableness’ and ‘modera- tion’ and ‘desire for arbitration’ showed themselves unfit to save the situation by a proper policy. Spontaneous Walkout. “Fitzgerald permitted the days to go by with verbal charges of ‘bad faith’ on the part of the company. The Interborough proceeded to build quarters in which to feed and house hod ree its strikebreakers and estab! eruiting stations in the principal el- ties, particularly in Binghampwwn and Chicago. “In the meantime the traction workers had begun a_ spontaneous walkout by the hundreds in protest at being asked to break in’ strikebreak- ers. Four hundred mechanics quit work at Van Cortland Park when or- dered to build barracks for them, Still the union officials dallied. ‘I advised against a strike,’ Fitzgerald reported, ‘because I gave my word to Mayor | Mitchell that we would not act with- out giving him a chance to return from Plattsburg.’.. (Now it is Walker!) Could Not Reach Mayor. “The mayor could not be reached either by telephone, wire or messen- ger... “A few days later the Interborough introduced the company union... . “Pi sid still delayed while hun- dreds of, workers were leaving the lines.. In ‘his way the 1916 strike was lost. The DAILY WORKER warns the Cloakmakers’ Joint Board, 16 W. 21st St., from the various league secre- taries, and at the box office of the theatre on the night of the per- fokmanen traction workers not to be deceived by the present tactics of the city offi- cials with their labor leader allies. De- mand immediately the protection of the uriion members. Demand a strike in defense!