The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 5, 1928, Page 6

_ South America, to completely crush every vestige of opposition | to its predatory policies, so that it may have a free hand to de-' fend‘its investments in other parts of the world by force of arms, Page Six THE DAILY WORKER Published by the NATIONAL DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING ASS'N, Inc, Daily, Except Sunday | 43 Ficst Street, New York, N. Y. Cable Address. SUBSCRIPTION RATES By Mail (in New York only): By Mail (outside of New York): €°.00 per vear $4.50 six months $6.00 per year $3.50 six months $2.50 three months. $2.00 three months. Phone, Orchard 1680 “Daiwork” is ‘Address and mail out checks to _ fBE DAILY WORKER, 33 First Street, New York, N. ¥. ..-ROBERT MINOR ...WM. F. DUNNE mail at the post-office at New York, N. ¥., under the act of March 3, 1879. A Solid Front Against Lewis It is no accident that a United States senate committee has recently been roaming the coal regions of Pennsylvania under the pretext of investigating conditions that produced the heroic and bitter struggle of the miners of the Pennsylvania-Ohio region against the Mellon-Fisher interests. Nor is their visit to the strike region a result of a demo ie yearning to eliminate the tyrannical rule of the coal baror They are there because the strikers and the advanced section of the working class that has supported the strike have proved that they cannot be crushed by the combined terror of the police, the courts, the private armies of gunmen and the vicious Lewis machine combined. April 1st is approaching—the date on which expires the sep- arate agreements imposed by the John L. Lewis machine upon the miners in Illinois, Indiana and other places. On that date— the first anniversary of the beginning of the strike in Pennsylva- nia and Ohio—the “Save the Union” committees urge a strike of the miners of Illinois, Indiana, Kansas and the Southwest. Although delayed a year by the infamy of Lewis’ separate district agreements, determined action by the miners of these districts, even at this date, will defeat the Lewis policy and enable the union to achieve victory over the coal barons in every organ- ized field. “Save the Union” conferences have been held in many dis- tricts in the mine regions of the country. These conferences are streams that will sweep into a mighty flood at the national “Save the Union” conference called to meet at Pittsburgh, Pa., on April Ist, creating a national directing center for a solid front against the Lewis machine. In the call for the Pittsburgh conference, issued for the “Save the Union Committee” is the clear appreciation of the fact that one of the most effective weapons against that blight upon the miners’ union—the Lewis machine—is to wage a determined fight against the mine owners in the so-called organized territory and to organize the unorganized miners in the non-union territory. Lewis and his henchmen perceive the danger that faces them. They know by the returns of the last elections that the overwhelm- ing majority of the membership are opposed to them. Just as they have used intimidation, terror and deception to prevent the consolidation of the rank and file resentment in the past, so they will utilize their bureaucratic machinery against the April 1st conference. But they will not succeed this time! The Save the Union committee has specifically warned against yielding to the auto- eratic dictates of Lewis and his machine. If local union meetings are prevented; if disruptive tactics are used, the militant miners should form local committees and send delegates to the Pittsburgh conference, so that it will be really representative of the mass re- volt against the mine barons and their agents at the head of the union. The senate committee visited the Pittsburgh district in order to head off this mass revolt; in order to secure a fake settlement before April 1st so that Lewis and his masters, the Mellon-Fisher combination, could continue to enslave and tyrannize the coal dig- gers of that region, and at the same time leave the miners of other districts to fight their battles alone. The Pittsburgh conference will create on the scene of the heroic struggle of the miners a central force that will shatter the Lewis machine and lay the basis for a revival of that spirit of struggle that made the miners’ organization the very backbone of the American labor movement. The efforts of the miners at Pittsburgh will have the un- stinted support of hundreds of thousands of other trade unionists in the United States, who realize that the menace now threaten- ing the United Mine Workers of America endangers every other union in the country. ~ Assistant Editor.... ered ee second-class Impertalistic Insolence Now that the sixth conference of the Pan-American union has passed into the history of yankee imperialism the vassals of | Wall Street representing especially the bloody Moncado govern- |‘ ment of Cuba, the lackeys of the Diaz regime of Nicaragua, and the agents of the Panaman government should have to face the fury of the masses who suffer under the horrors of dollar despot- ism. Those | spectacular agents of imperialism from other countries, who sat in the conference and listened to the imperial- istic insolence of Charles Evans Hughes, head of the Wall Street delegation, should meet a similar fate. The Pan-American union is nothing but a bond of va$saldom in the hands of American imperialism. The outstanding char- acteristic of the sixth conference was the desperation with which the United States is trying to consolidate its power in Central and ‘and continue its ravages against other parts of the world. Just as American imperialism wages a fierce fight to destroy all vestiges of militancy on the part of the working class at home in order to consolidate its rear in preparation for the next imperi- alist war, so it tries to wipe out all anti-imperialist opposition in the Latin American countries, which it regards as another sector of the rear. Equally victims of imperialism, the working class and the exploited and impoverished farmers of the United States | have a common interest with the workers and peasants of the, southern republics. From Mexico to Cape Horn the masses should fight for a policy that will result in a formidable Latin-American anti-imperialist bloc against the United States and here, on the, very soil in which yankee imperialist insolence has its roots the working class should wage an anti-impreialist struggle against the Wall Street government so that every predatory war against | tolonial and semi-colonial peoples will be defeated and the armed hordes of American imperialism forced to get out of those coun- tries and stay out. THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, MONDAY, MARCH 5, 1928 “PUBLIC WORK” FOR UNEMPLOYED VOTE FOR ( By Fred Ellis By KATE GITLOW “| ADIES first,” they say in Amer- ica. Let us examine as to where the working women come first. She is first 4o work longer hours for less pay than men get for the same work. This is not because the working women want to work longer hours for little pay. It is because the bureaucrats in the American labor movement do not consider that the working women need to be or- ganized in trade unions is small compared with,the number of wo- men in the trades. We might as well say that the working women in America are not organized at all. The reactionary labour bureaucrats turn their attention to the organizing of working women only when the women. in great numbers invade the particular trade, and the breakdown of the union is threatened. In’ most cf the unions where the working wo- men are organized, they are not or- ganized on an equal basis with the men, Thi: is the way women are treated in Democratic America. Let us analyze the way in which democracy is put into practice for working women in America. A re- view by the Secretary of Labour Davis in Washineton and the studies made by the Women’s Bureau of this denartment on weges, hours and con- ditions of working women in indus- try in several States of America prove that the women .work long hours for little pay. ssippi, only 3 percent of hours per day. In Tennessee only 6 nercent and Delaware only 15 per- cent have a working day of 8 lours or less. For the long hours of toi! in Mississippi the earnings per week of a white woman are $8.60, for a | Negro woman $5.75. In Tennessee $11.10 for a white woman, $6.95 for a Negro woman. ™ Delaware for white women $11.50, in factories, stores and laundries; $1015 in hotels and restaurants, and $9.50 in can- neries. The weekly wages of Nezro women restaurant workers in Delaware is At school the class was having a lesson in history about Abraham Lincoln. The teacher said that he was a very great man because he freed the Tinited States from slavery, and added that he was not as Lenin, ,the hypocrite, who wanted to free Russia in order to become rich and famous. My friend’s boy, 10 year old, stood |up immediately and said: “The writer ef this history is a big liar. Lincoln didn’t care sgmuch about the slaves. \He wanted to help the northern capi- | talists. They couldn’t stand compe- tition with the southern capitalists en account of the cheap slave labor there. But Lenin not only wanted to ffee Russia, he wanted to free the |whole world from capitalist slavery. { -) The Position of the Working Class Woman In the United States $10.75, while the great bulk of Negro |being made for a working woman ‘women work in canneries at a weekly |about to give birth to a child. She expense of $5.25, The Negro woman |is given four months rest with full 'g women work 8 and less| is less paid than the white woman |pay, for the same work. two months before and two months after child birth, besides Another important study made by |money is given to her for baby’s the Women’s Bureau was of 3,285 |¢lothes, extra money for milk for women, who suffered injuries in ac- |herself during the nursing period for cidents during employment in Jersey, {nine months. Ohio and Wisconsin States showed In capitalist America the working that 15 were killed, 586 suffered per-; woman has to provide everything manent disability. In an interview with 285 of those women to learn what adjustments they have been able to make as to indemnities, medi- cal rehabilation, few of them have secured satisfactory indemnities. The working women are the most eppressed of all workers and are the prey of the capitalist greed in the United States. American capitalism thrives on exploitation. Who cares where the profits come, from women, from children, and who cares if they are injured or killed on the job. When a working woman is injured on the job in America she must sue the boss to get indemnity, an expen- sive process. The low wages re- ceived by working women in America make it impossible for them to hire legal aid, and in America there is no other way of arguing a case in the capitalist court. The boss has the money to hire the best lawyers, to pay. the doctors to testify against the injured workers. And above all, the canitalist judges are at the service of the boss. When working women, if they get sick or injured on the job, they suf- fer untold misery in America. How different are the conditions of the working women of America with the working women in Soviet Russia where the workers are the rulers of the Government and the manarers of the factories where they work! In Soviet Russia the working women are orgarized in the trade unions together with the men on ar vaval hesis, with equal pay for equa! work, The working women in Soviet with the men workers, full pay dur- ing sickness and injury, free medical attendance, vacation with full pay) from 2 to 4 weeks. The special needs of the women are taken into con- sideration. _ Special provisions are ‘FREEDOM’ IN THE SCHOOLS “Lenin died a poor man and many a person who knew him told that he would even share, very often, his portion of food with starving chil- dren, Such a kind man he was.” At once the boy was taken to the principal and his mother was called, be sent back to Russia for giving such information to her boy, The boy. was told that if he ever again made such a specch in the class-room, he would be expelled from school. Besides, he was told not to listen to his-parents, who were “Bolsheviks.” This boy used to get for his school work and test the highost marks. But after this incident, he got the lowest marks of all and at every possible occasion was punished. —A WOMAN WORKER. | recruits, and the conditions at Slocum tells * of conditions ‘ u od i aes Sa ia receive all benefits together |, herself. Wages received by the great have to worry on the job whether her low that they hardly provide for the bare necessities of daily life. The consequence is that when a working woman loses her job, or gets sick or injured, or is about to give birth to a child, she is in a desperate posi- tion. Often the working women give birth to a child on the job, as hap- pened frequently in the textile mills of Passaic before the big strike. In such circumstances the working wo- men in America are confronted with the greatest. hardships, facing hun- ger, cold and loss of home. In Amer- ica when a worker loses his job or is sick and can’t pay his rent he or she can be thrown on the streets. The law gives the right to the land- lords who own the workers’ homes, to throw out the workers on the street when thy are unable to pay rent. Specially during industrial de- pression when great masses of work- ers are unemployed, workers’ families can be seen huddled together in all kinds of weather on the sidewalks with their humble belongings. This is the protection that “demo- cratic’ America gives to working women. IN THE ARMY. NAVY This column is conducted in the in 83 East First St. New York, N. Y. * MORE ABOUT SLOCUM. (Continued from last Saturday) The casual’s time is taken up con- tinuously from six in the morning until practically six at night. This ‘does not include the K.P.s who work longer. Not only do the men get long hours of drill, but rather than let them rest, the officers take up any {spare time during the day by mon- otonous talks. Old Barracks. even some of the officers are com- plaining, altho there is no rush to im- prove things. There are about 40 to 50 men in each barrack, and about 90 .per cent of the men have colds be- | cause the building is so old that it can jnever be properly heated. The bar- ‘racks were erected in 1888, and of \cheap material et that. This explaina why the “two blan- 'kets” mentioned are not enough for the men, as .hey might be in well- built, well- heated buildings, Fear of Officers. The casuals are always in fear of the non-commissioned officers as well as the commissioned officers. This is because the recruits are never told of their rights, even tho some of the regulations are supposed.o give them certain rights, atleast tomaka com- plaints. He is always threatened by the officers, and they hammer away at him until he becomes like a puppet and afraid to look an officer in the eye. This is his first lesson in be- coming “a good soldier.” Passes are very limited, especially at Slocum. Out of about 100 men only four or five are allowed to go to town, and these only if they pass inspection, know their general orders, special orders and all the orders of the post. Afraid of Desertions,: The reason they are especially strict in giying the casuals passes is be- cause they know that a large num- ber of these men would desert if they go to town. First, they are all new The barracks here ate so bad that | -truiting bunk about the service. terest of servicemen and ex-servicemen and all letters dealing with conditions and experiences in the army and navy will be gladly printed.’ Contributions should be addressed to DAILY WORKER, The name of the writer will not be used. ° are so bad that many would give a lot for a chance to get out. Second, ‘they are all waiting for shipment for their “three years” in the tropics, and the army doesn’t want to give them any chance to make a getaway before they get them to their outfits. The biggest-proportion of the men receive no passes from the time they come here until their transport leaves, \Whether it be a week, a month, or jlonger, More later. The worst is yet to come, the trip down. According to a previous serviceman here it is a trip worth describing. . “CASUAL.” | RECRUITS IN CELLAR. To The DAILY WORKER: | I want to tell you a little story about Slocum, as I see you have al- ready printed something about the rotten conditions here. It seems that they are what they call “just overcrowded” here. There are about 1400 here now, altho more are coming every day. So some of the latest arrivals are being put into the cellars like sheep, next to the toilet. You see they don’t even have to worry about any board of health out here, The truth is they are all freezing, as there is no steam heat there, of course. But they will get lots of heat when they get to the tropics, | I hope to write you more after we get to our outfits, as I am glad to see that there is one paper which is willing to print something besides re- We are very “busy” now getting ready to sail March 1 on the army tORRRDOLE “ ” H eee “RECRUIT.” | HELL IN PANAMA. Editor of DAILY WORKER: © In_a recent issue of The DAILY | WORKER there is a letter from an ex-sailor of the U. S, in the navy. \N., where he Troops Live Thru Hell In Panama know that in reality conditions are blacker yet than they appear on the printed page, however this has to do with the U. S. army: “The best army in the world!” Why They Join. There are three classes of men who join the army. First there are the young fools, mostly boy scouts who do not know what to do with them- selves and join for the sake of patrio- tism and adventure, These soon find out what army life is, then call to papa and mama to get them out, as they are underage. When this can- not be done they get themselves out by the nearest route: “Over the hill they go!” Second, there are the jobless work- ers, hungry, who have to choose be- tween the army and the river; and third, there are those, workers, too, who have the law after them for some reason or other, and are thus forced to join. Defended Union Hall. When I joined the army I belonged to this third group of those who have to join. My crime was that a year before, together with other workers, I had defended our union hall, in a town down south, when attacked by a mob of “law and order” minions, Everything is offered to a man to make him join. Among these things- are good food, good pay, sports, a chance to learn a trade, and what not? It costs the recruiting officer little to make these nice promises. But once he is in they make him for- get these things, and mighty quick, too. Goes To Panama. Together with about 300 young fel- lows I was sent to the Canal Zone to serve my three years. Three years of hell! Life in the tropies in the army is a terrible thing. There is drilling for a ‘half a day, every day. There is work with the pick and the shovel or the chopping of trees for the rest of the day under the blazing sun. Then the food is disgusting, coffee and a hunk of cake, or flatjacks and molasses and coffee for breakfast; then beans and slum and now and then a little roast beef, but never enough of any of these rotten dishes. Pay Goes Fast. The $21 which the soldier gets in pay is not enough to buy decent food at the post restaurant. However, sometimes the commanding officer compels the soldiers to buy uniforms of better grade than those supplied by the government so that they will look nice on parade. To do this about $5 is taken out from every man’s pay for five or six months until the uni- form is paid for. The discipline is very tough. For the least thing a man is sent to the guard house for a month or two. While he is there he loses his pay. The officers do what they please with their men, and woe to the man whose face or manners fail to please some particular officer! They will get him sooner or later. Case of Private “M.” I will now give you an illustration. Private M. of the 63rd Service Squa- dron of the Air Service, stationed at France Field, Canal Zone, failed to please his officers and N. C. O. Why, I don’t know? He was a hard working man but he never went run- ning after any one to wag like a puppy. Instead he was very inde- pendent. Well, they gave him all the dirty jobs around the place and in the end they “got him.” Framed him up shamefully! Crude Frame-up. One night M. came from the town with me. He was very drunk and I put him to bed. That was about 12 o’clock, He went to sleep dead as a 1og. His bed was next to mine. A few minutes later I heard a terrible hoise and jumped out of bed to find the N. C. O. in charge of quarters to- gether with two friends, standing over M. and making every one in the bar- racks know that he had “caught” M. with a fellow who slept three beds away from mine. The guards came and M., dizzy and not knowing what had taken place, was led away and put in the guard house. I realized the frame-up but could not even dream it was going to end the way it did. Seven Years Hard Labor. M. was tried before a general court martial and. sentenced to seven years hard labor in a military prison. He is now at Fort Jay, Governors Is- land. They did not call me as a witness, and when I told the top sergeant of the squadron that I knew the man was innocent, and that I should be called to tell what I knew, he told me that if I knew what was good for me I should keep my mouth shut. Many Desert. You don’t see any news in the pa- pers about desertions from the army, out there are many, far too many, to please the authorities. In three years, from about 600 men who were in the post, about thirty went “over the hill.” Three of them took their pistols with them and stole a pleasure boat belong- ing to an officer. They were never caught. Of those who went down there with me about fifteen deserted, seven died, and over fifty got out with © the help of their families, and the rest of us got out at the end, and can be sure the army won’t see again! ‘Never mind a OREOR rice »