The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 15, 1928, Page 6

THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 1928 TEE DAILY WORKER | LIKES WARM BLOOD Published by the NATIONAL DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING ASSN, Inc. ; Daily, Except Sunday Lewis is Rakes in Fat Salary INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., March 14.— By JACK RODGERS, Phone, Orchard 1680 33 First Street, New York, CG ple Address: “Daiwork” SUBSCRIPTION RATES By Mail (in New York only By Mail (outside of New York): The financial report issued by Thomas , $8.00 per year $4.50 six months $6.50 per year $3.50 six months | Kennedy, secretary-treasurer of the $2.50 three months. | United Mine Workers of America for |the six months from June 1, 1927, to {and including December 1, "1927, re- Address and mail out checks to eeirens Editor.........0eeccereetectseees ROBERT * MINOR | Lewis, president of the International eee’: Assistant Editor.........-.-cs6+- WM. F. DUNNE Union drew in salary and expenses, | at a time when hundreds of thousands Eptered as second-class mail at the post-office at New York, N, Y., under THE DAILY WORKER, 33 First Street, New York, N. Y the act of March 3, 1879. Walsh, Mellon and Coolidge We said several days ago that Senator Thomas J. Walsh would not push the investigation from Harry Sinclair to the white of the oil graft fund all the way house. Walsh stopped even shorter than we predicted. Walsh not only stops short of inquiring into the activities of the titular head of the graft ring, the man who is the center of all the efforts to conceal the bri of the bribery—Calvin Coolidge. bery, the chief living beneficiary Walsh Tuesday stopped short before Coolidge’s chief cabinet member. Walsh fell on his knees before Andrew W. Mellon. With the absolute proof that Mellon had received $50,000 of liberty bonds from Harry Sinclair thro ugh Will Hays; with proof in Mellon’s own words that he not only received this portion of the bribe fund, but, also in Mellon’s words, that he wrote the check | | $2.00 three months. | | | | | |veals the startling fact that John L. of union miners and their dependents | | | | ing on the pittance of a few cents per |week per head given them in relief jing this period the headliners are, jin addition to Mr. Lewis: in Pennsylvania and Ohio were starv- ‘by the officials of the miners’ union, | | the sum of $11,098.66; $7,000 in salary | |and the balance in expenses. The enormous sum of $317,079.05 | was paid out to Mr. Lewis and the members of his machine on the in- ternational payroll in six months. This is $17,000 more than the total contribution of the American Federa- | tion of Dabor to strike relief since April 1, until this date. . Here Are Headliners, Of those who dug their arms up to | the elbows in the union treasury dur- Salary Exp. Total for $50,000 the exact amount which Hays requested as a means T. Kennedy $4,500 $1,694 $6,194 of concealing the bribery,—with all this overwhelming and damn- & MaEay 00 : ie bate ; 7 bag TG : re . A. Bittner r oL ing evidence, Walsh cringed before Mellon and said: hasees ae ean hers “I think all the members of the committee will agree that your | 1. 0. Gassaway 1,650 1,717 8,367 attitude in the matter was entirely creditable.” | | A, J. Lewis 1,580 573 2,853 What was Mellon’s attitude? * 1580 1,095 2,675 He received $50,000 in bonds, and ke concealed the fact until When the representatives of the Horthy regime of Hungary, known the world over as murderers of workers and W. Lewis 1,580 1,631_ 3,211 caught, after which he admits that he received it. He admits peasants, arrived in New York Tammany Hall gave them a hearty welcome, Pen ers aed that he took the $50,000 bonds home and kept them for an in- Fi A . 843 definite length of time. He admits he knew they were from Harry Sinclair. When asked as to how long he kept the bonds, Mellon answered in a stuttering, breaking voice: “I am not very clear. Just as I said, it may have been—it was, I suppose, a couple of days or something like that when Mr. Hays appeared” (after having sent Mell was perhaps a few days after that pretty hard to tell. I have no reco! “A couple of days” and then or it may have run longer” is the lon the bribery bonds), “and it or it may have run longer. It is rd, you see.” “perhaps a few days after that time during which the secretary of the treasury of the United States admits that he consciously held in his possession $50,000 of Harry Sinclair’s bribery funds. The most astute financier in the United States, in November, The need for organization of the unemployed workers of this, country, in order to procure speedy relief by mass demands, was yesterday stressed in a statement of the Central Exec- utive Committee of the Workers Com- munist Party. The statement follows: But this “normal” unemployment is periodically developing into large scale unemployment. Such a situa- tion prevailed in the United States in 1921 when six million workers were out on the streets in search of jobs. Capitalists are running industry for profit dnd not for the welfare of so- fope, etc. These imperialist exploits bring the American capitalists tremendously high rates of profit. Foreign investments are progressively playing a larger role in the activities of American capital. Since the home market ceases to bring high enough profits to satisfy the lust of Ameri- ment doing about it? What is the trade union bureau- eracy undertaking in this critical sit- uation? The answer is, they have done and are doing nothing to organize the workers for struggle. They have done and are doing all in their power Need for Organizing the Unemployed the country must join the unemployed in the struggle. The trade unions must fight for the establishment and further development of unemployed insurance in their respective in- dustries. This is necessary not only for the relief of the unemployed, but also for 4 ae . 3 7 shed ciety. Under capitalism, production|can capitalism, capital in larger|to weaken and demoralize still further|the protection of the trade unions. 1923, one month after the investigation of the Sinclair bribery ee HAs eee is planned by each capitalist or com-| quantities is ‘exported into’ other! the ranks of the working class. The unemployed in every locality - began, consciously received $50,000 worth of bonds, knowing they Spang Gi odRen playinee. SOC IAEES bination of capitalists for their own|lands, subjugating and © exploiting| The workers must resist this at-|must organize themselves into special were from Sinclair, took this portion of the bribe-fund home—|.caile. Once more the streets of the parr ane ae cs a better-| other countries, and laying the basis|tack of the capitalists. Ry haat tae ren pf unem- mes sons ae oe SP SY caer oy, ; ment of the conditions of the masses.|for new. imperialist wars. See what Must Fight For Relie! ployed, similar to the one’ organized bribery bonds, but kept the bonds “it may have been—it was I suppose”’ “might have run longer,” and on a length of time which he does not know and which December 6 he wrote the check requested by the bribe-fund distributor. But that is not all. Will Hays came to Mellon to £50,0C0 cash, in order to conceal t! exchange the bribery-bonds for he bribery of the Harding-Cool- idge administration of which Mellon was the chief cabinet figure. The investigation which was to pull down three of Mellon’s co- members of the cabinet, Fall, Daugherty and Denby, was under way when Hays came to Mellon with $50,000 of the loot and asked for $50,000 cash to cover it. Mellon’s stuttering statement that he returned the bonds need not be taken seriously. It d But since this is his defense—isn’t oes not alter the case if he did. it queer that all of the evidence that points to Mellon’s guilt is established by hard facts that can- not be disputed, and—Mellon’s on e bit of evidence offered in his defense is merely Mellon’s own stuttering word? That he returned the bribery bonds, when he does how long he does not remember! servant of his creator, the Standard Oil Co., when, at the end of | not know, after keeping them such testimony, he declared the exoneration of this chief member of the Coolidge graft cabinet ? Walsh and the senate committee “exonerated” Butler, chair- man of the republican national committee; but that was a smaller matter, even though Butler is Coolidge’s chief sponsor. Walsh fell on his knees before Mellon. Will the investigation go any closer to Coolidge—Coolidge who sits in the presidential chair, force of the bribery which Walsh No. All the world knows now wh run,” Walsh is running. as all the world now knows, by is “tracing”? y Coolidge does “not choose to The candidate who receives the biggest campaign fund will be elected this year, as always has been the case since the first known record of campaign funds. Those who put up the funds \ will own a democratic president just as they own the present re- a." president. \ Showing Class ing feet of hundreds of thousands of workers in search of jobs. But jobs are not to be found. Hunger and starvation, cold and misery, are again making their ap- pearance in thousands of working class families. While Coolidge and Hoover are prattling about prosper- ity, several million workers are total- ty denied the opportunity to earn a living and many more millions are employed part time. Whereas the rich are growing richer and the coffers of the Amer- ican capitalist class are literally bursting with wealth, the workers and their wive) W@ children are again doomed to a_period of worry, anxiety and anguish. The jobless in futile search of work. The worker who is still employed, in fear of losing his job. And the capitalist, as usual, is utilizing this situation to ent wages still lower, to weaken the unions still further and to worsen the conditions pipe, over 10 percent in foundries and machine shops, 11 percent in iron and steel, about 12 percent in lumber, etc. Why should workers whose brain and muscle have build up_ this gigantic economic system be humbled and humiliated in this outrageous manner? The answer is: the capitalist sys- tem. Capitalist ownership of the means of production. Capitalist domination of the govefnment. * profits For Bosses. The American capitalist class, the same as capitalism generally, is run- ning industry at a tremendously high rate of profit. To secure these high profits, in the face of the ever-sharp- ening competition at home and abroad, the capitalists are intro- ducing systems of speed-up, new machinery, and generally more in- tense methods of exploitation. The productivity of labor is increased tremendously. The introduction of these labor-saving devices creates a reserve of “superfluous” labor, a per- manent army of unemployed. A ceases to offer the capitalist suf- ficiently high profits, the capitalist slackens production. A recession sets in, Workers are discharged. Others are put on part time. Hundreds of thousands of workers find themselves on the streets without the means of livelihood. That is what is happening today. American capitalists are curtailing production. Tremendously sharpened competition on the world market to- gether with the critical condition of such basic industries as mining, auto- mobiles, oil, and the critical condition of the New England industries, are at the bottom of the present depression. Vicious Circle. But the American capitalists are not much worried by this situation. They have become great exporters of capital into foreign lands. From the late imperialist war, American capt- talism emerged as a first rate im- perialist power, penetrating and sub- jugating the countries of Latin- abolition of child labor, the Young Workers , (Communist) League of America has issued a complete set of demands in the unemployment sit- uation, included in the following statement to all District Executive Committees: League Statement. “The National Executive Commit- tee wishes to bring to your attention the question of unemployment which is confronting the league and which should receive your careful considera- tion and in connection with the league must carry on energetic activities. “A complete program on unemploy ment-is at present being worked out and will be sent to you within a few days, The NEC, however, discussed thoroly the question of our demands in the unemployment situation and reached the conelusion that it is nee essary to issue two sorts of demands; one set of demands to deal with the question fundamentally and the other one to be demands which we issue for the unemployed young workers im- mediately. The NEC believed that it Nicaragua today. The present industrial depression is responsible for the growing un- employment. The spreading unem- ployment in its turn is further under- mining the buying capacities of the working class. This is aggravating the industrial depression still more. Thus a vicious circle is created which may result in a prolonged industrial crisis accompanied by wide-spread suffering for millions of American workers. Resist Wage-Cutting The capitalists are taking full ad- vantage of this situation. They press forward their wage-cutting and union-smashing campaigns: They are making preparations for even wider attacks upon the standards of living and the trade-union organizations of the American working class. In this they receive the full support of the government which operates against the workers with injunctions, police, military, jails, etc. in dangerous occupations for all young workers. “4. The organization of the young workers into the trade union. The immediate abolition of all initiation fees and lowering the dues enabling the young workers to enter the trade unions. “5, Establishment of work schools in factories for the training of yoyng workers in industry. These work schools to be under the control of the young workers attending the trade union and the workers’ factory com- mittee. Young workers to receive full wages while attending these phlei schools. “You will note that many of tied coincide with the point adopted in our program for social legislation for young workers, and this conse- quently affords us an excellent oppor- tunity for popularizing our program. The second set of demands is as fol- lows: Bay Immediate Demands. Two dollars to be paid to all unemployed youngsworkers to be paid “y, uation is to fight for immediate and permanent relief for the unemployed. The American capitalist class and its government must be made to realize that the working class will not stand for the misery imposed upon it by the present industrial de- pression. The American workers will fight against it. The American workers will demand that the burden of the crisis he shifted from them- selves to the capitalists. Immediate government relief for the unemployed must become the de- mand of the American working class. The federal government, the various state and city governments, must be compelled to immediately appropriate and set aside sufficiently large sums of money to relieve the suffering of the jobless workers. : To compel the city, federal government to initiate im- ‘médiate unemployment, relief, the workers must organize and fight energetically. state and demands.’ “(b) Inside: Increase of amount to dependents of soldiers, main- taining full amount to soldiers. “In connection with Number 1, we set two dollars per day as the gen- eral national demand considering that the average wage of young workers is about $15.00 a week, and since it is impossible to demand in unemploy- ment doles, an amount equal to the average wage of the young worker. Consequently this demand is approx- imately correct. However, it may be modified in special sections, in indus- tries where the wages are appreciably lower or higher than our estimate. For example, in an’ industry where young workers uld ordinarily be practical service in the struggle for unemployment relief, These councils unemployed, to- gether with the le unions in each locality, must formulate and present to the local government concrete pro- grams for immediate Foliet, of the unemployed. Fight For Insurance. Unemployment is no passing event in the life of the workers under the capitalist system. On the contrary, it is a chronic and permanent insti- tution, degrading the lives of the working masses and exploited by the capitalists to fasten and strengthen their domination.. Unemployment will disappear only with the destruction of the capitalist system. For this reason, the workers of all capitalist countries have been fight- ing for the establishment of perma- nent unemployment insurance by the government. Such government un- employment insurance, though “inade- institution brutally exploited by the capitalists to degrade the’ whole working class, the workers must fight with redoubled energy for the establishment of government unem- ployment insurance. But this insurance must not be per- mitted to become another means, in the hands of the government and the capitalists to oppress and demoralize the workers. For this reason the workers must demand government unemployment insurance controlled by the trade unions, together with the organizations of the unemployed. Organizations Necessary. The Workers (Communist) Party of America calls upon the unem- ployed, the trade unions and the un« organized workers to organize and making $25.00, we could easily de- mand $3.00 in unemployment doles, but where the young worker is mak- ing only $6.00 to $10.00 a week, (tex- tile workers in the anthracite) it would be difficult even to demand $2.00 a day. * Districts should proteed immedi- unite their forces for a struggle against unemployment. ~ Unite and mobilize your forces against the cause of unemployment— oe capitalist one and Capeealiee le. Organize the Sinsheanlags and strengthen your unions to defeat the offensive of the capitalists. ‘ a x i" cent iti } tely to carry on work based on the “Mr. Ottinger has in view a grand jury panel made up of |Si™#l2™_ condition results from the|is absolutely correct to have these|by the local authorities as unemploy- kt Carry on a political struggle : see gro ty and ruin of the ex- i above demands, issuing leaflets, and b ‘ness men of the best type,” says a capitalist paper’s Albany Dloited eg ihe: aaoienltdval two kinds of demands so that we not! ment: dole. ab GhES OL ourae: one’ 'at ied: ee ee capitalist parties, or- pondent in describing Al Smith’s new plan to open up again rvestigation of the graft of the republican lady, Mrs. Knapp, « «cr Al's appointees had once allowed it to drop with a disagree- elle political sound. It is not often that the capitalist press lets slip an admission that “business men” are the ruling class. The grand jury as an institution is generally a hand-picked gang of business men for the terrorization of a community , Selected exclusively from the “best type” of bank accounts and from among the tried and trusted servants of such bank ace The particular business-man anew the graft of Mrs. Knapp will for befuddling saintly hokum. ‘ounts. grand jury for investigating function as. a class instrument e other classes with some more of Al Smith’s crisis in America has become chronic. Big capital, with the aid of the gov- ernment, is running business to suit the interests of the big capitalists, totally disregarding the needs and in- terests of the majority of the farm- ing population. The result is that large numbers of bankrupt farmers are driven to the cities in search of work, thus swelling higher the num- ber of unemployed. Unemployment is a “normal” insti- tution under capitalism. It has be- come a permanent institution in the United States involving more than a milion workers even in times of high production, only fight for relief and help and so on, for the unemployed, but we at the same time show that we make a more basic analysis of the situation and really offer a program for the entire labor movement, the entire working class, on the question of un- employment. 85 Fundamental Demands. “The first set of demands is as follows: “J, Six-hour day and_ five-day week for all young workers, “2, The complete abolition of child labor, without modifications and the state maintenance of all children at present employed “2. Free feed and clothing for the children of the unemployed workers —to be supplied in schools. “3. The immediate ‘establishment of work schools as explained above, in the automobile industry, steel in- dustry. “4, The establishment of youth center of an educational and social character, relieve the monotony of trouping the streets in vain search for work, These to be under labor control. “5. In connection with military forces: “(a) Outside: Issue slogan ‘Don’t be driven by unemployment portant means of activity is partici- pation in the councils of the unem- ployed by the Young Workers (Com- munist) League, and by the young unemployed. We should endeavor to have representatives of the unem- ployed youth on all the councils and have the councils adopt some of out demands in their program, The activity of the league should not be confined merely to participa- tion in councils. It must also carry on activity in its own name, such as issuing leaflets, calling mass meet- ings, giving league headquarters as’ gathering places for the unemployed youth, ete. ye ganize a political party of your a Labor Party, to protect and eto mterests of the workers. “ Organize Councils of the Unem. Grin, truasia: sesiaeh Staetagt struggle against unemploy- nt. Fight for the shortening of the workday and division of work. Fight for Unemployment Relief. Fight for the overthrow of the capitalist system under which unem- ployment is inevitable. a Fight for a Workers and Farmers La EXECUTIVE COM. MITTEE WORKERS (COMMU: NIST) PARTY. Stk a = During the months when Mellon was concealing his handling | of labor all around. America, China, the Near East, Eur-\ What is the official labor move-! . Every trade-union organization in sae, 1 BS present: Bperauae, as nearly every capitalist country. é of Sinclair’s bonds, Mellon himself was in correspondence with Low Level Reached. Only in the United States, with the the chairman of fhe investigation committee on the subject .of| Employment at present is about 15 richest and most powerful capitalist these same bonds, on the basis of the pretense of Mellon as sec-| percent lower than in 1923. It is al- oun or ers T e aa our a eats a ores Beth pg ' f i i Fs » in the depression retary of the treasury to be running down the income tax on the pr car Sh eee Mpa a sary . ha satie'ie tras oF all ‘ieee oF bee very loot which passed through Mellon’s hands—which Mellon |° acta Bat Gt HOH © Re aoTiebed 4 : . ’ cial: insurance. which the Aimerican took to his private home “because he had mislaid the combina-, (ith the last months of 1926, employ- ; ruling class-refuses to accept. tion” of his office safe. ys setsrey coc Nae a t i athe Demanding a 6-hour day, 5-day week) 3, The abolition of underground| and hunger into the army. Fight | With unemployment in the United ek ae magnh decreed nine. perbent.7i One fare ait young workers, the complete} work, night-work, over-time and work] for effective relief, set forth in our | States having become a permanent ed Does anybody believe that Walsh acted otherwise than as the | and tile, seventeen percent in cast iron