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

vat Page Two { Flint, Michigan Jumps Into “Daily Sf 2 4 S THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 1928 SEAMEN FRAMED." AND JAILED BY U.S. (Continued from Page One) port of Bi Again / ined to chief engineer, this time with wit- nesses of the assault, but was order out of the engineers office. While the n were eating room on the day rut the second as-) sistant engineer id another petty | officer walked into the me: hall, | strode over to where I s eating | and began to slug me,” A > said. | Austino Defends Self. elf however. dinner in the we anchored at Austino defended hi Both of the petty officers were given | surgical treatment when the tight was over. But Austino was arrested by a squad of poli and taken off | the boat to the American consul of-| fice. In an effort to wring a confes- sion of “mutiny” out of him, he was tortured. This failing, it was decided | to frame a case against him. } “A trial was ordered,” he continued. | “The consul acted as judge. Ameri- ean business men wi impaneiled as a jury. And an attorney was as- signed to represent me. But the lawyer argued against appealing to} my friends in America for funds toj obtain legal aid of my own. Frame-Up System Used. “At the consul’s headquarters I de-| manded that the other workers in the| mess room be summoned wit-| messes. Instead a third petty officer| was brought in to swear that I slashed the two officers while they were trying to stop a fight that they said I started.” The jury of superintendents of| American business interests in Syria} found Austino guilty of ault with| S. intent to kill and a five-year sentence} was imposed. } Transferred to U After serving almost a year in the | foul Bierut jail, Austino’s friends; here succeeded in getting an order of | transfer to Atlanta Penitentiary.| Chained hand and foot, Austino was} taken to Marseilles, France, and led} aboard the navy cruiser Marblehead, where he was kept chained in a slimy cell deep in the ship’s hold. “The only relief I got from the almost unbearable heat and smell in the cruisers’ brig was when several officers came armed with bayonetted guns to take me to a bath a few times during the 22 days it took to reach Boston,” Austino said. “Several pails of cold water were thrown over me, and with the chains still on my feet I was led back to my cell. The shackles were not taken off when I slept. Serves Full Time. “From Boston I was led handcuffed to the federal prison, where I served | the full term in spite of numerous letters to Attorney General Sargent appealing against the frame up. My letters were never answered.” An- other letter to the consul in Bierut was answered, however. This letter demanded that the con- sul return $75 in pay coming to Aus- tino at the time of his arrest and other personal property taken from him by the prison authorities. The consul answered that the $75 in pay was used to pay for his board in the Bierut jail and that his personal be- longings were being shipped to the tvarden under separate cover. The nly personal b: that were eturned were a h inscribed m the back w CW: W.” and sev ary pamphlets. Other value, which did not tend to incrim-| articles of imate Austino as a class conscious worker, were never returned he added. CONSUL IN SYRIA” Talk of Union to Better || Conditions; Locked Up j; the | f@ revolution- | acconaiead ‘ i at Anti-Horthy Demonstration Rudy Arnold, (left), photog-| | rapher for the ' New Graphic, was} seriously burned | when his flash powder explod- ed during the antiy - Horthy d e monstration recently. The explosion occur- red shortly be- fore the police | and reserves charged the demonstrato r s, BUSINESS PROSPERS AS WORKERS STARVE By SCOTT NEARING (Federated Press). 1927 was a banner year for American railroads. system, the largest in the United States, showed.higher earnings than in any previous yeare~A number of oth CALL TO WORKERS OF ACW IS ISSUED ::: Convention Program Is Announced (Continued on Page Two) [statement of the expelled workers; democracy in the union; the shop delegate and committee system; amalgamation; and a Labor Party. The statement says in part: Union Heads Work With Bosses. “Our union was organized in the! struggle against reaction United Garment Workers as well as| in the labor movement in general and | was the vanguard of a class struggle policy in the American labor move- ment. At that time our union was in reality a powerful weapon in the hands of the workers in their strug- | gle against the bosses, But the pres- ent leadership has transformed our | once fighting union into a production | agency for the bosses—into a com- pany union, | Standards of production, piece work ! |and reorganizations are forced upon’ |the workers with the aid of the pres- jent administration of our union. | Tens of thousands of workers in jour trade remain unorganized. In.! stead of uniting our ranks for the | purpose of organizing the unorgan- | ized the officialdom is expelling and ‘ |persecuting all those who demand the jorganization of the unorganized. In- stead of amalgamating with the other junions of the needle trades they give | |fullest support to the union wreckers , lin the labor movement and thus they | further the split in the ranks of the | needle workers. Urge Rank and File Fight. At a time when hundreds and thou- {sands of tailors are facing starvation there is no fund that would relieve their need to some extent. But there | is a fund for the purpose of helping the bosses at the expense of the workers. Their policy is peace under all cir- cumstances with the bosses and carry on a war against the workers. Sisters and brothers: If the com- ing convention will not change the |policies and tactics of our union. The {machine candidates for delegates to the convention will never make the Ineeessary changes. The rank and file, the large mass of tailors, who are suffering from the inhuman speed up system in the shops are the only ones who can change the policies of the union by electing left wing and progressive delegates, who will fight |to reverse the shameful policies of 4the union misleaders, When Rammed Sub Smothered Scores of Men The above picture, taken inside the S-4 shows the rent made by the Paulding when it rammed the undersea craft. ae Owing to insufficient equipment, more than two score men were trapped in the sunken boat and smothered. Any account of th tragedy writ> ten by the victims during the days in which they were slowly strangling has been mysteriously lacking. cF in the | bonds. | ous, The Pennsylvania ex-nailrdads did equally well by their stockholders. Twenty industrial corporations turned over profits to their stock- holders that totaled $676,000,000 in 1927. General Motors headed the list profits of $235,000,000; Amer- ican Telephone and Telegraph came next, with profits of $129,000,000; the U. S. Steel Corporation followed with $63,000,000 in profits; then THOUSAND NEW. rere’ MEMBERS JOIN WORKERS PARTY EOE 2 Lenin-Ruthenberg Drive Is /Suecess - (Continued from Page One) new militant shop papers which are now appearing regularly. These are “The Kodak Worker,” Rochester, N. Y.; “The Bethlehem Steel Worker”, Baltimore, N. Y.; “The Mascot”, Pierce Arrow Co., L. I.; “The North- Western”, Metal works, Chicago; “The Packing-House Worker”, Kansas, and another to appear this week in the brass mills in Waterbury, Conn. Campaign Extended. “These papers, in addition to the regular party press, are the best means of acquainting the workers with their conditions as well as fight- ing to better them,” said Stachel. “They are also a means of reaching workers who do not know the Party press. “So great has been the success of the Lenin-Ruthenberg drive in general that it has been extended to May first, It is expected that this addi- tional period will bring equally great results.” . * “ Colo. Miners Join. WALSENBERG, Col., March 26.— A new unit of the Workers (Com- came General Electric with $44,000,-|munist) Party was organized here 000. The profits of the Woolworth| Corporation were $35,000,000; of the| Texas Co., $29,000,000; of Sears-Roe- | buck $25,000,000; of Allied Chem- icals $21,000,000; of American To- j bacco $19,000,000; of International | Harvester $18,000,000. These figures| do not ‘represent all of the unearned | income paid by the corporations be- cause they do not include interest on Bank profits were equally gener- The National City Bank of New| York earned 27% on its capital.| Chase National Bank 22%; Guarantee| Trust Co. 37%; American Exchange Bank 20%; Bankers Trust Co. 47%; Commercial National Bank 26%; Equitable Trust Co. 20%; Central Union Trust 72%; First National 54%, and so on through the list. That is one side of the picture.| Big railroads, big business and big banks enjoyed a prosperous 1927. Many Business Failures, Twenty thousand two hundred sixty five businesses failed in the United States during 1927. Most of them} were small fry. Here is a typical} week. Out of 385 failures, 290 or 75% had a capital of less than $5,000; 65 or 17% had a capital from $5,000 to $20,000. Thus more than 9-10ths of the failures occurred in businesses with less than $20,000 capital. Of the entire 385 failures only 2 were for more than $100,000 and no one of the businesses had a capital of more than $500,000. Record Amount of Failures, This is another side of the pic- ture, Little business men had a raw time during 1927. There is only one year in the entire history of Amer- ican business (1922, with 22,415 fail- ures) when the number of failures exceeded 1927. During the past 5 years the total number of business failures in the United States was 98,019 and of these more than 9-10ths were operating on a capital of less than $20,000. Unemployment mounted steadily during 1927. By the end of the year there were more men walking the} streets in the U. S. looking for jobs| than there had been in any winter since 1 The total number is es-| timated at 4,000,000. Those workers who were fortunate enough to remain at work were producing more goods for less pay per unit of product than they had ever received in the whole history of their industrial experience 1927: prosperity for big business; multiplied disaster for little business; increased exploitation for those who live.on wages and small salaries | Here, in a sentence, is a 12-months’| economic history of rich, prosperous capitalistic America. SCORE when eight miners applied for mem- bership in the Party recently. All are native American workers. “The leaders cf the I. W. W., under whom the coal strike failea, are losing influ- ence among the miners here while the Workers Party, which is militantly reorganizing the miners, is continual- ly gaining ground,” declared R, Sho- han, of the Workers Party. * * * Oregon Unit Formed. ST. HELENA, Ore., March 26—A shop nucleus of seven of the Workers (Communist) Party was organized in a lumber mill here last week and it is expected that many others will join in the near future. Miners as well as lumbermen are becoming members of the Seattle district of the Party in appreciable numbers, FARMERS MEET TO SHIPSTEAD (Continued from Page One) Labor Party and will fight against him as a symbol of the fight for a genuine labor party. The A. F. of L. executive council endorsed Shipstead altho they did not endorse the Farmer-Labor Party. There are indications that the railrc brotherhoods will do the same. Wh ton, president of the International Machinists’ Union, and Keating, man- aging editor of “Labor,” have sent letters to every member of the union in the states of Montana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and North Dakota, defend- ing Shipstead, Wheeler, Frazier, La- Follette, and attacking Taylor and Wallace of the Plentywood Producers News, Montana, and also even Ma- honey of Minnesota as being too “red,” There are indications that the Lefts will have a fourth to a third of the total delegates, Shipstead was con- demned by several county conven- tions, including Hennepin and Minne- apolis, There are fights pending on the form of the organization, class the elected candidates, program and nominations, Cloak and Dress Makers Hold Meeting Tonight (Continued from Page One) Board is continuing with its plans to send a full delegation to Boston, At meetings of Locals 2 and 35, called last week for a similar purpose, a large proportion of the locals’ mem- bership signified their demand for an end to the destructive war by taking part in the nomination meetings. ® * * DONATIONS ARE “DAILY’S” NEED (Continued from Page Onc talists will sveceed in bleeding it to death with costly litigation. The contributions of the American working class have been the life blood of The DAILY WORKER. The DAILY WORKER is the American working class newspaper and the workers have preved it by the sacri- fices they have untiringly made for it Once, more they are given an oppor- tunity to prove their loyalty. to their elass paper. But the: “Daily” may die any day, the action of the Americar workers must be quick or their only militant voice will be stranglea. Workers. defend your pa- per. Contribute to The DAILY WORKER, 33 Tirst St., New York City. To Raise Defense Fund. The Joint Defense-and Relief Com- mittee, an organization of needle trades workers built for the purpose of fighting the provocations and legal | frame-ups engineered by the employ- ‘ers and the right wing since the | struggle of the left wing to rebuild ;the unions began, has issued a call to all progressive workers to buy the $10 bonds issued by them in a cam- paign to raise a fund of $50,000. The decision handed down by the Appellate Division denies the appeal of the left wing Cloakmakers’ Joint Board to set aside a vicious anti- strike injunction, obtained by the dress bosses. This, the committee says, sets a dangerous precedent for the appeal of the 18 left wing leaders sentenced for contempt of court which comes up April 13. In addi- tion to this, the appeal says, there are still many workers whose activ- ity against the bosses and union wreckers resulted in prison terms, and some who are still to come up for trial. Lewis and Friend | ! Rockefeller Testify At the senate coal, “investiga- tion” hearing, John L. Lewis, right wing boss of the United Mine Workers, and his satellites 4 referred to John D. Rockefeller, oil magnate and notorious foe of the workers, as “ourfriend Rockefeller Lewis admitted that a condition of terror exist- ed in the mine regions. CHICAGO, March 26.—Though un- employment is worse in Chicago than in any period since the postwar de- pression of 1921 the U. S. marine corps is finding difficulty in picking up rookies for its unofficial war in Nicaragua, Casualties and desertions in the Nicaraguan campaign and refusals te reenlist have made it necessary to re- open recruiting in Chicago and other cities. Of Chicago’s 200,000 unem- ployed only 6 men were attracted to enlist yesterday, according to the of- ficer on duty at the marine corps recruiting headquarters. Recruits are sent for 12 weeks’ training to Paris Island, off South Carolina, before shipping to the yel- low fever and bullet belt of Nicaragua to make that country safe for Wall character of the party, discipline of | Street. When a committee of the Chicago Council of the Unemployed inter- viewed Alderman Oscar A. Nelson, who is also vice president of the Chi- cago Federation of Labor, he advised them to get behind the public works bond issue to be voted on April 10. He also told them to quit knocking Mayor William Hale Thompson. * * * Coolidge Prosperity. WASHINGTON, March 26.—In an attempt to support President Cool- idge’s prosperity propaganda, Secre- tary of Labor James J. Davis has re- ported to the senate that there are only 1,874,000 unemployed in the United States and that everything is going nicely. This report is patently designed to bolster the republican party’s hope of retaining its control of the government in this year’s elec- tions. Reliable, non-political estimates on unemployment place the figure be- tween 4,000,000 and 5,000,000. The Coolidge government is not only doing nothing to relieve the hardships that have been suffered increasingly by the unemployed but refuses cynically even to recognize that a crisis exists. * * * Workers Displaced. WASHINGTON, March 26.—Appli- cation of modern machinery to indus- try is displacing millions of workers from their former jobs, according to the Journal of Electrical Workers and Operators for March. The official or- gan of the Brotherhood of Electrica! Workers finds that the changes in in- dustry, due to recent mechanization, are “fraught with real danger, at cer- tain points, to labor and the masses.” This age of machine industry, the article says, is characterized by the creation of vast unemployment, the rights of company unions and increase of accidents. Facts in support of these statements are produced from the power industry and many others. MINERS ANSWER MILITANTS’ CALL (Continued from Page One) uled meetings were dispersed by Gov- ernor Fisher’s state troopers. But the miners refuse to be intimidated. Thomas Robertson, a district five organizer, attended a meeting at Canonsburg on Friday, March 23 There were three hundred miners present. He proceeded to attack the National Miners’ Save-the-Union Conference on April 1st. Then he opened a broadside on the Pennsyl- vania-Ohio M'ners’ Relief Committee He threatened to cut off from offi- cial relief any member who had any connection with the P. and O. or anybody who voted to elect delegates to the Save-the-Union Conference on April 1st. Then a miner rose and called on all those who were against Lewis to follow him out of the hall. Out they went and left Robertson standing there with his fifteen henchmen, This is typical of the spirit that prevails thruout the strike regions. Without the aid of the state troopers and the sheriffs, Lewis and Fagan would not have a corporal’s guard to support them. \ UNEMPLOYED REJECT MARINE ENLISTMENT ; and | Saturday an open air meting will be CENTRAL TRADES MEET DENOUNCED Jobless Council Says Unemployed Ignored (Continued from Page One) The thousands of unemployed work- ers of this city are beginning to real- ize that the New York Council of Un- employed is effectively stirring up publie opinion on this issue both in- side and outside the labor movement. Demand Jobless Relief Fund. “The New York Council of Unem- ployed has consistently demanded the establishment of an unemployment in- surance fund and that such a fund be maintained by the city, state and national governments and that or- | ganized labor and committees of the unemployed be represented on the ad- | ministrative boards of such funds. It | has also demanded the immediate es- tablishment of public kitchens to feed the growing army of unemployed workers and homes with which to shelter them. “In the face of the disgraceful fail- ure of the Central Trades and Labor Council to carry out its responsibilities the New York Coungil of Unemployed will proceed with more vigor than ever |to press for the adoption of its pro- | gram.” | The council announced that mass | meetings will be held throughout the | city tomorrow at 101 W. 27th street | and at the Brooklyn Labor Lyceum, | 949 Willoughby Ave. Both meetings will be held at 2 p. m. | On Thursday at 2 p. m. an open air} | meeting is to be held at Military Park \ ‘in Newark under. the, auspices of the | Newark Council of Unemployed and | another at the corner of 138th street St. Ann’s avenue, Bronx. On held at the corner of Steinway and | Jamaica aves., Long Island City. An open air meeting will also be held Saturday at 1 p. m., at Rutgers Square. Williamsburgh Mine Conference Tonight A miners relief conference will be held tonight at 8 o’clock at the Labor Lyceum, 949 Willoughby Ave., Brook- i lyn to organize a Williamsburgh min- | ers relief committee. Delegates from unions. clubs and jiabor fraternal organizations are ex- pected to be present. | SPORTS“IN BRIEF National Subscription Campaign FORWARDS FIRST SUB ENVELOPE: PROMISES MORE Industrial Center May Rival Detroit Soon Flint, Michigan, a big industrial center north of Detroit is beginning to do its part in the big national sub- scription drive to add 10,000 new readers to The DAILY WORKER by May Day. With the arrival at the offices of the paper of an envelope filled with subscriptions, the Michigan center is definitely in the lineup for the big campaign. T. Adanoff, The DAILY WORKER agent in Flint, promises that the subscriptions will come in now with a rush and intimates that the work is only beginning. Flint is one of the most important towns in which the national subscription drive can be pushed forward. “Thousands of workers from scores of factories are eager to receive their only militant daily paper and free distribution should be arranged at once,” said A. Ravitch, circulation manager of The DAILY WORKER in commenting on the promising show- ing of the Flint section. With the organization of the sub- scription drive in Flint the results should rival the record of the Detroit workers before long. MINERS EXPOSE BRENNAN FORCES (Special To THE DAILY WORKER.) PITTSTON, Pa. Mar. 26.—Rank and file resentment against the forces of William Brennan, former president of district 1, has been rising here as a result of the Saturday night meet- ing at which delegates who met at Union Hall in Wilkesbarre and who had come to hear a denunciation of Cappelini and Lewis heard instead an attack against the Bonita-Moleski- Mendola Defence Committee. Brennan Stands for Lewis. Miners are saying openly that the Brennan forces have been all the while playing the game of John L', Lewis, arch-traitor of the U. M. W. A. It has become clear, some say, that: Brennan has been saving the fat for | Lewis by carrying on a fight against Cappelini who everybody understands is now eliminated from the picture. Informed miners are likewise point- ing out that the game of Lewis fs now clear. He has been using Bren- nan to eliminate the unpopular Cap- pelini. For this reason, miners say, Brennan has refused to state his po- sition on Lewis in spite of the pres- sure which has been brought to bear tpon him by the rank and file of miners to do so. Brennan Supports Contracting. From the remarks made by Bren- nan regarding the decision on the in- (Continued on Page Five) Bar Negroes from Local DETROIT, Mich., Mar, 26.—Negro barbers wishing to join the Journey- man Barbers’ International Union have been forced to organize a sepa- rate local, according to the decision of the International of the Barbers? Union. Race prejudice by officials of the America A. F. of L. is one of the chief evils being fought against by the left wing in the labor move- ent, ; The Labor Sports Union first an-!>to meet Gene Tunney for the world nual tournament held af Finnish Hall, 115 W. 126th St. Sunday was partici- pated in by 150 worker-athletes be- {fore an audience of more than 500. | Arrangements for an open air meet this summer will be made soon, of- ficers of the union announced yester- day. “The next move will be for the strengthening of the Labor Sports Union,” Jack Rubinstein, secretary of the union said last night. “Another conference will be held soon at which ‘time we will lay plans for building a powerful labor sports organization in this city.” The evening session of the meet opened with group calisthenics by girl members of the Brooklyn Fin- nish Club. It was followed by an exhibition on the horizontal bars by iraembers of the Workers’ Gymnastic Club, Vesa’ and Brooklyn Finnish Club. Work on the parallel bars by a group of 15 lead by Theodore Wein- stein was the next attraction. The meet closed with a séries of swimming matches. ‘ In the standing high jumb at end of the morning session, Honkala was first with 4 feet, 534; Ahola and Syd- anmas both jumped 4 feet and % inches. * * * That Johny Risko may be matched \ championship is the latest rumor in local boxing circles. Risko is due here today for an important conference with Jess McMahon, matchmaker for Tex Rickard. According to MeMahon, Risko will be signed for a long term contract, giving Rickard exclusive rights to the Forest City baker boy’s ring servicés for a final elimination, if one is necessary to determine Tun- ney’s next opponent. * .* * The latest Dempsey story is that Jack is refusing to sign up to meet Tunney because of Tex's refusal to guarantee him the amount of money he demands. According to the rumor, Dempsey was offered $250,000 for a third meet with Gene, but Jack just could not see into it. If the ante is raised t6 an amount more to Demp- sey’s liking a match hetween Gene und Jack will be the order of the day end results in all the other contend- ers immediateiy dropping out of the picture. i * * * The New York Celtics are the pro- fessional basketball champions of the world. They clinched the title by defeating Fort Wayne, western champions, here Sunday night by a scope of 27 tu 26 in the fourth game of the series. The Hoosipps won only one of the games. ~ Nets 4 o~