The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 14, 1928, Page 2

| AGAINST COFFEY | __ Me ~ * hour day, five day week. 1 While the miners were star - democracy in the union, crushed the Committee, will elect officials from - vention must work qut new policies in THE DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, MONDAY, MAY 14, 1928 " aur ae ™ ca | District Twelve Miner Defies Expulsion Order of Lewis-Fishwick Machine LOCAL UNION 705 REFUSES TO ACT > Declares He Will Stand (Special to The L SPRINGE fiance of th officials and their was hurled at these of Coffey, prog ive miner union No. in a letter Walter Nesb District 12. cently taken by Cx has refused to expel him at the order of the district officials. Coffey, most activ Union mo received a the Fishw’ expel him from the ur In a letter to s presses his pigeons and | shwick machin’ pulsion policy als by L. A. loca. of e of the cating that seeking to it, Coffey ex- the “stool- who are pre- tending to “proceed along the lines of the constitution” in se ng to expel him, The letter follows: e “ 15, 1928, Belleville, Ill. “Walter Nesbit United Mine Worker of America Springfield, Il. “Gentlemen: “Received your document, It ap-} pears to me that your henchmen and stoolpigeons of loca! 4638 would pro- ceed along the:line of the constitution and prefer charges against me in my Jocal union. Chance of Snow Ball in Hell. “I realize that appearing before this board would be like going to law with the devil and holding court in hell. ‘Aoi “J will continue to be a member of the U. M. W. of A. in spite of your expulsion—L, A. Coffey, Local Un- jon No. 705.” ILLINOIS MINERS -READY FOR MEET Special Convention To Oust Officials (Continued from page 1) a@greemenis of various kinds have been signed by the Fishwick machine. The members were not permitted to vote upon these temporary agree- ments, which have given away all con- tions won by the hard struggles of the past. This separate, temporary agreement policy was begun by Frank Farrington while he was on the pay- roll of the Peabody Coal Company in 1922. This present policy was not authorized by the International or District Convention, nor put to a referendum vote of the membership. The union officials, the Lewis and Fishwick machine, are responsible for this destructive policy. The load- ing machine contract forced upon us “helps to destroy conditions. It throws ‘daily more men out of work v thousands are now unemploye We Must establish a tonnage rate with division of work and fight for the six- whole policy of the bankrupt Lewis-Fishwick Machine is one of destruction of the » Union. In 1922 the union fields pro- » duced 70 per cent of all coal mined. ‘Today the organized fields prodece|} ‘only 30 per cent, while almost 300,- 000 members have been lost. To maintain itself in control of the union the Lewis-Fishwick machine} has resorted to expulsion of the miii-|, tant rank and file figh local unions and whole districts, steal- ing of votes, packing of conventions and on top of it all, piling up enor-| mous salaries and expense accounts, mig. “The Lewis and Fishwick machine will. not call special conventions to ‘consider this emergency in the union and take steps to Temedy it. They have destroyed all expelling Progressive voices, and now carry ‘thru mass expulsions. Miners to Take Control. The District No. 12 special conven- tion called by the Save-the-Union the rank and file who are for the rank and file, and will take care of the union. The special district con- line with the interest of the member- \To Save His Own Neck if | To prevent a thorough investiga- that the | Standard Oil Company may have | with the Teapot Dome scandal, John D, Rockefeller jr. « (below) called upon Robert W. Stewart, | chairman of the Standard Oil Com- | pany of Indiana to resign. Young Rockefeller took this action as a gesture after it had been proved in court that Stewart received $750,- 000, one quarter of the famous Continental Trading Co. melon. TEXTILE PICKET LINES INTACT Mill Committees Lead Walk-out (Special To The DAILY WORKER.) NEW BEDFORD, Mass., May 13.— Active leadership of the textile strike by the Textile Mill Committees was jcortinued yesterday with the contin- uance of picketing under the direction of the committees, Angelina Taoupreas under bail on a charge of assault arising out of a picketing demonstration in which she and Christina Simones were arrested, appeared on the picket line again yes- terday and was greeted enthusiastic- ally by the other workers. One of the mill bosses drove his automobile into the picket line and barely missed in- juring a number of workers. He was saved from possible injury by speed- ing up his car and escaping. Issue Statement. In a statement issued yesterday by Thomas F, McMahon, reactionary president of the United Textile Work- ers, he sought to convey the impres- sion that the 30,000 striking textile operatives have been brought under the influence of his organization since the so-called &Smalgamation between the American Federation. of Textile Operatives and the U. T. W. It is known, however, that the attempt of the A, F. of L. bureauerats is to di- vide the or; ized from the unorgan- Ct and thus to play into hands of the bosses. The Textile Mill Committees will fight this at- tempt, it is understood. * « tion of any ‘connection Socialists Bless Fakers. The blessing by the socialist party officials the attempt of the A. F. of L, officials to betray the strike of the 30,000 textile workers in New Bedford is seen here in the announge- ment that Norman Thomas, socialist candidate for president and August Claessans, one of the officials of the New York organization, will address a meeting of the U. T. W. Council here Monday afternoon, Thomas and Claessans will speak from the same platform as McMahon, one of the blackest reactionaries in the labor movement and one who sought for a year to break the strike of the Pas- saic workers. Bakery Drivers in Ship.. It must work toward helping win the Pennsylvania-Ohio strike, to fight for a national agreement, fo fight against wage cuts, to fight for the organization of the unorganized, to fight for the six hour day, five day week, to fight for control of loading machine operation, and aboli- _ tion of penalty clauses and docking system and to fight for the building of a real miners’ union, which will establish real conditions for the mem- bers. The rank and file membership have demanded this special convention. The rank and file will rule it. Elect your gates to this convention. Send eredentials to the secretary of the _, District No. 12, Save-the-Union Com- Capital Win Increase WASHINGTON, May 1.—Several of the biggest baking companies in Washington have yielded to the bakery wagon drivers’ demand for an increase from 88 to $40 a week. The drivers, members of teamsters’ local 88, threatened to strike. Jobs for Votes BALTIMORE, Me., May 13.—On the eve of the primary election here, a large group of Negroes were put to work in the street cleaning depart- ment in an attempt to rally the Negro votes to the republican party. COMMUNISTS TO STAGE CAMPAIGN IN FORTY STATES |Interest Aroused in May 25 Convention (Continued : The abolition of and the estanlishment of Jorkers’ and Farmers’ government eae Wisconsin State Convention (Special to The DAILY WOR. i will be launched here by the Workers (Communist) Party, according to ay statement issued today by B. Sklar | secretary of the Wisconsin sub-dis-| trict. A state nominating convention wil! take place here Sunday, May 20 at 9.80 a. m. at the Party headquarters. {802 State St. Regular and fraternal delegates to the national nominating in New York will be convention chosen, Appeal to Militants. “We are appealing to all militam labor and farmer organizations of the state of Wisconsin,” the call reads “Rally under the banner of the Work- ers (Communist) Party, which is your Party. Over 4,000 workers and farm- ers cast their votes in “1924 for the candidates and the militant program of the Workers (Communist) Party. This number must be doubled or trebled this time. Come to the con- vention and help to accomplish this.” ws 8 Maryland Active. BALTIMORE, May 13.—A splendid achievement has been accomplished by the members of the Workers (Com- munist) Party in Maryland in com- plying with requirements of the elec- |tion law. Two thousand signatures of qualified voters must-be filed by minority parties to qualify them for ja place on the ballot. Maryland is a southern state in which prejudice jagainst radicals is very strong and | € lf RADIUM CORP. HOLDS UP | CASE OF DYING WOMEN right to sue the United States Radium TO PROTEST KUN ARREST AT MEET Demonstration Called in New York (Continued from page one) world with the sanction and even open support of the imperialist powers. “All over the world workers are rising to protest against this threat- ened murder of one of the bravest of their leaders. Everywhere’ workers are holding m&ss meetings demand- the immediate release of Bela in. “New York workers only a few months ago witnessed an official wel- come for the agents of the black Horthy-Bethlen government. Tam- many Hail and Wall Street bowed and scraped and took to their bosoms the hangmen who murdered thou- sands of Hungarian workers and peasants and are now getting ready to murder Bela Kun. lit is therefore difficult to get signa- tures. | A law recently passed provides! | that signatures must be filed not later | |than May 7. This provision was not | generally known, with the result that} all the smaller parties were caught off guard and failed to file in time. Although our party was among those caught without warning, the enthusi- asm of the workers who rallied to the call to “Put the Party on the Ballot” was so great that they overcame all | difficulties. The following extracts from the re- port of Louis Berger, campaign man- ager, speak for themselves. 1,900 in Two Days. “At our general membership meet- ing held Friday, May 4, the comrades | realized the seriousness of the situa-| tion and went out and in two days | brought in 1,900 signatures bringing | our total up to 2,371 when only 2,000; were required. We must say that this | is a marvelous achievement for our} Party in Maryland. In fact it is a historical feat as we have tried twice before with plenty of time to do it in and yet failed.” + * Banquet to Greet Delegates. The special campaign committee se- lected by the District Executive Com- mittee of New York has arranged for a banquet to greet the delegates to the National Nominating Convention The banquet will be held Sunday, May 27th, at the Workers Center, and will be limited to 500, of which there will be 250 places open to Party members Reservations must be made in advance [ at the Workers Center, 26-28 Union Square, in order to secure seats, as the’ number is limited. The price per ticket will be $1.50. The delegates tc the convention will be guests at the banquet. 15 Trusts Control 80% of U.S. Power During 1927 control of the power industry was concentrated through 828 utility changes. Eighty per cent of the national production is now in the hands of fifteen, holding and op- erating groups. This amounts to 60 billion kilowatt hours out of 75.1 bil- lion produced in 1927, The first five companies contro! half of the whole production. These include the Electric Bond and Share Insull, Northeastern, North American and Byllesby interests. The desire to defeat the Muscle Shoals and Boulder Dam proposals and make competition from them impossible, is one of the reasons for the large expenditure in political campaigns by the power com- panies. New California Child Labor Law in Effect SAN FRANCISCO, May 12.—Un- der a new child labor law which has just gone into effect in California, the employment of children where they are required to come into close contact with moving machinery has been prohibited. Children are also forbidden to work on construction work or in delivering commodities from vehicles, \ “Workers, only the mass power of jthe workers of the world can save) [nternational Relief Is- Bela Kun. Only the united threat of all the workers will cause the capi- talist class to pause in its bloody designs, The International Labor De- fense, which fought to save Sacco and | Vanzetti, calls on all militant work- ers and working class organizations in New York to help save another leader of the workers by joining in great mass demonstration in Union | Square Saturday, May 19th, at 1 p. jm.” HOOVER'S SLUSH FUND GOING UP Now at $300,000; Smith “Didn’t Tell All” WASHINGTON, May 13. — Three hundred thousand dollars instead of | $250,000 are the revised figures of Herbert Hoover’s pre-convention slush fund. This is the amount that will be admittedly spent to secure the repub- lican nomination for Hoover, accord- ing to ex-Congressman James W. Good, rotund Herbert’s principal man- ager, in his testimony Saturday be- fore the senate committee which is conducting a so-called investigation into the campaign expenses of presi- dential candidates. “Never before” has a national cam- paign been conducted “at such small expense,” Good said, pointing to the huge ‘funds ‘collected for would-be presidents in the past in an effort to} minimize the more than a quarter million that is being spent to put Wall Street’s great flood control expert in line for Coolidge’s job. -Good deprecated. Governor Al Smith’s slush fund figures as given by -his..New York’ state campaign eee tepa ray George R. Van Namee, and intimated that Van Namee “didn’t tell all” in estimating Smith’s fund at $103,310. He stoutly maintained that he himself had told the whole truth, despite the fact that on the second day of his testimony he found it ad- { _, New Oil Seandal Seen in Standard Oil Control of Salt Creek 4 Graft that may over- . shadow the Teapot Dome scandal may be revealed if a retl investigation is made of the valuable Salt Creek oil field, above; near Casper, Wyo., which has been leased by the government to oil companies con- trolled by the Stand- ard Oil group. The Senate Investigating Committee is trying to prevent an investi- gation, NEWARK, N. J., May 13 (PP).—Five women slowly dying from radium poisoning, may be in their graves before the New Jersey courts rule on their Corp. for compensation. The women workers, instructed to use their lips to paint brushes with which they were painting watch dials | with radium solution, unknowingly absorbed lethal radium in 1922. It | was several years before they became j aware of the effects of the poison as | it slowly ate its way through flesh {and bone toward their brains. On July 19, 1927, they filed petition to sue the radium corporation after | that company had claimed the statute of limitations exempted it from re- sponsibility. Hearings were set for Jan. 12, 1928. Then they were ad- journed until April 2. Radium at- torneys were given another delay un- til April 25. Then they woh another adjournment—until September 24. In the meantime two of the women are in a critical condition and may be dead by fall. The case of the others is becoming steadily worse. Medicine has not yet discovered any cure for radium poisoning. URGE CAMPS FOR WORKER CHILDREN sues Call © The Workers International Relief | issued a call today for aid in its drive to establish a children’s camp for workers’ children. It urged every or- ganization in the city to elect dele- gates to represent them at the com- ing W. I. R. Children’s Camp Con- ference, which will be held at Irving | Plaza Hall, 15th St. and Irving PI. on Wednesday, May 28, at 8 p. m. All matters pertaining to the build- ;ing up of a workingclass children’s ,camp will be discussed and acted ‘upon at this meeting. } The call reads in part: “Workers’ | children who live under poor and un- | healthy conditions must have a chance to breathe fresh mountain air for at least a few weeks, The average camp with its high rate offers no such op- portunity. Workers’ children must ‘therefore remain in the hot and sweltering city, unless we help. “Most children’s camps (Boy and Girl Scouts, Settlemént Camps, Char- ity camps, ete.) instill into the minds of the children ideas hostile to or- ganized labor. It is exactly this that the Workers International Relief children’s camp is counteracting. The Young Piuneer Camps, that have done such excellent work in the past, are now affiliated with the W.LR. and preparations are under way for a much larger camp than ever before. “A real up-to-date camp, where hundreds of children will be accomo- dated at cost and where proper food, | physical care, as well as mental exer- | cise with a kick to it that will make them better fighters for labor’s cause is our aim.” Bosses Oppose Anti- Convict Labor Bill WASHINGTON, May 13.—Profit- eers in convict labor are maintaining a huge lobby in congress to obtain the defeat of the Convict Labor Bill which would place convict-made goods visable to revise some of the figures |that is shipped into a state with anti- he had given the previous day. convict labor laws under the jurisdic- tion of these laws, HORTHY FASCISTS) Cootidse Prosperity JAIL MILITANT BELGRADE, May 13, — Reports] tics. WASHINGTON, May 13.—Fifteen cents an hour is the munificent wage paid for unskilled labor in the South Atlantic states, according to the United States bureau of labor statis- This is the prevailing rate in from Budapest. annoynce that the} the leather, saw mill and general con- young worker Muranyi, who volun-|tracting industries, tarily returned to Hungary after his flight into Jugo-Slavia, has been sen- tenced to from four to seven years in the Hungarian jails. Spy on Militants Muranyi was charged with having] MONTREAL, May 13.—Officials of held a minor office in his local coun-|the National Union of Seamen have cil during the Jugo-Slavian occupa-|been flocking to this city to discuss tion and with having been active in}]the matter of forming a spy system the labor youth movement. against progressive rank and file ac- His case has been bandied from one| tivity aboard ships. Havélock Wilson court to another for several months,| head of the union, J. Knight, of Lon- his heaviest prior sentence having|don, and R. F. Bell, who controls the en seven months, x :New York office, will confer tonight, \ THOUSANDS LIVE IN HOVELS HERE Workers to Vote Sup- port to Communists (Continued from page one) for 24 years, they have both had to work so hard during that time that they have had no opportunity to learn English and ean scarcely make themselves understood to English-speaking people. At pres- ent Droglia is out of work and is wondering where the next rent will come from. Fortunately the 17- year-old daughter is working. The $18 a week that she gets in a skirt shop, working every day from eight in the morning till six in the eve- ning, keeps starvation from the door. And the baby can get milk sometimes. ee ON the second floor live Louis and Bessie Ackereizen and their fam- ily. There are four children, a boy of- 18, and three girls, 14, 8 and 8 years old. The boy, Sam, works as a shipping clerk in an East Side factory at a small salary. The father is a pocketbook operator, but work is irregular. This family of six is crowded into three small rooms, dependent on the meagre wages of a boy and a father whose employment is: uncertain. One of the oldest residents of 174 Orchard St. are Ben and Dora Fogel, who have been living on the first floor for 14 years. They have four children, a girl of 17 and three boys, 15, 11 and 8 years old, none of whom are working. Ben Fogel is a pantsmaker, but he is another of the numerous victims of the in- troduction of labor-saving machin- ery under the capitalist system. A worker by hand during the 23 years he has been in this country, he has now been left without a means of livelihood. He has been looking for work for many months, while his wife, in order to earn a few dollars, looks after the tenement, for which the landlord pays her a small sum. * * b A BLEAK tenement is 174 Orchard St., with narrow stairways and dingy, dilapidated halls and rooms, There are many 174 Orchard Sts., and worse thruout the East Side. They: are generally inhabited by Jews, Italians and other immi- grants, workers who are being pushed against the wall in the bit- ter economic struggle. It is estim: ated that one-third of the popula- tion of New York City lives in houses that were built prior to 1901, and thousands of these are con- demned to spend their lives in the tenements of the East Side. “Housing reform” is one of the favorite topics of Tammany Hall oratory during election time. Sewer and street-cleaning graft, subway sellouts, corruption of every kind —this is the real program of Tam- many Hall and its two chief ser- vants, Al Smith and Jimmy Walker. More workers of the East Side than ever before, after so many years of bitter experience with the “housing reform” of Tammany Hall, are go- ing to protect their own interests in the coming elections by voting for the only political party that fights for the workers against the bosses and landlords, the Workers (Communist) Party, Austrian Fascists For Moral Welfare VIENNA, May 13.—A leaflet, pub- lished by the Young Pioneers, urging all children to fight against corporal punishment in the schools, has been banned by the authorities, according to a report from Voitberg. The authorities justify their action Py the statement that the leaflet “by playing on their natural impulses en- dangers the moral welfare of the children.” . Textile Unions to Merge PATERSON, N. J., May 13.—A conference was held at the Alexander Hamilton Hotel, of representatives of the Associated Silk Workers of Amer- ica and the United Textile Workers of America relative to a reunion of the two organizations, bringing the associate members back into the American Federation of Labor. A. J. Muste, dean of the Brookwood Labor College, presided. A NORTHEAST HAS 60%, OF FACTORY WORKERS OF U.S, South and West Gain Slowly in 25 Yesrs By LELAND OLDS, (Fed. Press‘. Emphasis on industrialism in the south should not blind us, to the fact that nearly 60 per cent of the factory | Workers are still employed in the imiddle Atlantic and east north cen- ‘tral states, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin have retained ‘the dominant position in manufacture ‘which: they had 25 years ago, the gains in the south and on the Pacific coast coming chiefly at the expense of New England. |. These, facts are brought out in a | National Industrial Conference Board |survey of the, regional growth of /manufactures based on census statis- |ties. The survey shows that the northeastern section still has more than twice as many factory workers as all the rest of the country put to- gether, and that it produces more than 70 per cent of the total factory output measured in dollars. Big Increase Since 1899. In 1899 the middle Atlantic and east north central states had 2,678,- 166 of the country’s 4,712,763 fac- tory workers. By 1924 the factory workers in these two divisions had increased to 4,833,838, slightly more than the total for the coyntry in 1899. In the same period the total of factory workers increased to 8,384,- 261. Within this tier of states the center of factory population has shifted west, the proportion of the |middle Atlantic to the country as a whole falling from 84.25 per cent to 29.71 per cent while the proportion of the east north central rose from 22.77 per cent to 27.95 per cent. The following figures show the number of factory workers in 1899 and 1925: Fectory Workers 1899. 1925 New England .. 851,908 1,122,216 Middle Atlantic 1,604,j44 2,491,089 E, North Central 1,073,322 2,842,799 WNorth Central 266,051 452,820 South Atlantic .. 458,344 838,834 E, South Central 177,208 855,995, W. South Central 113,388 265,160 Mountain ‘ 44,497 100,374 Pacific. 123,206 415,179 Total... ve. 4,712,768 8,384,261 Percentage Falls The number ‘of factory workers east of the Mississippi increased from 4,165,621 in 1899 to 7,150,883 in 1925, but the percentage of workers east of the Mississippi to the country’s total declined from 88.4 per cent to 85.3 per cent. In this eastern region the northern states showed an in- crease from 3,530,069 to. 5,956,054, but their proportion fell from 74.9 per cent to 71.0 per cent. In the south the total increased from 635,552 to 1,194,829 and the proportion from 13.5 per cent to 14.3 per cent. West of the Mississippi the factory workers increased from 547,142 in 1899 to 1,233,378 in 1925 and the pro- portion of the total from 11.6 per cent to 14.7 per cent. Thus over a 25-year period the gain west of the Mississippi was more extraordinary than in the-south, The increases in factory workers in the section between 1899 and’ 1925 were.New: England, 31.7 per cent; Middle Atlantic, 55.2 per cent. East North Central, 118.3 per cent; West North Central, 70.2 per cent; South Atlantic, 83 per cent; East South Central 100.9 per cent; West South Central, 133.9 per cent; mountain, 126.6 per cent and Pacific, 236.9 per cent, i Mine Relief Workers | Are Imprisoned Here (Continued from page one) Court, and given a suspended sen- tence. Like sentences were given to Louis Bortz, Josef Frum and Fred Gurowitz, who were all arrested at Fulton Street and Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn and taken before Magistrate Healy in the Magistrates’ Court of ‘Brooklyn. Yesterday, Olga Miller and A. Kuckler, collecting for the Youth Conference for Miners’ Relief, were arrested in Williamsburgh, Brooklyn, and brought before the Magistrates’ Court, which held them for.this morn- ing, saying, “You've no right to col- lect; the A. F. of L. is attending to miners’ relief!” ‘ To Investigate Growing ' . Unemployment WASHINGTON, May 13.—An. in- vestigation of the growing unemploy- ment crisis will be made by a senate sub-committee as a result of a favor~ able report on, the LaFollette resolu- tion by the Senate Committee on Education and Labor. This is obvious- ly a move on the part of the repub- lican and democratic parties to keep the jobless workers satisfied until: after the presidential election, The sum of $15,000 was provided for expenses and the approval of th» audit and control committee is nov "awaited.