The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 24, 1928, Page 1

THREE NEW MINE ACCIDENTS BRING DEATH TOLL TO 250° ] THE DAILY WORKER FIGHTS: FCR THE ORGANIZATION OF THB UNORGANIZED FOR THE 40-HOUR WEEK FOR A LABOR PARTY Vol. V. No. 122. a jing Association, Ine., 83 Firat 8 NEW ACCIDENTS INCREASE MINE DEATHS TO 250 Open Shop Killings Unchecked Three more fatal accidents in scab coal mines in which explosions, fire and cave-ins took their tolls of new scores of coal diggers brought the sum of deaths since Saturday to about 250. Seventeen miners are known to have lost their lives following a blast in the No. 1 mine of the Yukon- Pocahontas Coal Company at Yukon, McDowell County, West Virginia. Eight lives were lost in a blast at Harlan, Kentucky. Four died as a re- sult of a cave-in in the Alpha shaff of the Consolidated Copper Mines at Kimberly Nevada. Failure to take proper safety precautions are in each ease given as the cause of the deaths. * * * Seventeen Dead in W. V. BLUDFIELD, W. V., May 23.— Thirteen miners are known to have been killed and four or more missing probably suffered a similar fate in a blast of the open shop No. 1 mine of the Yukon-Pocahontas Coal Com- pany at Yukon last night. The exact number in the mine at the time is unknown. The company is said con- sistently to have violated the safety laws. * * * Four Dead in Nevada. ELKO, Nev., May 23.—Four min- ers were killed in the old Alpha shaft of the Consolidated Copper Mines at Kinberly, near here, yesterday by a cave-in of materials which had been blocking the shaft for years. The company has persistently failed to take safety precautions. * * ee Explosion Takes New Toll. HARLAN, Ky., May 23.—An ex- “plosion in the Black Mountain Coal Mine near here yesterday took at Teast seven lives and probably more. The explosion which is said to have (Continued on Page Five) TOLERANCE GROUP CALLS MASS MEET Cloakmakers to Rally at Cooper Union After issuing an official statement Tuesday announcing their complete severance from the fake Sigman cloakmakers’ unions here, and their open affiliation with the National Or- ganizing Committee which is leading the campaign of the cloak and dress- makers to rebuild their shattered union, the Tolerance Group declared yesterday that its leaders have sent in their resignations as functionaries of the Sigman Locals 2 and 9. At the same time they announced, that they are calling a mass meeting of registered workers at Cooper Unign Monday evening at 6 o’clock. Disgusted With Sigman, The leaders of the Tolerance Group, until the close of the fake right wing convention of the International La- dies’ Garment Workers’ Union, held the chairmanship and membership on the executive boards of several of the New York right wing locals. After seeing that the Sigman and Schles- inger cliques had no intention of halt- (Continued on Page Two) Rea a a MANY RED POETS TO READ TONIGHT Freeman, Gold, Gordon on Program Some of the foremost revolutionary poets in America will participate this evening in the second annual in- ternational Red Poets Night, to be held at 8 o’clock at Labor Temple, Second Ave. and 14th St. The event, which has been arranged for the benefit of The «DAILY WORKER and the Workers Center, will be of true international character, with poets writing in various langu- ages reading their own work to a workingclass audience in which more than a score of nationalities is ex- pected to be represented. This unique event, which is modeled on similar readings prevalent in the Soviet [Radium Bosses’ ‘Viet Mrs. Edna Hussman, shown in the picture, is one of the victims of the United States Radium Corporation in whose plant she contracted radium | poisoning. The corporation has suc- ceeded in getting the case of five of the victims postponed until Septem- ber. Mrs. Hussman will die. One hun- dred other women will die with her, according to Katherine Schaub, for- mer instructress in watch dial paint- ing at the United States Radium Cor- poration, 100 MAY DIE OF RADIUM POISON “Faint Hope’ Consider- ed Another Ruse ORANGE, N. J., May 23. — What is regarded as a false hope that they may be abl) to bring the suit against tion for the apparently inevitable loss of their lives has been held out by vice-chancellor Backes, of Chancery Court, Newark, in a statement to the 5 women who face a lingering death as a result. of the radium poisoning. The statement is regarded as an- other ruse to throttle public interest in the case, so that the Corporation may never suffer the loss of $1,500,- 000. Interviewed by press reporters yes- terday, Katherine Schaub, one of the ldying women and formerly. an in- structress in the United States Rad- ium corporation, told reporters almost hysterically that at least 100 ofthe women she taught must die with her from the effects of the radium poison- ing. “Everybory I know of who worked in the place over a year has devel- oped symptoms of the deadly poison- ing. There are over a hundred. Fourteen are pedir fee dead.” BILL IS VETOE WASHINGTON, May 23.—The was vetoed today by President Cool- idge. Declaring that this mild mea- sure for so-called farm relief was ed daily except Sunday by The Nationa: Daily the United States Radium Corpora- | Worker treet, New York, N. ¥, NEWYORK COUNCIL DRAFTS BILL FOR JOBLESS RELIEF State, N. ational Bodies! \| to Get Measure Responding to widespread senti ment for unemployment relief exist-| ing in practically every section of the| organized and unorganized labor| movemdnt, The New York Council of| the Unemployed, under instructions from its executive committee, yester- day announced a city, state and na- tional drive for federal unemploy- ment insurance embodied in a specially prepared bill which the Council will) seek to have passed through all state, legislatures and through congress. $30 Per Week. Full wages up to a maximum of $30 per week as an unemployed bene- fit, a bonus to be paid by the govern- ment for immediate relief of those who are unable to wait for relief from legislation, and full protection without discrimination as to age, sex, color or occupation are the striking points of the new bill to be sponsored by the Council which for three months has been conducting a persistent and de- termined campaign preliminary to launching the final drive for the bill itself which is regarded as a sort of unemployed charter, a declaration of rights of the jobless. The terms of the bill provide that the funds to be paid will be raised through a 50 per cent charge on in- dustry and a 60 per cent charge on the government. The share of the i government to be secured by means of a graduated excess profits, income and corporation tax. In making public the details of the New York Council of the Unemployed, declared that sufficient interest has already been aroused by the prelim- inary discussions on the subject of un- employment insurance to indicate that the coming campaign will become one of the historic issues in American labor history. The bill as proposed follows: Federal System of Unemployment Insurance. Section 1. Persons to be Covered— All wage earners, male or female, en- gaged in manufacturing, mining, con- struction, lumbering, railroad and other transportation or trade, clerical work, farming, domestic service, federal, state or city government, or in any kind of manual, clerical or mental labor. No worker shall be disqualified from receiving insurance because he is engaged in: Casual labor, seasonal labor, is of minor age or has been re- fused employment because of a lock- out. No worker shall be disqualified from receiving unemployment insur- (Continued on Page Two) ADMITS BRIBE IN DONETZ PLOT (Special Cable to The Daily Worker.) / MOSCOW, May 23.—The highly-| paid engineer Beresovsky who was, the first of the accused examined in supplied information regarding the coal mining industry. He admitted that he had personally damaged the turbines causing the mine flood, for which he had received (Continued on Page Three) plan, John Di Santo, secretary of the the Donetz Basin conspiracy trial ad-| | mitted that he had had relations with) the former mine owners, to whom he, under the act of March 3, 1878. Outi HE DAILY WORKER. Gutered as second-cinss matter at the Post Office at New York, N. ¥~ NEW YORK, THURSDAY, MAY 24, 1928 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Im New York, by mail, $5.00 per year. 6e New York, by mail, $6.00 per year. Risk Lives to Rescue Yarns of Boss Greed at Mather Mine The picture shows members of the rescue crew at the Mather | mine Mather, | Pay where an ex- plosion, due to fail- ure of the owners to provide careful dusting, has result- ed in the death of more than 200 min- ers. Members of the local relief are shown feeding the rescuers. at | BAYONNE, N. J., May 23.—The scab Tidewater i “Company who wen JAIL TERMS FOR 5) Mass Meeting Hears Albert Weisbord BULLETIN. NEW BEDFORD, Mass., May 23. —The five New Bedford strikers arrested for picketing last week, were found guilty in the Third Dis- trict Court heré today, 3 of them receiving vicious jail terms. Two women, pickets, Angelina Tsowpreas and Christina Siniores, were sentenced to serve 6 months in prison each. The first had an additional fine of $45 imposed, and the second a fine of $20. Frank Cunha is to serve 30 days in jail. Mary Valente was fined $60; and Maria Silvia, $40. The International Labor Defense has announced that all of these victims’ sentences will be appealed to higher courts. « * * FALL RIVER, Mass., May 23.— | Despite a heavy. concentration of po- lice stationed in front of Franklin Hall, and despite the disruptive at- tempts of the officials of the Textile Council, the Textile Mills Committee succeeded in attracting the attendance of hundreds of textile workers to hear Albert Weisbord at their first or- ganizational meeting held yesterday in Fall River. With Weisbord, leader of ‘the Pas- saic textile strike of 1926 and ‘na- tional organizer of the T. M. C., as the main speaker, the Mill Commit- tee’s drive to spread the strike of 28,- 000 New Bedford textile operatives to the other tens of thousands of mill slaves who have suffered wage cuts in the past few months. Murdoch, New England secretary of the com- mittees and in charge of the work in New Bedford also spoke. at: the meeting. Great enthusiasm was displayed the workers who attended the meet- ing. Many of them were members of the American Federation of Textile Operatives, and came to the meeting| | contrary to the specific orders of their} | officials to stay away. The climax of | sentiment was reached when Weis-} bord in his speech called upon the| union members to immediately begin} ‘a fight in their organization for the} purpose of forcing their officialdom} | to hold a new strike vote on the‘ ques- tion of acceptance of the 10 per cent wage cut forced upon them by the mill owners and the Textile Council heads at the beginning of the year. TEXTILE PICKETS BETRAY STRIKE OF | JERSEY OIL WORKERS (Special to The Daily Worker) strike of the 2,500 employes of the t out last week against an intolerable speed-up system and against other evils has been “settled” in an act of | Sr ako Speen vos ala Re CORR Bae a REE betrayal by the company union dele-| gates. Forcing the strikers to vote blindly | for a return to work, these company union representatives who apparent- ly had been sent out by the company with the purpose of effecting the sell- out, brought in a recommendation Tuesday evening to accept the terms of the company which they declared were a “concession.” The conditions are a complete “sell-out” and were so designated by many of the workers. Instrumental in the betrayal, in ad- JOHNSON FOREMEN SPEEDUP WORKERS \40 Cents Js High Pay| in New Brunswick (By a Worker - Correspondent) NEW BRUNSWICK, N. J., (By| Mail) —The lot of the Johnson and} Johnson workers is unbearable. Why does Johnson pay so little for his workers while there are a whole flock) of idle drones who do nothing else| than speed-up and watch the workers? | The timers and timekeepers are the worst kind of chasers and speeders.) They being members of the working) class are a disgrace to their brothers.| When one of the workers goes to the iti the del: Cie te See aimee O- the company toilet, tho he comes back immediately union, was the mayor of Bayonne, a known tool of the Standard Oil Com- pany who acted as an “intermediary” and pretended to be a friend of the strikers. Warning against just such a be- trayal as occurred was earlier issued to the strikers by the Progressive Oil Workers group of New Jersey, with headquarters at 93 Mercer St., New- ark, A circular was distributed to the the workers. the big profits they squeeze out of to see how they can reduce their meagre wages, to even less than what} they are. It is a well-known fact that the | they ask him where he was. And they} do nothing but loaf around all day.) They lie down on the tables and watch{ They are kept up by} the workers for Johnson. They watch} role to be played by the mayor. Betray Strike. BAYONNE, May 23.—At a mas: meeting held Tuesday in Bayonne, during which Hooper-Cooper hall was jammed to capacity while hundreds (Continued on Page Two) ILLINOIS MINERS TAKE OVER UNION Vote To Oust Fishwick Machine at Meet (Special to The Daily Worker). BELLEVILLE, Ii, Illinois miners once more took control of their union when 249 delegates from 78 locals, assembled hére in special convention, voted to oust the reactionary officials of the Lewis- Fishwick machine and installed new officers which will take over the union in District 12, “Lewis-Fishwick- Nesbit Must Go,” were the slogans at the convention. George Voyzey, well-known pro- gressive leader of Local Union 413 was elected president of the district Luke Coffey, fighting president of Local 705 O'Fallon, was elected vice- president and Daniel H. Slinger, of Belleville was elected secretary-treas- urer. The greatest enthusiasm and spirit marked the convention which adopted a program of militant struggle for the organization of the unorganized (Continued on Page Two) and for the winning of the strike. TO JAIL 39 MEMBERS OF THE HROMADA, McNARY- HAUGEN Pilsudski Reg Regime Metes WARSAW, May 23.—Thirty-nine | members of the White Russian or- ganization “Hromada” were sentenced MeNary-Haugen farm “relief” pill|to terms of imprisonment ranging \of the When the sentence was announced the prisoners and the workers who Four former Ukrainian members of the Polish Sejm were sentenced to terms of twelve years imprisonment land hard labor, while four members Executive Committee of years at hard labor. The “Hromada” members were sen- | “unconstitutional,” Coolidge for the|thronged the court room began to |tenced in spite of a world-wide pro- second time upheld the interests’ of |sing revolutionary songs in spite of |test. WallStreet as against the esate the efforts of the court attendants to jan effort on the part of the Pilsudski The decision is interpreted as ime to crush all minority and mili- Out Savage Sentences to to Leaders| itant labor movements ‘in the country. Tha “Hromada” is an organization of White Russian workers and pea- jsants, Four hundred and thirty-five mem- from three to twelve years last night. |“Hromada,” were sentenced to eight |bers of the organization are still awaiting trial. * * The Committee against Polish Fas- cism is carrying on a campaign in this country for the defense of the members of “Hromada.” men advising them to eliminate the company union, which, it was declared, was maneuvering to betray the strike. and urging against any trust in the cee “17 HOLD HAYWOOD | May 23.—The | workers get very low wages working (Continued on Page Four) MEMORIAL MEET LS a Ge Workers to Honor Leader June 1 | | | | | orial day, on Friday, June 1, the workers of New York will hold one of their own at the Central Opera House, 67th St. and Third Ave., William D, Haywood. This announcement was made last |the Workers (Communist) Party, un- | der whose auspices the meeting will | be held. The founder of the I. W. W. will be buried beside John Reed and | C. E. Ruthenberg in the -walls of the | Kremlin in Moscow. Workers’ Own Memorial Day. “Tt is highly fitting that we should hold a working class memorial day after the capitalists have their jingo celebration,” Bert Miller, New York organizational secretary, said. “The capitalists by their memorial | days try to teach the youth of the | country that the capitalist wars of | ithe past were holy crusades, Fights | to ‘save’ Cuba, the Philippines, to} make the world safe for democracy | and to give Nicaragua ‘good’ govern- | ment. “But in honoring one prosecuted by the capitalist courts for his opposition to war, we show our unbelief in the sacred day of the dollar patriots, We pladge our sup- port to the battles of the working class that Comrade Haywood predict- (Continued on Page Two) who was | Special Appeal to All Party Members About 250 delegates, here to at- tend the nominating convention of the Workers (Communist) Party, need accommodations at once. Ali New York Party members are urged to coperate at once in plac- ing them. Write immediately to A. Chorover, c/o. District Office, 108 KE. 14th St., giving following information; how many can you accommodate; sex of delegates to [> accommodated. Or, phone im- mediately Stuyvesant 8100. Two days after the capitalist mem- | in honor of | one of their greatest champions, | Jnight by the New York district of | ? |the FINAL CITY Launch Drive for for Federal ral Unemployment Insurance’ NEGROES PREPARE EAGERLY FOR BIG NOMINATING MEET Choose Candidates in 8 More States A delegation of fifteen Ohio miners is en route to New York City to par- ticipate in the National Nominating Convention of the Workers (Commu- nist) Party which opens here to morrow night. The miners will be one of a number of delegations from various industries thruout the state of Ohio. The mine delegates are procegding to New York by auto truck. Huge j banners and streamers on the side of the vehicle will announce to the work- ers along the line of travel that the American working class is holding | the first great class political conven- | tion in its history on this continent. Final preparations are being rushed for the reception of the Nat’l Convention Notice The National Nominating Con- vention of the Workers (Commu- nist) Party will be held in New York at the Central Opera House, on May 25-26-27, The Convention will be opened with a welcome demonstration to the delegates at Mecca Temple, 133 West 55th Street, Friday eve- ning, May 25. Many of the most prominent out-of-town delegates will address the meeting. Every worker is wel- come. There will be an admission charge of 50 cents to pay the ex- pense of the meeting. miners and the other delegates from every section of the United States. The Negro Communists in New York are carrying on active prepara- tions to enlist the support of the Negro mas: Friday night for the big demonstration in Mecca Temple. The Negro workers and the friends of Negro libe on generally, are very enthusiastic over the forthcom- ing Workers Party Nominating Con- vention. There will appear at the Mecca Temple demonstration a num- ber of prominent Negro leaders, mem- bers of the Workers Party. Among them will be Richard B. Moore, H. V. Phillips, Lovett Fort-Whiteman and Harold Williams of New York; William Scarville, Charles Munsey and Charles Fulp of Pittsburgh; I. Newman of Detroit; Mary Adams of Virginia; and George Padmore of Tennessee, ee. ee Massachusetts Convention. BOSTO Mas y —Thirty- five u the Worke (Commu- nist) attending the Massachu- setts te Nominating Convention (Continued on Page Two) BIG BATTLE FOR PEKING RAGING War Lords Ser Scramble for Possession of City LONDON, May 28.—Chang Tso- lin is making a frantic effort to halt \the drive of the Kuomintang troops on a wide front immediately south Jof Peking, according to reports re- \ceived here. A battle, involving more than 300,000 men, is reported to be in progress. * * * TOKYO, May 23.—Commenting on Kellogg statement which de- clared that the United States recog- nizes no special Japanese interests in Manchuria, General Hata, permanent vice-minister of war, declared today that Japanese policy in northern China was y much like American policy in N agua, ‘ Hata declared that more troops would be sent to Manchuria if the “situation demanded it.” * *« « The Koumin News Agency, press organization of the Nanking re gime, issued a statement today ing that 5,000 Chinese were during the recent fighting b Japanese and Kuomintang Tsinanfu, Shantung. Price 3 Cents DELEGATES ON WAY TO COMMUNIST CONVENTIO |