The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 25, 1928, Page 1

On AE EEE ‘oa Se TAR DAILY WORKER FIGHTS, FUR THE ORGANIZATION OF THR UNORGANIZED FOR THE 40-HOUR WEEK FOR A LABOR PARTY RED CONVENTION TONIGHT KNAPP BURNED CENSUS PAPERS, SAYS JANITOR Destroyed Her ‘Records, Worker Testifies ALBANY, N. Y., May 24.—From the lips of Hugh Hawthorne, a jani- tor at Syracuse University, the jury at the second trial of former secre- tary of state, Florence E. S. Knapp, today heard how Mrs. Knapp her- self burned papers, which the prose- eution alleges were official census records. The first woman state official is on trial a second time on a charge of stealing thousands of dollars in census funds, Hawthorne, in addition to estab- lishing that Mrs. Knapp herself had burned census records, declared that he had burned several boxes and bundles containing records at her direction. This is the second time since the beginning of the Knapp case that she has been directly connected with the destruction of census rec- ords. The specific charge against Mrs. Knapp is that she stole a $2,857 check made out to her step-daughter, Mrs. Clara Blanche Knapp, who declares that she never did any census work. Other evidence shows that Mrs. Knapp obtained $17,000 of the $24,000 paid to her relatives whom she was Centralia Lawyer George Vanderveer, shown in the picture, was the attorney for, the Centralia frame up victims, now in Walla Walla jail. The .growing mass protest is expected soon to force open the doors of the peniten- tiary and compel the authorities to Eo the Centralia victims. WORKER-PEASANT TROOPS GAINING Canton Reactionaries Murder 162 SHANGHAI, May 24.—The work- | Torture Militants Who Mtures in police prisons and police re- .| the trial. ___Eatered as second-cinan matter at the Post Office at New York, 3 THE DAILY Wo » wader the act of March 3, 1879. MASS TRIAL OF 32 COMMUNIST PARTY LEADERS | | | Were Jailed in Milan | (Special Cable to The Daily Worker.) | ROME, May 24.—The head of the| Milan Security Police, Bocchini, has been appointed to investigate the tor-| sponsibility in the Milan explosion. He examined police officials who declared that political prisoners were tortured at the order of Nudi, Pacen- za band whieh was also responsible for the explosion. Nudi is general- inspector in the Home Office and Pa- eenza is his subordinate. Bocchini discovered that political prisoners were tortured in an under- ground chamber by the Milan police praesidium. * * * (Special Cable to the Daily Worker). ROME, May 24.—The great trial of the 32 members of the Executive Committee of the Italian Communist Party will be held in secret on May 28. Neither the public nor represen- tatives of the press will be allowed at Fascist newspapers will receive “‘of- ficial” reports. There will only be three defending attorneys for the de-| RKER. (os The picture shows of what was former- : the remains ly @ varnish plant at 15 St. and 2nd Ave., Brooklyn. An explosion in a pul- machine the verizing caused blow- up. Four employes barely escaped with their lives. ANOTHER DEATH Public Beginning to Demand Action ORANGE, N. J., May 24.—With a suit of five doomed young women against the United States Radium Corporation for $1,250,000 pending, it became known today that the death of Miss Elizabeth Dunne at a hos- pital in New York more than a year ago has been traced to the same plant. | DUE TO RADIUM jof big conferences of shop representa- CALL FOR CLOAK SHOP CHAIRMEN CONFERENCE The date for the first of ‘the series tives of the workers in the ladies’ garment industry has been set in an official call issued yesterday by the National Organizing Committee. These conferences, intended as the first organizational steps to be taken by the N. O. C., in its drive to re- build the union destroyed by the right wing and the bosses, are to be called in every center where women’s cloth- ing is manufactured. PHILA. FUR UNION IN PARLEY CALL Endorses Boston “One Union Demand The resumption of the offensive of the fur workers in New York against the bosses and right wing for the re- eal FINAL [FINAL CH | | DMN’ Price 3 toy Hom baa wom Price 3 Cente Fascist Officials Ac Admit Torturing Political Prisoners Workers Have Narrow Escape a Varnish Plant [DEMONSTRATION AT MECCA TEMPLE: OPENS BIG MEET | Coseséeieaees 1 Hails Labor Gathering Here In endorsement of the Nuttonal Nominating Convention of the Work- ers (Communist) Party, which opens with a mass demonstration at Mecca Temple tonight, the Political Secre-, tariat of the Communist International! has sent the following greetings to! the convention: Comintern Greetings. “The Comintern greets the raising of the Communist banner in the elec- tion struggle in the United States, The American campaign comes at a time when the workers of Germany and France have shown their full con- fidence in the Communist Party lead- ership of the struggle against the Nat’l Convention Notice The National Nominating Con- vention of the Workers (Commun- ist) Party will be opened with a welcome demonstration to the dele- gates.at Mecca Temple, 133 West 55th St., tonight. Many of the most prominent i 4 i i - Conference June 2. establishment of the union has be- ; merous enough to place on the state .|fendants. The trial will last three| Five Orange girls who were em Satie t-of -t delegat payed: rea Ba ge beersaraky dR ae days. ployed at the radium plant are vic-} The declaration, which is signed by one more than a ilar a ae pepe ad ys Agioer Phas sod <—_ : PIpEENCE) B sind | tims of radium poisoning and doctors| Louis Hyman, chairman, and Rose|of resentment, events yesterday th. ti ‘ill be ad Je uanliginl phen: Ah ahges hy are f have pronounced their cases incurable.| Wortis, secretary, calls upon the |showed. for the Convention will be adopted. TAMMANY HEADS IN STREET GRAFT Disclose Bribery in City of Canton, according to information received here. Martial law has been declared in Canton. Twelve labor leaders have been executed, More than 150 persons, charged with “Communistic activity,” were executed on the siland of Hainan, it is reported. J * * MINE GUILT TO BE COVERED UP State to “Investigate” Miss Dunne; who had formerly lived at Waterbury, Conn., was em- ployed by a watch and clock company that used radium supplied by: the Radium Corporation. At the time of her death the cause was given as radium poisoning but the case was considered of minor importance then. However, as a result of the connec- /workers in the cioak-and dress shops thruout Greater New York, whether they be union, non-union, or register- (Continued on Page Two) LL. D. ENDORSES Demand Conference. At a meeting of the executive board of the Philadelphia Local 53 a resolu- tion was adopted to endorse the de- mands made by the Boston local on the general executive board. The Boston local demanded a conference of all International locals, which was to lay the basis for the rebuilding of |the union, The Boston demand also Music, will be furnished by the Hungarian Workers SY¥mphony Society of fifty. Every worker ia welcome. There will be an admis- sion charge of 50 cents to pay the expense of the meeting. The convention will be continued at Central Opera House, 67th St. and Third Ave. on Saturday and Sunday. ; (Special To The DAILY WORKER.) 200 Deaths tion with the present situation here, Contracts VANCOUVER, May 24, — The jan investigation has been started in istated that the war carried on by] |the International officialdom against | HAYWOOD MEET While evidence at, the $200,000,000 Tammany street cleaning graft in- vestigation opening yesterday dis- closed the existence of bribery in con- nection with the virtual purchase of contracts from responsible city offi- cials, charges of the operation of a corrupt Tammany political ring in the Bronx were brought to the very doors of the democratic administra- tion at a meeting of the Board of Estimate over which Mayor Jimmie Walker presided. Admission by Frank C. Gannon, suspended superintendent of the Brooklyn Street Cleaning Department |!in. that he had received $4,000 of an $8,000 bonus paid to the Remsen Sand Company, of which he is part owner, for the privilege of dumping refuse on land owned by that concern, fea- tured the opening session of the in- vestigation into the operations of the street cleaning department. Pays $8,000 Bribe. | The Brooklyn Ash Removal Com- pany, it was revealed, which has the contract with the city for the re- moval of refuse in Brooklyn, paid this amount to Gannon’s firm. Gan- non also admitted he knew that the contract itself had been “negotiated” between the firm and the city by Ed- ward Junker, his brother-in-law, who received from the ash removal com- pany a reward of $1,000 for his serv-/ ices, i Junker, according to his own testi-| mony was merely the “contact” man. | Gannon, his brother-in-law, he inti- mated, had received the major reward. | The “land” on which the refuse is being dumped, it was brought out, is @ swamp. The company which has the contract with the city is paid at the rate of 58 cents per cubic yard. The contract amounts to many thou- sands of dollars weekly. Mock Investigation. Commissioner James A. Higgins be- fore whom the investigation is being conducted, at the opening of :#ster- day’s séssion produced several checks made out to Junker and to Gannon’s (Continued on Page Two) ie Tar tdi MMMM Couies Sites om ‘Need Volunteer Help |. at Workers Center Painters, carpenters and elec-) tricians are need at once to help| | | | worker-peasant government in Swa- tow has sent a note to the command- ers of the American and British mili- tary forces’ asking the immediate withdrawal of warships and marines from the city, according to a report received here by the Canadian Morn- | ing News, left wing Chinese news- paper. * * * PEKING, May 24.—A critical bat- tle is being fought in the vicinity of the city of Hokien, 100 miles south of Peking, by the Kuomintang troops and the forces of General Chang Tso- WASHINGTON, May 24—A for- mal request that the United States convoke representatives of the Euro- churian question” will be presented to Secretary of State Kellogg by Dr. C. C. Wu, special envoy of the reac- tionary Nanking regime. Wu will be received by Kellogg late {this week or early next, it was an- nounced at the state department, McNARY-HAUGEN UP AGAIN TODAY May Try to Pass Bill Over Coolidge Veto WASHINGTON, May 24.---A deci- sion on the question of attempting to enact the McNary-Haugen Farm “Re- lief” Bill over the President's veto was postponed until tomorrow by the Senate Agriculture Committee today, due to the absence of farm bloc leaders. There were indications the Committee would recommend that no effort be made to enact: the bill into law over the President’s objections, as the fecling/persisted that it can- not command the necessary two- thirds majorities in both branches of Congress. The wealthy farming interests in the west are reported to be greatly disappointed at Coolidge’s action, who pean powers to “consider the Man- ity to eliminate all traces of its guilt. the officials “innocent” of the killings. SCORES WALL ST, * | | Mountain Mine. Four bodies of min- (Special to the Daily Worker) MATHER, May 24.—Announcement by the state of Pennsylvania of a po-} lice investigation into the responsibil-| ity for the Saturday mine. explosion} | which resulted in the death of over} 200 miners was made yesterday by Deputy Seeretary of Mining John Ira Thompson. That the so-called “inves- tigation” will have for its purpose the complete “white-washing” of the} open-shop company officials is seen in the fact that Thomas has ordered) out all state rescue workers from the Mather Colliery Company pit and has turned the mine back to the company. This is intended, no doubt, to per- mit the company sufficient opportun- The “investigation” will then declare and children of the victims of the; open-shop Mather mine file by the charred bodies, mutilated beyond re- cognition. According to official count, 197 are known to be dead in Mather. Others still entombed, are not expected to survive, Other new catastrophies bring the total death toll to 289. In Kinver, Kentucky, more than 75 miners are trapped in the Black ers who had been thrown clear of their companions by the explosion which wrecked the level leading to | |Connecticut to determine whether there are any radium poisoning cases among the watch and clock manufac- turing centers there. Meanwhile, with the almost certain death of Miss Grace Fryer, Mrs !Quinta McDonald, Miss Katherine Schaub, Miss Albina Larice and Mrs. Edna Hussman, and the possible poisoning of at least 100 others there is a mass feeling “of protest rising. There have been 14 deaths in New- ark and Orange due to radium poison- jing. Many other cases are now being treated at a local hospital. The trial in the action brought by the radium victims is scheduled for Monday. Tragedy on Large Scale. | MATHER, Pa. May 24. — mm GONTROL OF CUBA pitiful procession of mothers, wives | No marines need be sent to Cuba. More than one and a half billion American dollars already occupy “the sugar bowl of the world,” making her president a lackey and her sov-, ereignty a joke. So says Senor A.! R. Ruiz, Cuban secretary of the All- America Anti-Imperialist League, in} a statement on the present situation! lin Cuba given out today by the United States section of the league, with! headquarters at 89 Union Square, New York. “Wall Street alone has more than 150 million dollars invested in Cuba,” the lateral on which the men worked, (Continued on Page Two) IRMINGHAM, Ala., May 24.— Here within a stone’s throw of the Alabama coal’ fields where labor conditions for both races are so bad for the second time in as many years showed his loyalty to his Wal! Street masters by rejecting a bill that would have meant a victory for the farm- ing lobby. in the alterations at the new Workers Center, 26-28 Union) Square. Those willing to volun- teer should report this morning. Ask for Amron. | 0. Lowden, ,!Senator Curtis and Senator Watson. The MecNary-Haugen bill had the support of such “spokesmen” for the farmers as the Pullman boss, Frank Vice-President Dawes, v that no sensible person would waste time on differences of race or color, Negro and white workers are separ- ated by a chasm of racial prejudice and ignorance. Even organized Ne- gro and white workers know scarce- ly anything of each other. Race prejudice is so prevalent among white union officials that. they re- jadds Senor Ruiz, “and woe to the (Continued on Page Five) fuse even to meet in any general | assembly with Negro union mem- bers, Lee ake: euch Negro brickmasons may join the union with white | briekmasons, they are not allowed | by the union officials to work on jobs with them. Because of this discrimination, few Negro brick- masons have joined the union. In fact ever since the revival of the» Ku Klux Klan after the world war, Negro organized workers and white organized workers have been driven NY, Workers to Honor Leader at Memorial A call for members of the Interna- tional Labor Defense to attend the meeting at Central Opera House, 67th St. and Third Ave., Friday night, June 1st, to honor the memory of William D. Haywood, Communist and founder of the I. W. W., was issued by James P. Cannon, executive secretary of the I. L. D., last night. Haywood died May 18th in Moscow. “All his life Haywood was an enthusiastic supporter of the Interna- tional Labor Defense,” Cannon de- clared. “In fact the I. L. D. was launched after Haywood and several other comrades, including myself, dis- cussed in Moscow the need of a labor defense organization in America. | “Ever since then he urged all work- jers to join the I. L. D. }some time ago, he wrote, ‘Members! In a letter more members!’ “One who has been placed in jeo- pardy as I have must keenly feel the power of organization. It was to an expression of solidarity on the part of the workers that I owe my life. “Haywood was a man of gigantic energy. It was impossible to see him and not learn from him. He influ- enced every one in the labor move- ment. Only a few months ago ¥ went to Walla Penitentiary to visit the I. W. W. workers confined there. The last thing they said to me when I left was, ‘Give our regards to Bill when you write.’ All of us will show our! regards for Bill June 1st.” NEGRO, WHITE WORKERS FORCED APART Southern mn Union Officials Destr Destroy Solidarity by P by Prejudice apart. Old labor leaders say the klan is responsible and thus seek to evade responsibility. Sis * IN Mobile there is also a complete estrangement between organized Negro and white labor. White labor officials are strongly opposed to mixed unions and are even opposed to receiving Negro delegates to the Central Labor Union. The net re- sult of this attitude on the part of white labor officials is that Negro ithe New York membership be imme- | diately stopped, because the internal struggle was destroying the entire union. The executive board of Local 53, it was learned, also intends to call a membership meeting of the local in order to secure the members’ endorse- ment of its plan. This meeting will be held some time next week. The New York furriers have in the past few weeks voted condemnatory resolutions at the meetings of even the right wing locals. They have also held protest demonstrations in spite of the police terror in front of the right wing Joint Council offices. Right Wing Scared. The last demonstration of about 1,000 fur workers in front of the Joint Council has thrown a scare into McGrady and Stetsky. The fact that on their own Joint Council delegates are also beginning to raise the de- mand for one union has caused the (Continued on Page Two) 2 WHO GAVE OUT ‘DAILY’ ARRESTED ‘Worker’ “Exposed Oil Strike Betrayal (Special to the Daily Worker) BAYONNE, N. J., May 24.—John Tammassi and Tom Borsirio were ar- rested yesterday before the Tidewater and Standard Oil Company plants here distributing copies of The DAILY WORKER containing an ac- count of the betrayal of the Tide- water strikers by their company union leaders and generally exposing | the speed-up and slave conditions in| the oil trust. Police under orders, it is believed,! of the Standard Oil officials who} practically control Bayonne, dis-! persed a group of other workers who| Journ Borsirio| cal No. were similarly engaged. jditions to the |the dental bourgeois parties and the reformists within the ranks of labor. “Your fight is taking place in a country where the capitalists, with the full support of the American Fed- eration of Labor and the leaders of the “socialist” party, are employing the most brutal oppression, as exem- plified in the case of the seven years’ agony and murder of Sacco and Van- zetti, in the measures taken against the heroic miners and by the cunning (Continued on Page Two) MORE SHOPS OUT IN DENTAL STRIKE The workers in two more labora- tories yesterday joined the strike of the 1,000 mechanics in New York and New Jersey now on strike for recognition of their union and bet- ter working conditions. With new ad- r ranks almost daily, ikers are certain that the strike will be won, and that the Dental Owners’ Association will be smashed. Louis Greenberg, a dental labora- tory owner, was yesterday released for trial on June 1, as a result of his assault on a striker, Mediators of the state department of labor were again unsuccessful in attempting to settle the strike yester- day. The dental bosses have refused to negotiate, it was said by the union. Picketing by the dental strikers fs being enthusiastically kept up, BARBERS WIN IN T WEEKS STRIKE After seven weeks of strike the men Barbers, members of Lo- 918, J. B. I. U. of A, of and Tammassi were then singled out) Brooklyn, New York, have returned for arrest. they had not been released. Twenty-five hundred Tidewater} workers who struck last week against} master barbers At a late hour last night to work under signed agreements, having gained a complete victory. During the seven weeks nearly 900 signed the agree- the inhuman conditions under which | ment of this local union restoring the they are forced to slave at the plant| wage-cut of $5 to the $35.00 weekly of the tSandard subsidiary were formerly paid, in addition to reine forced back Tuesday through the be-| stating the working conditions, which trayal of the company union officials | prior to workers are losing confidence in unions. working togéther with the mayor of|ated by the city. April 8rd, had been repudi- the Independent Master Micha Association,