The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 31, 1928, Page 2

David A. Griffin, Negro delegate oe Eran le to the National Nom- onvention of the Workers ee unist) Party, travelled more than 3,000 miles with empty: pock on trains of various sorts to arr’ m@ time for the opening of the con- vention last Friday. Griffin is one of the most active Wegroes in the Communist move ment. “Having made up his mind to at- WORKERS FROM ALL SECTIONS © TO PARTICIPATE Meeting to T Take Place This Week-End KAYE. Saturday and Sunday, at Northside} Turner Hall, 820 North Clark St.. there will gather progressive railroad | workers from all parts of’the United] States and from some points in Can-} ada. Delegates from such far points as Edmonton, Alberta have already signified by letter their intention to/| attend. This, the third conference of the} International Railroad Amalgamation| Committee, two prior conferences having been held in 1 and 1925, is by far the most important one of all.| Grave problems confront the railroad} workers. Due to the almost utter dis-| organization of the railroad unions considered from a fighting standpoint. the companies have been able to de- feat every strike in the railroad in- dustry since 1910. During the disas- trous 1922 strike, company organiza- tions comprising several crafts were set up on many of the country’s largest systems. Widespread use of the spy system and blacklist are re- sorted to, with the result that thou- sands of our best union men have been driven from the industry. Unemployment Widespread. Unemployment, due to the speed-up and “efficiency” programs of the com- panies, but particularly a result of the high development and ever-in- -reasing use of machine technique. hes reached the enormous total of ‘42,000 workers since 1923. More ful locomotives, both steam and ic, the use of the auxiliary or beoster locomotive giving greater fractive power, improved round houses and back shop machine meth- ods, car loading to ever greater ca- pacities, due to better truck spring placements and the use of the “Dal- man” truck, improved car building and car repairing methods, the in- ereasing use of such machines as the Jordan spreader and ditcher, shovel eranes, etc., in the track department; the use of the car retarder in hump /|$: switching yards; in the telegraph dis-} _ patching service the recent develop- ment of the “GRS” and “Universal” train control systems, are just a few cases illustrating the use of improved machine technique, among a stagger- ing total of hundreds which a recent careful survey of the railroad indus- try has elicited. One Device. To show what all this means for the railroad workers, let us consider a little more closely but two of the above mentioned machine processes. Firstly, the car retarder: these are power-opetated track brakes applied to the tracks of freight classification yards to contro! the speed of freight Bored Yale Men| Wallop Quite a Few Policemen OREDOM! This is the explanation. offered by professors in the psychology department of Yale University for the riot here yester- day in which several hundred stu- dents took part and which resulted in the jailing of a half dozen. Tt all began with a_ sewer. Awakened from their nocturnal slumbers by the pounding of a sledge hammer, students began to hurl cups, saucers and other bits of chinaware. Several of the collegians hustled down the campus. Within a few minutes, hundreds of others, spurred on by a sense of solidarity joined in the militant throng. A flying squad sent out by the police department was received with fruit, eggs and bricks. Infuriated by the arrest of six of their com- vades, over 200 students later stormed the lccal police station in effort to bring about their release, but in vain. A contributing factor in causing today’s riot, according to the uni- versity psychologists, is to be found in the fact that the freshmen were given a half-holiday, the upper elassmen being left out of account. The half-holiday was awarded to the freshmen for refraining from staging a riot in a theater after elaborate plans for the ceremony had been completed, Pot ae center 30.—In Chicago, | tend the convention, Griffin did not | let 3,000 miles and the fact that his pockets were empty stand in his | y. At 9 a. m. May 13 he boarded enger train at Seattle, Wash., and e Avely, Idaho. At this point he decided to try a | different type of train and so swung himself aboard a freight that took | him to Mosolu, Mont. where he | caught the crack “Olympian,” } which landed him safely in Minne- ' apolis on the morning of the 16th. Griffin remai for 24 hours, looki in Minneapoli: over the sight: ' Pioneer Express St. Paul. } next stop was Milwaukee, where he had an opportunity to get some | food befor g another train | within half an hour for Chicago. At this point, after having cov- ered almost two-thirds of his trip, Griffin ¢ ienced his fi real | difficulty uardian of the law” | Relief J obs Paid Grafters, Not Workers The rec tote investigation into the Tammany Hall street clean- ing service not only shows the dis- tribution of millions of dollars of graft among the appointees of Mayor Vides J. Walker and Governor Al Smith. Separate hearings now going | on before Commissioner of Accounts J, A. Higgins and the Bronx County Court show also how workers of New | York were defrauded of large por- tions of their wages by the Tammany graft system. The testimony has shown too how many of the so-called relief jobs which Tammany Hall reported it gave out to hungry men at the height of the Cc. A. Magee J. A. Higgins unemployment crisis last winter existed only on the City Hall propa- ganda releases and the bank books of the Walker-Smith lieutenants in pub- lie office. Testimony before Commissioner Higgins, who is conducting public |hearings, and before the Bronx County Court, where Charles A. McGee, as- street cleaning department, is being |tried for grafting, are to continue to- day. Cross examination by District At- torney J. E. McGeehan in the Bronx trial showed. that Tammany liecuten-| jants hired a certain number of men |for emergency street cleaning service at starvation wages, taking ad- vantage of the unemployment crisis. They made out payroll vouchers for higher amounts, cashed the checks, paid off the workers at the lower rates and pocketed the difference. It was also shown that many dummy names were written on the payrolls, \there being convenient loop-holes in the civil service regulations. “On the last day of the racket I got | 200 in cash and $284 in checks as} jmy share,” Benjamin P. Stoeber, for- mer assistant foreman of the Crom- well garage, said in pleading guilty. William J. Oswald, 4th Bronx dis- trict superintendent, is standing trial with McGee. Similar practices are being un- covered in the hearings before Hig- gins, in spite of all that the Tam- many bosses” and higher salaried executives can do to keep the lid clamped on the system. ears entering these tracks by gravity. The track brakes reduce the speed of the cars so that they come to a stop without damage to the cars or their contents. Where car retarders tare not used, the speed of freight ears is controlled by car riders apply- ing hand brakes. Today power car retarders are in use by which “trains of 100 cars are sorted like stacks of mail!” Their use not only speeds up the movement of classification but dispenses absolutely with the switch- tenders and car riders. In some yards alone, as many as 150 workers have been laid off to swell the ever- increasing ranks of the unemployed. The keynote of the conference, the most important point of the agenda, around which every other problem confronting the railroad worker re- volves, is the organization of the un- organized. Of the 1,800,000 workers in the industry, approximately 40 per cent are organized. To the railroad unions, this spells ultimate disaster. Grave struggles are ahead. Straws in the wind are the recent cases of the Western trainmen and locomotive firemen, the C. & O. shop crafts and the wage cuts on some roads in the maintenance-of-way department. Slogans of Struggle. The militant progressives in the railroad industry have great tasks ahead of them. Let their slogans be: Complete organization of the unor- ganized! National, not system, agreements! Closer consolidation toward com- plete amalgamation of the railroad unions! A united front for better wages and working conditions all along the line! A Labor Party! The signals are clear—the main track beckons—"Throw ’er over, and pull her wide open”—Let’s go! —— \sistant general superintendent in the! Pos CITY LATE (AS USUAL) IN ROCK DUST PROTECTION Danger Known 4 Years Without Action In order to prevent another case similar to the case of the five radium victims suing the United States Radium Corporation for $1,250,000 the board of transportation yesterday declared that it would “take meas- ures” to safeguard the lives of 1,500 subway construction workers, 75 of whom are said to be suffering from silicosis and doomed to die within five years. ; _ Dust masks will be provided for | | the excavation workers and operators | of the rock drills, and hose line con-| nections to lay the dust which rises from the dry drills will be installed, | it was promised. | Lungs of workers coated with rock | dust are resulting in a death rate of one man a week from silicosis. Among many other harmful substances in the rock dust, chemists have found ar- senic. The cihy officials have known the danger for the last four years, but did nothing about it until public ex- posure of the danger was made two days ago. LABOR SPORTS _ UNION APPEALS Denounce Attempt To Break Organization (Special to The Daily Worker) Calling upon its membership to repudiate the “would-be splitters, Palm Uurtamo and Company,” the executive board of the Labor Sports’ Union recently issued an appeal con- demning the action of this group in its recent attempt to break the ranks of the union. The appeal follows a meeting of the executive board at which a number of | decisions were adopted: Meeting Illegal. 1. “That the meeting held on May 6, in the home of R. G. Palm, par- ticipated in by four members of the Executive Board—R. G. Palm, Ted Uurtamo, V. Wiitala, and V. Mellin— in conjunction with M. Lehto and G. Heimo of Detroit and Toivenen and Ahlrath of Chicago was illegal and that the steps it took were entirely unconstitutional. 2. “That R. G. Palm and Ted Uurtamo took part in this meeting with the deliberate purpose in mind of setting up a new and illegal Exec- utive Board and splitting the Labor Sports Union. 38. “That the participation of Palm, Uurtamo, Wiitala ,and Mellin in this illegal meeting compels the Executive Board to raise the question of their removal from the committee. 4. *“The Executive Board affirms| its previous decisions that Paul Cline shall remain National Secretary of the.L. S. U. until the convention and | of the town, and then boarded the | His | him. But Griffin arrived in the | great packing center at 10 a. m. on the 18th. He immediately made connections with the Workers Party office in Chicago and remained in the city for two days. Boarding an excursion train on the 20th, he went as far as Fort Wayne, Ind,, where he hopped on a freight train for 80 more miles. Here somebody roared: “Hey, you! €ome on down! Don’t you know better than to ride a mail train?” PUSH MOVE FOR UNION BUILDING Cloak Conference Sat. to Launch Drive (Continued from nage one) resigned as functionaries of Sigman’s largest local and publicly affiliated with the National Organizing Com- mittee, a progressive organization now launching a drive to rid the union of the Sigmans and Schlesingers, and to regain union conditions in the cloak and dressmaking shops. $e Se Drive to Begin. The drive of the membership to again establish the union conditions won after many years of bitter strug- gle and destroyed by the right wing, will be officially begun at the con- ference of the representatives and chairmen of shops here. The confer- ence which is sponsored as the first step in the campaign of the National Organizing Committee will be held in Webster.Hall, 11th St. and_Third Ave., Saturday ‘morning, 10 o’clock. Shop chairmen of registered and unregistered shops, and shop dele- gates elected by the workers in the unorganized and-open shops will par- ticipate in this conference, which is concédéed by all acquainted with the cloakmakers’ struggles, to be of his- tori¢e significance. and districts with the facts in the present situation, shall instruct them to ignore the new fake Secretary and Office, and to send all communica- tions only to the National Office of the L. S. U. at 453 North Ave. “The Executive Board is of the opinion that the basis of the present fight is the wrong outlook of the minority splitters of the Executive Board, which has not understood, and does not understand how to work to- wards the broadening out of the L. S. U. so to include American elements. The minority has shown repeatedly that it is interested merely i in physical culture activity as an aim in itself, not in the broatr aims of the work- asks the National Executive Council to support this decision thru feferen- dum. Ignore Fake Secretary 5. “The Secretary shall im- “Belt” Slaves Slaves Will WOMAN sstands . outside the gates of an automobile factory in the streaming rain, Piled be- hind her and at her side are stacks of leaflets. There are several thousand of them. The rain soaks thru the top papers. Then a whistle blows, the huge gates of the factory swing open and the long streams of workers pour out into the driving rain. They surround the woman. They; want the papers she has. Tall, energetic, she hands them out good-naturedly. The pennies rattle in. The rain pours. Hach worker goes off thru the rain with a paper in his pocket. The Ford Worker. The woman is Sarah Victor. The factory is Ford’s in Detroit. And the paper, for which the men are so eager, is the “lord Worker,” the shop paper issued by the Workers - ers sport movement.” The resolutions were passed un- animously by the National Executive Board at which the following were present: Clemens Forsen, Harry Mil- ler, James Nikrin, Rudolph Sauser, mediately acquaint all clubs, sectionsand Paul Cline. “I thought I was lost,” Griffin said. “But fortunately the train began to move, And I moved out | with it.” “After a short rest in Buffalo I went down to the Erie yards,” Grif- fin continued. “But I was stopped by two husky ‘bulls,’ along with three other ‘travellers,’ an Italian and two Poles. I though my jour- ney seemed ended and I had visions of spending the days of the conven- tion in jail, far from home and s NEGRO DELEGATE TO COMMUNIST CONVENTION TRAVELS MANY ROADS WITH EM friends. But I realized it was no time for social-democratic defeat- ism or compromise. Only revolu- tionary methods could save me. So I just broke away. Dodging thru several streets, I ran into a garage and slid under one of the cars. For two hours the two cops hunted for me but they never thought of look- ing under the cars. I resumed my journey later on top of a freight car.” Arriving at a small! town, he PTY POCKETS wired to New York for money for a ticket. But after waiting for about five hours (the reply arrived later), he jumped aboard a slow- passing freighter and went on. After riding to a small depot, he got a lift on a truck into New York City, arriving tired and dusty, at 6 a. m. on Friday, May 25. The American Negro Labor Con- gress made arrangements for his stay in the city during the conven- tion. “Railroad Labor Conference to Meet in Chicago June 2-3 to Prepare Battle SPRINGFIELD, IIL, miners at Belleville on June 9. This youth conference is to take place in a period when the members of the U. M. W. A. are carrying on a bitter fight against the operators and the treacherous Lewis-Fishwick machine. In their attack against the United Mine Workers of America of District No. 12, the coal operators have par- ticularly concentrated upon the young miners. The separate mining agree- ment which is a sort of a Yellow Dog contract is particularly effecting the young workers in the mining in- dustry. After the first step to lower the standard of living of the Illinois miners the operators put through a wage cut of 50 per cent for trappers, couplers, greasers, breakers, flaggers and other young miners. In addition to the problem of equalization of wages for all miners, young and adult, doing the same work, the young miners are faced with many other im- portant tasks. Machine Revolution. The introduction of machinery revo- lutionized the mining industry and created special problems for the miners generally and particularly for the young miners. The first effect that the introduction of machinery had is the introduction of the terrific speed up system. The miners who are not used to working with this machinery are unable to stand the strain of that speed-up system and as a result of that are discharged and thrown out of their jobs by the opera- tors. To work these machines the coal operators are hiring strong physically fit young miners to re- place the adult coal diggers. This brings in the youth in ever increasing numbers to the mining industry. How- ever, at the same time the introduc- tion of this machinery under the present system threatens to throw out of the industry thousands of adult miners which may destroy the miners’ union. The overproduction in the mining industry and the introduction of machinery absolutely demands a shorter working day. The young miners must take up the fight for the six hour day and the SARAH, VICTOR, FORD AND “DAILY” Get Newspaper in Subscription Drive (Communist) Party, and which Sarah Vietor has helped to bring from an idea to a paid factory paper with a circulation of thousands. With the same determination with which: Sarah Victor sold, the shop paper to the Ford workers in the Detroit rain, she has undertaken another job, this time for The DAILY WORKER. The business of putting The DAILY WORKER into the home of every working man and woman in Detroit is the supreme task which Sarah Victor has undertaken in the automobile king’s city. To the thousands of flivver slaves, Sarah Vietor is bringing The DAILY WORKER. | Subscriptions Vital, CANNOT emphasize strongly enough,” said Sarah Victor in ; the business office of The DAILY WORKER following the National Nominating Convention, “the im- portance of. pushing the subscrip- tion campaign thruout the country. It is on the basis of subscriptions that The DAILY WORKER must be built. It is The DAILY WORK- ER sub that brings the paper into the homes and into the lives of the militant American workers, not once or twice, but for months so that they come to understand the importance of their working class organ and of the Workers Party in leading and guiding the workers in their struggles. “Every effort wi) be made to push the drive for subscriptions to The DAILY WORKER not only in Detroit but thruout every industrial center and in the poor farming sections of Michi We are in this fight to the » Dogs of War; German aaieesss ce ne Recruit Animals The two dogs shown in the pic- ture are the latest thing in cannon fod. der, The German imperialists are training dogs to fight with the men in the neat slaught- er. The dogs will leap at their ene- mies and try to tear open their throats. The animals, like the men, are trained to wear gas masks. Every conceivable force is being util- ized by the German imperialists in pre- paration for the next war. YOUNG MINERS PLAN CONFERENCE JUNE 9 By LEON PLATT (District Organizer, Young Workers (Communist) League of District 8) May 30.—Considerable interest has been aroused in the steps taken by the recent special Belleville convention of the United Mine Workers of America District 12 in calling a conference of the young five day week. The reorganization of the mining industry which is pro- posed by the Lewis machine and the operators to be carried out at the ex- pense of the workers will in no way solve the present crisis in the in- dustry. The mining industry does not suffer from too many miners, but from too long working hours. With the decline of the miners’ union the employers are criminally neglecting the safety of the coal miners. The number of young miners under 18 years of age working under ground is increasing and it will be the task of the newly elected officers of District 12 to fight for the abolition of under- ground work for all young miners under 18 years of age. The policy of the Lewis-Fishwick machine in collaboration with the coal operators to split the young from the adult miners resulted itself in the non-participation of the young miners in the present struggle and in the affairs of their union. It will be the | task of the conference of the young miners to involve more actively the young miners in the struggle against the operators and the bureaucracy and also to develop an interest in the daily work of the miners union. Class-Collaboration. In the general campaign of the coal operators to establish the company union they introduced various features of the class-collaboration policy, such as company controlled sport teams, ete. This proved itself to be very ef- fective to split the ranks of the mine workers and bring the young miners under the influence of the coal operators. It will be necessary for the June 9 youth conference to con- sider the problem of building the La- bor Sports’ Union and that it be under the true control of the miners’ union. The present unemployment crisis in the mining industry is greatly ef- fecting the youth and forcing them to enter other even less paid occupa- tions, to join the C. M. T. C., the army, the navy, ete. This conference of young miners will have to discuss not only the general role of American imperialism and militarism but also how to prevent unemployment and | starvation from driving the young |miners into the C.'M. T. C, and the army. Besides the tasks of fighting for the special demands, the confer- ence will also have to devise ways of bringing the young miners closer to the general struggles of the labor movement. Man Burned to’ Death As Fire Destroys Home NASHVILLE, Tenn., May 30.— When the little two room dwelling in which he lived caught fire yester- day, John Cleggett, aged 90 and an invalid, was burned to death. His wife barely escaped a similar»fate. WORKER ELECTROCUTED. MUNISING, Mich., May 30.—While welding a patch on a hotel boiler, Hart Smith, 28, was electrocuted here yesterday. FALL KILLS PAINTER. WASHINGTON, May 30,—George W. Ashton, a worker, fell to his death yesterday while engaged in painting Ja three-story house here. COOLIDGE WARNS U. 8. WILL FIGHT QTHER COUNTRIES Peace Talk Cloaks New Threats of War (Continued from page one) quility,” the president served notice on Haiti, Nicaragua, China and other countries, subject to the aggression of American imperialism, that they nead hope for no release from this condition. “Our further interest in these countries,” he declared, “is to assist these people in establishing stability.” That the American capitalist class is aware that future events will bring inevitable class conflicts within the United States and that preparations against the certain rising of the work- ing class are being made, was the gist of another section in his address: “All nations are subjected to more or less domestic tumult. In such cases, the presence of adequate armed forces is the only practical method of protection for life and property.” Iron Necessity. The same necessity, Coolidge hint- ed, which would force the suppression of uprisings at home would dictate the stamping out of such disorders even in foreign countries. “Our peo- ple are granted free access on the same basis as others into all the coun- tries of the world. As a general pol- icy, they go with the encouragement to engage in all kinds of enterprise. Our government necessarily has rights over its citizens and their prop- erty in whatever country they may be... . A government of the United States that failed in its duty to pro- tect the lives and property of its cit- izens would be justly condemned.” Coolidge concluded what is believed to be the most jingoistic speech yet made by an American president, with the expected eulogy of the so- called peace treaties which are now being negotiated between the United States, France, Great Britain, Japan and Italy. These. treaties have inau- gurated “one of the most impressive peace movements the world has even seen,” he declared. “Our government is a government of peace, not of war,” he announced within ten min- utes of his opening words which de- scribed the record military, naval and air preparations for the next war. Crane Throws Worker Into Water; Drowns: BALTMIORE, Md., May 30.—L. Colefield, 35, was drowned yesterday when he was knocked overboard by a crane while working at pier 4, Locust Point. dent, the man was unloading machin- ery from a freight car to a scow when the crane, which was being operated nearby, jumped the track causing a part of the machine to strike Cole- field, forcing him into the water. Ef- forts by fellow workmen to rescue him were unsuccessful. Old ‘Wonders’ Discovered By Labor Faker HHILADELPHIA, May 30.—Illum- inating sidelights on the reason why William D, Mahon, organizer of the Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Emme ployes was rather listless about a strike on New York’s traction lines recently is found in an item in the Progressive Labor World which ap- peared recently: “Wonders will never cease! The lion and lamb have decided to play the trolley game together, side by side, and in harmonious agreement and understanding. ‘Fighting Bill’ Mahon and T. E. Mitton have en- tered into a peace pact. For the past few years it has been grad- ually conceded that Mitton, big figure in Philadelphia Rapid Tran- sit and father of the Mitten men and management idea, is a potent figure in establishing right rela- tions between employer and em- ploye. “It is good for industrial Amer- ica to see men like Mitten and Mahon working shoulder to shoul- der,” The Progressive Labor World is a republican organ edited by Frank © Feeney; president of the Elevator Constructors’ Union and veteran G. O. P. snailsman. According to witnesses of the inci-