The Daily Worker Newspaper, November 17, 1928, Page 2

“Vestris Crew Called to . They Live.” This black, large type headline in ‘am, pierced the hearts of seamen like a knife. The the New York Telezr seamen must die, theirselves for -living. Neptunes of the se: The docks yesterday were a sullen curse hurled at the paarzectbie. The Beamen’s working clas ness is rallying to the crew held under guard men’s Church Institute, bourgeois class consciousr lying in the new their newspape print only the: at the § while news and they must e: se Passengers must live, they are the exalted King eited Vestris thrust burning slurs at the Negro seamen. The New York Telegr staff writer at the hearing ing carried out by the Unite prosecutor, summons the the sunken Vestris” to “deny men of and as men t ler: ored were one of that every damn pa: The Telegr the crew most both t n Street, crew, I'd m further s jus far nothing of their own defense, cause of their own reticence -| and ause the charges made against th by the sengers were overwhelming.” The Negro crew is to come to its defense. passengers have made charges. am, thru its now be- States if they will, that as seamen they were bung- were cowards.” aid a time-hon- ak shove senger into the sea.” ates that have given al- The white | yes The Telegram, further, fc mention that the because there them, and that rorized by men Are the mum Telegram also sts to ment that when thre give their story twice to the newspapers did n: Metropolitan newsp: print stories given to by Gerald Burton, Joh amen rep raat ther ers did Vestris pital, w by the b Work re they attleship W3 er correspondent day. Later, the seamen wrote s to, own story nd = Inst > papel 1 ‘with the ship. out their T HET D LY WORKER, NEW YORK, S SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1923 tives of d the version of the “steal.” According to the capitalist news- , the crew will also have to half the| engers perished” and the great-| * part ‘of them came out alive. n why “more “Hail the captain!” He was a hero. tradition of the sea. and gave it to representa-, these newspapers, but not a ut word of it appeared. $1,000 for Officers. metropolitan accepted the story submitted by leading officers of the Wyoming, 1 who were paid $1,000 for the garbled news- than the | argeois defenders of their integ- He went down He carried out the| fter he yelled at members of | black s—— of b——,” men. swers of the seamen. You Are Charged! of their brother passengers. could be more sensational |sistance with their oars.” passengers,” “the crew was clumsy.” To these charges “Johnson ply,” says the Telegram! “They stole equipment from the | the crew, get back to your hole, you, so many of them Survived while the; shoulders! reply the sea-, passengers perished. For according to The bourgeois reporters are only|is somewhat afraid of that rich crew too anxious to make good copy out) which runs the L. & H., the captain What has been absolved by going down than|with his ship, so now the blame charging that “Negroes on lifeboats must be fastened on the Negro crew | fought off those who pleaded for sae the Vestris. The Soul Mystery. The New York Evening Post takes | and | great pains to prove what a fine and | Street. Adams and their shipmates must re-| noble spirit has Captain Carey. How well he carried thi The crew must also explain why|tradition upon his tery. the press, which ish! e burden of sea experienced Post editorial writer and the tery of his soul” will remain a mys- |could not omit mention of it in their CAPITALIST NEW SPAPER EDITORS INSIST NEGRO SEAMEN OF “VESTRIS” HAVE NO RIGHT TO LIV Tell Why, True, he failed to save | the passengers and for this he should | If there ever was a calling for| be blamed, but he has paid, says the “The captain?” And curses which) blood, the bourgeois press is now cannot be reproduced are the an-jcalling for the blood of the Negro seamen of the Vestris. Not a word of his duty to his crew. He was only a culprit insofar as he allowed the passengers to per- Seamen at the waterfront know better. Never before have they ex- pressed such condemnation and ha- |tred of the bourgeois press as they do now in excited groups on South Heroes. While the report of the actual con- ditions on the Vestris given by the “mys-|that even the E Negro seamen Morris and Burton at the Norfolk Naval Hospital was sup- pressed, their heroism was so great Wyoming officers | $1,000 story to the press. They risked their own lives in or- der to save two women passengers, swimming for hours in the water and |supporting them, an act which to many seamen appears to be short of foolhardiness. From other accounts, the heroism of the crew shines like a beacon, in face of the reproaches now being hailed at them by the passengers, |some of whom they rescued. | The newspapers say very little of this, now that the men are to be tried for living. “Dicks” Intimidate wed of Vestris to Keep Company and U.S. Negligence Covered DISASTER PROBE HELD UNDER EYES OF DETECTIVES Radio Man on Ship Browbeaten (By Fe ) If the true story wreck of the Lampert and lousy and hungry) liner Vestris is ever told, it will be no fault of the shipping company. A youth just out of the wireless school sat in the witness chair at the hearing of the disas- ter being conducted in New York and for one hour insisted he remem- \ beréd little or nothing of messages he had sent out, of the timing of the messages or of the condition of the vessel. His hesitation in answering ques- tions and his agitated glances to- ward the back of the courtroom finally brought the charge that an| agent, presumably of the steamship line, was prompting his answers by signals. Cut off from his prompter, the lad’s answers grew dimmer and | , dimmer until he was signed off the impatient government attorney. Intimidate Workers. | In private conversation, the 18-| year-old wireless operator had told | the United States attorney that a} message had been sent the day be- fore the disaster, “We may need| aid.” On the stand he denied/ knowledge of any such message. | Another witness, an assistant pantryman with a camera, told an irrefutable story in the pictures he had taken. At 9 a. m. of the day the Vestris sank with 110 men, women and children, the ship was tilted over at a 35-degree angle. But no radio appeal for help had been sent. At 10 a. m. vessels were told that help might be needed and at 11 a, m. the S. O. S. was flashed, but the nearest vessel with radio equipment was nearly 400 miles away. Business First Her masts scarcely hidden under the horizon, the Montosa of the Forto Rico Line was. passing. With- in an hour of the S. 0. S., hours before the. Ve the bottem, she could have been at the scehe. The American owners of the line, in the interests of econ omy, had removed the radio equip- ment from the Montosa in 1920. From terrorized Vestris, under the s pert and Holt anes i room, came that the Vestri York harbor | age. From ther tions of the that washed in, of Always! collided in New her last voy- soc dese coal port, of seas men t 50 se to bail the ocegn out of the Ves with buckets Vestris sailors had been ordered not to speak tc porte had been herded into the Seamen’s Church Institute under the eyes of vigilant detectives and had received nstruc- tions to forget as much possible in courtroor If they hope f jobs*at sea again, when thousand of sailors are jc in New York harbor, they were told not to aid the official inc First Issue of Worke Pictorial Out Tomorrow ; Louis Gibarti, rep the German sectior International Rel for the distributic edition of The Wor' published in Germany, w Gon the newsstands tomorrow ‘principal feature of the pictorial wwhigh-is in tabloid form, is an in- esting account of the great ex- sloit of the Krassin in rescuing the ictims of the ill-fated Italia. The rticle is graphically illustrated with ary fine pictures of the dramatic cidents of the exploit. There are also some excellent t hotos of Sandino and his army of ) croes who are struggling against — 4c domination of aragua by erican marines sent to protect d further the interests of Ameri- n imperialists. Shoe Workers Meet ‘ PAL shoe workers, especially last- '; and wood-heelers, of Williams- ‘g section are invited to a very hich will be 4 Vienna Mansion, ia The Photo shows corpses of passe ngers and crew 0 Lamport & brought to port after they had been picked ab trom the ¥en. ‘Holt death-ship “Vestris, GOLD ENDORSES — W. 1. R. TAG BAYS Workers to Aid The relief work of the Workers International Relief received the | | praise and endorsement of two of | the outstanding leaders of the left- wing unions in the needle trades and | textile industries yesterday. Ben |Gold, for the furriers, and Albert | | Weisbord, secretary of the new Na- | tional Textile Workers Union, gave | | their endorsement of the W. I. R. | | and urged all class-conscious one jers to become members and to par- | | ticipate in the drive for funds and | membership, starting with Tag Days today and tomorrow. i | “It is essential that workers build |up and support their own central. | ined and efficient relief organiza- tions,” said Ben Gol “Not only |during strikes, but between such lerises, there are destitute workers, | blacklisted by the bosses because they are militant and revoiutionary, | lor who, through their loyalty to the left wing and their. activities in |strikes or organizational work, have |suffered and are badly in need of help. We must build up the W. L |R. so that it can give such work- ers and their families the aid re- \ quired.” A. F.L. FAT BOYS SIGH TRIBUNAL JAILS FOR NEW ORLEANS MEET NEW ORLEANS, La., Nov. 16— Hundreds of fat boys gather here Monday, to frolic thru another con- vention of the American Federation of Labor. This time in the Creole City. This year less than any other, will the ample-seated gentlemen be com- pelled to suffer. irritations fro left wingers and otHer militants, who still believe that the function of nvention is to y the wor better working standards. This is because militant workers e country are now con vinced that the A. F. of L. not only the g ofe strikes that “de- mpts to organize. organized workers are laying foundations of mighty unions ide the A. F. of L. in many in- velop The the ou ries. The miners, textile work- ers and needle trades workers have already established functioning unions, nation-wide in and jurisdiction. Indeed the fakers are scope latir themse that have a session so undisturbed by any serious working class issue that they all their en- tropic delights which their leaders so picked upon for the con- will be able to devote ergies to sampling th of the f city ously The city fathers, the chamber of commerce, have shown themselves enthusiast ie over the projected in- of labor fakers. Plans for the city in American fags ting have been projected and the rium vhich Red used gath Men, etc., is nt occasion. wing the arrival of the fak- t the ion, it is ex- y will form some kind mobile cortege down Canal Unio? It is the section beyond Canal , however, which is disturbing the eee of the fat boys. The segregated quarter stretches allur- ingly Iberville St. to beyond Espla and it is the quaint pub- lic ed of the old Creole quarter which the fat boys are resolving to take to their hearts. The fat boys love architecture: they are promis- ing t t every architectural gem in the Quartiav Besides there is Spanish Fort to the northeast of the city and the steamer Sidney runs nightly up the |Mississippi and wiles away the! jsouthern hours upstream. And| across the river is Gretna, The fat boys have them all listed in their ‘sortant educational meeting which |little books and they will see them Pp ve held tomorrow at 10 a. m. all. 105 Montrose | het will not see in New Orleans, tho, But there are some things the fat class for organization and ! 1 arch’ with smok- | in this two miles < they spend more time on Bienville St. than at the convention. ing poverty fok white and Negroes alike, the swamp of social misery and degradation upon which the rollicking southern city stends will never be observed by the fa they edge their w ck fete human Hf arge ; population to surviv be que ber wh the lobby be anm- in hen the fat boys They are cc convention! unting the day: Worl needs nt 200 Broadway imme Mexican Sheep: Herder Victim of the Fury of White Mob’s FARMINGTON N. = Witte chivalry in the South bas another notch on its bloo I Rafael Benevides, a she alleged to have attacked a old woman, Mary Lewis dragged fyom his bed he day by a masked band and ly Three men arrived at the hospi quietly. “We want Benevides,” the leader said. Nurses made no resistance. The Mexican, too k to stand, was bundled into an automobi nd driven rapidly to a forsaken ranch E A rop tossed over the limb of a lo 1 he was swung into the At the time of the lynching nea yathered. 100 men To Lecture on Negro Question at Workers | School Open Forum “The Negro Question as a World Problem” will be the subject of dis- cussion at the Workers School Forum, 26-28 Union Square, 5th floor, tomorrow evening, at 8 p. m. Otto Hall, field organizer of the Labor Congress, d from a three Inion will American Negro who has just-xetu have taken pl: in the Negro race the past decades, such as the mi- gration of the American Negro to the North, the industrialization the South, will be taken up. On Sunday, Noy. 25, Bertram D, Wolfe, director of the Workers School, will di “America War- ieties of Trotskyism,’ of | 1 IEVOLUTIONISTS Lynch rule for the Negroes, grind- Communists _ Continue Activities » stood t three The police had ll pr nting On Nov. handle the re utiona Enrico Gr with havi 10 the proc ndi, who Nov, etal conflict ults. The t although wit The resistance of against the 1 growing. The re: hrown ist & mut at and Ge mitte Duesseldorf. 5,000 York, V | net. Jotn, y and tomorrow we can contin ng textile workers, from Swedish Communists Protest Trade Union Funds to ‘Socialists’ (Wireless to the Daily Worker) 16. — The unions resolved to- The important developments that|day, in the face of strong protest to present party with STOCKHOLM, swedish trade Noy. from the Communists, the social-democratic 50,000 crowns. Committee gave the treasury agai the Communists {unions are protesting. (Red Aid Press Service.) 7 fail).—On Oct. 31 |Days today and tomorrow.” | e the special tri- Cajani, |New York, W. I. R., 799 Broadway, charge | |Room 226, immediately. »p- | some of revolutionary literature} shop in Bologna. | sentenced | nd 10 ria to|forees are being mobilized to bring to 3| the masimum results, not only for on. The|the Tag Days, but in the drive be- ed further are to be under the | ginning with these Tag Days for a rveillance of the police for three | ears after they have served their|in New Bedford requires that we and 10 months in pri tribunal 3 against the two | , Francisco Rossi and | charged taken part in re-organ- Chivalry zing the Communist Party. are . Ruhr Metal Workers Oust Reformists; Are Taking Leadership (Wireless to the Daily Worker.) they of thousands of workers. the workers rmists have been Dortmund, Bochum ; riirehen, A fighting com-|¢Pening of the Bronx Workers Cen- was elected by the adership in Duisburg and| workers | New Re- joeal International Join todey and urge others to Help make the Tag Days to- suceensful relief work rad ete. Recently the Railwaymen’s Union social-demo- cratic party 15,000 crowns from the | against the will of| consetous Members of the) Albert Weisbord praised the re- jlief work done by the W. I. R. in New Bedford. “In answer to the hosses’ attempt to starve, jail and freeze the striking textile workers into submission to wage reductions and the speed-up system, the W. I. R. has answered with food, cloth- ing and defense,” Weisbord said. “Every militant worker should join {the W. I. R. and help build up a |strong relief organization. All who lean should participate in the Tag Volunteers must report to Local “| Weinstone Calls on Workers to Volunteer | for W. I. R. Tag Days! Continued from Page One | large membership. The situation) | continue relief work, and we cannot | shirk the responsibilities we have ‘incurred in the mining field. Thou- | sands of workers have been vic- TODAY, SUNDAY | Weisbord “Also Urges ’ They Say He’s Guilty! ers nig The federal only risked his @ slave on a leaky old liner at $45 dol- lars and rotten food @ month, But the “investiga- | tor” will try their best to find Bowles and his fellow-work-| all sorts of crimes in connection with the disaster. shows Bowles being taken in an ambul- ance to a hospital. Workers must fight this brazen attempt to make scape-goats of their fellow-work- ers who are among the most exploited section of the work- guilty of class. thing Harry Bowles, one of the Vestris crew, is guilty of is con- tracting pneumonia, scccr'asaere WITH AGREEMENT Photo for the Negro dep: Workers «Communi has recently Soviet Union, causus, as well as tour ke is making country. sressed races and nder imperialism. Russia fer over 300 public on the Black There are 600 | there, of whom abou whites. the world. Since the Rus: n ernment. |timized and 50,000 are unemployed | there, and our relief work must con: |tinue unabated. “We are building one centralized, | efficient relief organization, i\gandized and urged to join the W.) |W. 1. R. Every unit should have a jcommittee, not only for the Tag 16.—Negotiations | Days, but to function during this | umed today in Duesseldorf drive to get members.” in the Ruhr} proceedings | olved | Olgin Will Speak at Cnening of the New ‘| Bronx Worker Center A gala occasion will mark the {ter at 1830 Wilkins Ave. (Freeman St. station) tomorrow evening at 8 p.m. Moissaye J. Olgin will be the principal speaker~ He will give the first lecture at the Open Forum. His topic will be “Immediate Tasks Facing American Labor,” Young Workers Hold Downtown Forum The Downtown Unit, No. 1, of the Young Workers (Communist) League is starting its Open For- ums, to be held every Sunday eve~ ing at 8 p. m.. Tomorrow a lec- ture on “The Results of the Elec- tion Campaign and What it Meant to the Youth” will be given by H. Gordon, member of the district ex- ecutive committee. The forums are held at 60 (St. Mark’s Place. Ad- mission is free. very Party member orker who is help in ‘ag Days today and to-~ morrow should report tmmediately | to oun 220, 700" bconawaye ‘lage soviets, and |of the central committee of the All- | Union Communist Trade | the Revolution this colony was in a unions, workers’ organizations, and comparatively low state of culture, lindividual workers must be propa-/9d this was particularly true of |the masses. These I. R. Our goal is 5,000 dues pay-| hospitals, cr any of the modern con- | ing members for local New York,|Veniences known to more advanced countries Came From The tribe ofiginally came from northern Africa, says Hall, where they were brought by the | p33 Turks, who .used them as mercen. |, jaries in their attempts at the mili- ||" |tary subjugation of ple. Later these jturned against much the same as remained there. returned from the dropped Daily Worker to tell of a visit he | made to a Negro colony in the Cau- Hall has spent three’ years in the} Soviet Union, studying the problem | sion cf sympathy. cf the nationalist movement of op- his trips to the south he came across a Negro colony which has been in now a part of the Caucaus‘an Soviet *| Republic, a small autonomous re- Negro Peasants. most purely Negro—the rest having intermarried with the neighboring They are peasants, grow- ing the staple crop of that region— tobaceo, and produce some of the finest tobacco grown anywhere in enjoy full participation in the gov- Several members of the colony are high officials, some of them chairmen of the district and the ) helped to drive them out. Since the |] climate was congenial and the cul- tural level of the native people was | : BALL When Hall visited them, members SOVIET NEGRO COLONY artment of the ist) Party, who |the United States. in to thejrica, since this to announce a | cther. colonial peoples Upon one of | Negroes years. They are |tarian government States.” Sea. | Negro families | it 50 are still al- California, Revolution they (Communist) Party. some members Party. Before had no schools, tomorrow. full titu: the miners. Africa. from ig was Revolutionary Message to U.S. Negroes Otto Hall, national field organizer | of the colony were surprised to know that there were Negroes in They knew that Negroes were to be found in Af- traditional knowledge, handed dowh by word of mouth from one generation to an- When he told them of the throughout the segregation and terrorism to which | American Negroes were subjected, | they were emphatic in their expres- Their spokes- man requested Hall to give the fol- lowing message to their fellow- in America: way to lift the oppression under which the American Negroes suffer is by the establishment of a prole- in the United Hall will speak in the chief cities | cf each district of the Workers Tarty—in all, about 40 to 50 cities. His first meeting is to be in Balti- more on Sunday, Nov. 28, and then he will go southwest to Southern! north to Seattle and back east to New York. The upeak- ing and organizing tour he is mak- | ing will take about two months and jwill be under the auspices of the | Negro department of the Workers \ HAVANA, Nov. 15° (UP).—The United Fruit liner Ulua docked to- day from New York after one of the } roughest trips in the ship’s history. A number of the passengers were | slightly injured when the vessel was | tossed about on gigantic waves dur- | ing a 90-mile gale encountered off | |Cape Hatteras Monday. airs | W. I. R. Tag Days. "Today and | Give generously to the extent possible for the dex- itrikers in New Redford and “The only SOCIALIST MAKES OPEN SHOP LEGAL ‘Schlesinger Is Signing Fake Dress Boss Pact Continued from Page One sanctioned immediate preparations for a general ‘strike in the trade. Boasting in the Jewish socialist press htat he is making “demands” on the bosses, Schlesinger never- theless fails to admit that as a “Union” his organization fails to prohibit the bosses’ association from publishing ‘ advertisements which call for members, “whether they keep open shops or union shops.” Thus Schlesinger will have an agreement with an “association” which will include in its member- ship frankly open shop -bosses. The fly in the Schlesinger oint- ment, however, is that neither the association he will sign with, can sign for more than a clique of fak- ers who represent no employers, nor his fake union can keep the work- ers from following the call of the left wing for a generdl‘strike in the dress manufacturing trade, when that call is issued. The association consists of a few racketeers who are agents and errand boys for the big jobbers. w. I. R. tomorrow. workers’ unteer workers needed. W. 1. R. local New York, Broadway, immediately. Tag Today and Help bi relief organization. Report to 799 Fvery Party member and class conscious worker who is free to help in Tag Days today and to- morrow should report immediately to Room 226, 799 Broadway. WORKER DON’T NEGLECT YOUR EYES for a moment. Call at our op- tical office where efficient opto- metrists will examine your eyes and fit you with the glasses you need. Our office is equipped with up-to-date instruments, and the latest scientific methods are em- ployed. — POPULAR PRICES. OFFICE OPEN FROM ° 4. M. TO9P. M. Fernitrly Polen Miller put Co OPTOMETRISTS — OPTICIANS 1690 Lexington Ave. Corner talon! nal ¥. C the native peo- slave soldiers Turks and theirs, the tribe | After Visit tionary artist and daily, is scheduled papers., first workers’ and the Soviet Union. was born abroad, Gropper, Revolutionary Artist, Arrives Today William Gropper, famous revolu- of the Freiheit, Yiddish Communist Cunard liner Berengaria from Eur- ope at 9 o’clock this morning. Gropper has been in Europe for more than a year, spending most of that time in the where his drawings appeared in the Pravda and in other His drawings of life in the lie have also appeared from time to time in the Daily Worker. Gropper is bringing with him a new book consisting of drawings of panied by his wife and child, who| to USSR staff cartoonist to arrive on the Soviet Union, ading Soviet peasants’ repub- He is’ accom- Saturday Eve. Dec. 15th MADISON SQUARE GARDEN AUSPICES: Daily Worker AT Freiheit