The Daily Worker Newspaper, November 21, 1928, Page 1

THE DAILY WORKER FIGHTS For a Workers-Farmers Government To Organize the Unorganized For the 40-Hour Week For a Labor Party Entered a second-class matter at the mt Office at New York. under the act of Mari Worker ch 3, 1879. Pp | Vol. V., No. 276 Publishing Association, Inc, 2 ublished daily except Sunda ional Daliy Worker New York, N. ¥. NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1 928 LEGION HEAD AT A. F. L, MEETING SOUNDS WAR GRY “Work Hand in Hand” With Federation, He Declares Is for Universal Draft Shows Combined Move. Against Militants (Special to the Daily Worker) NEW ORLEANS, Nov. 20.—The war gong of the coming imperialist conflict was. today sounded with} startling emphasis at the American Federation of Labor convention in session here when Paul V. McNutt, national commander of the Ameri- can Legion, addressing the labor delegates called upon them to en- dorse legislation calling for a strengthening of the government war resources. The labor bureaucrats headed by William Green, president of the Federation, set the stage for the en- trance of the fascist legionaire whose organization and membership has broken up labor meetings scores of times in practically every section! of the country. Concealing the full import of his) program under a camouflaged criti- | cism of war profiteering McNutt de-| clared: “We believe the united strength of our nation instantly | ready to defend our homes and our institutions will prevent any other people or group of people from ever giving us cause to use that! strength.” McNutt then urged a plan for a universal draft in war time. A moment earlier, McNutt had declared that the A. F. of L. and the American Legion “were working hand in hand.” In his em- phasis, placed on the united task of the labor fakers and the legionists to “prevent any group of people’ from carrying out any challenge to! se institutions,” is thus seen a mmon agreement ‘to fight any form of militancy or radicalism. No less significant was a speech made by John C. Ross, of the Pro- curement Bureau of the U. S. Army who spoke on “cooperation in ar- ranging to provide for the necessary material in time of war.” Ross con- tinued with a detailed report on the role which the Federation would have to play when hostilities again broke out. This is the first time any army officer has spoken before the A. F. of L. convention in peace time. The invitation of the American Legion Commander to ‘address the convention is considered of partic- ular significance this year in view of the increasing war danger and the challenge which the militants and the Communists are making to the power of the labor fakers. There can be no doubt that the labor bureaucrats plan to cooperate with | the legionists in an attempt to stem the rising tide of organization among | unorganized sections of the working class. VESTRIS MEET IN HARLEM TONIGHT Negro Heroes to Tell Story of Sinking A mass meeting to protest against the capitalist press’s slander of the Negro heroes of the “Vestris” has been called by the Harlem Council | of the American Negro Labor Con- gress for tonight at 8 o’clock, at St Luke’s Hall, 125 W. 130 St. The) meeting also aims to mobilize the| Negro population of Harlem against what the Congress sees as an effort) to use the Negro members of the Vestris crew as scapegoats in the investigation of the sea horror being} conducted by United States Attorney General Charles H. Tuttle. Several Negro members of the crew will be present, it was an- nounced at the headquarters of the Congress at 461 Lenox Ave., and Harlemites are invited to turn out en masse to hear the real facts of the Vestris horror from the lips of the Negro heroes themselves and to add their voices to the protest against the slander of the prejudiced press and take a stand against the evident attempts to frame-up these men in order to cover up the criminal negligence of the steamship company and its officers. Other speakers announced are Richard B. Moore, national organizer of the American Negro Labor Con- .gress; Robert Minor, editor of the Daily Worker, Dr. Chester Holder, of Brooklyn, George Mink of the Seamen’s Progressive Union; and Mrs. William Burroughs, of the Teachers’ Union. Otto E. Huiswoud ‘will act as chairman. | Judges Order Stewart | Passengers Don’t Think His Life’s Worth Much! R F VE A At the top is a remarkable photo showing Joseph Borhill, Negro , Seaman of the “Vestris,” swimming desperately after the ship went down. Photo below shows Boxhill being carried on board the Wyom- ing, one of the rescue ships. Boxhill was one of the Vestris seamen whose lives passengers showed so much contempt in the lies and slanders they broadcast after the disaster. HOOVER’S DEPARTMENT “INSPECTS” LIFEBOAT. (The following is the second of a| series of articles on the Vestris dis-| aster, the story of ships and the| seamez. who work on them, written by a member of the Daily Worker staff. Look for them every day this week.—Editor’s note) * 8 oe BY HARRISON GEORGE “You athe ‘sweet life that the battleship Maryland has enough! lifeboats to save Heavy Herbie,” said a sailor to the Daily Worker reporter | at the International Seamen’s Club, 28 South St., yesterday, when the men who go down to the sea in ships gathered around to tell their stories ot how the United States govern- ment has, during “Efficiency Hoov- er’s” regime as secretary of com- ‘merce, which is in charge of steamer/| inspection, allowed hundreds of ships| to leave ports that were not safe or seaworthy. “Take the life-boats of the Vest- ris,” says a sailor who knows from having sailed on her. “Like all the Lamport-Holt ships, these lifeboats | are made of wood. Now these ships are subject to extremes of both heat and cold, running thru the tropics and out again, and the wooden life- boats simply cannot stand up under the changing temperature. They get leaky in no time, but the inspectors don’t care, and if the sailors complain they are arrested for mutiny and put in irons!” “Look at that Muson liner, the Munargo! She has a bunch of fairly good lifeboats, with air-tanks to keep them right side up. But the inspect-| ors never require that the boats be| swung free clear down to the water Continued on Page Two ROCKEFELLER OIL PERJURER FREED Acquited WASHINGTON, Nov. 20.—Robert + |be published tomorrow. VESTRIS STORY - TOLD BY NEGRO Fireman Relates Tale of Death at Sea The Daily Worker prints here- with the statement of a Negro fire- man on the Vestris, Joseph Bauxill, age 29, born on the island of Bar- badoes. Credit is to be given to the Negro Champion for gathering these statements, more of which will They show, thru their laconic and matter of fact recital, the guilt of the com- pany for the disaster, the brutality toward the workers and the race discrimination against the Negro workers. Bauxill’s statement says: « * * I served on board S. S. Vestris as a stoker. The ship left Pier 14, Jersey City, afternoon of the 10th of Nov. at 3:30 p. m. bound for Barbados and South American ports. She seemed almost immedi- ately after clearing to run into heavy weather and was rolling and pitching badly, also listing to star- board. Late Saturday night in high seas and heavy winds, the ship de- veloped worse troubles with the ‘ash-hopper which was leaking bad-| ly. Engineers were working desper- |ately to overcome the leak, but it} |continued to get worse and the| | water came in steadily throwing the | Boring for oil in Uzbekistan, where jcoal from off the, stoke-hole plates|the yield of the first year and a half in bilges which clogged the scuttle holes so that the pumps were un- able to take the water out. The ‘bunker door leading into No. 1, the fire room, was running water bad- ly. During 12 to 4 Sunday after- noon port hole in the bunker door got smashed. The ship’s list increased with each hour Sunday night and Monday Continued on Page Two WAS IMPROPERLY \NSPECTEDBY U.S. Say Examiner, Drunk, Failed to Inspect Vessel | Crew Indict8 Company 1] nvestigation” Soft Pedals on Charges Admission that six of the Ves- tris’s 14, coal ports were not thoroughly examined during the four days’ inspection of the liner before it sailed on its last voyage was made yesterday by Captain Edward. W. Keane, assistant inspector of hulls. | Keane was the first witness at the hearing into the causes of the dis- aster, which opened before a special board of the Steamship Inspection Service. The admission was elicited in pur- suance of the charges previously |made by members of the crew that the Vestris had been leaking when it left port, and that no attempt had | been made to inspect it by the U. S. | Government inspectors. | The charge was further sub- | stantiafed when the following letter, \from Samuel Lawson of the U. | Line, was read into the records. letter was addressed to J. L. Crone, supervising inspector of the Steam boat Inspection Service: Inspectors . Drunk. “My Dear Sir: — Your statement in yesterday's paper that the Vestris was inspected on the 7th of Novem- ber is correct. The. inspection of |Messrs. Keane and Bruning con- \sisted in that these two gentlemen |had a hearty breakfast and lunch “jon board and the rest of the time was spent in sitting in the ship’s |bar, swilling great amounts of | Scotch whiskey and English beer and signing a certificate of inspection. | And then in the afternoon the two | gentlemen left, each with square |parcels and a certain weakness in |the legs. These are the kind of of- | ficials you have, and which the pub- \lic is expected to put their trust in. | Murderers would be the proper name |for them. I will see to it that Washington gets information about | this. Yours truly, | (Signed) “Samuel Lawson.” | Keane, although he tried to blus- | ter against the charges, stating that |he had never taken liquor in his | Continued on Page Five |Gitlow Speaks on War | Danger This Sund | Benjamin Gitlow, of th: Executive Committee of ers (Communist) Party, \at the Irving Plaza Hall, Irving Pl. and 15th Street this Sunday after- noon at 2 o'clock, on “The War | Danger.” Other speakers will be *V. Mon- tana, Italian organizer of the Work- ers (Communist) Party and Ex Os- | valdo, organizer of the Dressmakers’ | Union. The meeting has been ar- | ranged by the Italian Bureau of the | Workers (Communist) Party. Uzbekistan Oil Wells | Increase Daily Yield peak KOKAND, U.S.S.R., (By Mail).— was over 5,500 tons, has now reached the second oil-bearing strata. | Pumping in the sixth well has al- | ready yielded 15 tons of oii daily and | it will now become a permanent well. |The seventh boring will shortly be |finished, and the 8th, 9th, 11th and | 12th boring is soon to be started. Organize the w Or- organized! thed industries! | Men strikers of the Allen-A Hosiery |Mill yesterday refused to take ad- The + ganize new unions in the unorgan- Pickets Scorn Bail, Protest MILWAUKEE, W Nov. vantage of the bail which had b collected for them at an enthusi meeting of workers and reniained in jail as a protest against their un fair sentences. Nine women strikers. whose 18 da: of suffering in the Milwaukee County House of Correc tion has greatly weakened them, ac cepted the bail and were re Bail had been set at $100. The big meeting of strikers and sympathetic workers raised the money primarily he women strikers but su. to apply on the men’s bail alsé FLOOD CAUSES 13 MORE DEATHS Hoove Acted on S$ sures n for CHICA( teen dead, se sa and proper over $10,000,01 in rep Kansas r exy bled at Quincy, Ill releasing waters of the Mississipp upon 12,000 acres of rich botton lands én both the souri and Illinois sides of the stream. The Missouri River was out of its banks at many points between Kan- sas City and St. Louis. In Kentucky the Cumberland and Kentuck rivers inundated parts of five counties in the eastern part of the State, drowning three men at Terjay, where a bridge was carried away by driftwood. During the last great flood of the Mississippi River, Herbert Hoover was in charge of the relief work. After the discrimination against the Negro sufferers had been revealed, Hoover announced that he would bring the matter of the construction of new and powerful levees and breakwaters before the U. S. Govern- ment. No record of any such action has ever been reported, and it is pointed out that the loss of lives and other damages resulting from esent flood are directly due to e negligence of Hoover and the S. government in allowing the faulty levees to remain unrepaired. MeGARRY SELLS OUT MINE STRIKE Cheer Minerich Speech for New Union (Special to the Daily Worker) PITTSTON, Nov. 20.—Revealing the full lengths to which their strikebreaking methods would go, the McGarry group in the anthra- cite yesterday openly advised the Pittston miners to go back to work and to join with the treacherous Lewis-Boylan machine. In a unanimous demonstration the coal diggers, following a stirring speech by Tony Minerich, repudi- ated the McGarry suggestion and voted to continue the fight. This outcome of the McGarry mis- leadership, frequently predicted in Continued on Page Three ent was left over| .¢ FINAL CITY EDITION Price 3 Jents LVESTRIS Kenosha Mill FYRRIERS ISSUE LATIN AMERICAN WORKERS GONVENTIONCALL URGED TO RESIST JUNKET FOR NEW UNION QF HOOVER, IMPERIALIST Takes Place Same Date | as New Cloak Union Convention Yankee “Emperor” Will Visit Terminus of the Proposed Nicaragua Canal Both Then 10 Merge|Puppets at Managua Plan Royal Welcome to Wall St. Envoy; Fear Sandino Nearly All Locals Quit A. F. of L., Join Up | mal call for a convention} union of furriers established, was by the Provisional National Executive Committee. The convention will be held in New York Decembe 9 and 30. signatures of Ben Gold, nan, and I, Potash, secretary, provisional committee, which the official body serving to| unite all the locals until the new union is launched, called the conven- | tion which the great majority of fur| workers have long been waiting for.| Locals Join | The movement for the establish- national sued y yment of the new union began when, | an effort to get rid of all prog- elements in the union, the right wing officials began a disas-| trous war against the members. This resulted in the destruction of union n res: ter the struggle of the workers, y the left wing, had gone on for over two years, the latter suc-| ceeded in gaining the wholehearted| support” of every important local] union of the old International. Near-| local of the right wing In- ational automatically secedes| rom the International and the American Federdtion of Labor, when | elect delegates to this conven- n. The official call declares in part: | “To All Fur Workers’ Locals of the U. S. and Canada “Sisters and Brothers: “At the last meeting of the Sub-| Committee, held on Saturday, No-| vember 10, it was unanimously de-| Continued on Page Two FRANCE JOINS IN RADIO WAR MOVE Plans Own Merger to Fight American FARIS, Nov. 20.—France entered the international scramble for com- munications control today when it was reported that the Radio France, | which controls air communications | with England, Spain, Austria, Ru- mania, Norw Jugoslavia and Czecho-Slovakia, was negotiating for a merger with the French Cable Co. The latter, known as the P. Q., controls the French cable system to {the United States via the Azores. Radio France recently has been at- tempting to establish communica-| tion with the United States through | its Saint Assises station. | Officials of both companies ad- Continued on Page Three USSR Shifts Winter Port to Murmansk | LENINGRAD, U.S.S.R. (By Mail). | —It has been decided to turn all win- | ter navigation from the port of| Leningrad to Murmansk port. | In connection with this decision} it was announced that the port of Leningrad would be closed to incom- ing vessels on December 10, and to outgoing vessels on December W. Stewart, oil grafter and chair- man of the board of the Standard Oil Co. of Indiana, was acquitted today in District of Columbia Su- preme Court on a technicality, no doubt, deliberately permitted to oc- cur by the senate committee which heard his testimony, resulting in the perjury charge. Earlier in the trial Stewart had attempted to bribe a Declaring that the strikebreaking methods of the socialist “Il Nuovo PRINTERS’ UNION DENOUNCES ‘IL NUOVO MO} \President and Secretary of Local 261 Rap Socialist Paper for Strikebreaking | fact that the issue of the fascist was; it, both as a newspaper in general ‘used by the newspaper only as a|and as a working class publication juror. | Mondo,” in locking out its printers How Judges Help Bosses The judge had instructed the jury | that acquittal must be returned if they found that an actual quorum was not present in the senate com-| mittee hearing before which Stewart. told two different stories concerning | Continental bonds. The jury brought in this verdict after only 25 minutes deliberation, Continued cn Page Five MEXICO CLAIMS BOARD MEETS MEXICO CITY, Nov, 20 (UP).— The Anglo-Mexican claims commis- sion will meet at Washington the’| first week of December with the following Mexican representatives attending: Agent, Aquiles El Or- duy; assistant, Edouardo Suares; secretary, Edouardo Villa Senor. and importing scabs are a menace to unionism and a symptom of the “coming reaction,” Orsete Schettini, president and Anthony Renzi, secre- tary of Local 261 Typographical Union, in a letter to the Daily Worker yesterday made_ public hitherto unrevealed facts of the open shop tactics of that newspaper. The lockout of the printers, these officials showed, occurred after the controversy over the employment of a fascist on the paper had been settled. From the evidence already disclosed in the columns of the Daily Worker and from an interview with Nicola Napoli, editor of the Com- munist “Il Lavoratore,” there is no doubt that D. Micale, the discharged printer, was actually a fascist. But the new information now disclosed by the union officials cgnfirms the “kl? | pretext to explain the lockout of the printers. Micale had already left the paper nearly a week when all the printers were called in by the editor and manager of the paper, Vacirca, and urged to take a wage cut. The strike followed the refusal of the men to comply, The letter sent to the Daily Worker signed by Schettini and Renzi which is self explanatory fol- lows: Denounce Scab Paper. November 20, 1928. Editor of the Daily Worker: We do not know whether you know anything about the contro- versy between I! Nuovo Mondo and the Italian Typographical Union 261. We believe that you are in- terested to know everythirig about ‘ The new facts show that| in particular. Il Nuovo Mondo has all the rea- sons in the world to make a specu- Jative, political issue out of a con- tractual, union and moral issue. And this publication, instead of be- ing coherent to its mission to prop- agate the gospel of truth, liberty and unionism, has maliciously and deliberately made false statements and concealed the most important facts regarding the controversy in order to justify its untenable, nor® unionistic, non-socialistic toward the Italian Typographical Union 261 in particular and the en- tire labor movement in general. Here are the facts, which speak for themselves: One day a member of I] Nuovo Mondo chapel was discharged by erder of the management, charged position | OVO MONDO’ with being a fascist and a trouble- inaker, The discharged member, naturally, appealed to the union, and at its next regular meeting the case came up for ‘action., A long discus- |sion took place on the floor of the union; witnesses were examined and all the parties interested were heard. The evidence presented | against the accused man was of such insignificant a nature that the membership could not but exonerate him, and ordered his reinstatement with pay for loss of time. I] Nuovo Mondo refused to do so. Several conferences took place between our | |president and the management: of | |Il Uuovo Mondo, but to no avail. | |Even the good offices of Mr. Brit-- | | tain, Union representative, failed to bring the matter to a satisfactory settlement. Continued on Page Two (Special to the MOSCOW, U. S. S. R., Nov. 20. state that the presence in Latin America of Her- press toda workers locals thruout the| bert Hoover, president-elect of the United State i States and Canada, in order) South American workers an unusual opportunity to demon- N.Y, COMMUNISTS “For Comintern and C. E. C. Leadership” The District Executive committee of the New York district of the Workers (Communist) Party, in its session Monday night, passed a res- olution vigorously condemning the former members of the Party, Can- non, Abern and Schachtman, who were recently expelled for attempt- ing to build sa Trotskyis within the Party, against the P: and against the Communist Intern: tional. The resolution severely con- demns Trotskyism, upholds the po- sition of the Communist Interna- tional and supports the Central E: ecutive Committee of the Party, ap- proving its prompt action in the matter. he text of the resolution is: 1. The District Executive Com- mittee of the New York District fully endorses the Nov. 16 state. ment of the Central Executive Committee against Trotskyism and the right danger in the Amer- ican Party... 2. The Distri Executive Com- mittee pledges itself to carry on an uncompromising struggle against social democratic counter- revolutionary Trotskyism which is today the rallying center of all enemies of the Soviet Union and of the Communist International, and which represents in the United States a cowardly capi- tulation before the tremendous difficulties facing the Communist Party, amounting to a complete retreat before the strength of American imperialism. 3. The District Executive Com- mittee calls the attention of the Party membership of the entire of sistrict to the great danger outright opportunism—loosen of attitude towards the social party and the question of a labor party; insufficient work in the erganization of the unorganized; lack of faith in the role of the Party; remnants of craft ideol- ogy; underestimation of Negro work; insufficient anti-imperial- ist work. 4, The District Executive Com- mittee recognizes that in the pres- ent objective situation the right m Paye Two Continued HOSIERY UNION ACCEPTS SLASH Officials ‘Dicker for Further Betrayal PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 20.—To the demand of the silk hose manu- here that the wage of jitters be radically reduced, officialéom of the of Full Fashioned the Federation siery Workers replied with an offer Ho- to “negotiate,” making not even a pretense of real resistance. The bureaucracy of this skilled craftsmens organization did not even bother to criticize, let alone condemn, the audacity of the mill owners for making a demand so vicious as that of a 24-cent reduc- tion on a dozen pairs of stockings. On the contrary, in circles the highly satisfying report goes the rounds that the union has already agreed to a ton cent slash on the dozen. All that is now neces- continue and the full 24-cent reduc- tion will be victoriously negotiated (for the bosses). A knitter now re- ceives $1.24 a dozen. several months ago reduced it to that from $1.28 a dozen. . The American Federation of Full Fashioned Hosiery Workers has in the past made a pretense of posing American | Daily Worker) Leading articles in the will give the strate against American im- perialism. ° British-U. S. Rivalry. The article asks the ques- tion, “Why is Hoover spending @ honeymoon in South America?” and answers that “Latin America has been the arena of economic inter- est between the United States and Great Britain.” Hoover hopes to strengthen the strategic position of the United States, the article states, while at the same time, using a warship as an “implied threat.” $5,000 Per Day WASHINGTON, Nov. 20.— Figur- ing it costs about $5,000 a day to operate a battleshp, navy authori- ties estimated today the 40-day Y cruise o fthe Maryland and Utah with President-elect Hoover aboard would amount to about $200,000, Today’s $5,000 carried Herbert Hoover and his entourage a leg nearer the first port of call of their junket, Corinto, Nicaragua, where it is understood that the president- elect will be made the object of a special reception *from officials of {the Moncada government. | Corinto is the only western Nica- raguan harbor suitable for sea-go- ing vessels of the draught of the Maryland and plans are being made for a number of Nicaraguan fune- tionaries to travel from Managtiag the capital, to the port in order to receive the president-elect. Wireless dispatches from the bat- tleship Maryland, transporting the president-elect on his southern tour today announced a partial itinerary for Hoover, Announce Itinerary. The Maryland’s message, as re- |ported by the United Press News | Service, read: “Arrive Amapala, Honduras, early Nov. 25 to visit Amapala and Launion (Salvador), arrive Corinto Continued on Page Five 300 LYNN SHOE WORKERS STRIKE Union ‘N: o-Strike’ Pact, Arbitrators, Defied LYNN, Mass., Nov. 20.—In de- fiance of the strict prohibition of strikes by the class-collaborationist union agreement with the shoe manufacturers, over 500 shoe work- ers walked out on strike when the Massachusetts State Board of Ar- bitration ruled that their wages be slashed from 9 to 20 per cent. The factories already crippled by the strike are the Unity, Stritter Standard, Washington, Walden and Perry Shoe Compani Reports from factories in outlying plants in- dicate that the workers there are also quitting their branches to join the walkout. The edge-makers, McKay stewers, | Goodyear operators and woodhealers Jare the craftsmen composing the |bulk of the strikera. Disregarding the reactionary union officialdom of the American Federation of Labor organization, members of these crafts, on being notified of the decision of the Arbi- tration Board, held independent meetings, took a strike vote, and immediately carried it into effect. Workers here are extremely bitter | over the fact that the State Board of Arbitration, whose anti-labor char- A wage cut) | acter has been proven so many times employers’ | in recent labor disputes in this state, was permitted to enter the situation The greatest determinatic © ing shown by the strikers, who are already demanding that the strike |sary is for the “negotiations” to be made more general and that the fight be kept up till the State Board § and the shoe manufacturers are de- | cisively defeated. ba * ROSfKA SCHWIMMER YS, U. 8. WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 UP) The federal government today was granted a U. S. Suprem urt Tre- view of its unsuccessful attempt to International Typographical |as a progressive organization, but prevent Madame Rosika“Schwimmer, its leadership now negotiates dras-| Hungarian pacifist ledder and a t | tic wage cuts with all the frankness | principal figure of the famous Ford What was the Italian |and alacrity of its parent body, the | peace ship, from obtaining American i ‘Typdxvaphical Union No. 261 or-| United Textile Workers Union of citizenship because of her pacifist — the American Federation of Lal e if views. cna