The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 29, 1929, Page 6

Page Six DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 1929 ~ SS Baily 3s Worker Central Organ of the Communist Party of the U. S. A. 50 three months ) three months y 28 Union Square, New York, N. ¥ <Zz> | DOGGED On “Passing Prosperity Around” The wild crash and rebound of the stock exchange, Tues- day, when a turnover of 8,246,740 shares registered the big- gest market day in history, has again resulted in renewed criticism of the Federal Reserve System. Benjamin G. Marsh, secretary of the Lobby” at Washington, declares that the issue is whether the Federal Reserve System is to be used “unconstitution- ally” for the benefit of the bankers, or whether it is to be used “to pass prosperity around.” a alled “People’s Marsh wants to argue with Wall Street about who is running the government and why laws are made. It is supposed to be a prison offense to charge more than 10 or 12 per cent interest. The call money rate went to 15, then to 17, and finally to 20 and 22 per cent, on Tuesday, but not even one lone police wagon backed up to the Stock Ex- change, on Wall Street, nor was a single police raid con- ducted against any bank or corporation loaning money at usury rates, throughout the entire financial district. It is repeatedly claimed that the Federal Reserve Board is espousing a policy of restricted credit for speculative pur- poses. But brokers’ loans have continually mounted higher and higher until last week they achieved the tremendous in- crease of $166,000,000. Total loans to brokers, a polite name for stock gamblers, made by the Federal Reserve member banks, reported at $5,793,000,000 last week, have increased a total of $2,014,- 000,000 since the last week of March, 1928. Funds available are poured into the speculative maelstrom, private bankers issuing credit to eight times the actual deposits made in their banks. The whole financial structure, controlled in the last analysis by a small clique of bankers, is used most efficiently to plunder the broad masses of workers and poor farmers. The wild orgies of gambling on the stock exchange is an inevitable part of this system of wholesale robbery. The remedy for this situation is not to be found in the cries of Ben Marsh, who demands that the plundering should be done along “constitutional” lines, and that “prosperity should be passed around’—crumbs for the poor and the whole pie for the rich. Marsh echoes the days of the elder LaFollette in congress, of the “regulation” of great mono- polies, of the “fixing” of prices, an era of attempted reform legislation that passed definitely with LaFollette’s death, and especially with the opening of the new imperialist epoch marked by the ascension of Herbert Hoover to power in Wash- ington. The so-called “LaFollette Group,” down to LaFol- cial reaction. Instead of listening to the pleas of Marsh, who has claimed to speak for some western farmers, the Wall Street financial oligarchy plans to strengthen its rule the world over. This is seen in Owen D. Young’s scheme to exploit Germany through reparations, and the proposal for an inter- national bank to be the real super-government of the im- perialist world. It is claimed that these subjects were dis- cussed in the meetings held the past few years between Montagu Norman, of the Bank of England; the late Ben- jamin Strong, J. P. Morgan, George E. Roberts and other British, French, German, Italian, Belgian and other finan- ciers. Marsh utters this petty bourgeois hope: “It is to be hoped that we shall soon have a constructive plan for federal supervision of corporations engaged in inter- state commerce put into effect so that the stentorian mouths of bankers will be permanently closed on such matters, and they will be taught that this country is run for the benefit of the people and not of the few directors and other stockholders of banks.” That is still the dream of the petty bourgeoisie. Workers and poor farmers, who are wide awake to their problems, know that victory for them can only come through the over- throw of this system of finance capitalism, a parasite rule that will continue to suck blood from their veins as long as it is not displaced completely by labor. Stimson Urges Status Quo In Philippines. Henry L. Stimson, carrying the title of “Colonel”, who was secretary of war in Taft’s cabinet, but more recently Wall Street’s agent in Nicaragua and the Philippines, today takes over the portfolio of secretary of state in Hoover’s cabinet. He will be directing head from now on, in place of Kellogg, of the machine gun diplomacy division of U. S. im- perialist rule. : Stimson announces that the status quo will continue in the colonies and semi-colonies. Regarding Wall Street’s prize colonial possession, Stimson says, “American policy toward the Philippines should continue as at present.” The present policy of course is to exploit the islands to the limit, utilize the army and navy to keep the natives in the worst possible subjection, forget absolutely that “inde- pendence” has been promised the islands for the past 30 years, ever since they were taken from Spain, and to estab- lish the islands more firmly than ever as an outpost of U. S. imperialism in the far Pacific. Hitherto, home-returning governor generals have made a gesture toward promising “independence.” Stimson does not even do this. He speaks bluntly the colonial policy of Wall Street. He merely tries to hide behind the subterfuge of a distinction between “self-government” and “independence”, using the diplomatic language of the imperialist freebooter. Washington will continue to ride, booted and spurred, not only against the Philippines, but against all the colo- nies, and especially against Latin-America, under the | Hoover-Stimson regime. This will inevitably increase the re- ro sistance of the colonials. The Filipinos have splendid ex- ‘amples of struggle, in their own neighborhood, set before hem by the revolting masses of China, Indonesia and most ecently, India. The Filipinos who fought the Spanish des- potism for centuries, will not endure slavery under the Yankee . La6or at home must rally to their assistance in this iberation movement. bina ei Police Commissioner Whalen: “Run him in, he’s unemployed!” | By JOHN OWENS. TRE recent fight against attempts to segregate Negro and Mexican children in the public schools in the Palo Verde Valley, the cotton. belt of southern California, is highly in- teresting because it clearly illus |the races. twist a class struggle into a racial JOHN OWENS issue and make the Negro workers |and farmers the butt of oppression, | together, frequently, with other non- white groups, I was a resident of the valley for five years, until forced to leave the latter part of January, 1929, be- cause of racial, economic and social oppression, and threatened physical violence. During this time I had been initiated into every phase of agricultural work, both as an agri- cultural laborer and a tenant farmer and share cropper. I have picked cotton, cleared Jand, built ditches end planted cotton and alfalfa. Each year the economic pressure forces more and more farmers and their children to abandon their homesteads. Tenancy and share- cropping is only carried on at the point of minimum existence in many instances. However, the plight of the agricultural laborer is deplor- able. Very few can be sure of 150 steady days in the entire year. Most of the owners are in debt beyond any hope of redemption. Much of the land has reverted to the state for taxes. There developed a chafing on the part of the blacks, whites and Mex- icans against these economic fet- ters, but it was blind and misdi- rected and manifested itself in a racial complex rather than a class complex. ! of Cal ifornia This attitude was subtly encour- aged by the local administrative of- trates how changing economic con- ficials, the school authorities, local ditions affect the social relations of | ginners, bankers, etc. The issue of separate schools was raised as an It also clearly shows how the cap- | objective in order to try to divide italist class always endeavors to |and split the unity of the workers and farmers, the American Legion, extremely re- actionary, kept trying to fan these racial smoulderings into flame. One large landowner, J. B. Keim, was unduly rabid in his attempt to in- |cite hatred against the Negroes, and BUENOS AIRES, March 28.—One of the first acts of the recently in- augurated “radical” President Iri- goyen, elected with an overwhelm- | ing majority as the “popular” can- didate against the conservative wing of the “radical party,” was to decree “intervention” in the province of ‘Santa Fe, without previous author- ization of the congress. “Interven- tion” is the Argentine legal expres- sion for the invasion of an autono- mous province by federal troops, by orders of the federal government, for the purpose of removing the governor and the provincial admin- istration and parliament, elected by that province, and replacing them by federal appointees. This has been frequently done by federal governments to suppress hostile provincial administrations, under the pretext of the discovery of cor- ruption or of inability of the local government to maintain order. Failed to Attack Strikers. The latter pretext was used by Tvigoyen recently to “intervene” in the province of Santa Fe, to depose the governor and local government and to arrest the governor. One of the accusations against the govern- ment of Santa Fe was that it had failed tv protect the peasants and small landowners against the strik- ing agricultural laborers. Thus the Jrigoyen government posed as the friend of the small landowners whose organization, the “Federacion Agraria Argentina,” is continuously fighting the large landowners and was once under socialist control. The federal soldiers sent to Santa Fe immediately prohibited all meet- ings of the strikers and dissolved all labor organizations. The Jeaders were arrested and all places in which workers gathered were closed and occupied by the troops, The strike was broken. In the mean- time the wheat harvest season had passed, but the federal army re- mained to prevent trouble during the forthcoming maize harvest, for which the workers are preparing. Trigoyen, by sending troops for the protection of the small farmers, hoped that they would give up their ~olitical slogans: “Against the high b Argentine Gov’t Attacks Strikers; Bans Meetings agricultural rents,” “Against the high railroad tariffs,” “Against the wheat speculators” and unite with the large landowners under new slo- |gans: “Against the high labo of agricultural laborers.” This har- mony of the large and small land- owners lasted, however, only during the strike, because immediately aft- erwards the small farmers again re- sumed their propaganda against the large landowners as well as‘against the workers, Protest Gov't Action. The syndicalist local trade union federation of Buenos Aires called an open-air mass meeting to, pro- test against the government’s inter- ference in a strike in a distant province where the local government did not find it necessary to inter- vene, The government prohibited the meeting and the unions had to meet in a small hall. Thereupon the Communist Party and both so- cialist parties, the “socialist party” and the “independent socialist party,” organized meetings in Buenos Aires to protest against the sending of troops to Santa Fe, but all meetings were prohibited by. the police. Such prohibitions of meet- ings are extremely unusual in Ar- gentina. The Communists decided te hold the meeting in spite of the prohibition. But the police appeared and pulled down every speaker as soon as he mounted the platform. Codovilla, Romo and a few others were arrested, but had to be re- leased because they had not violated any law, The police dispersed the mecting with fists and clubs. The next day the two socialist parties held their mass meetings in spite of the prohibition by the po- lice. This time, however, the police pretended to ignore the existence of these open-air meetings. The so- cialist speaker, far from pointing out the danger of a looming dic- tatorship, rejoiced over the fact that the government recognized its er- ror in trying to prohibit the. meet- ings. The speakers of both social- ist parties emphasized that they are fighting for the prestige of the na- tional army if they oppose its being used for strikebreaking purposes, The local branch of | |wages,” “Against the organization | Race Discrimination in State lette, the younger, is definitely in the campaign of the finan- | in July, 1928, published a vicious and slanc us attack against Ne- |gto workers and farmers in the Falo Verde Times. Because of my radical inclina- tions, I had already been singled eut for destruction. I had been guilty cf advocating decent wages and. living conditions for. cotton |pickers of all races, black, white and Mexicans, and equal school ac- commodations. Another factor which contributed toward my un- |popularity was the fact that each week I distributed from 20 to 30 copies of the Negro Champion. A concentrated drive was launched in order to force the Negroes to ac- cept separate schools. Persuasion, intimidation, threats of unemploy- |ment and like measures were em- ployed. However, a persistent agi- tational program against the pro- posed measure was kept up. Prof. |Geo, W. Scott, local school superin- jtendent, was determined to force the Negroes and Mexicans to accept separate schools. Charlotte Anita Whitney,,of Oak- land, came into the valley and de- livered two stirring addresses, ad- vising us to stand firm. I also sold copies of the “Workers Party Plat- form” in front of the Masonic Hall in Blythe, where the meeting was held. This infuriated the local au- thorities. The Negroes boycotted segregation attempts and sent their children into the same rooms which they previously occupied. The seg- regation plan collapsed. Mass soli- darity won the struggle. I was singled out for much per- secution because of my stand which expressed itself in .the following forms: 1. My landlord, J..B. Keim, failed to supply irrigation water accord- ing to contract, allowing most of my cotton to burn up on the stalk. 2, My wife was terrorized and re- fused county treatment by the local county physician, Dr. Byers, and it was only with extreme difficulty that she was admitted to Riverside County Hospital. 3. My three children were bullied and ostracized at school by direct crders of the supervisory officials, Frequently, the bus would deliber- ately leave them and they would be forced to walk four miles to school along a sparsely populated country toad. 4. I was discriminated against when I went to sell what little corn I did make and flatly refused con- tract prices, although I had a writ- ten agreement with the ginner. 5, The, ginners (Pettit-Manush) allowed D. McMillan, a Ripley gro- cer, to garnishee without consult- ing me, my money at the gin for an alleged grocery bill. For pick- ing four bales of cotton, I received the cash sum of $26. The time re- quired was from November 20 to January 24, * But we won the school fight and we rallied many Negro farmers to the fight against discrimination. F: BS Copyright, 1929, by International Publishers Co., Ine. pens Sta HAYWOOD'S BOOK Haywood Cheered in the Mining Fields; Gets Ovation in New York Also; Hurries Back West; The Cripple Greek Strike BILL | All rights rese,ved. Republica- | sion forbidden except by permission. In earlier chapters of his book, Haywood told of his struggles in the Rocky Mountain region, where he was laborer, cowboy, farmer and miner, to organize workers into the Western Federation of Miners and of the great strikes of that organization with which he was connected. He told of becoming secretary of the I.W.W., of organizing the I.W.,W. of being tried and acquitted for murder of a governor, and in the last issue, he told of the growing hostility of misleaders of labor in the | W.F.M., and their shooting an 1.W.W. official, Vincent St. John. eae Le By WILLIAM D HAYWOOD. | PART 72. FTER speaking at a meeting of Goldfield Miners’ Union, telling the members the purpose of my visit. and urging them to stand closer together, to avoid the outbreaks that were likely to occur among the members if contention continued, I went to Carson City, The at- torney general, whom I saw there, spoke favorably about endorsing a parole for Preston and Smith. The boys in the penitentiary were glad of my coming. I told them that I felt the chances were good for a pardon. Out in the yard, which I have | already described, with its prehistoric footprints, I saw old One Arm Jim, the Indian from Willow Creek who was serving a life sentence for killing Andy Kin- aes Carson City I went to Reno. Senator George Nixon, who had been a friend of mine in Winnemucca years before, sent to the hotel for me, aia and I went to his office. We talked over the situation in Goldfield, where there was much bitterness developing between the mine own and the union, There was some talk about soldiers being aay os There were already many gunmen, a private army, as it were, emp) ore by the mine owners. I wanted, if possible, to prevent a cepa oe ts what had happened in the mining camps of Colorado, and asker the senator to use his influence against the employment of soldiers in Nevada. This he promised to do, or at least he would notify me at headquarters if an attempt was made to bring in federal soldiers. He evidently forgot his promise; I never heard from him, and soldiers were sent to Goldfield by President Roosevelt a short time later. Pek cae 5 my return to Denver I found, that the spirit of intrigue at head- quarters was more than I could overcome. Moyer, Mahoney, Kir- wan and O’Neill were definitely opposed to the LW.W., or at least to that faction of it to which St. John had been elected general organizer. Although I never had a word of pa carae with them, I could feel hostility that was brooding in their breasts. ear ny St. John went to Chicago from Goldfield at about this time. There he took up his work as general organizer of the I.W.W. z One day in the W.F.M. office the men were discussing the Cripple Creek strike, The terrible financial crisis had caused a very great unemployment, and the officials of the Federation seemed to fear that the old-timers would drift back to Cripple Creek as scabs. The thought | that seemed to prevail among them was that the strike should be called off. I asked why they didn’t submit a resolution to the unions of district Number 1 and let them decide it themselves. . I hurriedly scratched off the resolution that called off the great Cripple Creek strike. I do not know whether it was referred to the unions of the district for their consideration, but later a letter of remonstrance came to the office, which said that if I had been on the job nothing of the kind would have been done. *_ * * ARLY in January, 1908, a meeting had been arranged for me in Grand Central Palace, New York. It was my first visit to the great metropolis. When I arrived I was met at the train by the secretary of the Socialist Party, U. Solomon, who took me to a hotel near the station. Solomon left me there, and I roamed around the streets of New York alone, more lonesome than I had ever been in my life. The Grand Central Palace was in a side street, but a short dis- tance from the hotel. Early in the evening I went past'the building and wondered what the great crowd that was standing around meant. No committee came to the hotel to take me to the hall, so when I thought it was time I went along and attempted to make my way through the crowd which had greatly increased. I was told I couldn’t get in, as the auditorium was already packed. As I was making my way toward the front entrance, some one recognized me and a small group hustled me around to the back door, coming in with me. Some ‘one directed me to the platform. While I was climbing up, there was a tremendous burst of applause. When I realized that this applause was for me, it warmed the cockles of my heart, and relieved me of the chilly feeling of neglect that I had been carrying around with me all afternoon. Solomon told me that the time of my arrival in the city had not been publicly announced as they were “afraid that there would be too big a crowd at the station.” Remembering the Denver and Chi- cago demonstrations, I couldn’t understand this timidity. The audience of ten thousand was wildly enthusiastic. I was greeted by hundreds after the meeting. One little woman threw her arms around my neck, kissing me repeatedly. When I got a chance to look at her face, I found that it was my sister Mary, who was then living on Staten Island. After this meeting, I arranged to make a tour of the country with Luella Twining as manager. Comrade Twining had been a dele- gate to the initial convention of the I.W.W. She accompanied me as far as Denver, where there was a convention of the W.F.M. When I rose to speak at this convention, Moyer got up from his chair and walked out of the hall. The atmosphere was permeated with antagonism. There were many stanch old-time workers among the delegates, but a rift had taken place in the organization. I felt it would take time to heal the breach. * * IN Los Angeles, after the meeting there, a good-looking young woman came up and introduced herself to me as Mrs. Smith. I told “her that was not an unusual name. “But,” she said, “I’m Judge Smith’s wife from Caldwell.” This was the judge before whom our preliminary hearing had been held in Idaho. She told me that Billy Cavanaugh, the stone-cutter who had put the constitution and membership card of the W.F.M. under the cornerstone of the new Caldwel courthouse, was living in Venice, a seaside resort in Lose Angeles, We went to. see him the next day. 4 Olaf Tvietmoe, editor of San Francisco Labor, took me to see the big trees of Calaveras, which are one of thé wonders of California. We went from there to San Francisco, where I addressed a large meeting in Dreamland Rink, and later the Central Labor body. From there I went by boat to Eureka, one of the large lumber camps of northern California. A. meeting had been arranged in the tabernacle of some evangelist in Portland, Oregon, still farther north. The day after the meeting I went to see Ed Boyce, who was then manager of the Portland Hotel. My visit with him was pleasant enough. He took me out to his home, where I saw Mrs, Boyce, who was as lively and entertaining as ever. / She told me that they were not as happy with all their money as they had been during the time they lived in my house in Denver. I looked at Boyce in his beautiful surroundings, and thought of him as the petty manager of a hotel. It seemed to me that he had lost all the imagination he had ever had, that the contact with money had destroyed his vision, I knew him to have been an earnest revolutionist, But now in a few years he had become musty and was vegetating in his prosperity, From Portland I went by boat to Seattle. In the dining saloon a man sitting opposite me said, “I beg your pardon, but you put me in mind of that lawyer—what is his name?—who defended those fellows in Idaho.” “You probably mean Darrow,” said I. “Yes, that’s it. Are you Darrow?” “No,” I answered, “I’m not Darrow. I’m the fellow he defended.” He looked very much chagrined. “Well, well,” he said, “is that so?” The conversation languished. * * ” In the next installment read about Haywood's first conviction in court, his expulsion from Western Federation of Miners office and the early activities of Tom Mooney. You can get a copy of Haywood’s great book free by sending in one year's subscription to the Daily Worker, new or renewal, * hig inate: Sixt Pa |