The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 9, 1929, Page 4

Four DAILY WORKKER, NEW YORK, TUESDAY, APRIL 9, 19 29 Worker Corresp On this worker correspondence page appear letters from workers jn such basic industries as the railroads, mining, oil, steel and auto in- this page. ondents in Basic Industries Tell of Photo at extreme left, typical miners’ shacks in one of the open shop towns described by the miner- Second photo illustrates hazards of low paid steel workers; correspondent in the first column of | it shows a furnace explosion in one of the mills of the Steel Trust, in which death for the workers is bele! worker in the South Bend Studebak onditions hed forth. The third photo shows a ker auto plant, forming spring eyes. of Slavery in Shops Photo at right shows danger of work of railway track jabor, slaving on maze of trackage. ST Red Co rne ONE MAN MU DO WORK OF 3IN OHIO MINES Soviet Union is published today. with an American worker. Now our housing cooperative. vs, Libraries, Part S The concluding part of a letter from a metal worker of the This worker wishes to correspond * * all the industrial undertakings in our district are members of TANDAR | FOR THE BOSS Corners, Librar DOIL REPUBLIC STEEL | “Sec of Life of the Soviet Workers wopve eoynei. WORKERS SLAVE “42%” 14 HOURS A DAY HTERE ic a different Margaret Ang- {jin from the ivory Electra who used to jump up and down in sav- age glee when her mother’s throat was cut. Mar-} garet Anglin as urity”’ Serves as Very Poor AUTO RO ial for Margaret Anglin BLARING $ - Coal Diggers Lose All Confidence in U.M.W. (By a Worker Correspondent) CALDWELL, Ohio (By Mail).— Just a few lines from a coal d to let the workers know miners are faring under the Amer- ican plan, in other words, the open shop. The operators promised to give the men steady work if they re- turned to work under the open-shop vlan, but the truth is that the mines ‘n Ohio are running two and three days a week; only a few are running | s high as five or six days a week. | The miners are forced to work at a frightful rate of speed. Where they used to have two or three men on a certain job, one does the work now, This is particularly noticeable among the day men, that is, the men being paid by the hour. Cheated on Weight. The men working at the face, or the loaders, are also speeded up and «heated on weight for the coal they toad. I have worked in this mine since 1911, the Caldwell mine, but T have never seen such a weight as the loaders are getting now. Dead work is practically abolished. Such petty annoyances as water in your working place, no posts, bad air or | ~oof, no rails or ties, are given no| consideration. A miner might start out. to work each morning for a month and not be able to make a nickel. When we worked under the union, we forced the bosses, in some instances, to pay us for dead work, but now, if you pre given a place in sulphur water, ‘mee deep, you are forced to work it under the threat of being fired. Stool-Pigeons. Yes, the conditions in Ohio mines are terrible. The spy system is rrevalent in the Ohio mines. They have stool-pigeons in every mine, and if you happen to complain about bad air. no rails or ties, water or ger how the |past a socialist society. Altogether we have 128 four and five-story Fake Election Ends Today By a Worker Correspondent. BAYONNE, N. J. (By Mail) — At the same | By the time this letter reaches you, houses. But the housing crisis is not yet over, Our industries are develop- ing with every year, the number of workers in the mills and factories are growing and at the same time adding to the number of houseless. The workers are trying to ameliorate their condition by temporarily sharing their apartments with those badly in need of it. time more new h s are being put up. the election of the Works Council How do we feel the new houses? We were given a possibility | will have begun in the plants of the We live in light and dry apartments with | Standard Oil Co. in Constable Hook, ricity and bath-rooms. In the settlement) Bayonne, in the Standard Eagle Oil big houses, a separate radio station has been in-| Works at Caven Point, Jersey City, where there are s stalled. In the othe apartment. At last we can live like real human beings. jbeth, all of which plants employ ef . bout 10,000 workers. These are Itural Work. 2 Patt Caer oe _« _ {all refineries of the Standard of In the new houses they are carrying on cultural-educational work | New Jersey. with the housewives. There are red corners there where they can hear) What is this Works Council, and lectures on different subjects, where family parties are held, where they | how is it elected? The company can read newspapers, ete. Besides, there are travelling libraries with| tries to fool the workers into be- the latest literature. There are also kindergartens and nurseries, where | jj,ying that it represents the work- women workers, when going to work, leave their children and need not |... 17 re pen i ir id déatal education on but we know better. This is worry about them; there they get a proper physical and social education | , thing but a sort of company union and good care. i R scheme, to tie up the workers. None Now what is the rent in these houses? At first it was a little high|or the Standard Oil of New Jersey (5 roubles for a square sajen). But later the government made it easier) workers are organized into any kind { the workers by making the loan payable in 65 years, owing to which | of union. fot the rent was reduced to 3 roubles and some kopeks per square sajen. | That includes heating, light and all other upkeep expenses. | In order that you might be able to appreciate the comforts and the day. The result is all framed up. significance of the new houses, I shall make a comparison. I, one of |The cletHonsitaled Siglate: every. the writers of this letter, live in an old wooden house belonging to & MAN) April, ‘The workers in each of the who made the necessary repairs on it. I occupy 11-4 square sajen of | separtments Hw ibaned sto “elect space, for which I pay 4 roubles a month. There are no “modern Ona | van’ to thie Worle: Couicil who ia veniences here: no sanitary plumbing, no water, no warm toilet, no bath- guuudsedito takeialiieiscwstices room. I have to buy wood myself, the ceiling is low and the walls are| of that depectmentaniicrrercnt the thin so that the noise of the whole apartment is in my room—and all complaints’ of tha depavesient tothe that: if you count all expenses, costs 10 roubles a peor ta sina \company. You cannot even dream here about a nice rest with a book or new: . EN paper in your hands, you can’t rest at all in such conditions. I am im-| The delegates to the Works Coun- patiently waiting to move into a new house, when it is my turn to get a room. I consider the people who live in the new hou hoppy tals. Those houses are real sources of culture, and upon the urther le- velopment of our industries, with the continued peaceful, undisturbed | Posed to count the ballots. es ee ‘ a ild the ruins of the | COunting is actually done in the com- from without, work of all the toilers, we shall build on |pany offices by the company offi- | cial only; the worker is told to keep jout, and is squarea by a “gift.” If jhe is honest and don’t want to be bribed he is fired. Naturally, the men are elected to the Works Council whom the com- we will print the first part pany want on the Council. So the council turns out to be the The election will begin on Mon- day (April 8) and last until Tues- by the company. One worker and one of the superintendents are sup- With fraternal greetings, NOLANDT AND AVRUTSKAIA. ‘ | Metal workers of the United States: write to this metal worker of | the Soviet Union. In the next worker correspondence page, 1 2 of a letter from a worker in the Kharkov bicyele factory. The czarist | government left a half de ment. The workers took increasing production many times, a 7-hour day. so. ® over the plant, and rehabilitated the factory, Mostly the delegates are stool- and at the same time bringing about | pigeons; if you ask them to bring |a complaint to the superintendent, houses there are loud speakers or radios in every and in the Bayway plant in Eliza-| -. |Weeks if they are seen sitting down cil get paid 3 cents an hour extra| The} molished building, with old and worn out equip- bosses’ council, not the workers. | \he reports you, and most likely you | Poison Fumes Destroy Health | (By a Worker Correspondent.) Jane Mapleson,| “fat and forty,”| but rather red faced than “fair,” | has the principal ties, a play with an Oscar Wildish| tang, called “Se- | curity” and now jat Maxine Elliott's. \ It’s all about a mother who is try- | ing to keep her rather stupid daugh- | ters married to men of means, ari | tocrats and rising young diplomats. To do this everything has to be en- tirely respectable. The mere fact) that Jane’s husband has been having a series of affairs with other women, | she choses to ignore. Even when the} latest of them commits suicide, she | wards off scandal by i ing that | Mr. Mapleson had the reckless crea- | ture’s ment key only by acci-! dent. | But when the husband, touched by | so much devotion, confesses that the} scandal thus neatly sidé-tracked| would have been well founded, ther | she breaks up the family. It is all a great game of “saving face,” \nothing counts as long as the rules are apparently kept, and the hus- band commits the high crime of in- troducing a little sincerity into a | Social problem where, for the | | persons involved, the real things are} | the fictions and artificialities. In her determination not to condone any lities, Jane even risks her daughter’s future, for which she has hitherto cruelly slaughtered her own | jealousy, her PITTSBURGH, Pa. (By Mail). — | “ role in a tragedy | The w: s in the Republic Iron \ B. of conventionali- and Steel Co. have to work from i9 to 14 hours on a shift. Th speed-up is growing every day, f |the steel workers here are told that more production is expected. | Workers are fired in the Republic Mills for any little slip they may make, The workers are not allowed | jto rest x second during the 12 hours or more of hard slavery, for they are fired if the foreman sees them. | Often, men, many in a mill, are sent home for as much as several Margaret Anglin |before quitting time. Laborers get |4t cents an hour; the conditions in the mil! are filthy. The workers’ health a poor thing to bet on in any mili of the Republic Co. | Poison Fumes. Smoke and gas make the hot mill hell-hole for the workers. The air poisonous, full of gas, which alone kills many of the steel workers after awhile. Accidents grow more frequent in the mills, due to the constant in- crease in the speed-up system. The workers are unorganized, There are | stool-pigeons, or spies, for the com- scattered through the mills, foremen are always goading the workers to work faster. Many of the workers in the Re-| jpublic Steel Mills say to themselves | ut the end of the gruelling day of | terture in the mills: “How have we 'been able to stand this slavery; is it going to last till we drop dead?” A Fighting Union Needed. No, fellow-workers, it does not have to last till we drop like so many worked-out horses. What we | women friends; and} becomes accessory to sundry other | crimes. | ed by Thurston Hall, is shown as | a poor creature, whose only solu-| tion for any problem is Irene Brown as Edna Mapleson is| need is a fighting steel workers’|a snippy and amusing woman of | junion for the whole industry; it|fashion, who gets what she wants | must be led by the Communist Party |for herself without regard to the} which will never sell out like the|rules, and gets away with it. Reg-| A. F. of L. did, as we know. inald Mason as Ronnie Newton is Join the Communist Party, steel |a gigolo grown old, still trying to The husband, rather stolidly play- | § suicide. | § especially bad weight, you are liable to be discharged if one of their stool-pigeons hears you and reports you to the mine management. STOOL-PIGEONS IN PACKARD 60. Every Kick Reaches Accidents Increase. Everywhere, you hear, “Reduce the cost of production, make the men work.” It’s no wonder that ac- cidents are on the increase in Ohio since the mines went on the open- shop bas: te is The miners are in a_terrible| Their Ears plight: their bodies are badly bent, pee but their spirit of unionism will| (2Y ¢ Worker Coprerpiniees rever be broken. The union spirit) DETROIT (By Mail).—Depart- is stronger in them now than it, ment F-H of the Packard auto plant, ever was. The miners still remem-|the wax and polish line, is under her the cld motto: United, we stand; | the supervision of Wilson, the super- divided, we fall. intendent. This line is full of stool- * . pigeons, and every little infraction : — rn oe putt monte ta {of the rules is reported to the fore- the speed-up and rationalization in man. He delights in. raising hell ge « \and firing men, Now there are rere onary uncce the lenge three men working on each car, two : in front and one in the rear end. Every miner who was forced to re- in ie i % lierts work. under ‘the open‘ atop The man that finishes his part first oe «_ |is required to stand by and push the has denounced John Lewis and his | var along until the other two have Neutenants as arch-traitors who got | finished. them into this misery, Another rule is that no. one must Wise to U. M. W. Fakers. ——igok out the windows during work- Lewis will be long remembered|jing hours, nor is anyone permitted es the biggest traitor in the history to talk. These conditions have ex- of the union. A few weeks ago Lee isted for a long time. Organize fel- Hall, president of the defunct Ohio) low-workers. district of the United Mine Workers, | _ insued a statement to the effect that the men now working in the mines will be admitted into the U. M. W. upon the payment of $1 initiation foe and as soon as they get enough -men to sign up they will call them out on strike again. But the men will not be fooled so) easily again for I can truthfully say, By a Worker Correspondent. what I haven’t met a single man who| SYDNEY, Nova Scotia (By Mail). wes forced to go to work in the —As the result of an explosion a oper shop mines who would be wil-/couple of weeks ago at the Allen ling to come out on strike under|Shaft at Stellarton, Nova Scotia, the present leaders of the old union. over 500 coal miners have been These leaders are looked on as the| thrown out of work. most eorrupt and contemptible creat-| Two hundred of these have been ures on the face of the earth, ‘hired by the Albion and other mines Everywhere one can hear about| of the British Empire Stcel Co, at the new miners union. The miners) Thorburn. know that the old union can’t win) Thus, by doubling the shifts, some them any union conditions or wages.|o7 these men got work, but at the The miners want to build the most same time the carning capacity of ful union in the world. To the| all the miners was greatly reduced. workers of all industries I say, join That's one of the ways unemploy- y respective unions, I dont mean/ment is “solved” under the capital- the A. F. of L., but I mean the new,|ist system. unions that are under honest hip—A MINER. | The other 300 are still out of work, and many more hundreds of SPEEDUP CUTS AUTO WAGES Trimmers in Fisher | Have 11-Hour Day (By a Worker Correspondent) LANSING, Migh.,.(By Mail).— |The trimmers in the Fisher Body |plant in Lansing are now working from 10 to 11% hours a day for $5.50. The company no longer both- evs abcut blowing the quitting whistle at night. <In order to earn a living wage under the speed-up system and the |low wages, the Fisher body workers work until they are about ready to |drop off their feet. In the Flint plant of the Fishcr Bedy Co. the oil sanders were all put on the gang work system, with the result that the wages have been reduced practically two and three dollars a day. CANADA MINERS SUFFER 500 Jobless Atter Blast in Nova Scotia Nova Scotia miners besides. The situation is very serious. The. men who work in the British Empire Steel Co, works at Trenton, Novo Scotia, slave under terrible conditions, for they average less than $14 a week, and slave as much as 102 hours a week, 14 hours a day and more, seven days a week. The unemployment situation for the miners is so bad that the provin- cial authorities came down to “in- vestigate” and talked of sending some of the miners to work on a power proiect on the Mersey River. The pay on these government power projects is miserable, but the gov- ernment has the unemployed at its mercy, and can pay as low wages as it wants. BESCO SLAVE. jare fired. | They have this Works Council gag in the other oil plants here, too, at the Tidewater Oil in Constable Hook, for instance. Last May, the Works Council sold out a strike of the Tidewater men, It lasted a week, and the men were solid, too, until they were told to go back by the | Works Council. Wages are rotten here, 53 to 57 |cents an hour, or about $26 a week, |for laborers. Wages for the other | workers are little more. Most of the workers are laborers. The speed-up is worse since the last time I wrote you; there are many accidents a week, from acids |and fumes. OIL SLAVE. Wage Cut tor Milwaukee Ry. Track Labor (By « Worker Correspondent) SEATTLE, Wash. (By Mail).— The wages of track laborers on the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad have been cut by five cents an hour, The pay of the track laborers has thus been brought down to 30 cents an hour. The work day is 8 hours; straight time is paid up to ten hours. Time and a half is not paid for overtime until after ten hours of work. Board is charged at the rate of $6 per week. If you work less than a week for the road the railroad deducts forty .cents per meal. The food served the workers is very bad. The bunks are double-deck; the ventilation is poor, and the condi- tions crowded and unsanitary. Each man is charged ‘3 cents a month for hospital fee, whether he works there for a month or not, and whether he gets hespital treat- ment or not. PN HURT IN CRASH NO. ORT, England, (By Mail). —Teon people were hurt when a | bus, cescending a hill, crashed thru a hedge. Two may die. workers. There is a way to end our unbearable slavery, STANLEY. ‘Paris, Caught in Mud Saturday, Is Released Thirty-six hours behind time, the |big French liner Paris, sailed for |France this afternoon after twenty- |four hours spent aground, off Fifty- {ninth Street, Brooklyn. The Paris, one of the vessels of the Trans-Atlantic Fleet with 1,000 passengers aboard, suddenly nosed onto the mud Saturday morning due to the heavy fog which hung over the harbor. It was not until 5:15 a. m. that tugs were able to pull the vessel off and start her on her journey. marry money. Charles Millward, as Sir Daniel Marchant, British For- eign Minister, is a regular George Ade caricatur He looks just like the woodcuts, seen in profile, as he usually is seen, Can it be that the producers have recognized their duty to American imperialism and| are conducting propaganda against His Majesty’s servants? Or is this \self criticism on the part of Esme | Wayne-Tyson, its author? Anyway, Jane finally, distaste- fully, marries the Foreign Minister (Mapleson having shot himself at |last) in order to club her eldest | daughter’s husband, the rising dip- |lomat, into staying with her. He has |been making dates in Egypt with ‘some night club hostess. It is a nice picture of British up- per class motivations and moralities | — Madison Sq. Gorden WICH DAILY 2 and 8 peeial Tntertrinments Exch nday Afternoon and Nicht ing Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined CIRCUS 19,000 Marvels including HUGO WACCHINI “THE HUMAN PROJECTILE” Shot Through Space from Monster Cannon —- Sensation of Century fon to all (incl. seats) $1.00 0 Inc. Tax. Children under 12 Half Price at All Matinees ex- copt Saturdays & Sundays, Tickets at Carden Box Offices Gimbel Brothers ond Usual ‘Tieket Agencies. i NOW! Rin CIVIC REPERTORY 1st.etnay 50c: $1.00; $1.50 Mats. Wed.&Sat,,2:30 EVA LE GALLIENNE, Director Tonight, Wed. Mat Wed. Ey COMEDY Theatre, dist St. B. of Broadway. Eves., incl at 8.50. — Mats. Thurs, & Sat R UT SH Draper Sun. Theatre Guild Productions Mans Estate by Beatrice Blackmar and Bruce Gould TM Theatre, W. BILTMORE 47th Street Byes, 8:50; Mats. ‘Thurs.&Sat. SIL-VARA’S COMEDY CAPRICE Mat: 9 EUGENE Strange Interlud John GOLDEN Thea. 68th ; B. of B'way EVENINGS ONLY AT 5:30 ARTHUR HOPKINS HoLipaY Comedy Hit by PHILIP BARRY ‘Thea, W. 45 St. Ev, 8.50 PLYMOUTH jats, Thurs, a Sat. 238 Chanin’s MAJESTIC Theatre 44th St, West of Broadway Eves, 8:30; Mats.: Wed. & Sat. 2:30 ‘The Greatest and Funntest Revue \Pleasure Bound 4 SS TR | ag IES LAVES Men Sore, He Makes Band Play Jand probably true enough. Miss | Anglin treads her way through this | mirage-like atmosphere as though she were right at home. She acts |as if she felt her part. Well, it is} an age of wonders.—V. S. | Vaudeville Theatres (By a Worl | PALACE eee a Will Mahoney, in “Why Be Seri-| contly the C ous”; The Pavley-Oukrainsky Ballet, with Edris Milar, premiere danseuse, | ker Correspondent) h., (By Mail vrolet Motor Co. gave annual accident report to the ers in Plant No. 6. One of the -Re- an wo: Julia E. Compton, Lydia Arlova, officials read off the number of and Sana Rayya; Ann, Codee, qoaths and major injuries that occur- French comedienne; Kate Smith, |)oq in 1928. The wor er correspond- The Four American Aces and a | on¢ gid not have penci! and paper Queen; others. at the time but to the best of h RIVERSIDE— knowledge, the following is approx Gilda Gray, with supporting com- ™&tely the report: pany of ten; Trixie Friganza; Roy Deaths, “only” 8; hands lost, Cummings; Peter Higgins; King, about ame number King and King, others. of to ver 50, The of- ficial added that while only 8 work- ALBEE— Radio Revue, with The Happiness (TS , died inside the factory, 1 Boys, Billy Jones and Ernie Hare, | ontion that while the 8’deaths in- Gladys Rice, Phillips Carlin; Hal, ™ FA Kemps, and His N. B. C, Hotel Man- | Side the factory were the direct re- ger Orchestra; Harry Fox, and sult of speed-up, that many of the Beatrice Curtis; Trixie Friganza; 125 deaths outside the factory were Ben Blue; others. Feature photo- the indirect result of the speed-up. play, Reginald Denny, in “Clear the| What he did say was that when- Deck.” ever anybody told us Chevrolet was |a butcher shop, we could easily con- | tradict this statement by pointing out that in Buick, Cadillac and other Ask May Day Greetings Be Sent in to “Daily” | plants, the number of deaths and | injuries was much greater. He even Working class organizations are told the men that it was much asked to send in greetings at once Safer inside than outside the plant. for the big May Day edition of the | He tried to convince the workers Daily Worker. Individual names for | that they, not the company, was to the Red Honor Roll should also be | blame for the accidents that occur- sent in without delay. The May |Fed. Day edition of the Daily Wroker will| Not hearing any applause, but on be the biggest and most attractive | the contrary seeing many stern faces May Day issue in the history of the | among the workers, the band was paper. ordered to play a few snappy pieces. Farewell PERFORMANCE «a Isadora 4 Duncan Dancers | IN A PROGRAM OF Revolutionary Sones and Dances 18, 19 April 20, 21 Manhattan Opera House TICKETS ON SALE AT DAILY WORKER OFFICE, ROOM 201, 26 Union Sq., New York City and at Box Office. — Popular Prices. { 7