The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 15, 1929, Page 4

Four DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, MONDAY, APRIL 15, 1929 Letters from Carolina Textile Workers Tell of Unbearable ‘Slavery in Southern Mills STARVATION! THAT'S WHY MILL | | WORKERS STANE Must Support Eight on $12.90a Week | (By a Worker Correspondent) GASTONIA, N. C., (By Mail)— Just a few lines for the Daily Work- | er from a worker who has worked in the Loray mill, from one of the strikers. Some one might ask, why did you strike? For a very good reason. First, because I have a family of| 8 to work for. All winter my wages were $12.90 a week, 11 longs hours a day, 60 hours per w eek. My house rent is $1.50 a week, my light bill from 30 cents to 85 cents, my furniture, $1 a week, any | insurance on my family $ week, so where does my sae | bill come from, not counting my laundry bill. Well, I had to do the laundry myself on Saturday after- noons. Friends and fellow workers, I have worked so hard in the day that when I went to bed at night I could not) rest. I had to get up in the morn-| ing at half past four, get my break- fast, go to work at 6, work till 6 p m., no wonder I was tired. I was afraid to lose a day, for if I did I had to do without things I really needed, tho of course I had to do without many things anyway. I had to see my family do without things they needed, and I working every day. First, I want to let the workers of America know we need and will stand by our union. I wanted to| write a story for-the Daily Worker, | and this is a true story. ‘Somebody | might say, haven’t you got any chil- dren old enough to work? Yes, one, but she hardly makes enough to get her clothes. I have a crippled mother, a crip- pled husband, five small children and myself to support, all on $12.90 a week. How do you think I did it? —D. M. MANVILLE CO, CHEATS MEN Robs Money Out of Their Pay (By a Worker Correspondent) GASTONIA, S. C.,, (By, Mail).— T want to tell you people about the way the mill hands are treated by the Manville-Jenckes Co. i I have been working in the card- oom department for $10.40 a week. {don’t live in the village. The com- pany took out from $1.50 to $3.35, and lights $5 cents for four pay, days before I could get it stopped, | and also to show you what kind of a man the paymaster is. I called to ask if they couldn’t stop this, and it did no good. I have worked on many differ- ent jobs, but this job in the mills beats any I was ever on. Also, they have held out $2 on me for cou- pons, that I never got. Looks lik they are taking this money to buy soap and powder, tho soap and powder won’t reach the place they really need cleaning, that is, their | hearts. This is to show you what Man- ville-Jenckes and their office men will do. RUTH DRAPER TO END 18TH WEEK RUN ON APRIL 27 Ruth Draper has decided to call | it a season on Saturday, April 27, | efter a stay of eighteen weeks at) the Comedy Theatre, This is quite | a record, and it proves the popular- | ity of this brilliant artist. Her pro- gram for the week will include the following: On Sunday and Wednes- | day nights and Tuesday and Thurs- | @ay afternoons, the character stud- jes will consist of “The German} Governess,” “A Quiet Morning in Hed.” “Le Retour de l’Aveugle,” “Three Breakfasts,” “On a Porch in a Maine Coast Village,” “At a Tele- vhone Switchboard” and “In a Ghurch in Italy.” | For the remainder of the week | she will give “At an Art Exhibi- tion,” “The Italian Lesson,” “A | Class in Greek Poise,” “At the Court | of Philip IV of Spain,” “At an Eng- | “sh House Party,” “A Southern Girl” and “Vive la France.” The second presentation by an ac- ‘yrs’ group of Tchekov’s “The Sea | Gyll” will be given at the Com-"» “heatre on Tuesday and Friday aft- orhoons Ce sae next week, | Two Workers Drowned, | “our Others Missing) ‘n Collapse of Dam LANSING, Mich., April 14.—Four | “orkers are missing today, believed ‘o have been caught in the collapse f a cofferdam here, and two others re known to have heen drowned as i result of the accident. “Two other members of a crew of “tght, working 80 feet below’ the svel of the river in which the cof- ‘or dam was built were rescued. he other workers were caught un- ‘or an avalanche of timbers, earth end water, due to poor planning of - {2 structure. CAROLINA MILL STRIKERS DETERMINED TO WIN DEMANDS FROM BOSSES WE WILL STICK ondents who are now South Carolina de- lievable slavery which the workers. on this page teday, worker on strike in the mill i scribe the conditions of almost unbel brought about the present rebellion of When the Daily Worker was distributed among the work- ers on strike in the mills of Ga a, N. C., and the Brandon, S. C., mill, it was so eagerly received that the copies on hand were quickly exhausted. The s ed for more, and wanted the Daily Worker da After reading the let rom worker correspondents in other industries which appeared on this page, many of the strikers, tho unaceustemed to writing, wrote to the Daily Worker, telling of their conditions and their determination to stay out until their demands were won. Today we publish their letters. These strikers recognize the Daily as their leader, their voice, in their fight against starvation wages, long hours, and the speedup system. The photcs en this page show scenes of the strike in Gastonia, where over 2000 workers are on strike against the Manville-Jenckes Co., the millionaire textile company which practically controls the village, lock, stock and barrel. The photo at the right shows a typical mill village of the south, showing the huts they are forced to live in. These huts usually belong to the mill company. The Manville- Jenckes Co. has threatened to evict the Gastonia strikers from their homes, but the strikers have met this with defiance. The second photo is of a huge demonstration of the Gastonia strikers, in which they pledged their determination to remain out until all their demands were met. Below, a relief station for the Gastonia strikers and their families. Workers must aid the Workers International Re- lief drive for these strikers. | SOLID, BRANDON - STRIKER SAYS Why Workers Struck | (By a Worker Cc | BRANDON, Gi; |Here are some reasons struck in the Brandon mill. weave shop 24 looms w system. The s: looms. They are payi: for 80 looms as they did for aney were working two se’ one at night and one in thc d one set is cut out, thei jobs having been done away witl and the men on the day side have t {take the night men’s jobs on. Thc | same conditions are in the other de partments of the mill. We have married women in thc mill, with five or six children, They {work 11 hours a night. and they ;eannot even stop to eat lunch. It is almost impossible to get off tc get a drink of water. The company hired a man as a trouble finder. The wages are about |$5 to $13 a week. I am a married woman, and my husband and two of my children, one |15 and one 16, e to work in the | mill besides | And still we don’t make enough between us to exist. Do you wonder | we struck? Shows (By Mail).— why we In the —E. G. The proletarian movement 1s the self-conscious, ‘ndependent movement of the immense major- | ity-—Karl Marx (Communist Maui- | festo). We Need You Most ‘of All To the tune of “I Love You the Best of All.” iB The time has come for our freedom We must stand up and fight The strike is on boys stick to it And we will win out all right. I Let’s keep the darn mill standing No matter what they all say Then we will soon see a day For us, a brand new day. * Chorus. We must look to our union then Stick with itethru thick and thin, Then you will-hear the boss let out a cry— “If you don’t give in I’m going to die.” So just be patient with Pershing and Beal Ui ‘il old Baugh* let’s out his squeal. “Please come back, we'll recognize you As a union thru and thru.” So to the union we send our ci For we need you the most of all. (*Baugh is the mill superintendent at the Loray pla Tditor.) Written by Russell D. Knight, Striker in Loray Mill, Gastonia, N. C. STAND BY mtn STRIKERS SA Bosses Will Beg for Mercy s will have to come to us hands and give us what is coming to us. But they n’t help themselves and I am sure glad to know that) we have got a good leader, Mr. Beal, and all of the rest of our leade: are all good people to work with. I am a 100 per cent union man, and all of us are 100 per cent for our union. I hope that the union will soon be all over the Southern states. —C. M.S. rightful (By a Worker edges ad GASTONIA, N. I am one of the SG men t a struck in the Loray mill. I push al COLUMBUS, Ohio, April 14—| | Monell Sayres, pensions expert, to- two horse wagon for a doffer bat Mone a » Pi in the old Loray mill for $10.10 a| day charged that the Carnegie week and worked like hell for what Foundation was being administered I made. But it won't be long till we get what we want. Manville- “repeatedly bankrupt.” +» (BY bea CHARGE POOR MANAGEMENT) with “singular ineptitude” and was | PAY SLIP SHOWS GASTONIA MILL CAUSE OF MILL GIRL WAS PAID $20 STRIKE IN SOUTH SINCE CHRISTMAS Balance Due, 10 Cents, It Reads (By a Worker Correspondent) GASTONIA, N. C., (By Mail) — Here are a few of my weekly wage statements, which show just what I have been receiving for my weeks of labor. If any fellow worker thinks that we are going to starve because of our strike, why, haven’t! since I have been working for them. we already starved? | They double up work on me e But just think, when we win the! day of my life. I have worked e strike and go back to work, that|day but a half day. |we will have an 8-hour day, 40-| never drawn over a week. hour week, and the way to get all| Just to think back, I will neve | this is to stick together. Be a man.| work any more for any such phy. Don’t be driven. All that haven’t| | I worked for two we in Loray for joined our union, join now and win. nothing. I never one penny Some of the newspapers make! from the company until I had work- bad remarks about our union lead-|ed two weeks and one day. And ers, but don’t mind that, for Mr.| when I drew it, you will hardly be- Beal and Pershing are our fellow | lieve it, all I drew was cents— | workers. We are out to win. |for one day. Here is the statement of my pay) Clean-up day was every day and for two weeks: the section man had many pets. Some | MANVILLE-JENCKES CO. | Would have to clean up their frames Speedup Worse Every Day in Plant (By a Worker Co: GASTONIA, N. CG I am a girl of 14 years of age. I have been working here in the Man- ville-Jenckes Loray mills since one week before Christm pany hasn’t been $20 fon espondent) y And I have} | owes Tae $6.80 | eVery day and I would too. I work- Rant “ 00 : very day but one and would have Lights "50 tho I never drew more than Coal i 20 | $5.90. I ran four sides. They beat | Caubhe ‘09 me out of But I will gain it i i e “$ 10 some day. Here is the statement for another | weel pe By It is th je aim of this Wages Due * (aca HD ravestithe law of motion of modern Rent, etc. .. |lost the means, ladies who take art | (By Mail). — | su , and the com-/ other to me} 21 hour ery | money. |izer of the club, and the rest of the , | Lureaucrac , | Druce) | Stevenson Dramatized on HEY take two of Stevenson’s|with a hypodermic needle, “New Arabian Nights” and make|Which he jabs 2 play of them, at the Longacre, under the title “Mystery Square.” For a while it goes pretty good. The Suicide Club is a nice little financial scheme, in the best Wall Street or Chicago manner. Some genius gets together all the handy dope fiends, men of means who have with bane! the “winners” into eternity. The illusion of strain and excite- ment during the dealing of the cards in the last act is rather pleasingly done. Of course, it’s a crooked game; the rogues double-swindle the victims and double-cross each other. It’s only meant for amusement, seriously, and commissioned officers who have lost their commissions, in- 2 at 5,000 pounds apiece, of a human: institution, the inner circles and wheels within wheels are the faint-hearted | when they get hysterical, and coaxes | this play, but the general working } Broadway quite true to life. The plots make cne think somewhat of Tammany or |the fascisti, Gavin Muir is Prince Florizel, whc finally cheats the audience of its prey; Thomas Holding is Colonel Geraldine, his bodyguard and one of the main speaking characters. Daphne Warren Wilson is Eileen O’Shea, the principal feminine part, | with nothing much to do, V. S. Every class struggle is a politi- cal struggle.—Marx. every so often they play a} % game of card-dealing, in which one | is selected to commit suicide, an-} e that he is dead within The rest live happily un- til the next game on the insurance | In the first act a prince joins the jclub, and the audience is kept teeter- i 4 $5.00 MUSIC LESSONS 50 CENTS! | JUST MOVED 'TO NEW YORK, and in o | once, and to allow working class pupils will ‘accept the first 10 pupils to enroll $1.00, ete, for regular 85.00 piano lessons, ments to orchestration Inclusive (except ¥ R. DRAKE, 218 W. 15th Street. — Chelsea 0350 Call Monday or Tuesday before 5 P. M.. ——+ er to start a paying-class at btain good lexsons cheaply, . the second 10 pupils at branches taught from Ele- in hope all the rest of the eve- g that he will have to kili him- self in some gory manner. But that | is the failing of the play; he never | does. Instead, he shoots up the| joint, and his friend and bodyguard goes out and calls the cops. Well, it’s too bad. Although the play is full of such things as “hansom cabs,” opera capes, “persons of high degree,” | “that old oyster bar,” etc., it’s not done in Hoboken, and no one is al-| lowed to hiss the villains. These are Malthus (Edgar Stehli), the organ- | the President (Hubert incidentally a delightful Mr. | ickwick type of chap, except for preqeliction toward murder; Dr. | (John Ivancovich), the other member of what might be called the | board of directors, and a handy man 7 \N W Coupons | Now you see why we are striking. | ae . | INTERBOROUGH PREPARES TO SUE FOR 7-CENT FARE. Members of the Interborough Board of Directors stated yesterday that the subwey company would try to get its suit in the state courts for the seven cent fare started within a month, and before the city’s suit begins. civic REPERTORY 148t.6thav. Eves. 8:30 0c; $1.00; $1.50 Mats, Wed.&Sat.,2:30 EVA LE GALLIENNE, Director Tonight, “Katerina.” Tues. Eve., “Peter Pan.” Chanin’s MAJESTIC Theatre| ————— = SSE TR ENS SEA 10TH COMINTERN ANNIVERSARY ISSUE of the COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL Articles by prominent leaders of the Communist International. This issue will be increased to five times the size of the ordi- nary issues. This special number will sell for 25 CENTS PER COPY Combination of the Communist International and Communist $3.00 PER YEAR WORKERS LIBRARY ' PUBLISHERS 43 East 125th Street New York City OCCODOOOSOOSCOCOONES0000000000000 44th St. West ef Broadway Eves, 8:30; Mats: Wed, & Sat. 2:30 The Greatest and Funniest Revue | Thentre Guild Productions The CAMEL} Through the Needles Eye MARTIN BECK THEA. 45th W. of 8th Awe Ev 4 5O _Mats., Thurs. & Si Man's Estate by Beatrice Blackmar and Bruce Gould f} Theatre, W. BILTMORE 47th Street Dyes. 8:50; Mats, Thurs SIL-VARA'S CO CAPRICE GUILD thea. gaa St ves, 8:50 Mats. 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Children under ot H rice ‘Saturdays & Sundays, | The Rescue Ship | at Garden Dox Oitiaes Sovkino's Tremendous Sister Picture to “Potemkin” Prisoners .<% Sea’ A great Drama of the Soviet Navy 5th Ave. Playhouse 66 Fifth Avenue, Corner 12th 8: Contin, 2 P, M, to Midnight Dally, 55th Street Playhouse KAST OF 70H AVE. Continuous from 2 to Midnight, POPULAR PRICES. Farewell PERFORMANCE a” Isadora Duncan Dancers IN A PROGRAM OF Revolutionary Songs 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 Bex Office. — Popular Prices.