The Daily Worker Newspaper, June 29, 1931, Page 2

Page ‘sha ~~ Se eee nt one DATL ¥ WORKER, NEW YORK, MONDAY. JUNE 29, 400 a — NVESTIGATION BY DREISER | COMMITTEE REVEALS MASS STARVATION IN MINE FIELDS Peonage Is Twin of W Miners ide- Spread Starvation, | Testify PITTSBURGH, Pa. June 23. — ives of unbelievable misery in many | ses amounting practically to peon- —were revealed when story after poured from the lips nf gaunt but fiery strikers testi before Theodore Dreiser who inter- | on behalf of a} e of famous writers and in-| Wlectuals investigating the condi-| tions in the Per ania-Ohio coal strike | There can be no doubt that this| s a strike of utmost starvation strike in of the word. Miner after their wives — testified n this strike—or he intimation was plain, Or élse starve to death when at work in the mines The investigating committee eludes Dreiser, John Dos Pas: Mary Heaton Vorse, Malcolin Cowle Robert W. Dunn, Anna Rochester, Frank Palmer, nationally known . and Horace Davis, former in- of Memphis, Dr and Davis, the firs e in the field, were deleg: e others to be- gin the inv me of the others are expec’ A group ef five miners was chosen by the} eéntral rank and file strike commit- | tee to work with the investigators. Dreiser expressed astonishment and anger at the conditions of these min- ers—all of whom are striking under | the banner of the National Miners Union. Frank Luciana, of Tarenium, | the first to testify, an employe for the past two years in mine declared he and his suffered absolute hunger ever} for the past six months. ‘Some time I eat time a day, evening or morning. Some time I @at some kind of grass, what you call Italian grass Peonage is the twin of this wide- d starvation. How widespread practica’ conditions exist Yaru thi: d section of An- tvew Mellor realm were revealed ¥ each o' testifie Geol Pomiret, of Kinlock mine, yi the Allegheny Valley, actually re- | against Negroes. Seived $5 cash from the company in | months — the remainder of his princely pay of $1.80 a day came in He lives in a company town. ‘ou know, one of those places with a barbed wire fence around it.” } He testified further, “We get paid 36 cents a ton. When we load three tons we get paid for one. We are gypped two tons of every three we} load.” He told Dreiser, “We pay |$1.50 a month for the benefit of a company doctor—whether we ever call him or not.” Danie] Lane, Negro miner of the Cedar Grove pit, who owes $200 for food and groceries and who has not bought himself a suit of clothes | nce 1920, shrugged his shoulders | | when asked why he did not leave the | | coal fields “It's all the same every-| where,” he said, “Conditions are all} the same for the colored man.” | He declared he did not eat that} day because that would have meant his family would go without food. | Especially bitter was his statement | against the United Mine Workers | Unoin “The UMWA discriminates They don’t enforce They have them} But | | any rules at all. in the constitution to fool you. they don’t enforce them.” The miners bitterly told how they | are forced to pay for théir powder, | for the carbide in the lights of their | caps, for the smithing of their mine picks when they go dull. The miners | flashed fire when they revealed how | they were forced to work days clean-} ing up slate—at no pay—because the mines pay “only for digging coal.” Among others who testified were Wells, of Coverdale, Daniel , of Cedar Grove, Clyde Brown, of Crescent Miné, Philip Giambat- tista, of WeStland Mine, Dewey) Vukas, of Penobscott, and Joe Kukla, | of Arnold City. | The stories they told of the brut- alities of the Coal and Iron police, | and of the special deputies who pave | already killed two men and wounded | more than 16, caused Dreiser to ex-} claim in anger a number of times. The Committee will leave for the} scenes ef the picket demonstrations | tomorrow morning | M Li | | Tailors Mass Meet Tuesday to Hear Program am NEW YORK.—Calling upon cut-; ters, tailors, pressers, operators, can- | vas makers. pants makers, vest mak- ets and children clothing workers to be , the Amalgamated Rank | an Committee has arranged for a mass meeting, Tuesday, June} 30, 1 after work at Webster | i, lith St. and Third Ave. The Committee of Forty elected | at the last meeting, at which 800 workers were present, will present the rank and file plan of action for @ genuine strike against present con- ditions, Telling of conditions that the Hill- man bureaucracy wishes to perpetu- ate by their stoppage. a leaflet is- sued by the Rank and File Com- mittee says, in part: “On Tuesday, June 30, the agree- ment betwen the Amalgamated and vhe manufacturers expires. Al- though the Hillman agents speak about the calling of a “General Strike,” neverifieless it is known that Hillman has ‘ understanding with the bosses of New York to renew the same old speed-up and wage-cut agreement as they did in Roches- tet and Chicago. The reductions and reorganizations now being forced the workers in the shops con- the truth of our statement. On Gay the agreement expires we, bs clothing workers, must decide ir we will permit our condi- to be sold our for another three “The last three years during which the agreement was in force were years of great suffering for the men’s clothing workers. The bosses, with the aid of our officials, have forced upon us the slave-driving, piece-work System, Our officials heartily co- operated with the bosses to increase the inhuman speed-up system. Owr wages have been cut almost 60 per \.cent,. The unemployment insurance fund has become a source of graft and corruption for the officials. Un- employment is continuously growing. Hundreds of cutters and thousands of tailors are walking the streets and starving. The situation is growing worse day by day.” What's On— MO! vntown Unemployed Co. feete at Leohard and Chure = * at 11: Asia for & open-air me Ren Gold On Koviet Union Friends of the Soviet Union is holding an open membership meet~ ing at 8 p.m. at Labor Temple, 14th St. and Second Ave. Ben Gold, fur worters’ leader, will speak on “My Impressions in’ the Soviet Union Admission tree. “4 e Soviet Bive-Year Pl Bhd e the topic of a lecture given rh ict Stuart Poynts, just re- at oH | money menaced. For some time now from the, Soyiet Union, te te 0 Madr, 836 Franklyn invited. Adgnissio’ rorpect Park’ Hiranch ra ari ton, «Spe for Real Strike The "The reeent visit of Sidney Hillman and a group of his bureaucrats, to- | gether with the manufacturers, to Mayor Walker revealed the extent of inher conflict between two cliques for control of the graft and racket money now being coined at the ex- pense of the masses of clothing | workers. The Ofrlofsky-Beckerman elique of the local offices had reached out s0/ powerful a hand for the spoils and graft of the company union that the Hillman clique saw its own graft the Orlofsky-Beckerman gang, in close conjunction with an under- world gang, the Curley-Lipke gang, had Carried oSn racketeering in out- of-town work, express deliveries and in canvas and lining supplies. Beck- erman, ostensibly chairman to con- trol the out-of-town work, had built up a lucrative business in helping the bosses get the work out of town at an annual tribute. Strikes were s¢t- tled by the gang at so much per capita per year. ‘The Hillman clique, of which the Orlofsky-Beckerman is but an off+ set, fet] that the graft should be or- ganized and rationalized through a company union, the tribute to the bureaucracy to flow into treasury and not be split up as it is now. Orlifsky, manager of the cutters’ Jocal, was the candidate of Hillman’s choice against opposing candidates. In true gangster fashion Orlofeky had militant cutters beaten and ar- rested and through thuggery secured his election. Beckerman is notorious for his command of a group of gangsters used to break up left wing meet- ings and slug militant workers. The fight of the clothing workers is against both cliques of company union racketeers and a basic struggle for decent conditions in the shops. NEGROES FIGHT MASS EVICTIONS NEW YORK. — All unemployed workers and neighbor. tenarits are urged to attend the Tenants Court at 2 p. m, Monday at 314 West 54th Street in order to give their support to the ten Negro tenant families liv- ing at 527 West 48th St., who are waging a stfuggle against eviction by the Balich Realty Corp. ‘The landlord is trying to disposses the families of Johm Toles, John Keyser and Mrs. Ida Lyons as the first step forward driving all of the Negro families from their homes. ‘The tenants have organized into a house committee of the Tenants League and are supported in their strugle by the Unemployed Council, the League of Struggle for Negro Rights and the International Labor | applications. |call for unity has met with amongst et wietseugh. Ca SITTSSURSH “TERMINAL COAL ENA Name et Nat wae IN AACP "DENIES FUR WORKERS JOINING UNION) Ben Gold ee Speak at| Meeting of Jobless NEW YORK. — A spontaneous | meeting of unemployed fur workers | was héld in the office of the Needle Trades Workers Industrial Union on Friday morning. A large num- ber Of those present ‘joined the union and declared their readiness to actively participate in> the cam~ paign to organize the shops under leadership of the Industrial Union, and to secure increase of wages and union conditions. Many others who did not have the money filled out | At the open forum one of the | unemployed workers, a former mern- ber of the company union, related how he, not having a nickel for carfare, walked from the Bronx and union book. He pledged to pay the initiation fee just as soon as he |gets a day’s work. This is but one instance of the response that the the fur workers. Everywhere in the shops and markets the plans of the Industrial Union are being discussed amonge the workers. Barly Monday morn- ing there will be a meeting of the organization committee. to be fol- lowed by an open air mass meeting of the unemployed at MTwenty- ninth St. and Seventh Ave. where Ben Gold will discuss the policies and plans of the union in the pres- ent campaign. The sentiment of the fur workers also finds expression among the other workers in the trade, cap, millinery. The treachery 02 the company union officials against the workers is leading the masses of needles trades workers to believe that only by building the industrial union cah they solve their prob- . Wright Greet Mr in Brownsville BROWNSVILLE, N N. ¥—Over 4 wotkers jammed Hoffmat’s Mansion | in Brownsville in answer to the call of thé International Lebor Defense and the League of Struggle for Negro ‘Rights in that territory against the attempts of the boss class to legally lynch 9 Negro boys in Scottsboro, Ala. ‘The greatest enthusiasm was ex- pressed by the workers present, pledging themselves to help the cam- paign conducted by these organiza- tions fm defense of the 9 innocent boys. A great cheer arose when 4 miners from Pittsburgh walked into the Meeting. They were called upon to speak and expressed their solidarity in the fight against lynching, and called upon the workers, to put a btop to the lynch laws of the South. Mrs. Wright, the mother of one | | of the boys, was given 4 rousing || welcome, as well as her little daugh- ter, who spoke. ‘This meeting Is one of a series of meetings, open air and indoor that have been held in preparation for the July 1st Conference, All of those churches and organizations that have as yet not elected delegates are called upon to do. The workers of Brownsville must show their solidar- arations moratorium to be granted Germany was made directly in the interests of Wall Street bankers, and the flood of propaganda in the eapi- talist press about Hoover's generos- ity to an impoverished people, is de- signed t6 cover this brazen move to safeguard Wall Street profits. Wall Street bankers hold $1,600,- 000,000 private, municipal, industrial and state loans in Germany, accord- ing to a compilation in the New York Herald-Tribune of June 26, and the interest on this investment rufs into the hundreds of millions. The $246,000,000 due this year to the United States, squeezed out of the German workers under the Young Plan, will be released for huge interest payments on these loans. This fact was admifjed yesterday by Senator Hiram Johnson of Califor- nia. “Ostensibly the moratorium is to aid Germany, but the beneficiaries who profit most will be the Ameri- can financiers, with more than a billion dollars in investment in Ger- many at stake,” Senator Johfson said. One of the biggest loans was that floated by J. P. Morgan & Oo. and the National City Bank in 1924 for $110,000,000 to the German Reith, a state loan. Among the big muni- cipal loans floated by Wall Street bankers are the Gefman 5%8 due 1965 for $98,260,000. Loans to big industrial corporations totalled many millions with that to the Siemens- Halske for $32,655,000 being the big- gest. In 1930 alone Wall Street bankers issued $279.000,000 in loans. Anti-Soviet Move. Leaking out in driblets, facts of the visit of Andrew Mellon to Pre- mier MacDonald reveal the purpose of Mellon’s debt moratorium tour as being one of an important link in preparing the imperialist war against the Soviet Union. The Daily Express of London, FRIEND’S The name of quality & Service Delicatessen and Restaurant Lunch 40 cents—Dinner 65 cents 19 SECOND AVENUE Bet. 4th and Sth Sts. srastogen_ctoans SODA FOUNTAIN—FAMOUS MALTEDS ‘ 103 UNIVERSITY PLACE NEAR 12TH STREET WORKERS— BAT AND DRINK THE BROT AT THE LOWEST PRICES. PURE FOOD LUNCH NORTHEAST CORNER 18th ST, & UNIVERSITY PLACE 3y6naa Jlevesunua DR. A. BROWN Dentist 401 EAST 140R STREET (Corner Second Avente) ity in the struggle against the brutal attacks upon the working class. Cel. Algonquin 7246 -|Hoover Moratorium to ‘Millions for Wall St. Bankers Bankers to Get Huge Interest Payment on Over One Billion Dollars NEW YORK.—tThe proposed rep- writing about the conversations Mel- lon ehld with Bank of England rep- resentatives and labor government | officials quoted Mellon as saying that the prime conditions he made in talking was that England “joins an international boycott of Soviet Rus- No doubt that was the sub- | stance of the two talks Mellon had condl- made was that Great Britain begin arms reduction, | American imperialism to gain a move 6n its sia.” with MacDonald. tion that Mellon Another palpably a maneuver of chief imperialist rival. ae. + Tribune. Izvestia goes on to state: yet reached its climax. EAST SIDE—BRONX 8 RKO ACTS New Reduced Summer Prices 945 am Billy De Wolf and Girls Richardson ‘Wash. Board” RESTAURANT 36 AVENUE A Mleetrie Light, 37 COOPER SQUARE Near 6th Street That Hoover is attempting to save | Europeon capitalism from collapse ahd the billions of American invest- ments through his year’s debt pay-| ment postponement scheme, but that capitalism cannot be saved so cheap- ly, is the statement contained in an) editorial quoted from Izvestia, So- viet Organ, by a Moscow dispatch published in the New York Herald- “A delay in paymeht of reparations of one year, even if it could be brought about, would not improve the sit~) uation in Germany, since Germany is suffering mainly not from the bur- den of féparations, but from the World ¢risis, which, as acknowledged by the bourgeois economists, has not Due to the sharpened conflict with France over the terms of the Hoover plan, Secretary of the Treasury Mel- Jon has gone from London to Paris. NEIGHBORHOOD THEATRES — JACK’s LUNCH BAR AND (Corner 3rd Street, New York City) SPEND YOUR VACATION AT:— “The Farm in the Pines” All Improvements Near M, Lake, R.F.D. No, 1 Box 78 M. OBERKIRCH, Kingston, N.Y. NIKOLAS CAFETERIA Release Eee) He will confer -with Premier veniier “Lavel and Minister of Finance Flandin. The French imperialists sent a note | to Washington declaring they would whieh they get over and above the debt payments they make; by all means they insist the Young Plan be not disturbed and that the masses of Germany be made to pay. | This is in line with the Hoover pro- posal, except that Hoover asks a At the same time, the Federal Re- serve Board is discussing with Hoo- ver the matter of short-term loans to Germany in order to save Amer- engendered on the stock markets is not enough to stop the fniancial crisis. COLLECT FOR DAILY RELIEF AND ‘Twenty dollars was collected at a Brighton Beach Workets Club, Half proceeds will go to the Daily Worker and the other half to miners’ relief. RELIEP ;CAMEONOW | 6 AQ nd STREETS BWAY “HELL BELOW ZERO” tains of the Africa GUERERT and SULLIVAN S “PIRATES OF PENZANCE” “Thrift” Prices fish. the to fi. Bat Be to $1.50 ERLANGER THEA, W. 44th Street PEN. 6-7963. Bvenings 8:30 y Modern Air Cooling System) 2 SHEE OLANTHE* 53h not give up the $100,000,000 payment | | year’s postponement of all payments. | Hirsch Leckert concert given by the | FLOOR TO MOTHER, SCOTTSBORO BOYS F kers Faced With Ex- posure Hastily Close Meeting YORK.—Mrs. Ada Wright, two of the denied moon at a PNY Gag ORE) I ) Church. William Pickens was the seaker at this meeting. Pickens has returned from the South NEW the meeting at where he was loudly praised by the} southern boss lynchets newspapers for his vicious attacks on the de- fens> of the Scottsboro boys. After Pi ‘ot through spilling his lies | about how the boys asked the N. A. A. GC. P. leaders to defend them, the mother of two of the boys got up from her seat in the audience and | demanded that she be permitted to tell the facts. Faced with exposure |by one of the Scottsboro parents to) | whose worry and anguish | the rest of the N. A. A. C. P. lead~ \ers have materially contributed by their attempts to betray the fight to save the boys, Pickens leaned over nd whispered to the chairman. The halrman then jumped up and de-} he and clared the meeting over. boro defense and the defense | national Labor Defense and file. | leaders. \Jobless Dressmakers NEW-~ for ployed union. All unemployed | trade. workers Soviet “Forced Labor’—Bedacht’ series in pamphlet form at 10 cents ver copy. Read agate it! Scottsboro | floor | the chief | Plain clothes men who were pres- | ent at the request of the N. A, A./ C. P. leaders then began to hustle | the crowd into the street. Many| however, rallied around Vright and accompanied her to the Lafayette Hall where a meet- ing was held to permit the workers to get the truth about the Scotts- the treacherous | | role of the N. A. A. C. P. leaders in| | hamstringing operation with the southern bosses. Mrs. Wright bitterly condemned thé | disruptive activities of Walter White | and Pickens and told the workers that the only organizations asthor- | ized by the boys and thelr parents | | to defend the boys were the Inter- and the League of Struggle for Negro Rights. Mrs. Wright also spoke yesterday before a meeting of the Garvey or- | ganization where she mét an en- |thusiastic response from the rank} | Here also she exposed the | and that) role of the traitors and called upon in co- | the rank and file to stop the treach- | | erous attacks on the defense by Geh- | eral St. William Grant, one of their | to Hold Meet Monday | YORK.—The first meeting | ican investments, as the “optimism”| of the unemployed dressmakers will | | take place at the office of the uniod | on Monday at 1:30. A concrete plan the organiation of the unem-}| workers duzring the slack | period has been worked out by the unemployed dressmak- | ers are called upon to come to this meeting to discuss the various prob- lems confronting the employed and} in the dress | BUSINESS SCHOOL AND EVENING Gdeal DAY Commercial—Secretarial Courses Individual Instruction Open the entire year 14th St. at 2nd Ave., N.Y.C. TOmpkins Square 6-65384 Unusual Wholesome Dishes Made of FRESH VEGETABLES & FRUITS | AFTER THEATRE Low-Priced Special Combinations | at 44th Street Restaurant: | ARTISTIC SURROUNDINGS QUALITY FOODS |TRUFOOD || Vegetarian Restaurants | 153 West 44th Street 110 West 40th Street (East of Broadway) |] rene Food Is the Key to Health | Patronize the Concoops Food Stores AXxD Restaurant 2700 BRONX PARK EAST “Buy in the Co-operative Store and help the Left Wing Movement.” We Invite Workers to the BLUE BIRD CAFETERIA GOOD WHOLESOM’ FOOD Fair Prices A Comfortable Place to Bat 827 BROADWAY ‘Between 12th and 13th Sts, — Al Comrades Meet at BRONSTEIN’S Vegetarian Health Restaurant $58 Claremont Parkway, Bronx Dr. LEO KESSLER Surgeon Dentist |] Announces the Removal of Hit Office to 853 BROADWAY Corner 14th St., Rooms 1007-1008 New York City HFFRCTIVE JULY ist (B. M. T. Station im Building) Intern’) Workers Order DENTAL DEPARTMENT 1 UNION SQUARE 8TH FLOOR AU’ Work Done Under Personal Care ot DR. JOSEPHSON [AMUSEMENTS 6th Ave. HIPPODRONE ©. BIGGEST SHOW LN NEW YORE nego | John Barrymore acs | in “SVENGALI” "SEROY 657 Porson pate Lstabrobk 3215 BRONX, N. X Gottlieh’s Hardware 119 THIRD AVENUB Near 14th St. Stuyvesant 6074 All kinds of A Better than “Young Sinnets’ And by the same autho! With Margaret Sullavan, Herbert Rawlinson and ROGER PRYOR Evs, 8:50. Only Mat. Wed., 2:40, Performances Saturday MODERN VIRGIN BOOTH THA. 45th W. of Biwas, No ELECTRICAL SUPPLIES Cutlery Our Specialty * t Phone Stayvesant 3816 John’s Restaurant SPECIALTY: ITALIAN DISHES A place with atmosphere 10 a. m. and 6:30 p, m, and Revolutionary For information about “any of these four camps GO ON YOUR VACATION TO ONE OF OUR Proletarian Camps Information for all four camps ean be obteined at 32 Union Square. Room No, 505. — Telephone STuyvesant 9-632. CAMP KINDERLAND : HOPEWELL JUNCTION, N. Y. — All registrations for children must be in office one week in advance at 143 East 103rd St—Children of 7 years of over are accepted—Registration for adults at 32 Union Square.—Rates for adults $17 pet week. CAMP UNITY, WINGDALE, N. Y. Autos leave from 143 E. 103rd St. every day at 10 a. m, Fridays at Saturday, 9 a m, and 4 p. m for the camp The comrades ate requested to come on time, remain behind. REG SAN et A eer ra ANA MMU CAMP WOCOLONA . MONROE, N. ¥.—On beautiful Lake Waiton--Swimming—Boating, etc. in order not to Entertainment. A return ticket to Camp Wocolona fs only $2.60 Take the Erie Railroad. seine CAMP NITGEDAIGET, BEACON, N. Y. Boats Icave for the camp every day from 42nd Street Ferty Good entertainment.—DANCES at the Camp Call Stuyvesant 9-6832 where all radicals meet 302 E. 12th St New York MELROSE DAIRY yrstronst faa ta Dine at % at Sat Biace, 1787 SOUTHERN eg tes Bronx startle te LR ee nal Rational Vegetarian Restaurant 199 SECOND AVENUE Bet, 18th and 18th Ste Strietly Vegetarian food HEALTH FOOD Vegetarian Restaurant 1600 MADISON AVENUE Phone University 9865 Advertise Yuor Union Meetings Here, For thformation Write to Advertising Department The DAILY WORKER 50 Bast 13th St. New York City NAP... | : Me