The Daily Worker Newspaper, September 19, 1931, Page 3

AMERICAN WORK MOSCOW L Dear Comrades—We have we have 72 rest days a year, besides the five holidays, Janu- ary 22, May 1 and 2, November 7 and 8. And then the seven hour day makes it good for thi We get through work at 3:30 and as you know we have long days—I mean we have longest day in the year is June 22—at 10 p.m. one can read a newspaper. I like this city better and better. The living conditions are HUNDREDS FLOCK TO BOULDER DAM; FACE STARVATION Families Travel Great Distances; Find Only Heat and Hunger (By a Worker Correspondent) LAS VEGAS, Nev—Las Vegas is swelling and swelling like Mark ‘Twain's frog. Hundreds of prospec- tive job seekers are pouring in here every day. I can smell the work of the capitalist newspapermen. in this, Although it is true that Six Companies has decided to hire a few more men, there are dozens here for every prospective job. The capitalist press, wishing to exaggerate each bit of employment, spreads the news throughout the country that there are hundreds of jobs here for the asking, thereby causing hundreds of poor workers and their families to travel hundreds of miles to this desert hell-hole, where they are usually condemned to slow death by starvation. Most of these workers have very Uttle money when they start out for this place and it is generally eaten up when they get here. Their last dollar is usually spent on two-cent stamps, writing to their relatives to get them out of here. Not only is it starvation that hits the workers who come here, but the heat is enough to shrivel 2 mummy. ‘This place is not very far from Death Valley, with its 57 varieties of lizards ‘and clothes-consuming crickets, gila monsters and rattlesnakes. CHILDREN SLAVE FOR 60c A DAY Parents Fired from Amesbury Shops Amesbury, Mass. Daily Worker: ‘The conditions here in Amesbury fre bad for the workers as they..are everywhere else. This has been an auto ‘body town, but the principle concern, the Biddle and Smart Co, who used to employ as many as 5,000 in rush times has been entirely shut down for two years. They built bodies for the Hudson company. The other concern is nearly as bad, only a few working there. Then there are a few shoe shops here and the conditions in them are rotten. They are all scab shops employing children for wages as low as 50 to 60 cents a day while their fathers and mothers remain jobless. sf IN LANDS OF SOVIETS Says He Could Not Get Used to U. S. Working Conditions After Stay in U.S. S. R. Plans Vacation Which Only the Rich Can Enjoy in Capitalist Lands AUDS LIFE Moscow, U.S.S.R. many free days here. Altogether e workers, many hours of sunshine. The improving every day. I am sure that I could not g& used to the working conditions in America any more. The working conditions also show signs of exceeding the American standafd. I believe that in two years time people in the Soviet Union will live bettter than they ever did in the U. S. A. And these people know how to live well. They try to spend all their money for life. No one ever dreams of saving money, Plans Vacation I am planning to travel around on my vacation when it comes—Oct. 1 to 16. As a worker I can travel around very cheaply. For instance to the Ural Mountains and return, visiting all places, will cost me only 75 rubles. It takes ten days by train, which in- cludes food and a place to sleep. I can go where I please. Indeed I can not say that I ever planned a vaca- tion in America as I am doing here. Here every worker does. Every man and woman have a plan for their vacation. Everything goes according to schedule as far as possible. Some German ‘workers went to Berlin by airplanes. It took them 12 hours, Modern Hospitals I must write to you about where I | was today.. At 12 o’clock I went) visiting a hospital where a boy from | the family that I live with went to have his nose straightened. His nose | BUILD A WORKERS’ PRESS © was slightly bent. He had an opera- tion for that, but still had the ban- dages on today. I'll tell you in the} next letter how successful the opera- tion was. I saw many things that are new tome in this hospital. The patients are not kept like prisoners, as is the case in the U. S. A. Everybody is dressed just like the doctors in white robes, Everything is so orderly and sociable. The attention each patient gets is very remarkable. The patients themselves tell you this. Every ward is a separate building and takes care of separate cases, It’s quite a con- trast to the hospitals in the United States where every patient would like to run home. Here it is a pleasure to be in a hospital. Even though the present hospitals are not crowded, the government is building more new ones. Defend U. S. S. R. According to the French and Polish newspapers that I read here it looks like war is very near. You comrades in America must defend the Soviet Union, against any attacks of the imperialists. Defense of the Soviet Union is self-defense. People on the Welfare Department “work for the town for three days:a week and are paid in groceries in- stead of money. There are many signs of dissatisfaction and we are confident it will grow more as time I am trying to point out the cor- rect way to the workers to struggle pu INDO-CHINA MASSES FIGHT FRENCH IMPERIALISM PARIS.—French imperialism has been trying for eighteen months: to erush the revolutionary rising of the workers and peasants oppressed by capitalism in the French Colony of conduct the campaign of crush- the workers. But the militancy the workers in their fight for free- stopped by French guns. tn Tokony, near the Chines border, and peasants routed an en-| French garrison, killing many SAM WEINBERG Editorial Note—Comrade Wein- berg is an American worker who went to the Soviet Union recently to train young workers to become skilled mechanics, If any workers wish to write to Comrade Wein- berg asking him questions on con- ditions in the S. U., they can do so by sending their letters to the In- ternational Letter Exchange, Daily Worker, 50 E. 13th St., New York City. ER IN | This unusual airplane view of Moscow shows one of the phases of the Soviet government's program of bettering the living conditions of the workers. Big new apartment houses like these are going up con- These houses will be occupied by factory workers. stantly all over the Soviet Union. SEPTEMBER 19, 1931 Page Three Kokomo Unemployed | Build New Council (By 2 Worker Correspondent) KOKOMO, Ind. ; Council w 9. The meeting, was exceptionally v the response amounted signed 1 hip All the rs |to the spirited address of Cc |Nat Ross. He was assisted |meeting by Comrades Lewi | Cormick—all from Indi | —An Unemployed tended and to a istened atte in the id Mc- |that the council was 3 needed force for the Kokomo. It is the int council to hold a mee |and build a real ing spirit among jare very much encow | ai 2 FORD FORCES MEN | TO SPEND EXTRA aployed i workers ged CITY EMPLOYES GET PAY-SLASH OAKLAND, CAL. Many Forced to Cash Pay Warrents Below Actual Value (By a Worker Correspondent.) OAKLAND, Calif—Further system of staggering’municipal, employes ‘to avoid layoffs” was announced by City Manager Carr. “Under this sys- tem all city employees (and this medn the clerks, laborers, janitors, etc.) would have at least part time employment throughout winter months.” H, Raab, executive secretary to the manager, was gathering information on wage scales paid in private in- dustry for checking and tabulating a list of standard wage scales. This | will form basis of specifications as to remuneration of the exposition building to be erected soon and set- ting wages for other employes. More Cuts Coming That the wages of municipal em- Ployes will be cut further, there is no doubt; that this will be a pre- cedent to cut further the wages in the indusries here is also no doubt; that the percentage of wage reduc- tion will depend upon industries checked, we also know well. Canneries and field work. pay no more than $2 per day, while textile, soap plants and many others pay little more. Therefore these most likely will be used as a list for tab- ulatng and thus setting wage scales. Officials tell us they are against wage cuts. This shows their lies, ‘These lies must be nailed the next time Carr or any other official utter them. Even now pay warrants of city workers in many instances cannot be cashed until certain date and many | are cashed minus 10 per cent or so. Do not permit this to go on. Join the workers in industries by or- ganizing into militant unions of the Trade Union Unty League and fight the wage cuts. 2 WAGE-CUTS IN ATKINS SAW SHOP Metal Workers League Urges Organization (By a Worker Correspondent) INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.—The work- ers at the Atkins Saw Co. are work- ing under terrible conditions, working only three days a week for starva- tion wages under the most terrific speed-up, Only a few days ago the company put over a wage-cut for the entire force of 12% per cent. ‘The company told the workers that they would cut the wages 10 per cent, but when the workers received their pay envelopes they found that they were cheated out of 1214 per cent of their pay over the 10 per cent cut. There is only one way for us to fight wage-cuts and starvation in this plant and that is to get organized into the Metal Workers Industrial One way to help the Soviet Union is to spread among the workers “Soviet ‘Forced Labor,” by Max Bedacht, 10 cents per copy. League. We must not wait. That is the reason the bosses put over the first two cuts. They will put over more cuts if we do not prepare to resist. So let’s get busy and organize. A. F. of L. Helps Bosses Cut Wages of Railroad Workers (By a Worker Correspondent) NEW YORK, N. Y.—It is now about six months that the N. Y. Cen- tral R, R. compelled us maintenance men to accept five days a week and now today we do six days work for five days wages, We A. F. of L. men were told that the railroad would put back to work all the men who were laid off, but now we know that all this talk of the bosses and the A. F. of L. heads was just a pack of lies. Not one man was put back to work. Our union a year ago had 578 members; today we have less than a hundred. The workers on the rail- road are getting wise to the fakers in the A. F, of L, They know that the A. F, of L, heads are working for the big railroad capitalists, At our last union meeting one of the big shots of the A. F. of L. stated that we were going to get a 10 per cent wage cut—instead of getting $36 @ week we will now get $26, Last week all the capitalist papers stated that 1,000 workers were put to work on the N. Y. Central. That very same day over 1,000 were fired. The capitalists with Crocodile Green and Rummy Woll cannot fool the railroad workers much longer. We will pay them back soon, believe me. I say to the railroad men, down with the A. F. of L. Let us all join the Railroad Workers League of the Trade Union Unity League Dear Comrades: takes him to and from work. than in the United States. In fact, I personally cannot me how I live in the U.S.S.R. I wo I could become a high qualified have the desire to study at the workers’clubs and theatres. convenience is the housing. travel by rail about 30 minutes t month to the housing cooperative and I get a reply. eee I read your letter from Stockton, Cal., in the Pravda and it made a terrible impression on me. under the illusion that the workers in the United States live under the best and most comfortable conditions, worker in the U.S.A. has his own little house and a machine that seems that the workers in Soviet Russia live under better conditions off and after work I spend pleasantly my time free of charge trance) to the rest house or sanitarium free of charge. ing problem in Moscow as yet and I live in a suburb of Moscow. the houses in Moscow this year, but surely next year. i| I could write you a more detailed letter if this letter reaches you I read and write a little English with the as- sistance of dictionaries. I am working in our faciory school. let us make friends through correspondence. all your letters and at the same time will learn how to write English. Your Friend and Comrade, Time Machines Are in Motion Edgewater, N. J. Dear Comrades: || Recently I ‘read an article é | |ing Henry Ford's methods. Moscow, U.S.S.R. | | only does Henry Ford strive for pr | its,” said the article, “but als show his power over the worke the factories.” The article stated he was going too far by dering his workers to build Some of our workers are still or- an illusion that every bs 2 P : gardens and raise vegetables for Your letter shows the opposite. I | | nome consumption. || Power! To place an iron hand j uid answer that I have everything. | | °°” % only || Peings. That, fellow-workers, is hanic, gineer, if only I | | Rag aaa eae er | | what Henry Ford is trying to do. <pense of the state. On my days at our | | To substantiate my statement I In case of iliness I get a “patievi (en- | have my own experiences to relate My only in- while working for the “honorable” We have not entirely settled the hous- | | Mt. Ford I We are told to come to work at 8 olwerk: But I pay ten rubles a We wait half an hour for the | | a.m, | | conveyers to start. At 8:30 the pusher notifies us that it will take another half hour for the conveyers | | to warm up. Thus we are kept wait- | ing, losing time and working doubly | fast without a moment's relief till the 8-hour day is over. We do not | get paid for the time we are forced and expect to get a new room in Well, I will gladiy answer to wait. We spend many extra hours weekly in the plant for which PETER BUCHAREW. we get no pay. I hope soon to see MORE WAGE-CUTS Dodge Slashes Three Times in One Year Detroit, Mich. Dear Comrades: There is not one day that one can | not hear the workers in the various | shops in Detroit complain of wage | cuts. At the Dodge Brothers plant, | men that were paid up to one dollar per hour only last spring got their | wages cut to eighty cents in June and now their hourly rates were cut to fifty-five cents per hour. Last spring the wet sanders of the Chrysler Body plant were sanding thirty-five bodies per day with a force of five men to a group, now the same group is forced to do seventy bodies per day. And in the spring the men were getting from eighty- three cents per hour to 90c, while now the most they get, is 6lc per hour, These men are not any better off than the miners in the Penn- sylvania coal fields, because they only get about three days work in two weeks. ; In the Chevrolet plant the men are cheated all around. When a ma- chine is changed in some depart- ment, the regular rates of pay are | changed to 50c per hour, but no one is allowed to slacken down in pro- duction, and the straw bosses go around telling the men that when everything will run smooth, they are going to get their rates back, but the men can see anything having changed except that they are giving th bosses more work without any compensation for same. And those that demand their old rate back are told to better keep the mouth shut, otherwise someone else is going to get their places, Workers of the auto plants, it is not enough to whisper into each other’s ear, we must see to it that we get together and organize and only through organized efforts will we be able to better the conditions in the shops.—F. S. Mass .Wage-Slashing in Jamestown, N. Y. Jamestown, N. Y. I am sending you a picture of the misery here in Jamestown. The fac- tories are shut down. Hundreds of men are walking the streets hungry. The only plants that are open is the voting machine plant and the Tillotson Furniture Co, The voting machine plant hires mostly women— HIT AUTO PLANTS Mr. Ford and his satellites soon buried under the already tottering structure of capitalism. CHILDREN FEED FROM SLOP CANS | Many Families Lack) Food and Clothes (By a Worker Correspondent) YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio. — A few| . (Editorial Note—The “Daily Worker” would like to print more letters from the Edgewater Ford Plant. It would be good if the workers in. the Edgewater Plant would send us a letter to be for- warded to the workers in the Amo auto factory in the Soviet Union. The Soviet workers are anxious to hear from the Ford workers and have promised to answer all ques- nights ago when I was out| ' 4 distributing leaflets urging the | tions by return mail. Write to the workers to organize against evictions| Soviet workers. Write for the I found the following conditions: “Dally Worker.” Build a corre- spondence group in the Edgewater Ten families living on Gibson} pint.) Street in two roam apartments—that is, a bed room and bath—have no i clothing and not a thing to eat. CHIO8GO YHOTO LEAGUE Children were gathered behind the| CHICAGO, Ill—The Workers Film sanitary rest station at 377 E. Federal | 82d Photo League, which was organ- St. picking food out of garbage cans. |!zed during the middle of August is Work here is a thing of the past. | DOW meeting weekly at members’ HOURS IN PLANT: | Pays Them Only for): A Letter from. the USSR to || Workers in Stockton, Calif. also t Ninety-five per cent of the workers here are without work. Many of them are facing eviction. Those that are working work only two or three days a week. Some told me that their wages were cut twice in one week. The situation is unbearable. All we need to do here is to get together all the workers, Negro and white, into one strong Unemployed Council, employed and unemployed together to demand free rent for the jobless, free light and heat, free food for the children and unemployment insurance. The workers who are still | working in the mills should join the Metal Workers Industrial League. All of us must be united in one struggle. Rubber Works Lays Off Old Workers (By a Worker Correspondent) INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.—The G. and J. Rubber Works has developed a new technique for firing its aged employes. The office has not the guts to fire a man outright—that is, face to face, so they lay him off with gracious words and sweet consola~ tion. Wher! the worker gets home there is a letter awaiting him, Yes, fellow- workers, it’s a complete letter of rec- ommendation to other bosses stating that the worker was let go through no fault of his own, that he was a fine worker, etc. Lately many of the aged workers Were fired in this way to make room for youngsters who must work for 50 per cent less, Many of these have been with the company for 17 to 20 years, they have fired the men and have hired the women at lower wages. The furniture factory 1s using the stagger system, They are laying off all the older men and are rehiring younger men at lower wages. Sometimes the men are glad to be laid off, the abuse in the factory is s0 bad. Then WRITE TO THE U.S.S.R. One way to learn about what is going on in the Soviet, Union is to write to the Soviet Workers. Thou- sands of workers in the USSR are anxious to exchange letters with the workers in the USA. Send your let- ters to the International Letter Ex- they have put into operation a piece work system whereby a worker is lucky if he can make $2 a day, I am a member of the Communist Party and will be until I die, change of the “Daily Worker”, We will forward the letters to the So- viet Union and in turn forward you letters from the USSR. homes, At first there were only four |in the organization, but now they jare larger and have many prospects for growth. At present they are look- ing for a headquarters. Already several good pictures have been contributed. To communicate with this group, they can be gotten in touch with by writing to C. Nel- son, 5933 South Green St. UN FARMERS Coal Companies Rob ) Wag -s. Well Chr bread alone. work going i the p 200 mer a square deg Unergpiovment Gair thos part en count (or aried is so mu —but, oh out with all they government is not much tempt- ing thing, that is as a permanent source ef revenue. The great drop in the federal revenue is proof that cost of governm is getting too big for the “fat lied” capitalists. Organizing. | In con ion let me persuade you, that and time ward. ¥ our t f fc don’t pull it back even if you lose a toe. I am ma ions to establish a Dai er Club at | Hueysville, Ky. be one at Gar- |rett also. And in the meantime I am ever working on the masses from a union and a political angle. Every- body is luke warm and y red hot Tf all you workers and sympathizers will get that big foot forward in- stead of stagnating something would happen right awa: vse, ravidly increas- faster, far fast- er than one would have thought. But |we have only. begun—one never | reaches the limit, except of course in | starvation. I forgot when we passed at -stage. So over the top, com- rades. Today is the day of your sal- vation. Trade Union Unity League and offset that evil influence that are driving you to serfdom; those associations; (coal, steel and others), those fake welfare societies, those damnable this-and-that organized |by the bosses, put under control of some thie’ rat who is nothing bu a lackey, a stool pigeon in whom the bosses trust and dictate to. with all this faking t with the banner of truth; and. for the good of th the few. otest to those fake snake doctors at Washington and all state | capitals, in so doing you will show | your solidarity in this working man’s | fight. » not |500 FIRED FROM TAMPA CIGAR FACTORIES. TAMPA, Fla.—Five hundred cigar makers were laid off here September | 12 without notice. Over 250 were fired from Regentingurg’s two fac- tories and many of the other facto- ries laid off many other workers. There are rumors that the factory owners are preparing another 10 per cent wage-cut. MINERS FIND NEW “HOME” Families of coal miners, evicted from their homes at Blakely, W. Va., are shown moving into abandoned houses. Ten families are living in two houses—no window panes, ward of years of toil in the mines, Whole Illinois Jeaky roof, falling plaster, the re- Mining Town Facing Winter of Starvation Coello, Ill. Daily Worker: The conditions In this town are the worst that I ever saw. The miners have been out of work for over seven months and there is very little hope of the mine opening up again. Seven hundred miners work in the mine when it is in operation. Some of us are lucky enough to have a little credit in the stores, but if the mine does not soon open these stores will have to close down—then there will be some real hell down here. Winter time coming—no money, no jeb, no coal, no books or clothes for ‘he children to go to school. The workers are all wondering what they are going to do. The township and also the county, we are informed, is in debt. The officials are speaking of closing down the county poor farm for lack of funds. Oh yes, we have the state “aid” which Governor Em- merson boasts so much about. It con- consists of one twenty-pound sack of third grade flour and two pounds of old lard for each family once each month, Single men can get nothing Eighty Per Cent Red The workers here are 80 per cent for the Communist policy. The fight- ing spirit of the good old National Miners Union is still here and when the time comes the miners will not back out, —A Miner, EMPLOYMENT GAINS IN KY. MINE REGIO Join the Red Unions of the | Combat | FACE RUIN liners of One-Third of es on Crooked Scales > coun- s the} they is only all admit that But one can starve awhile on it. on in Floyed County (and that ablished by the Boldman CALIF. WELFARE FAKERS EVADE: GIVING RELIEF Discourage | Starving Workers with Red Tape and Delays luck is with th 1is year. That onl; t M 1, | called at the County Welfare for | relief a few weeks ago and after waiting nearly all day I was told to come back the next I called the next morning and about noon- | time the man that I was supposed to see called a worker into his office and then put on his hat and walked out, leaving the worker sitting there. So both of us went out and came back that afternoon, | Finally I got to talk to him and | was told to come back the next day to see a woman, Anyway, to make a long story short, I got one day's work in the park after spending three days getting it. And then I had to wait another day to get a piece of paper for groceries for the dny's york, The next week I was even refused | this measly aid. The next time I | went in the aristocrat in charge said we have nothing more for you. He told me that they were not supposed | to give relief to single men. He sent me to the associated charities. Here | I was put through the third degree, the usual red tape, and was given a piece of paper good for two cheap meals. I called for the piece of paper for about two weeks and finally the woman in charge said she had a job for me at $10 a month herding goats. I politely refused the offer of the kind lady, who said: “That's the best I can do and I don’t see why you don't take it. That's better than you got now. I will have to send you back to the county welfare.” Fine, isn’t it? No, no—that is not forced labor in the Soviet Union. |It's forced labor and starvation in the U. S, A. But we are not going to starve—we are going to fight a million strong through the Unem- | ployed Councils for immediate re- lief and unemployment insurance, | Disabled Worker Giypped byWelfare Help to Beat Worker Out of Compensation Baltimore, Md. Daily Worker: While working in the Standard | Sanitary Co. I was disabled by lead poison. The company paid me com-” pensation for a while, but then they stopped. When my money was gone, I went to the “Family Welfare” for help and put the matter into their hands. I asked the “Family Welfare” to put the matter into court. They said, “All right,” but when the case was about to come up they called everything off for some reason or other. They told me that they agreed on a settlement, but I received no money or anything from the com- pany. I have three children and a wife tS support and have no money and no food. The city is supposed to help | me, but they will do anything until I sign papers releasing them from pay- ing any kind of damage. The doctors in the Johns Hopkins hospital say that I am unable to work, but the “Family Welfare” says I am and wants me to work at least a day a week for a few groceries. The “Wel- fare” is sure lined up with the bosses in protecting them against any claims that we workers might have against them. It is plain they are not op- erating for the benefit of the workers, —A Worker, LUMBERMEN’S WAGES CUT TO $1.85 A DAY (By a Worker Correspondent) EATONVILLE, Wash.—Wage-cut- ting has been going on here in the lumber yard since last fall, The wages are now down to $1.85 a day for the already stayving’ families, Dissatisfaction is 7rowing among the workers. Many talk about Com- munism and the Soviet Union. Work- ers are beginning to see through the lies that are appearing in the capi- talist press.