The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 12, 1932, Page 4

Page Four ————— By mati everywhere: ot Manhattan and Bron One year, $6; SUBSCRIPTION RATES: x, New! York City. —_ six months, $3; two months, $1; excepting Boroughs Foreign: one year, 98; six monthe, $4.50. LATEST FRAME-UP AGAINST THE NEGRO MASSES United n the the With the le and the growing t for better con- nst workers are s the capit class is using nks of the workers ms of capitalist frame- iladelphia. rged with a young girl 7 years old, he case, a few ‘e the murder is known as the section gets streets are Ss, some- which are ranged y houses, one room above another nd-boxes.” In describing this sectior , the Philadelphia Record writes the owing, “To reach these foul rabbit warrens where the “band-boxes” are one must broken arches between houses, etimes by little guts as they used to be called by iladelphians, that open up or court, On both sides of this t paved with rotten and straggling bricks, with a gutter draining down the middle, the tall, narrow cells which mzsquerade of houses. “Many of them are well over 100 years old, some penetrating of them +o back to the time earlier than the American Revolution. They are the habitations @f the most miserably impoverished of the city’s p as like as old graves in an and dark and as cheerless. Th Sexnaone 1 ce -metery, poor. Windov are dirty and broken. Roofs sag and leak. ' many thé@lirt floor cellars are deep in water, often foul with seepage from sewers or cesspools. They are lacking even in the most primitive of toilet accommodations. Families of six and t live in one room. A large number of houses, including the one where the child was found, looks 2s if they might topple over with the next Incident we might mention that it is under that the unemployed are forced of ‘Brotherly Love,’ in the world, and in such an ‘y 3 litle Dorothy Lutz was e city on Februar; upon the discovery of the murder, Police Department utilized it to ze the unemployed workers and 1 particular. At the city’s shelter ¢ 18th and Hamilton Streets, roes in thie. homeless for 1,200 Negro and white unemployed workers were lined up and grilled for hours by detectives. Mass arrests of unemployed workers on the streets took place throughout the city. ‘The police department which is so suffiicent in mobilizing its full force with machine guns and pillies against the unemployed, knew nothing about the person who was guilty of the murder of Lutz. The population was outraged against the murder and demanded action on the part of the police. The public sentiment against the police department erew-daily.. The press was forced to come out editorially and place the ‘police on the: carpet.’ ‘The police departme: itself anc cover up iti nt in order to whitewash competence decided that somethin; t be done at all costs, and the assistant rintendent of police, Mr. Le Strange laid the basis for a frame-up, against a Negro worker, when he stated; ‘The police possess no description of the slayer, no one has been able to give a description of even a suspect, we believe, however, that the crime was committed BY EITHER A DARK SKINNED WHITE MAN OR A LIGHT SKINNED NEGRO.’ ‘Thus ¢ ng out the plans for s frame-up, the police began to search for the ‘guitly’ Negro, and on the twelith of February the police arrested Willie Brown. ‘That the frame-up was pre-arranged was quite obvious, rior to the finding of the body of the murdered child, the poilee searched the houses in the neghborhood where Willie Brown lived. There they ‘disc t Willie did not come home to sleep for (Willie often slept in a friend’s } and therefore had his brother officially to the police department about Willie, victim. not suspecting anything was on hen Deteteive Francis E. Agnew It became clear that the and Pat an Furnston arrested h questioned at the coroner's inquest why he ar- rested Willie, Detetcive Agnew stated: “I was looking south when I saw this colored boy coming north. He did not look so good, I called him, placed him in an automobile and When took him to the Third Division. When asked, ‘What do you mean by saying that he didn’t look good?’ The ‘clever’ detetcive replied,‘ I don’t know, he just looked suspicious. I just played a hunch.’ Now that was nec spirit and then the “murderer” was found, what was to create the necessary lynch . . get some ‘evidence’ against the boy through a forced confession. To fulfill the first tas ellow press was called upon. Daily the press came out with screaming head lines about, ‘mobs looking for Willie,’ ‘lynch ‘spirit existing in the neighborhood,’ etc. ‘The press went to the extent of ‘quoting’ the mother that her son was guilty. When a repre- sentative of the International Labor Defense questioned the white workers in neighborhood, he found that not only was there no lynéh spirit in existence, but on the contrary the white work- ers believed in the innocence of Willie. ‘The next step for the police department was to get a confession out of Willie, and the 16 year old youth was kept for more than 36 hours without food or water. While questioning him, the police asked him many times if he was hungry. When he answered yes, they would get food, put it within his reach and then drop it to the floor before he could grasp it. A large number of detectives, hurled questions at him, beating him and using other methods of trying to have him admit the killing. The police told him that if he would not sign a statement that he was guilty, they woulid give him out to a mob of angry citizens outside of the room, waiting to lynch him, (Obviously there were no mobs outside). Finally Willie became physically so weak that he was willing to say anything in order to obtain a bite to eat or an opportunity to moisten his lips. At the coroner's inquest Wile Brown em- phatieally denied, knowing anything about the murder of the child, and said although he is absolutely innocent of the crime, he was forced and starved into a confession. It was also brought out that on the day of the murder Willie was with his mother in the New Garden Theatre where they remained until 4 o'clock. According to Mrs. Lutz, Dorothy Lutz (mur- dered child) disappeared about two o'clock in the atfernoon. Another important point which clearly shows the frame-up against this Negro | youth worker is the following fact. Clutched in the child’s hand when her body was found, in the vacant house, were 7 strands of her killer’s hair, which were Jong Ae straight, whereas Willie’s hair is of the typical Negro type, kinky’ and wooly. Undoubtedly Willie Brown is the latest victim of a capitalist frame-up. This frame-up is used as a means to antagonize the white workers against the Negroes and create mob spirit. It is a class issue. However, it is characteristic of a Negro national press, that immediately upon the forced ‘confession’ of Willie, the Philadelphia | Tribune failing to see the class and national character of this case, on February 25th, states editorially. ‘A young Negro has confessed the hideous crime of having assaulted a 7 year old girl who was | later found dead.’ And further, ‘Negroes bow their heads in shame when such a crime is at- tacheed to one of their own. By such statements the Philadelphia Tribune not only fails to expose this frame-up against this Negro young worker, but actually supports and endorses the third degree methods used to force a confession out of Willie, as well as the charge of murder brought against Willie, which means the electric chair. The attack against Willie Brown is part and parcel of the general attacks against the workers. The frame-up against Willie Brown is not only a frame-up against the Negro masses, put against the working class as a whole. The workers must arouse the masses to the defense of Willie Brown. In this connection the white workers have a special task to perform: The white workers must take the leadership In mobilizing the neces- sary mass pressure to force the henchmen of the ruling class to free Willie Brown. In its attacks against the working-class and its attempts to smash the working-class organiza- tions, the bourgeoisie will not stop or refrain fram any methods. The working-class must answer these attacks by organized resistance. Only the organized power, the unity of white and Negro masses, under the leadership of the Communist Party and the Revolutionary Labor Movement as a whole, will win the freedom of Willie Brown. New Tortures for the Workers— Inilation, Taxes, “Anti-Hoarding” By HARRY GANNES. PART IV. (CONCLUSION) On to} t all, and as an integral part of this pro. nd the financial crisis, are coming the incre 1s measures, In this matter the leading bankers play the same role as they played in 5 ng over the Glass-Steagall Bill. Democratic and Republican senators and con- gressmen work in full unity, under the direction of Ogden Mills, secretary of the treasury, spokes- man of the leading bankers The problem of capitalism here is how to raise sufficient taxes to cover the following: () Increased expenditure for war; (2) greater expenditures in behalf of the projects of Wall Street ‘Reconstruction Finance Corporation, Federal Farm Board, etc.); (3) to make up the government deficit of $4,000,000,000 In the present period of lower profits, the big bourgeoisie definitely makes the categorical de- «ree that increased taxes hit primarily the work~ ers and the petty-bourgeoisie. This formula is already adopted. In fact, the Democratic Party, under the leadership of Speaker Garner, is tak~ ing the lead in putting this over to the masses, as the imperialists feel the Democrats are more palatable still to the masses than the Repub- licans, so thoroughly connected with the Hoover hunger zeeime. ‘The = SSctive of the new tax measures which will 5: be issued to plague the workers is that additional taxes of $1,241,000,000 are to be raised. They are not to be raised by increased taxes on the heavy incomes of the big bour- geoisie who were, through their manipulations, able in the present crisis to increase their for- tunes at the expense of the workers and the petty-bourgeoisie. ‘The capitalists propose introducing what they call a “sales tax” of 2 per cent on nearly every manufactured commodity, excepting food. The 2 per cent thus added will be transferred to the retail price of the commodity, thereby raising the price of these commodities to the workers. As Representative Rainey, one of the demo- cratic “liberal” leaders who are engineering this bill for Wall Stret, put it, every commodity ex- cept raw meats, raw fish, bread and milk, and seed and fertilizer used for crop production, practically everything else, including clothing, will be subject to the tax. Thus, on top of wage-cuts, mass unemploy- ment, slashing of the meagre amount of relief, there comes inflation with its rise in prices, and now a sales tax which will boost still further the price of the necessity of life for the work- ers. Even though the main food proaucts are sup~ posedly exempted from the tax, the prices of these commodities will rise under the influence of the tax. The food manufacturers, the whole- sale and retail food dealers will transfer the tax on gasoline and other commodities they buy, on which the tax applies, to the food products they sell to the workers. For the petty-bour- geoisle there will be an increased tax on in- F2MAN THOMAS By BURCK By HARRISON GEORGE. ORKERS, this is a story of how you are lied to by jyour capitalist governments |and capitalist newspapers. They \lie to you because they need you, the workers and small farmers, to fight wars in their jinterests. So they lie to you. |The last World War was to \“save democracy,” remember! } |Now a new World War is be- ginning. So there are new lies. It makes no difference whether you are Japanese or| American, you have been lied | to about this war in China, in| such a way as to get all of you | \who believe what you see in| lyour capitalist papers, t6 sup-| ‘port “your” government, the jgovernment of the capitalists | who starve and oppress you. | We are going to give you some| timely examples of how war nner lie to you. Assigned by Municipal Council | When, at midnivht on Jan.| |28, the Japanese marines attacked | | the Chinese ruled part of Greater| Shanghai known as Chapei, the capi- | talist government of Japan and its | | capitalist papers, had to make the) | Japanese masses believe that Japan| |was “in the right.” So, in the capi-| | talist paper published in Osaka, Jap- | jan, known as “the Mainichi,” dated | | January 31, we find the following: | “SHANGHAI, Jan. 29—The ut- most tension which has prevatfled here for many days on account of the hostile attitude of the Chinese troops toward the Japanese, was broken last night when contingents of the Japanese naval landing par- ty, while advancing from North Szechuan Road to the region of the North Station, which was as- signed by the Municipal Council to the Japanese naval force for guard- ing, clashed wtih the Chinese troops.” (Our Emphasis—H.G.). Now, if you never read in the American capitalist papers that “the region of the North Station” (which is in purely Chinese territory over which the Municipal Council has no authority) was “assigned by Muni- cipal Council to the Japanese naval forces for guarding,” that doesn’t mean that it never happened. The Municipal Council is headed by an American imperialist but largely con- trolled by British imperialists, both enemies of the Chinese masses and violators of Chinese independence. But, workers, one or the ‘other— HOW WARMAKREERS..Lia and maybe both—you American work- ers, or the Japanese workers, were lied to! Because throughout United States on January 29, the capitalist newspapers catried an Associated Press dispatch saying, in part: “Japanese occupation, begun at midnight, led to the most menacing situation since the seizure of Muk- den... The American Consul Gen- eral, Edwin S. Cunningham, ex- pressed indignation at the Japanese attack.” (Our emphasis—H.G.). “Certain Points” Nevertheless, the Osaka (Japan) “Mainichi” published the following | editorial on Jan. 31: iS “China is heading toward an- archy. This is assuming ugly feat- ures, so much so as to compel the Municipal Council in Shanghai to declare martial law in the Interna- tional Settlement. As a result, all the countries with marines or land forces have taken up their respect- ive positions in defense of the Set- tlement. The landing parties from the Imperial Navy have also taken up their assigned positions, neces- sitating the occupation of certain points in order to effect a more ef- ficient defensive action. All of a sudden, the Chinese troops chal- lenged the Imperial landing party, resulting in an armed clash . . .This is clearly a case of the Chinese initiating an affair.” (Our emphasis —HG.). See how artfully the ‘Japanese cap- | italist papers talk, clearly inferring | that the Shanghai Municipal Coun- cil “assigned” Japanese marines to the “defense” of the “certain points” where the clash took place; therefore | “the Chinese initiated the affair!” But from the American capitalist press; American workers are given to | understand that the “cértain points” mentioned by the Japanese press, were outside, not inside, the Interna- tional Settlement! lowing by the N. Y. Times correspond- ent, Hallett Abend, in the “Times” of Jan. 29: “The Japanese had decided earlier to attempt to take possession of the Chapel area, which is part of the Chinese-governed section of the city.” “Restlessness”—a Cause for War So, according to the American press, the Japanese and not the Mu- nicipal Council had “decided” it! Now go on to see the tricky word~- ing of Admiral Kiochi Shiozawa, the Japanese commander, whom Hallett Abend, in the same issue of the N.Y. Times, quotes as having issued a man- ifesto on January 28th, saying: “General restlessness prevails in and outside the International Settle- ment of Shanghai, and there are signs the situation is being further aggra- vated.” We stop here to draw work- ers’ attention to the fact that “rest- lessness” is sufficient reason for im- perialist seneaie to administer treat- Listen to the fol-| ment by artillery, infantry and air bombs. Also, that no one better than the Japanese should know just WHO | was “aggravating” the situation!) But we go on with the Admiral: “In view of this state of affairs, | the Muncipal Council proclaimed a| state of emergency, and the military | | and naval forces of the various na- tions have taken their positions for | the defense of the Settlement.”| (Kindly note how cleverly the Jap-| | anese admiral here gives the reader | | to understand that he, the Admiral, | was deeply concerned about, was to} uphold the authority of the Muni-| | cipal Council “for defense of the, Settlement.”). But the Admiral only | uses these words as a springboard for | jumping off into the following: “The Imperial Japanese Navy, feel- | ing extreme anxiety about the situa- tion in Chapei, where Japanese na- tionals reside in great numbers, has decided to dispatch troops to this sec- tion for the enforcement of law and! | order.” (Good old “law and order!” | But now you see that the Japanese | Admiral began by talking abotit the Municipal Council and “defense of the Settlement” only in order to make people who do not know that Chapei | outside the Settlement, believe that | Japanese occupation of Chapei was taken under authority of the | Settlement authorities, without ex-/ | actly saying so!). This, no doubt, gave the Japanese | government and newspapers the Tine | | they were to follow in developing “de- | fense patriotism” among the Japanese masses, for again, in the Osaka “Mainichi” of Jan. 31, the opinion of Foreign Minister Yoshizawa was/| | quoted as follows: | | “It must be especially made clear | that the district in which the clash took place was assigned to Japan | in consultation with the Shanghai | Municipal Council.” ’ \ What Was Truc | What was TRUE in all this talk, is the fact that the Municipal Coun- | cil, in assigning troops of the differ- | ent imperialist gangs to guard the borders and parts of the Settlement, DID assign the Japanese naval forces | to guard the Hongkew area’ of the! Settlement, That the Japanese used | that area to land more troops and as a jumping off place to invade Chinese territory in Chapel DOES PLACE JOINT RESPONSIBILITY, WITH THE JAPANESE, ON AMER- ICAN AND BRITISH IMPERIAL- ISM! | And this again makes clear why | | the Chinése Soviets are fully justified in demanding that every last inch of | all these “foreign concessions” and “dnterhational settlements” through- out China be surrendered to China, as the only security that the Chinese people has against such imperialist invasion! But since we are interested here mainly in how workers are lied to | has “declared a moratorium on notes | of protest” as Japan sends even more |} amples of how the capitalist press | Japan! by war makers, let us quote another item from the Osaka “Mainichi” of| February 2, dated at Shanghai, Jan- uary 30, and running as follows: | “It was agreed at the conference yesterday of the consular officials of the Powers here, including Mr. Edwin S. Cunningham, American Consul General, and Mr. J. F. Bren- nan, British Consul General, that | it is advisable for Japan to send a force of many times the size of | the present naval landing corps to | Shanghai, in order to cope with the | situation. After an exchange 6f | views they agreed that the situation | will become still worse and the In- ternational and French Settlements will be greatly endangered unless the Japanese force holds the unruly Chinese in check. This decision at the conference was announced to the foreign press correspondents.” Workers! We will bet anything that you never saw anything like THAT. in the capitalist press of the United States! At the day-of its date, the Associated Press, as quoted in the first part of this article, was saying that the American Consul General Cunningham was , “express- ing indignation” at the Japanese! But, in the Japanese papers, there was this gentleman asking Japan to! send more troops, “a force many times the size” already at Shanghai! Who Is Lying—One or Both? And this decision “was announced | to the foreign press correspondents!” Why is the American capitalist press silent on this grave matter? What does Secretary Stimson have to say about this seeming double dealing of! Consul Gen. Cunnnigham at Shang-| hai? Does this explain why Stimson troops? Workers, there are many more ex- of America and Japan are telling dif- ferent stories to the'masses! Do not think that the American capitalist press is telling the truth and that all the lying is done by the press of} Both the Hoover government and the American press only a few months ago, after Hoover had declared a fin- ancial and trade boycott against the Soviet Union, declared that such a boycott did not mean “an unfriendly act” toward the Soviet Union! But now, out comes both the State de- partment and the capitalist press de- claring’ that the American govern- ment by no means must boycott Jap- an, as that would be “an unfriendly act, leading to war!” These examples, workers, should teach you to read the capitalist papers with suspicion. And to rely solely upon the Communist press, whose leading organ in the country is the Daily Worker, for information and guidance! The war makers are lying ————— Recent Mine Wage Cuts and Local Strikes BY LABOR RESEARCH ASSN. ;IVE Missouri mines were on strike in Deceme ber against wage-cuts reducing the day rate from $5 to $3.60. In the Henryetta, Okla. strike, the State Board of Arbitratign and Conciliation recom- mended that the wage-cut be accepted for the remainder of the present season, but that the task system, requiring output of 8 tons a day, be abolished. Pittsburgh Terminal Coal Co, declared on dan. 11 a cut of 22 per cent at its Horning mine, pulling tonnage rate down from 45 cents to 35 cents. This’ cut had been put over at Avella mine and is now threatened for all the com- pany's operations. ‘The company has been operating under an agreement with the U.M.W.A. and Fagan, presle dent of District 5, was ready to negotiate a cut to bring the company into line with the lower union scale in the Fairmont field. But about 400 work- ers at the Horning mine struck in spite of Fagan and partly under the guidance of the National Miners’ Union. The Horning cut was threatened some weeks ago, but was withdrawn because of the strength of N..M. U. supporters among-the workers. These mines are now operating only one and two days a week. A wage-cut of 5 per cent at the Garret mine (Standard Elkhorn Coal Co., Floyd County, Kentucky) was prevented by a determined, well- planned local strike. U. M. W. A. miners at the three largest minet near Ottumwa, Iowa, went on strike in Decem- ber against a 20 per cent wage-cut. This fact, reported in the Federated Press, is not men- tioned in the rosy review of the Towa district for 1931 in the U. M. W. Journal, Outcome of the strike is not reported. a Some 150 miners in the Hocking Valley, Ohio, struck early in January against the Salem Hol- low Coal Co., which was putting over an in- direct wage-cut through stiffening the enforce- ment of penalties for “dirty coal.” ‘The broadest wage-cut recently reported has been put over by all the companies in the New River Coal Operators’ Association and the Wind- ing Gulf Operators’ Association (southern West” Virginia). This cut affected about 15,000 miners, but no organized resistance has been reported. According to Coal Age, the cut brings the stand- ard day rates down as follows: Machine run- ners, from $5.45 to $4.64; helpers from $4.70 to $4; motormen from $4.68 to $4.16, and brakemen from $4.10 to $3.84. Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation, leading operator in Nova Scotia, demanded a cut rang- ing from 10 per cent to 33 per cent when pres- ent U.M.W.A. agreement expired on Jan, 31. Ne< gotiations with international U.M.W.A. officials are in progress and present rate is continued until March 1. Textile Bosses Call for More Speed-Up By L. R. A. ‘The textile industry is being put “on a healthy basis,” says the American Wool and Cotton Reporter (Sept. 3), through’ the mass unem- ployment of the workers. This employers’ jour- nal points out, as indication of this trend, that “Ope well-known Massachusetts mill . . . has | quietly junked 56,000 spindles recently . . . One of the big corduroy mills shut down its carding and spinning rooms four years ago and has only been running the weaving and finishing. Another New England mill has recently junked about 20,000 mule spindles. Thousands of woolen looms have been shut down and will never be restarted.” A “healthy basis” for an industry under cap- italism means just this—waste, increasing in- security for the workers, and mass unemploy- ment. At the same time this employers’ organ advises more speed-up. “No milil can continue per- manently in business unless it is on the most efficient basis with the largest possible aumber of spindles per operative and looms per weaver. The stop watch must be used, waste motions must be obliterated and low wages costs achieved.” And the Textile World, likewise urging the speed-up, says, “It is unfortunate that the term ‘stretch-out’ with its implications of greater ef- fort on the part of the operative, has been ap- plied to a plan that is mere ‘labor speciali- zation.’” . Then it proceeds to instruct mill men on the art of applying the stretch-out. In one mill described weavers were increased from 24 to 60 looms. ‘There were of course a few of the operatives who were in opposition even after all our planning,” sald the boss. “However, their number was just about the number we had to drop under the specialization plan, so two dif- | ficulties were solved by letting them go.” to you, and you must beware! paration will not solve the crisis for the cap- italists. They open up new and deeper phases of the credit crisis; greater misery for the great mass of workers.. The basic factors, the con- tinued drop in production, especially in the basic industries, which further involves the question of large scale bankruptcies among some of the most powerful industrial concerns, point to a longer continuation of the crisis, with every effort of the capitalists directed to unload still greater burneds on the workers, The actions of Congress during the present crisis, especially in the present stage of the severe financial crisis, more clearly than ever before show the fusion of finance capital and the capitalist state, Every measure helping the big capitalists in their attempts to increase their profits and save their tottering financial struc- ture was put through with precision and with a minimum of “opposition.” This was true of the comes. The big bourgeoisie will be exempted. Again in this way the capitalists seek to trans- fer greater burdens on the backs of the workers. One of the special schemes evolved by the Hoover government to swindle the workers is the so-called “baby bond” issue. To push the so-called campaign against “hoarding,” which in reality is a campaign to save the tottering banks at the expense of the workers and the petty- bourgeoisie who may still have a few dollars left, the imperialists have organized an anti-hoard- ing organization, using all the war methods of propaganda to get the masses to turn back their few hard-earned dollars in order to help the scheme of inflation. The big bourgeoisie who ‘ nen nnn nnn en Da hoard money, hoard it in gold, not in the al- ready inflated currency. Less and less gold cer= tificates are being issued, and, as one of the bourgeois economists puts it: “We see more green money and less of those beautiful yellow bills.” “Baby Bond” Idea. ‘The idea of the “baby bond” is that the gov- ernment issues government bonds in small denominations of from $50 to $500, for periods of up to one year. ‘The workers or petty- bourgeoisie are supposed to buy these bonds, and the government is supposed to turn the money which 1s to come from “hoarding” back into the banks. Instead of the paper money, the workers or petty-bourgeoisis are supposed to . get other paper in the form of baby bonds; and the banks can again use the baby bonds to is- sue still more money, The main significance in this process is the fact that the government be- comes more openly the direct agent of the lead- ing bankers, actually taking the leading part in the swindling scheme of enticing the few hard- earned dollars out of the workers under the guise of “government bonds,” and turning this money directly back to the bankers, who, of course, make a good profit out ofthe transac- tion and are able to cover up thelr bankrupt position for a while. Tt is clear that all of these measures-of -des- ° are Finance {.2construction Corporation, with its “dole” of $2,000,000,000 to the leading railroads— a fund that is already being parceled out; it ts shown in the passage of the Glass-Steagal Bill; it is expressed in the extremely mild criticism of the Hoover regime; it is shown by the secret and continuous White House conferences be- tween the leading lights of the Republican and Democratic Congressmen and Senators and the representatives of the big banks which formus late the leading measures, finally pas‘ed ale most unanimously by the House and Senate; and it is shown most particularly by the clock-like Setar toc ibe raliet Orr Gerace washy, for the relief of the unemployed posite fon “