The Daily Worker Newspaper, August 16, 1933, Page 3

<1 CRE pata casa tela Dressmakers Demand United Strike to Smash Sweat Shops General Strike Segins| At 10 a. m. Today By CARL PRICE The general strike of New York City’s dressmakers, beginning this morning at 10 o’clock at the call of the Needle Trades Workers’ Indus- trial Union, is aimed, against the ™ost miserable, sweatshop conditions and starvation wages. The 60,000 dressmakers of the Metropolitan New York area, scattered throughout Many hundreds of shops, have suf- fered continuously worsened condi- ‘ions since the betrayal of their Feb- Tuary, 1932, strike by the officials of the LL.G.W.U. Today, in spite of the short sea- #on in the dressmakers’ trade, the operators, who form ‘the most nu- merous craft in the trade, average only $12 to $20 a week during the Season. The dressmakers’ busy sea- son lasts no more than 6—8 weeks. The finishers, mostly girls, make as low as $5 a week up to $12 a week. It is exceptional for a finisher to make $15. ..The pressers on the ay- erage get $3 or $4 a day. The floor girls and shipping boys, the trades where the young workers are sweated, get $6 to $8 a week. -These are the wages in the garment center in New York City. In the outlying sections Wages are unbelievably lower, with workers getting in many cases $2 and $3 a week. The trade is unorganized. ‘The piece work system is in effect in all shops. Negro workers get lower wages. The contracting sys- tem, one of the worst evils in the industry, is used by the thanufaciur- ers and jobbers to divide the work- ers up into smaller producing units, which increases the Competition be- tween one group of workéts and an- other. At the present time, the dressmak- ers are working at less wages than is in the blanket code of, minimum wages of the N. R. A, ‘The dressmakers, this morning, in laying down their tools and stretch- ing their picket lines, are putting into effect the slogans “ONE UNITED FRONT AGAINST THE BOSSES’— “ONE UNITED GENERAL STRIKE ‘TO WIPE OUT THE SWEATSHOP CONDITIONS,” The final prepara- tions for the struggle have shown how the battle lines will be drawn, The strike against the sweatshop conditions and starvation wages, launched and led by the Needle ‘Trade Workers’ Industrial Union, de- mands that “The sweatshop condi- tions must go, We must and will stop hunger wages. The jobbers and manufacturers must feél our organ- ized power.” The I.L.G.W.U. has al- ready made efforts to break the unity of the workers and make the general strike impotent. In doing this they have pushed their “honest face” Charles Zimmerman, manager of Local 22, L.L.G.W.U., to the front, feeling that he is less discredited in the eyes of the workers than Dubin- sky. Zimmerman repeatedly refused to consider the proposals of the Needie Trades Workers’ Industrial Union that one unified general strike of all the dressmakers shall be car- tied on. The N.T.W.LU. proposed that representatives from all dress shops, whether the workers belong to the ILG.WU. or the N.T.WIU. be called together and the workers de- ¢ide on the proposals for one union and one strike. Zimmerman again branded himself as a splitter by re- jecting this proposal, Instead Zim- merman told the workers to join the ILG.W.U., and thus tried to put them at the mercy of the union of As late as August 12 the NTWIU addressed a letter to Zimmerman which stated, “Our members have no quarrel with the membefs of the In- ternational. The dressmakers who will respond to our call (the general strike call) will have no quarrels with those who will respond to your call, Both are oppressed and exploited. by the same dress bosses. We will there- fore encourage and urge them to unite on the picket line, to present one solid front against the bosses and to fight shoulder to shoulder until they really. compel the dress bosses to listen to our demands.” ‘The leadership of the ILGWU praises the National Recovery (Slav- ery) Act enthusiastically. It is not accidental that the NRA hearing on sty a pERESS2 eg i re E i i i i uate if e e i, SEEEEE | aL “ g a 4 : t i ? g Ey 5 : Hey SEaE i i } ie SBE ie a ! a DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 16, 1933 SS ‘Failure to Hire N.M.U. WASHINGTON, Aug. 14.—Pres- ident Roosevelt who personally di- rected the breaking of the Penns vania coal strike has stepped into the code maneuvers for ihe soft coal fields, After the hearings, in which the National Miners Union, through its secretary, Frank Borich, a: other delegates, blasted the coal operators’ starvation code and the strike break- ing activities of John L. Lewis and Co., presenting a code for a better. ment of the conditions of the miners, with the right to organize and strike, NRA officials have been making gloomy forecasts. about the situa- tion in the coal fields. One NRA administrator said: “The coal situation is as dangerous as dynamite, and holds grave potential- ities.” Floods of complaints are coming into Washington from the miners who find that the promises of Roose- velt turned out to be a lot of hooey when they got back to the pits. The main grievance is that the miners are not being permitted to elect their own checkweighmen, as Roosevelt promised. In West Virginia and Pennsylvania miners are being evict- ed from company houses for refus- ing to comply with the companies’ demands: The National Miners Union dele- ates who took part in the hearings, ave issued the following statement showing the miners what they can expect from the coal hearings, and what the coal hearings actually showed up: “The hearings on the bituminous coal mining code, lasting four days, ended without any agreement being reached on the wages, organization or any other problem facing the mining industry. “There is not even a prospect that Map United Fight On NRA At Meeting in Philadelphia, Pa. 500 Hear Hathaway Speak on What NRA Means to ‘All Workers PHILADELPHIA, Pa., Aug. 15.— Five hundred leaders and active members of workingelass organiza- tions here on Friday heard Clarence Hathaway, editor of the Daily Work- er, speak on the NRA and how it will effect the employed and unem- ployed. Hathaway particularly dealt on the necessity of the workers organizing to fight against it. A plan of action was unanimously adopted by the meeting for a broad campaign against the NRA. The or- ganizations have pledged to mobilize their entire membership in this cam- paign to organize the workers in the shops and factories, and to especially help in the points of concentration— Kensington, textile center; the Phil- adelphia waterfront; and Budd’s au- tomobile factory. re As the beginning of this campaign, a city-wide Tag Day will take place on Saturday and Sunday, August 26 and 27, to collect funds and at the same time carry thru a general agit- ation against the NRA. The organi- zations are being mobilized to come out 100 per cent. Hand in hand the campaign against the NRA wil? go the build- ing of militant trade unions of the workers and the Trade Union Unity League. A broad committee of 25 was elec- ted at the meeting which will handle the details of the campaign, to be called the Anti-Nira Campaign Com- mittee, with headquarters at 1225 Germantown Avenue. 'To keep up a six-page “Daily Work- er,” the circulation must be doubled. Do your share by getting new sub- seribers. Don't forget t fense Excursion, “All day on the Hudson,” on September Srd, Be there with all your friends? Roosevelt Takes Hand in Drawing Up Coal Slave Code | having an agreement with the P.M.A. apy agreement wii be reached. In fact, it seems that the hearings have widened and sharpened all the con- within the industry itself as as with the competing indus- s such as gas, electricity, oil, etc. “Twenty-three codes were presont- |“ ed by various coal operators associa-| .. The National Miners Union mted its own code whic the only code representing tt interests of the miners. U.M.W.A. Code “The next highest w contained in the code jointly by the UMWA, and the oper- ators having agreements with them. This code makes no other provision | for the miners and in reality cuts | their wages in view of the rising co: | midat terrible ‘conditions: of standard of living. The Progres- sive Miners of America presented similar code to. that of the UMWA, being supported by the operators “All the other codes, particularly one submitted by the largest group of operators, representing about 70 per cent of coal production, demand low wages, company union, long hours of labor, etc. “The coal operators dealing with the UMWA praised the UMWA offi- cials to high heaven for their co- operation and insisted on one general code for the entire industry, de- manding recognition of the UMWA. A woman, operating 6 mines in Colo- rado, stated that her mines were saved from bankruptcy due only to the wonderful cooperation of the U. M.W.A. officials. She substantiated these statements by actual figures, proving the intensified rationaliza- tion, reduced cost of production, etc. “The U.M.W.A. and the P.M.A. leaders made repeated pledges to support the NRA in every respect. The only difference existing between these leaders was as to who will col- lect the miners dues. “The NRA was very careful in per-' mitting the National Miners Union to appear on the platform. “First, despite the earlier request of the N.M.U. to participate in the hearings, the representatives of the N.M.U. were not put on the speakers list. Only after determined fight were they put on the list. Second, the N.M.U. representatives were re- quired to turn in their statements to the NRA counsel, Mr. Richberg, so that he could examine them. Third, the N.M.U. representatives were kept from the platform until the very end. ‘The very last two speakers were F. Borich and Agnes Snear, represent- ing the N.M.U. “The coal operators, the U.M.W.A. and P.M.A. leaders and the entire administration listened with their mouths wide open to the arguments of the N.M.U, representatives. Put To August 22 “Due to the fact that the coal op- erators were not able to reach any agreement, the admin‘stvaton journed the hearings until August 22 when the administration will avtempu to present a code “agreeable” to all. “In the course of the hearings the severe crisis in the coal industry was revealed clearer than ever before. “A professor presented the figures revealing that in 1923, 9,530 mines were in operation, employing 780,- 000 miners, while in 1932 enly 3,940 mines were in operation, employ- ing 346,000 miners, all on part time basis, with the mines operating on- ly 146 days in the year. He also pointed out that if the operating mines would go on 30-hour weekly basis, with the demand for coal as it is now, the mines would be able to employ only 385,000. “Hearings like this will not solve the problems of the miners. In fact they are not being held to discuss the problems of the miners. They are being held to discuss the prob- lems of the operators. The prob- Jems of the miners can be solved only by the miners themselves. The miners of western and central Penn- sylvania, who attempted to solve their problems by coming~ out on strike, and who were later betrayed and driven back to work without winning a single demand, will un- derstand this and will once more, to- gether with the rest of the miners, undertake to solve their own prob- Stephen Graha Denial of Vita-Bran NEW YORK, Aug. 15—Two days tive of the f: ing that no knows that fact that S: before he was killed, had written a loafiet expos and denouncing the speed-up in the factory. We r from this leaf- v ‘ker whose death y the conditions which re he was kill wrote: of Vita-Bran Corp., work under the We must punch our time cards for changing cur cloth and unless we are on our jobs 5 to 10 minutes before 8 a. m., the boss gives us a mean look and sometimes gives us hell. Even is not increased. We work from 8 a. m. to 5:45 p, m., and in some cases until 7, 8 and often as late as 10 p. m, When we start working, we ive two aprons, which we wash curselves. Besides, we pay 15¢ for white caps. “Working on the conveyors in the hot and cold rooms, ovens and pack- ing, our hands and clothes get very sticky—and to top it all, we have to work in very stuffy rooms with the Speed-Up Which Killed Him Leaflet of Electrocuted Worker Does Not Exist ago, exhausted by specd-up, Stephen | ham, 24, member of the Communist Party and the Food Workers In- killed by an electric shock while cleening a machine poration, 341 Tiffany Avenue, Bronx. elf,|one ef the hot-room girls had her though we work extra time, our pay |‘ m Exposed Refutes Head That Speed-up hone call from an execu- Yet, no windows or doors are per- mitted to be opsned—because the boss claims that the fresh air spoils the biscuits—which is a lot of poppy cock. Bue to the sp2ed-up system, dress rippod off by the conveyer. With all these rotten conditions, we get only $7.00 per week. Girls get 14c en hour and men 5c an hour —ani there are some youngsters working for $6.00 a week. We are supposed to receive a 10 per cent monthly bonus, “Every shop and factory has its minute men and stool pigeons, In our factory, one of the self-appointed stool pigeons is Harry Shy. “Some of us, not being able to bear speed-up, long hours and low wages | longer, and hearing and reading much about the National Recoy- ery Code and their minimum wage of $14 a week for 40 hours a week, final- ly went to see Mr, Leon on Tuesday, August 1 and him to enforce the code. Mr. Leon gave us a sob story and told us that the door was always open for us to leave.” ieee eee The funeral of Stephen Graham was postponed from yesterday to today. It will be held teday at the Workers Jugo-Slay Hail, 108 West temperature from 90 degrees upward. 24th St., N. ¥. City, at 2 o'clock. Discussed Arbitration (“Daily” Correspendent Rich Farmers Broke New York Milk Strike Fought Against State Police and Troopers | on New York State 1 Roads | By DAN LOWELL. ROCHESTER, N. ¥.—The milk strike in N, Y. State has been sold out, Albert Woodhead, who was given leadership in the strike by the capitalist | press and who betrayed the strike last spring has betrayed the farmers | needed for city relie again. Woodhead called off the strike immediately after Lehman's radio | While Small Farmers in the Milk Strike.) speech in which he promised the® farmers a hearing, although the hear- ings of the Milk Control Board have always resulted in aid to the deal- ers, The leaders of the various county organizations have weakened and called a.“truce”, although they know that a truce means defeat. The pickets, the poor farmers and farm workers who led the strike in the day to day struggle are left in ar impossible position and are being forced to give in. But Wcodhead would not have been able to betray the strike, nor would the leaders have weakened if the farmers had been organized prop- erly; if the erganization and con- ducting of the strike had been in the hands of the poor and small farmers. In every case, the strike was sabo- taged in its last days by the middle farmers, those with quite large farms. In Montgomery county, for in- stance, where the strike had been most successfully carried on, the Pickets, tiring aftcr the two we2ks hard work keeping milk from the plants, called for aid from the mid- dle farmer’ ‘whose manner of strik- ing was to hold their milk at home and let the poor farmers picket and fight off the troopers. The pickets called on these farmers to do actual strike duty, but got no help. In- stead, the middle farmers were the first to start tatking of a truce, the first to raise the slogan: if the small dealers ‘will give 4% cents a quart, the big dealers will have to follow suit. This means a dropping of the demands for 45 percent of the retail price and no classifications. In Fulton county, the middle farm- ers successfully resisted the setting up of a county organization. What is true of Fulton and Mont- egcmery counties is true elsewhere in the strike atea. When Woodheed announced the end of the strike, the middle farmers rushed to the dealers with their milk. The leaders who weakened ae be- ginning to say that they made a Jems.” mistake in striking against the Milk Board and not against the dealers. This is true enough—but now the middle farmers are saying: ‘“‘We can- not strike against the state authority” | and they are ready to go once more | to the board and beg for a higher price. But the board has, in al! its orders, | tried not to touch the dealers’ profits. Whenever it gave the farmer a cent more, it gave the dealer two cents more. In January, the farmer got 87 cents a hundred Ibs, for 3% milk. The board raised this to $1.88 for 3.5% or $1.68 for 3% milk. But the beard raised the retail price for the same milk from $4.70 to $5.64. Th dealer thus got 13 cents more a bhnn- dred pounds than the farmer did. In addition, the farmer got this gain for only half his milk and the price the board gave for the total yolame of milk was less than half the cost of production. It is necessary to point out the connection that Roosevelt had in breaking the sirike—he conferred with Lehman on the proper tactics. The next time the small farmers and farm workers must have the leadership in their own hands, and not submit to any “truces”. Chicago Laundry Officials Exposed CHICAGO, Ill.—Union officials who have been indicted for racket- eering activities are being exposed} by the rank and file of the Laundry | Drivers Union Local 712 for the first time in the history of the Local. These gangsters take $100 to $200) a week for posing as labor leaders. | But at a meeting held recently the! workers kept hammering eway at them s9 persistently that these mis- | leaders begged for ancther chance | and faked a vote of confidence. Go to see every subseriber when his subscription expires to get his re- | Commissioner, Fra: Publicity Stunts of Whalen Prove “Recovery” Fraud Will Give “Jobs” 50.000 Firing Furnaces to per. floor walker and former club- ber of New York’s jobless, Grover Whalen, has begun an intense drive to advertise his new merchandise as chairman of the city NRA campaign committee. Whalen discovered that relief needs are declining and the number of jobs are on the rise. To prove’ his point he quotes the re- ports of Tammany’s Public Welfare J. Taylor. half unem- Of the million an ployed in New York C been placed on jobs according the report Whalen received from Taylor. To be exact 267 were given jobs in the last week in July, thru Taylor's department. The following week it rose to 324 and for Jast week the figures soared to 341. How rid- iculous these figures are is shown by the estimate made of the increased employment among the of- fice workers. He reports a 44 per cent rise in May over April and a 63 per cent increase the following month. But the actual number of people who have received jobs are not quoted. The floor walker is “decidedly optimistic.” He even expects that if it gets cold enougn between Sept. 15 and Oct. 15 then 50,000 will be given jobs to fire furnaces in Ne York buildings. But every one is aware that these jonps are usually done by the janitors and regular help employed in the buildings. Probably Whalen forgot to add the jobs which will be provided cleaning up discarded straw hats at the end of the summer. for relief have declined. He reports that in April they received 37,129 applications, in May 24,175, in June 13,827 and in July 11,000, But his figures come in conflict with the reports made by Harry L. Hopkins, Federal Relief administrator. Ac- cording to federal reports there has been an increase of 10 per cent in the number of families needing re- lief, while funds for relief have dropped 13.1 per cent. ‘lherefore there has been a drop in relief funds but actually the number of families needing aid have increased. Accord- ing to federal figures a minimum of $7,000,000 to tea a month is These advertising stunts may aid in creating a big bubble, but in so far as the unemployed are concerned even cold government figures show an increase in suffering among the jobless. ‘150 on Strike at Eagle Axle Co. in Cleveland, Ohio Call All Eaton Plants to Join to Win ‘Higher Wages CLEVELAND, Ohio, Aug. 14.—More than ‘150 workers, including those in the key departments of the spring 65th Street and Central Avenue, struck today. All signed up in the Steel and Metal Workers Industrial Union. The rest of the workers are expected out on strike by tonight. The plant employs four hundred. The demands of the strikers in- cludes a 50 per cent increase in piece work rates and 60 cents an hour for day laborers: Previcusly Piece. work pay was spread over two weeks, reducing the average pay to $2 or $3 a day and $10 the next day. The laborers were getiing 50 cents per hour. ‘The company claims to be apply- ing the code and Mr. Eaton is on the N. R. A. board. Following the lead in the coal strike, the company offitials are call- ig in the A. F. of L. leaders in order to break the str! nd smash the militanty of the strikers. are many Negro workers in the shop as well as skilled mechanics, former- ly belonging to the A. F. of L. The A. F. of L. officials helped the newal. borses break the strike in Murray, NEW YORK.—Wanamaker’s dav-| ther | According to Taylor, applications | and bumper division of the Eaton! | Axle Co., There | Men Causes | Mutual } Page Three Utah Strike [ine Had Agreement With NMU After | Last Strike Had Been Won; Second Strike in Week Under NMU Leadership HELPER, Utah.—Failure to employ members of the National Minen Unicn, resulted in a strike at the Mutual mines here. This is the seconé strike within a week, under the leadership of the N.M.U. | Tayler, general manager of the company, had declared in the written agreement that Mutual miners now unemployed would be given preference ‘10,000 Pack Shoe | Meet in Brockton; | Learn of Betrayal Lawyer Tells Workers | Who Want Strike to | | “Obey President” | BROCKTON, h | pouring of as was never seen in Brockton packed City The-| | atre on August 13. This monster| | mass meeting of 10,000 militant shoe workers called by the Brotherhood| of Shoe and Allied Crafts learned the} true character of their betray leaders. | The Brockton be- trayed and sold out by the Boot and Shoe Workers Shce Workers U! organized the Brotherhood and wit a fighting spirit were ready to strug-| | gle, to firstly throw over the Boot] | and Shoe and then to fight for bet- ter conditions in the factories, | The manufacturers who have kept| the Boot and Shoe Unicn alive, set| August 14, as the date in which shoe| workers must be paid up in their} Boot and Shoe Union dues or be| fired. But seeing the mass of work-| ers and fearing their militancy, man-| ufacturers sent word in thru Attor-| Shoe. And here the Brotherhcod leadership completely showed its true hypocritical colors. The wor! rned what it means to engage law y s leaders in a workers struggle. Attorneys Derosier and Goodwin (the latter a noted politician and fascist) after giving lip service to fighting phrases against the Booa patriotic harangue to support NIRA and “our” President Roosevelt. That the workers should wait and not act and no matter what the decision on the code for the shoe industry, the workers must accept it. This changed the workers from a cheering, shouting, fighting crowd to a surprised and betrayed meeting. Quickly the meeting was ad- journed. Culture Club Sends |Protest on New Deal i to President Roosevelt | DETROIT, Mich. — Protesting egainst the Recovery Act and the use of the Army to gas and club striking miners, the American Cul- tural Club sent a letter to President Roosevelt on Aug. 5, questioning the New Deal he has handed to Amer- ican workers. The letter further | against the refusal of the tration to hear the , Bates when the large : price of living necessities and cloth- \ing; against the forced dostruction ‘of the farmers’ crop, and against | Detroit manufacturers flying the | NRA eagle and firing workers every day. The letter demanded prompt | attention to these evils. ry protested dminis- y de’e- seep up a six-pare “Daily Work- the cir ‘on must be doubled. Bo your share by getting new sub- seribers, Ohio. | The Eaton Axle Co, is connected with the Cyrus Eaton Steel interests }and cther plants the city The Steel end N | Plants imn ly ta | question of joining this st: mulating their demands, and fight- ing against the rotten conditions which they suffer in common with the men now out on strike. “Socialist” Patent Medicine Scheme of Barter and Exchange Collapses Hailed by Hoan and Company As Aid to Jobless It Actually Helped to Cut Wages By H. YARIS. The other day, tucked away in the columns of one of the Milwaukee papers, was printed a notice about the collapse of the Barter and Ex- change organization. Without much ado it has passed away, unnoticed, unmourned. Yet only a short time ago this was on the lips of everyone in this city, Some five or six- months ago, the entire press in the city of Milwaukee loudly heralded a new panacea for lly 18 unemployment so wide- 8) ere. This remedy, call the Barter and Exchange Plan—a ene patent medicine remedy for all that ails us—-promised to open the factories, solve unemploy- ment and give jobs to all. For weeks and even months, the newspapers were filled, actually pa; full every day, with the merit of this scheme, | labo: urging the pasa over 150,000 of whom in Milwaukee county were ay the Bai sts, to Pid gen sha self-res; y joining the organiza- tion formed to advance this Elan, The plan even received semi-offi- cial recognition and status from the city and the county. The city coun- cil voted $500 as a donation to fur- ther the work of this Plan and al- lotted a Social Hall for its own use —all unemployed, not connected with the Barter and Exchange organiza- tion, being denied the use of this Hall. By a decree of the police de- partment, hard boiled cops were transformed into docile mail carriers and messenger boys for the organ- ization. But by far, the most enthusiastic in inSeeee this plan were the Socialists and the Socialist Party in the city of Milwaukee. Hoan’s Committee Mayor Dan Hoan, himself, spon- sored the first plan for such an or- ganization when he appointed a com- mittee, consisting of three leading led | Socialists, Cotton, ex-Sheriff Benson, and George Hampel, to work it out in all details together with him, In order to give it the appearance of a real scientific and well thought out work, the pseudo-liberal profes- sor Cotton was placed as chairman of this committee. For months they red—their entire activity shroud- ed fe veil of sayststy and then one day they disclosed their plan, The plan itself, the product of such hard toil, was no different in its essentials from the “self-help” schemes which had best through many Western and Midwest cities. In fact, it was based upon the Min- neapolis Organized pnaiplbye scheme of Rev. Dr. Mecklenburg. But since it was a product of “Social- ism” (Milwaukee brand) it had to be given an entirely different face— with a smear of radical and even ) working class paint. Ragtar sock Exctange sone a an inge proposal make it acceptable to the mass of unemployed they dressed it up and paraded it as Socialism. The pre- amble of the Peoples Production and Exchange League, organized by Hoan and his Socialist committee, stated that. the league intends to pro- vide for: “a peaceful transition from the competitive system of economic management to the cooperative system—(now read the real pur- pose)—in order to render unneces- ast ,2 Violent revolution in the The League set for itself the task of replacing the present social sys- tem. Quite an ambitious task! The S. P. leaders went at their job with a vim. and vigor seldom seen from them in these parts. Loudest of all, as usual, was the former so- cialist sheriff of Milwaukee, Al (riot gun) Benson, (who claims he bought the machine guns while in office to protect the people from burglars and the workers from themselves). For the unemployed, they opened up the vistas of Socialism in our time, the possibilities of a full life, etc., ete., if only they joined in this “self-help” scheme, (at $5 a join). They would not be satisfied any longer with the miserable hand-outs of the relief system (handed out by Glassberg, a Socialist), with the commissary relief, with the st le for a little more food to eat. No, nothing short of the factories would satisfy the temerous Benson. “Let the Communists fight for bread and butter—hi 'o | factories.” however, was never made quite clear to the workers. The preeent of the organization showed what was really meant by this: ask take away their factories. out? a sort o: variety of Socialism and a_pan- handling Some the ory themselves out to do a job, paint- ing carpentering, etc., that they re- ceived work goods, dried and withered vegetables, or second-hand clothes and furni- ture, panhandled in a city-wide house to house campaign, for their labor, were forced to com- pete with labor supplied free of charge or for any surplus and aged stock the boss was willi give away, a job, a worker would find that the e ranted—we will take the Ambitious Plan Fifty thousand workers were to be organized for this purpose. Just how the factories were to be “taken” “efforts will be made to put the plan in operation by acquiring per- mission to use idle factories and transportation equipment, princi- pally trucks.” vied Benson meant only to the manufacturers for leave to How did this plan actually work In practice, we see it ome “second-handed goods” scheme par excellence. rkers, fooled into joining nization, found after hiring io pay. In return for their ey received some canned Lowering Wage Standard _ Employed workers, getting paid dam- ng. to Often after finishing co Unemployed Councils Exposed Fraud and Led Struggles for Immediate Relief store established by the Barter and Exchange would refuse to honor the scrip with which he had been paid, and would demand cash for goods sold. The Socialism promised evi- dently was not panning out so well. ‘What about the factories which were to be taken over? Alas and alack, after a detailed study we can find that the only thing taken over was a tumbled down shack used for a garage and a beauty parlor which agreed to give manicures and facials to the unemployed in return for the scrip, Evi sro the big plants in Milwaukee, Cudahy Packing, Allis Chalmers, A. O. Smith, didn’t want Socialism, and didn’t agree to be taken over. The basic purpose behind the en- tire scheme was to reduce the share of the relief burden paid for by the bourgeoisie and to throw upon the shoulders of the unemployed the re- sponsibility for taking care of them- selves. It was nothing but a con- spiracy against the unemployed to take them off the relief lists. Jo- seph Brauer, President of Mayor Hoan’s Barter and Exchange organ- ization stated: “We will cooperate with Ben- jamin Glassberg of the relief de- partment regarding taking some members off relief. credit of the Milwaukee unemp that they saw through the scheme, and very few of them joined up. The Unemployed Councils on their part carried on a very good campaign of exposure and thus help- ed to prevent the spread of this or- ganiz: in. After a short life, it has now breathed its last. Discredited among the workers, faced with many a law suit by workers demanding some- thing in return for the scrip issued to them for their work, its officers fined by the District Court for its illegal practices, the Barter and Ex- change organization is now in a state of complete collapse. The tens of thousands who were supposed to have joined, by their own admission actually totalled only 150, the stock of their very imposing stores, con- sist solely of remnants which no one can use or wants. Thus do the very highly vaunted schemes of the Milwaukee brand o’ Socialism crash one by one. The workers in Milwaukee, still live un- der a system which is very much capitalist, their conditions steadily getting worse. Today, however, in the columns of the Milwaukee Lead- er, the Blue Eagle has replaced the Barter and Exchange as the road to It must, however, be said to the Socialism, One fraud follows an- a ney Derosier of the Brotherhood that no one would be fire; 1éth | for not paying dues and and Shoe officials concluded with 2| {| that with the boss, so I was not in future employment. The com- pany, however, brought in five non- union men from the outside for work while dozens of miners in camp re- mained without work. This evidently was the beginning of a move to re- place members of the National Miners’ Union The mine is comp:etely shut down, with hundreds of members of the M. U. and the Women’s Auxiliary, n the picket lines. Preparations are made to raise relief and carry strike as long as may be on nec Another strike under the leader- ips of the National Miners’ Union been declared at the Peacock mine, where the company has also violated agreement with the miners following a recent strike vic- tory there. The company refused to pay the wage scale agreed upon and | also refused to establish weight on cars and pay for dead work as pro- vided in the agreement. Among the demands won at Mu- tual as a result of the strike last week were recognition of the Na- tional Miners’ Union Committee, regular pay days, right of miners to elect pay for drivers by the: ci any, reinstatement of dis- charged miners and a checkweigh- man elected by the miners, The Mutual miners have just been paid in full for the month of July—the first regular pay-day in two years, ‘Lumber Workers _ Win Higher Pay _ Through Striking |42 State Police Try to Break Strike; ILD Defends Arrested | _ABERDEEN, Wash. (By Mail).— | The bitterly fought strike in the | Grays Harbor Logging camps and mills ended today (August 7). A mass meeting of strikers in Workers Hall decided to accept gains granted them and go back to work. | Some of the mills are now on the six hour basis and the minimum | wages in the camps have been forced | from 25 cents an hour to 42% cents, | Bushel workers get 9 cents more a | bushel in the same camps. Eight pickets had been arrested. | About 150 workers drove from Aber- deen to Montesano, 11 miles away | to atiend the trial. They were de- fended by Irving Goodman, of the | International Labor Defense, who | showed that the men were attacked by the state police. All the defendants were old resi- dents of Grays Harbor county. Good- | man bitterly assailed the 42 mem- nf the state police who tried to ike. “You cannot stop ent by convicting Goodman told the half, they acquitted three ctrikers, and convicted three. for the Privilege - of Working, Says AFL By a Marine Worker Correspondent NEW YORK.—I have been here en the Atlantic Coast for about three months, When I was in Phil- adelphia, I went up to see the sec- retary of Local No. 1291 of the In- ternational Longshoremen’s Associa- | tion, to see if I could go to work cn the waterfront there. | Although, I did not get any en- from the secretary to know if they | were hiring any winch divers. know that Luckenbach is the only steamship company on this coast that uses one man for driving the gear (one man to two winches) thought I might get @ job, know there are ships coming in the West Coast once in # that need a@ friction winch (steam schcooners and the I landed myself a job Luckenbach line but egates saw that I had there, they were down when the next ship came who went to work. It be the ship I was told work on. It was payday They made a grand rush know if I was lined up in Naturally I said I was was sure I would be git a At least I wanted to be called work on the ships when in port. I said I had a card from the ILA, Seattle, and I thought that I would ognized according to the rules the A. F. of L. to transfer from local to another, if the local willing to take me in, I told him I had left my and papers out on the West Coast and would send for them if I was sure of work. » / Feat? 5 ayy ae, fie 4g ety ¥ & a. faint Uy $a hia first time I drew. not like it a bit when he wouldn't let me have a chance to work @ or two till I could get on my but wanted it right away. I gave him an argument on these grounds but I found he had the whip hand over me. He sure fixed ) | picked for that ship. This proved to me that there something wrong with ‘the A. F, L, if they could use the union way they find fit. They tolé they could give me a job, but I get one they can pull me off, Some of the members paid $25, $10, $5, anything, the