The Daily Worker Newspaper, September 13, 1933, Page 1

Subscribers Should Be Visited | by Specially Selected Workers | | to See If Their Service Is | | Satisfactory ! | "Vol. X, No. 220 -* ‘Bntered as second-class matter at the Post Office at Wew York, N. Y., under the Act of March &, 1879, ‘(Section of the Communist International) > | merica’s Only Working | Class Daily Newspaper Saeittt ~ Be: WEATHER: Eastern New York: Fair Wednesday NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1933 pe Jee 5 (Six Pages) Price 3 NEW STRIKE WAVE BREAKS OUT IN MANY COAL FIELDS : Some Questions, Mr. Green fats lintristien PR ei haredahyamedh tapi Rap Mba yr sndons 9 NRA, the American Federation of Labor officials, headed by William Green, are preparing to justify all of their anti-labor policies at the A. F. of L. convention, which is to take place in Washington October 2. Green speaks now about “facing another winter of severe unem- ployment.” He talks about a “shorter work week.” He speaks about “new high wage levels” and an “end of differentials between North and South.” Lastly he brings up his action im permitting the opeti shop for the auto code, The stage is being set to keep back criticism before and at the Wash- ington convention, to wave the flag of the Blue Eagte, to drown all op- position by the greatly strengthened steam-roller of Green, Lewis & Co. * * * fr ‘THIS situation the rank and file of the A. F. of L., especially all opposition groups, have an important task. In every A. F. of L. local and in the convention itself, the opposition groups should ask Mr. Green and Mr. Lewis some vital questions. Chief among these are: Mr. Green, you promised that the NRA would do away with unem- ployment, and you were one of Roosevelt’s chief instruments in fighting against unemployment insurance. How do you stand on unemployment insurance, to be paid for by the federal government and the bosses? Why did you underwrite the open shop code for the auto industry, knowing it would be used in all codes? When you speak about “collective bargaining,” why was the na- tional arbitration board set up to break strikes? If workers are supposed to have the right to belong to unions of their own choosing, why under the NRA has martial law been declared in Utah and New Mexico, where the miners are striking for the right to belong to the National Miners Union? Why are Negro workers being discriminated against more than ever under the NRA? How does it; come about that the NRA is being used everywhere by the bosses to declare picketing and striking illegal? Isn't it a fact that the United States Steel Corporation declared that the NRA and the steel code make jt compulsory that they slash wages 33 per cent? What has become of the promise to employ 6,000,000 workers by La- bor Day? Why has the public. works program of the NRA been used mainly for preparing for war, with the largest portion thus far spent, $238,000,000, going for warship construction? : Isn’t it true, Mr. Green, as shown by all practices and action under the NRA, that the act you support is a strikebreaking, wage-slashing act, designed to lower the standards of living of the American workers, so that capitalism can attempt to drag itself out of the crisis? * * * GAINST Green's attempis io bury the demand for unemployment in- surance by continuing his foursyear promise of “recovery,” the fight should be made for a united struggle of employed and. unemployed to force uhemployment insurance. Against the strikebreaking policy of the A. F. of L. officials, all op- position grou all rank and file members of the A. F. of L., should de- mand a struggle for workers’ rights, for the right to picket and strike, a struggle for higher wages, for shorter hours. American Federation of Labor members, and opposition groups, with- out waiting for these leaders to act, should themselves take steps to prepere the struggle for improved conditions. Serving New Readers of ‘Daily’ HE publication of the Daily Worker in six pages has won hundreds of new readers for the paper. It has also made many workers anxious to become readers. But when these workers ask for the “Daily” on news- stands they are very often disappointed, because there are still many stands which do not carry our paper. There is a remedy—but only the workers themselves can bring about a chance. You, the Daily Worker’s readers, should always be on the alert in boosting your paper's sales. Continue to report such news-stands to the “Daily,” so that we can supply them with papers. But at the same time place your own orders, and those of your friends and fellow-workers, with the news-dealers in your locality. Many dealers refuse to carry, or to increase their orders of the Daily Worker, because they are not ceriain that the papers will be sold. It is up to you to convince them that they will be sold by placing definite advance orders for yourself and your friends. “Due Attention” INABLE to evaae the crushing indictment of Tammany officials in the Daily Worker’s expose of the murder of James Matthews, a North Carolina Negro, on Welfare Island, the Homicide Bureau on Monday informed the “Daily” that it would “at once begin a thorough investi- gation.” ‘The letter received yesterday by Clarence Hathaway, Editor of the “Daily,” from the District Attorney’s office, casts grave doubt on the in- vestigation promised verbally by the Homicide Bureau. “Acknowledgement is made of your letter dated the 9th relative to James Matthews, stated to have died in October, 1932, at Welfare Island. “The matter will receive due attention. (Signed) Albert Blogg Unger Acting District Attorney.” We address the following question to Mr. Unger’s superior, Tammany District Attorney Crain: 1, Will you really investigate or do you only “promise” to inves- tigate? 2. Will you continue to permit the suppression of public documents which prove conclusively that James Matthews was brutally murdered on Welfare Island? 3. What steps are you taking to arrest the killers of James Mat- thews? . ’ al . HAT, incidentally, has been the reaction of the metropolitan Press to the startling story of the Welfare Island murder published in the Daily Worker? Hearst’s New York Journal, the New York Evening Post and the Scripps-Howard World-Telegram have published a few lines each recording the announcement of the “investigation” promised by the Homicide Bureau, The New York Times and Herald-Tribune maintained stout silence, Contrast this with the orgies of publicity indulged in by the New York capitalist press regarding the activities of what appears to be a highly-mythical “wild Negro” in Central Park last week. The World- Telegram, that ostentatious champion of “liberalism” and “human rights,” vied with the rest of the press in splashing over its pages the lurid stories released by the Police Department about this “gorilla-man with hands hanging down to his knees’—all this calculated to create a lynch spirit, Southern style. Each day sees the metropolitan press filled with police-inspired stories about Negroes “attacking” white women. For lynch-incitements, the New York capitalist press has unlimited space; for reports of cold-blooded murder of Negroes it confines itself to a few inches or, more often, com- Rete si lenan . -& HULL SAYS PLATT PACT MUST STAND iU. S. Envoy Ready to Use Officers to Smash Revolt HAVANA, Sept. 12.—With | 30 U.S. warships at his instant disposal by direct radio con- nection, U. S. Ambassador Sumner Welles is “unofficial- ly” maneuvering both with the administration of Presi- dent Grau ‘San Martin, and with the 300 deposed Cuban army | officers who form the spearhead of the most reactionary forces of tHe Cuban capitalist-landlord elements. While a new Cabinet was inau- Earl Browder will speak on the ter, Woodland and E. 46th St., Cleve- land, on Thursday evening, Sept. 14. gurated today, the 300 heavily armed officers remained in continuous ses- | sion in the National Hotel, which all the hotel workers have left, going jout on strike. A detachment of armed soldiers stands guard outside. With a radio installed on the roof, | the officers broadcast constant ap- | peals for support of a restoration of | President de Cespedes. Welles, who had remained in the hotel which the officers took over, |moved to another hotel S | He is still waiting to see if the San Martin regime, with its demagogic | anti-imperialist statements, can com- | mand enough support to head off the revolutionary movement. At the |same time the officers, who claim the support of a large right-wing section of the ABC capitalist-land- lord secret society, and of a minority of the army, remain a reserve to carry through an armed dictatorship jit the present regime is not success- ful in its aims, This possible new development could only be carried out with the aid of U. S. marines. | Meanwhile, Havana remains with- out ice or laundry, as the workers in these industries have struck, and the Consolidated Railways faced a strike of railway workers tomorrow, having refused their demands. Word came from Santiago, through what was called a heavy censorship, that the American residents had | evacuated the town and concentrated ; at Rente, across the bay from San- | tiago. / Incomplete reports of actions by | workers in all parts of the island, | striking, or taking over control of plantations, came in, but with few details. In Havana members of the Direc- torio Estudiantil, reactionary student organization, were reported arming themselves to act as a Fascist mili- tia. Mario Menocal, former presi- (dent, issued a statement saying he | refused to recognize the Grau San Martin regime, * e WASHINGTON, Sept. 12. — The United States will never consent to any form of nullification of the Platt amendment to the Cuban Constitu- tion, which asserts America’s right to intervene in Cuban affairs, Secretary Ht State Cordell Hull declared to- y. The Platt amendment is a part of the Cuban constitution of 1901, and is also the text of a treaty between Cuba and the United States. naval and military bases in Cuba, and to control Cuba’s foreign borrowings. This declaration by Hull is not only |@ refusal to withdraw America’s heavy naval forces from Cuban waters, but is also a declaration that Marines may be landed at any time es a the Cuban revolution in | Cuban Situation at Woodland Cen- | | | | District Attorney MINOR NAILS Over 1 Calls for Witness to CITY TAX AT Welles Organizes Cuba n Reactionary Forces 0,000 Out in” 'Penna.; Strikers Matthews Murder BOARD MEET Battle Utah Thugs 4 Mysterious Men Search for Shahian After) Program’s Exposure “Daily” Exposes We lfare Island Killing By JOHN L. SPIVAK Author of “Georgia Nigger” NEW YORK.—Rising public protest following the Doily Worker's ex- pose of the brutal murder on Welfare Island of James Matthews, the North | | Carolina Negro, and an attempt by four mysterious men to terrorize the | eye-witness to the crime, yesterday forced the district attorney's office to signify its willingness to hear Mark S| ~@ Ice-Packs Help Kill ‘Pneumonia’ Victim Qn Welfare Island Affidavit Describes Death in Hospital ~ | of Geo. Knowles | NEW YORK.—Not only did James | Matthews, the North Carolina Negro} brutally beaten to death by a guard on Welfare Island, die of “Coma— from undetermined causes,” but an- other Negro, George Knowles, of 163 ‘W. 133d St. died mysteriously of “pneumonia” while his head was en- | cased in ice-packs. | Efforts by the Daily Worker, to: their heads covered with ice bags in Correction Hospital on the Island| met with as vigorous and determined | opposition on the part of Commis~| sioner of Correction William J. Ca- hill as the general investigation into charges of brutality, murder and vi- ciousness. Knowles was 34 years old and from | affidavits in possession of the “Daily,” | apparently healthy on or about May 25, 1932, when he was sentenced to| Welfare Island for 60 days. Approxi- | mately two weeks after arriving in the penitentiary Knowles was strick- | en with “tuberculous pneumonia,” ac- cording to the official death certifi- cate. On June 10, 1932, the laughing and carefree Negro was dead. Affidavits Tell Story Two friends who had known him for many years saw Knowles before | he died. Both have sworn to affidavits which tell of the suddenness of Knowles’ death and the circum- stances surrounding it. Below we publish one of these affidavits. Wilfred Smitty, of 206 W. 128th St., one of Knowles friends, tells how he, entered the sick room where the Ne- gro was dying his strange death, “I saw Peacock (Knowles’ nick- | name),” states Smitty in his affidavit. “He wasn’t lying down nor was he sitting up. He was sort of propped up by a pillow and on his head was an ice-pack. I looked at him and he sort of laughed in a funny way. So I says to him, ‘What’s-a-matter, boy? jhahian’s detailed story this morning. Simultaneously with Assistant Di. trict Attorney Saul Price’s request for Shahian’s appearance, the the police protection nec protect the witness after men in a biue Cadillac searched for him at his si: in the Bronx and at another house at 331 E. 33rd St. Shahian Warned Shahian was warned of the callers | and spent last night with friends at an _tndivulged address. “We are questioning officials and | guards at the peni and Cor- | rection Hospital now,” Ase'+t District Attorney informed the Daily Worker yesier Ww examined the records. Tomorrow we will subpoena Shahian.” When Shahian was informed of Mr. Price’s statement, he said it would not be necessary to subpoena him and he would appear at the) District Attorney's convenience. ; The District Attorney was inform- | | learn why- pneumonia patients have ed of the mysierious callersaud ask- ed whether he or the Homicide’ Bu- reau had sent four detectives to question Shahian. “I sent no one,” he said. sharply. “And neither did the Homicide Bu- reau. If unidentified persons have | been looking for him and he is afraid | we will give him all the police pro- tection he wants.” } Four men, one of them a Negro, | drew up in a large blue Cadillac se- dan shortly before 6 o’clock on Mon- day evening at the home of Sha- | hian’s sister, Mary Keossian, at 353 Beekman Ave., where the eye-witness | lives. According to Mrs. Keossian, the colored man was sent up to ask for her brother. At first he declined to say where he was from, but later | | stated vaguely that he was from the | “family court.” Investigation by the “Daily” disclosed no such court. | Sees Car Parked | Mrs. Keossian told him her brother | did not live with her and that she | did not Know where he could be reached. The callers apparentiy. did | not believe her because they waited in the car in front of his hous About 7 o'clock Shahian appeared and seeing the parked car waited on @ nearby corner. In the meantime his sister had sent her eight-year- old son down to watch for him and | warn him of the mysterious callers. Shahian wsited around for more! than two hours. The parked car | and its occupants remained in front of his house. Shortly after 9 o’clock | in the evening they drove to the | the Board of Estimate yesterday. and he didn’t | home of Mrs. Olga Arslamian, his | anit answer me, but stopped | cier sister, at 331 E. 33rd St,” and | | also asked for him. She told them | | she seldom saw him, after which Citi 0 T h | they returned to the Bronx and Aes we eachers | (Continued on Page Three) $30,000,000 In Back ecto nti aeddl Pay, R Reveals | Wheat Deliveries in 9 ee | BR. Set New WASHINGTON, Sept. 12.—About) $30,000,000 in back pay is still owing | Record for Speed MOSCOW, Sept. 12—So tre- to thousands of teachers throughout | the country, it was revealed yester-| day by a report of the National| | mendous is the latest Soviet grain Educational Association. | aepbe Ue dl gs Ibn vec’ farms Almost 30,000 school employees have | | have delivered more than twice | | not been paid for caine the Asso-| | thelr quota. for fear 1 The deliveries for the one month | filled about 60 per cent of the ciation reported. | | total yearly quota. If deliveries | | (CONTINUED ON PAGE 3) In the majority of cases, the fail- ure to pay the school employees was/ | continue at the same rate, | due to the fact that the municipa!| | Ykrainian farms will sorrel | authorities insisted on paying off eye | | record of speed for grain deliv-/| | bank loans first before paying the! | cries, teachers. p mediately raised them, of the organizations thought that their own Challenges between different Communist Party units as well as mass and fraternal organizations have already been issued in various parts of the New Boston. This method of speeding the collection of funds, used most ex- | deficiencies which, if not remedied immediately, tensively in the Boston district during past drives, might well be extended spite of all efforts that are made. into other districts throughout the country, | It should be remembered’ that Boston has been among the first to raise unions in Boston—the Needle Trades Workers Industrial Union and the | quotas were.too low and im- | ® the shortest possible period of time. | the last four years. Startles Bosses at Hearing NEW YORK.—W'th amendments to the tax levied on the brokers, benk- ers, utilities and insurance firms amended to read “gross profits” in- stead of “gross receipts,” the four emergency tax bills were passed by The bill must now go before the Board of Aldermen. NEW YORK.—The general welfare committee of the Board of Aldermen, | Samuel Untermyer and the swarm of real estate, taxi and utility bosses | at the hearing on the proposed city | taxes were startled out of their list- less listening yesterday, when three representatives of the workers iounched a smashing attack on the bilis. Robert Minor, Communist candi- date for Mayor Mrs. William Bur-| ganizers, and to present demands of | i{iner: /Gunmen Attack March i Demanding End of Martial Law HELPER, Utah, Sept. 12.— The streets of Price, Utah, near here, were like a battle- field today with hand to hand fighting when coal company gunmen wtih rifles, tear gas and water hose a d hundreds of striking min who marched to Price to de- mand an end of martial law regulations. Miners in Utah and New Mexico are striking for higher pay and union recognition under the leader- ship of the National Miners Union. Huge armed forces met the mine: ik ‘when they marched into town. Two fields miners stepped forward to explain the purpose of the march, to demand the release of arrested strike or- Expect General Coal Strike in Penna; on Wednesday PITTSBURGH, Pa., Sept. | 12.—With 3,500 men of the | Mellon-controlled Pittsburgh Coal Co. already out on strike, with over 10,000 out in other | mines, and strikes set in dozens of mines in Fayette | and Greene County for Wed- nesday morning, a huge strike | wave sentiment is sweeping the coal fields. U. M. W. A. oficials are reporting to John L. Lewis. and other bur2eu- crats of the U.M.W.A. who are meci- | ing in secret with the coal operators that the whole Pennsylvania coal ¢ # strike. Furthermore, the West Virginia, Virginia ce, Kentucky and other field: ng and preparing for strike. re already striking in Utah, ' mine | Tenne: | are ta roughs, Communist candidate for, citizens to the County Commis- New Mexico and Towa. Colorado Comptroller, and Harry Eddy of the/| sioners. miners are in favor of a strike. Taxi Workers’ Union section of the They were immediately arrested.| qne sharpest strike move fs in Transport Workers’ League, proved, Then Mayor West nad other thugs Mth very definitely that the taxes were aimed directly at the workers and/ small home owners. | +. Speakirig” Gir the five-cent. tax for each taxi ride, Minor said: | “This is the most outrageous and proposals. of the income away from cab drivers, who ate now making $10 to $12 for an 84-hour week. One-third of their| wages come in the form of tips. Tips | which ued to average 10 cents per ride! now average 8 cents. The city now! wishes to take five cents out of the workers’ pocket for each ride.” | “The shame of it is made all the worse by the fact that the hackmen are precisely in the category of work- | ers that the city refuses to put on relief lists,” continued Minor. “The Home Relief Bureaus will not give aj penny of relief to any owner of a hackmen’s license.” At this point Samuel Untermyer, who had been sitting complacently throughout tHe entire hearing, jumped up and shouted, “If I thought the money would come out of the pockets of the drivers, | s Mr. Minor I would not have | proposed the tax. Of course if this is really so we can change it. If these men are working 84 hours a week for $10 or $12 they should come under the N. R. A.” | “The N. R. A. serves to reduce wages, not raise them,” retorted! Minor Untermyer sat down. Eddy, speaking for the taxi union, said that the cab workers would use this attack on them as the signal | to organize the 70,000 hackmen in the city. Mrs. Burroughs stated the sources of revenue the city sho'4 each if arrested Paul Crouch, strike leader. He was rescued by the workers. Gunmen then launched an attack on the workers white put up @ militant defense. Among those jailed were chair- man of the strike committee, Law- rence Mawer and Sylvia Crouch. A mass protest meeting is being held in Helper Fark where martial / law regulations have been smashed by mass force with many special policemen resigning. 7000 Mass in Square for Right to Strike Shoe Repair Workers March to Meeting NEW YORK.—More than 7,000 workers were already on Union Sq. in a demonstration against injunc- tions and for the right to strike as the “Daily” went to press last eve- ning. Four hundred striking shoe re- pair men were greeted“ as they marched into the square. The increasing use of injunctions and the effort of the N. R. A. to break strikes, especially those led by the revolutionary trade unions, was traced in the opening remarks of J. Rubin, chairman of the meeting. “In the last few months,” said A. Overgaard, “70,000 workers struck under the leadership of the Trade Union Unity League.” Overgaard, who is secretary of the Trade Union Unity Council, emphasized that the ; Shoe and Leather Workers Industrial | Union has grown from 1,500 to 11,000 | and wage increases of as high as 65 | per cent were gained by the workers. | Other speakers scheduled to ad-— the helping of the ed was! dress the meeting included William | really their aim. \Simons of the Anti-Imperialist | League, A. J. Musie, Mrs. W. Bur-| “Besides eliminating the waste, graft, pensions and high salaries for city officials, the city could tax billions of co" “* of tay-exempt real estate, such end fash- jonable schools. - million- aires have not paid i. uv taxes for A higher income tax should be passed against those in higher brackets and a capital | roughs, Communist candidate for | comptroller, and others of industrial unions, | ‘Camps Will Seek New| Forced Labor Victims: NEW YORK.—Investigators of the | (Emergency Home Relief Bureaus Pennsylvania, where, with the help of President Roosevelt, John L. Lewis | Was able to force the miners back to Work with promises. These promises | have turned“sour; and the miners are | beginning to realize only by a fight- to-the-finish strike can they win their | demand of union recognition and | higher wages. Miners in the Yukon, Herminie and other mines in Western Peni have already voted to strike Wednes- | day. | The sentiment of the miners in | western and southwestern Pennsylva- nia is for a general coal strike. District 3, comprising Westmore- land County, is already on strike to- day. By Wednesday the Somerset, Fayette and Greene County mines are expected to be out. The H. C. Frick Coal Co. a subsidiary of the U. S: Steel Co., Morgan-controlled is the dominant coal operator in this field. It was here the strike slarted which led to the walkout of 70,00¢ | miners. The situatiga is more serious ther ever as the miners went back witk | the understanding that their griev- | ances would be favorably settled in ¢ few days in Washington. They now have the fact that the proposed code of the operators and John L. Lewir makes their conditions worse. In Western Kentucky a strike hat already broken out with 400 miner: out. Three hundred are out in East- ern Kentucky. Two thousand miners are striking in the Norton district ot Virginia against the United State: Steel Corporation's subsidiaries a) Gary, West Va., and at Lynch, Kyf -* In preparation for putting [the codes into effect, union miners ‘ane being fired in the Kentucky and Wést Virginia fields. or ie U. M. W. A. officials are. , everything they can to stop the si “i trying to limit the walkouts to. local struggles and endeavoring to keep the miners from establishing united con- nections to make the strike general in all fields. The pending general coal strike . coupled with the walkouts in set steel mills, is arousing the stril of the steel workers. It is for this reason particularly that General Johnson and President Roosevelt are taking a direct hand in the coal code, hoping to force it levy against the rich for the relief| were given preliminary instructions | through so that they can tell the of the jobless.” Every speaker for the bosses stated! new quota of jobless youths in the | s that the tax levied! Civilian Conservation Corps, to ro-| them. quite definitely against any of the utility, real estate | yesterday for the enlistment of a/ | place those who will be released in miners not to sirike, but to wait to how the coal code works out for In the meanwhile, the coal opi or bank and life insurance firms! several weeks when their six-month | tors have been consolidating the’ would be passed on to the masses. | period of servitude ends. sition, increasing their armed forces. 1, It inspires confidence in the determination of the Boston workers to 2. It establishes the methods of the Boston district as a model and guide The enthusiasm which thus ‘ar has revealed itself in the drive-work of York and Boston districts cannot, however, blind us to several mentum and achieve its vital gor! Boston District Falls Into Line in $40,000 Drive | union members. Bundles of “Dailies’ } for “Daily Worker” a —— On the same day that New York workers held their Daily Worker | several years. This knowledge points to two things in connection with our Worker representatives to spread the paper's sale and prestige among the conference, delegates from 25 Boston organizations, representing 1,782 mem- | present drive: bers, gathered to initiate locally the drive to raise their share of the $40,000 now needed to insure the continued life and growth of the six-page “Daily”. | kee teotr flawless record intact. The response of the Boston workers at this stage of the campaign is | _ : encouraging. Not only did they begin their work without delay, but many | ior Lut distects which are also determined to raise their complete quotas have been allowed to pile up unsold | and efforts to spread the circulation discouraged. Neither of these two im- portant unions were represented at this important event. = These actions, comrades, are serious enough as they stand. But they will become a hundredfold more serious if this attitude of neglect, of under= | estimation of the Daily Worker's importance, is permitted to interfere with | the successful progress of the present drive for funds. The most earnest attention | workers’ organization is indispens. fraternal orvanineet may bring about disaster in youth and workers’ and cultural clubs,—the support of all of these | as of Communist Party and Young Communist League units are the urgent: Our attention has been called to the fact that leading comrades of two | need of the hour. its quota, 100 per cent and even to exceed it, in similar drives of the past , Dye Workers Industrial Union—have failed to aid in the efforts of Daily | coniinued progress of the drive. ‘A nd support of ev With this support wholcheariedly assured, nothing should block the single class-conscious ig the present drivs is to gain mo- Unions and “<