The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 16, 1934, Page 4

A + fiom toilet and so on. { a teas, BRIS PA Vo (a | Page Four Into Forced Labor Infirmary Fingerprinted and Forced to Work for Nothing || at Eloise, By a Worker Correspondent | DETROIT, Mich—The infirmary lat Eloise, Mich., s nghold of butcher Doctor is again jammed beyond capacity. Between! $8,000 and 9,000 unemployed and un-/| attached young men and women have | been sent to this alleged “infirmary’ ~ for the crime of failing to find some} sort of job. This “institution” is located 16 miles away from Detroit. The un-| employed apply for “welfare reliet” @nd are sent to this nut house in truckloads, Rain or shine, warm or ( zero weather, these trucks ply be- tween Detroit and Eloise, transporta- tién furnished one way only—to Eloise. | A s is issued once every 30] Gays, valid for three days. Cameron is in charge of several “horse doctors,” as they are- gen- erally called by the inmates. The writer had spent six months} ®t the place. If an inmate of Eloise| desires to come to the city he must walk 16 miles. I did it myself every | time I’d come to town. To walk 16} miles means an all-day journey— stiff as a board, tired and exhausted. | The next day a person can scarcely move, the day is taken up by rest~ | ing and nursing up the blistered feet. | On the third day “nolens volens”| back to Eloise. | Upon admission to this institute of “social scrap,” each entrant is Tequired to present a Detroit tax-/} payer's form, duly signed by a bona fide taxpayer, stating the applicant | is personally known to the signer| and is a resident of the city for at/ Teast one year. A complete card-| index record is taken of each per- | Son. They are then herded from butcher Gruber’s office to Mr. Fox's office and each victim is thoroughly finger-printed upon regular, standard Detroit police card index forms. As some of the victims remark, | “It’s all the same as a jail, except! that a ‘rap’ or charge is not en- | tered against them.” Following this | humiliation, all are ordered to strip Naked to determine all possible | erumminess. All the clothes as well @s the body are given careful in- Spection, followed by a shower bath. When this is done, a meal ticket is procured at Dr. Cameron's office and | ach “pogey” receives a slip, desig- hating the location of his “flop. Jammed in Like Sardines | The ward boss directs them to their | “beds.” And here one’s eyes per- ceive a picture of incredible doom; dismayed, outraged humanity, gath-| ered into w » equipped with the} double-decker bunks, from 300 to 500| to cach ward. These bunks are made | of frail angle iron sections, loosely Tiveted together. | Could anyone possibly hope to get! @ny sound sleep in a place of | wt? Think of the distraction, dis- turbances, foul breath, smelly feet, | coughing, walking in aisles to and} (A young | Polish fellow slashed his throat with | Doctor | | farming, | ness to be relieved of a job. | misery Michigan | @ safety razor blade and died in a pool of blood in the ward adjoining mine). An investigation disclosed a bank book in his possessién with | something like $1,600 on deposit. He| couldn't draw a cent—the bank had/| been locked up. | A girl of 18 jumped out of the fourth story window at the women’s} division of this institution. Suicidal} attempts were becoming common gos- sip among the inmates. An Endurance Test In a day or two after admission, | a slip of paper, bearing a rubber-| stamped request from Mr. Fox’s of-| fice isordinarily found upon the| man’s bed. This is a demand to go| to work. A pugnacious, sarcastic man, | called “Baldy” in charge of the of- fice distributes all jobs performed | upon the premises. Those who do work six hours per day, five days per week. All other jobs are worked seven days per week. | Doctor Gruber and Cameron re-| ceive fancy salaries. Cooks receive | $60 per month and meals. In a great| many cases, cooks’ assistants, who do| more work than the cooks them- selves and never get a day off, dot get a cent at any time, only a pac! age of Uncle Daniel tobacco, of such | inferior quality I myself could not smoke it. 1 All the work done by inmates of | Eloise. whether it be carpentering, | concrete road and sidewalk building, | repairing, grading, hospital service, | kitchen work, etc., is invariably done} absolutely without pay. The paid cooks, etc., are the political puppets | of Dr. Gruber and the Detroit City} Hall grafters. If anyone refuses to work or claims to be sick and wishes to be exempt, he is at once ordered to “take the air” and formally ex- pelled. A person has to be half dead or bear evidence of a deep-seated ill- As thousands are fed from one cen- | tral kitchen, there is no end to the waiting in long lines for many hours. It would take too much space and time to describe in detail the terrible sights one sees in a six-months’ stay at that death-dealing concept of our Parasites. There are places at Eloise which the public is not allowed to see. The gruesome nut-house itself, where the inmates yell in shrilling tones. The diabetic hospital, full of living skeletons, all a direct result of our uncrowned king's untiring ef- forts to maintain and extend their imperialism at the frightful cost of and human life. } pueees | | NOTE: We publish letters every Friday from workers in the transportation and communications industries— post office, telephone, telegraph, etc. We urge workers from these in- dustries to write us of their con- ditions of work, and their strug- gles to organize, Please get these letters to us us Tuesday of each week. HELEN A darling Chicag unmade, who Wishes to remain anonymous (for the present ai least) wrote us some high- ly interesting, partially personal let- ‘och while back. Some paragraphs one that arrived weeks ago: “What made me so busy and over- Worked was a teaching assignment ++ Pre-school, kindergarten, design- ing and dressmaking, artcrafts, man- wal training, iood talks, and cooking demonstrations; any one subject de- serving a life’s preparation. “Then—innocentuy, I walked right| into a nest of Young Pioneers. I Shall try not to explode entirely right here and now about it, but it bub- bles down to this: I sounded and} supplicated for counter-bourgeois ac- tivities for our workers for so long that just at this time a troop leader brought me tidings of a meeting place. “I promise you there were no ques- tions asked. I got together an outfit Sf apparatus, materials, and equip- ment for a complete course of han- dicraft, a medium that I could handle and that would recruit and hold the youngsters. “Talk about ‘per asperas!’—It'’s a table—I've often thought if I could get the two semi-circles spread out we could at least have a teeter-toi~ ter. As it is, a kerosene lamp is jug- trom onehalf. ip the other to my bloodcusdiing shrieks-ot “Fire!” -<babies are trampled hderfoot, while: others mix our papier-ma/he| puppet material into feathers for fowl figurines, tarring them together with gum arabic dyes (My ONLY suit for winter was nobly so decorated and now hangs in the closet representing a frieze.) “Tt looks like only a lucky few gets in here, says one fine, ener- who came with a delegation full of boys. ‘Ef the Pio- time for us the Garvey and a hall, too, only to come here; could we get as badly as I feel after ings, and rank and fileless represen- only to hear a final pro- nouncement, that “A place is not so important, comrades, if one only has the right spirit one can build their ‘own or even go out under a tree”— s0 (the second) lacking such coura- 3, Tugged individualism I have neither the right spirit nor the right tree. So (the third) the most difficult thing I've ever tried to do is to go ahead with those Hittle Negro children toward a culture, art, and ideol- minor note, however, has [right up into a rich full major paean of triumph in ae letter that r thé other day, which “seem to indicate that Comrade e (if she doesn’t mind being ned), not only had the _ spirit” but in the meantime CONDUCTED BY LUKE contrived to find the right tree as well, for here are the latest develop- ments on this American “Road to Life”: “Could you get me the Daily Worker announcement rates, and send me the information, please? How far in advance must notice be given?—I had all the dope and lost it. “We (THE SOLIDARITY HANDI- CRAFTERS) have prepared a very fine program with a puppet show, a Shadow play, and @ movement fea- ture—specialty songs—revolutionary- just splendidly done. Little tiny Negro kids and my own child. Even a big-voiced ballyhoo farce. (I’m so proud!) “The Workers International Relief | will have a hall when we've every- thing ready, in about two or three weeks. Is that too soon for an an- nouncement? We've had every or- ganization in the movement involved, even the Home Owners’ typewriter. Ain’t that everything? “I envy you New York comrades all the material you have to see. I'm green over it as I read the “New. Theatre.” But then I don’t even set to see what’s going on here—TI’.a so tied down with the boy, I de what I can at home or somewrére that I can take him along.” sj ese No, dear Comrade Active, it isn’t a bit too soon fer an announcement, se just send along the dope. Where, when, the price of admission, and all the gory details! And we think Chicago will sit up and take notice. ; Our congratulations on such splen- did achievement in the face of so great difficulties, “If I ever get some projects worked up and out of the technique stage into creative work, I'll be glad to pass along something of the pro- cedure for your column if you'd like to have it,” Comrade Active fur- ther stated. We sure would like to have it; our children are being neglected again. If Comrade Active can make a few rough sketches to illustrate the pro- nesses she will describe, we can make finished Ink-drawings here for re- production in the column,—unless she can do that too, which would not surprise us! I had a little toy theatre when I was a kid, for which I used to make scenery and such, and which gave me more pleasure than any other toy I ever possessed. It was one of the ambitions of my life to make a puppet show, but it has not materialized to date. A Cleveland woman, Helen Haiman Joseph, has given puppet shows here and there about the country, using puppets which she makes herself. Mostly she uses the well-known fairy tales SAILY WOR UiL. R. R, KE NEW YORK, FRE Helped Letters from Our Reader. GETS FIVE NEW READERS Gillepsie, Til Dear Comrades:— Please send me five copies of the Saturday edition of the Daily Worker each week. I have five people who will take a copy each, and will try to bulid up a larger circulation of the Saturday edition, and will attempt to convince the: of the need of getting the “Da every day. The Daily Worker is greatly liked by the miners here. Yours for a big circulation, . —A COMRADE. WORKERS’ CLUBS Brooklyn, N. ¥. Comrade Editor: The comrades (Y. C. L. and Party | members) in the Social Youth Culture Club, located at 275 Broadway, Brook. lyn, are proud to relate this incident which they consider to be of extra- ordinary significance to the club and a@ correct Bolshevik example to be followed by all workers’ clubs through- cut the city. A group of rowdies, so-called mini- ature gangsters and racketeers, regu- larly came up, disturbed meetings, crashed at affairs and in general ter- rorized the members. A‘ter attempts to convince them of their wrongs by way of argument and | logical reasoning had failed, we de- cided that rough talk would do the trick. On Wednesday, Jan. 24, while an unemployed meeting was in progress. as usual they came; but, were told to leave, refused, started to fight, were badly beaten up and several were sent to the hospital. We pressed charges against the two leaders. We put out a leaflet calling for a mass meeting on the gangster issue, in which we pointed out that the very sim of the club was to master, under- stand and act to change the economic conditions which cause such gangster- ism, and bluntly refused to negotiate with any “boss” who had threatened to get some of us, if charges hadn't been dropped. We answered that if a single hair of ours were touched, we'd round them up and “let them have it,” individually. We Y. C. L. members that these boys were misled into be- Leving that we were their enemies took it upon ourselves, in addition to defending the club, to visit them one by one, explaining to them carefully what our club was trying to do, and inviting them to join the club. Well, they realized that we meant business, learned who we were and why We were reds, were completely won over to the club, we dropped |charges against them, and now they |are ready to fight with us for relief, |C. W. A. jobs, against war, etc. We were completely victorious be- | cause we were Bolshevik enough to have enough confidence in our theory and program to take this chance, and vin them over. Follow our example. A date for a conference to set up ermanent defense squads in Wil-| | Jamsburg is being set right now. The |date will be announced in the City | Events column of the “Daily” in the very near future. Watch for it. Comradely, BURT, Unemployed Director of the Social Youth Culture Club, and member of the Young Com- munist League. ee EX-OFFICIAL CONFIRMS D. W. EXPOSE OF AVIATION INDUSTRY Long Island City. Washington Bureau, if sa Daily Worker. Dear Friends: From 1927 to 1931, I had a high executive position with American Airways, as maintenance and stand-| ardization supervisor, and partici- paied in the juggling of air lines! during the period ot mergers and| consoudations, tt was a disgusting iness and your article in the D, W. was an inspira- tion to me beca’se when I returned to N.Y.C. frua the West, I wrote an article exposing the vicious system of patronage existing in aviation and submitted it to the then editor of the American Mercury. Although I stated my connections over my own name in aviation and my position as a recognized expert in this field, the article was returned by H. L. Mencken. The Haliburten incident as stated by you is absolutely correct and his company, the Safeways, was bought out after a malodorous fight in Washington concerning his attitude of threatening to expose the whole Totten mess by a government inyes- tigation if necessary, He was bought out at a big price by Aviation Corp. They immediately padlocked the hangars and shops and fiying equip- ment at Tulsa, Okla. Mr, E. L, Cord, the big bad boy of aviation, now president of Avia- tion Corp., after puking his person- alities all over the advertising pages of the N. Y¥. press, was also put on the spot with his Central Air Lines of Chicago at the same time. His past record, particularly during the strike in Central Air Lines of the Pilots, will never be forgotten. Aviation fs still in a mess—and the answer is obvious—organization in- dustrially. I congratulate you on your splen- did work in Washington and wish all power to your very efficient pen. Comradely, T. R. @ NO SUCH THING AS TOO MUCH NEWS ON SOVIET UNION Kansas City, Mo. Comrade Editor: In the Feb. 5th issue of the Daily Worker, I observe a reader takes ex- ception to so much publicity being given in the Daily Worker to events and developments in the Soviet Union. for themes for her plays. I think we need in the movement! more puppet shows of a revolutionary character. So another toast to Com- Soir Active! SOAR Ady nite fA I want to say that there is no single thing—and exactly at. the Present moment is this so—that the American masses are so interested in as what is going on in the Soviet TER ATTACKS | Rallied Over By a Marine Worker Correspondent BALTIMORE, Md.—On Jan, 22 the ‘ived in the port Two delegates of the went aboard to learn w the conditions under were working. They t some of the crew had not been paid for SIX MONTHS! The captain had the seme old stall for the men in every ort: “Well, boys, | we cannot pay off here, but you can jhave a $5 draw and you'll get paid ; off in the next port.” The delegates spoke to all of the of the crew and stated that they wanted to STRIKE at once for a pay-off, and |the delegates told them that they would be given the full support chore of the M. W. I. U. and the U. C. here in Baltimore if they Id stick it out aboard the ship \th | until thev won their demands. The them to the cantain with a atement of their demand for a ey-off. As uswal, the captain was stile, and told them that he cou'd | not pav the crew off. The crew then refused to turn to and went on strike at about 4:30 p.m. jon Jan. 22. and remained out on strike for about 40 hours, EFar'v on the morning of Jan. 23 the M. W. I. U. had a stront picket line eroun the Fell St. dock, where the Munin- dies was berthed. There were about 50 seamen on the vicket line carrying Mevards reading, “MUNTNDIES OT ON STRIKE, DON’T SCAB!” etc. |The seamen on the Munindies, see- ing the strong support thev were get- | ting ashore, stocd pat. The nickets were on the job all day and until Jong after dark with the usual strike ban- ners. 30 Cops On Scene About 20 police were on the scene as usual to trv to terrorize the pick- ets, but every seaman stood firm end refused to be terrorized, and, as the po'ice knew that there were about 300 very militant seamen on the beach here who were ready and will- ing to back up their fellow-workers, they made no effort to break the strike by force. The captain in the meantime was running around ashore to the com- pany office. and to the Commission- er’s office, trying to get the money to vay the crew off. About 5 p.m. on the 28rd the cavtain told one of the M. W I. U. delegates that he could not get the money to pay off the crew, because the records of some of the crew had been misvlaced. He asked that the crew turn to at once, promising to pay off in full on the following day. The crew, however, were fed up with his promises, and flatly refused to turn to until every man was paid off in full without any | discrimination. The following day, Jan. 24, things started to happen fast! Early in the morning all of the M. W. I. U. dele- gates were chased ashore and the police patrol was increased on the 300 on Picket Line at Baltimore, Dock While Men Strike on Ship elected a Ships Committee} {dock. Four pickets, carrying the fol- | lowing placards, “S. S. MUNINDIES |ON STRIKE! DON'T SCAB!” “MUNSON UNFAIR TO SEAMEN!” |“SEAMEN ARE HUMAN, NOT MA- | CHINES!” “MUNSON REFUSES TO PAY CREW SIX MONTHS’ BACK- WAGES!” They went up to the cor- ner of Calvert and Red-vood Sts., in front of the Keyser Building, in which the Munson Line office is located, and started a picket line |there. They were there at 7:50 tn | the morning, and at 8 o'clock a police lieutenant arrived on the scene and | tried to intimidate them, but, when he saw that they would not be ter- asked them what it was all about! One of the pickets explained the situ- | ation to him and he said, “I don’t blame you boys a damn bit, I would feel the same way if they held my pav back on me!” About 30 minutes later an official of the Munson Line came out and esked the lieutenant to “chase those damn ‘radicals’ off the street,” but he got no satisfaction when the lieu- tenant told him that we were lega’ly entitled to picket as long as we walked @ full city block and kept moving so that we did not obstruct traffic. 100 On Picket Line Meanwhile, over 100 seamen went out on the vicket line around the dock, and the police immediately tried to terrorize them, but one of the M. W. I. U. delegates went to the front and told them that we would not be terrorized, that we would keep a fighting united front, that we had @ perfect rieht to be there and that there would be no trouble unless Munson tried to shiv a scab crew. and he made it plainly understood that as long as there were seamen on the beach able to stand on two feet no scabs would set foot on the deck of the Munindies! The cops saw that the seamen meant business and sent in a call for reserves, and the seamen sent for more vickets! When the reserves arrived they found over 300 pickets around the dock, so they wisely let us alone! A delegation of four M. W. I. U. members went to the I. L. A. Local 658, at Locust Point, and asked them for suvport in this strike, but they were flatly refused by these fink “labor leaders!” Six M. W. I. U. members asked the I. L. A. Local 825, on South End St. and they got the same answer. At about 1:30 p.m. on the 24th one of the crew came ashore and told a M. W. I. U. delegate that the crew were being valid off in full, so at 2:30 p.m. the picket line was with- drawn. We had won another victory over the lousy Munson Line, and, as usual, this strike led by the M. W. I. U. was won without the support of the Fink I. L. A, which helped Munson by working cargo on a ship the crew of which was on strike! Company Union Robs Trolley Car Workers, By s Street Railway Correspondent. NEW YORK—I .fvork for the New York Railways called the Green Lines operating trolley lines. They pay 66 cents an hour for conductors or motofmen, regulars, while extras get 46 cents an hour. Conductors and’ motormen must buy uniforms which cost $22. An overcoat for the winter costs $21. We have to buy it from a certain concern, Browning King & Co. and must bring back the receipt to show that we bought it there and no other place. They have @ company union, called the Brotherhood. We pay 50 cents a month for which we don’t get anything. They have an asso- ciation also to which the workers are forced to belong on pain of dis- Union. This is my experience here in Kansas City. Instead of there being too much said in the Daily Worker about the Soviet Union, there should be more and I want to suggest that: Along with reports of Con; speeches by Stalin, etc, there be given more space to day-to-day hap- penings of Socialist construction in the U.S.S.R., with concrete data and human interest stories, On every page of the Daily Worker every day, we should have statements about building, farming, mining, con- struction of hospitals and cultural centers, wage-increases, increase of food, clothing and shelter for the masses—all events in the Soviet Union which are of special interest to American workers and farmers, and as much as possible this should be concrete. There was a report recently in the capitalist press about a big, modern hospital, very unique, indeed, to be built at Leningrad and another still larger, of the same kind at Moscow. Have heard a good deal of talk about this in Kansas City; among workers and intellectuals. I don’t remember having seen anything about this sig- nificant news in the Daily Worker. Certainly, the Daily Worker is now becoming a glorious, powerful news- paper, a paper that is a threat to the robbers in Wall Street and one that all toilers can and do love. FRANK BROWN. MISSED “DAILY” Ann Arbor, Mich. Dear Sir — You will find enclosed $6 for which please send me the Daily Worker for one year. I have been without the paper for a while and missed it a great deal, so am sub- scribing for it to make “sure I'll have it in the future. PS. missal. We have to pay 75 cents a month for this. Also we have com- pulsory insurance of $1 a month. There is another scheme of taking our money. A camp supposed to be for the workers’ children, Camp Sheeran, named after the president. You send your child there for two weeks. We pay 10 cents a week all year round regardless of whether we have children or not. It is taken out of your pay. Once you send your child there, you never send your child again. The food there is very bad. Also, every year they have a ball and entertainment regardless of whethe; you want a ticket or not. They give you a ticket and take out a dollar. This year they took out 16 cents a week for 10 weeks to pay for the ticket. Discriminate Against Jews, In the last year and a half, they have cut off the forces. They won’t hire certain nationalities any more. They don’t come out and say so, but they won't hire Jews. We work by the run. We never know how long the run is so we never know how much we will make. We are only paid for the time we right along. Any- one caught beating the lights (they do this to make up for lost time) is laid off for a few days, and then put back on the job. If he does it again, he is often discharged. They want men with iron nerves. People that have been used to ride in automobiles are now using the trolley cars on account of the depression. They are very arrogant and if you tell them to step up, they report you to the company, which means two or three days of | fact the tendencies are towards fur- no work. Too “making examples,’ men fired just to make sure it won’t happen. In the last year, since they changed these officials, like inspect- |rorized, he changed his tune and| Over 8,000 Jobless Jammed |How Marine Workers Industrial Union Crew of Munindies Win Back Pay ¢ , FEBRUARY, 16, 1934 Birmingham Cops and KKK. Combine! to Attack Pioneers | By a Worker Correspondent BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—We went out Thursday night to hold an Unem- ployed Council and Pioneer meeting. We had a large crowd for both meet- ings, at the same house and at the same time. The pioneers had just gotten through with their meeting and got out of doors. We were not finished when along came four cars} loaded with police, some dressed inj their uniforms and others dressed in the KKK. outfits. One policeman stood on the porch and another marked a cross in front of the door we were having our meet- ing in, and the K.KK. lit it and all stood and watched it till it got to burning good. As the c.o3ss began to burn then they all went to their cars and started to leave. Some of the comrades ran out to see what had happened. One comrade kicked the cross over. The other young comrades took it and ran to the car and said, “Here, take your god damned cross with you, and the comrades threw the cross at the car. It moved as he threw the cross. The children came running and a woman came running into the house crying from fright. After the cops left, all went back into the house and continued with the meeting. The cops and the K. K. K. drove about. One car of policemen stopped in front of the house. Two policemen came up to the steps and asked where Water Street was. One com~- rade told him, but they did not break up our meeting. The next morning my husband went to put a card into the mail box. A man who said he had signed an Unemployed Council card Oct, 6, 1933, but did not pay his fee, named Bert Brown, age 34, 1115 Coosa St. East Birmingham, walked up to the comrade and asked him what these little parties were the kids have, what are they all? Are they Communists? ‘i The comrade answered it is the Young Pioneers of America. Brown said, “I did not know what it was. so I called the police and turned all the literature and cards that my two kids had over to the law and toid them I wanted it stopped,” and he asked the comrade, “Is this to free the Scottsboro boys, and other dirty niggers”? And he said we had a Mason and Dixon line to keep the white and colored apart. ‘he next day my brother, a com- rade, went to the store. This Brown was talking over the phone. When he saw my brother he said to the other party, “I'll have to hang up now and will call you later at 4:15. About 5:30 o'clock the squad car with three policemen came and burst the door open and searched where the Y.P.A. met the day before. Then they burst another door and searched another room on that side of the house. We live in a duplex apart- ment. They picked up the typewriter, brought it into our bedroom, looked it over well, took the number of it, and told us to be very careful and not let it get away, for they thought it was stolen. Saturday morning when my husband got to where he works on the C.W,A. two policemen met him and sent him to the super- intendent. They said it had been reported that the comrade had been putting out Communist papers. He told the superintendent he had been giving out Unemployed Council papers and pamphlets, so he sent him back to the foreman with a note to allow him to work but to keep an eye on him and to keep the’ superintendent posted. He said he was not going to work with a) Communist if he knew it. The policeman got some Daily Workers he had given to a man who took them to a superintendent, so he fired the comrade, He said the reason for his being fired was due to the fact that he was letting the pioneers meet at his home and that it had to be stopped. Last week a man bought a “Southern Worker’ from this comrade. He wrote an additional copy and put this com- rade’s name on the paper and tacked it up so everybody could see it. We have lots of stool-pigeons. This is written by a white Southern woman still struggling to organize both white and Negro. P. S—_The cops and the K.K.K. have not stopped us, Big Numbers of Railroad Men Won't Ever Get Job Again By a Railroad Worker Correspondent PEORIA, Ill—Chances for reem- ployment for hundreds of thousands of unemployed railroad workers are practically nil, it is admitted by the Monthly Labor Review (Government publication) for December, 1933. Plant equipment, personnel,~ etc., are of such a nature that a far greater load of traffic units than handled at present could be ade- quately taken care of without any increase in personnel whatever. In ther inroads among railroad workers due to the mergers, consolidations, etc. on the horizon, together with the .increased tempo and extent of the technological changes. ‘These factors spell untold misery and suffering for the employed rail- road worker as well as the brother already unemployed. Any one of us may be next, It is of the most ur- gent necessity that all rank and file railroad workers employed or unem- ployed, organized or unorganized, join together in the support of the Tinow toyed Councils and the Rail- road Brotherhood Unity Movement. ee ante ese Stee cee ee basa take days @s much as possible. | our reactionary rt vials, ‘ eee S.S.R. The reason for this is that extras | and the Wall St government, the|| Natl Minorities in cents. they “your only get 46 If take days off, ley SAY, you don’t | “washout” sign, then forward over|| SATURDAY, make you get @ detour toward one powerful union shoes are not | of all railroad workers, H, K. EDWARDS, PARTY LIFE South Chicago Work on Lines Unit Plans Its of Open Letter Concentration Work of Bayonne, Follows Open The long awaited plan for action to carry out the principles of the} Open Letter is now going into ef- fect. In order to penetrate the Li- linois Steel Mill and form a rank and file union of the workers; in Illinois Railway Bosses Break Wage Promises By a Railroad Worker Correspondent PEORIA, Ill—Street car and bus workers of the Illinois Power & Light Corp., Peoria division, members of Div. 416, Amalgamated Assn. of Street and Electric Ry. Employes of Amer- ica, filed suit in circuit court here Monday morning against the com- pany for its failure to live up to the wage scale agreement with the work- ers, These workers had already suffered two wage cuts; February, 1932, a reduction of five and one-half cents per hour for motormen and conduc- tors, and a 10 per cent reduction on the wages of shopmen and garage- men; July, 1932, an additional cut of five cents per hour for motormm and *onduciors, and another 10 per cent off the wages of shopmen and garagemen. A board of arbitration had deter- mined a scale for motormen and conductors in service less than one year, 4814c per hour; men in service one year and less than two years, 5044c¢ per hour; and men in service two years or over, 52%c per hour. Operators of one man cars and busses were to receive 5¢ per -our additional. After the second wage cut in July, 1932, the company had agreed to restore the second reduction from January 1, 1933, to May Ist, 1933; but failed to restore the reduction to the present time. The employes in their court peti- tion point out that the company is at present paying the following scale: car men less than one year, 38c; more than one year but less than two, 40¢; two years or more in ser- vice, 52c, with Sc additional per hour for operators of one-man cars and busses, Garage and shopmen have been paid at the rate of 20 per cent below the agreement from May Ist, 1933, to the present. The company has failed to live up to the agreement of the arbitration board. The Peoria St. car workers are making a grave mistake by putting their faith in arbitration boards (which the company flouts) or bosses’ courts, which can equally be- tray them. A strike vote of the rank and jfile strike committee, and the determination to fight against such notoriously low wages will give them the power to forte their demands. The Illinois Power and Light Corp. operates city railway and bus lines: in many mid-west towns. It is a subsidiary of the Mlinois Trac- tion Co., which in turn is controlled by the North American Light & Power Co. and the latter by the North American Co. These are part of the Insull group and include in their directorships such notorious “paytriots” as E. N. Hurley of the U.S. Flag Assn., rabid “Red-baiters” and war-mongers. Today the writer was told by a street car worker that he had sunk $1,200 in the company’s stocks. Where it went, we all know (page Sammy Insull over in Greece!) . dos ee Letter Closely {order to crush sectarianism, which has prevailed in our unit, and in order to integrate ourselves with the masses of South Chicago; we call upon all the active, alert members of our unit to carry out this program to the fullest extent. The plan is as follows: 1. Recruit at least five new members for our unit from the Illinois Steel Mill. 2. Build our local union to an | active membership of at least 100, | 3. Make our unit a real leading | fraction of the union, and to de | this we will take the most ad- | vanced members of the union into our unit. 4. Every unit member is te at- tend at least one class in South Chicago Workers School. 5. In order to carry out these points it is evident that the union must be our main concentration. 6. Also, to carry out the first four points, we must improve our shop bulletin by taking up every need and grievance of the workers in the shop, and by improving the appearance of the bulletin itself. The unit is now falling in line with the advice of the leaders of the section and the T.U.U.L. We, the unit membership, are de- termined that we will carry out this plan to a successful conclusion. If the Harvester Unit can carry out @ simile”, plan, we can do it, too, Signed for the Unit, | MS. Mm ae ae Concentration im Bayonne, N. #5 Wins 50 Workers for Party Dear Comrade: A successful mass rally was held last Sunday in the city of Bayonne, where injunctions and police terror have been the order of the day against the militant strikers of the American Radiator Co. The occasion was a combined Lenin Memorial and Soviet Reoemition Celebration, at | which more than 700 workers showed their united solidarity with the strikers, the Soviet Union, and the Communist Party. The meeting was arranged by several working class organizations under the leadership of the Party. Bayonne is a city of which the pop- ulation is made up chiefly of work- ers in basic industries. Prior to the Open Letter, little was done to re~ cruit any of these workers into the Party, but recently, following up the need for organizing the workers in the basic industries, the Party suc- ceeded in gaining about 50 of them as new members. Comrades, this shows that shops are anxious for organization and Party leadership. We shall continue such concentration work here in Bayonne and are de- | termined to show greater strides for- ward. Let us hear from other “basic industry” towns, BAYONNE UNIT. JOIN THE Communist Party 35 EK. 12th STREET, HW. Y¥. Please send me more informa- sion on the Communist Party. Name Street City DR. LUTTINGER’S column will appear again in tomorrow’s “Daily Worker.” TONIGHT HARLEM SCOTT: Enterto HARPO HEYWOOD BROUN, at THE 140th ST. and LENOX AVE. SBORO DANCE inment: RX, HELEN MORGAN, BUCK & BUBBLES, and Others FLETCHER HENDERSON and His Orchestra Master of Ceremonies SAVOY TICKETS: 85 CENTS NATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR THE DEFENSE OF POLITICAL PRISONERS RED SPARKS A. C. Will Hold Its Weekly Lectures FRIDAY, FEB. 16th, at 8:30 p. m. CARL BRODSKY “I8 A REVOLUTION POSSIBLE WITHOUT WAR?” 64 Second Avenue (near 4th St.) : DEBATE “Should Workers Defend the U.S.S.R.2” M. OLGIN “YES” MANSVETOV “NO* PRIDAY, FEB. 16, AT 6:30 P. M. 66 East 4th Street, N.Y.C, Auspices, Br. 65 R.N.M.AS. Adm. Allerton Avenue Comrades! The Modern Bakery was first to settle Bread Strike and first to sign with the Food Workers’ Industrial Union 1 ALLERTON AVE. DR. JULIUS LITTINS! 107 BRISTOL STREET Bet, Pitkin and Sutter Aves. Brooklyn PHONE: DICKENS 2-9018 Office Hours: 8-10 AM, 1-2, 6-8 P.M. OPTOMETRISTSC2Y OPTICIANS || 1378 ST.NICHOLAS AVE* 1690 LEXINGTON AYE. at 179 ST.RY at 106th ST.N’ Oren Forum ———, JAMES W. FORD FEB. 17th, 7:30 P. M. at 2075 Clinton Avenue, Bronx Auspices: Sec.15, Communist MEMBERS OF UNITY CO-OPERATIVE All members of the former Unity Worker Co-operative are called to a special mem- bership meeting on Friday, February 16th, at 7 P. M., at the Workers Center, 35 E. 12th St., Room 206. 537 JAPAN NIGHT SAT., FEB. 177# At 8 P.M. 42 east 121TH st., Michael Gold, speaker Revolutionary Play, by Jap- anese Workers Group Dance with Good Music Refreshments Benefit: “Rodo Shimbun,” Of- ficial Organ Japanese Section OP, US A q