The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 20, 1934, Page 5

DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, TUESDAY. MARCH 20, 1934 Page Five CHANGE THE WORLD! By SENDER GARLIN N ITS current issue the New Masses, revolutionary weekly, continues to unmask the pretenses and reveal the anti- Communist motives of a group which about two weeks ago addressed an “open letter” oriticising the Communist Party in connection with the Madison Square Garden meeting called by the Socialists ostensibly to protest against Austrian fascism. An assorted group of 25 writers and college teachers, including individuals of varying degrees of obscurity, had signed this letter protesting against “the disruptive action of the Communist Party which led to the breaking up of the meeting called by the Socialist Party in Madison Square Garden.” Now we know how to differentiate between a sincere request for clarity on a situation and a poorly disguised factional document. And this so-called “open letter” is clearly in the latter category. “Speakers were howled down, fists flew, chairs were hurled, scores were injured.” This description could have been taken bodily from the lying, sensationalized “news” reports which appeared in the cap- italist press immediately following the Garden meeting. Whose fists fiew? Who hurled the chairs? Who injured whom? * * * * The Isaue Re-Stated "HAT was the frame within which all these events took place? A mass of workers coming to make the united front in action provoked. by police searching, stripping of banners carrying revolution- ary slogans by police acting under Socialist Party orders. Add to this the fact that the note insistently sounded from the first by the Social- ist Party leaders was a note of calculated insult and provocation. Against this the workers reacted with sound, proletarian instinct! By the actions which the signers of the “protest letter” found so dis- agreeable, the thousands of assembled workers accomplished one mag- nificent result: they showed that the workers of New York will not = tolerate the presence of such advance agents of fascism in America as Matthew Woll and LaGuardia to defile a meeting dedicated to the heroic Austrian workers. And seated on the platform, trying to cover their own reaction- ary deeds in this country by the glory of the Austrian workers, were ~ the Dubinskys and Schlossbergs. Ladies and gentlemen of the “protest, letter"—do you find fault with the class instinct of the workers as revealed at Madison Square Garden whose hatred can not be so easily restrained within the polite limits of academic “radicalism”? * * . ‘UST what, then, is the purpose of this “open letter” to the Gommu- nist Party? Its purpose is crystal clear. When the Socialist leaders, by their treachery everywhere, are be- ing completely discredited before the masses—individuals tied to the kite of Trotsky’s little group in America, to Muste’s foundling (the American Workers Party), to the Lovestone renegade group—at such a time, the sponsors of the “protest letter” seek to bolster up the waning influence of the Socialist Party and halt the movement of the workers toward the Communist Party. The Socialist Party in every country goes over openly to the camp of fascism. (See Otto Bauer's recent statements.) In the United States, for example, it is vividly exemplified by the support given the N.R.A. by Norman Thomas, and to his statement—made only the other day— calling for support of the Wagner Bill, which would force militant unions and all workers’ actions under the domination of the A. F. of L. bureaucracy. “We do not approve the Socialist leadership in Austria or the United States,” say these signers of the “protest” letter to the Commu- nist Party. But their action is precisely calculated to maintain the waning influence of these leaders, and to cloak the political meaning -.- of the “united front” which these Socialist leaders tried to make with Weil end LaGuardia. * . . . Wwe are some of the signers of this document? Some of them are sentimentalists like Louis Berg, John Henry Hammond, Jr., Green- wich Village revolutionists whose guiding star has been Mlliot E. Cohen, “the former associate editor of the Zionist publication, “The Menorah Journal,” who himself signs the letter. Cohen, Berg and a number of others demonstratively resigned from the National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners at the most crucial stage in the fight to save the Scottsboro boys because they disagreed with the policies fol- lowed by the organization conducting the defense. There is Felix Morrow, Sidney Hook’s unctuous undercover man among the “literary” radicals—politically shifting and double-dealing. There is John Chamberlain, whose interest in the “Left” is such that the highly class-conscious owners of the New York Times find his social and literary criticism not only not objectionable, but valuable to their reactionary class purpose. There is James Rorty, whose years of experience in writing lavish advertising for soaps, perfumes and Scott Tissue, equip him admirably— in his own opinion—to pass judgement on the united front tactics of the Communist International. Years of training have taught Rorty how to pass from one political camp to another as handily as he passed from writing advertising panegyrics for toothpaste and patent laxa- tives. There is Clifton Fadiman, book commentator of The New Yorker, spicy organ of middle-class sophisticates, seeking to enjoy vicariously the life of the leisure class. Fadiman takes exception to our united front tactics! bs There is Edmund Wilson, who justifies his acceptance of Trotsky's counter-revolutionary program by saying that he finds Trotsky’s prose style more elegant than Stalin's. There is George D. Herron, one of the pro-war Socialists who seryed Woodrow Wilson faithfully as an unofficial Administration agent in Burope during the war. These people, who in their daily life are continually making con- cessions to the bourgeoisie, dare give us lessons in united front tactics! Because of their class nature, they instinctively seek to pull the revolutionary movement in their direction. ‘There are such nonentities as John McDonald, who acts as time- keeper and water-carrier for the more prominent in the group. And who, pray, is Will Gruen, Robert Ford, Diana Rubin, George Novack, Meyer A. Girshick? Are they intellectuals? Are they reyo- lutionaries? ‘Strange Company for Some 77.38 surprising to find the name of Meyer Schapiro signed to this _* “protest.” For Schapiro, as an able art critic, has frequently aided _ the activities of the artists of the John Reed Club. Quite recently he and an associate made a valuable study of housing conditions in New ~York City and placed their findings at the disposal of the Unemployed ~-Councils of New York. Tt is much more surprising to find the name of John Dos Passos signed to this “open letter.” And the sponsors now announce that Theodore Dreiser, too, has affixed his name to the “protest.” In its Open Letter to John Dos Passos, the “New Masses” eloquent- ly called his attention to the strange company in which Dos Passos finds himself in. | % As for Dreiser—assuming that it is true that he has signed this curious “open letter”—it is not so surprising. He has recently come ~ out staunchly for the wage-cutting codes of the N.R.A., and his public declarations of late have revealed a man unable to shake off the in- dividualistic intellectual habits of a lifetime. . * * : The Communist Party is the defender of everything that is vital and honest among American intellectuals. The rigors of the crisis are separating unerringly the honest elements among American intel- lectuals; those whose loyalty to the revolutionary movement is real and courageous, from those who are already beginning to rationalize their fear of the realities of class struggle by seizing any convenient pretext for isolation from the struggle—and clothing their cowardice in the tattered cloak of Trotskyism. PS * . . We Communists have been building the united front of the workers; we shall continue to build the united front of genuinely ested in waging a revolutionary struggle for the and against fascist reaction, In this effort all will be convinced of the correctness of the policies Communists, and will turn away with contempt who today serve the advancement of fascism by attempting opposition to the only force that can prevent the cism in America} ITTING in a cafe one night in| Hamburg a middle-class citizen told me the following joke: “Goering died and went to heaven. At the pearly gates St. Peter stopped him and said, ‘Goe- ring, you must make a complete confession of all the evils you did on earth before you can enter!’ Goering made a confession. St. Pe- ter said, ‘You haven't told all.’ Nero waddled up and inquired as to the trouble. Leaning over he whis- pered in Goering’s ear, ‘Tell me what you did.’ Goering whispered, ‘I_burnt the Reichstag.’ Nero ran off shaking with glee. ‘Is that all? I burnt Rome!’” A grim worker once told me in Hamburg that if it was proved that the Nazis burnt the Reichstag that the German workers would tear them to pieces overnight. The com- fortable middle-class gentleman got @ cynical kick out of the joke. When the conviction grows among the workers that the Nazis burnt the Reichstag, much can be expected. ie as eee a FEW nights after the sailing from Baltimore there was a very hot argument in the steward’s glory hole, Several strong German nation- alists were arguing as to whether Hitler was or was not a friend of the working man. Finally one of the Hitler men got up angrily and walked out of the fo’c’sle. Thimm was the man’s name. The ship ar- rived in Hamburg, stayed four da and sailed. One night on the way back to the States, Thimm walked over to me and started talking. “T don’t feel so good,” he sa ‘There’s something wrong. Hitler is still the workers’ friend, but there is some- one behind him. Look, prices are going up, relief is not enough to keep you alive, unemployment is in- creasing. The papers don’t tell these things, but I can see and m friends tell me how things are with them. “Schacht,” he continues, “is the |burg. the Na had a march of | 30,000 storm trooper: the | I icact | sidewall j man sa him, | have | Thirty thousand storm troopers and hem. Very s marched sidelong at the people Young men from schools y the smooth. pe Ww z the offices thou worst crook that Germany ever had | °. as a Finance Minister. And Goe- ring is always making trouble. I|° hear that Roehm, Goering and Goebbels, are fighting among them- selves, trying to get Hitler's place. Something is wrong.” He started out on a long eulogy on the “hon- esty” of Hitler, but said their must be crooks in the background. There was @ doubt in his praising, as if he expected me to assail Hitler and show him where Hitler, too, was one of the gang of adventurers put in power by ‘the big capitalists. He felt’ something was wrong, but he wasn't able to put his finger on it 4. ee * HAMBURG there is a feeling of deep dissatisfaction with the Nazis among the workers. One night while the ship lay in Ham- their skins, the old fighter: Nazis are now r the new element of naive, hopeful. The comrade with me, an old soldier, commented on their marching, loose, out of step, disorganized, a poor fighting outfit. | re aaa Biohm and Voss, one of the largest machine shops in the world, in Hamburg, is working day and night shifts turning out military airplanes. The Hitler government urges and drives the workers towards war, Many Features in New Issue of ‘New Theatre’ The current issue of “New Theatre,” organ of the League of Workers Theatres of the U. S. A. section of the International Union of Revolutionary Theatres, contains many features of vital significance in the revolutionary theatre. Glenn Hughes, Hiram Mother- well, Liston M. Oak, Franchot Tone, Mordacai Gorelik, and John Wex- ley, author of “They Shall Not Die,” discuss in questionnaire form the “Prospects for the American Thea- tre,” a symposium which “New Theatre” has been running as a special feature for the past few months. The feature articles include a dis- cussion of the sound film, by V. I. Pudovkin, film director of the Soviet Union; an article, “Massacre in Hollywood,” by Robert Gessner, who tells how this story of the American Indian was distorted on the screen; an account of the prep- arations for the forthcoming Na- tional Theatre Festival of the League of Workers Theatres to be held in Chicago next month; an inside story of conditions in the bourgeois theatre world, “A Chorus Girl's Lot,” and mony others. I. L. D. Benefit of Play on Scottsboro NEW YORK.—A benefit performance of | John Wexley's play ‘They Shall Not Die,” produced by the Theatre Guild, will be given under the auspices of the New York district of the International Labor Defense March 27. Tickets for this benefit, as well as for the benefit under the auspices of the National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners, March 26, may be ob- tained from the ILD. district office, 870 Broadway, or from the Royale Theatre, 45th St., west of Broadway, TUNING IN TONIGHT’S PROGRAM WEAF —660 Ke. 7:00 P. M.—Mary Small, Songs 7:15—Billy Batchelor—Sketch 1:30—Green Bros., Orch.; Arlene Jackson, Songs 7:45—The Goldbergs—Sketch 8:00—Reisman Orch.; Phil Duey, Baritone ‘30—Wayne King Orch. 00—Bernie Orch. 9:30—Ed Wynn, Comedian 10:00—Cruise of the Seth Parker—Drama- tic Sketch 10:30—Beauty—Mme. Sylvia 10:45—Robert Simmons, Tenor; Sears Orch, 11:00—John B. Kennedy 11:15—News; Russo Orch. 11:30—Whtteman Orch, WOR—710 Ke. 7:00 P. M.—Sports Resume 7:15—Comedy; Music 00—Morros Musicale 9:30—Suecess—Harry Balkin 9:45—Eddy Brown, Violin 10:00—Teddy Bergman, Comedian; Queen, Songs; Male Quartet 10:15—Ourrent Events 10:30—Variety Musicale 11:00—Moonbeams Trio 11:30—Dance Music * Betty WJZ—760 Ke. 7:00 P. M.—Amos 'n’ Andy 7:15—Ohio Forging Ahead—R. C. Atkin- son, Director Ohio Institute; Leyton E. Carter, Director Cleveland Founda- tion; W. M. Cotton, Assistant Director Cincinnati Bureau of Municipal Re- search 7:45—Grace and Eddie Albert, Songs $:00—Tough Baby—Sketch 8:30—Adventures in Health—Dr. Herman Bundesen $:45—Bavarian Band 9:00 Alice Mock, ‘Soprano; Edgar Guest, 9:30—Duchin Orch. 10:00—Gale Page, Songs; Stokes Orch.; Ray Perkins; Edmund Lowe, Actor 10:30—Mario Cozzi, Baritone 10:40—Hillbilly Heart Throbs 11:00—Ramona, Songs 11:15—News 11:20—Anthony Frome, Tenor 11:30—Harris Orch. 12:00—Masters Orch. 1:80 A. M.—Remp Orch. ieee WABC—860 Ke. 2:00 P. M.—Myrt and Marge 5 15—Just Plain Bill—Sketch 30—Serenaders, Orch. Stoopnagie and Budd, edians; Connie Boswell, Songs 10:30—100th Anniversary of Birth of Ch. William Eliot; ikers, Charles Evans ‘Hughes, Chief U. 8, Supreme Court; Dr. James B. Conant, President of Harvard, and Others 11:00—Oharles Carlile, Tenor 11:15—News; Neison Orch. y it Orch. What's Doing ie the WwW Gree.’ Schools of the U.S. LOS ANGELES Workers’ School, had 100 students al- ready registered when we _ last heard from them. The students are industrial, agricultural, and domestic workers, as well as cler- ical and professional workers, Jap- anese, Mexican and native, both Negro and white. Such enthu- siasm is being shown for the school that plans for a larger school are being made right now. All those who can help either by giving money, secretarial work, or teaching, are urged to communi- cate with the director of the school, Miriam Bonner, at 224 So. Spring Street. * In the far northwest, in the town of Eugene, Ore., we may have a Workers School soon. “In this section of the country,” the comrades write, “there is beginning the first faint glow of class-consciousness and we hope that with the use of the Work- ers School we can blow it into a blaze .... If there is any information or advice on the conduct of a school, we would appreciate it very much.” We have written them at length and hope to see some results soon. Fc * On Funds for Libraries to their appeal to build their library. A great many more books and material are still needed, however, and all friends and sym- pathizers are urged to bring their donations to 1524 Prospect Ave. The Spring Term in Cleveland be- gins this week, and all students who intend to register are urged to do so immediately. -| Drive by Harlem | Workers’ School alhelm man, a s ‘ong nationalist | up to now, a sh Every x met at | ti were strong | te, the last there has been a change ng is up, they The gradual worsening of con- ditions around them has been in to Nazi press, to the The food t shows his feelings m expressively He is now entirely against the Nazis. “Th try to get the young fellows in their party. | They know they can’t fool us old| workers anymore.” There was this feeling among the German worke! jthat tt were a workers party. Now are beginning to find out, to wake up to what is up. The sailor, incidentally, had men- | tioned the fact that narrow street in the working class districts were being ripped up, the houses torn down. For the workers could hold off thousands of police by barricad- jing both_ends of these narrow Streets, The scene is being laid jfor the revolutionary battles in| Germany. Stage and Screen | Dan Totheroh’s Bronte Play |“Moor Born” Here In April | “Moor Born,” a new play dealing with life of the Bronte sisters by Dan Toth- eroh will be oered here by George Bushar and John Tuerk, with Helen Gahagan, Prances Starr and Edith Barrett as the Bronte sisters. Glenn Anders will have an important role in the production which is scheduled for April Prederick Jackson's comedy “Wife In-| surance,” opened its out-of-town tour in Philadelphia last night prior to ite pre- miere here next week. Basil Sydney, Ken- neth MacKenna, Walter Abel and Lillian! Emerson play the leading roles. John Murray Anderson has been engaged by the Shuberts to stage “The Family | The Harlem Workers’ School, 200 | Album,” a new musical production with | W. 135th St., is also starting a drive jto build up |urge all | Marxism-Leninism; books on eco- its library, and they | Louella Gear head the cast. who can to send them} | books dealing with the theory of! Anna Sten In music and lyrics by E. ¥. Harburg, Harold Arlen and Ira Gershwin. Ray Bolger and “Girl With The nomics, history, the problems of the | Bandbox” Coming To Acme | Negro masses in the U.S.A,, etc. | They also want to acknowledge the |receipt of some books and pam- | phlets from an anonymous comrade jin Milwaukee. IMPORTANT E Central | |have a Commission on Schools at |the time of the convention. Three |main phases will be discussed: | (1) Problems of | Schools throughout the country. (2) Inner Party Education (full | time training schools, national and district). In connection with the discus- | sion on libraries that has been | going on in this column recently, | throughout the country should pre- we have a letter from Louis Joel,| pare reports and material to be Chief Librarian of the Ruthenberg | presented to the Commission. Library of the New York Workers’ | * . . School. Regarding funds for the} ‘the workers’ School in New Ubrary, he says: York is featuring in the Spring Pa aah ae Term a special course on the His- “At the time of registration for the |tory of the Communist Interna- school classes, we inform the regis-| tional, by Sidney Bloomfield. In (3) The problem of texts. trant that there is a library regis- tration fee of 10 cents for the pur- pose of improving and expending this course the background and crystallization of the revolutionary forces in the period of the collapse the functioning of the Ruthenberg|of the Second International will be Library. Very few students object | discussed, the successful struggles to this charge, so that a steady in-| for Bolshevik principles and organ- come is available for the needs of | ization in the formative period of the library. This fund should be|the Communist International, the set aside for the use of the library | many movements, currents and ten- only, of a minimum income for the pur-| organizations in the labor move- chase of those books absolutely|ment, and the development and necessary for the students attend- | consolidation of the Communist In- ing the school. |ternational on the basis of the We also use library cards to those | theory and practice of Marxism- | workers who do not attend the Leninism. Registration is now go- school, but who make use of the| ing on at 35 E. 12th St. library. These cards are issued for ee * & period of six months, with the fee! Registration for the Spring Term of ten cents charged to those who | of the Brownsville Workers’ School, are employed.” 1855 Pitkin Ave., Brooklyn, N. Y., is On the question of librarians, he | now being taken. Their curriculum advises that they be recruited from | includes courses in Principles of the student body. We want to add|Communism, Political Economy, that these volunteers do not have | Marxism-Leninism, History of the to be experienced librarians or of-| Russian Revolution, Trade Union fice workers. Any worker who is | Strategy, Negro Problems, Russian, willing to give the time can do this | English and others. work, For the chief librarian, it is series * advisable to get a professional This column is published every librarian, if possible, or at least one| Tuesday. All news and com- who is familiar with filing meth-| ments on workers’ schools ods, ete. throughout the United States The Cleveland Workers’ School, by the way, writes in that they are beginning to get a response should be addressed to A. Mar- koff,, Workers’ School, 35 East 12th St, N. ¥. C, Leaders of the Proleiarian Red Army of the U.S.S.R. VI. Tan Gamarnik was born in 1894, He began his revolutionary work in| 1914 in students’ circles, He joined | the Bolshevik Party in 1916. Up) until 1917, he was secretary of the} Party committe in Kiev. In this | capacity he led the preparations for the October Uprising in Kiev. Dur- the rule of Petlura in the) Ukraine he led the illegal work of, the Party organizations in Odessa, Kharkov and the Crimea. During the Civil War in 1919 he was mem- ber of the Revolutionary Military Council of the southern group of the Ukrainian Army and Commissar of the 58th Division. Up to 1923, he was chairman of the Odessa and Kiev District Committees of the Party. From 1923 to 1928, he was chairman of the Far Eastern Revo- lutionary Committee which carried through the liberation of the Far East from occupation. From 1928 on he was Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party | of White Russia, He is a member of | the Supreme Revolutionary Military IAN GAMARNIK Counefl and People’s Vice-Commis- leader of political enlightenment for shown what they consider “neces- sar for the Army and Navy, and the Red Army and Navy. i { Committee of the) Communist Party has decided to| the Workers’ | Comrades in charge of schools In this way you are assured | dencies in the various sections and | | Following the run of the Soviet picture, | “Rubicon” or “The Strikebreaker,” which is now in the last four days, the Acme | Theatre will present another Soviet film, | “The Girl With The Bandbox,” in which Anna Sten plays the chief role. B. Barnett, director of “The Patriots,” produced the Sten film. In ths same program will be another Soviet picture, ‘“Igdenbu,” a story of native life on the Siberian River Amur. This film has an all-native cast and was directed by Amo Bek-Nazarov. Short subjects on the program at the Trans-Lux Theatre this week include “The Wild West,” a musical comedy with Janet Read, Olive Borden and Paul Keast?, “The “Giant Lan: Orient,” a travel film; Mockey Mouse cartoon and the Newsteel | The Palace is now showing “Spitfire” | with Katherine Hepburn and Ralph Bell- amy. The stage show is headed by, Buster Shaver and George Beatty. “Death Takes A Holiday’ is the screen feature at the Center Thaetre, Fredric March and Evelyn Venable are featured. “The Show-Off” with Spencer Tracy is at the Capitol Theatre this week. Jimmy Durante, Polly Moran and Lou Holt are featured in the stage show. Sylvia Sidney and Fredric March are sterred in “Good Dame,” the new picture at the Paramount. Tuesday WORKERS SCHOOL SPRING TERM, 35 B. 12th 8t., registration. late. ALL WORKERS Book Shops are now! conducting a 20 to 50 per cent Discount New York. Second week of Register now before it is too Sale, Circulating Tibrary at New York Workers Book Shop, 50 E. 18th 8t | TALK ON ‘Social Insurance” by Ed Smith, of Workers School, at Sparts Youth Br. ¥8 I.W.O., 1418 Boston Aoad, 8:30 p.m. | Wednesday “IMPERIALIST DOMINATION and the Bankruptcy of the Chinese Village Eco- | nomy,” lecture by ©. Komorowski at Friends of the Chinese People, 168 W. 23rd St., Room 12, 8:30 p.m. Admission 15c. | NORMAN H. TALLENTIRE speaks on | “Tom Mocney and the War Danger” at | the Open m of Irish Workers Club Branch 2, 894 St. Anns Ave., Bronx, 8 p.m.) Admission free, j Milwaukee, Wisc. TWO SOVIET FILMS “Men and Jobs” and “Three Comrades and One Invention” | shown at the Columbia Theatre, 1029 W. Walnut St., starting at 7 p.m. continuous, Friday, March 23, Benefit Communist Party, Boston, Mass, LEO GALLAGHER and Mother Wright will speak at the Mass Meeting arranged by LL.D, on Wednesday, March 21, 8 p.m. at Repertory Hall, Huntington Ave., near ‘Mass. Ave. Set Up Vigilantes In California to Destroy Labor Organizations SAN FRANCISCO. — Santa Clara j@nd Contra Costa counties have | been added to those in the south- ern San Joaquin valley where are forming extra-lezal vigilance com- mittees in anticipation of labor trouble during the next crop-picking season. In Senta Clara county — the county seat of which is San Jose, scene of the recent lynching—the organization frankly states that Wages must be set by employers alone, and that any worker who will not accept whatever rate is offered will “be considered as an agitator and malcontent who has come into the county for the purpose of mak- ing trouble, and will be treated ac- cordingly.” That means an overt threat of violence against any worker who is not willing to be a contented slave. The defense committee of the new association is jempowered “to use any necessary means to protect workers and prevent sabotage’— By JOHN L. SPIVAK NEW ORLEANS, La.— With the cash poured into this city and state by the federal government osten- to “supply work” for the all of every of of work gures he figures given me by J T. Wentz. statistician for the United States Depar ment of labor. Mr. Wentz and his office staff handle = federa! unemploy ment hun- work been out Service This three per sent which have deen given jobs applies not merely to this* ) oe city alone with JOHN L. SPIVAK its population of 460,000 but to the entire state of Louisiana It is the function of the sta- tistical department to find out the number of unemployed (which it has not done) and the number which has been put to work by jall_ government bureaus like the C.W.A., C.C.C., P.W.A. and the rest of the alphabet. This department established by the government in this state to find jobs for the un- employed; and having received these reports the records show that not quite three per cent of the un- employed registered with the gov- ernment have been found jobs. It must be remembered that those registered with the government as unemployed do not make the total of unemployed in this state or city. No one actually has any idea here of the actual figures of unemploy- ment. I am beginning to think that the Department of Labor fig- ures on the total number of un- employed in this country are just guesses. There are no figures for this state, nor were there any in the other states I've been in. Of- ficials simply guess and they usually guess very conservatively. Amer- ican Federation of Labor figures on unemployment are as inaccurate as the government's. Mr. Wentz is a very discouraged man. He looks at figures all day long and when I asked him whether he concluded from all these figures that things were better he almost exploded. “I don’t see any improvement,” he exclaimed testily. “Looks to me like things are getting worse.” I am inclined to think that the government’s realization that all these millions are not really em- ploying any appreciable number of men and women, is behind, first, the order to cut working hours on C.W.A. jobs so as to make room for more jobs, and second, the decision to liquidate the C.W.A. I am get- ting a little suspicious about gov- ernment statements. The N.R.A. was supposed to have done wonders and so far where I’ve been, it has done exceedingly little and the pub- lic was never told about it. The C.W.A. also carried with it vast blasts of front page propaganda but no one ever gave any actual figures of how many people were employed by this scheme. If the assumption that the C.W.A. is being liquidated because it has not produced the employment ex- pected is correct then the other government projects will probably be liquidated before long—if the percentage of employment through- out the country are anywhere near what they are in Louisiana, ine Senaee } E statistical department of the national re-employment office has been functioning only since the first of January, 1934, What hap- pened before, how many were abso- lutely destitute, what they did or how they ate occasionally, no one knows. But for the whole state of Louisiana, with a population of a little over two million, only 29,000 persons have been found jobs, since this record started. About 17,000 are placed in the “permanent” category; that is, jobs that last 30 days or longer. This 20,000 includes some 15,000 that were put to work within two weeks after the new year stated when a fresh batch of C.W.A. money came in. Otherwise the total would gathers reports from the 63 offices | be around These week figures thay the gov is collecting se laboriou do not give any indi- cation of how many recorded as been given jobs were alo weeks previously as given jobs number of repeats in this ns put to work is un- government statis- “What's the use of res on that? We have we can do to keep figures on What's the average wage these e getting?” ment does not know. here from 30 cents an hour Mr. Wentz says after studying numbers of sheets and data. “For how long a work day or ob? ~If a man gets even $1 an hour and only works three hours for one day a week, that is only $3 a week.” “IT know,” says Mr. Wentz, “but we have no records on that.” “How about those who get pro- te jobs. What do they earn?” don't know. There are no r rds available. I don’t believe anyone could give these ficures to you And those figures are not avail- able in other government branches, no records available at the Asso- ciation for Commerce, organized labor or charity organizations. After hunting for information of this character and seeing every of- fice busy with records and sta- tistics, you-still find that the most important information, the basic in- formation which you and T and the government should have to have a clear understanding of what has happened, is not known to anyone. Everybody's busy though. They rush around furiously. You walk into a government office here and feel that the whole place has gone mad. Everybody sits around with a worried loo! They never know when their own salaries are going to be cut again; some have already been fired by the C.W.A. liquidating process and the rest know they will be fired before long. So they file papers and write letters and keep statistics and when you boil it all down no one knows what it is all about. The white collar class is the largest individual group in the city and these have been affected most by the depression—especially the | women. In most instances the ef- | fect upon the white collar class has been even more keen and sharp here than upon longshoremen, | power trust employees and un- | skilled workers generally. Clerks, stenographers, teachers, | salesmen, minor business executives, jete., are being put to work at | manual labor chiefly. There is ap- parent a change in the drift of | employment from the “white collar” |to the manual laborer, which is | noticeable not only here but in | the other areas T visited. Men who |once had nicely manicured finger | nails now heave a pick and shovel; and when, down here, when the | government cannot find pick and shovel work for them, they set them to catching rats! I met one sales- man who used to earn $500 a month |and expenses who now walks around the streets of New Orleans j with a bag of rat traps. He places them in homes and stores and if any rats are caught he collects | them the following day. For this | the government pays him $9.40 a | week—the average wage of a C.W.A. worker here. ‘Women teachers, clerks, sten- |ographers, etc., since they cannot do manual labor, are sent to C.C.C. | camps or other places—anything to {make a makeshift job; and the work | these men and women frequently | do is absurd. | “What did these people do before | the government put them to work? What did they do before the de- | pression?” | The government statistician | shakes his head and shrugs his shoulders. | “We have no records except on the application cards and we are not tabulating this kind of informa- | tion. What's the use of tabulating | that? Does it make much difference whether a man was an engineer and is now a shovel man or a school teacher and is now wielding a pick?” “It doesn’t make any difference but we would have a better idea of what class of work was the most hard hit.” “They are all hard hit,” Myr. Wentz growled. “We have appli- cants for the $9.40 a week from salesmen, school teachers, business executives, manufacturers—or for- mer manufacturers, to be exact.” (To Be Continued) AMUSEMENTS A SOVIET PICTURE Sail Into Every Port! AMKINO Presents ACME THEATRE “The Strikebreaker” Produced in the U.S.8.R. by Belogoskino (ENGLISH TITLES) Lith Street and MIDNITE SHOW Union Square SATURDAY —-THE TREATRE GUILD presents— JOHN WEXLEY’S New Play THEY SHALL NOT DIE ROYALE 7, 8 st. w. Broadway. Eves. Mats, Thursday and Saturday, EUGENE O'NEILL’s Comedy AH, WILDERNESS! with Ng sagt ayaa es MAXWELL ANDERSON’S New Play “MARY OF SCOTLAND” with HELEN PHILIP HELEN HAYES MERIVALE MENKEN ALVI ‘Thea., 52 St., W. of B'way Ey.8.20Mats.Thur.&Sat.2,20 ROBERTA A New Musical Comedy by JEROME KERN # OTTO HARBACK and the ranchers have already sary means,” NEW AMSTERDAM, W. 424 St. Matinees Wednesday and Setardey 2.80 Eves. 8.40 ——RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL— 50 St & 6 Ave—Show Place of the Nation Opens 11:30 A. M. RUDY ALICE JIMMY VALEE FAYE DURANTE George White Scandals And a great Music Hall Stage Show BK te eff erson 1h 5.5] ow | John ‘ymore & Helen Chandler in “LONG LOST FATHER” also:—“SEARCH FOR BEAUTY” with LARRY CRABBE & IDA LUPINO wt GLADYS ADRIENNE RAYMOND COOPER ALLEN MASSEY THE SHINING HOUR BOOTH THEATRE, W. 45th St. Evgs. 8:46 Matinees Thursday and Saturday 2:40 P1EGFELD FOLLIES with FANNIE BRICE Wille & Eugene HOWARD, Bartlett @mM- MONS, Jane FROMAN, Patricia BOWMAN. WINTER GARDEN, B'way & 50th. Ers. $.36 Matinees Thursday and Saturdey 2:30