The Daily Worker Newspaper, July 25, 1934, Page 1

EE eed ae DAYS Only Are Left to Sav~ ANGELO HERNDON from the Chain Gang. $15,000 Bail Is Needed. It Will Be Returned 3 Rush Cash or Liberty Bonds to International Labor Defense., 80 E. llth St., New York City. Make This Figure Grow PRESS RUN Daily Worker CENTRAL ORGAN COMMUNIST PARTY U.S.A. (SECTION OF COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL ) Vol. XI, No. 177 = Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office at New York, N. ¥., under the Aet of March 8, 1879. EW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JULY 25, 1934 WEATHER: Probably local thunder showers YESTERDAY. 41,900 (Six Pages) Price 3 Cents GOV. OLSON ACTS FOR MARTIAL LAW IN MINNEAPOLIS Murder of Torgler in Prison by Nazis Reported by W Pap FOOD PRICES TO SOAR IN DROUGHT AND A.A.A. CRISIS ROOSEVELT PLAN TURNS DRY SPELL TO CATASTROPHE Nation-Wide Crisis Due On Heels of Gigantic Devastation FARMERS RUINED U.S. Ignores Real Relief | Plan of Communist Farm Bill WASHINGTON, D. C., July 24.—Breaking through all re- cent attempts of Government officials to minimize drought situation, the appal- ling devastation of the West and Southwest is rapidly be- coming a major nation-wide crisis. A rapid rise in the price of food and of all farm products was re- luctantly admitted to be a certainty within the next 30 to 60 days by Secretary of Agriculture Wallace. Government Destruction The growing food shortage has come about not so much as a re- sult of the drought as because Roosevelt’s A. A. A. program has’ destroyed millions of bushels of grain through the plowing-under, acreage-zeduction activities of the Department of Agriculture. Normally, there is a tremendous carry-over of grains fom previous harvests. This year the drought has struck the’ farmlands with large supplies of dairy and grain products destroyed through A. A. A. acti- vities. It is this which makes the present situation so menacing to the farmers and city workers. Hits Twenty-Five Million The drought, bringing in its train terrible misery and suffering to those not wealthy enough to store; fodder, water, and food, covers 18 states with a population of 25,000,- 000 in the direct area of the heat. Government reports indicate that the condition of pastures “is the lowest on record, averaging only 48.9 per cent of normal.” “Everything,” states the latest re- ports of the Department of Agri- culture, “points to a national short- age of hay without precedent, and a reduction in the carrying capacity of grass lands in important dairy states that may affect production of milk for more than a year ehead.” Speculators Profit The relief measures of the Roose- velt Government have been crimi- nally inadequate with the vaunted “crop insurance” of the A. A. A, giving an average of 15 cents a bushel to the farmers while specu- lJators are reaping a harvest of profits in the exchanges where wheat is selling at $1 a bushel. In an effort to escape the ravages of the withering heat, wealthy Kan- sas farmers are planning to drive 200,000 head of cattle to areas with water and forage. But this remedy “is closed to the majority of small farmers with smaller herds, since the expense makes it impossible for them. They are,-as a result, being ruined and pauperized by the thousands, with their families facing immediate the | Union Heads To Hear Jack Stachel Discuss San Francisco Strike NEW YORK.—The lessons of the San Francisco general strike and the attacks on the West Coast Communist Party will be discussed tonight by Jack Sta- chel, member of the Central Committee of the Communist || Party at a meeting in the Man- |] hattan Lyceum, 66 E. 4th St., es- pecially arranged for all func- tionaries of the Party, trade unions and other mass organiza- tions in the New York District. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. ‘Furniture Men Move For Strike NEW YORK—A united front for joint action has been definitely es- tablished between seven “locals of the American Federation of Labor and seven locals of the National Furniture Workers Industrial Union. The unity became a living factor after a joint meeting of represen- tatives from the various locals in New York Sunday. With perfect working class har- mony prevailing in the discussion of the basic problems confronting workers in the upholstered furni- ture industry, the united front com- mittee, representing several thou- ; Sand members, decided to work jointly for a general strike in the trade to establish union conditions. Max Perlow, of the Furniture Workers Industrial Union, and Sal B Hoffman, of the A. F. of L., will act in the capacity of chairman and secretary of the united front organization committee for the up- holstery industry. Appeals to Upholsterers Internat’! The General Executive Board of the National Furniture Workers In- dustrial Union, decided at its last meeting, to further cement the unity of both organizations, by ad- dressing a united front appeal to the National Executive Board of the Upholsterers International, as well as to the Woodcarvers Asso- ciation, both bodies affiliates of the American Federation of Labor. It also addressed its unity appeal to several independent furniture unions, especially the Furniture and Allied Workers Union of Gardner, Mass., a Socialist Party- controlled union, which thus far has refused to’ join in a unity action with the National Furniture Workers Industrial Union. ILD Lawyer to Ask Pardon rs for Mooney | SAN FRANCISCO, July 24—Leo starvation and disease. Help Creditors Only The Roosevelt Government has consistently aimed all its relief ef- forts in the drought area toward aiding only the wealthiest farmers and toward guaranteeing further crop destruction. In most areas, Government offlials make the sign- ing of crop-reducing contracts a ia condition for getting re- ief. ‘The cattle buying program of the Roosevelt government has re- sulted in the buying up of 800,- (Continued on Page 2) Record-Breaking Heat Wave Takes 454 Lives KANSAS CITY, Mo., July 24— Almost 500 persons is the toll of dead in the record-breaking heat wave that is sweeping over the Middle and Southwest, it was re- ported today. A United Press sur- vey gives the number of those who have died from heat prostration in the past few days as 454. The over 100 degrees tempera- ture is creating much suffering on the farms. where crops burn and eattle die from lack of water. x Gallagher, noted labor attorney, ar- rived here yesterday from Los An- geles to take charge of a new par- don application on behalf of Tom Mooney, to be filed with Governor Frank F. Merriam, He immediately visited San Quentin where he work- ed out with Mooney the details for the petition. The petition will be based on the overwhelming accumulated proof of Mooney’s innocence, plus the fact that Mooney was acquitted on May 24, 1933, in Judge Ward’s court, on an int it similar to the one on which he was railroaded in 1917, and is now serving a life sentence. Nes ae Painters Demand Mooney Release WASHINGTON, D. C., July 24— A resolution, addressed to President Roosevelt, demanding the immedi- ate and unconditional release of Tom Mooney and Warren K. Bil- lings, was unanimously adopted at the July 20 meeting of Local Union No. 368, Painters and Decorators, A. F. of L. The resolution also de- nounces the ferocious terror and raids unleashed by California em- Pployers and their State and local governments against striking work- ers on the West Coast. \the Nazi leadership and their big Boss Paper Lays Order To Goering The Star Says Hitler | Aide Fulfilled Threat Made At Trial WASHINGTON, July 24.—Ernst Torgler, German Communist leader and one of the four acquitted | Reichstag fire defendants, has been ; murdered in prison by the Nazi butchers, according to a story pub- lished by the Washington (D. c.) | Sunday Star. | The Star reported that General | Herman Goering ordered Torgler’s) murder during Hitler's bloody mas- sacre of hundreds of his misled fol- lowers and lieutenants on June 30 and the period immediately follow- | ing. The story states that Torgler’s | death has been admitted by a Nazi Official, whom it quotes as declar- | ing that he died a natural death. Rejecting this Nazi version, the Star comments that Goering has finally fulfilled his threat, made during the Reichstag fire trial, to murder Torg- | ler. | The Daily Worker has been un-| jable to obtain confirmation or | authoritative denial of this story. The fate of both Torgler and Ernst Thaelmann is still shrouded in a fog of Nazi silence and censorship ‘of news regarding these two heroic \anti-fascist fighters who, according to all reports from Europe, are slated to be the first victims of the new Hitler lynch tribunal— the bogiis “People’s Court.” The Star’s report that Torgler has been murdered emphasizes the necessity for intensifying the mass united front fight against the mur- derous Nazi regime. Storm the Nazi Consulates with demands for in- formation regarding Thaelmann and Torgler, for the safe and im- mediate release of Thaelmann and all other anti-fascists held in the Nazi prison dungeons and concen- tration. camps. Send delegations! Strengthen the picket lines! Flood the Nazi Consulates with telephone calls and protest resolutions! Answer the appeal of the Paris Liberation Committee for funds for the freedom of all anti-fascists. Rush money to the National Com-! mittee to Aid the Victims of Ger- man Fascism, 870 Broadway, for remittance to the Paris Committee. Coliseum, East 177th Street. Booklet Published To Spur Meeting “Daily” Drive Quota: A 32-PAGE, illustrated booklet, “How to Sell the Daily Worker,” has just been published for dis- tribution among all Party mem- bers, members of mass organiza- | tions and unions and Red Build-| ers. This booklet provides a com- plete training course on the sale and distribution of our “Daily,” covering street sales, sales before factories, the establishment of routes, subscription sales, sales at meetings, etc. Every Section should order copies of “How to Sell the Daily Worker” in sufficient quantity to place one in the hands of every Party mem- ber and sympathizer in the Sec tion. The booklet is priced at 2c per copy, but will be billed to the Sections at le per copy. i “How to Sell the Daily Worker” gives all of the facts and methods necessary to make the drive for 20,000 mew Daily Worker readers by Sept. 1 a success. It describes how the sale of the “Daily” can be linked up with other political activities—election campaigns, peti- ca jiers’ ‘Union, N. Y. District Gets Minimum of 50,000 Of Anti-War Issue EW YORK DISTRICT takes a flying leap and lands with a minimum order of 50,000 for the special ANTI-WAR ISSUE, in addition to their regular copies for that day. They expect this number to go skyward as last-minute orders from various sections come pouring in. With open fascist attacks now occurring daily, especially in strike regions like the West Coast, Minneapolis, Cleveland, and other cities, and with war preparations going on at full speed, the need for a wide- spread sale and distribution of |} this anti-war, anti-fascist issue is apparent. Time is short. Districts must wire their orders immediately. The issue will be printed on July 27, to reach Minneapolis, Chi- cago and vicinity on time for distribution Saturday, July 28. To enable the Daily Worker to print his large issue, money orders or checks must accompany orders. |! Stocky ards Are Tied Up By Walkout CHICAGO, July 24.—Nine hun- dred cattle handlers, members of local 517 of the Live Stock Hand- walked out today at 2A. M,, crippling the Chicago stock- yards. Four hundred pickets, car- rying placards and sign boards, picketed every gate while scores of police were mobilized and three squads of detectives mingled provo- catively with the strikers. Under heavy police mobilization, Officials sweated over water pails in an attempt to feed and water 45,000 cattle which arrived yesterday, the largest shipment of cattle received since 1908. About 8,000 stockyard workers walked out last winter tying up the yards. After a two-day strike, the workers returned with the promise of mediation. After a six-month de- lay, Federal Judge P. L. Sullivan, acting as mediator, handed down a decision on June 1 that a ten per cent wage increase should be granted and that the men should receive back pay at the rate of ten per cent of the weekly salary for each of 13 weeks. Even this was not granted and the men struck today. With 15,000 cattle in the Union Yards and all work paralyzed, all cattle shipments were ordered halted today. CoS CHICAGO.—Seven hundred and fifty workers, members of the Live Stock Commission Men’s Union, Local 519, joined the strike of the helpers today, swelling the number of strikers to 1,600. As the stock- yards fast become paralyzed, offi- cials ordered that cattle be shot. The stockyards are glutted with three times the usual number of live stock on hand, Provincetown Jingoists Veto Anti-War Meeting PROVINCETOWN, Mass., July 24.—Local politicians who are using the visit of a squadron of U. S. warships to whip up war senti-/ ment have refused a permit for the use of the Town Hall on Aug. 1 for an anti-war meeting. Appli- cation for the permit was filed by Miss Agnes Weinrich, a resident tions, meetings, etc artist. 1,200 Jailed In Austria | Dollfuss Orders Arrest Of Socialists And Communists VIENNA, July 24. — Following the arrest of 1,200 Socialists and/ Communists here today by the Doll- fuss fascist government, the police | were called out on alarm duty. The mobilization of the police is de- | clared to be on a militarist basis in | order to attempt to terrorize the | | workers against any resistance to the Dolifuss regime. The arrested were herded into an | old coach factory. Government offi- cials stated they were held on “pre- ventative” arrest while their homes | were being searched for dynamite. For the past few weeks, wholesale bombings have been going on| throughout Austria, instigated by | the Nazis, financed by the Hitler government of Germany. The Doll- fuss government used this occasion of individual terror, in order to di- rect its main fire against the cialists and Communists, who }f ‘ec, formed a united front against the fascist regime. Two socialists were condemned to death. The government, in order to justify its wholesale arrests, is spreading slander that there is now a united front of Socialists, Com- munists and the Nazis. The Socialists and Communists ate united in fighting against both the Dollfuss fascist regime and the fascist regime which the Nazis pro- pose should replace the Dollfuss government. Detroit Police Head Destroys Press Card of “Daily” Writer NEW YORK.—The Daily Worker yesterday protested the voiding of @ police press card issued to A. B. Magil, the Daily Worker Detroit correspondent, in a wire to Police Commissioner Heinrich Pickert of Detroit. Magil’s press card was taken from him and destroyed by Pickert after he had attended a relief work- ers’ demonstration last Thursday when police assaulted the workers. Pickert is known as a Hitler sym- pathizer and has recently banned the showing of a film, “Hitler's Reign of Terror,” on the grounds that it was “untrue.” | Wage Increases Won In 80 N. Y. Fur Shops NEW YORK.—The fur workers Industrial Union announced yes- terday that 80 shops in Greater New York have won July wage in- creases due to struggles led by the | union. Eleven shops came out on strike yesterday. ‘The union announced that nom- inations for paid and non-paid officials can still be made to the Objection and Electioxf Committee. The committee has urged all work- ers who have objections to any nominations to appear before the committee which will meet tonight 131 West 28th Street. Beheaded by Nazis IN in the headquarters of the union, | Bridges Protests Plan to! Rely On Roosevelt’s | Mediation Board TRICKERY IS FEARED BallotingUnderPressure By Longshoremen Seen By Militant Groups SAN FRANCISCO, July 24. —tThe hiring hall issue, the central issue of the maritime strike, flared up today as votes were being taken on the question of arbitration. | Harry Bridges, chairman the Marine Strike Committee, protested vigorously against the plan to have the men return to work and place all faith in the Roosevelt | Mediation Board. Bridges spoke at a meeting of longshoremen, pointing out the dangers of the arbitration plan, and a vote was taken not to ap- prove of the arbitration settlement. Another meeting will be held to- night. where the longshoremen will make a final decision on the mat- ter. Betrayal Suspected The rank and file smell betrayal | and trickery in the N.R.A. con- ducted referendum. It is clear to them that the shipowners will fight | to the last ditch against the issue of union-controlled hiring halls. They understand that it is the aim of the Roosevelt board to slip one over on them and re-establish open shop conditions on the waterfront. Pressure has been great against the men who have been on strike since May 9. They have been shot | at. Two of their members have been | killed. The best of their forces have | been jailed in the frenzied fascist. | raids. Leaders of the Frisco un! have betrayed them when victory was only a few days off. The strik-| ers have stood up against extreme | |attacks. Surely these attacks will; | be a factor in the voting which is| | taking place today. | A number of the longshoremen who will vote aye on the arbitra- tion plan will vote under pressure. | But even those who cast their votes for the N.R.A. scheme will cast them with the aim of coming out again on strike if the hiring halls are not placed under union control. Strikers See Fraud At this writing it is impossible to | say what the outcome of the voting will be, or what will happen after the Mediation Board announces the results of the vote. A great number of the strikers have expressed the opinion that fraudulent methods will be used to put over the arbitration plan. Many who were jailed in the raids on Communist headquarters and union halls were released 4,500 Clothing Workers On Strike In Montreal | MONTREAL, Quebec, July 24.—| | Over 4,500 clothing workers walked {out today in this city’s most seri- | }ous strike in ten years, closing 125 factories. . | struggle. }anese Premier, Communist Election Platform Will Appear || In Tomorrow’s Issue NEW YORK.—The complete text of the congressional elec- tion platform adopted by the Central Committee of the Com- munist Party of the United States will be published in to- "s edition of the Daily The platform will serve as the basis of all local and state elec- tion campaigns. Accompanying the text of the platform will be an almost full page of special election news and features and an article dealing with city gov- ernment in Chicago by Bill Gebert, Communist Party organ- izer in District 8. Aluminum | Strike Set In 5 Plants PITTSBURGH, Pa. July 24—A strike in five plants of the Melion- contzolled Aluminum Company of, America, which may involve 30,000} workers in six cities, is set for mid- night tomorrow night. Workers are ready to walk out for better con- ditions and a closed shop in the following cities where Mellon plants | are operated: Messina, N. Y.; Alooa, Tenn.; | East St. Louis, Tll.; Lantiwok, Wis., | and New Kensington, Pa. Workers in two plants in the Pittsburgh area are not as yet involved in the} The militancy of the workers in the five factories has forced A. F. of L. officials at Washington to “pledge the full support of the| American Federation of Labor in| your present negotiations.” The New Kensington district was | the scene of a strike by aluminum | workers in March, when a walk-out | was called to obtain a wage in-| crease. After eleven days they were | induced to return to work on the} promise of an 11 per cent raise, | which they later discovered affect- | ed only a small minority of the| force, the skilled workers. The ma- | jority were not included, having re- | ceived small raises since the begin- ning of the year, which disqualified them, according to the agrcement. | Company officials oppose the} workers’ present demands with the | claim that they would, if granted, | increase labor costs by 250 per cent. | poner ee | TOKYO, July 24—The new Jap-| Admiral Keisuke | Okada, was greeted by a protest delegation of 60 silk-worm tenders today. | They demanded distribution of | government ers and pe: relief of the debt-ridde arme and measures to protect the silk industry. | | placed 9,000 workers where b; ashington Paper led NEW MOVEMENT MAY By Fascists INVOLVE 9,000 WORKERS; FRISCO VOTE FRAUD SEEN Demands Drawn Up By; Relief Workers Include Minimum Wage | RAP POLICE FORCE Trotskyite Leaders Try To Split the Ranks of Men On Strike MINNEAPOLIS. July 24.— At a meeting of Gov. Floyd B. Olson and National Guard officers Jate today, a procla- mation declaring martial law lin this city was prepared. The proclamation lacked only the Governor's signature to become effective. (Special to the Daily Worker) MINNEAPOLIS, Minn., July 24.—Workers on all but two work relief jobs here struck yesterday in solidarity with the strike 6f the Gen- eral Drivers Local 574 and 'for their own demands. Those on the two remaining jobs struck this morning. Following the strike action of the relief workers, the Welfare Bureau was forced to stop assignments af workers to the relief job, knowing that they would be stopped by the pickets and would swell the strikers’ ranks, The Emergency Relief Adminis- tration workers strike plus the ac- tion of the Welfare Board has y can be drawn which ergetic work th the strike movement sweeping. Minneapolis. Meetings of the E. R. A. relief workers last night drew up the fol- lowing demands: A 30-hour wr four full weeks work a month, @ guaranteed minimum weekly wage of $16.50, wages to be paid on the job, no forced labor, a 26 per cent increase in unemployment relief for the jobless, no discrimination in giv- ing out relief, and rent to be paid for all unemployed. The relief workers declared their solidarity with the striking truck- men, condemned the murderous po= lice attacks of last Friday, demand- ed that the police convoying of trucks be stopped, and demanded the immediate removal of Police Chief Johannes, who ordered the savage police attack on the demon- stration of unemployed workers here on April 6. Preparatory work for the N. R, A. relief strike had already begun last week by the United Relief Workers Association and the Un- (Continued on Page 2) Vorkers of Pittsburgh Begin Drive To Force Release of 4 Leaders STUTTGART, Germany, July 24.| The International Ladies’ Gar-| —Two Communists were beheaded | ment Workers Union, to which the | here yesterday and one was re-| striking workers belong, announced | More frightening to Okada was their demand for a speci: session| pITTSBURGH, Pa. July 24.— of the Diet instead of waiting for| simultaneously with the filing of in his cell, ported to have “committed suicide” | that 3,500 more workers would be called out within ten days, NEW YORK.—Enraged by reports that Ernst Torgler has been mur- dered by the Nazis, anti-fascists in this city are planning a mighty mass turnout for the “Free Thael- mann” rally and farewell banquet to Willi Muenzenberg, this Friday evening at Bronx Coliseum, East 117th St. Muenzenberg, outstanding Ger- man anti-fascist editor and pub- lisher, will analyze the present sit- uation in Germany, dealing from intimate knowledge and experience with the mighty revolutionary up- surge of the masses, disillusonment of broad sections of Hitler's former followers, the split in the ranks of in Rally for Thaelmann industrialist supporters and the out- look for working class victory. Earl Browder, Secretary of the Communist Party of the United States, Mother Bloor and Jack Stachel are among other noted working class leaders who will ad- dress the monster rally. Tickets for the banquet, obtain- able only in advance, are 60 cents. Admission tickets, without the banquet, are 25 cents in advance and 35 cents at the door, All ban- quet tickets must be returned or settled for not later than tomorrow noon, at the headquarters of the National Committee to Aid the Vic- tims cf German Fascism, 879 Thaelmann-Scottsboro Rally BROOKLYN, — A Thaelmann- Scottsboro rally will be held to- night at the Hinsdale Workers Club, 572 Sutter Ave. corner Alabama, with Richard B. Moore, Field Or- ganizer of the International Labor Defense, as principal speaker. The meeting is under the auspices of ing the picket line demanding the freedom of Ernst Thaelmann and all political prisoners in Germany. . 8 8 Chorus Rehearsal Tonight NEW YORK. — A general re- hearsal of all the choruses affiliated with the Workers Music League of New York will take place tonight } Diet, Masses, Enraged at Reports of Torgler’s Death, Plan to Crowd Coliseum > the late December regular session. | Okada does not want to face the | more susceptible to mass pressure than the Cabinet is, until | the new huge military, naval, avi- ation program is safely under way. | | Jail 30 in Bronx Bread) Strike — Workers Call For Additional Pickeis) NEW YORK.—Thirty worker: have been jailed and frame-up| charges of “robbery” have been | started against pickets in the Bronx bread strike, now in its twelfth day, under the leadership of the Neigh- borhood Organization Against the High Cost of Living. ‘The workers are demanding that appeal petitions to the State Su- preme Court Monday in the cases of Phil Fi.nkfeld, Jim Egan, Emma Brletich, and Dan Benning, a broad mass campaign will be inaugurated to protest against the frame-up of thi working class leaders by the be mtrolied courts of Pennsyle vania and demand the immediate ond unconditional release of all four. The affirmation of sentences of the lewer courts in these cases, | which was recently handed down by the Superior Court at the instiga- tion of the U. S. Steel and Melion interests, has evoked a storm of re- sentment from workers in the Pitts- burgh district. Defense committees are being set up in all district mass organizations, representatives of which will meet the Alfred Levy Branch of the I. at Manhattan Lyceum, 66 E, 4th) L. D. | St., at 8 sharp. The New Thaelmann song will be) taught in prepa:ation for the ap-| pearance of the combined choruses at the Thaelmann Banquet this Fri-| day night. AlJl must be present.| Singers are urged to keep this is: e | of the Daily Worker, which con tains the Thaelmann song on page . . i Millinery Workers to Picket NEW YORK.—Tomorrow’s pick- eting of the Gezmany Consulate, 17 Battery Place, will be conducted by the Millinery United Front Com- mittee. The committee has urged all workers to show their solidarity Broadway. with the German masses by join-| five ERE \ister for picket duty, i lit ‘ul: the Salada” SINT te: Eble in a preliminary conference on July = ee | 27. A petition campaign is being le be seit baci aod initiated to secure a majority of sie ptecsiagit Speer | the signatures in all organizations rolls at 18 cents a dozen. _ | demending their immediate release, The Neighborhood Organization,} Individuals and organizations with headquarters at 1841 Bryant) have b: urged to support this Ave. appeals to all workers to| campaign against Pennsylvania come to the headquarters daily | frame-ups by sending funds or come between 6 a.m. and 1 p.m. to reg-| munications to the International ‘ Labor Defense, 522 Court Place,