The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 5, 1935, Page 8

Page & Daily QWorker CENTRAL ORGAN COMMUNIST PARTY U.S.A. (SECTION OF COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL) “America’s Only Working Class Daily Newspaper” FOUNDED 1924 PUBLISHED DAILY, EXCEPT SUNDAY, BY THE COMPRODAILY PUBLISHING CO., INC., 50 E. 13th Street, New York, N. Y. Telephone: ALgonquin 4-795 4. Address Daiwork. New York, N. Y. mn Room 954, Na Press Building, Telephone: Natio 7910. St., Room 706, Chicago, Il. Subscription Rates: except Manhattan and Bronx) 1 year, $6.00, 3 months 1 month, SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 1935 Greetings to Insurance Congress Delegates HE Daily Worker extends its heartie greetings to the.delegates who today open the historic National Congress for Social and Unemployment Insurance in the nation’s capital. Speaking in the name of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, the Daily Worker hails this great united action of delegates representing hundreds upon hundreds of thousands s ready to fight for one of the greatest needs of the toiling masses at the moment val cash relief and Federal unemployment ial insurance, to be paid for by the gov- mment and the capitalist employers. he National Congress is the voice of the Amer fean working class. It is the voice that challenges the, other Congress now in session, the Congress of ‘Wall Street and the employers, The working class Congress for Social and Un- employment Insurance must be supported by mass actions all over the country. Meetings and relief demonstrations must give the assembled delegates the feeling of the mass power which the Congress repres*nts and for which it is fighting. Right. now another task faces us. The fight which the National Congress is waging must be carried to every corner of the land when the Con- gress adjourns. Preparations to receive the dele- gates at meetings and demonstrations where the results and lessons of the Congress can be given the widest publicity, should now be made. In the shops, trade union locals, Socialist Party locals, in every neighborhood and group where workers gather, the issues facing the Congress and the actions of the Congress should be the most burning subject of discussion. For the issue of immediate relief to the 15,000,000 Jobless, the issue of forcing the rich and the gov- ernment to guarantee every worker both unem- ployment and social insurance against all the hor- rors of capitalist crisis with its major horror of unemployment—this is the most vital issue con- fronting every working class family. Hail the fight for Federal Unemployment and Social Insurance! Make the wealthy, the employers, bankers and landlords and their government pay for the crisis! Lehman Offers a Tax on Pay Envelopes OVERNOR LEHMAN of New York em- barks upon his second term with his technique of making nice sounding phrases brighter than ever. A close follower of his political boss, Roosevelt, Governor Lehman in his inaugural ad- dress and in his message to the New York State Legislature Wednesday cloaked himself once again in the garments of a great “liberal.” It is the “real interest of the people” which is Closest to his heart, declared this millionaire in- Yestment banker of Wall Street. Lehman has full control of the State Legislature. He could have passed any law he wished. Yet it is very strange that this “real interest in the people” seems to work somehow in the real interests of the Wall Street banks and monopolies. Under the guise of a liberal program in the utilities, he blocked all attempts to levy heavy taxes on such utility monopolies as Consolidated Gas of New York and Associated Gas upstate. The reason for this zealous protection of the huge Profits of the utilities is that Lehman and Tammany Hall have the closest ties with these utility cliques. In his inaugural address, Lehman boasted of.the funds paid out by the state for relief. Aside from the fact that these funds are miserably inadequate, and are only a fraction of what the state hands out to the bankers, it is needless to state that whatever relief has been handed down by Lehman has been forced from him by fhe mass actions of the jobless led by the Unemployed Councils and the Communist Party. What Lehman thinks of the jobless can be seen from the sadistic brutality of the police attack which Was organized under his direction against the job-" less march to Albany. Following the lead of Roosevelt, Lehman dangles before the workers a fake kind of unemployment in- surance, which in. practice turns out to be no un- employment insurance at all, but a tax on the pay envelopes of the workers themselves. He referred approvingly to Roosevelt's plan to provide “unem- ployment insurance” reserves—at the expense of the workers. Arguing against any real unemployment insurance that will come out of the profits of the employers and the funds of the government, Leh- ™man warned that “we must coordinate our plans with the Federal plans.” Lehman’s social phrases continue. His capital- ist policies also continue. He uses the one to cloak the other. 3 Already he is getting ready for a state sales tax. No doubt, he will justify this robbery of the masses with new social demagogy. But in every one of his actions, behind his talk of the “real interests of the people,” Lehman is acting in the interests of his cles, the Wall Street monopolies and the employ- ers. Join the Communist Party 35 EAST 12TH STREET, NEW YORK, N. yY. Please send me more information on the Cém- munist Party. DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 1935 - Strengthen the Struggle Against Deportations eo ee the ferocious drive against the foreign-born workers, part of the whole New Deal attacks on the rights and living standards of the toil- as ing masses of this country, immigration authorities have singled out six militant working r deportation on Filis Island abuse and persecution class fighte: helé tor special These workers, whose only crime is their par- ticipation in the struggles of the American workers better their solitary con to conditions, - hi em: for prot been thrown into ting against the dep- on of their rt against discrimination in the dining room and fascist threats of the guards oot them down, The persecution of these six militant workers was carried even to the extent of venting their attendance at concerts and other entertainments given for the prisoners, and to the turning off of the lights in their cell to prevent them reading books and other literature sent them by workers, One of the six, John Ujich, has been refused bail, although the Committee for the Protection of For- eign Born is appealing against the order for his deportation, while the exorbitant bond of $2,000 is demanded in the case of Ray Carlson. The use of the deportation weapon against mil- itant foreign born workers is interrelated to the in- creasing fascist-like attacks on the working class, Negro and white, and on the Negro people. The shooting down of strikers, the growing lynch ter- ror against the Negro people, the attacks on the foreign born, are all part of the fascist pattern of the New Deal program, Every workers’ organization, every sincere fighter against hunger, war and fascism, should rally to the defense of the foreign born workers. Protests should be sent to Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor, and to the Ellis Island authorities, demand- ing a halt to the persecution of the six militant workers and to the attempt to deport them. The widest support should be given to the Conference called by the Committee for the Protection of For- eign Born, for Jan. 13 at the Irving Plaza, New York City, to strengthen the struggle against deporta- tions, and for the right of political asylum. Smash the Waterfront Injunction! HE injunction granted shippers and the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce by Justice Burt Humphrey. declares that united action between longshoremen and teamsters is illegal and that longshore- men cannot refuse to load goods trucked by non- union men, The decision has a far reaching effect. not only hecause it concerns 80,000 workers on the New York waterfront, but especially because it deals a blow at the very foundation of the trade union move- ment—at united action between unions, The em- ployers are alarmed at the splendid vxample of soli- darity between all crafts in the marine industry as demonstrated in the West Coast strike. It is a move against the basic principle of industrial unionism, which even the recent A. F. of L. con- vention was forced to adopt to a partial degree. If this injunction is permitted to remain in ef- fect it means that similar measures will be taken in other unions. A bricklayer -vill be forced to work alongside of a scab plasterer; a dress operator will be forced to work in the same shop with a scab presser; or it will be illegal for a waiter to refuse to serve food prepared by a scab cook. Unions will not be able to unite in an organization campaign, One of the chief reasons that a boss controlled judge had the audacity to hand down such an in- junction was because Joseph Ryan, president of the International Longshoremen’s Association, and other officials who follow his line, tried to beat the bosses at their own game. They depended upon the capitalist laws, and upon the capitalist politi- cian, Senator Burton K, Wheeler. They did not arouse the membership in their own unions, and in the entire labor movement to the danger of this writ. They fought the only ones who really did seek to arouse the workers for a fight—the Com- munists and the rank and file movement in the unions, Now they still persist in pinning hopes upon appeals to higher courts, while restraining the workers from action. Longshoremen, teamsters and seamen now see the futility of Ryan's policy, They should not give in an inch, nor depend upon the Ryans for leadership, There should be complete unity on every dock not to permit an ounce of scab goods to come through. Only this will make the injunction meaningless and defeat it. Members of all organizations will join them, and Protest this outrageous decision. For Unity in the Anthracite 'VENTS around the five-day Glen Alden Coal Company strike have again brought to the surface the deplorable situation in the anthracite region, which now threat- ens to undermine still further the already low standards of the miners. As soon as the United Anthracite Miners of Pennsylvania (independent) called the strike at the collieries of this largest coal producer in the world. the district officials of the United Mine Work- ers (A. F. of L.) sought for a chance to break: it. Now that the strike is called off and because the company dealt with the independent .union, the U. M. W. of A, district officials are openly speaking of calling a district-wide strike, not to win the de- mands of the workers, which are in the hands of an arbitration board, but to establish their jurisdic- tion—to smash the independent union. If the leaders of the two unions succeed in throwing their memberships against each other, only the coal operators will gain. The miners have been split only because reactionary sets of officials at the head of both are in a fight for control. The griev- ances causing the-Glen Alden strike are common to all miners in the anthracite region. The growing rank and file movement in both unions is the only real factor making for unity on the basis of a struggle against the coal oper- ators. Only a strong rank and file mass move- ment for a united strike developed over the heads of the officiais of both unions will forestall. a se- rious mine war from flaring Shop Papers Must Reflect Life in Plants MEMBER of the District Shop to shop unit found the fol- Paper Commission the G, E. lowing conditions: The shop unit was meeting with extreme irregularity. this, according to the section or- ganizer, was due to fear of exposure. One of the comrades very active in the unit had sent a letter to the Daily Worker which had been printed with his initials. He im- |mediately drovped all activity in the unit, and his fear of exposure was transmitted to all the members, Apparently no real effort had been made to overcome this fear. | As a result of the irregular meet- jings no information was drawn |from the unit membershin about |conditions in the shop. No unit |buro was established. The unit or- ee and shop paper editor were |Party members from outside the |shop. No attempts were made at |recruiting. No activity of an or- assigned ganized fashion was carried on in-| side the factory. | The shop ‘paper, appearing ir- jregularly, failed utterly to’ reflect | the conditions in the shop. Instead, although one issue contained twelve pages, it dealt with the general pro- | gram of our movement, the unem- ployed issues, American League Against War and Fascism, etc. One |had to scan the ‘paper closely to} | find shon news. Tt was obvious that the worker in the plant would ex- | perience no feeling of familiarity | and recognition when he read the | paper. He could scarcely be rallied |around it since it dealt with prob- lems that were not immediate to his existence, The section organizer defended this state of conditions by saying that nothing could be done with the unit “at the present time,” and that |the section “was doing pretty well in seeing that the members con- | tinued to pay their dues.” He honed that sometime in the future, some- | how leadership would appear in the plant and there would be a unit at hand to work with. A meeting with the shop was ar- ranged. The unit was found to consist of a completely American | fluence among the workers. They readily saw the weaknesses of the | shop paper and one worker stated that the reason the company freely permitted the distribution of the shop paper was that it had nothing to fear from it, since the paper did |not deal with conditions in the plant. | A discussion was held on the griey- |ances in the shop and the contents for the next shop paper. In a dis- cussion held preliminary to the meeting, the shop paper editor, an |earnest and hard working comrade |from outside the shon, stated that | there were no real grievances in the factory. The workers were being | paid from 60 to 80 cents an hour | (except in the refrigerator depart- |ment where they were making $14 |@ week) and in general were com- paratively satisfied. | The comrade was wrong. Lack jof information from the shop had |caused him to form this idea. To | begin with. the refrigerator depart- ment. consistently played down, was | found to consist of 1.500 workers, |half of the plant staff. Actually | grievances of a major nature were | numerous. The company was work- jing an unemployment and sickness | insurance racket that had aroused | Protest among the workers: there | was terrific speed-up under the guise of a bonus plan; all married | women with husbands in the plant j were to be layed off; the company }union was infested with company |“ves-men’”’ who refused to take up | Workers’ grievances. Contrary to the report of the sec- tion organizer the workers were |bubdbling over with information on |the conditions in the plant and could scarcely he stonned to get down to the business of taking con- | crete steps, A table of contents for the next shop paper was drawn up. (1) A | thorough and convincing expose of the Mutual Benefit and company |unemployment insurance racket. (2) | Refrigerator department grievances | taken up. - (3) Against the lay-off of married women. Here it’ will be | pointed out that the firing of the |married women is a company man- euver that will not result in the hiring of new workers but in the | further speeding up of those’ al- teady in the plant. (4) The Bonus | Plan exposed as a concealed method jot speed-up. (5) An article on the ;company union. Here particularly j attention will be paid to the com- |pany stools and “ves-men,” their | names and anti-worker acts promi- |nently displayed. Such an exposure | Will lay the basis for the election of real fighters actually represent- ing the workers. (6) A box show- jing the tremendous profits of the company. (7) An analysis of the | company union paper. Here sar- casm will be used to counteract the company method of soft soaping \the workers by giving them per- |sonal attention. (For examnle, the company paper announces. that John Jones will go hunting. The shop paper asks if John Jones finds it necessary to supplement his food | supply because of the low wages he | is receiving.) | Such a table of contents has every lopportunity of bringing a lively response from the workers. The is- sues concern them; they are recog- \nizable. At the unit meeting the comrades sensed this. The neces- sity for the monotonous repetition | of “Comrades, we must do this” and “Comrades, we must do that” was | dispelled for the moment. The com- |rades felt that by presenting living | issues to the workers they were tak- jing the first step toward organiza- | tional activity of great significance. A. discussion on organizational steps in development of shop unit work was held. The section organ- izer is left with the task of seeing that a unit buro is established and | a concentrating unit which will take care of distribution of the shop | paper, raising of funds, and follow- ing up of contacts supplied by the {unit for recruitment. In connec- tion with this last it is~ significant that there are 40 Daily Worker The cause for element capable of commanding in- | | | | | | | “STEP RIGHT IN AND FORGET YOUR TROUBLES!” Party Life | T ACUSE SAARBRUECKEN, Saar Terri- tory—An appeal issued by the Saar united front emphasises the approach of the decisive day, an | points out the insistence with which | Hitler's agents Statements on vital questions con- cerning the material welfare of the | People of the Saar... Their policy | does not bear the light of day. The questions of the populace are set | aside by such agents of big capital- ism as the great factory owner Karchner, who, flaunting his swas- | tika, announces: “Endeavours are | being made to divert the debate on the coming Saar plebiscite into channels which do not please us— the channel of material questions.” | Why do they not like it that the | people ask them to emerge from |the fog of deception, of chauvinist phrases, and race embroilment, and | to step. onto the firm ground of the vital ideological and material ques- | tions concerning the people of the | Saar? Because under Hitler the Saar, no less than Germany today, would |be plunged into inevitable catas- | trophe!—Because the Third Realm {can offer the working German in |the Saar no other future than the robbery of his last penny, inflation, the laying idle of mines and the | unrestricted despotism of the em- |Ployers, the destruction of trade, the ruin of the peasantry, the enslavement of youth, the persecu- tion of belief, the concentration | camp and the scaffold... . ... The victory of the status quo | will give the people of the Saar the right to a second plebiscite on the affiliation with Germany after the overthrow of the Brown regime. |The Saar population is given the | Possibility of deciding on its own fate on the basis of the right of self determination granted it. Therefore it is striving {representation of the people based on a general, free, equal, and secret | vote. United Front Resists Fraud The mighty front of the people, which is capable of gaining the | victory of the status quo in face | of the mighty apparatus of fraud scrupulous dictatorship, offers the best security that the inherent strength of the people. itself will enable all other vital demands of the workers of the Saar to be suc- cessfully faced and met, Not only for a] y | | d | Material Questions Sidetracked By Nazis, Says Saar United Front will we retain that which Hitler ts | trying to rob us of, but beyond this | provision schemes at wage agree- we shall be able ‘to extend and develop our political, economic, evade any plain | °cial, and cultural rights. Rochling, Pirro, and Burckel are endeavouring to blindfold the eyes of the people of the Saar. United Front is striving to show the people of the Saar what the victory of the status quo means for. its future, till the day comes when we unite with a free Germany. . The appeal gives the program of the United Front. . . “the basis and direction of its action for the development of the right of self determination of the Saar popula- tion after the victory of the status quo”: Program Stated 1. The Saar is German, and will remain German during the transi- tion time until its affiliation to a free Germany. Therefore it main- tains and cultivates the German language and German culture, and eliminates all nationalist war-mon- gering and incitement to race hatred. 2, Unrestricted rights of assembly, press, coalition, and strike, Freedom for the political, trade unionist, and craft organizations of the workers, civil servants, peasants, artisans, and small tradesmen. 3. Freedom of religious and philosophical opinions. Inviolabil- ity of church institutions, of con- fessional organizations and asso- ciations. 4. The active agents of Burckel and Pirro to be cleared out of the juridical apparatus, the police force and chausseur corps, the school service, the whole of the rest of the state apparatus and | autonomous administrative bodies. Granting of a comprehensive am- nesty. 5. Increase of real wages and of | Pensions already guaranteed by the Geneva decisions and of all other Social allowances. Adequate assist- | ance for all unemployed persons and recipients of welfare service. Generally binding wage agreements, shorter working hours with full | | Wage compensation. and violence possessed by an un-| Abolition of Stagger system (alternate lay-off). Works councils elected by workers and independent of employers. Development. of labour legislation and social insurance. 6. Prohibition of militarized la- bor service and every form of com- . The | : Supplying of electric current, and ;pulsory work. Far-flung work |ment rates, with special terms for youth. Security of technical train- ing for young people. | 7. State self-administration for those mines whose return hes al- | Teady been guaranteed by the | French government, and prohibi- | tion of their passing into the hands |of private capital. Elimination of | | usurious monopolist profits in the | abolition of contracts with. private | | capitalists to the detriment of the | interests of the communities. | Provision of mortgages and credits |at low rates of interest for small jand medium agricultural under- takings, Promotion of the produc- \tion of small and middle farms; | Prohibition of hereditary fee farm |system and of obligation to forfeit as imposed in the Third Realm, | Securing of sales of agricultural products as adequate prices. Reduc- tion of taxes and levies affecting |the masses, including the middle (Classes, peasants, small tradesmen, | artisans, etc. small and middle farmers, 8. Retention of stabilized cur- rency, protection of losses by infla- tion following the present depre- |ciation of the mark. Security for | all Saarland claims on the Reichs- mark demands. | 9. Introduction of severe taxes on | Property; simultaneous raising of | tax-free minimum income of poor classes. Curtailment of high sala- \vies of authorities; special taxes on |high incomes, on dividend, and on Salaries of boards of control of | Private undertakings. 10. Re-organization of the educa- tional service, including scientific and artistic post-school . training. [Formation of college system. land-holding Free education in all educational establishments for the children of the poorer classes.” The United Front declares this | program to form an integral part of its struggle for the rights and liberties of the people of the Saar, and appezis for mass participation in the great demonstration being | organized by the People’s Front in Saarbucken on Jan. 6, against Hitler. The appeal is signed by Fritz Pfordt for the Communist Party and Max Braun for the So- cialist. Party. British Trade Unionists Reject Anti-Red Move LONDON, Jan, 4—More organi- zations have refused to operate the splitting circular of the General Coungil of the Trades-Union Coun- cils, aimed at excluding Commu- | nists and other militants from | trade-union activity. The Executive of the Overlookers’ | Society, an important trade-union in the woolen textile industry, re- fused to carry it out. The Brighton Trades Council referred the circular | to its affiliated branches, Five out | of six which replied rejected it. The West End (London) branch | of the Furnishing Trades Union has | not only rejected the circular, but has instructed its delegates to the St. Pancras Trades Council to op- pose its application. They charac- terize the circular as a “deliberate attempt to split the ranks of the workers,” and pay high tribute to the good work done by the Commu- nists in their union. British Co-Operative To Send Delegation For Soviet May Day LONDON, Jan. 4.—The quarterly meeting of the Birmingham Co- Operative Society, with more than a quarter of a million members, has passed a resolution that: “In view of the achievements of the co-operative movement in the U. S. S. R., this Scciety resolves to send out a fra- ternal delegation of one or more to participate in the Ma? Day cele- brations of 1935.” At the same meeting a motion Was moved and adjourned for dis- cussion, that: “The meeting is disturbed by al- legations that certain members of the Society's staff have joined the fascists, and desire the Manage- ment Committee to make plain to| all employees that such member- ship of an anti-co-operative gang is inconsistent with continued em- ployment. readers in the plant, a comparatively excellent condition which gives wide scope for recruiting into the Party. In order to insure the following up of the momentary gains in the G. E. shop work it is essential that the section leadership change their approach to the problem. Shop work is no dreary and monotonous tack. It has continuously exciting aspects. Stirring the workers, put- ting the company on the spot, up- rooting the company lies and or- ganizinz the workers toward smash- ing strike activity—all this is revo- lutionary activity of a high char- acter. When the section leader- ship realizes this the guidance sup- plied to the shop unit will be of such a hature as to generate en- thusiasm. Only then will the unit grow and activity take place, remarkable | 12,000 Metal Workers Unemployed in Milan MILAN, Italy, Jan. 4—In Milan alone there are 12,000 metal workers out of work, according to official | statistics compiled by the labor ex- change in connection with the shortening of the work week. | The fascist trade-union leaders | are obliged to admit that it will be impossible to provide work for all these, the more that they are chiefiy partly-skilled workers who have been replaced by skilled and special- ized workers, In the case of the | textile workers, the numbers of newly hired workers enumerated in the fascist press as being given em- ployment by the new action, have | in reality obtained this work at the cost of the dismissal of women. | Almost everywhere the women work- | ers are being thrown out ruthlessly, and replaced by men at the same low wages. 4 TEXTILE STRIKE IN RUMANIA BUKHAREST, Jan. 4.— One thousand textile workers at Buhusi have struck work against the new Working conditions, especially the attempt to reduce piecework rates. The whole working population of the town has been thrown into great excitement by this strike. Your name will be on the Honor Roll in the Special Edition of. the Daily Worker if you send your greeting today! by Limbach | | THE Special protection for | Repression of all cultural reaction. | | World Front || By HARRY GANN! |Hitler at the Opera What is Behind the Confab? War and Cable Monopoly Hone put on one of the |** greatest mystery thrillers in .his whole blood-curdling |history Thursday afternoon |at the Prussian State Opera | House. | Every foreign newspaper | correspondent expresses his Duzzlement over the reasons for | Hitler’s sudden calling of 2,000 of his chief Nazi butchers to a secret meeting. Even the facts some of | the correspondents mentioned in | their original cable dispatches were | Mot published in the capitalist newspapers. For example, the | United Pross correspondent cabled | the fact that Hitler as he apt Agee: the Opera House, instead | of his usual comic-opera style of | Standing up in his auto greeting the | Fopulace, this time arrived in a | Very worried state, slumped back | in his car. Goering arrived wear- ing a new uniform (it must be | Number 86 or 87) of a deep blue | color. He was greeted very coldly on his arrival. Every inch of the road traversed by “der fuehrer” and his gangsters was patrolled by a double row of Nazi armed guards, For fear that some airplane might attempt to bombard the opera house, a flock of pursuit planes were stationed around Berlin, All air traffic was ordered stopped dur- | ing the time of the meeting. “There is nothing more inexplic- ‘able than this sudden meeting,” | declared the Herald-Tribune cor- | respondent, | OP eet correspondent is mistaken, The bewildermen arises from the fact that there is so much to meet about that it is hard to pick out the precise reason. The main reason undoubtedly is the growing disintegration in the Nazi ranks, the undermining effect of the con- stant reports of the decimation of the Jeaders at the hands of Hitler, Hitler calls these gentlemen to- gether to assure them that not so many have been slaughtered. The conflict between these butchers is becoming so severe that to see them called together is indeed a surprise, But there are many other reasons, The economic crisis in Germany ‘is growing worse and requires drastia action of some sort or another, The January 13 plebiscite in the Saar rushes on, and the Nazis re- quire a war council to discuss their future tactics. Fascist Germany's isolation is being further aggravated by the | darwing closer of French imperial- ism and Italy, with Laval. visiting Mussolini in Rome to talk over the barring of Hitler from the intended | seizure of Austria. In short, the iron ring of history | is drawing closer and closer around the Fascist regime, like the walls in | the Pit and the Pendulum with the | sharp, swinging point of the pro- |letarian revolution coming ever | nearer to the heart of the degen- \erate, savage, final offspring of | capitalism, | €) ene REIGN. correspondents in the United States are very much worried over certain developments toward war and fascism in this country that directly affect them, They. are particularly concerned | over recent moves to merge all teles |@raph, cable and radio corpora |tions into one gigantic organizae tion under control of the governs ment’s war department. R. J, Cruikshank, president of the Asso- ciation of Foreign Press Corre- spondents, correspondent himself for the London News Chronicle, re- cently wrote a piece in his Asso= {ciation’s Bulletin, entitled “The | Menace of the Merger.” The Asso- | ciation has a membership of 83, ine | eluding correspondents from Japan, | Fascist Germany, Fascist Italy. |. And of course these gentlemen know the symptoms when they see them. Cruikshank writes in a dis- | turbed mood as follows: “The merger of the cable and wireless services to which I drew attention last week will soon be- come an accomplished fact. This week-end. it was announced from Washington that the Federal Come |Munications Commission will rece ommend to Congress early in Janu- ary legislation to amalgamate all the domestic and international services into one mighty monopoly, “As the scheme is backed i President Roosevelt, the War De- partment and all the com concerned there is no doubt it run smoothly through Congress, Within a short time we shall be faced with a monopoly in place of the three competing services. This is a disturbing prospect. “On the day the recommenda- tions of the Commission were made public an official of the companies said ‘to me: “This is a bad busi- ness for you correspondents. It means that you will be at the mercy of a monopoly that can be as high-handed as it pleases!” “I notice that in the Herald Tribune on Saturday it was stated that ‘national defense is a vital face tor in the consolidation program. ... The Army and Navy insist that in time of national emergency there should be a coordinated communi- cations organization that could be taken over in its entirety and as an entity of the government. In the communicatoins act and all previous laws affecting radio there is a proviso giving the President power to commandeer these facilie ties in time of a national emergency. of any kind. ( “At the pressnt hearings Col, Walter Kruger, senior member the joint planning board of the Army and Navy, took the view that, ‘the communications com- panies’ operators should be trained in military requirements and the Personnel should be in the enlisted or commissioned reserve.’ I recom= ‘Mend these cheerful thoughts te our members. It is just as well te know where we are going,” ,