The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 18, 1935, Page 2

Biles Bcanitiesen sehen Page 2 HITLER STAND ON REGIONAL PACTS CALLED WAR PROVOCATION. ne —_ World Toilers Against Nazi D 1 British Imperialists Supporting German Annexationists (Special to the Daily Worker) MOSCOW, Feb. 17 (By Cable! — “The German reply to the Anglo- Fretich proposal.” Pravda, organ of the Communist Party of the Soviet | Union, stated today, “is a war pro- vocation of such magnitude that it might well set all the peoples of Europe in alarm. “Hitler's answer,” Pravda de- elaréd, “has no small interest, not only for the political wotid, but for that branch of psychiatry which deals with various manias, primarily megalomania. Undoubtedly the Lon- don “compromise” and the subse- quent commentariés of the British botirgeois press, as well as the posi- tion of official pérsons occupying a| tomobile industry where they have | speak. Prominent place in guiding the di-| some organization. Duplication of| The A. F. of L. appeal cxpreseee rection of British foreign policy,| effort and wotking to cfoss purposes| the strong sentiment ie ad primarily MacDonald, were esti-|is the thing that has kept people | among the rank and file of the Fed- mated in Berlin as a mark of eh-|from achieving their legitimate | eral auto locals. It was the gtowth couragement, | goals.” | of the rank and file movement that ” | The editorial states: | compelled the A. F. of L. top leader- ee eee “The American Federation of| ship at the national convention of “Here is the result,” Pravda de-| Labor is in the process of setting up| the A. F. of L. in San Francisco to clares. “The ruling circles of Ger-| a great international union in the] announce that an international in- Many want to legalize their arma- ménts without waiting. for author- ization, are preparing for a new war and are not binding themselves by any obligations towards their neighbors.” Analyzing the separate points of the London agreement and the German reply, Pravda conti- nues: “There is not one word in the German reply about the Bast- er Pact, about the’ Central Eu- ropean Pact, about returning into| the League of Nations, about the impermissability of one of the allies changing the military paragraph of the peace treaties. | “The German reply is absolutely | clear and unambiguous and defines DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1935 AFL Auto Unity Appeal Ts Made To Detroit Independent Unions Merger Proposals Cited in Organ of Federation of Labor By A. B. Magil DETROIT, Mich. Feb. 7.—The American Federation of Labor .has appealed to three indepefitent unions in the auto indust the Me- chanics ‘Educational jodiety of America, the Society of Designing Engineers and the Dingmen’s Asso- ciation, to affiliate to the A: F. of L. United Automobile Workers. The appeal appears in the form of a front-page editorial in Labor News, weékly organ of the Detroit and Wayne County Federation of Labor, and is unsigned. The editorial speaks of the sin- cere efforts made by these unions “to better the conditions of those employed in that branch of the au- automobile industry. It will be an (Continued from Page 1) of the Ametican Newspaper Pub- Editors’ Organ Admits Plotting With Mayor | Against Truck Drivers industrial union aS authorized and mandated by the Ameérican Fed-| eration of Labor convention, and the institution being set up will be permanent in chatacter. The qués-) tion of jurisdiction has been finally | settled by representatives of all in- ternationals in regular cofveritions. ‘Now is the time for the officers and members of the three above- CE Urges Fight for One Democratically Run Organization The editorial, however, fails to say when this.is to be done and whether such. a union is to continue to be controlled by the national appara- | Steel Workers | Starve on Jobs (Continued from Page 1) tion proessses, throws tens of thou- sands of stéél workers out of ém- | Bloyment. The construction of con- | tinuous-sheet afid strip mills in the | last few years amounts to a révolu- | tion in the steel industfy. One con- tinuous-sheet mill, producing 1720 thousand tons a year, can displace | 96 old-fashioned mills. The number of men required for thé. continuous entioned unions to give serious| tus of the A. F. of L. in Washington | mill is 130, ‘The number of men re- | eendlderation to the edvatitages to| as heretofore. To be an efféetive | quired for 96 old-fashioned mills is be gained by themselves with the United Auto-| bile workers it must be democrati- | mobile Workers Union of the Amer-| cally controlled by the rank and file | and carry out militant policies. | ican, Federation of Labor. There is| eed in this movement for evety | constructive effort along organiza- | tioh lines.” | Mass Meeting Called The editorial concludes by calling on the merhbers of the three unions to atténd the meeting in the Light Guard Armory, Satutday, Feb. 23, at which President William Green will dustrial union would be organized. | ‘Food, Fuel | nouncement.” | “The Police Department was then | and Newspaper’ an- the political aims and tactics of lishefs Association, comes forth in|instructed to cooperate with Mr. | the foreign policy of the fascist dic- tis issue of Feb. 16 and confirms | Annenberg and others who were | tatorship—no guarantee of safety|to the hilt every statement made | trying to end the controversy, to see, for néighbors in the West, Bast and by the Daily Worker relative to the | that the ‘Food, Fuel and Newspaper’ | Southeast; an agreement with Eng- land; the isolation of France and/ sterling friend of labor, Fiorello La | mine—S.W.G.] | other countries which are interested in the preservation of peace. of that strikebreaking conniving Guardia, and the publishers. Under the boastful head, “GEN- | worked out in all its details. John | response to @ question about the edict was carried out.” [Emphasis | The strikebreaking was then | “To the most active reactionaries | ERAL STRIKE AVERTED IN N. Y.; | Broderick, a detective known thru- | of British imperialism, German| PUBLISHERS AID SETTLEMENT’) out the city for his sttoug-arm diplomacy openly proposes a joint the story recotints the unsavory | methods. a worthy with many under- struggle against the idea of pacts details—facts which should become | world friends, was assigned to the; guaranteeing the peace of Central the common property of every New| case along with Chief of Staff Jay | and Bastern Surope, and tries to strengthen those government circles of British imperialism which insist that England must not link itself with the fate of Bastern and Cen- tral Europe. The compilers of the York worker. “Although newspapers had been given the assurance that their dis- tribution and ‘supplies would’ not be affected,” Editor and Publisher | states; “the Publishers’ Association J. McDonald by Police Commis- | sioner Valentine. They were to work with Max Annenberg. Says Editor and Publisher: “A ‘survey condtictéd by Mr. An- nenberg showed that 75 trucks and | German reply are obviously seeking | treated the matter as a grave crisis | 199 truckmen would be necessary to | an agréement with those circles which deceive themselves with the hope that the safety of England can be bought by giving German fas- cism freedom of action in the Mast and Southeast. British Seek Nazi Support “With the help of Germany, Brit- ish imyrerialism hopes to bury for- ever the idea of regional pacts of | rector of the Daily News, a gentle- | safety and mutual aid. What is this if not provocation for a new war and the support of the annexa- tionist plans of German fascism in the East, Southeast and West? “German fascism,” Pravda con- cludes, “is trying to utilize all these Circumstances to a maximum de- gree. However, its caloulations con- tain a factor of no small impor- tance —the fate of the European world depends not only on the vari-| ous maneuvers of the fascist. dic- tatorship and its London advocates The peoples of Europe, who are threatened by German fascism, will find & path and means. for ensuring their safety.” i Browder to Hit Wagner Bill Earl Browder, general secretary of the Communist Party, and three tional Unemployment Councils; Herbert Benjamin, secretary of the National Joint Action Committee for unemployed workers will ‘appear | tomorrow before the Senate Fi- “nance Committee to present oppo- | sition to the Wagner-Lewis Bill, and present demands for the Work- * ers’ Bill, H.R. 2827, These are: | Israel Amter, secratary of the Na- tional Joint Action Committee for Genuine Unemployment Insurance; | and Louis Weinstock, secretary of | the A. F. of L. Rank and File Com- | mittee for Unemployment Insur- | ance and Relief. A representative | of the Philadelphia workers will | also speak against the Wagner- Lewis Bill. from the first.” Crisis for. Employers So they did—“as a grave crisis” for the employers, a fraction of whose profits might be jeopardized by demands of the workers -for decent living conditions and the right to maintain their unfons. Max Annenberg, circulation di- man who made racketeering an ai proved method of newspaper di tribution in New York and Chicago, was appointed representative of the | Publishers Association in the par- leys of the employers, union lead- ers, the city government and the owners of the newspapers. The publishers, those responsible for voicing the policies and lies, the hopes and fears of the employing class, were nervous, despite the as- surance they had received that their newspapers would be moved. They. sensed, in the words of Editor and Publisher, that the workers were demanding “union recognition in a manner closely paralleling the de- mands made in San Francisco and Minneapolis.” Mr. Annenberg, who is nothing if not an altruist, looked about him and found that while his paper had newsprint enough for three months, some of the others newspapers had sufficient for a day and a half. Writes Editor and Publisher: “Mr. Annenberg arranged to have News supplies convoyed by police officials, -but he came to the con- jclusion, he said, that-it would be| useless. to go on with his arrange~ ments. because unless all newspapers re supplied the News couldn’t It was also obvious to him, he declared, that a general strike would hold up distribution of mer- chants’ supplies, and that adver- tising, as a result, would necessarily slough off. “It was at this stage in the emer- gency that the Publishers’ Associa- tion held a meeting, and appointed |@ committee of two—Mr, Annen-| berg, chairman, and Harry Feld- man,. city circulation. manager, | Evening Journal—to bend all efforts | to see that all the city’s newspapers handle all newspaper supplies, and | | Mr. Annenberg and Detective Brod- | erick were able to obtain these with | the assurance that they would keep moving regardless of any ttouble that might develop. ‘These truck |men would be union then. It was necessary then to reach an agree- ;ment with the longshovemen’s union, and Joseph Ryan was called into conference and said that the promise he had made the Mayor | would be kept.” | Their Real Purpose | But Mr. Annenberg and the Mayor | were not satisfied with the assur- | ances of the so-called union leaders | that newsprint would be moved. | They wanted much more, precisely jas the Daily Worker stated. They wanted to break the strike. The “food, fuel and newspaper” |slogan was just a deceptive slogan by which to turn public sympathy against the strikers, It was more | than newsprint they wanted moved. | They wanted everything moved and nothing stopped. Here it is in the black and white of Editor and Pub- | lisher: | “The object of Mr. Annenberg's | efforts at this time was to get a (guarantee from the unions that) | they would not strike regardless of | whether or not Justice Humphreys |signed the injunction. This assur- ance was given by the longshoze- |men’s union, [read: Joseph P. Ryan |—S. W. G.1 temporarily at any rate. | Similar assurance was given by the teamsters, through their counsel. [Edward Maguire, who is also | lawyer for the building service union |and is trying desperately to help |Mayor LaGuardia to break this | strike, too—S, W. G.J. In attempt- | ing to negotiate this truce the union | leaders were urged to maintain the status quo while the injunction was being tested in the courts, and it | was on this basis that an agree- |mnt was reached.” |__“The next step was to get Justice | Humphreys to agree to issue a stay of execution along with the injunc- |tion. The injunction was subse- | quently signed with the stay.” What followed is now common C. P. Calls on Members | The editorial aiso fails to tied the thrée independent unions to} Armory meeting. | The Communist Party urges its | members in both the ‘A. F. of L. and | the three independent unions to) préss fotward the necessity of tak~ ing ithmediate steps to unite all cratically controlled and with pro- unions such as is represented by the | M. E. S, A. Immediaté steps must | also be taken to organize strike ac- | tion in order to defeat the wage- cutting, speed-up, company-union drive of the employers and the Roosevelt, government. the strikebreaking conference with the Mayor. None of them exposed the strikebreaking plans. Plot Exposed by ‘Daily’ It was only the Daily Worker, centfal organ of the Communisy) Party, which exposed the tactics of thesé strikebreakers: On Tuesday, Jan. 29, reporting the Mayor's at- titude toward the 24-hour strike of teamsters the day before, the Daily ‘Worker ‘said, under the headline, “Mayor Starts Veiled Attack Against Strike,” the following: “Mayot LaGuardia yesterday laid down his fundamental strategy di- rected against the great strike of | teamstérs here in the course of an apparently innocent press confer- ence yesterday. “T am Pepa ie fuels and food,” the anxious about Mayor said in strike. | “What do you intend to do?’ | “‘T am just waiting to see what | happens.’” Later the Daily Worker story sets forth the position of many workers. We quote: “In informed labor circles the Mayor's statement about ‘fuels and food’ is considered @ sinister dec- laration of the undetlying strike- breaking policies of the administra- tion. It was with just such & slo- gan, it is recalled, that the employ- ‘ers, city, state and federal govern- ments, with the aid of the news- | papers, whipped up a hysteria) | against the waterfront and general strikes in San Francisco last sum- | mer. “Under the argument of ‘the pub- | lic weal’ and the necessity for pro- | viding ‘food and fuels’ to the pub- lic—most of ‘which are workers whose capacity to buy ‘food and fuels’ would be increased through successful strike action and union | otganization—the Mayor will actu- | ‘ally carry out a union-smashing | policy, many rank and file members | | feel.” This was on Jan, 29. On Feb. 1, | as stated above, the Daily Worker exposed the conference of the |Mayor and publishers. Full and | complete confirmation of the cor- rectness of the Daily Worker’s| | stories and contentions at that time | | is thus supplied by Editor and Pub- lisher. Let the teamsters and longshore- | men be the judges. Who are your friends and who are your enemies? Is it the Communist Party and the Daily Worker—or are your en- emies LaGuardia, Ryan and the capitalist newspaper publishers? Assail Hearst (Continued from Page 1) points out the fascist roles of the Hearst press in whipping up anti- Soviet feeling in this country, A | statement by 59 outstanding Amer- ican writers, editors, and educators denounced the Hearst drive for war | and calls for an even greater de- 'nunciation of the war-mongers. Leading articles in the broadside expose the anti-Soviet military mo- | bilizations of Nazi Germany, Poland and the Baltic states. A resolution addressed to President Roosevelt, demanding that the United States _ Fight on USSR ™ Sdison Men. Hit Dismissals Possibility of a strike of power | workers of the Brooklyn Edison Company loomed today following a | membership meeting of Local 102 of Brotherhood of Public Utility Em- Ployees, an independent union. An emergency committee was ap- pointed to fight the suspension of six union men by the company. The committee announced Satur- day that it will appeal the cases to the Regional Labor Board and to Mayor LaGuardia. The six workers, all skilled oper- atives, employed by the company from five to twelve years, were cir- culating petitions among the work- ers, to ask for a government-super- vised vote on collective bargaining, the union declared. Save the coupons, Fifteen cou- pons and $1 will get you a copy of “Hunger and Revolt: Cartoons by Borck.” 6 = got all necessary supplies.” The Mayor Obliges Annenberg then went to the Mayor, according to Editor and Publisher, and told him the situa- tion. The obliging friend of labor immediately went into action. We quote: “The Mayor called in the labor leaders, including Joseph P. Ryan, |president of the longshoremen’s union. He was able to obtain from | Mr. Ryan assurance that his men } would work regularly regardless of , the outcome of the pending injunc- tion.” But His Honor evidently had a tougher time with the teamsters, where indignation was at the boil- ing point and strike sentiment was ; high. But he knows how to be | friendly with labor even when that | friendship assumes the strange form of caressing workers’ skulls | with police clubs. Continues Editor: and Publisher: “Mayor LaGuardia told the team- | sters ... that if their leaders could | |not control them, the city itself | would, through the police depart- ment. It was after this meeting | baad the Mayor issued his famous t knowledge. The signing of the in- junction has given the employers (a weapon against the teamsters |union. A wide, immediate strike, |on the other hand, would have de- feated the injunction, warded off jthe attacks of the employers and | have unionized virtually the entire lindustry. This, in turn, would have jaded ‘greatly in improving the | wages and working conditions of the bitterly exploited teamsters and Jongshoremen. It would have had j|an excellent effect on the entire labor movement of the city—and, for that matter, of the country. Organization drives in other indus- tries would have been speeded up. The responsibility for the defeat is then plain. Let every worker. know it: Mayor LaGuardia, the police department, the publishers and Joseph P. Ryan helped break that splendid movement. The Fu- sion-Republican Mayor worked to- gether with the Tammany lights, Detective John Broderick and J. Ryan. Openly reactionary papers like the Herald-Tribune and the New York Times worked together with so-called liberal papers like the World-Telegram and the N. Y. Evening Post. All of them attended .| Taw that even the police refused to support the peace policy of the So- viet Union, is printed in the sheet, ready to be clipped and signed by workers and sent on to Washington. A letter addressed to Hearst pledges workers to boycott the entire lying Hearst press. Preparations are under way, the F, S. U. announced yesterday, to rally the members of all New York trade unions, fraternal organiza- tions and other labor groups to at- tend the mass demonstration at Madison Square Garden next Mon- day evening. “Riot” Scare Fails DENVER, Colo., Feb. 17.—Relief officials of the West Bayard sec- tion called a squad of police to sup- press a “riot” last Wednesday. The “riot” turned out to be a group of fifteen Unemployment Council members who were acting on two emergency cases. The deal was so make arrests. This is the third time in the recent past that relief officials have tried to intimidate the unemployed by calling the police to. eject the committees from the re- them by associating | weapon in the hands of the automo-| between 4,500 and 5,000 workers, Will Displace 48,000 All in all, there have been con- structed, or ate in the process of construction, eleven large stripe and sheet mills with a yéeefly capacity | send speakers to the Light Guard | of 6,300,000 tons. The new machines will displace, as far as these eleven mills alone aré coneerned, about 48,000. workers. Similar processés of displacing men by machines ate goihg on in the other branches. of the steel in- | unions in one powerful front, demo-| dustry. Here is one out of many examples, related to mé in Pitts- | visional autonomy for the craft | burgh. In the A, M. Byers Co. plant in Ambridge, Pa., the hand puddling of a 600-pound wrought-iron ball took 90 minutes. With the introduction of the Aston process of manufactur- ing wrought iron, one 8,000-pound ball is processed in five minutes. Seventy men produce four times as mich as 226 men produced under the old method of work. There is no restriction on the in- crease of the production capacity of steel finishing mills—and in these Plants the workers are being thrown out into thé street by the installa- tion of machines. There is an N. R. A. restriction on the increase of the capacity of mills producing steel ingots—and there the process of mechanization is much slower. This is the case with the Pittsburgh area. Here the workers are suffer- ing because there is no production. 45 Per Cent on Relief Harvey O'Connor, author of “Mel- | lon’s Millions,” who is now working on a book on the steel industry, has compiled the following figures for the town of Duquesne. The wages of 927 men for 1934, amounted to $13,723,900, or an average of $7.40 a week. This is all the steel workers earn in the famous Carnegie plant, one of the biggest establishments | of the United States Steel Trust. The population of Duquesne is about 21,000, In January, 1934, there were 9,800 persons on relief in the town of Duquesne. That formed 45 per cent of the total population. Today, the situation is not much better. Here are a few examples. Jack (for obvious reasons, the full names cannot be given), a hooker-on, 30 years old, has been connected with the mill for ten years, In 1929, the last of the “prosperity” years, he earned $1,400. His total earnings for 1934 amounted to $269.90, or @ little over $5 a week. He has a family of five. Above his “wages,” he gets supplementary relief amounting to $6.80, He owes the grocer $73, Earns $335 in Year Mike, chipper, 44, has been work- ing in the mills for 20 years. Year- ly earnings in 1929, $1,300. Total earnings for 1934, $335. With a family of five, he gets $4.30 a week in relief. His debts to the land- lord and to the doctor amount to $380, Phil, a chipper, 55 years old, has been working in the mills for 17 years, His pay for 1929 was $1,150; his pay in 1934 was $360, Work is hard, he says, “You work like a donkey, They drive you like hell.” He injured his knee during work, and was laid up for @ month. He received the magnificent remunera- tion of $11.60. Phil has a family of nine and gets no relief. His debts amount to $480. Here is a younger worker, Dick, @ laborer, He is only 27 years of age. Has been connected with the mill for seven years. In 1929, he earned $1,300, In 1934, he earned $353.75. Has a family of four. Gets $6 a week in relief. His debts are On Job 28 Years—Starves Jim, roller, 48 years old. Has been connected with the mill for 28 years. A man with such a work record would be considered among the most esteemed in the Soviet Union. He would be given an abundant pension and would be looked up to as a model for the younger genera- tion, Jim, an employee of the Steel Trust, did get a medal from the company for 25 years of “devoted service” to the boss. But this has not secured him a decent existence. In 1920, he earned $2,004.70, In 1934, he earned $494.40, or less than. $10 a week. He is the “proud owner” of a house on which there is a mortgage of $3,000. The company is the mortgager and it deducts the Payments from his wages. He owes the grocer $100, 9 in Family—Gets $8 Such cases could be cited by the hundred. We shall call attention to only one more. Pat, a steel loader, 46 years old. Has been em- Ployed for the last 26 years. He earned in 1929, $1,100, in 1934, $250, His family consists of nine, and he receives $8 a week in relief. The Steel Trust, the greatest capi- talist organization in the world, re- fuses to feed the workers engaged in its mills, Over and above their miserable wages, they must get sup- plementary relief in order not to perish of starvation. Can they live? Is it possible for a family of six to subsist on some- thing like $10 & week? Is it pos- sible for a family of nine to live on $16-$17 a week? The relief agen- cies do not pay the rent of the un- employed or semi-employed. Rent per family amounts to something like $15 a month. The prices’ of foodstuffs and other commodities are mounting day by day. Is there any wonder that the steel workers lief station. are preparing to fight? Connecticut Wo rke rs Act to Spike Spurious Old Age Pension Laws Socialist Party Leaders in “United Front” With Bosses’ Parties to Push Through Paper Provision Aid to Aged HARTFORD, Conn,, Feb. workers’ organizations massed 17.—Representatives from here last Thursday to halt the “united front” maneuvers between Socialist Mayor McLevy of Bridgeport, Mayor Murphy of New Haven and Mayor Philips of Stamford to rush fraudulent State Old Age Pension, @ in an attempt to knife the State | Workers’ Bill H. R. 539. The current issue of the New | Leader, organ of the right wing of the Sovitlist Party, has officially declared that a “united front” has been formed with the two bosses’ partiés in order to push through the measure. The New Leader says that “All three parties (Democrat, Re- publican and Socialist) are commit- ted to the passage of an Old Age | Pension Bill this year,” and urged “a united front of all groups hon- estly interested in the passage of the bill.” Pauper Provisions The act provides for the payment | of seven dollars a week, maximum, | ten dollats “in extreme cases,” to any person over sixty-five who has lived in the State continuously for | the ten years previous to his appli- cation for pension, and “has no children or other persons in Con- necticut legally liable and able to | support him.” At the hearings, which were held in the chambers of the House of Representatives, the spokesmen of | the Socialist, Republican and Dem- ocrat parties, one by one spoke in favor of the measure. This con- tinued until Stanley Yesukiwicz, Democrat Representative from En- through the hearings on the field, and member of the United Textile Workers Union, rose and said that he wished “to go on record supporting H. B, 539, the bill pat- terned after the Lundeen bill, the only measure that would give ade- quate old age insurance.” Gets Ovation A great ovation greeted this de- claration, as social workers, Social- ist Party members and others shouted their support of the Work- ers’ Bill. Mayor McLevy, who had brought along an audience of six busloads of people, spoke unqualifiedly for the fraudulent old-age measure. Charles W. Campbell of Water- bury took the floor and denounced the old age provisions, and de- manded enactment of the Workers’ Bill H. B. 539. I. Wofsey, district organizer of the Communist Party, exposed the “united front” for the old age measure as an economy for the State, since the benefits under the act would be less than present poor-house care. During the coming weeks, all or- Sanizations are being asked to send resolutions to the Judiciary Com- mittee, Hartford, and to all Repre- sentatives demanding passage of the Workers Unemployment, Old Age and Social Insurance Bill, H. B. 539, or Senate Bill 236. Elevator Men Set To Strike (Continued from Page 1) yesterday of the condition of both men that they were “not out of danger,” but that their “condition was greatly improved.” Hiring of armed thugs to guard scabs has been going on at a tre- | mendous rate. Burly men with sinister hip-pocket bulges were seen in the corridors of many elevator apartment houses yesterday. The New York American, the Hearst morning paper, has carried adver- tisements for guards and for ele- vator operators. “Public Health” Gag Again The Mayor is believed to have worked out a plan to smash the strike in the event that he cannot avert it by agreement with the union heads. He will then use the Board of Health. This plan calls for the declara- tion of a state of emergency, virtual martial law, by the Mayor. The matter will then be termed as one “affecting the public health” and thus be placed completely in the hands of a Board of Health of five men, headed by Dr. John L, Rice. The Board of Health will then be able to suspend many civil rights, including that of habeas corpus. The Board will have the power in such a situation to impress the po- lice into strike-breaking, including the operation of elevators. Mayor LaGuardia also met on Saturday with Fire Commissioner John J, McElligott, Dr. 8. 8. Gold- water, Commissioner of Hospitals and Police Commissioner Valentine. The policy of the Mayor is to keep all elevators running in apart- ment houses over six floors, it is known. Since almost every elevator apartment house is over that height, it means that official strike-break- ing on the widest scale the city has known in many years will be under- taken, Militia May Be Called The National Guard may be called in by the Mayor, certain re- ports stated. While the strikebreaking forces were being organized, wide support for the building service workers was being mobilized. In labor circles the utmost sympathy was expressed for the workers. Prospect of sym- pathetic strikes in support of the building service men were being dis- cussed by union men in many parts of the city. Joseph Winogradsky, manager of the Fur Workers Industrial Union, 253 W. 38th St., yesterday issued a statement of support from the headquarters of his organization. Winogradsky said, in part: “Labor everywhere sympathizes with the building service men and condemns the strikebreaking ac- tion of Mayor LaGuardia who, once again, shows himself to be the pliant tool of the real estate interests and the bankers. “The Fur Workers Industrial Union calls upon its members and all other unionists to refuse to ride on scab elevators, Neither should you walk up to work. “Demand union service in the buildings!” “Demand full pay for any time lost during the strike!” A movement among tenants of apmmment buildings to refuse to ride On scab-operated buildings is taking on momentum, the Daily Worker has learned. Many are re- fusing to pay their rents until the landlords comply with union condi- tions. Tenants in a number of cases have telephoned or wired their landlords that they refuse to je> pardize their lives by riding in lifts manned by strikebreakers. In a number of working class neighbor- hoods tenants’ committees to de- mand union conditions for building Hearing Today On Scottsboro (Continued from Page 1) hearing for the ‘Daily Worker, leave his brief case outside the | court room, The day before, several persons, including myself, had walked unchallenged into the court- room, and sat listening to the pro- ceedings, with brief-cases in our hands. Justice James Clark McReynolds, of Kentucky, who wrote the dis- senting opinion in the first Su- preme Court reversal of the Scotts- boro sentences, in which he said that the contention that the boys were deprived of a fair trial because of the systematic exclusion of Ne- groes from the grand and petit juries that indicted and tried them was “without merit,” was conspic- uously absent from the bench when the cases came on last Friday. He sat with his eight confreres from noon until two o’clock, but when the court convened again at two- thirty, with the case coming on forty minutes later, he failed to appear, The argument he claimed was “without merit” is the main con- stitutional question which is being raised in the present appeals, Court Packed The attorneys and others fam- iliar with the ways of the United States Supreme Court were aston- ished, during this hearing, to see eight persons standing at the back of the court, after all seats had been filled—mostly, with sympath- izers of the Scottsboro boys, about half of them Negroes—for not only of spectators, with the exception of small parties of tourists who sit for a few minutes in bored and awed silence, but none of them could remember on any previous occasion a session when anyone had been permitted to enter after the seats were filled. Dozens of people stood in line outside, last Friday, waiting for the slim chance that one of the spectators would go out, and leave room for one at a time to enter. The analysis of the Communist Party and the I. L. D., that this case symbolizes the whole struggle of the Negro people for civil rights of which they are violently de- prived, and for national liberation, was shown to be correct by the very attitude of the justices of the court, the nine pillars of reaction, toward the arguments presented. “Justice Butler is fighting like hell,” an attorney sitting beside me whispered as Pierce Butler, Presi- dent Hoover's Attorney - General, fired question after question at At- torneys Leibowitz and Pollak as they piled up proof of the illegal and systematic exclusion of Negroes from Alabama juries, and of the fraudu- lent attempt to rob the Scottsboro boys of appeal by forging the names of Negroes on the Jackson County jury roll. Lieutenant - Governor Knight's foxy, beet-red, smirking face broke out into a beaming grin, and he looked as though he were about to repeat his famous Decatur hand- clapping trick when Butler fired a question at Leibowitz, interrupting his argument to ask whether this ‘was not a “question of determination of fact.” The Supreme Court, ac- cording to its theory, is only sup- posed to pass on questions of con- stitutional law. Knight stopped his nail-chewing, and his nervous twitching of his hands in front of his face for an- other big smile with which he fa- vored the whole bench from one end to another, when Butler interrupted Pollak to ask a question in regard to the discretion of the jury com- janitowa ase being formed. missioners. Pollak easily answered LL is the court almost complete empty, Threat Is Made To Halt Reliet InPennsylvania Mass Resentment Grows As Governor Pushes Sales Tax Schemes PHILADELPHIA, Pa., Feb, 17— Sweeping mass resentment has greeted the announcement of State Relief Administrator Johnson that all work relief and possibly direct re- lief would end on March 1. John- son, it is readily seen, is attempting to lay down a barrage in the news- Papers in order to smooth out the path for a sweeping tax program on the masses. Organizations of the unemployed and the relief workers have started & counter-offensive to defeat the tax Proposals of Governor Earle, Mass meetings are being arranged in all parts of the State to protest the hunger plans and to organize the workers to fight against these plans. Simultaneously, a petition campaign is being launched among all work- ers and small business men to de- mand that no further taxes be im- posed on the working population. The campaign will culminate in a mass delegation to the State Cap- itol at Harrisburg to demand the enactment of the Workers Unem- ployment, Old Age and Social Insur- ance Bill. The program put forward by the Unemployment Councils, which has already been given mass support, is for increased taxation upno the wealthy, upon all interitances and incomes above $5,000 a year, and upon the super+profits of the large corporations and utilities. As the campaign widened and be- gan to take on a mass scope, four organizations of the white collar and professional workers met at 1206 Walnut Street last Thursday night to plan action. The four organizations, the Fed- eration of Architects, Engineers, Chemists and Technicians, the As- sociation of White Collar Workers, the Association of Recreation and Education Workers, and the Federa- tion of Art Workers, telegraphed President Roosevelt, insisting that funds be made available for the con- tinuance and enlargement of the works program and all relief neces- sary for a decent standard for the unemployed. The four groups likewise opposed the entire “social security” program of the Roosevelt Administration and went on record demanding the im- mediate enactment of the Workers’ Bill, H. R. 2827. Copies of the tele- gram were sent to Governor Earle, State Relief Administrator Johnson, and to F. KE. R. A. Administrator Hopkins. A committee was appoint- ed to contact all other organizations and to plan a huge demonstration against the proposed work relief lay-off. the question by pointing once more to the evidence. Jury Venire President The bench was agitated from Justice Owen J. Roberts on the ex- treme right to Justice Benjamin N, Cardozo on the extreme left when the Jackson County jury roll, with the names of six Negroes crudely forged on its pages, was introduced in evidence. Physical evience is al- most unheard-of in “this court, which concerns itself almost exclu- sively with lawyers’ briefs and court. records. The stern eyes of millions turned upon them forced the jus- tices to accept this evidence of the brazen lynch-determination of the white ruling class that set them up on this bench, for examination. Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes’ white two-pointed beard and mustachios waggled feverishly, and he hitched himself back and forth in his big leather chair, as he ordered the big red tome brought up on the bench. The justices leaned over, peering as, growing more agi- tated every moment, the Chief Jus< tice examined ‘the forgery with a magnifying glass,- firing question after question in regard to what names, what pages, what red lines, made with ink or pencil, at what approximate date, etc. The court-room was tense as the big book passed from justice to jus~ tice, to be examined and ree examined. Knight twitched his hands and bit his finger-nails and smirked more nervously. Perhaps the court, which goes to @ great deal of trouble to maintain its attitude of “impartial dignity,” to the point of filing in aot on the minute of the scheduled opening, but on the second, while the mar= shall intones, “Oyez! Oyez” and all those in the courtroom stand up, was glad that the hearing could not - be finished before the stroke of 4:30 when it rose in the middle of a sen= tence of Mr. Pollak’s argument. It would need a couple of days to re~ gain that dignity and go on with the hearing. It had shown plainly that it was alreay disturbed by the mass movement, the growing unity of black and white toilers, behind this appeal. Protests Must Mount It had shown plainly, too, in spite of itself, what must be done to force a favorable decision in this case. Bee tween now and the time when it makes its decision—anytime after March 3—the protest must be ree doubled. The masses must be brought into the streets to shout their demand for the freedom of the Scottsboro boys so loudly that it will penetrate the tiny, ugly, semi-circu- lar room where the court sits, and force a decision reversing the lynch- verdicts against Haywood Patterson and Clarence Norris, affirming the right of Negroes to sit on juries. Thousands of resolutions, tele- grams, and post-cards must flood that court, expressing this burning demand of the masses of people, white and Negro. ahs sid