The daily worker., 1924-05-19

WiCHOuJ LnlS lag ne cannot pass the
doors. When yesterday afternoon
came, certain of the workers among
them some who had taken part in the
strike-found their tags gone. When
they complained, they were simply
told that they would have to visit the
employment office and be re-hired.
Many Of those who went back were
forced to work side by side with scabs,
who were kept there under the pro-
lection of the inside police. These
are the same scabs who, the workers
claim, slept in the shop, and in
nearby restaurant, while the strike
was going on.
Double Crossing Boss.
That there would be no discrimina-
tion against the strikers when they
returned to work was the promise
made by James McLaren, manager of
the Pullman Company. McLaren told
me yesterday without knowing who
l was-that he does not propose to
take back all Of the strikers. "a am
going to let some Of the scabs stay
on" he said. 81 did make the state
ment that l would take back whom /
pleased and fire whom pleased, and
propose to stick to it."
McLaren, corpulent man with
weak blue eyes, whined pitifully about
the lack of profits that the company
suffered. "The car business has drop
ped off terribly within the past few
months" he said. 1--WE have to meet
competition from all over the country,
and this was case of making re-
duction or going out of business"
Pullman Has No Competition.
Figures sent out by the Interstate
Commerce Commission tell differ
ent story. Pullman is universally
known as the only corporation in the
country, Standard Oil not excepted,
that has no competition. In the man
ufacture of passenger cars Pullman is
supreme. 1t not only operates its own
cars on its own lines, but it is paid
by other companies who want the
privilege of using Pullman cars on
their lines. Pullman has a practical
monopoly. When the tax reports were
made out last year, and every possible
and impossible deduction had been
made, the company still showed a
surplus, over and above all dividends,
of $2S,00O,000. In order to escape the
surtax, they proposed to make i'm
provements on the line. They offered
to spend the money in any and in all
ways-excepting for higher wages for
the workers.
"The riveters get enough money
anyway" said McLaren, in an attempt
to strengthen his case. Some of them
get as high as S1.1S an hour" He had
selected with cool deliberation the
highest wage that any riveter can
make. And this wage is made, under
the piece-rate system, only by speed
ing up faster th1.. ssa..--'= e~l1s-~
workers can go. The average wage of
the riveters does not amount to a
dollar an hour.
MeLaren Scabbed In Great Strike.
Why the workers should be dissatis-
ned with this wage is a tnlng Lnat
McLaren doesn't see. AS he told the
story of his rise in the company, he
became the successful business man,
elevated high over the day workman. 81
used to work sixty hours a week my
self, at the rate of thirteen and half
cents an hour, and thought nothing
of it." His chest expanded as far as
it could-his stomach interfered.
'When the strike of 1894 came along,
stayed in the shop. l never joined
union and never struck"
"Only the unskilled workers were
slashed None of the skilled groups
in the shop has been touched. Riveters
are not skilled workmen."
No Cars For Month.
If riveters are not skilled workmen,
it is hard to understand why it was