davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-02-28

prInLeu draIL OF Lnel seneInS. ln~y
were going to re-elect Miss Ethel
Gardner, the Milwaukee "Bolshevik,"
as their president; and it goes with
out saying that the gang did not in
tend to let that happen. The gang
picked out a "tame" teacher, Miss
Effie MacGregor, of Minneapolis. and
decreed that she was to become
president of the Department Of
Classroom Teachers-in spite Of the
classroom teachers!
This chapter is called dispensers
of Prominence" and here you see
what / mean. The classroom teach
ers had never heard of Miss Fife
MacGregor; she had never attended
meeting Of the Department Of
Classroom Teachers, nor was she a
member of a classroom teachers as
ISOLATION. She had fought hard
against the increase of their salaries;
but now she was to be their presi-
dent, and have the spending of their
ten thousand dollars for a year!
President Charl o. Williams, of the
N. E. A., proceeded to place the lady
on the main program of the N. E. A.,
introducing her as "the foremost
classroom teacher in the United
States" President Williams went on
to explain the lady's credentials to
that title-she had arranged movie
benefit at a theater, and raised funds
to send eight delegates to the con-
vention! Please understand, that is
not joke; that is the N. E. A. idea
of greatness"
Come back with me to Oakland,
California, and recall the picture of
Fred M. Hunter, superintendent and
educational ward leader, with his
school henchmen and his grating
contractors. Recall Miss Elizabeth
Arlett, "who, while supposed to be
teaching the school children of Oak
land, was touring the United States,
shortly before the 1920 convention,
in the interest of Mr.. Hunters can
didacy for president of the N. E. A.
For that service and her subsequent
activities, Miss Arlett was promoted
to be principal of high school in
Oakland" etc. You will expect to
find Miss Arlett at this 1922 conven-
ton. ready to carry out Mr.. Hun
ter's orders. for the smashing of the
classroom teachers. You will be rre-
pared to hear that the gang went
into caucus in Miss Effie MacGregor's
room, and that Miss Arlett took the
initiative and made. the principal
speech, endorsing her and outlining
the program.
The gang had engaged Symphony
Hall for the business meeting of the
Department Of Classroom Teachers
an afternoon meeting, and there was
to be a concert in the hall in the
evening. The promise had been made
that the hall would be vacated at
five o'clock; but not a word was said
to the teachers about this, and the
gang proceeded TO drag the meeting
out with technical discussions over
the details Of the constitution. Al
six o'clock slip Of paper was sent
up to the presiding officer, stating
that the meeting had already kept
the hall for an hour beyond the time
agreed upon, and must vacate imme-
diatelyl
The teachers had Just got down 70
the work Of slscting sfiesrs; they
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-02-28

THE Russian Communist Party
4 is ripening the whole Russian
people for responsibility and pow
er, by its great work for educa-
ton.
To my mind the most inspiring
thing in Russia is that the Social
Revolution, instantly and instinc-
lively, began to realize the idea of
universal education, which the in
terests and prejudices of class
have thwarted in the rest of Eu-
rope. Every fair-minded observer
has given the Bolsheviks credit for
their prompt efforts to send an
illiterate people to school.
Workers Kids to Have Best.
Their ambition is much holder.
They intend that none Of the COM
forts, none of the pleasures, none
of the stimuli, which awaken the
powers of a child born in Europe
in a cultured middle-class home,
shall be lacking to the children of
the humblest Russian workers.
Their belief is that by a great and
self-sacrificing effort the entire
generation which is coming to ma
turity in Russia can be raised to a
high level of culture.
They will. not at once attain their
full ambition. They are hampered
by poverty. They suffer from
dearth of teachers who share their
outlook. Many a long year will
pass before the primitive, isolated
Russian village can absorb more
than the bare rudiments of civili-
cation. But this they have achiev-
ed. They have broken the barriers
which class and poverty had raised
against education.
saw near Petrograd a big
boarding school formerly reserved
for the children of the nobility.
Today about three in four of its
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-02-28
The Taxation Middle

The House of Representatives has, thru a
union of the insurgents and democrats, passed
the Garner tax proposal. In essence this mea-
sure provides for "A per cent tax on all in
comes of 100000 or over. There is every
likelihood that President Coolidge, despite his
blatant outbursts in behalf of the original Mel
Ion scheme, will sign this BILL
Many may hail the defeat of the Mellon
plan as tremendous victory for the people.
Nothing of the kind is true. The democratic
plan, when finally adopted, will satisfy the big
business interests because their taxes are re-
duced by it, It is true that the Mellon plan
would benefit them little more, but our cap
tains of industry are experienced bargainers
and under the circumstances, when the gov
eminent is under so much suspicion, they will
feel mighty well satisfied with the reduction
of the surtax from so to Al per cent
What Congress should have done in ending
the taxation burden is to remove all taxes from
the poor and shift them completely over to the
rich. The insurgent republicans should have
fought much harder than they did to prevent
the enactment by the House of this compromise
T. -s4zT
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-02-28

N. E. A.? If not, will you're a mem
Der this year ?" {e.q "
Now the classroom teachers are the
real educators in America. They do
the actual work of teaching your
children; they are the ones who know
your children, they spend some 70
hours with them every week, and
they are not seduced from the job Of
understanding children by promi-
nence and applause, nor by high sal
aries, nor by any other lure. The
classroom teachers are the ones we
must depend on if education is to be
improved. The classroom teachers
represent democracy in the school
world, and the test of democracy In
the N. E. A. is what happens to
this rank and file. So / begin my
study of this great organization with
its Department of Classroom Teach
ers.
Until year or two ago the De-
partment of Classroom Teachers OF
the N. E. A. was nothing but name.
The way it leaped into sudden life is
an amusing story. The school sup
erintendents of the N. E. A. decided
that they would have an exclusive
organization, and hold meetings I'M
contaminated by the presence of the
school proletariat. At their mid
winter convention of 1920 they re-
organized themselves into an auton-
omous body, called the Department
I Of Superintendent. After they had
done this, the embarrassing discov-
cry was made that they had violated
the bylaws Of the N. K. A.; but, OF
course, at the next convention of the
N. E. A. special amendments were
passed, so as to legalize what the
superintendents had done. Being a
superintendent in the N. f. A. is like
being millionaire in police court
Now to each Of the N. E. A. con-
ventions come the "Bolsheviks" OF
the Milwaukee Teachers Association
headed by their president, Ethel
Gardner; also the "Bolsheviks' OF
the Chicago Teachers Federation
headed by Margaret Haley. These
groups are fighting for the schooo
prOietarlaJ, ana Lney WAUGH WAS'
practiced eyes the tricks and con-
trivances Of their superiors. They
bounced upon this brilliant scheme
Of the Department Of Superintend-
ence; why not reorganize the Class.
room Teachers Department OF the
N. L. A., and have il autonomous
like the Department Of Superintend.
ence? A beautiful scheme, you see'
The Department Of Superintendent
had excluded from its membership
everyone who was not superintend.
emit; now let the Department OF
Classroom Teachers exclude every
one who was not q classroom
teacherl
4 Here was treason and rank rebel
lion; and actually, these teachers hae
the insolence TO call convention II
Chicago, in February, 1922, at tb'
same time as the mid-winter meetinl
Of the Department Of Superintend
ence. The gang was so Indignant
that in Milwaukee the board Of edu
cation refused leave Of absence :,
Miss Ethel Gardner, who was presi
dent Of the Department Of Classroom
Teachers, so that she might attend
the sopysntion she had called. Tit
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-02-28
Educators and Education

The National Education association is hold
ing its sixty-second annual meeting in Chicago.
It's open sessions are held in the Auditorium,
but the real business is done in the dozens of
more or less secret conferences in hotel parlors
at breakfast dinners and luncheons.
The National Education association, in line
with the best traditions of American business,
is engaged in selling education. 1T has its own
definition of education, however, and in the
speeches of the more prominent delegates it
is obvious that only doctrines approved by
the overlords of finance and industry are
listed in the catalogues.
In the present gathering are found almost
exclusively those instructors who are holding
executive postions-principals and superin-
tendents-and for slavish servility to Ameri-
can capitalist institutions it would be hard to
find anoher collection of individuals to COM
pare with it.
The public schools in the United States are
today the centers of anti-labor propaganda /;
in every community the principals and super
intendents are merely agents of the chamber
of commerce and employers associations.
Because of their supposed intellectual at
tainments they exercise a good deal of in
iuence on the masses; they furnish the Sim
partial camoufage for the dominant group
and in all the rallies and drives for the dozens
of bourgeois enterprises they take a leading
part
Those of the educators gathered here who
have SO far expressed themselves on the pla-
toon system are in favor of it. The platoon
system is an extension of the regimenting proc
ess that is making automatons of the children
of the American workers and approval of
this plan by the executives who are members
of the national educational association stamps
them part of the machinery of capitalist gov
eminent.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-02-28
The ReuUards of Treason

A cloud full of potentialities for suffering
and trouble hovers over the German workers
today.
We have never for a moment had any
doubts about the malign consequence in store
for Germany's working class in the activities
of the American banker-generals. Now the
announcement about the experts plan for the
German railways should knock the bottom out
Of the lingering illusions for even the most
hopeful Ebert Socialist" followers. General
Dawes commission is planning to turn the
German railways over to the private capital
lists, raise the fares, and reduce the number Of
workers employed. The British member of
the expert enslavers Of Germanys proletarian
masses has decreed that an international capt.
talist lien must be placed on the German state
railway system; that this system which, with
its immensely valuable modern equipment and
more than $4,000 miles of roadbed, is per-
haps the most efficient in the world, must be
reorganized on a proft-making basis rather
than as a military and industrial agent"
Little comment is necessary on what this
plan will bring to the German workingmen.
At this time however, it is most appropriate
b 60 beneath the surface Of events bit and
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-02-28
AS WE SEEIT
By T. J. o'FLAHERTY.

DR.. Norman Thomas found the
labor leaders at the st. Louis c. p.
p. A. Conference bubbling over with
Teapot Dome radicalation. But
whenever a resolution to de-
clare definitely for a Third Party or
Farmer Labor Party came up, the
leaders grabbed it, looked it over,
shifted suspiciously at it, like dog
approaching a tempting piece Of
meat left in front of kennel, and
glanced at the gallery where Ru-
thenberg sat with a Machiavelian
smile on his features, and then
sternly voted down the resolution,
no matter how good it was. This
is disconcerting to the Doctor. No
doubt the Workers Party should
eliminate itself in the interest of
harmony and allow the toothless
Socialist warriors to humble their
dogmas at the reactionary labor
takers before joining them in a love
feast.
DR.. Thomas says we should stol
suspecting each other, forget tn.
past, stop criticizing the takers am
let the Teapot Dome do its damned
est. We should let the May 80 con-
ference slide and wait and see what
the labor takers may do under the
inspiration of July 4th. Nothing
doing, Doctor.
Striking Chicago dress makers
may have the need for working class
political action literally beaten into
their brains before the strike that
started yesterday will be over. The
police instead of functioning to pre-
serve the peace act openly as as
sistants of the bosses. Behind the
policeman with his club is the judge
with his injunction and behind him
is the mayor. The latter was placed
in his position by the votes of the
workers whose heads refused to
think in their own interests. The
sooner they can learn to elect
worker on a working class ticket
the better for them and for their
class.
When the ministers are not break
ing up some happy home or giving
the readers of yellow journalism
their moneys worth in the form Of
reading matter heavy with sex, they
are throwing monkey wrenches into
the business of exploiting female
nudity which fiourishes in the city
Of Chicago. The Rev. John w. Fun
ston is morally excited over bur-
lesque show which rears its shame
less head on Randolph street. He
must have seen the show judging by
the vivid account he gave of it. A
Freudian might draw certain con-
illusions from the holy gentleman's
detailed description of the leading
lady's lack of clothing, that would
not be complimentary to the rev.
erend pastor. As 1t is we believe
that some profession with a cleaner
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-02-28
(Continued from PAGE y

CONTINUED from page u
teachers positions. The Journal Of
the National Education Association
for September, 1922, triumphantly
quotes the superintendent of schools
at Onaway, Michigan, as stating that
teachers contracts in Onaway,
Michigan, will in future require
teachers to become members Of state
and national educational associa-
TONS" And in the case of st. JOS
eph, Missouri, the blanks to be filled
out by applicants for teaching posi-
tions contain the following two ques-
tons: "Are you a member of the
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-02-28
Employers Dictate to Teachers

wanted to finish this work in a
hurry, for they knew exactly whom
they wanted, and it wouldn't have
taken five minutes. But the gang
would not let that happen; member
of the board of trustees Of the N. E.
A. began a violent and noisy fill
buster, and so prevented the election.
The assembly twice rejected motion
to hold an adjourned meeting; they
wanted to do their electing right
there, but the gang held on and de-
layed matters, until finally the jani-
tor threatened to turn out the lights,
and thus forced the reachers from
the hall.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-02-28

gang moved heaven and earth to GUST
her from her job as teacher; but
it so happened that she had an hon
est principal, and when they asked
him to report her as incompetent he
replied: II will not tell a damned
lie."
The convention was held without
Miss Gardner, and the teachers ap-
pointed a committee of Milwaukee
and Chicago "Bolsheviks, which
spent all the spring drawing up a
constitution and having it made air.
tight by competent attorney At
the 1922 convention of the N. E. A.,
held in Boston, they appeared with a
-
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-02-28

moral record than the clerical should
assume the leadership of move
ment like this.
Ramsay Macdonald is a remark
able man. He has succeeded in pleas
ing nearly all groups in the House of
Commons. First he pleased the pac-
fists, next he pleased the militar-
lists. He pleased the liberals and
he pleased the Tories. So far, how
ever, he has failed to please the
radicals. His action in laying the
keels of seven new warships prompt
ed the Daily Herald labor paper to
state that Macdonald was given the
opportunity ITO bring into play his
exceptional genius for parliament
tary leadership" By releasing
Ghandi, the harmless Hindoo nation
alist, he threw the pacifsts a bone.
This more than makes up for his
seven new warships and his murder
Of IA rebel Hindoos.
Talking of Ghandi. The British
government made no mistake in re-
leasing him. That soft headed po-
litical infant wrecked a promising
nationalist movement in India by
robbing it Of it's militanIcy. The
British government called his bluff
by clapping him in Jail and chal-
longing his "non-resistance" bunk
to do its worst. Ghandf stayed
in iail until the British thought it
well for them to turn him loose.
And it is no coincidence that his
release occurs at moment when
there is an awakening of the ma
tionalist spirit in India and re-
version to the policy of physical
force, the only policy England re-
spects so much.
What does Ghandi do on his re-
lease? He called on the Hindbos
to do penance in sackcloth and ashes
for their '.crimes" against the Brit
ish government. The deaths of the
rebel Hindoos, declares this faker,
were not due to the cruelty Of the
British government but to the sin
fitness of the Hindoos in using vio-
lence. Does Macdonald deserve graf
itude for releasing. Ghandi? Yes,
from the British imrErialists whose
cause he is better able to serve than
the pompous Tories who never for
get and never learn.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-16
COTTON LETTERS

NEW YORK, Aug. 15.-There were no rains of consequence over the belt as the, weather report showed, but there were two or three stations in Texas that showed a few hundredths of an inch rain, which did not amount to anything. There was short interest built up in the market yesterday, and this was gradually covered up to the noon hour, bringing prices up to around 27.75c for October. However, after the short cotton had been bought in, there seemed to be little to support the market and liquidation of long cot- ton began to make it's appearance, put ting prices down rapidly to around 27c Cor October. The market still feels the lack of outside interest and trade sup- port reflects bearish sentiment some what. However, it Is noticeable that the market recovers rather quickly on buying orders. We are passing through a crucial time and once again dry weather prevails in Texas; which, if 1t continues, will stimulate trade buying
 There are also a few scattered reports coming in from Georgia and Alabama of some weevil damage, but this is having no effect upon the market at present. We doubt if the market will decline very much, though sentiment is extremely bearish here.-Hubbard Bros. & Co.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-16
GRADE ORDINANCE NO. sse.C

An ordinance fixing and establishing the grade of 14th Place, southweSts from the south line of the right of way of the Alabama Great Southern Rail- road Company, to the south line oxi Cleburn avenue, and on Alemeda ave. nue, from the west property line of 14fhl Place, southwest, to the east property line of 18th street, southwest, and onI Cleburn avenue, from the west property line of 14th Place, southwest, to thsi west property line of 18th street, souths west, and the curbs on both sides thereof.
 BE IT ORDAINED, by the Comnnis. sion of the City of Birmingham, that the grade of 14th Place, southwest, from the south line of the right of way of the Alabama Great Southern Rail- road Company, to the south line of Cleburn avenue, and Alemeda avenue, from the west property line of 14th Place, southwest, to the east property line of 18th street, southwest, and on Cleburn avenue, from the west property line of 14th Place, southwest, to thel west property line of 18th street, south west, and the curbs on both sides there of, be, and the same are hereby fixed and established as shown on profile sheet No. BY, heretofore exhibited to this Commission and now on file in thel City Hall in the office of the City Engineer.
 Approved August F, 1924.
 D. E. McLENDON,
 President of the CommissforSr A true copy.
 L. B. GRAY,
 City Clerk. Herald, August 16, 1924.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-16

and surveys of said work and estimates which shall be prepared by the City En- gineer, as early as practicable, and placed by him on file in his office, in the City Hall, not later than two weeks prior to the date named in Section 4 of this ordinance, where property owners who may be affected by said improve ments may see and examine the same.
 Section 3:-That the cost of con- structing said improvements shall be assessed against the property abutting on the portions of the highways so im- proved, provided:
 (a) That the cost of improvements, at or upon street, avenue or alley inter- sections shall be assessed against the lots or parcels of land abutting on said highways so intersecting for one-half block in each direction.
 (b) That the cost of sidewalk inn- provements on street and avenue corners shall be assessed against the lots or parcels of land abutting on or nearest to said improvements, and the cost of sidewalk improvements at the inter. section of any alley with a street or avenue or other highway, shall be as. RAOPOItAOA IQe respective lots or parcels of land .abutt. ing on or cornering on the alley at such intersection.
 tc) That no assessment shall exceed the cost of such improvements or the in- creased value of such property by reason of the special benefits derived from such improvements.
 Section 4:-That the estimated cost of said improvements is $23, 3,O60. 100, and that the Commission of the City of Bir- m1ngham will meet on the 2d day of September, 1924, in the Council Cham Der of the City Hall of Birmingham. at 1O o'clock a. m. to hear any objections. responsiveness or protests that may be made against said improvements. the manner of making the same or the char acter of material to be used.
 Approved August 15, 1924.
 D. B. McLENDoN.
 President of the Commission.
 A true copy.
 l.. B. GRAY,
 City Clerk.
 Age-Herald, August 16 and 23. 1924