davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The daily worker., 1926-05-04

This is said to have cost the st. Paul
about $2OO,O00,0OO.
Lesser directors admitted they had
little or no financial interest in the
railroad. President McHugh of the
Rockefeller Mechanics & Metals Ma
tional Bank testified he was made a
director when he owned no share Of
its stock, altho this is contrary to law.
The statement of the st. Pauls attor-
ney indicated that this directors quail
flying shares had been purchased for
him by the company without his
knowledge. f. S. Hardness, one OF
the largest bond and shareholders, ad-
mitted very limited knowledge Of the.
management. He knew the Terre
Haute was not paying proposition
when the St. Paul leased it and that
its acquisition was due probably to
bad judgment. He also testified that
had he known certain facts about cleo
trifying the road, particularly figures
upon which comparative costs Of op-
Grafton had been based, he might have
formed different opinions.
The daily worker., 1926-05-04
By THoMAs yoHNsroNE, NJ. ?

(The following article was written
by Thomas Johnstone, M. p, editor
of the Glasgow Forward and a mem
Der of the delegation sent to investi-
gate the conditions of the workers and
prospects for unionism in India by
the British Trade Union Congress.)
INDIA is poverty land. Over three
L hundred million people, with an
average per capita income of ga per
annum; uneducated-all, but a hand
full of the working class, unable to
read or write-with a myriad dialects,
languages, castles, and religious, all
making for working class disunity;
and to crown all, rs per cent of the
workers engaged in the factories and
the coal mines are primarily agricul-
tural workers who spend only inter
mittent periods of the year in the in
dustrial areas
How difficult it is for the trade
union plant to take root in a soil
like that.
And when a union is inaugurated,
it is not uncommon to find it regard
ed but as a political stunt, or as a
milch-cow for some able legal climber
in a world where barristers are Sc
numerous that they must needs
scramble for jobs like jackals over a
bone.
Trade Union Grow.
NEVERTHELESS trade unionism
L y grows. In Bombay l was present
at the inception of one big cotton
workers union, which in two months
has obtained 5000 members. There is
another cotton workers union at
Ahmedabad, where, under the inspira-
tion of Mr.. Gandhi, Hindu and Mo
hammedan workers united to secure
the return to the local council of a
fellow workman who is of the un-
touchable caste. In time, perhaps
sooner than most people expect, we
shall have an amalgamation of these
cotton workers unions, and one big
The daily worker., 1926-05-04
What Is Behind the Indian Riots?

Spiritual lines.
The peasants and craftsmen, the
mill hands and petty traders who are
made cats paws in these conflicts
have nothing to gain, by these pseudo
religious and pseudo-racial dissen-
sions. What had the wretched Mo
hammedan dinghi-wallas (boatmen)
of the Hoogly to gain by breaking the
heads of Hindu menials engaged in
the public gardens of Calcutta? Their
economic demands, and even cultural
interests, as, for instance, universal
primary education, are identical ire
spective of communal differences.
Not Really Religious.
MO fundamental religious question
L is at issue. The immediate quar-
rel is over the ALLEGATION of seats in
the legislatures and the jobs in the
public services-things with which the
overwhelming bulk of the unrepresent-
ed and illiterate population has no
concern. (Three per cent Of the pop
ulation has votes, and per cent is
literate.) Even the apparently reli-
gious question of conversion and re-
conversion to Islam and back to Hin
duism has assumed Importance be-
cause of its possible effect on the
numerical strength of the future cleo
torates.
Neo-Hinduism and Pan-Islamism are
different manifestations of the sup
pressed jingoism of the Indian upper
classes. Neither have any benefits
material or cultural-to confer on the
toilers in the fields and factories.
The daily worker., 1926-05-04

that they would cheerfully appoint
Indians to the higher waged posts
when capacity to fill them was shown.
Anyhow, as the facts stand today,
there is no union cooperation between
European and Indian workers.
Docker's Union.
There is a lockers union at Cal
cutta with a large membership; but
there were considerable complaints
regarding its structure and operations,
whether well founded or not l cannot
say. There is a strong seamens union
on the Hoogly, but the Bengal Jute
Workers Union is today only small
affair. Here, however, there is great
promise, if Mr.. Kali Das, who struck
me as an able, conscientious, and
courageous organizer, can get finan-
cial assistance from Britain. l have
appealed publicly thru the Forward
for subscriptions to the amount of
e100, which sum he and Mr.. JOSH
believe is all that is necessary to give
the necessary impetus to the organiza-
ton.
Women Work Underground.
On the iberia coalfield, where there
are 100000 workers-60, 900 women
still work underground in India-and
where wages are miserably low, there
is a small attempt at Golfers Union.
With the intermittent Santhal labor
engaged on the minefeld, it will be
difficult business organizing an effect
i've union, as conditions are today, but
/ believe that if the Jute Workers
Union in Bengal is successful, it could
send speakers and organizers into the
coalfield and act as a prop to the
mine workers in at least the initial
stages of union activity.
OF one thing | am certain. We on
this side in our own interests, if from
no other motive, will require to take
an active and sustained part in the
guiding up of workers organizations
in India. Our standards are being
menaced and undermined by the
gross, savage, ruthless exploitation of
our defenceless Indian brethren.
The daily worker., 1926-05-04
Unity for the Railroad Workers in America

conquest of working class power.
The solution of the wage and or
ganization questions in the railroad
industry lies in joint campaigns par
ticipated in and supported by all
trades. To make dent on the com
panies, the entire strength Of all
unions must be modified. Every live
member of the different trades must
be utilized and drawn into the work OF
organizing everybody in the industry.
This is the paramount issue which
confronts all sincere railroad union
lists who would be constructive and
recover the ground lost during the
last four years. The A b C Of the
present situation, and the hard facts
Of past experience still fresh in our
minds, is inevitably convincing the
workers of the correctness OF the
united front policy.
The Left Wing Program.
To merely patch up the old unions
and let matters rest at that, as is pro-
posed by certain leaders, win never
do. There must be new life. new
methods, new hope and inspiration
instilled into our railroad trade union
movement. The program OF the left
wing is based on the present condi-
tions in the industry and holds out the
only hope for the future. II is built
upon the firm foundation OF the eco
nomic needs and interests OF the
workers.
AS against the policy of the old
school to build cooperation" castles
in the air which only strangle the
unions and paralyze their activities,
the program of the left wing is:
A 100 per cent union Industry
Joint action by all sixteen unions
TO organize the unorganized and for
wage increasesl
Glass struggle instead OF class col
laborationl
Amalgamation-0ne united move
Nment OF 100000 railroad workers.
The daily worker., 1926-05-04
Christian Education and Crime

Every furnishes
gospel opportunities for their stupid ermonng The
tonal murder of the prosecutor McSwggen and two his
beer running companions the chief topic with the clergy
No matter what facts be deduced from criminal annals
the ministers always indulge in the usual banal clapap of
gandizing their particular superstition.
Bishop Thomas Nicholson of Detroit to Chicago
addressed the methodist laymns annual convention taking ad
of the recent murders unburden himself of the following
absurd claim;
believe the this outbreak law violation
Of christian I a
the colleges erminaIsF
The bishop eitheE ignorant of the facts liar, both
Especially unfortunate this observation applied Chicago
According the statement the Rev George r. Thomas rector
St Paus church, Kenwood who cannot be accused Of being pre-
udced against christian education orve ministers of god
in Chicago the for undy high crimes and mis-
demeanorc
The percentage ofcme the Of god exceeds that
of occupations and is riyalled by few.
then expects preachers and bishops to know what
they talking about es4 TAFN N &
member Of the Workers Party and subscription
for The DAILY WORKER r-----
The daily worker., 1926-05-04

ism and must be smashed before they
further undermine the structure Of the
bona fide organizations.
More Work Per Man.
Hand in hand with the weakening
of the regular unions has gone on an
unparalleled exploitation Of the
workers. Steady increases in the
amount of transportation service rem
dered by the average railroad worker
are shown in a U. S. department of
labor analysis of railroad statistics,
from 1922 up to the present time.
During this period we find an in
crease of 11.3 per cent in the amount
of traffic handled per man-hour of
work. The railroads in 1926, thru
their sweating and speeding-up pro-
cesses, were getting 11.3 per cent
more service in return for each hours
work.
Since 1922, and while the unions
were being crushed, wages reduced,
efficiency systems inaugurated, and
| large numbers Of workers were thrown
out Of employment, the railway com
panies have been piling up record
breaking profits.
New Forces Developing.
Obviously this situation could not
continue indefinitely. On the one hand,
the intense struggle between the
workers and the companies deepens
increasing exploitation and by driving
down the standards Of the workers,
they are forced forward by the strug-
gle to a realization Of their interests
and the necessity for rebuilding the
unions and increasing their industrial
power in their own defense. On the
other hand, by the same process, the
old methods Of combating the com
panies are compelled to reveal their
ineffectiveness and the impossibility
Of defending or advancing the inter.
ests Of the workers. The facts and
the logic of the situation are breaking
down the old ideas and methods OF
The daily worker., 1926-05-04

the industry, great numbers Of them
are in company unions and the bal
ance are in no unions at all. This
large mass of totally unorganized, to-
gether with the company unions, are
standing menace in the railroad in
dustry, and present a condition that
is fraught with the most serious dan
gers to the organized section of the
workers. 81.
Wage Reductions.
So effective has been the union
smashing campaignuof the companies
that many of the poorly organized
trades today find that they have prac-
tically nothing whatever to say about
their wages and working conditions.
Not only was the national agreement
abolished in 1922, which meant great
wage losses, but with it has gone
since then long established rules gov
erning working conditions and rates
Of pay. The companies are using
every means TO reduce wages and
block increases, and they have been
all too successful IN their efforts. Ac-
cording to wage statistics issued by
the Interstate commerce commission
large percentage Of the railroad
workers are not only receiving in
wages an amount recognized as the
minimum for a decent standard of
living, but over 100000 Of them are
receiving the miserable sum OF 40
cents per hour or less.
Company Unions.
At the same time company unions
on the railroads have developed at
an alarming pace. Tens OF thousands
OF workers on scores Of railroads
thruout the country have been cor
rallied under threat of discharge into
these boss-controlled organizations. In
these so-called unions" the workers
find themselves absolutely powerless
to defend their Interests. The com.
pany unions are lAe cancer that is eat
ing at the very heart Of railroad union.
The daily worker., 1926-05-04
Los Angeles Unions
Aid Passaic Strikers

LOS ANGELES, May 2. = Nearly
$1,000 has already been collected and
sent to the textile strikers from
unions and other workers organiza-
tions. An organized drive will be
started in May to raise more funds.
The joint May Day labor committee
will donate 500 of the proceeds Of
the May Day mass meeting to this
fund.
Among the first organizations TO
send in contributions to Passaic were
the Painters Union No. 134S, $1O4;
Workers (Communist) Party, $67;
Office Employees Union, SIS; Women's
Consumers Educational League, SIS.
The Musicians Union, one of the
largest in the city, taxed each mem
ber 81 for this purpose. The Women's
Consumers League announces that in
a few days several hundred dollars
will be sent in. as result of their
banquet and concert benefit.
The Young Pioneers of Los Angeles
have also started a relief campaign
for the strikers children, to sell $50
books of 10-cent meal tickets.
Several local labor papers are run
ming weekly news items on the drive
to raise funds, which is bringing the
truth of the Passaic strike to the
labor movement, despite the con-
spiracy of silence on the part of most
of the press.
The daily worker., 1926-05-04
RUSSIAN TRADE UNIONS
INVITE BRITISH LABOR
TO ATTEND CONGRESS-

MOSCOW, U. S. S. r., May p
The presidium Of the AII-RussIan
Trade Union Council Of the Soviet
Union has invited representatives Of
the general council Of the British
Trade Union Congress to attend the
Seventh Trade Union Congress
which will be opened in November
in Moscow.
The daily worker., 1926-05-04
buff ALO CENTRAL
LABOR union AIDS
PASSAIC STRIKERS
Calls Upon Local Unions
to Donate Funds
Especial to The Daily worker)

BUFFALO, N. Y, May 2.-The Buff
falo Central Labor Council, at it's reg
ular meeting, went on record in favor
of aiding in every way within its
power the strike of the 10000 striking
textile workers of Passaic.
1t adopted a resolution strongly con-
demning the vicious tactics of the po-
bice and courts in trying to break the
strike and advises all local unions and
other labor bodies to come to the aid
of the strikers.
Buffalo on the Job.
The workers in this city are show
ing a deep interest in the Passaic
strike, as is evidenced by the fact
that many local unions and fraterna1
organizations have sent sums of
money to the strikers and house-to-
house collection staged under the
auspices of the International Workers
Aid resulted in contributions of $1S3.
The daily worker., 1926-05-04

to it's conduct.
Waste Millions.
Millions of dollars of st. Paul money
were wasted in buying the Chicago,
Terre Haute & Southeastern and the
Chicago. Milwaukee & Gary. Tens of
millions were poured into electrifying
the Puget Sound extension, to the
enormous profit of the Rockefeller An
aconda copper interests.
Percy Rockefeller, formerly st.
Paul director, admitted that he con-
tinued to sit in at board meetings
after he had resigned to meet the re-
quirements of the Clayton act. He ad-
mitted family control of at least &C, 900
shares of st. Paul stock and could
recollect no important instance in
which the board of directors had ever
opposed his wishes. In 1923-24 he was
director of 80 corporations, including
Anaconda Copper, Bethlehem Steel,
National City Bank, Remington Arms.
and the United Electric Light &
Power Co., the Anaconda-controlled
company from which the st. Paul pur-
chases power. sfaaaAM
Rockefeller Admits Control.
Rockefeller, as the climax of six
hours questioning, admitted that thru
the Owenoke Corp, a private finance
company, he received $4,000 of bonds
as his share of the commission to Sam
uel Pryor for selling the Gary road to
the st. Paul. He had previously de-
MED profting in any way from the
purchase of this road by the st. Paul,
altho admitting that he favored it.
He had not told President Byram of
the st. Paul to buy the Gary road,
but merely to look into it, he said.
Apparently Byram understood, for
altho the Gary securities were selling
below par they were taken over and
guaranteed at par. The result of the
purchase has been a loss to the st.
Paul estimated by the interstate COM
merce commission at more than $3,-
100000. Combined with the Terre
Haute this meant an added burden to
the ST. Paul of more than $1O,OO0,OO0
and $22,OO0,O00 added to its liabilities.
Samuel Pryor, partner in the Owen
oke corporation, presented a long
statement to exonerate Rockefeller on
the $4,000 commission. The state
ment had been corrected by Rookie
feller. Pryor admitted it looked rather
queer. Pryor is a Rockefeller director
of 2S corporations, including Ameri
can Brake Shoe & Foundry, Baldwin
Locomotive, Mechanics & Metals Ma
tional Bank, Nash Motors and Rem
ington Arms. His testimony revealed
the private finance corporation as
merely a Rockefeller tool for masking
control of industry.
EIectriflcation Aids Rockefeller.
John d. Ryan, copper king, testified
that while he was a director Of the
st. Paul and at the same time chair
man of the Anaconda Copper Co., the
st. Paul had purchased from the Ana
conda $5,500,000 of copper thru the
United Metals Co., selling agency for
the Anaconda. Rockefeller, director
of United Metals, had previously tes-
titled thatIsSt Paul purchases from
Anaconda had been comparatively
small Ryan admitted that as di-
rector of the Montana Power Co. and
the Great Falls Power Co. he had ia
vored electrifying the st. Paul as
rrnat thing for his nnWer interests
The daily worker., 1926-05-04
The Fight for Trade Unions in India

union for the industry, displaying the
solidarity of the recent great strike
in Bombay, when 10000 workers
M o h m m e n and Hindu-stood
shoulder to shoulder for eleven hungry
weeks in a desperate strike against
shameless reductions in their miser-
able wages. That strike in the end
was successful because Of the none
tary assistance sent by the textile
workers of Europe (chiefiy English) f.
and l have been asked by mass meet
ings of the Bombay workers to con-
vey grateful thanks to their comrades
in the West.
The Cotton Union of Bombay is in
the capable and honest hands of lead
ers such as Mr.. Joshp and Mr.. Bak-
hale, whose headquarters are at the
Servants of India Society offices, Mr..
JOSH himself being secretary to the
All-India Trades Union Congress.
But outside the cotton industry
there is not, so far, very happy story
to chronicle.
Railway Workers.
The railway workers have skele-
ton organization, which has fight in
it, but is badly handicapped by the
inability of the white railwaymen to
cooperate in the same union with
their Indian brethren. Here there are
not only grades of wages in infinite
variety for different posts, but there
are racial grades in the wages also,
the white men being paid on very
much higher scale. I was given the
following table as an illustration in
Contrasts
European Indian
Rupees Rupees
Firemen 80 to ITO Is to %
Drivers $50 to 210 81 to GA
Stationmasters $50 to 500 So to $50
(All monthly wages.)
A Rupee is About 90 Cents at Par.
The railway authorities on being
challenged denied the existence of any
racial discrimination, declaring that
the posts were graded according to
importance and responsibility. and
The daily worker., 1926-05-04
CHARGE ROCKEFELLER INTERESTS
RAN CHICAGO, MILWAUKEE, ST. PAUL
RAILROAD INTO A RECEIVERSHIP
By Leland oLps, federated Press.

Facts developed from the testimony the directors before the nn
state commission investigation Milwaukee
Paul cevehp indicate considerable
Rockefeller control directors
qualifying
The daily worker., 1926-05-04

Open your eyesl Look around!
There are the stories of the workers.
struggles around you begging to be
written up. Do It'll Send 1t inl Write
as YOU fiuhtl
The daily worker., 1926-05-04

Get Of the Workers Party and subscription
for The DAILY WORKER s---
Evening star., 1926-04-22

1929 9TH N.E.-Parlor. bedroom and kitch-
en-, first floor. with victrola: sink and cabi-
net in kitchen; front and back porches: new
home: h.-w.h.. elec.: use of cellar and
washer: S45 month. Phone n. $500. "a .
Evening star., 1926-04-22
WHERE TO STOP.
COLONIAL HOTEL,
18th and NJ SITS. NV.

AMERICAN PLAN,
A residential hotel, modern in every re.
ali rooms SHOWER AND TUB BATHS.
Transient rates l., American An plan. $500 up;
ATTRACTIVE MONTHLY RATES.
Dinners 75c; special Sunday dinners, 81 90;
Evening star., 1926-04-22
RENT ROOMs-FURNJSHED.

PAULSEN-RALEIGH HOTEL zoos 18th
st. n.w.-Single and double rooms use of
club, music and large lounge rooms: within
minutes walking distance from the heart
OF Washington: $3.50 to $40 per week. All
this for your convenience: special rate for
two in room o6s
The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1926-04-09
TEXTILE WORKERS
On Strike One Year In Con
necticut

Willimantic, Conn.-The strike of
$500 employees of the American
Thread Company because of a wage
reduction, has been on for more than
a year. Many strikers have left the
city, but 1,500 of these workers are
as determined as on March 8, 1925,
when they walked out
The strikers are being supported by
organized labor, and the need for this
aid is as urgent as ever, officials of
the United Textile Workers state.
The, company is a subsidiary of the
English Sewing Cotton Company, of
England. The year prior to the
strike it declared 10 per cent divi-
dend and also placed 81, 100000 in its
reserve fund out of profits These
net earnings were accumulated when
workers were employed but 1870 days
during the entire year.
The company is capitalized at $15,-
100000 and in the last 10 years prof
its totaled $13,O00,0O0. 1t has paid
more than $50 per cent in dividends
during this period.
The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1926-04-09
RAIL PROFITS
Higher Though Less Labor
is Employed

Washington. - Last year was a
prosperous one for the nations rail
roads, and record earnings were made
with 1920 less men than in 1924
according to figures furnished the in
terstate commerce commission.
This decrease was mainly in the
maintenance of equipment and stores
department. Only slight changes
were reported for other classes of
employees. For December total of
1,7O3.2OS employees were reported.
The average annual earnings pei
employe in 1925 were ST ,639-$31 81
week-as compared fifth $1,613 in
1924. This is an advance of 1.6 per
cent. The strongly organized train
and engine service group showed the
greatest increase in average hourly
earnings, "a per cent for straight
time and 2.S per cent for overtime.
The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1926-04-09
NON-UNION MINERS
PAYING USUAL COST

Charleston, w. Va. ti-unior
operators north of this city have
again cut wages. The new rate is
below the 1917 scale that organized
miners long since rejected because of
increased living costs.
Charleston business men are grum-
bling over the decreased purchasing
power of these non-unionists. Even
before the latest cut business men de-
plored conditions in nearby fields
They gave every aid to coal operators
in their campaign for "free and indie
pendent" workers, and winked at law
violation by injunction judges and by
the coal operators gun men ard
guards. Now they are reaping theil
harvest in the form of lessened
business turnover and in many cases
bankruptcy.
The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1926-04-09
RETIREMENT FOES
USE ECONOMY" CRY

Washington Foes ,of liberalized
retirement system for federal en-
ployes are using the economy" cry
to defeat this proposal The law was
enacted in 1920. Employees pay 2a
per cent of their salary into a fund
that now totals $40,0O0,OOO. The law
provides that actuaries shall make
yearly reports on the operation of
the law, but this is the first year that
report has been made on completed
data. The retirement age for rail
way clerks is 81 years., for postal
clerks and letter carriers 65 years and
for all other employees 70 years. Phe
employees are urging a reduction of
the retirement age and ask for in
creased annuities. The average an
nulty at the present time is $544.64.