The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-06-29
\ Ivy Lee,
THE BTG-HEARTED sPENDER
By 7. o,FLAHERTY.


Two Of the smallest occasional peri
oaicals in the world. Those of you
VINO patronize the subway and the
elevated might have noticed the Sub
way Sun" and the Elevated Elk
press" names that reflected credit on
ehe originality of the glorified press
agent. Ivy was the recipient of a
$1,000 a year retainer from the l.
+. i. This meant that Ivy got paid
ram or shine, work or no work. In
lact, as in the case of lawyer it
GID not mean anything at all to the
4 X. I. except that it kept Ivy in
good humor.
THERE was time when the public,
= that does not walk very far on
It's own heels, but is addicted to
standing on other peoples toes in
the subway, elevated or trolley, paid
Its nickel to a fallible human being
at the entrance to the means of
transportation. Lee considers work
ers necessary evils that should be
eliminated wherever possible. So he
decided that turnstiles at subway and
elevated entrances would reduce the
number Of employees that might be
Induced to join a union. And turn
stiles there are with the result that
noises issuing from a subway en-
trance during rush hours sound like
q race between a few hundred victims
Of rheumatism, or a soup-drinking
contest between toothless entries.
Whether the company gained anthing
By the innovation or not, we do not
lknow, but Ivy Lee and the Tombs
got something out Of it: Ivy,
reputation and probably some dough,
and the Tombs, one perfectly good
prisoner, who according to Bill Dunno,
erstwhile Tombs correspondent of
THE DAILY WORKER, made the
mistake of putting a leaden coin in
slot instead of taking one out of it.
IVY LEE, sworn and paid foe of or
ganized labor, Communism and
other "subversive" movements had
carte blanche from the l. r. T. to go
ahead and permit not his brain to
be bothered with worries over ex-
pense accounts. Lees retainer of
$4,000 might look like lot of money
to a $25 week wage slave without
/, an expense account of S212,954, which
\ latter would be incomprehensible to
him. Ivy spent all his money trying to
prepare the public mind for fare in
crease, but he only got mayor Hylan
a couple of times and the investment
in propaganda was total loss. Yet
an incompetent like Lee holds down
: a good job.
ONE of Lees most notable ac-
complishments was the organi-
cation of a company union, where
the rank and file had nothing to do
or say except pay their dues, This
union is now in an advanced state
Of putrefaction and if the officials
t Of the Amalgamated Association of
+ Street Railway Employees were not
an aggregation of kowtowing fun
keys they would seize on this aus
I picious occasion-when the traction
barons are being exposed to the
masses as a collection Of financial
bandits and swindlers-to put on
whirlwind organization campaign and
bust up this company union. 1t is
about time the employees Of the trac-
ton magnates lit a match under the
political posteriors of the union Off
Gals.
THE DAILY WORKER has already
commented on the strange visit
paid by those officials and the local
organizer Of the A. F. of L. to Sam
uel Untermyer, special attorney for
the people" in the traction probe.
The New York Times, waxed indig-
nant over Untermyer's pillorying of
the traction Mahatmas. "Why"
queried Ochs's organ "does not Mr..
Untermyer warn the union officials
that a strike would be an attack on
the public" Such a warning would
prove in the opinion Of the Times
that Untermyer was the champion of
the innocent bystander" the "pub-
lie" the "third party" and all the
other aliases that are concocted to
create the impression that capital and
labor are two congenital thugs adj
dicted to occasional lapses into van
dalism to the great modification and
Inconvenience Of the public. The fact
is that the public is divided, largely.
between the owning classes and the
propertyless. The latter must strike
or otherwise fight in an organized
manner to gain concessions, to sell
their labor power for the best pos
p. sible price. The workingclass section
of the public, or at least the well-in-
formed part Of the worlingclass,
sympathizes with the striking work
ers while the owning section, on the
whole. is hostile. The latter is the
"public" whose interests the capt.
talist press is concerned with.