The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-12-28
TAMMANY OFFICIALS GUzzLE
TREASURY; WORKERS STARVE
New York District Communist Party Calls All
to Organize, Protest, Demand Relief

The bureau OF the Communist
Party of U. S. A, District 2, has
issued the following statement on
the salary grab of New York Tam
many officials, pointing out that
this takes place while widespread
unemployment, wage cuts, and mis-
cry sweep through the working
population.
Jimmy Walker, Friend of the
Peoplei"
mayor Walker, representative of
the strikebreaking government and
of Tammany Hall, the most vicious
political machine in the world, to-
gether with his colleagues, the
comptroller, the president of the
board of aldermen, and the five
borough presidents, have raised
their salaries by tens of thousands
of dollars.
Hundreds of thousands of work
ers of New York City are out on
the streets looking for jobs. The
Wall Street crash showed the SER
ious crisis in industry, which dur
ing the month of November alone
reduced employment 81 per cent.
Some industries have been very
hard hit, as, for instance, the auto
industry, which declined 17.3 per
cent in one month.
"Not only did hundreds of thou
sands of workers lose their jobs but
the payroll during the month of
November decreased 6.8 per cent.
"In face of the misery confront
ing the workers, the unemployment
and declining payroll, Mayor Walk
er has utilized the post-election per-
iod to raise his pay and thus flaunt
this action in the face of the suf-
fering workers.
None For Employees.
an the month of May, the city
engineers made demand upon the
city for a wage increase. Faced
with refusal of the city to grant
this pay raise, they went in a body
to the city hall and as a conse-
quence 300 were summarily dis
charged. The subway construction
workers, who have had to work at
very low wage, struck to improve
their conditions. They did not re-
ceive penny increase in wages,
and yet Mayor Walker and his col
leagues run to the public treasury
for their own benefit.
'This is the mayor who, repre-
senting the concentrated power of
Wall Street, mobilizes the police
against every attempt of the work
ers to improve their conditions.
This is the mayor who has carried
on a vicious campaign to destroy
the labor organizations of this city,
particularly the fighting industrial
unions-the needle trades, shoe and
cafeteria workers, etc. This is the
strikebreaking mayor who pockets
thousands of dollars, while thou
sands of city employees have to
struggle along on 500 month and
are compelled to send their wives to
work to help feed their families.
Rents Go Up.
"These are not the only ques-
tions confronting the workers at
the present time, although they are
the most vital ones. Rents are
soaring sky-high, the landlords TAX
ing advantage of the rent law which
was recently declared unconstitu-
tional. One million people today
are occupying rooms without win
dows in New York City. Hundreds
of thousands of children not only
find no seats in the crowded schools,
but are attending school in an I'M
derfed condition.
while adult workers are COM
PEELED to work for 40 cents or As
cents an hour, women workers and
young workers are being drawn into
industry to take their places at
lower pay. In this period of unem-
ployment, Negro workers are being
forced to accept even a lower wage
than those granted white workers.
Demand Relief.
"We workers Of New York, who
are suffering unemployment and
low wages and are organizing
against these conditions, condemn
this plundering of the public treas
ury by Mayor Walker and his col
leagues and demand for our protec-
ton social insurance against unem-
ployment, accident. sickness and old
age.
eve demand that through tax
on the bankers and manufacturers
of this city whose profits and divi-
dends are higher than ever before
in the history of the country, So
cial insurance fund be created.
"This fund shall be administered
by a commission of the workers