The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-07-02
BY MORRIS BACKALL

June 18th. The city was then in turmoil.
Chief of police VIM. Russell and the chief OF
detectives John Siege were forced to resign
They could not cope with the situation OF
gangsters, hold-up men, murderers. Ten gang
sters were killed in ten days, and in addition
Albert ("Jake'O Lingle, the so-called Tribune
reporter was murdered.
Chicago was burning with the street car
franchise situation. The general press, the
bankers, the majority of the liberals agitated
for accepting the franchise on July LIST OF the
special referendum vote. This franchise, II
accepted, would give the transportation and
the CITY administration bonus of $4,000, 900
Immediately of generalization and a possibility
of ten of millions of dollars in graft in the
future. 1t would mean heavier burdens of
higher carfare, higher rent to the poor of the
population of Chicago.
Unemployment in Chicago was on the in
crease. Harvester just laid off 5000 addl-
tional workers. The city was full of unem-
ployed. A great many workers were evlcted
from their homes. One district alone, the
Lawndale district has 100000 unemployed.
Police brutality was also on the increase
Unemployed meetings were dispersed. Es-
pecially the Negro workers were singled out
The blueblood and snobbish of the Chicago
police could not stand the sight Of colored
and white workers meeting IoSetNel'
At the same time two Investigations reveal
the facts that the chairman of the election
commissioners of Chicago was himself men,
Der of the underworld, and that he appointed
as clerks to the election-Judges, members OF
gangland that were working for the under
world, so that their friends should be elected.
Another investigation brought out the fact
that Albert Lingle, the so-called Tribune re-
porter had common account OF SlOO,00O IN
stocks with former chief of police VIM. Rus
sell, and they both together lost S4oU,ooo IN
the last Wall Street crash. 1t also revealed
the fact that captain Gilbert, the police cap
tain of the downtown district, received cheek
of $500 from Lingle. And it is very easy to
comprehend that the Tribune reporter was
merely go-between of the gangsters OF Chi
cago and the police department, and that there
exists a close relationship between the muir
derers, the bootleg men, the holdup men ana
the police department of Chicago.
But one force in Chicago is active IN or
panizing the workers and the masses of poor
people against the brutality of police, against
the crime situation, against the possibilities
of the merger of the city administration, fin
ance capital and industrial overlords, to put
over the traction franchise. This would mean
a perpetual monopoly by these interests OF
the TRANSFORMATION system of Chicago and
higher carfare, more unemployment and taxa
ton of the workers and citizens OF the CITY,
Organizing Jobless
The Communist Party of Chicago is the only
Party that is organizing the unemployed, that
is demanding work or wages, that is arouslng
the masses to a struggle to overthrow the
system under which poverty, unemployment,
crime and corrupt politics is growing.
When l visited Detroit, city one third the
size of Chicago, l read the local me- papers
and talked to the inhabitants of the city !
found there trust of active kidnappers, old
gangsters who confess that they are con-
nected with the ring of kidnappers, hold-up
men, bootlegging interests, and the police de-
partment of the city helping them, by recelv-
ing graft.
Thursday the newspapers of Detroit featured
the arrest of five Jewish boys and one young
girl for kidnapping and their confession. Five
banks were closed up, three in the Polish
neighborhood and two in Detroit proper.
Workers around the banks surrounded them,
to find that their last pennies were gone.
Unemployment was at a high level. Tens
of thousands of workers were out OF work and
the number is still growing. Not only the
10000 workers that Ford threw out of work
were still idle, but the Fisher body cmpany
and all other automobile concerns were send
ing their men out of the factories and were
leaving only women. The wages of the women
were cut one fourth. The installment of the
speed up system results in growing accidents
among women workers. They hardly make a
living.
The situation of the city administration in
Detroit is the same as in Chicago. The Mayor,
Charles Bowles, by referendum of $4,000
signatures, was voted to be unseated. Only
10000 signatures required by law enough
to unseat the Mayor. After the election COM
missoners saw the signatures they verified
over $4,000 signatures as valid, and it is re-
quired that rs days after the election conf
missioners establish the validity of the refer
endum, new elections must take place.
What Boss Press Says
The local capitalist newspapers state as the
reasons for the petition for the removal of
the mayor, that the city administration was
part of the bootlegging, kidnapping, and hold
up underworld elements of Detroit, that the
city administration was helping to increase
car-fare notwithstanding the fact that city
transportation is owned by the municipality,
that fake contracts were issued by the city
in order to increase the cost for operating the
street car system and that the city administra-
ton in the hands of capitalist mayors and
aldermen is representing the interests not of
the citizens, and especially not of the poor
masses of workers, but the interest of finance,
industrial overlords and criminals of the city.
The workers in Detroit feel that change
in administration with another capitalist