The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-10-15
The Strike in Lawrence and the
Profits of the Amer. Wooden Co.

company over a period of years shows what the
stockholders were getting in addition to the
large amounts going to the bankers and the Of
ficers of the company. wood himself pulled
about $1,000000 year out of the company be-
sides large amounts extracted from the treasury
to pay his personal income tax and other sums
paid directly to him or through his associates,
many of them connected with the selling end of
the business)
Piling Up of Huge Profits.
Here are the dividend rates over period of
years on common stock: 1916, 5 per cent; 1917,
5 per cent; 1918, per cent; 1919, 20 per cent
Irregular plus extras of per cent and 10 per
cent; 1920, 7 per cent 1921, per cent; 1922,
7 per cent; 1923, 7 per cent; 1924, per cent?
At the same time during all these years and
up to 1927 the regular per cent was paid on
the preferred stock.
If we consider only certain recent periods we
find that the capitalist class drew off from the
value created by the workers Of American
Wooden, the following amounts:
To holders of bonds and acknowledgements
rnately $5,80O,000 from 1921 to 1881.
70 preferred stockholders ,242, 00o 1921 to
April, 1927.
To common stockholders $4,000, 1921, to
July, 1924.
This makes total Of nearly $50, 900 900 drawn
off by the capitalist class since the depression
of 1921, not including the millions that went to
Wood and other officers of the company in huge
salaries, rake-offs commissions and stock rig
ging operations
The capital stock Of the company is greatly
inflated and by no means represents true values
even in the capitalist sense. And the real estate
and plants of the company are carried on the
books at the inflated figure of over 100000 900,
y, u ~f~ .i...
ting aside heavy reserves for depreciation until
it has already over half this inflated investment
covered The depreciation reserve increased
from s2s,3oooOo in 1920 to s52ooO,ooo in 1890
The financial statement of the company at the
end of 1880 showed a large amount of cash and
government securities in its treasury these LIQUID
assets alone amounting to $25, 672 900. The corr
pany then had total current assets of nearly
S54947,000 as against current liabilities of only
S745,0O0, leaving net working capital of $54-
100000. The surplus at the end of the year,
although it had been falling in recent years was
still $4,78700o.
Swindling the Workers.
In 1925 the company took reserve fund of
s2,50oooo which had been set up for employee
pensions and put it in with its regular surplus,
promising thereafter to pay the pensions out of
operating expenses but thereby wiping out the
when the fund was set up and large promises
made to them. In the same manner the COM
pany encouraged its workers to buy stock on
which dividends have not been paid in recent
years.
An advertisement that has appeared for years
in the Textile Worker official organ of the
United Textile Workers of America, reads as fol-
lows:
Economy in Production. More than 2500O
skilled employees, ably and tactfully directed
working under pleasant conditions and receiving
consistently fair treatment; forty mills equipped
with every labor-saving, time-saving device
known and unlimited facilities for securing the
best of raw material-all are perfectly CO.
ordinated to secure greater economy in produce
ton so that the ultimate clothing wearer may
benefit American Wooden Company. Inc"
This ad in the strikebreaking paper speaks
for itself.