davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-01-24

Appeal of the International Miners Committee
Miners! Comrades!
The strike front of the miners in Great Britain
and Germany is extending. Under the leadership
of the revolutionary tarde union movement and
the International Miners Committee the hungry
and impoverished miners have entered the strug-
gle against capitalist exploitation and against the
social fascist treachery Of the Amsterdam trade
union bureaucracy.
The State apparatus of the bourgeoisie, the
police terror and the organized strike breaking
of the refornists striving to break the fight
ing spirit of the miners. The whole weight of
the economic crisis is to be shifted onto the
shoulders of the working class, but the workers
are defending themselves with increasing energy.
By forming a revolutionary united front embrac-
ing all capitalist countries the workers will de-
stroy the capitalist system.
In this situation it is the duty of the miners
of all countries to show the greatest possible
ivity and solidarity towards their fellow workers
in Germany and Great Britain, and to create the
necessary conditions for success by taking up
the struggle in their own countries for their own
demands
The International Miners Committee which is
the revolutionary leader of the miners appeals
in particular to the miners in Poland, Czecho-
slovakia, France and Belgium to organize soil
darity movement Immediately.
The miners of Poland must Immediately go to
the assistance of their fellow workers in Upper
SiIesia The solidarity strike is the most power
full weapon to strengthen the international pro-
letarian front
Miners of Poland do your revolutionary duty!
The miners of Czechoslovakia are faced with
the same task. The capitalists Of Czechoslo-
vakia are exploiting and expressing the miners
and seek to prevent them from going to the
assistance of their fellow workers in other coun-
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-01-24

in all of the strike activity picketing. facing ar
rests, etc. BY explaining in simple manner
every day to the strikers the necessity of joining
the union. We succeeded In getting substan-
tial part Of the strikers into the union.
One of the first difficulties we encountered in
the strike was the election of a strike committee
of the strikers. The Strikers at first did not I'M
derstand the necessity Of having strike COM
mittee to direct the strike to negotiate with the
boss. etc. But an inciden which happened on he
second day of the strike convinced them that
such committee was necessary The boss sent
out one Of his foremen to tell the girls that he
wanted to talk to them. Most Of the strikers
went in to find out what he wanted to say think
ing that he was going to withdraw the wage cut.
About 20 girls refused to 90 in at all. We finally
persuaded these girls to go In and II the boss
would not withdraw the wage cut to bring the
rest Of the girls out again. The boss tried to
terrorize the young strikers. and locked the door
on some Of them and would not let them out.
After that. strike committee was eleced of the
leading and most militant elements in the strike
and functioned throughout the strike.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-01-24

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The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-01-24

Good work by convicts in u. S. prisons how
ever doesn't go unnoticed by the warden, who
gets graft on each article that goes out If
prisoner turns out shoes faster and cheaper
than anyone else he is singled out for special
rewards He loses his parole and he is given,
who turns out ladies' slippers too rapidly is
liable to get life sentence for good conduct
"A careless worker, his mind adrift, who gets
the heels inside the SHOE or who doesn't put
enough paper inside the solos, is liable to be
amazing facts Of u S. prisons in the next two
articles. Don't miss tomorrow's.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-01-24
BY WIN. MURDOCH.

Editors Note.-Murdoch, secretary of the
National Textile Workers Union, was released
Jan. IL after serving five months sentence,
which was inflicted upon him because he
posed the strike breaking activities of German,
an official of the United Textile Workers
Union. Murdoch issued leaflet showing up
German and the U. T. W. he ar
rived in Danville, shortly after the 1000 went
on strike. The employers courts of Virginia,
knowing that the U. 7. w. is their best strike
breaker, rushed to its defense and ruled that
the leaflct was libel)
The four thousand textile workers who still
continue the fight for organization in Danville
Va, are beginning to feel the full force of the
bosses power. After six months of struggle, in
which they faced the bared-bayonets of the
state militia and reinforced city police they have
effectively tied up the mill in what has been one
Of the most fiercely fought strikes of the past
few years.
Now these four thousand Danville workers are
facing the worst month of the winter with a
leadership that more and more bareny exposes
itself as a rank strikebreaking agency and the
final reserve of the textile employers.
German, Green, the United Textile Workers
and the A. F. of L., are stabbing the strikers in
the back.
spurred by the hunger marches news of which
occasionally filters through and answering the
direct call of the National Executive Board of
the National Textile Workers Union, the work.
ers came out on November 25 in massed forma-
ton and demonstrated their ability to keep the
scabs from the mills Not a. scab went to work
The u. T. w. leadership, scared by the fight
ing determination of their following, accepted the
decision of the city and state governments to
send In the troops, and mass arrests we're made
of both women and men at the point of the
bayonets.
Over fifty workers we're arrested and charged
with unlawful assembly and arson carrying long
prison sentences.
Now the U. T. w. leaders refuse to guarantee
the strikers the support of the union for their
legal defense and has surrendered these most
militant workers to the tender mercies of the
courts
Fake Relief.
While the northern labor press is full of state
ments that the workers are receiving wonderful
relief the u. T. w. is forcing the workers to live
on a daily ration of beans. fat-back and flour
while the leaders draw their steady salaries of
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-01-24
Chief Manufactures

The chief manufactures are shirts, overalls,
pants, aprons, housedresses and cotton cloth, in
the clothing industry. Chairs, stoves and other
furniture, brushes and brooms, shoes, Irvine,
brick sand, gravel, and auto lscenses are pro-
duced in nearly every state. Besides this output
there are garages turpentine camps, cotton mills
in the South and huge farms in the middle
west which produce cotton, corn, wheat peanuts
and flax. There are also printing plants where
State documents are printed.
We find that in only 104 institutions in the
United States there are 81 799 prisoners employed
in productive labor, and that there are over 300
jails and lockups which are not included in these
statistics. Almost every county Jail or city prison
has convict labor of one type or another.
An unofficial statement by an officer of the
shirtnaker's union shows that 95 per cent Of the
total production of work shirts were produced
by convicts. On the other hand we see that
conditions in the factories where free labor is
used in making shirts are miserable. The girls
only get from.s10 to SIS week.
1t was brought out before the Interstate Com
nierce Commission during the 10th Congress that
IS per cent Of all work pants and 10 per cent of
all overalls produced were made by prisoners
In the Typographical Journal Of August, $780,
in an article dealing with convict labor 1t was
stated mat III is known TACT that prisons have
supplied mail order houses with shoes, stoves
brooms, furniture, house dresses, overalls, and
aprons, at extremely cheap rates.
In 1923 the total state prison production OF
binder twine according to the Bureau of Labor
Statistics was valued at $5588372. Twenty-one
per cent of the total produced was done in only
nine prisons. The entire production in the us.
was valued at $8S 83,038.
maj facfY ri, nf all
other industries from which the state and pri-
vate contractors reap profit. For example, the
work on the highways. Out of the 43 States.
AZ use the prisoners for work on roads. Only
six have no legal authority to do SO, and Indiana
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-01-24
SPECIAL BOOK OFFER

The International Publishers has gotten ont
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The following volumes are already published
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The imperialist War. Contains all of Lenlns
writings during the first two years of the World
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tack on the socialist and labor elements who
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class conflict
The Iskra Period. t190O-l902) Two large
volumes. The formation Of the Bolshevik Party
Contains the famous pamphlet. What Is To Be
Done?' and an analysis OF the agrarian problem
The Revolution Of 1917. Two large volumes.
The immediate background OF October. 1917.
From the overthrow of the Gar in March until
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eminent in July.
The Subscription Plan.
These books sell regularly In the bookstore
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For an initial payment OF 50, one volume will
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-Four more payments OF 50 each can be made
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On receipt Of these payments single volumes
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For the last payment. two volumes having a
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The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-01-24
BY HELEN KAY.

By HELEN KAY.
IN Rhode Island an interesting case was brought
before the State Supreme Court Several years
ago a former prisoner by the name of Anderson
filed suit against the Crescent Garment Com
pany, claiming wages of SIS a week for the time
he spent in making shirts. He based his claim
on the fact that the State constitution provides
Slavery shall not be permitted in this State"
and he alleged that the forced labor performed
in the shirt factory was slavery. The Supreme
Court of course decided against him. The State
had contract with that company.
At the present time there are six functioning
systems out of which profit can be squeezed
from the labor of the convict. These are the
contract, the lease. the piece price, the public
account, the State use, and the public works
and ways systems. They are all similar in that
the institution and officials get the benefit of
the prisoners labor and that the prisoner gets
in most cases. absolutely nothing.
The contract system enables the contractor
to engage with the State by time for the labor
power of the prisoner and specified amount
is paid to the State for the labor of the in
divdual The lease system requires that the lessee
who hires the convict pays the State 'or the
labor. feeds, clothes, and guards him. The other
systems work on nearly the same basis. The
Public Account system allows the State to run
a factory. and the prison warden acts the
boss, besides enforcing discipline The State use
and public works and ways are similar in that
the convicts are employed by the State for
work on State roads, institutions etc. Under
the piece price the contractor pays the State
by the amount of articles manufactured-really
on piece work basis.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-01-24
Those in Glass Houses Shouldn't
Throw Stones

of these six, uses the convicts from the State
Penal Farm for this work anyhow
There is also the occupation of making "little
ones out of big ones" Nearly every State has
its quarries The foremost of these are illinois,
Kentucky and Missouri. In Illinois the crushed
stone is shipped from Joliet and Menard for
township and State highway work This is fur
nished free of cost, the State pays only for the
transportation.
Increase in Use of Prisoners
In the Southern Labor Review" of December
"a, 1880, on the Moffat Farm, it was stated that
"A noticeable increase in convicts is remarked
In 1926 the number of State convicts was 1904
and lis county prisoners At the close of the
last fiscal year the number of State convicts was
4370 and county prisoners 664
The American City" shows that in 1929 in
the State of Alabama, 1,4oo prisoners were en-
ployed and in the month of October of 1880,
there we're 1000 used on the State highways.
In West Virginia there has been an increase of
from ITO in 1929 to 300 in 1890 In North
Carolina where the chain gang is so prominent
there has been an increase of 275 from 1928 to
1929.
The barbaric conditions under which the chain
gang slaves will be dealt with in a special ar
ticle.
1t is known fact when road work states in
the early spring, sheriffs and cops go on ram
page to pick up workers for highway work.
Charges are framed on them such as "Vagrancy,
drunkenness, insulting cops. ETC., and they are
forced to slave without pay for the State or
for the private contractor.
What 1t Means to the Bosses
The convict labor system is of great value to
the capitalist State great profit is reaped
from the sale of the labor power of the prisoner,
for the State institution for the warden, or for
the private boss. Prisoners are kept busy with
out any additional effort Of the warden, or any
extra expense. Commodities are furnished by
the prisoners for other State institutions at very
trivial cost. State documents are published in
the prison printing press at Trenton, New Jersey
Machines are fixed in the prison garages as in
Wilmington, Delaware Cotton fabric, ducks and
canvas are manufactured for the use of the
War and Navy Departments. Bags are made for
the mail service. State roads are repaired and
made by the convcts. Sand and gravel brick
and other highway materials are made for State
consumption. Private contractors pay for the
use OF the prison labor and this brings in added
profits to the State institutions.
(To Be Continued
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-01-24

A st. Louis Unemployed Work.
er Secured $500 Signatures
Through His Individual Eff
fort. Have You Secured
ESQ. or Even the First
Twenty-Five? !.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-01-24

This is the second in a series of four ar
ticIes dealing with convict labor in the United
States.)
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-01-24
Workers! Join the Party of
Your Class!
QuestiOn-What is Communism. anyway?
Brooklyn, N. Y.

Communist Party s A.
43 East 125th Street.
New York City
Please send me more information on the Con
munist Party.
Name .......................
Address ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.
CITY .,..................... State ........
SSeopa1'on $1,000. .............-.. age
Mail this to the Central once Commui
Party. 43 East l25th St. New York, NJ Y
Gathering Signatures for @
Unemployment insurance.
Lays the Basis for a Mas
Movement Against Capt.
talists and Their Gov
eminent. It's An I'm
DOrtant Task -
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-08-30
Books ReCeiUed

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES BY Prank
E. Allen, author Of Practical Lectures on
the Book Of job" etc. Foreword by Lean
der s. Keyser, A. NJ, d. d. Boston: The
Christopher Publishing House.
THE URGE OF THE UNRATIoNAL IN RE-
LIGION BY William Mullendore. Boston:
The Stratford Co.
TWO RENAISSANCE EDUCATORS: Alberta
and Piccolomini BY S. G. Santayana,
Phi. D., professor Of history and sociology.
State Teachers College whitewater, wis.
Boston: Meador Publishing Co.
LEAH, THE TENDER EYED: An Ancient Pas
toral BY Mary w. Kramer. Boston, AAea-
dor Publishing Co.
Law AND LITERATURE: And Other Essays
and Addresses. BY Benjamin N. Card09a,
chief justice OF the Court of Appeals State
OF New York. New York: Harcourt; Brace
g. Co.
LORDS VERSUS COMMONS: A Century Of
Conflict and Compromise, 1S30-i9S0 By
Emily Allyn, Phi. D., assistant professor o&
history, Wilson College. New York: The
Century Co.
WHAT'S WRONG WITH TAXATION? BY
jackson II. Ralston, author of IAN Un-
shackled Civilization" etc. San Diego: In
gram Institute.
CONFERENCE OF THE PRESS Princeton
University, 1891. Under the auspices ef tfae
School cf Public and International Affairs.
POLITICAL HANDBOOK OF THE woRIDs
Parliaments Parties and Press, as OF Jmmn-
airy II 1891. Edited By walter MaIloEy.
Yale University Press: Council Of FoseAgm
Relations. Inc.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-08-30

TEE HISTORY AND IDEALS OF AMERI-
CAN ART. BY Eugen Neuhaus professor
of art in the University Of California. STAN
ford University Press.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-08-30

Y IMPRESSIVE volume, as such, de-
signed 10 cover and convey . sub
iect of moment and interest. Not
so common, to come upon a beauti-
full book, in which, at every point,
high craftsmanship appeals TO sight
The daily worker., 1931-08-04
How to Collect Money for the
Miners Relief

m Saturday night at 7:3O p. m got on the
7th Ave. Broadway subway at 18th St on
my way to q Young Defender outing at Van
Cortlandt Park. I carried an empty miners
relief collection box. The train at that hour
was not particularly crowded, yet in that one
train, one way trip collected 1891
Earlier that day two comrades and I went
into the B.-M T. subway In one and one
quarter hours L collected s429, the second COM
rade $48o the third $50. All of us we're in
experienced We used method which so far
as we know, has not been used before.
The Penn. Ohio Relief Committee New York
DISTRICT had printed a little leaflet We went
to 799 Broadway and each got 50 (not enough
When we got into the subway each took diff
ferent car We would walk through the car
first giving the leaflets, then going back after
allowing time to read the leafet, picking UP the
leaflets, and taking contributions And how
we would take them! Sometimes in one car as
many as 20-30 people would give. People who
would refuse to take leaflet would read over
the shoulders Of their neighbor and give when
we came around with boxes Young American
workers old women, almost anyone who could
be induced to read the leaflet Having recov-
cred most of the leaflets, we would start over
again. What finally stopped us was that we
ran out of leaflets.
The leaflet was excellent. Just about the
right SIZE attractive cover; makeup, etc We
should not forget that the miners strike itself
creates tremendous sympathy among all work
ers and even among the petty bourgeosie petty
bourgeois ntellectuals, etc.
On the basis of our experience, suggest the
following preparations and directions for future
tag days
I. short appealing leaflet to be printed ,
(Once again, the enclosed leafet is excellent
but a little too long. Also when folded should
be bit longer.
Sections should be assigned TO cover GER
The daily worker., 1931-08-04
d D T z srtmento OF
I "A N / l. ! T. Conmuig Pary,U A

tain subway lines and parks.
g. Each comrade should have 100000 leaflets
It is we'll not to take back all the leaflets It
is difficult to carry more
4 In the subway and parks carry your box
wrapped up in newspaper mot the Daily
Worker) or in your pocket Keep sharp eye
peeled for cops and you won't have any trouble
5. Start work in groups experienced and
inexperienced, etc..
g. In parks the same method as was used in
the subway, first distributing, giving time to
read, and then coming back and collecting.
Recently the various organizations of the
revolutionary movement have arranged affairs
pcnics, etc. and are arranging others. It is
very true that at such places one may be able
to fill ones box, but collections here should be
left to the Arrangements Committee Party
members and syrnpathizers, collecting relief on
the instructions of their units and organizations
should go out among the workers outside. on
the streets ETC., in workers organizations, visit
ing house to house collecting relief from sources
that we do not otherwise reach
The August issue of the Party Organizer will
be off the press August 1st This issue is
Mine Strike Issue and will prove of the utmost
value to all comrades Every Party member
must study these problems of preparing organ
izing and leading the mass strike struggles that
are developing throughout the country These
articles are written by the comrades in action
who are leading the work in the strike at the
present time. The contents is as follows:
The Lessons of the Struggle, by Earl Browder
How the Present Miners Strike Was Pre-
pared, by Frank Borich
Where Is the Party in the Miners Relief
Campaign, by Alfred Wagenknecht.
How the N M. U. Is Being Built During the
Strike, by Jack Johnstone
Building the Party in the Mine Strike Area,
by A. Markoff
Building Party Units in the Coal Strike Area,
by Leo Thompson
How the Unemployed Were Drawn Into Ac-
tivity, by r. Wood.
The daily worker., 1931-08-04
Crocodile Tears

The tremendous hullabsloo in the New York
capitalist press in pretense of concern over the
lives of children is enough to sicken vulture.
Gangsters in car, apparently trying to knock
off some rival, wounded four and killed one
little working class kid, all Italian in parertage.
And what row! The capitalist press offers
rewards-and sells extra editions! Police Com
missioner Mulrooney, who still smack his lips
over brutal beatings his cops gave young Pioneer
kids and women early in 1929, snorts around as
if outraged at the brutality of gangsters, order
ing the cops to bring them in dead or alive
just as if ne meant it.
But the cops don't bring them in. They don't
know en- although not two weeks ago Null
rooney, in another clean up spasn1 told dance
hall managers to keep gangsters out of their
places, and added: IF you don't know the gang
Sters, the police department will furnish in
Structors to point them out"
Such sickening hypocrisy AS if the World
Telegram which raves about the killing of a
little italian working class child and offers $1,000
reward for the killers, cares whether half of the
workers children in New York or America for
that matter might die Of starvation because their
dads are jobless!
The journal of Hearst, always trying to excel
everything else in demagogy offers $4,000 re-
Waro, ana raves over the faolo aDout tne ter
rorisn OF the gangsters and how sorry Hearst
is for the little lad that's dead. But both OF
these papers exult about cops bouncing night
sticks" and "wading in with blackjacks" against
workers demanding unemployment insurance so
they can keep their children from dying of
hunger.
According to Hoovers own statement 100000
children in this country are suffering pain and
disease because of poverty That poverty is due
to capitalist robbery of the workers. But the
capitalist press doesn't get excited over that
o, no! But by roaring about some poor kid shot
down, they can both pretend to be virtuous and
sell ezrts editions at the same tarnsi