davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-09-02
STEEL METAL WORKERS WIN GAINS AGAINST NRA THRU STRIKE
Under the Smoke in Gary
and South Chicago Mills
BY MORRIS BACKALL

I visited the steel cities in the Chi
cago area. The vicinity of the Wis
consin and Illinois steel mills in
South Chicago, the Strand of the
steel workers, is populated by Mexi-
can. Negro, Serbian, Croatian, Polish,
italian and workers of other nation
alities. The sky is covered with smoke.
No sun rays penetrate the vicinity.
Heavy clouds of smoke hang over
the streets and the air is full of gas.
Small children with pale faces play
in the yards which are full of gar
bage and rusted iron.
In Gary, Ind, the houses Of the
workers are nearly the same as in
South Chicago. They look a little
better but the inside is a pitiable
sight. No furniture, dirty, were not
painted for 10 or IL years.
The Increase in Employment Among
the Steel Workers
According to the claims of the
steel magnates, the Illinois Steel
Mill, which is a U. S. Steel Corpora
ton in South Chicago, employees now
1000 people. The Wisconsin Steel
Mill of South Chicago, which is the
International Harvester Company,
employs $500 people. The Illinois
Steel Mill of Gary, Ind, which occu-
pies four miles on Lake Michigan in
Gary, employs now $4,000 workers.
Conditions of Work
The steel workers in the Chicago
area work under the most terrific
conditions. They work half naked.
The sparks of fire strike their bare
flesh. The smoke chokes them. Many
of them can hardly stand up. At the
blast furnaces, they become consump-
tive very soon. The Bessimer work.
ers, blowers, moulders, welders, MAX
ers of steel are all under danger of
being blinded, of being physically de-
stroyed by the fire.
On Friday, July 81, Negro work
er, Leslie Johnson, was killed in the
$50 inch plate mill. He was employed
as hooker, and one of the big
plates rolled on top of him and
crushed him. The plate was being
made for Hoover Dam. This worker
was working with a gang of four who
were already in the wash house
ready to quit. Johnson was hooking
up his last plate, ready to quit him
self, when the roller let the plate
down and crushed him.
In speaking to a Serbian worker in
Gary, Ind, he told me the following
81 was four years out of a job. ]
was anxious to get work, and was
hired by the Sheet and Tin Mill as
mechanic in the Welders' Depart
ment. But I had to leave the job in
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-09-02
Cheap Swindles of Big Steel Trusts to Squeeze
More Dollars from Workers Slim Pay

for some reason so they rented these
houses to employees. Business i'm
proved and along in 1928-29\ the
company notified the worker renters
that they would either have to buy
the properties they were living in
or move out. Since this was actually
threat of discharge, and because
rents were high and living quarters
hard to get-moSt of these workers
had big families-they bought the
houses on the company terms. As
soon as they made the first payment,
they were ordered to take out enough
insurance to cover the mortgage. The
insurance premiums were checked off
their pay. So were the payments for
the houses.
The crisis came and most of these
workers were laid off. The Bethle-
hem allowed them to occupy the
houses and did not bother them much
about payment.
Recently these workers have been
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-09-02

profiteer and war-monger, one
OF the most representative Of the
expIoiters who literally coin money
out Of workers blood in both war and
peace. His blood-stained history in
the steel mills and coal mines is well
known. But let us glance at his less
heralded and more important quail
fications for participating in the
New qualifications based on
his intimate connections with the
government mechanism since 1894,
when he confessed to Congressional
committee that he, as General SUI
perintendent Of the Carnegie Steel
Company, had given orders to con-
ceal defects in arnlor plate later
sold to the Navy.
OF course, the bourgeois press
neglected this sort of informa-
ton last year, when it INDUCED in
oily congratulations on the occasion
Of Schwab's SEVENTEEN birthday. 1t
did describe the scene in the office
of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation,
where an oil portrait of Schwab nes-
tied in the folds of the Stars and
Stripes, under the dates 1862-1932.
It did reprint congratulatory tele-
grams sent by such leading members
of the ruling class as Herbert Hoo
yer and General John j. Pershing.
But there was not a word, in the
veluminous glowing accounts of
Schwab's career" about his spade
work for Bethlehem in 1918, while
officially the dollar-a-year Director
General of the United States Ship
ping Board Emergency Fleet Corpo-
ration, which superintendent the
granting Of huge government ship
building contracts-a service which
resulted In profits of untold millions
to Bethlehem and other steel COM
panies. Nor any reference to his
company's employment of the notori-
Gus William B. Shearer for the pur-
pose of wrecking the Geneva Arms
Conference Of 1927. Nor to Schwab's
founding, with J. P. Morgan of the
q. s. Steel Corporation, and other
industrial and financial leaders, Of
the jingoistic Navy League, one of
the steel interests most effective
propaganda organs.
General Douglas Macarthur, chief
of staff of the U. S. Army under
Hoover and Roosevelt, and military
commander Of the force which burn
ed, gassed and shot down unar1ned
worker-veterans in Washington on
''B1oody Thursday" of July, 1882,
said. in statement before the re-
cent War Policies Commission:
81 think it pertinent also to say
here that the voluntary assistance
we constantly receive from
patriotic industrialists, is of the
utmost value and fully appreciated
by the Government. We are study
ing ways and means through which
this assistance may be more eff
GENTLY organized-and so faeili-
tate specialization of information
and opinion, and promote mutual
understanding of these important
subjects"
A buried House of Representatives
Report, No, 1863, Fifty-third Con-
grsss, second session, entitled "Vio-
lation Of Arrnor Plate Contracts" il
Eliminates Schwab's first venture into
patrioteering. This report followed
investigation by the House Commit
ter on Naval Affairs into charges of
Maud against the Carnegie Steel
Company, then Carnegie, Phipps and
Company. Schwab, then general su-
perintendent Of Carnegie, admitted
TO the committee that he gave orders
tEtt "hlow-holes' in arnor plate
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-09-02
By BILL DUNE

There is an opinion widely preva-
lent, existing to some extent even
among Communists, that, because of
the highly organized structure of big
industry-U. S. Steel and its sub
salaries, for example-the robbery of
workers is confined to exploitation
in production in these mammoth en-
terprises; that exploitation is so
highly organized that the big CAPT.
talists do not descend to the use of
cheating, chicanery and fraud OF
which Marx spoke.
In other words, robbery of work.
ers in such giant enterprises consists
only in the tyranny of the produc-
ton process, the selling of the sur
plus value, in the speedup, stretch
ing out of hours, etc. Robbery is sup
posed to be on the grand scale-a
sort of pure exploitation, wholly i'm
personal. The other side of this con-
ception is belief that the smaller
capitalists, driven by merciless COM
petition, are more contemplate in
their treatment of workers than are
the biggest concerns. The big COM
panies are brutal but brutal in big
way. This is the idea.
Nothing could be farther from the
truth. Let us take just two or three
instances occurring in the Lackawan-
ma plant Of the Bethlehem Steel
Company, close to Buffalo.
Cheap Swindles
The kind of cheap swindle, which
is what the Bethlehem GUS. Steel
subsidiary headed by that renowned
optimist and philanthropist, Charles
M. Schwab) pension system is, would,
if put over by confidence man, land
him in jail for many long years.
The yearly pension of each worker
with 25 years of Service" is figured
on the basis of 2 per cent interest on
an amount equal to the total of his
earnings in the last ten years of his
employment. For example, if a steel
worker has been paid at the rate of
$1,000 per year "a high average) for
his last ten years of toll, his pension
will be per cent yearly on $4,000
$500 Paid monthly, he is supposed
to get the fabulous sum of $16.66
every thirty days.
But there has been and still is a
crisis during which many thousands
of steel workers, now in the last 10
years of their service" have aver
aged no more than one years actual
work in four years. (Wages have also
been cut directly This lowers the
ten year income average, but here
we will deal only with the question
of unemployment in its relation to
the pension system)
For these thousands of steel work.
ers Figuring on the $1,000 per year
average for the sake of convenience
unemployment and part time work
have cut their ten years to seven.
That is, instead of being able to esti-
mate their pension on the basis of
2 per cent per year on $4,000, they
must figure it as per cent on only
$7000-$140 yearly on retirement in
stead of 5000. They will get $1166
per month instead Of $16.66, through
no fault of their own.
Low Form of Larceny
Is this swindle or is this a
swindle?
1t is not only that this low form
of larceny is pulled off by the Beth
lehem magnates but they invented II.
Another example:
Sometime before 1928 Bethlehem
Steel had a lot of houses in Lacka-
wanna Park. 1t tried to sell but the
real estate market was in bad way
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-09-02
BY BILL CLARK
Indiana Organizer, S.M.WI.U.

For the first time in the history of
the Standard Forgings Co. of Indi-
ana Harbor, about 100 attended
mass meeting and discussed their
conditions on August 26. The ma
tority left the meeting as members of
the Steel and Metal Workers In
duStrial Union. The overwhelming
sentiment of the workers was for
struggle against their miserable con-
ditions-for immediate strike if the
company does not concede to their
demands At this meeting plans were
laid for further organization of the
remaining 500 workers of this COM
pany.
Because of the fact that this COM
parry was the weakest link of the
steel bosses and because the condi-
tions were best for the development
OF struggle, concentration on this
plant was decided upon. Wages have
been reduced by rs per cent and
more since 1929. SaInmersmiths, the
highest paid labor in the mental
trades, who used to earn as high as
500 per day, are now only able to
make 81 daily and less. Heaters,
helpers, inspectors and other workers
have suffered corresponding cuts.
These conditions linked up with the
fact that the SM.WIU. had its
largest number of members in this
plant--made this company the CEN
trail point of concentration.
The Union has led minor strug-
giles In this plant for the past two
years and succeeded In winning small
gains for the workers through sue
cessful agitation. While over 80
workers were victimized during this
period for their membership or sup
port of the S.MWI.U., the workers
showed their backing and respect
for the Steel and Metal Workers In
dtistrial Union.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-09-02
Reasonable" Said Miss Perkins About This
Code, But Morgan-NRA Outfit Rejected 1t
CHANGES IN STEEL INDUSTRY CODE PROPOSED BY STEEL
AID HTM WORKERS. INDUSTRIAL uz1os. July 81, 1855.

I DO rate: Ssz n .sa ' 'a.s
M sr's s. :. ns t to DO 20 hf' n.s!. hour.
met h % r. ns s.''id'd' Ans'sasi'
ps T.. :ssa e. ' ;, s
th' cost to Be paid equally the zs
ssssS,',as9s Ip. -: a ! ,.ss OF a.
Quoted
TIE UNRESTRICTED INTERFERENCE
SHOP
81 TIE s @ @ al r so 1:1..d a.P.ss n F s
s,:sr,.n:son .sn tho s:s e ,s Worker. ss hoia
ssia Of :a IT: @
the -sl sss . ss.ssrSa. ss'
'idsd at suitable : " -
@ sn:s's :s :a for e s:s. % ~,
paid by the " - - -
No hiring under
% ssn st | @ I've the
.orfsrs under 49, OF period
'''
o. Abolition
% ss.sis,
collections inside the plants the outside
the sos.sau ssrsssig
% sn.s;sas. s.
H. MI
os 9 sr o ss @ HI9yr ScS sg,g1Ezs
Win. ~ ''A' Pant " THESE Ds1s TO BE CANCELLED FORTH
% % 10 fs:s s:'' private
n IS saSss s1si,s.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-09-02

clamor would be heard from with
in the side of the show tent. The
crowd would surge up and over
whelm the ticket seller by the
effort of each individual to be the
first inside the tent where the up
roar promised erotic diversion.
The strange outcries and weird
music ceased as the advance guard
Of dupes filtered through the can
vas door. Inside there was the
silence of the graveyard. The
shillabers and the freaks became
earnest merchants trying quietly
to dispose of "lifelike photos" at
a dime per.
The similarity between the NRA
code Of the steel industry GALL
other basic industries, for that
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-09-02
Petty Larceny in the Steel Mills

played the game of "heads I win,
tails, you lose"
There is nothing of the grand
manner about this fraud. 1t is as
cheap and contemplate as stealing
the pennies from a. blind beggar's
cup.
Still another instance: This time
we deal with the Republic Steel Com
pany. 1t is no Pulling infant indus
try since it maintains seven large
steel and tin plants in various sec
tons of the country.
In front of it's Bonner plant are
long ranks of one-car garages. They
are made of lumber, bought in car
load lots and built by low-paid la
Dor 1t could not have cost the Re-
public more than $35 each to erect
these flimsy structures.
The long distances which they have
to travel to and from work, together
with the eight and one-third cent
street car fare and the poor quality
of the service, make it not only con-
venient but practically necessary, as
well as cheaper, for steel workers to
have their own cars. Without a car,
from an hour and half to three
hours in travelling is added to the
workday in the mill.
The Republic Steel not Wishing to
make money out of the difficulties
Of its employees, rents these garages
for the paltry sum Of 81 per month
thrifty checked of the wages.
But little thought will reveal that
81 per month is $12 per year and
that S12 per year is slightly more
than SO per cent per year on an in
vestment Of S35.
Republic Steel owners, of course,
must pay taxes on the land on which
these garages are built, and inter-
est on the money invested in it, out
OF this SO per cent return. This is
to be deplored but it is part of the
burden of their capital investm snt,
unless they also check off for this
from the wages of the workers who
rent garages.
I have not inquired. Perhaps they
do. If they don't it is because the ef-
ficiency experts haven't thought OF
it vet.
The important thing about these
special forms of robbery is that they
create large reservoirs Of recruitment
among various groups Of workers and
add to the general dissatisfaction and
desire to organize and fight AGAINST
wage cuts, bad working conditions
and so on. The burning grievances
arising from these forms of corpora
ton b'ecSiackery even teke prccs-
dsnce at times in the minds Of work
ers over resentment against wage
cuts and afford a basis of approach
for organization of immediate
struggle.
1t is not even partially true that
the big capitalist industries are sat-
isfieG with intenslve robbery at the
point of production, made ever fierc-
er by continual speed-up AMI 'lc--
di5placing machinery. They use their
great SIZE end power to put over ev-
cry miserable form of robbery that
their experts can invent and much
as Kirkpatrick said, "the cross and
the cannon precede the cash regis
ter" in the colonial countries, these
looting expeditions organized against
workers in heavy industry are car
ried on under the guise OF pllilan-
thropy and according to the F'rick
doctrine which says that enslaving
workers by debts to company stores
and back rent for company houses is
only "for the sake of preserving the
workers self-respect."
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-09-02

put back on the payroll AS mat
ter of fact they were among the first
put back to work when operations
were partially resumed since the
company had an investment in them.
The company checks off the preni-
ums for the insurance guaranteeing
the mortgage and also for the back
payments on the property.
Double Slavery
All the wages of these workers
went back into the company Golfers.
The workers were forced to apply
to the Lackawanna City Relief for
food. There was a scandal and for a
while the Bethlehem checked off
only for insurance. Now the check
eff for the payments has been re-
sumed.
Buying these houses at the inflat-
ed prices of the boom period, forced
to do so for fear of discharge, the
act Of purchase sold these workers
into double slavery. The company
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-09-02

m a [ I e L be-
tween its actual
content and the
m e t h o d s by
which it h a S
been put into
life, t he d
sideshow bally-
hoo and what
you got for
your money, is
so obvious, once
it is considered
sobeIly, that lit
tie further ex-
p | a n a tion is
needed.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-09-02
500 Strike i'm McKees
Rocks Plant Against
Lay-Off ofUnionMen
By a Worker Correspondent

BY a Worker Correspondent
McKeeS Rocks, Pa.-OveE 500
workers went out on strike in
Pressed Steel Car Co. (McKees
Rocks Plant demanding REIN
statement of the workers that
were discharged on account Of
joining the Steel and Metal Work
ers Industrial Union, increase of
pay to 1929 wage scale, and recog-
milton of the S.M.WI.U. Strike
called Monday evening by the
strikers appealing to the Unem-
ployed Council to help on the
picket line. Tuesday morning at
am, nearly 5000 workers were
on the picket line where only 500
workers are employed. The bosses,
realizing the united front of the
employed and unemployed work
erS, granted all demands, recog-
MIXING the shop committee elected
by the rank and file. The Steel
and Metal Workers Industrial
Union is gaining new members
and is leading the struggles of the
workers in the steel mills in the
Pittsburgh District.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-09-02
Steel Code Circus
Stunts Not Pooling
Men; Strikes Grow
First Series of Steel Strikes Since 1919 Show
Steel and Metal Workers Industrial Union
Is Leading Workers to Victories

WORKERS who remember the old night stand circus with
W its accompanying side show will recall that the slogan
OF the barker A done and finished hour be-
fore the big show commences 1t will be recalled that
the crowd hesitaed before buying tickets most enthrang
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-09-02
Schwab, NeuDealer,
Is Dirty Dealer in
War Profits SqUindle
Whooped It Up for War Armaments, and Then
Sold Defective Steel to Hike Profits
By SEYMOUR WALDMAN.

CHARLES M SCHWABS recent visit to the White House to
confer with President Roosevelt the NRA reemphasize
the anti-labor significance of the New DEAF.
Who New Dealer, Charles M. Schwab? He is the fore
breast beating superpariot the most sentimental
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-09-02
''Steel and Metap
Worker Popular i'm
All Steel Districts

PITTSBURGH, Pa.-Thousands Of
copies Of the Steel and Metal Worker,
official organ Of the Steel and Metal
Workers Industrial Union are being
sold in the steel mills.
The latest issue of the Steel and
Metal Worker is devoted entirely to
the struggle of the workers against
the steel trusts code, now going into
effect in the steel mills.
This issue contains a complete re-
port on the fight made by the SMWIU
in Washington for the code presented
by the workers.
Copies Of this paper can be obtained
by writing to the Steel and Metal
Worker, Room 200, 149 Washington
Place, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Help improve the DAILY Worker"
send in your suggestions and criticism!
Let us know what the workers in
your shop think about the Daily"
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-09-02

Help improve the Daily Worker"
send in your suggestions and criticism!
Let us know what the workers in
your shop think about the DAILY"
Milford chronicle., 1933-03-03
RODNEY CORNER
Near COOlspring Grange)

Mr.. and Mrs. Harley Locates and
Mr.. and Mrs. Martin S. Walls and
daughters spent Thursday evening
with Mr.. and Mrs. Arthur Walls and
family.
Mr.. and Mrs. Herbert Magee en-
tertained the following Sunday Mr..
and Mrs. George Bennium and
daughter and Mr.. and Mrs. Walter
Robinson, of Angola.
Mrs. James w. Hopkins and sons,
Everett and ernest, called on her
sister, Mrs. Taylor Vaughn, Friday
afternoon.
Mr. and Mrs Theodore Marvel and
family spent Saturday afternoon in
Dover.
Mr.. and Mrs. Ulysses Joseph and
ClyntOn Joseph spent Sunday after
noon with Mr.. and Mrs. Harley Lee
Gates and family.
Ruth Walls is on the sick list at
this writing.
James w. Hopkins and son Everett
and Mr.. Aiken spent Monday even
ing with Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert Stew
art. of Harbeson.
Mr.. and Mrs. Herbert Magee en-
tertained the following Wednesday:
Mr.. and Mrs. d. Hazard, Mr.. and
Mrs. George Gibson and daughter
and Mr.. and Mrs. Edgar Thorough
good. OF Millsboro.
Mr.. and Mrs. Herbert Magee won
the first prizes at NAPLES store in
Oliver day. Mrs. Magee won
the silver and Mr. Magee a one
horse plow.
Milford chronicle., 1933-03-03
CLIFTON'S CORNER
(Near Lewes)

We are sure having March wealth
er now with wind and a plenty of it,.
VIM. Vessels is not able TO work
at this time-bad cold.
Mrs. Louise Walls died last Fri
day after a long illness. She was
the widow of the late Shepherd
Walls, who died a few years ago.
She leaves two sons and three
daughters.
VIM. Clifton and family visited
Joda Carey and family near Green
wood last Sunday Mrs. Carey is
Mrs. Clifton's sister.
Ethel Hill and daughter Edna
spent Tuesday with Mrs. Hills sis
ter, Mrs. Thomas Hudson.
Little William Carey of near
Greenwood is spending a while with
his aunt, Mrs. VIM. Clifton.
Mr.. and Mrs. Aaron Marvil Of
Wilmington and Mr.. and Mrs. My
ers Vessels and daughter Margaret
of Chester called on relatives and
friends over the weekend
Harry Rogers, one of our old
neighbors, who moved near Milton
has again moved back in our neigh
borhood.
Miss Thelma Legates and bro
thers called on Henry King and
family last Monday night
Ruth Walls is on the sick list.
Milford chronicle., 1933-03-03

Mr.. and Mrs. James Sparklin, of
Marshallton, spent the weekend
with their parents, Mr.. and Mrs. c.
H. Nelson.
Mr.. and Mrs. Everett Hnbbert. Of
near fredericksburg, spent Thursday
with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. w.
+. Hastings.
Friday evening in honor of her
birthday. About 30 friends and rel
atives were present.
Mr.. and Mrs John Williams and
children spent Sunday with Mr.. and
Mrs. W. #. Hastings.
Milford chronicle., 1933-03-03

A very delightful surprise party
was given Mrs. Elmer Nelson on
Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Nelson and
children spent Sunday with their
parents at Laurel.
Miss Kathaleen Wright has been
confined to her home with la grippe.
The ladies of Trinity M. T.. Church
will hold a bake on Saturday, Mar.
4th, at Sullivan's store, at Bridge
vile, at 10 a. m. Proceeds for bene-
fit of church:
Services at Trinity. March 9Th. at
10 n. m. .i.
Milford chronicle., 1933-03-03

The spring graduates are starting
to prepare their graduation
speeches. Let our statesmen take
note and learn how to save the
country.
Since women have gono in for
athletics they have put the men in
the shade. No matter what the sport
the girls always make the best
show. &.
American medical colleges gradu-
ate about 200 women doctors each
year.
Milford chronicle., 1933-03-03
TRINITY

Mr. and Mrs. George Carey and
daughters, Evelyn and Rebecca, of
near Seaford, spent Sunday with
Mr. and Mrs. e. l.. Warrington.
Miss Helen Mckinley, home dem
OnstratiOn leader of New Castle
county; A. d. Cobb. State club lead
err. of Newark, and Miss Anna B.
Moore, county club leader, of
Georgetown. were visitors at the
home of Mr.. and Mrs. r. J. Hastings
on Tuesday.
Milford chronicle., 1933-03-03

Plant trees here in Delaware on
unused lands. so that trees may turn
into money for those living twenty
years hence.
Milford chronicle., 1933-03-03

Taxes for 1888 payment are due;
beginning, March 18th with U. s, in
come tax.