The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-11-02

petitive business which is as yet
unorganized in the midst Of a
capitalist system at time when
she herself has not yet succeeded
in breaking even"
Mr.. Thomas has yaliantly come to
the defense Of his wife. Not the
champion of the two girls thrown
out Of employment without even a
days notice, in a strange city, and
with no money to live on. Not the
champion of the workers, but Of the
generous" lady who WIS so kind as
to keep the girls on the job.
Mr.. Thomas, of course, turned the
letter over to his wife to answer.
quote her letter in full:
MY dear Mr.. Van ClUte;
"Mr. Thomas has given me your
letter to him about the Dunlaps and
the tea room, and because it does
bring up honest questions and be-
cause I REALLY LIKE THE GIRLS.
C'This hurts me more than it does
YOU" she told the girls when they
were being fred l am going to TRY
to answer them. Many OF the ques-
tions are Of details Of which you
have not been accurately informed.
"I have liked Frances and Louise,
but they are not Of the waitress type
and would probably never long be
happv at that kind of work. CIhey
were certainly not happy, Mrs.
Thomas. we agree. Does 1t take
more than a year TO learn to walt
on tables?)
under a socialist society work
ers should be fitted to their jobs
and every business will have to re-
euire n competence Of service"
Us that why the girls were fired,
Mrs. Thomas, so that they could ut
into society after socialism arrived?
Where are they going to eat noW?)
This competence the Dunlaps
failed to reach on the testimony
not only of Miss Mcbride but OF
my other managers and of the GUS
toners"
Many of the customers have
stopped coming to II Irving Place
Tearoom, because Of the firing OF
the Misses Dunlap, and the previous
manager was quite satisfied with the
two girls.
81 want to assure you:
81. That am conforming to the
n. r. A. code. My books are open
to show the schedule of hours and
wages"
Does that Justify the fact that the
girls were fired without notice, and
without pay? Does that justify that
while the blue buzzard hung in your
window, and while the girls were
working for you, that George in the
kitchen worked from II noon to $3.50
pm. every day for 81 a week. How
ard worked from 7 am. to 4 pm.
every day and received S11 a week?
"2. At the opening of the tea
room consulted union repreSen-
tatives and met their scale Of wages
and hours, offering to have the
place unionized and to pay the dues
myself for the girls. ! am now
suggesting to union people "r've
to organize tea room workers.
Frances knows this"
I'm sorry, Mrs. Thomas, Frances
does not know this, She knows that
there was no union, and no union
wage. She knows that you told her
and her sister that "You don't have
to join union, I'm doing right by
you now"
SO. MY manager is South
erner who, however, understands
our attitude and there is no dis
elimination as to color. The hours,
wages and conditions are iden-
teal. My mattresses Rave told me
they like Miss Mcbride and there
is harmony between her and my
colored kitchen staff. We often
welcome colored guests"
Some more of your noble con-
descensions, Mrs. Thomas. You ut
terly disregard the fact that Miss
Mcbride forces the Negro workers in
your tea room to address her as Eyes
ma'am or No ma'am," typical
Southern driving attitude. You
forget that your manager helped you
to fire the girls when they did not
obey her every command. You for
get that your manager tried to shame
the girls in public for speaking to
Negroes on equal terms. Your atti-
tude of tolerance to the Negro is