The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-08-05


hall Of the consulate in order to
pay homage to the only victor, to
: the land of progress, freedom and
the almighty dollar Lincoln and
Washington hang in their bronze
frames in the sitting atmosphere
Of moist heat.
THE blaze of a brass band burst
out. The stars and stripes of DEM
ocracy flutters from its flag pole.
With quick steps the consul comes
forward to the center of the hall
: and unrolls the Declaration of IN
dependence. The consul coughs F..
All wait breathlessly. We will soon
hear those words which resounded
B through the ages like a peal of
thunder. We will soon hear the
proud song of liberation and equal
ity, I look at my neighbors-busi-
ness-like Americans, prim English
men with greying imperials. They
all wear solemn and severe clothes.
All bend their heads as if they were
in church.
HEROES OF SHANGHAI
The consul coughs and casts a
scrutinizing glance about him. A
half minute passes in tense ST.
lence. This lets us collect our
thoughts an drealize what this
greatest of declarations means in
the land of barbarism and despot-
ism. In the light of the declara-
ton Of the Philadelphia Congress
everything that has been done dur
ing the past few years since the
Washington Congress should bear
a different aspect. But I, appa-
rently, have a narrow outlook. In
this half minute I recall not the
2 heroes of the American revolution,
but the Shanghai rickshaws.
A rickshaw man who runs about
IN the European quarters of the
city from 7 o'clock in the morning
until o'clock at night, when the
theatre crowds are out, earns one
dollar if he is lucky. Of this sum
he gives 80 to the owner of the
carriage, and 10 cents to the city
as a tax. He has only ten cents
left. He can live on this sum be-
+. cause he walks about almost naked,
sleeps on the street under his car
riage and does not know the mean
ing of family life. The only thing
/, he needs is a bowl of rice, and
from time to time pipe of opium.
DUT here an American banker
~ who speculateS on the fluctua-
ton of the exchange rate Of silver,
steps in He examines the ex-
Change bulletin, click the calculator
and sends telegram to his broker
on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Chinese money changers, Bombay
jews and American brokers ex-
change notes, a beardless clerk
makes an entry in a thick ledger
and the ten cents of our rickshaw
man is converted into five, The
remaining five cents becomes part
of those dividends which the
i American bankers pays out at the
end Of the year to his countrymen.
80 per cent smaller dividends
would be unworthy of the colonial
banks!
The rickshaW man sees his
money vanish before his eyes with
despair: and his tired legs tremble
and give way beneath him. A bowl
of rice dayl That is all he would
need to live those five or six years
which form the allotted span OF
such a man-horse as he. But you
cannot buy a bowl of rice nova
days with these dwindling coins.
Weighing these five cents in the
!. palm of his hand, the rickshaw
man stumbles his way beneath the
awnings Of the opium den.
COUGHING OF CHINESE KIDS
= Did you ever hear the cough
:, ing, not of consuls, but of eleven
.year-old Chinese children who
work in American and English
cotton mills, who creep about on
the stone floor among the sticky
scraps Of cotton, in darkness,
filth, and sitting heat, twelve or
fourteen hours dsv for daily
wage of nine cents?
They are hoarse; something
seems to be boiling in their mar
row chests; their faces become
suf7used with a hectic flush, their
eyes bulge, their foreheads are
covered with beads of perspiration;
in their moaning they spit out
moisture in which white fluff
floats; it is the cotton dust which
settles on the lungs. After every
such coughing fit they drop down
in exhaustion, losing consciousness
completely. These are children who
clean cotton during the night shift,
frcnf Six in the evening until eight
the following morning. But then,
they bring home nine cents for
Which a half pound of rice can be
bought for their younger brothers
and Sisters. But not so fast! Can
it really be bought2 American ex-
rorters created q boom this year
on the Shanghai Corn Exchange;
they bought up the high quality
local rice and sent it abroad, and
for the Chinese they brought in a
cheaper quality from Saigon, for
which they charged four cents per
pound more.
m Saturday morning little boy
" received a quarter of a pound
lees rice than usual in the store.
lic looked at the fat storekeeper
in anlazement but the latter ex-
planned to him that the price of
ricA had gone up. That meant