davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-12
Socialists Block
Union Support for
Social Insurance


NEW YORK.-Realizing the cry
ing need of Federal Unemployment
Insurance, I have been devoting my
spare time to the A. F. of L. Trade
Union Committee for Unemployment
Insurance and Relief In this con-
nection, was sent to Butchers Local
TIA. Before I got the floor, a gentle
man spoke for the German socialist
paper ''Neue Volkszeitung."
I got the floor, stressed the need
of unemployment insurance, and
asked them to send two delegates to
rank and file conference. Imme-
diately after I got through, member
of the union "a member of the So
cialiSt Party asked me if the official
body of the A. F. of L. sponsored the
conference. 1 answered by saying
that this conference was supported
by A. F. of L. locals and was COM
posed of members of the A. F. OF l..
only. Then he got the floor and
spoke against the election of del
egates by saying that we were not
members OF the A. F. of L. The
president also spoke against. He is
another Socialist, No delegates were
elected
While Socialist officials shed croco-
ollie tears in public for the unem-
ployed, this is how they act. With
millions cut Of work, with thousand
starving and homeless, they oppos;
Unemployment Insurance because tht
bosses and their lackeys, the official
dom of the A. F. Of L. do not want
it. Rank and file members of the
Socialist Party, YPSLers and other
affiliates, wake up! Join an organi-
cation that fights with deeds, not
only in words.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-12
by a Telegraph Worker
Correspondent

NEW YORK. = Historically, galley
slaves may be an anachronism, but
not to us overworked typists and
clerks Of the Accounting Department
OF the Western Telegraph Co. at go
Hudson st.
How speedily our hopes in the N.
r. A. were dashed to snithereens.
1t is true that our minimum wages
OF So to $11 (Which was the maximum
for most of uS) were increased to
S15 on paper and $13 in actual wages.
But at what a price!
Where, before, the speed-up was
bad enough, now it's intolerable
Under the eagle eyes of the super
visors who, in turn, are egged on
by the hypocritical benign Mr.. New
man, we are driven to exert our
selves to the point of exhaustion.
We are forced to work overtime
one to three hours several nights a
week without any extra pay. ONLY
through grunbling did they agree to
buy us a measly supper in the COM
pany restaurant. By this cruel
method of exploitation they evade
hiring any additional typists and
clerks, In fact, we are doing more
work with less personnel than be-
fore.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-12
Letters from, Our Readers

Gent I would remind them the article
written some time ago by the same
comrade how six hundred men with
Phi Beta Kappa, BA, MA, PhD. de-
gree applied in a Times SQUARE
restaurant to start as bus boys for
10 bucks a week etc.
And also the 10000 teachers who
are still on the list waiting for ap-
pointmentS (Which they will get prob
ably after the revolution).
And the recent article by Oakley
johnson who applied for C.W.A.
Job and how the girl at the desk was
throwing hints to him that a plain
worker has more of chance to get
job than a college professor In
other words intelligence is a curse
under capitalism, where in the Soviet
Union it is a blessing. Perhaps all
these facts will help them overcome
the feeling Of the bourgeois superior
ity complex.
Comradely yours,
DAVID GLUCKMAN.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-12
Postal Subs Made
to Wait Hours for
Possible Jobs
by a Postal Worker Correspondent

NEW YORK.-Under the guise Of
regulatory labor codes, such as the
Postal Laws and Regulations in the
Post Office, the workers are denied
any sort Of direct action, such as
strikes. Despite furloughs, salary
slashes, and speed-up. the most eff
| fective instrument of reprisal has
| been declared illegal.
The Post Office is an excellent ex-
ample Of sweatshop practices. There
are two categories of workers,
regulars who work on a yearly wage,
and substitutes who work on an
hourly basis, when they are employed.
Both have become the victims OF
drastic economies and breaking
speed-up.
The lot of the substitute workers
IS an especially sad one. Despite
rise in the cost of living Of about
% per cent, their earnings, averaging
from 81 to $12 a week, have been
subjected to a Is per cent slash.
In a great many cases, they are
married men, unable to provide prop
erly for themselves, wives or chill
dren. During the last year, several
hundred have applied for rekef,
which was denied them on the ground
that they are Federal workers. A
considerable number have been dis
possessed.
Every sub is called upon to report
for work at a. m. to deliver special
delivery letters. The payment for
the specials is calculated on a strictly
piece work basis.
With the specials gone, we hang
around, by orders Of the supenntend-
ent for another detail We often
wait two or three hours before we
earn anything. Frequently, we are
sent home for the day without earn
ing anything. Then again, we might
be ordered to return in the evening
for an hours work. This makes it
impossible to supplement- our wages
by taking an outside job, even if it
were possible to get one.
The conditions of work indoors
show absolutely no concern for the
health of the workers. I have worked
in four stations and have found each
worse than the other as a health
menace. The walls are dirty. peeling.
and implanted. The electric lights
are poor and badly placed; the ven
tilation is crude and of the most
elementary sort.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-12
PARTY LIFE
Letters Indicate Unions, Party
Are Still Understanding YCL
Open Letter Stressed Task Of5Party, Unions and
Organizations TOiCard Youth York

Although we announced some time
ago that the Saturday column would
be devoted to the Y.C.L. and the re-
lation of the Party to the YCL., the
youth comrades apparently do not APP
preciate the Importance of a discus
sion of their problems in the Daily
Worker, and supply us with no ma
terial. And, is the fact that al
though we receive letters from every
district in the country dealing with
every phase of Party work, except the
Y.C.L., evidence that the underes-
tination of youth work, stressed in
the Open Letter, still exists within
our Party?
| The two letters which we are print
ing today, written by members Of the
Y.CL., would seem to indicate that
this underestimation still exists, both
in the Party and in our unions. The
second letter gives a glaring example,
not only of the underestimation of
the work among the youth, but of a
lack Of understanding of shop work.
Perhaps our Party comrades over
looked the following section of the
Open Letter:
"The Party Is confronted with the
task of drawing in the young work
ers in the class struggle. This de-
mands that an end be made to the
underestimation of youth work, and
of the necessity of putting up spe-
cial youth demands. All Party or
CARNATIONS, especially the factory
nuclei as well as the fractions in all
trade unions and mass Organiza-
tions must organize youth sections
and give active support to the Young
Communist League. Every Party
factory nucleus must help to or
ganiZe a nucleus of the Y.C.L."
"Since the Extraordinary Party
Conference and the Open Letter, our
Party and VOL. have made a turn
to the shops and to the basic in
dustries. However, here and there,
there are still certain comrades who
have not made the turn. I think it
is fitting to write to the Daily" about
two incidents which I experienced re-
Gently and to criticize the attitude of
SCA bcA11 SOlAll dN4Co AANO1NCQ.
Lack of Understanding
I'm our Y.C.L. we are now carrying
on a Lenin-L iebknecht- Luxembourg
recruiting campaign. My unit in try
ing to arrange for an anti-war meet
ing, in which we hope to involve some
young Negro workers Of Union Ave.
in the Bronx, which is our concen-
tration point, approached the house
committee of 1400 Boston Road to
try and get meeting room for a
certain night. A Party member re-
piled that the Y.C.L. should go some
where else and that they didn't want
any Y.CL,ers around the center. The
attitude of this comrade is an OPP
portunist one. Instead of cooperating,
he tried to disrupt the work. In the
Open Letter and the resolution of
the District Conference, cooperation
between Party and Y.C.L. is stressed,
but evidently this comrade doesn't
know this.
''rhe other incident concerned me
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-12
by PAUL LUTTINGER, MD.
The Health" Magazines

Macfadden is also an obStetrician
and a child specialist. If you do
not believe it, you can order his
Preparing for Motherhood" How to
Raise the Baby" and 'Predetermine
Your Baby's Sex" 50 each. What
no scientist has becn able to \ n
plish Macfadden can teach in few
minutes. Do you want a boy? So
pleased You prefer a girl? Easy as
pie. Follow directions It's too bad
that the author himself should have
failed to consult his own text book
when his own family was In the
making; he might have slipped in an
occasional male child, among his
many daughters!
But this is not all. Macfadden has
simple, easy treatment for asthma
and hay fever that gives relief" (for
So. He is also an eye specialist, if
you please. For So yc" can get his
book on Strengthen . the Eeyes,"
which shows that you d no glasses
at all. Fast and exercise your eyes,
that's the secret! Do you need a
nerve specialist? For four bucks you
get one book on the spine and another
on the nerves. Do you suffer from
diabetes? Macfadden has his own
method which you can read about,
for two cartwheels. Tooth Troubles
and Foot Trolbles" cost you only
one berry eaosl. "Skin Troubles"
promises really beautiful complex
ion. No more pinples or blotches,"
if you only part with two iron men.
For little more cash, you get two
books on Digestion Troubles" and
Constipation" For two dollars in
actual mazuma, you eliminate
colds, coughs and catarrh. "You can
have the beautiful head of hair you
desire. This great book CHAIR Gull
ture) tells you how" for two beans.
How to build vilflity, keep fit, avoid
headaches, be married sweethearts,
there is no medical problem which
this unframed n1ountebank does not
claim to have solved and which he is
not ready to sell you for few pieces
of silver.
Throughout the magazine, these
books have special display advertise
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-12
QuestiOns--Answer

How is the money appropriated for
the farmers relief distributed? In
other words, I would like to find out
Just where the money goes that is
appropriated to the farmers.
ANSWER: ..
The A.AW. agricultural Adjust
ment ADMINISTRATOR issues checks
to those rich farmers who are willing
to sign contracts with the government
promising to destroy part Of their
wheat, cotton and tobacco crops, and
to reduce their acreage. These checks
are then turned into cash by these
rich farmers.
This plan of Roosevelt has for its
purpose the reduction of the coun-
try's food and crop production in
order to raise prices. The theory is
that rising prices will give higher
income to all the farmers. In prac-
tice it works differently. In practice,
the government turns over to the rich
farmers money which it has collected
from the city workers in taxes. The
city workers are substituting the rich
farmers to help them raise the price
of goods which the city workers must
buy, such as cotton, wheat, corn, etc.
The small farmers are ruined by this
process since, having only a small
crop, they cannot afford to destroy
any part of il without reducing their
income to zero. They are hurt in
another way by the fact that the
Roosevelt price-raising program Sc
yerely reduces the purchasing power
of the consumers in the cities who
steadily reduce their buying as prices
rise.
Thus, the Roosevelt price raising
and crOp-destroying program bears
down heavily on the city consumer
whose cost of living rises, and on
the small, impoverished farmer whose
market is reduced. Only the rich
farmers and the Wall Street dis
tributing monopOlies profit from this
arrangement. In addition, the Roose-
welt crop destroying program is driv-
ing hundreds OF thousands of tenant
farmers and agricultural laborers into
pauperism since, as the acreage of
the country is reduced, the farm land
lords have no further use for their
labor, and this swells the army of
unemployed and further aggravates
the crisis by restricting the purchas-
ing power of the masses.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-12

Jews for many years-long before
Hitlerism was ever heard of under
its present name. worked for the
company more than IL years, and I
know the facts.
Unfair as the company has been
towards Jews it has also been far
from honest and decent with respect
to its non-Jewish employees. During
the past four years it has dropped
more than 100000 employees through
out the country, has cut pay several
times, and has placed many workers
on part time. And yet, through its
high-pressure publicity bureau, it
would have the public believe that
it is sharing the work The COM
pany hasn't shared" a single job
with the unemployed. On the con-
trary, it has made matters worse
through discharging the large num-
Der of workers mentioned.
But the company continues to Pay
its usual nine per cent prosperity
dividend. The slogan of the company
seems to be, millions for stock-hold-
ers and insiders, but nothing foS the
discharged workers who helped to
earn it.
Of course, you won't be surprised
to know that in the face of this
unfair treatment of employees, the
company's union" did absolutely
nothing. This is to be expected from
an organization dominated by the
company itself. The so-called union"
is nothing more than an association
Of yes-men, jellyf1sh, and trained
seals. The sad part, however, about
the company's union" is this: 1t
is maintained at great expense and
the money for this comes from the
telephone subscribers.
EDITORS NOTES.-The teIe-
phone company sOaks the sub
scribers as much as it can get
away with, and the expenses of a
,ompany union have very little
to do with 1t. 1t would be more
oTect to say that the expenses
for Ennning company union are
taken out of the workers pay.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-12
lBy q Worker Correspondentl

MIAMI, Fla. - Florida, to the
Northern workers, is a fabulous place.
Occasionally the yellow press will
show pictures of rich idlers having
fun in the warm balny air on the
Florida beaches.
But millions in Florida tramp the
roads for jobs that can't be found,
or freeze to death waiting all night
for days work shoveling snow.
The city of Miami is very beautiful,
Of a semi-tropic, Spanish character.
If its beauty alone be considered, it
should be called the Garden Of
Eden"
Stark Poverty in Palm Trees
In these pretty cottages hidden
among the palm trees and other
colorful tropic plants, stark poverty
is hidden. After the prosperity of
the boom days, things have settled
down to normally, that is: Waiting
for tourists. Every cottage, every
shanty bears the sign For Rent"
Prices Of food and other commodi-
ties have gone up during these few
months. Among the tourists are
workers who come to seek employ
ment. These workers often bring
their families with them. Those who
bring their children of school age
are hardest hit, as a tuition fee has
10 be paid for every tourist child,
Of 81 to So month, besides books.
There are therefore many children
who are kept out of schools IN the
supposed Land of Universal Edu-
9ation."
Many children come to school half
starved. Those are fed with the
leftover lunches at the school
cafeteriaS for which the teachers
contribute out OF their $40 week
salaries
Negroes Exploited
On the edge of the city near a
railroad track is "Colored Town" and
Two or three miles out of the CITY
is place with the fancy name of
"Coconut Grove" where the Negroes
live, in poor dilapidated. implanted
shacks, paying $3.50 and $3.50 and
up per week.
The Negroes are segregated from
the whites. These shacks are owned
by white landlords. White store
Eeepers and peddlers come here. Be
cause the Negroes wages are so low.
the peddlers offer their wares to
them on the 81 2 week plan, max
ing enormous profits. For example :
a dress costing $3.50 to 50 is sold at
price OF S795 TO $685., a coat Of
$3.50 is sold for $16.95, shoes Of $1.35
70 81 a pair are sold for IS and Sc.
These are acIual figures gathered
ana SO they are forever enslaved 10
the peddlers, as some Of them only
work during the winter months for
very low wages.
A Negro woman will work for SIS or
So week, young girls only get 50
to s. a week doing house work for
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-12
Tiily and Lilly
BY DIR. HARRY M. TOozAN


Lilly passed that dreaded thirtieth
birthday ten years ago. She was the
only girl in the family of three
brothers. just then the mother died.
Lilly suddenly realized the barren
ness OF her life A breakdown came.
She was very sick for a year. Her
body was 50 afflicted with terror and
hopeleSsnesS that she lost her men
SITUATION for this year.
But Lille was not only cookbook
ing and good-natured, but of a strong
constitution, a real physical speci-
men of perfect womanhood, and she
recovered. She found enough
motherly satisfaction in caring for
her baby brother" six years younger
and not so strong, as to endure
sHeatshop conditions, speed-up, sub
ways, noise, fear and many more
unhealthy factors that injure even
the strongest worker.
At 10 a second catastrophe over
took her. Her weak brother at last
fell victim to cur industrial big
city civilization Brain infIamma-
ton, involving mind function. He
vas removed to a state hospital
what Am / Living For!'
Then she went to bed. Could not
s-eep for hundred nights and more.
Menstruation again left her. Dread
ful, insane melancholic depression
obsessed her. She stopped eating
and sleeping. Just brooding in bed
planning suicide. What's the use
of fighting any more!"
Her brothers and cousins were sure
she was insane and were ready to
send her to the same free boarding
house" to which her brother was
cent. But the doctor and mental
specialist assured them that it is only
extreme depression, melancholy. that
the only danger is suicide. She some
how passed throUrh a few months.
The older single brother had no
income anyway, so he decided to
quit the Big City Civilization with
all its Rockefeller beauties and,
taking along poor Lilly, buried him
self on some farm upstate. Another
picture of the internal hell of capt.
talism, grinding lives into human
wTeckage.
Barbarism! Only hyena-business-
men and tiger-lawyer- politicians
could construct, run, praise and
glorify such a system of barbarsm.
IF Jefferson should wake up and see
his democracy" now, he would in
SANITY die again of horrorl
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-12
Physicians Unions

DIR. r., Detroit-We do not know
Of any actual unions in this country,
in the sense of trade union. Ameri.
can physicians consider themselves
as apart, from the working class and
that it would lower their dignity" te
form a union. Some years ago we
succeeded in organizing the Bronx
physicians Guild and we even
published monthly journal, the
"Medico- Economic Journal; but the
organization, as well as the publica-
ton, did not last long.
In Soviet Russia, the physicians
have no separate union, because the
trade unions are not organized &C
cording to craft, as in capitalist
countries. Each trade union in So
Wet Russia is really an industrial
union, and represents all the work.
ers In a particular establishment, ir-
respective of whether one is skilled
artisan, laborer, a cook, clerk or
a physician. We therefore find doc
tors in every one of the 46 trade
unions of the U.S.S.R.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-12
Puerto RicGn Worker Tells of
General Strike on Island
1000 in WakOut in CentrGIe Alone; Yarns of
Treachery of Socialist Leaders
tBy a Worker CorrespOndentl

GUANICA, Puerto Rico.-We are
ICING our best here, although we have
no organization of our own. We have
many contacts.
We are confronting the biggest
strike movement in Puerto Rico. Here
in Guanica the leaders, Socialists, are
trying to pacify the workers, but the
workers are so militant that the So
cLaliStS are to certain extent forced
20 accept the struggle.
The factory is dead, except the
light and water department work; the
plantation is 100 per cent stopped.
There are in the Centrale alone here
over 1000 workers in the strike. and,
as I said before, they are so mill
tant, that they don't pay any at
tention to the police in stopping any,
body who tries to go in.
There is a strike against the "oil
trust" too, and the whole island is
nj a general strike. The drivers are
fighting like hell to win this strike.
Our comment is that we fear the
leaders treachery, but we are near
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-12
INTERESTS OF INTELLECTUALS
LINKED TO REST OF WORKING
CLASS, SAYS READER
New York City.

NEW YORK City.
Dear Comrade Editor:
1 happened to read Smychka in
U. S. S. R. by Ccmrade Michael Cod
and the way he proves how the John
Reed Clubs are class-conscious mostly
in theory but very little in practice.
I would suggest that all these in
tellectuals would start to study for
change, the Communist Manifesto
where it proves how we are all VIC
tins OF exploitation. The only diff
ference is that we toilers are ex-
plotted physically ard the insolloo-
tuals mentally. If this is not suffi
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-12
CONDUCTED II
HELEN LUXE

MANY OF ouI readers will recog-
nize in the cases of Tillie and Lilly
counterparts of the lives of girls and
women Of their acquaintance, of their
oWn unsatisfactory lives. Would they
not like to write to the Daily Worker
and tell about them, their hopes and
struggles? To help us show them
that the road back to a wholesome
life lies only in revolutionary &C
tiyity?)
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-12
Shows How c. ". A.
Is Relief Cut Plot
gy a G. w. A. Worker Correspondent

BY C. W. A. Worker Correspondent
COATESVILLE, Pa. The en-
closed material may be of some in
tereSt to you. In connection with the
c. w. A. Jobs in this vicinity.
. A. skilled electrician with a wife
and several children has been out
of work for many months, also out
of money. Lately the family has
been dependent upon the Welfare
Department, which furnished a IS a
week grocery order, of course better
han nothing, but not much at that.
THIS electrician got placed on a C.
w. A. job last week and is earning
exactly $3.50 week, for three DAYS
work week 5 hours a day at SOC
an hour. The Welfare of course was
discontinued as this worker is now
considered employed. And thus
worketh the New Deal.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-12

100000 Fired By
Phone Company
In Last 4 Years
{ By a Telephone worker

NEW YORK-AIthough I'm not a
Communism a member of any
other organization for that matter-I
have long been buying the Daily
Worker on the news stands. AS a
straightforward, de-bunsing paper,
it's hard to beat.
haven't worked in the past two
years. The last job I had was with
the Telephone Company, And that's
an organization that I'd like to tell
you about.
Although the telephone company
gets more than half Of its New York
revenue from Jews, less than one
employee in a thousand is a Jew. The
company has Disseminated oo-'--tt
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-12

the workers hall; we advise the work
ers to be on the watch, and to force
the leaders to come clean.
We need Spanish literature here,
and cheap, so that we can sell it..
We are going to form a workers
book shop.
As soon as everything is fixed up
here, we are going to send money
for the Daily" We cannot stay
without our paper.