davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-31
Hoffman Of Needle
Trades Union Hits
.NRA Clothing Code
Tells Administrator Ii
Means Starvation and
Unemployment

DAILY Worker Washington Bureau)
WASHINGTON, Jan. 30.-'T h e
proposed N. r. A. code for the mer-
chant tailoring industry means more
unemployment and more semi-star-
Walton for those now working Alex
ander Hoffman, representative Of the
custom tailoring workers section of
the Needle Trades Industrial Union,
told Deputy Administrator Cameron,
who presided over Saturdays hear
ing in the Auditorium of the Com
merce Department.
Also representing the workers at
the hearing was Erwin Gersh, from
the Needle Trades Workers Indus
trial Union of Chicago, and I. Gross,
from Philadelphia.
I'VE propose IS hours and $40 a
week." Hoffman declared. "This
means that the average worker, who
labors an average of Is weeks a year,
will receive $720 or only SIG a week,
spread over the whole year-this is
the wage on which the so-called
artist of our trade, the highly skilled
worker, must support a family. The
employers propose IS cents an hour,
S22.75 a week or $4O7 40 during the
year-$7.75 a week average.
The merchant tailoring code,
sponsored by the National AsSocia-
ton of Merchant Tailors of America
and the Pacific Coast Tailors' Asso-
citation, proposes a 48-hour week and
65 cents an hour for skilled workers
The amendments to the proposed
tailoring code, submitted by the c. T.
w. I. u, provide a 35-hour week,
divided into the first five working
days of the week; a minimum of $40
a week for skilled workers; week
work; the adjustment of wages in ac-
cordance with changes in the cost Of
living; no home or piecework; no
discrimination against Negro, female
or young workers-workers shall be
paid equally for the same work per-
formed, regardless of color, sex or
age;"; the establishment of an in
dustrial unemployment insurance
fund, to which the employers shall
distribute 3 per cent of their total
weekly payroll; the elimination of
the so-called merit clauses; equal
representation of organized labor on
the code authority, and the right of
the workers to organize, strike and
picket without any curtailment what
ever.
The Chicago workers will hear q
report on the hearing at mass
meeting called for Friday at 6 pm.
at 119 S. Wells ST.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-31

and then gypped the family of
$1,000.
On July 10, 1922, this A. F. of
L. crook was sentenced to three
years in the penitentiary. His at
torneys pleaded mercy on the
ground that he was the victim of
conditions which obtained in labor
organizations at that time. Gov. Al
Smith pardoned him on July Is be-
cause, as the governor claimed, his
family was in "dire need"
Breach and the other racketeers
Immediately hailed him back into
the union and gave him his old job.
So much for capitalist justice as
melted out to the big fellows.
Let us turn the light onto the
Lockwood Committee investigation,
and see the rotten grating it ex-
posed with regards to Hogan and
other A. f. Of L. officers.
The greatest bulk of the $4,000
stolen by Hogan came from permit
fees taken at the rate of $3.50 a
week from workers denied admission
into the union.
The money taken from these
workers, journeymen and helpers,
was just thrown into the till and
then brought into Secretary Hogan.
There was no system of accounting
used, and no effort was made to
number permit cards to enable a
later check. Not q dollar Of this
money ever found its way into the
union treasury, nor was it accounted
for.
Hogan used two bank accounts,
the investigation revealed, in addi-
ton to the several accounts of the
union.
Hogan pleaded he didn't know
what he was doing when he pocketed
thousands of dollars that should
have gone to the bereaved families
of former union members.
James Smith, a member of the
union, died on October 81, 1918, leav-
ing a crippled poverty-stricken
widow. By some peculiar method,
Hogan had managed to have him
self appointed beneficiary before
Smith died, without his wife know
ing of it. He paid her as a result,
$1,000 Of the death benefit. and on
the witness stand stated that the
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-31
n. Y. JObIeSS and
CWA Workers Hold
Mass Meet on Feb. 5
Demand Endorsement of
Workers Unemployment
Insurance Bill

NEW YORK.-On Saturday, Feb.
3rd, workers delegates from the en-
tire country viii meet at Washing
ton, and open the National Conven-
ton Against Unemployment. On
Feb. 18th, the delegates will present
to Congress, to the Senate and to
President Roosevelt the workers de-
mands for passage of the Workers
Unemployment Insurance Bill, and
for the continuance and enlargement
of the C.W.A. program,
At the time when the delegates
present their demands, New York
workers, and workers in every city
throughout the country will demand
that the city governments endorse
the Workers Unemployment Insur-
ance Bill
New York workers should as
semble with their unions, mass or
ganization and fraternal groups and
converge on City Hall at IL noon,
to demand that the LaGuardia adj
ministration endorse the bill. SINH
larly the workers will demand the
continuance of the C.W.A. program,
and demand stop to C.W.A. wage
cuts, lay-offs, and the Roosevelt
abandonment Of the C.WA.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-31
Electrical Union Officials s5oooOo Refuse An Accounting

ficials increased. The workers were
aroused and demanded an accounting
Of funds and free elections in the
local. To stem the rising tide of pro-
test, Henry Godell, fighting rank and
filler, was shot down in cold blood,
June 20, by guerillas who bore down
upon him in fast moving automc-
bile. He left young mother and
two little children.
These facts have all appeared In
the Daily Worker at previous dates.
Hearst's Evening Journal has Just
awakened" to the racketeering
that is being put over by the A.
F. of L. officialdom. But the Daily
Worker has consistently, day by
day, exposed these murderous A. F.
of L. leaders preying on the
workers.
On August Z, 1923, a whole page
of exposure articles appeared in the
Daily Worker, all dealing specifically
with Local and International Pres
ident Breach. The editorial appear
ing on that page showed the organ
national work led by the Daily" for
better conditions in the local and
presented the slogans around which
the fight should be based. The edi-
torial said in part:
1.-THE Daily Worker has for two
years been making an active fight
for better conditions in the electrical
workers trade. For the past year
this paper has found it necessary To
expose the role played by H. H.
Breach, International vice president
of the Brotherhood, who came into
the New York situation as Pro-
greSsive' and a 'reformer.'
Two years ago the Daily Worker
was practically unknown to the cleo
trical workers. Today, several hun
dred of them read it regularly. This
is only a small number compared with
the thousands in the trade.
when the Daily Worker first be-
gan its exposure Of Breach and his
local gang, the little tyrant fumed
and stormed and threatened to send
for the writer of the article. BUT
BROACH KNEW BETTER!
LaGuardia and his cohorts have
made many statements about driving
the racketeers out Of the city. But
the mechanism of preying upon
workers is too firmly rooted in CAPT
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-31
BOSt. Shoe Workers
to Fight Wage Cut
Reject Decision of the
Arbitration Board

BOSTON, Mass, Jan. 80. -
Aroused over a decision of the State
Board of Arbitration handing the
shoe workers a wage cut, Stitchers
Local II, formerly Of the National
Shoe Union and now affiliated to the
United Shoe and Leather Workers
Union, moved quickly to combat the
wage cut at a recent meeting.
The local decided to reject the
wage cut and to have all prices set
tied by committees in the shop to
the satisfaction of the crew, on an
hourly rate based on a $40, $50 and
$1S weekly wage.
The Joint Shoe Council, to which
the local appealed for support, de-
cided against the action of Local u.
Among those who fought against the
locals decision was Jack Aronberg,
a Lovestoneite renegade, expelled
from the Communist Party. The
Joint Council adopted a resolution
to ask Frances Perkins, secretary of
labor, to investigate the conditions
of the shoe workers.
The workers are determined to
carry through their decision to
smash the wage cut and are fatty
refusing to take it. In some shops,
stoppages have been declared.
The State Board stepped into the
shoe workers strike last August,
when officials of the National Shoe
Union accepted the decision to sub
NIT the workers demands to arbi-
tration. The workers having had
their taste of governmental deci-
sions, are now convinced that only
through militant action will the
wage cut be defeated.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-31
Alabama Seeks To
Garry Thru Mass
Murder Negroes
Growing Protests Force
Lynchers to Hesitate;
Must Be Intensified

MONTGOMERY, Ala, Jan. 30
Communication Of sentence for Leo
Fountain, one Of nine Negroes SEN
fenced to die Feb. 9, by the State
Supreme Court, has been recon-
mended by the Pardon Board, as the
result of the campaign of protest or
ganized on national scale by the
International Labor Defense, against
this proposed holocaust.
The State Supreme Court has re-
fused to grant a re-hearing for
Teener Aubrey, Negro woman among
the nine, also framed on murder
charges, and who has not been
granted even a "clemency hearing" by
Governor B. M. Miller.
Such a hearing will be held Feb. 6
for Willie Peterson, Negro tubercular
miner and war veteran, framed also
on murder charges, and betrayed by
his defenders" the leaders of the
National Association for the Ad-
yancement of Colored People. Des-
perately trying to stifle the mass
protest against this legal lynching
which the state of Alabama is deter
mined to carry through with their
assistance, the N.A.ACP. leaders
sent out a statement which was car
ried in practically the entire Negro
press to the effect that Sheriff
Hawkins of Jefferson County Dir
mingham), one of the trainers Of
Peterson, would save his life.
Peterson is sentenced to die Feb.
10. The U. S. Supreme Court last
week refused to review the case.
Governor Miller has already de-
MED clemency to Solomon Roper,
Ernest Waller and Ben Foster, all
Of Dallas County, who are among the
nine sentenced to die Feb. 9.
The I. L. D. has called for renewed
and intensified protest to Governor
Miller at Montgomery, Ala, and to
President Roosevelt against this mass
legal murder being planned by the
white ruling class of Alabama, link
ing it to the legal lynch plans in the
Scottsboro case.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-31
Convict ALL Head.
Thug, in Shooting

NEW YORK.-HarTy Van Arsdale,
Jr., racketeer business agent of Local
3, Brotherhood of Electrical Workers,
and Max Rosenberg, gangster, were
yesterday convicted by jury of first
degree assault in the shooting of
Sorenson and Dooner, members of
the opposition group.
This case aroused an intense in
terest on the part Of the locals mem
bership, who daily damned the court
room to hear F. P. Walsh, high
priced attorney for the International
grating officials, argue Van Arsdale's
case. The shooting took place Feb.
"a, last year.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-31
Shoot Down and Murder
Men Who Question
Expenses
By A. S. PAsCUAL

NEW YORK.-Seven and a
half million dollars were
squeezed out of members of
Local 8 Electrical Workers
Union through $50 taxes, high
dues and special assessments
and then was spent on lawyers,
politicians and gangsters by
the A. F. of L. officials. Mill
tant rank and filters were shot
down and murdered when they
demanded an accounting.
Such is the history Of beastly COR
ruption and brutality as practiced on
1000 workers by A. F. of L. officials
in the International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers Local 3.
Howell H. Breach, former Interna-
tional President, together with Off
Gals Of Local 3, was unable in March,
1882, to account for $7,500,000 in union
funds, spent between 1925 and 1882.
The vouchers had been destroyed.
On Feb. %, 1888, william Sorenson,
militant rank and file member, ex-
posed the R.K.O. Theatre sell-out in
the form of a drastic wage-cut, as
deal put over by Breach and the
other officials. The next day Soren-
son and another courageous worker,
Frank Dooner, were shot down right
in the union headquarters, at 1870 E.
18th st. The shooting was done by
the business agent, Harry Van Ars-
dale Jr, and an administration thug,
Max Rosenberg.
Acid Throwing
A quart of acid was thrown into
the face of Adelbert Letscher almost
binding him. Letscher was the star
witness in the shooting, and testified
AGAINST the administration officials.
Resistance to the raeketeering Of
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-31
Single JobIess Workers
To Hold Mass Meeting

NEW YORK. - The Downtown
Unemployed Council has issued a
call for a mass meeting of all sin
gle workers, registered unemployed
C.W.A. workers. and young jobless
workers to a conference to formu-
late q plan of action to force the
C.WA. to provide jobs, or the city
to give immediate cash relief to the
jobless, pending the passage of the
Workers Unemployment Insurance
Bill.
The meeting, held under the aus
pices Of the Downtown Single and
Registered Committee, will be held
at the Manhattan Lyceum, IS E. 4th
ST., Wednesday, Jan. 81, at 9 pm.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-31
CIV, A. Workers Demonstrate AS Feb JobeSs Meet Near
Reports ShOtU 242,OOO
JobLesS in Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS, Mimi, Jan. 80.
approximately $4,000 workers
in the state Of Minnesota are I'M
employed, according to an inves-
tigation by the University of Min
nesota.
This is nearly $4,000 more than
the highest previous estimates of
a year ago, made at the low point
Of production; and is nearly 1O0,-
600 more than the recent estimate
made by Floyd Olsen, the Farmer
Labor governor, who recently tes-
titled before the State Legislature
Committee of Public Relief that
there were 10000 unemployed in
Minnesota.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-31
Ft. Worth Jobless Demonstrate
For Unemployment Insuranc,
5 Ask Jail Terms AS
Unemployment Relief

COLGATE, Okla, Jan. 3O-Stat-
ing that they were unable to earn
a living, five men here gave them
selves up to the local police, lad
mitted thefts," and asked for
prison sentences as "unemploy-
ment relief" Joe Sherrel, So, and
his three sons, Allen, %, Alex, q,
and Dick, 81, admitting the theft
Of hog, were sentenced to two
years in the state penitentiary,
and Morris Leader, Indian, for the
theft Of a chicken, was given a
one year sentence by Judge Cas-
soway.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-31
BrOnxCWA Workers
To Demonstrate at
City CWA Offices

NEW YORK. - Bronx G. w. A..
workers will hold a mass demonstra-
ton before the city c. w. A. Offices
at Ill Eighth Ave, Thursday, Feb
1, between 4 and p. m, to demand
the restoration of the recent pay
cuts, the reinstatement Of all work
ers laid off, and for the continuance
and enlargement Of the G. w. A.
program
As a result of the mass lay-offs and
wage cuts on C. w. A., Bronx work
ers came to the Offices of the Relief
Workers League at 1892 Washington,
demanding that mass meetings be
held. Following the distribution of
leaflets on the Van Cortlandt and
Orchard Beach jobs, workers came
in body directly from work. A mass
meeting was held last week at Am
bassador Hall, Third and Claremont
AYES. The workers outlined a plan
of struggle by forming job commit
tees, organizing on the job, and
elected delegates to the National
Convention Against Unemployment to
be held in Washington on Feb. 3, 4
and 5, and unanimously voted to
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-31
''Daily" Exposed Thes'
AFL Heads Back In
1926

union was in a position to pay oni
that amount at the time. He forge
evidently that the death benefit wa
assessed from workers who kne'
what the death of a father mean
to working class family.
Grated From Widows
This A. F. of L. official stole ttacv
sands of dollars in this way frof
widows and children, of workers VII
had paid their sweated money t
the grating officials for years, onl
to be once again defrauded of thei
rights when they died.
The treasurer of Local 8, Josep
Lawler, testified that he had bee
paid $51.85 for committee worl
which consisted of going to the ban
and to the lawyers Office. He state
that the money in the till, collecte
mainly from the permit fees, di
not go to him as the treasurer o
the local. Maybe he received oil 0
it, he stated, and maybe only par
The handling of the cash, he claimed
was chaotic.
Other witnesses testifying befor
the committee, members of lon
standing in the union, stated tia
the line of workers asking for wor
permits contained sometimes as hig,
as 500 men. The union was close
to new members; the permit fee bus
mess was far too profitable to bottle
about increasing and strengthenin
the union.
Local 8 officials spent $40, 900 :
defend Hogan, it was revealed at 1
reconvened session of the Lockwoo.
Committee on December Is, 1922.
Material is being collected now
by the staff and members of oppo-
sition groups in number of A.
F. of L. unions for the purpose Of
making this exposure series -
thorough as possible. Union menu
bers not yet contacted should
bring in or mail facts and dceu.
ments about racketeering, graft
and corruption in their unions 10
the Daily Worker Office.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-31
EIkhart School Board
Renigs on Permit for
Showing Soviet Film

ELKHART, Ind, Jan. S0.-After
granting permit for the showing
Of the Soviet film, "War Against the
Centuries" at the Roosevelt School
auditorium the local School Board
returned the rent money at the last
minute and shut the school against
the workers.
The Communist Party, sponsoring
the film showing for the benefit Of
the Daily Worker, secured instead the
Workers Center Hall, 91S Mason ST.,
and issued leaflet exposing the
reason for the boards action, and
calling on Elkhart workers to dem
onstrate against the School Board
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-31
1,2OO YOnkerS CWA
Men Get Pay Cut on
Hook Mountain Job
Have Many Grievances
on Work Conditions
on Job

YONKERS, N. Y, Jan. 30.-Be-
tween HOO and 1900 C.W.A. workers,
living in Yonkers, are employed at
the Piermont and Hook Mountain G.
W, A. projects.
The job originally called for 30
hours work at wages Of $l8 a week
With the recent Roosevelt wage cuts,
this has been cut to $12 a week. Act
ually, the men put in an 11-hour day.
Every work day the workers are
forced to come down TO the ferry,
regardless Of the weather conditions.
If it is raining, the men are told TO
go back home. When the job was
first opened, the men were prom
ised pay on rainy days. Actually,
however, it was only after a struggle
that the workers were permitted to
make up the day at the end Of the
week.
Formerly the workers were forced
to go to the city garage on Fridays
for their pay. By sticking together
the men won their demand that they
be paid on the job.
YonkerS workers, together with all
CW.A. workers in the country, have
been given a wage cut by Roose-
velt's orders Now, Roosevelt in
tends to abandon the entire C.WA.
program. Beginning Feb. IS, it is
planned to fire half a million C.W.A.
workers each week by a gradual
"tapering Off process. Yonkers work.
ers should take the stand of other
C.W.A. workers by refusing to leave
the job when laid off, demanding that
wage-cuts be restored when being
paid off, and demonstrating before
the C.W.A. offices for the continual
ton and enlargement Of the C.W.A.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-31

was brought before the Lockwood
Committee in 1921 to explain the
whereabouts of $4,000 unions funds
that were missing.
The death benefit in the local
(paid for by each member with so
cent assessment whenever a worker
died) was $4,000. Hogan used to
assign himself as the beneficiary,
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-31

talism to be frightened away by La
Guardian statements. The little
racketeers might be stepped on; the
big ones stay till capitalism goes.
Take the case of one of the vilest
crooks in A. F. of L. history, Will
liam A. Hogan, or Death Benefit"
Hogan, treasurer of the Information
al, and secretary Of Local 8. He
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-31
Refuse JObless Food at
Los Angeles Relief DepO

Los ANGELES, Calf, Jan. SOL
food Is being given out at the goveri
ment surplus food depots here. Fot
cards dated Jan. 8. l6. and % ha'
not been honored on these datk
Notices In English and Spanish a
posted on the stations stating y
Food on Hand" and Opening da
viii be published
Meanwhile, an official Hts In u
office day after day, reading 9 pape
and hungry workers come there on
TO be turned away without food.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-31

call complete stoppage Of all work on
Feb. 5 to participate in the city-wide
demonstration for jobs or relief
The 600 workers who iammed the
hall also voted to demand their full
pay when they are offered their re-
duced pay checks, and called for
struggle on the jobs against lay-offs
by refusing to leave the Jobs until
forcibly removed.
A membership meeting Of the Re-
lief Workers League Bronx locaD
viii be held on Friday, Feb. 2, at 8
p. m, at Ambassador Hall, Third and
Claremont AYES. All G. w. A. work.
ers are invited to attend. The Re
lief Workers League is open every
evening at the headquarters, 1892
washington Ave.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-31
IS Gee Workers Elected
from Camp for Striking

BATTIEST, Okla, Jan. 30-Seventy
five boys were elected from the C.C.C.
camp here following their hunger
strike of several days, in protesting
the lack of sufficient food. The boys
were given nothing but dry toast for
breakfast. One boy had lost IL pounds
in less than month of the camp diet.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-31
n. Y. Delegates to Nee

New York delegates to the Wash
ington Conference will meet tonight
at Z pm, at 20 E. 10th St., for final
instructions. All delegates, and all
organizations that have elected del
egates to the conventions, and have
not yet sent in their credentials,
should do so at once, in order that
preparations may be made for
transportation, and feeding and
housing in Washington.
Delegates should report at 20 e.
goth St, on Feb. 2, at 7 am, ready
to leave for Washington.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-31
SOCIALIST CANDIDATE CAUGHT
ROBRING RANK

WINSLOW, Ariz., Jan. 30-Dill-
worth Sumpter, Socialist candidate
for Representative to Congress from
Arizona, confessed to attempted bank
robbery, police said here.
The unsuccessful candidate, both as
representative and as bank robber,
was caught after a three-block chase
through the streets of Winslow this
morning.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-31
Nygard . Delegate

CROSBY, Minn.--At o united frui
mass meeting Of the Unemployt
Council and the I.w.w.. Emil N,
gard, former Communist Mayor I,
Crosby, was elected as . delegate l
represent the unemployed Of Crost
at the National Convention Again,
Unemployment at Washington, D. 4
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-31
FOUR NUNS DIE IN AUTO
PLUNGE

WATERFOWL, N. Y, Jan. 30
-Four nuns we're killed when the auto
in which they were returning from
religious services plunged off bridge
near here. Martin O'Keefe, a rail-
road engineer, who was driving the
car, was drowned.