The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-03-05
York w. A. Workers Hold Mass Conferences Hit Firing
Mother, Child Dead in NeU East
Side Fire; Deaths NO,O Total Is
Fire Danger Continues To Threaten Thousands OF
Families as City Delays Action
BY EDWIN RoLFE

NEW IOINfAs-A NO more AfGo-
making a total of Is lost within the
past two weeks in New York City
were sacrificed Saturday because OF
the criminal negligence Of landlords
concerned only with profits, aided b.
the equally criminal neglect CT the
city administration, which has done
nothing so far to rae New York S
Stun tenements and provide adequate
and cheap housing for working class
families.
The two-Mrs. Margaret Calais. IS.
and her youngest son, John, three
years old-were burned TO death
when flames destroyed their third
floor fiat at 110e Second Ave. on
the upper East Side, between 5sth
and 59th SITS. Two previous tene-
ment fires in the last two weeks had
claimed the lives Of eight adults and
children at 20 E. Seventh St. and
five others at 16e Carroll St., Brook
lyn
Three other children Of the Callas
family were rescued only because two
men, passing by the old building.
heard their cries for help. August
Gales, II; James, 10, and George, Z,
were almost suffocated when their
chance rescuers dragged them from
the burning building. long before fire
engines arrived on the scene.
A family living on the floor above
the Callases escaped the horrible
death of the Callas mother and child
hen .Toseph Nicholas was aroused
from sleep by the smoke He hur-
riedly awakened his wife and four
small children, ranging in ages from
two to eight, and escaped via the
roof to the next building. There were
no fire escapes on the burning build
ing.
When committee Of workers and
children spoke to Tenement Com
missioner Langdon W. Post in City
Hall shortly after the East Seventh
st. fire, Post nockingly smiled when
they demanded immediate action.
The workers and children's delega-
ton demanded the immediate re-
moval Of all workers families from
condemned fire-trap tenements to
modern, safe apartments thousands
of which are vacant without any in
crease in rent. Post evidently
amused by the naive" insistence Of
the delegation Of the necessity Of I'M
mediate action, and by their equally
naive" fear for the continued safety
Of human lives, insisted that nothing
could be done Overnight He evil
IDENTIFY had already forgot his own
words in speech made few days
before:
TN those houses there ~
practically nothing we can do TO
prevent a recurrence unless we do
something instant, courageous and
complete"
Many Of "those houses" which
Post mentioned were condemned be-
fore 1900! And workers families,
unable to afford exorbitant rentals
demanded in modern apartment
houses, still live in these buildings.
What is delaying Commissioner
Posts instant, courageous and COM
plete" actiCl? Seven more lives
have been lost since he made this
grand rhetorical gesture. Death by
flames threatens countless others.
Is Commissioner Post land the Flu
sion administration which he repre-
sents) afraid Of offending the big
owners Of East Side real estate, who
would lose millions Of dollars If these
fire-trap Sluun tenements were razed?
Is his courage not equal to the task
Of demanding lower rentals in mod
ern apartments, to which working
class families demand to be moved?
Only in such a way could Some
thing instant, courageous and COM
plete" be achieved.
Every action of the present city
government is proving to the workers
of New York City the utterly dema-
gogic character of the Fusion admin
istration: the fact that, while its
words have promised, and continue
to promise much, its deeds in no way
differ from those Of its Tammany
predecessors. Both are controlled like
puppets by the Wall Street banks,
whose dollars mean more to New
Yorks Mayer and his associates than
do the lives Of thousands of working
class families.