davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-01-29
Dismissal Threat
I'm Ford Plant
By a Worker Correspondent

NEW YORK; did not realize
the degradation the workers have
to suffer until I worked for Henry
Ford in Kearny, N. ].
I was new from the plough then
and the stark horror of it revolted
me. The slave-driving speed-up
the ruthlessness and brutality and
the eternal fear of being dismissed
I have seen no work under the sun
to equal Ford's in shearing a man
Of all human dignity. He is cursed
and threatened and spied upon and
the longer he is there the more he
wonders each morning if he will be
there till night.
I knew a worker about fifty years
of age in charge Of a tool-crib there
and who had been with Ford fol-
ten years. One day batch Of
visitors from Detroit came through
the factory and one Of them noticed
that this man in the tool-crib did
not have his identification number
in the correct place-on the left
breast.
The worker begged to get another
chance, said he had forgotten, ht
had the badge in his pocket anc
that it would never occur again
But, he was dismissed. For many
months afterwards he tried to gel
back. He never got back
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-01-29
Garter Concern Sells
Nazi Goods
By a worker CORRESPONDENT

NEW YORK.-The Ropa Com
pany Of 1923 Broadway has been
successful in selling to a number of
gents furnishing stores in the city
mems carriers that are trimmed
with ivory trimmings that are i'm
ported from Germany.
Originally, the above concern was
only selling the ivory trimmings.
When the boycott on German goods
set in, and a number of garter
manufacturers refused to buy this
merchandise, the Ropa began to
have the complete garter made up
for them.
My employer has stopped hand
ling their merchandise, but he did
not hesitate in manufacturing few
hundred dozen garters for them
He defended himself on the grounds
that If he did not make up the
carriers for them some other con-
Germ would, so why shouldn't it be
him?
1t reminded me of the argument
that the duPonts had used at the
munition Investigations. Since
someone has to manufacture NUM-
tons, then it may as well be they
who should handle the Job.
The trade name of this garter is
Palm Beach, Workers who come
across the above garter should
know that it is made with German
trimmings.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-01-29
Negroes Paid Less
On Trucking Job
BY a Worker Correspondent


SELMA. Ala am a laborer for
the Wicker Transfer Company.
When I first started to work for
them I only got ten cents an hour.
When the MIRA. came in. my DAYS
pay was raised to $1.33.
I don't get but two or three days
week now, but before the MIRA.
came in got from four to five DAYS
work week.
Of course, Mr.. Wicker signed the
code of the New Deal, but he is not
keeping his promises at all.
He has eight trucks, three of
those trucks are for city service.
the other five for road service. He
has sixteen men working for him,
thirteen Negroes and three whites.
These white workers stay on the
road as long as he has something
for them to do. They have Negro
helpers, and these helpers do the
hard work while the white men sit
down and read the paper or drink.
They have to load from fifteen to
seventeen tons on those trucks. If
they do not load that way, the boss
will raise all kinds of hell.
If tire blows out on the road.
the boss starts to cussing them out
when they get in and talk about
firing them off the job.
A Job is job in Selma, and they
stay there and take his low down
logging just because they can't get
a job at any time. The Negroes
salary for road work is $3.50 day,
the whites get 81 a day. The city
men get only S133 day and do
harder work than the road men.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-01-29
Porto Rico Strike
Aided by Seamen
By a Marine Worker Correspondent

by a Marine worker correspondent
NEW YORK. s. S. Caracas
of the Red %" Line arrived on Jan.
%, from Porto Rico carrying cargo
which was loaded by scab labor.
1t is known that the longshoremen
in Porto Rico who belong to the 1.
L. A, we're on strike for better wages
and working conditions, and were
supported by other workers organi-
cations on the island in their strug-
gle.
The crew of the S. S. Caracas
supported the longshoremen by re-
fuSing to handle the cargo. and the
company in order to load the cargo
procured the scab labor of students
along with the Third Engineer, one
of the quartermasterS and si2
walters. The crew was threatened
with dismissal upon arrival in New
York, but because of their solidarity
the company was forced to change
its decision.
We, as American workers. mus
support the struggle Of the Porto
Rican longshoremen. Our problems
are not only national. They have
become international along with the
financial interests of the bosses. We
must support the struggles of the
workers in the colonies and other
countries as well as those taking
place in this country.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-01-29
Seamen's 7 Forum
Endorses HR 1927
Bv a Marine Worker Corresnonden5

By Marine Worker Correspondent
NEW YORK-Strolling into Sea-
mems House, Y. NJ. c. A.. at goth
and West Streets, last Thursday
afternoon my attention was at
tracted to notice on the bulletin
board announcing a symposium on
Social Security and Unemployment
Insurance to be held in the "Y'i
that evening. There was an in
vitation extended to all seamen to
attend.
Realizing that such a symposium
was different than the usual hokum
that they hand the seamen.
curiosity impelled me to attend that
night and perhaps discover the mo-
tive of the ''Y" in arranging a SYM
postum on such topic.
That evening the dignifed gentle
men who came to enlighten the sup
posedly unenlightened seamen as to
the need of unemployment insur-
ance were taken back by the discus
sion that followed their short, gen.
erallzed, nigh talutin' talks.
The seamen who spoke pointed out
that mere talk about social security
and unemployment insurance could
result in nothing of benefit to the
.seamen. The Presidents Social Sc
curity program of forced labor and
the Wagner-Lewis Bill were unani-
mously rejected by the seamen
present.
1t was further pointed out that
there was only one Unemployment
Insurance Bill worthy Of endorse
ment by the seamen, and that bill
was H. R. 1927, formerly H. r. 1898.
A copy of the bill was read. The
seamen present saw in this bill
something that really answered their
needs.
A motion was made that a tele-
gram be sent in the name of all
those present to Senator S. wagnec,
Copeland and Connery demanding
that they endorse and vote for Bill
H. r. 1927. This motion was I'M
snimously adopted.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-01-29
Organize, Is Wife's
Plea to Ford Man

By an Auto Worker Correspondent
DETROIT, Mich.-What relief
to be out of It'll Yet, I can't forget
that must be back again in the
morning to earn my $40 day.
At home, the wife asked me, what
are they doing to you, Jake? You
look so tired and done up every
night you get home"
My reply was that I'm on the
production line and no matter how
much work one does the bosses de-
mand more each day After the
continual rush hour after hour you
begin to feel that your senses are
leaving you.
I told her Of young man who
after working only three weeks on
this same production line remarked,
Il feel like quitting every day. I
never thought this Ford method of
Speed-up was possible. I am begin
ming to see Reds F."
In my sleep I count 900 to 1000
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-01-29

Says Auto Revival
Is Mostly Hokum
By an Auto Worker Correspondent

BY an Auto Worker Correspondent
DETROIT. Mich.-The much dis
cussed revival and sterilization OF
employment in the auto industry
proved to be the usual blast of hot
air which always precedes an ap-
pearance of new models on the
market.
Alfred P. Sloan, of the General
Motors Corporation, had made the
boastful statement that hereafter
all employees of the various units
shall work all the year around, and
they may as well forget any such
thing as a depression" ever &C.
Cured. OF course no one believes
these childish tales any more. How
ever, men like Henry Ford, Sloan
and other such arch-exploiters per-
sist in manufacturing these Gin
spirational talks" while at the
same time bleeding their employees
to death.
Today, practically all the tool and
die makers in the auto industry, the
cream of the mechanical world
sometimes referred to as the "aris-
tocrats of the trade" are a bewild-
cred mass of humans, driven from
place to place like angered animals,
ready to commit some desperate act
but still hoping; hoping for some
thing that will never come from q
decaying, dying system of bestial
capitalist exploitation.
The Fisher Body Corporation,
without doubt the largest and best
equipped die-shop in the world
which produces the bulk of varied
dies for the General Motors Units,
such as Chevrolet, Cadillac. Buick,
Pontiac, LaSalle and Oldsmobile
hired several hundred die makers as
usual, worked the living dickens out
of them for a period of two to four
months and either laid them off or
caused voluntary cuttings due to
the inhuman speed-up. The aver
age tool and die maker works about
three months per year, if he works
at all.
In spite Of the recovery ballyhoo
working conditions in all lines are
growing steadily worse and the
speed-up increasing. Talk to a rep
resentative craftsman nowadays and
he will unhesitatingly tell you that
after three months work he is all
burned out and actually performed
a years work in three months, a
greatly-lowered living standard be-
ing forced upon him at the same
time.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-01-29
Young Transients
Get sympathy
By q Worker Ccrrespondent

WASHINGTON, D. CT want, to
tell the workers Just how we are
being treated in Washington.
My husband, my sister and 7
hitched into Washington last Mon
day. We arrived hungry and tired
at 1880 in the morning. We were
forced to sit in the relief headquar-
ters without food until 5 p. m. Then.
because we all three began to tell
at once how we felt about this use
less delay, we were given an order
of fifteen cents each for supper.
We had nothing to eat since Sun
day night and at D. m. on Mon
day they gave us fifteen cents for
food!
We were sent to a horrible flop
house to sleep. NY sister is sick.
in need of special food and medicine.
yet they gave us SAT- for four days
for all three of us to eat on.
In this town, built by the work
ers and glorified by the millionaires.
we young unemployed workers are
forced to starve on a few cents of
relief a day.
The case worker, Mrs. Philips.
looked the three of us over and
beamed. why don't you children
get relief in the town that you come
from?" She called us babes in the
woods" and was real motherly in
her attitude towards us. When we
told her how we were ordered to
move on from the last town. she
said, "Tsk. tsk, tut, tut" Then she
gave us SAT- for food for four DAYS
and flop house bed.
If workers in all the t1ophouses
would rebel and rise and refuse to
be held in breal line slavery we
could get square deal.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-01-29

stood at fourty-one degrees below
zero, and at daybreak the powerful
but gray brother, once a railroad
conductor, now cast aside by the
bosses, struck off into the pines,
up to his knees in snow with an
axe over his shoulder Behind him
are varied scenes in a life of toll:
conductor, sailor twice on ships
torpedoed during the war, carpen-
ter, camp cook, a participant in the
National Hunger March, stricken
with pneumonia on the route, now
coughing as he swings his axe in the
depth Of the woods.
His brother, past fifty, rolls logs
and carries lumber at the mill. A
tree fell on his back, and because he
could not earn a decent living he
lost his home and his family. The
boss at the mill, member of the
State Legislature is back on his pay
crying hard times.
At night we sit in the single room
of the cabin by the wood stove,
under the rays of a kerosene lamp
and eat our supper of boiled pota-
toes and flap jacks, an unvarying
fare, seldom accompanied by coffee,
or syrup, or bread. Then the man
with the grey hair sits forward,
spreads the Daily Worker on the
homemade table and reads every
word from cover to cover, part of
it aloud to his brother whose eyes
are failing him.
Each year they find it more diff
cult to live; there are less stray
jobs, pay is smaller, men are coming
to farms offering their services for
board and tobacco,
During the textile strike these
men were in the picket lines five
miles away. They went into the
union hall. demanded the floor. and
spoke. They obtained a Model-A
Ford to ride to Barre for help from
the International Labor Defense,
when picket was arrested. Then,
they started their own I. L. D.
Branch when the Barre comrades
obtained the workers release.
The brother who chops in the
woods, also tramps five miles to
town to cover his Daily Worker
route, small but a route among mill
workers.
The brothers belong to unit of
the Communist Party which is
scattered over a wide area. made up
of farm and mill workers
Before the textile strike Clare
mont, where strikes were unheard
of, presented a picture of defeat,
somnolence and religious DONNA
ton over PROSTATE mass. After
the strike, the workers are conscious
Of their salvation. The town is
younger.
Fifty is not quite youthful when
men have carried, hoisted. chopped
and hewn all their lives. Neverthe-
less, my CRAVING hosts in the spruce
cabin have succeeded in building
Communist nucleus which. though
small, is respected by the mill and
farm workers, and which grows as
conscious sector of the Clarsmont
workers.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-01-29
Jobless Leader Freed
By Mass Protest
BY a Worker Correspondent


WELLSVILLE, Ohio. = On Jan.
%. comrades Harry French and
Charles Montgomery Jr., leaders of
the Unemployed Council, were ar
rested for taking coal laying on the
tracks of the Pennsylvania Rail-
road. The coal amounted to about
a bushel or so and would never have
been used by anyone. But a
crooked railroad bull" said he saw
them with the coal and filed
charges of petit larceny with the
mayor of Wellsville.
AS the mayor wanted to "get"
Harry French especially for the
good work he had done in getting
relief for many needy workers in
Wellsville, he discharged Mont
gomery and bound French over to
the Grand Jury on a bail of $500.
Almost Immediately when workers
and sympathetic small business men
learned of his plight, they came
with the required bail many times
over. In the meantime the I. L. D.
also had gotten on the job and had
secured a bondsman. The mayor,
much chagrined by the state of
things, kept French in Jail over
night, intending to send him to the
county Jail the next day, making
his release more difficult.
But in addition to the pressure
exerted by the bondsmen, workers
called from the shops asking the
mayor if he was conducting Hitler
court and demanded the immediate
release of French. The mayor
realizing his lone stand in his dirt,
was forced to capitulate. He drop
ped the charges against his prisoner
and let him go free. The mass
pressure was more than he could
stand against.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-01-29
$7.71 Is Highest Weekly Wage
For SaVamberS in Lumber Camp

to become a teamster in order that
they might compete for the bonus.
All hands, except the boss, clerks,
etc, are compelled to sleep in hunks.
Two rows of hunks, one above the
other on each side of the bunk
house, each bunk to accommodate two
workers. Bunks are too narrow and
not long enough All hunks are
made of small logs with fir boughs
piled on top. CA few hunks have
straw The bunk house accommo-
dates Sc men, with only one small
window in the roof for ventilation
This window must be kept closed at
night as the men in the lower hunks
cannot stand the cold if it is open,
Men were forced to work on days
when it was forty to fifty below
zero.
Poor Food
Food is plentiful, but of a very
poor quality. Dinner is served to
men hauling pulp, in a tar paper
shack which is twelve feet by twelve
in size. Twenty-four men are fed
there at noon. The rest eat in
camp. The meal consists of beans
and cold meat, tea and bread, also
cookies. Breakfast and supper are
not so bad. The cook is always out
of something. When he has plenty
of meat, he has no potatoes and so
forth. Sometimes he is supplied
with enough of everything and then
we have fair meal
The transportation from the camp
to the city is very poor. If a man
gets hurt or is sick, he must be
taken to depot camp eight miles
away in wagon over a very rough
road. He has to stay over night
and be taken to Greenville (ninety
niles in company truck, before
he can get medical attention. 1t is
about one hundred and fifty miles
to the hospital at Bangor. would
like to write some more, but it is
so dark that I can't see any more
Also, the mail is going out tonight
on tote team. He has eight miles
to go and it is dark now.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-01-29
Southern Steel Workers
Hit BY Stagger Plan
BY A Steel Worker Correspondent

BY A Steel Worker Correspondent
FAIRFIELD, Ala-The bosses oil
the T. G. I. wire mill is very hard
to please in every respect. The
workers are driven hard every day
on tonnage and just make little
above day rates.
If the loading is over twenty
minutes before quitting time. they
will have to go out and be docked
for twenty minutes. In the morn
ing or at noon, if the gang has
nothing to do for an hour, they have
to go out and be docked for one
hour.
The bosses said that every one
should work forty hours week
but since then they have been run
ming from twelve to twenty-four
hours per week, and pay day comes
short for the workers.
The bosses have also changed the
rates at the rail mill.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-01-29
Steel Workers Meet
Despite Police
BY a Steel Worker Correspondent

BY a Steel Worker Correspondent
FAIRFIELD, Ala. - I am a
member Of the Amalgamated As
ISOLATION Of Iron, steel and Tin
workers.
We held a meeting and the
police told one Of our members
not to have that meeting. But,
we went ahead and had our
meeting.
Chief Anthony is doing what
the T. G. I. tells him to do. They
tried to break that meeting by
driving their big car up and
down the street.
We white and colored must
fight side by side and get what
we want. We must not hang
back on account of the T. C. I.
Chief Anthony. If we don't or
ganize we are going to starve.
We want all the workers Of Fair
field to Join the union.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-01-29
NOTE

We publish every Tuesday let
tiers from steel, metal, and auto
workers. We urge workers in these
industries to write us of their con-
ditiOns and their efforts to or
ganize. Please get these letters to
us by Saturday of each week.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-01-29
jamaica Store Fires
Negro Worker,
BY a Worker Correspondent

by WOrker correspondent
JAMAICA, N. "a young Negro
worker was fired from Bohack's
Store for "incompetency" despite
the fact that he has worked indus
triously in this store, which is
located at Hist Street and 107th
Avenue, and is we'll liked by most
of the customers. He has been re-
placed by a white worker and is
now left without any means of sup
port for himself, his wife and child.
This was an open case of dis
elimination and all workers, white
and Negro, should protest against
IL
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-01-29
By a Lumber Worker Correspondent

BY Lumber Worker Correspondent
LOCKWOOD, Me. - We are at
present working for the Great
Northern Paper Company in the
woods department. The conditions
here are rotten.
First, we will take up wages. The
common wage is $216 day with
seventy-flve cents taken out for
board, leaving $128 a day. This
would give you STU clear. taking
out seven days board, providing you
get in a full weeks work, consisting
of six days from dawn to dark.
However, this happens very seldom
due to stormy weather.
This wage is paid to workers who
are called swampers or road
monkeys Their job is to build
roads through the woods and keep
them in repair.
Transfers Pay
The teamsterS and helpers get
SITS a day and free board. The
first named gets paid for a seven
day week, while the second gets paid
for six. However, they get free board
on all seven days. They are haul
ing pulp wood with one pair of
horses and a thirty-two foot sled
to each pair They haul from
twelve to fifteen cords of wood a
day, working from six in the morn
ing till fiye-thirty at night.
A cord of pulp wood (frozen)
weighs about two and one half tons
Wood must be handled twice. piled
on to the sled in the woods AND
piled on the landing at the river in
preparation for the spring drive. A
bonus of ten cents cord is prom
ised any teamster who hauls five
hundred cords of wood on to the
landing. Very few will be paid the
bonus, as work is so hard that most
men will be played out long before
the five hundred cords are hauled
Sleeping Quarters
There is no bride held out to the
helpers. Their only goal is a chance
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-01-29
Southern Worker Urges
Organization
By steel Worker Correspondent

BY Steel Worker Correspondent
FAIRFIELD, Ala. - The city Of
Fairfield is in bad condition. The
officers is putting the people in Jail
and won't let you have a word to
say. Is we going to let them put
everything ever and we doesn't have
anything to saw at all? Listen. is
we going to let the way they are
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-01-29

doing us continue to get worse and
worse? Listen, people let us or
ganize and kill this thing or else
it will kill us all. Show us what
you want and we will show you
what you need to Go. So help to
put the struggle over for your sake
and mine and also for all.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-01-29

In Action
By a Worker Correspondent

BY Worker Correspondent
CLAREMONT, N. HI find the
slab spruce cabin still standing in
the woods near Red Water Brook
Road, and its two occupants, one
working in the forest for two or
three dollars a week, the other in
the saw mill, now and then.
This morning the thermometec
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-01-29
YOUR
HEALTH
By -
Medical Advisory Board

Chronic Bronchitis in Children
Comrade s. 2. of Brooklyn writes:
MY family physician is advising
the injection of a sputum-vsccine-
culture, as a remedy against attacks
Of bronchitis, to which my daughter
is susceptible. (She is nine years
Of age.)
my wife seconded the motion to
consult you first and to carry out
your opinion as to the practical
value and benefit of such injections.
CThe doctor mentioned two methods
One of six injections, the other Of
sixteen.)
please state also the value Of
Alpine Violet Ray treatments and
how many are necessary"
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-01-29
Can You Make EN- Yourself?

Pattern 2l75 is available in sizes
IA is. 10, 20, 80, "a, SO, 38, 40 and
AZ. Size Is takes 37s yards 36 inch
fabric. Illustrated step-by-step sew
ing instructions included.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-01-29
BELLE TAUB.

A more detailed account of the
League Of Women Shoppers, and
the Boston Store strike written by
the strikers themselves, appears in
the February issue of the Working
Woman, off the press in day or
so. We invite further letters from
the League of Women Shoppers.