Heavy Prof its, Stable Industry, Low Wages Make Tobacco Industry Fertile Union Field
Heavy Prof its, Stable Industry, Low Wages Make Tobacco Industry Fertile Union Field Reynold Company Blade Profit of $32,210,000 During 1929, Report Shows M , ceming the organization...
...Muste stated that this wage est by one of the notorious company union textile firms showed the derision in which employers held Ilia American Federation of Labor, and its assurances that it meant only to be helpful to them in coming South to organize their workers...
...in Rome ''Editor and Publisher" reports an underground anti-Fascist newspaper in Rome: The latest thing in Rome is a bootleg newspaper...
...They will immediately claim that in an industry as highly competitive as the cotton industry they have no other choice...
...and smoked abort clay pipes buildings, dug the cellars and assisted in constructing the new ones by carrying the hod, mixing mortar and doing laboring work...
...The Forward Ball is the one evenXj^t the year at which all labor movement are represented...
...Meyer London Athletic Crab, 1825 Mobegan avenue, Bronx...
...But a few years ago and wrecking was a by-product, and so insignificant, that it was scarcely listed In the books of contractors...
...22nd WITH Rudy VaUee'i personal appearance and direction of the musical program at the Forward ball assured, and with famous theatrical stars drawn from the leading theatres of the city to serve on the committee which will award several thousand dollars in prizes to winning costumes, arrangements for the outstandevent of the season among radicals and liberals are nearing completion...
...This is in the tobacco country...
...Breacher and Halpera, 122 Rivtngton street, and all Socialist arty headquarters...
...hauliers of New York City have organized a Joint Board that unit** five locals in cooperative work for Improving coavtltion* of the members...
...First applications are first served...
...Some weeks ago certain leaders of the American Federation of Labor and some of the independent unions, on being assured by you that employers were pledging not to reduce wages during the emergency, gave their promise to advise wage earners not to ask for wage increases for the present We denounced this action on the part of yourself and these labor leaders...
...Tears ago, the Wilson administration, 2 •*-damson Act was passed and ~je coon try was given to underthat the railroads were j " * * * 1 on aa 8-hour basis...
...No Protective Law* Found The attorneys studied the state and city codes only to find that there is no law compelling contractors to provide the necessary protection for their employees when wrecking buildings...
...Hamilton Parkway, Brooklyn...
...The men of the law found that while some contractors and builders were p r o g r e s s i v e or humanitarian enough to provide protection it was purely voluntary on their part...
...1929, 4 per cent...
...NEWARK, N. J. (F.P...
...Chambers of Commerce tell the farmers to burn up a part of their crops...
...You, however, must have believed there was some means of securing that end, since on any other assumption you were deceiving leaders of labor into committing a serious crime against their followers...
...They are a rough hewn burly and husky lot...
...sd the total unemployment is increased by seasonal industries which in some cases are in worse condition than usual this year...
...At the mercy of the Big Five tobacco corporations, which set the price to be paid the grower at the start of each harvest season, the bright leaf growers, who supply the cigarette trade, find no open market in which to sen...
...We ••not have the means to investi« s the full extent of this, but ** know it is considerable...
...In a statment being distributed among the barbers the Joint Board, among other things, says: "This institution must be the center of all our activities and manifestations, it must become the safety valve of our class maintaining a perfect equilibrium...
...The industrial depression of 1921 afforded an excellent opportunity to drive out unionism, which was crushed under militant anti-union tactics and unemployment...
...In sea and lake port towns, large numbers of sailors and longshoremen are out of work...
...The Srare for January is the highest percentage of unemployment since tie Federation began collecting statistics in 1927...
...in printing the percentages are: January, 1930, 5 per cent...
...One reason we gave for our denunciation was our belief that there was no means of keeping employers of labor to their bargain...
...Champion Hand Laundry, 945 Freeman street, Bronx...
...Wages run from $7 to $11 a week, with the maximum of 40 cents an hour...
...Musicians Hit Very Hard "Unemployment is especially sign among musicians, who have b*en thrown out of work by the increasing use of radio and vitashone...
...In the old days the men who did the work of demolition were picturesque Irish-Americans who wore red flannels and large soft h o ta...
...The following are some of the ticket stations at which tickets may be purchased now: Jewish Daily Forward, 175 East Broadway...
...December...
...They have in their craft and occupation all the old risks and many new ones to endure...
...J. Reynolds exploitation is seen in eastern North Carolina, where the Raleigh News and Observer recently reports hunger prevalent and conditions closely approaching real famine...
...The figures ayw 19 per cent of union memken unemployed in the first two weeks of January, a substantial increase over December, when 16 per cent were out of work...
...Leading in profits is the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., which has attached to Winston-Salem, N. C, the sobriquet of Camel City...
...The Tobacco Workers International Union reports the neglible membership of 3,200, based on a few small but friendly firms in Kentucky manufacturing cigarettes for the union labor trade...
...This trained army goes forth like the legions of an Asiatic despot and ruthlessly but scientifically clear the way for modern skyscrapers and other buildings...
...nearly all bare some means of helping members find work—either an employment bureau or an officer who makes it his special business to keep in touch with vacancies...
...The Machinists' Union had separate contracts covering their men...
...The General Office has donated a sum of money which is already in the hands of Secretary Fred Scaftdi of the Joint Board, in order to immediately start the agitation the great mass of unorganized Journeymen...
...Now an industry that sacrifices such a large percentage of its workers and creates more widows and orphans than mining—that is In proportion to the numbers engaged— should have its conduct radically changed and regulated by law...
...The Irish-American's place is taken by Russians, Poles and Baits, with a few Italians to show that the "Sunny Sons of Sunny Italy" are still at the laboring game...
...Theirs is to destroy...
...The Federation report thus ewers a different group of wage earners from the- report of the Burma of Labor JsVatistics except te overlapping a small group of manufacturing...
...This year's affair will take place I on Washington's Birthday, Feb- ' ruary 22, at the 71st Regiment Ar- • mory, Park avenue and 34th ; street In former years, when the , ball was held there, thousands j of people were turned away, and , whenever possible committees en- • gaged Madison Square Garden in , order to accommodate all who j wanted to be present This year j a suitable date for the Garden could not be obtained...
...Numerous sub-committees having charge of the arranging of talent .handling of the tickets, managing the conduct of the affair at the hall, and to aid in the handling of the various details for the event have been at work during the last few weeks...
...This is in itself a serious matter...
...The "shon is a real force for recovery...
...Present indications point to a l record breaking attendance...
...Unfortunately the dollar is the God of so many and quick profits is the rule with most of the firms engaged in demolition work, and so one finds those reactionary contractors resorting to methods employed more than a generation ago when wrecking was In Its infancy and when the period of demolition of tall buildings had not arrived...
...manufacturing industries including printing, metal trades, clothing and food industrial, and others...
...Inc., of Danville, Va., is characterized as a violation of the promise made by employers of labor to President Hoover not to reduce wages in the present emergency, by the Conference for Progressive Labor Action through A. J. Muste, its chairman, in an open letter to President Hoover...
...The workers' organizations are giving all possible relief to members out of work Many pay unemployment benefits...
...It indicates that tasre is a large field where emaj* yment conditions are not yet improving and where there may bs scats suffering unless industrial recovery comes soon...
...This appears to be a flagrant violation of the pledge said to have been made by leaders of various industries to the effect the* they would not reduce wages in the present emergency...
...A few reservation* far The New Leader dinner next Wednesday nifht are still available...
...The fact if it be a fact that the Dan River Cotton Company pays higher wages than other Southern mills, will not prevent the others from feeling that they must cut wages in order to restore the former differential...
...It involves immediately 6,000 workers whose average wage, according to the claims of the company itself, is only about $18.00 per week...
...Unionism is tolerated even less in tobacco factories than in cotton mills...
...R J. Reynolds answers the activities of E. L. Crouch, vice president of the Tobacco Workers International Union, stationed in the Camel City, by wholesale discharges of unionists...
...Last year 800 were fired in one batch, many of them Negroes...
...Union agreements often Provide for equal division of *ork among wage earners in an ladrvichjal anop so that none are Isid off...
...S. Botwinik, 6415 20th avenue, Brooklyn...
...They do nothing but wreck houses...
...It is true,- builders and wreckers, contractors and sub-contractors protected themselves by insurance and doled out a little of it to the victims or their next of kin...
...Rand Book Store, 7 E. 15th street...
...Herstem, 538* So...
...Heavy Prof its, Stable Industry, Low Wages Make Tobacco Industry Fertile Union Field Reynold Company Blade Profit of $32,210,000 During 1929, Report Shows M , ceming the organization of the South'a second biggest manufacturing industry—tobacco...
...Bresher's Restaurant, 22 Orchard street...
...The fact Is the house wreckers as a craft did not exist when the protective laws and codes were being drafted...
...This happy-go-lucky type has vanished from the scene into the crowded pages of history and are now only a memory, even to old New Yorkers...
...Yet in the house wrecking business over a thousand men have been Injured during the past five years, and at least 100 of these have received fatal injuries...
...From the financial report of the Dan River Co., it appears that full dividends of 6% were paid on the preferred stock during 1929, while common holders received 10% as heretofore...
...On the committee are representatives of the Forward Association, the Jewish Socialist Ferband and the city committee of the Socialist Party...
...B. C. Vladeck, manager of the Forward, Is honorary chairman of the committee, and Abraham Zucker, of the Forward's advertising staff, is in actual charge of the details...
...The higher union wage •esl* also makes it possible in **»Sjy cases to lay aside savings •fhtnst an emergency such aa this...
...Stores and retail dealers *>eo feel the effect of sustained •Wng power when unions keep "embers from running up debts • tones of unemployment...
...A Leading Southern Company "Furthermore, the Dan River Cotton Company is one of the Southern leading manufacturing companies...
...Past experience has shown that if one of the large factors in the industry succeeds in enforcing a wage reduction, others are certain to follow...
...A misstep or a loss of balance and down he goes, broken in bone and body, more crushed than the debris he lands on below...
...In metal trades 14 per cent were out of work compared with 8 per cent in January, IKS, and 11 per cent in December...
...By helping members to ride °*er this difficult ^Sne of unemTtnest...
...Its profits for 1929 reached the amazing total of $32,210,000, compared with $29,080,000 in 1927...
...Growers Suffer Intensely The other side of the P...
...The highest percentage of unenpioyment is in the building trades where 38 per cent were unemployed...
...unions kee^*laary thou•nds from becoming a public *»rge...
...Citizens would be alarmed and there would be loud and angry cries for drastic measures of reform...
...But suppose that 100 workingmen were killed at once what a sensation it would make...
...Modern Loan and Investment Corporation, 1699 Pitkin avenue, Brooklyn...
...sailors and skipping trades...
...when 30 per cent were out of work...
...No question here of an over-expanded industry "profitless" for capitalists, as the textile barons claim, 12,000 Workers In Winston-Salem The tremendous net earnings, built on the sale of Camels and Prince Albert, come from workers suffering under an even lower scale of wages than cotton mill operatives, and f r o m tobacco growers, many of whom are reported famine-stricken in eastern North Carolina...
...It is a 16-page tabloid sheet published in secret and distributed through the dark alleys of the Holy City by underground methods...
...100 Killed in Five Years This tragedy means nothing to the public nor to some of the contractors for it is only one death at a time...
...The annual report of the company has the following to say about future prospects: 'Without any attempt at prophecy, your management is more encouraged as regards the future than * they have been for several years.' In view of this expression, why were wages cut...
...Re- \: quests begin to come in from 1 many out-of-town Socialists, and i in some cities groups are bein a body...
...Not satisfied with a system that was cheaper to let men be killed than to protect them Local 95 of the House Wreckers Union instructed their counsel, Rice and Maguire, to search the law books and see if something could not be done in the matter...
...Third street, Brooklyn...
...skilled blacksmith, Jobless a year, stood over an open gas Jet, He moaned his fate as doctors told him he would live...
...To facilitate the sale of tickets agencies have been established at all important points in the city...
...g h o t e l and restaurant workers and barbers...
...This is a higher Agar* than in January, 1928, when M per cent were unemployed, and •aslsiitiillj higher than January, IBS...
...One notices a sprinkling of Negroes to give the industry an American tint or color...
...Va...
...Refutes Hoover Data On Industry Green Says Unemployment Increased in Jan...
...The Old Dangers Continue Unlike their Keltic predecessors the present day wreckers do nothing but demolish buildings...
...Wrecking Now A Big Business House wrecking work in this age of specialization has become an Important department In the builders craft It is so well developed that one can classify demolition in the big business list...
...December, 1929, 4 per cent...
...in fact, this Joint Board is the heart, the brain, it is the very life of the entire class of the Journeymen barbers, living to every section of the five boroughs which make up the city in which we live...
...Rubinow's Book Store, 424 Grand street...
...Many have relief funds for those in esitress...
...A large •enety of trades are included: articling trades...
...Telephone The New Leader, Alronoain...
...Take the railroads...
...No one got less than 32 cents an hour and the maximum was 64 cents...
...1929, 10 per cent...
...An attempt is being made now to form a big cooperative organization, but that will not touch the main j problem of collusion among the big tobacco companies, including I the R J. Reynolds Co., in fixing 'prices for the weed...
...But back in 1920 the union was strong and contracts covered the 14,000 workers then employed in an industry where speedup has since taken its toll in displaced workers...
...Federation of Labor has carried on an active campaign against the smoking of by unionists...
...10% of Unionists Jobless, He Find, WASHINGTON (F...
...January...
...recced and that January showed a tfOSit improvement, wmiam j^jen, president of the American federation of Labor, has made I paoHc the results of his survey of ajrployinent for the first fruitC f ^e month...
...Rudy Valee to Play and Sing at Ball Given by Forward in N.Y...
...Flahman and Goldstein, 4506 Ft...
...in all other trades, January 1930, 11 per cent...
...It also shows an increase December when 32 per cent unemployed...
...Thai it offers opportunities even greater, in the way of actual organization results, than do textiles is appare- j ent from examination of the an- ; nual profit reports of the huge c^tarette companies, just being released to the press...
...H. S. Hurwitx, 1330 WUklns avenue, Bronx...
...The Joint Board in January decided unanimously that every one of its locals must pay monthly three dollars for every new member admitted through initlation.v re-admission or by retirement card...
...It is easy to visualize a man on top of a ten or a twenty story building prying apart stones with his bar and hurtling them below...
...Mill Cuts Wages, Breaks Hoover Pact C. P. L. A. Asks What President Proposes to Do to Halt 10 Per Cent Slash in Pay T*<HE 10 per cent wage reduction announced by the Riverside and Dan River Cotton Mills...
...From this sum $25,500,000 was paid to stockholders and $6,710,000 transferred to the undivided profits account, which now totals $51,979,000...
...when unemployment reached serious proportions and caused public concern in many cities, the federation figures showed 18 per east of the membership out of Covers 640,000 Workers -This report covers 940,000 sjanbsrs in 24 cities...
...Attention has been repeatedly called in recent months so the scandalously low wages being paid to mill workers in that section of the country...
...says President ~ * t n - "shows an increase of • B B » end of night work at the time when thousands of ***ers are being laid off...
...Given again the highly competitive conditions prevailing in the cotton industry in the South, as well aa in the North, must not this move if it succeeds, lead to a still further reduction in an already inadequate standard of living...
...Such a shocking state of affairs must not be allowed to continue...
...railway shop crafts: trucks, delivery ssd taxi cab drivers...
...information reaching the Exj*< jtije Council...
...These fibres deal with employment in many trades, jj 24 cities, among union men and semen...
...One of ths objectives of ths board is to organise every barber in the five boroughs...
...It is anonymous and its humorous name is Load Speaker...
...What steps have been taken or are contemplated to prevent this wage reduction from being put into effect This action on the part of the Dan River Mills has far-reaching and serious implications...
...In January, 1128...
...These tremendous earnings are based on the labor of 12,000 WinstonSalem workers, more than half of them Negroes...
...Working Honrs Increasing ^ Until 1920 hours of labor were *jereaslng in every state of the 2J*- S i n c e 1920 hours of labor nave been increasing in every **** of the Union—with only two •eeptions...
...It must be the maximum and central regulator of all our activities, of all our progress and the practical cultivator of all our conquests...
...Over 2000 of them go out every morning In the five boroughs of New York City and marshalled and captained by boss wreckers, sometimes under orders of firms whose capital runs up to the million mark, tear down, wreck and demolish buildings, both old and new, but usually uneconomic for the real estate on which they stand...
...Efforts to break up the Big Five ring and obtain an open competitive market for tobacco growers have been fruitless...
...professions todnding musicians...
...A.F.L...
...People who thought they knew the last word in social and labor legislation were amazed to discover that the husky, hardworking, daredevil men who get on top of walls twenty stories high and level them down, worked without a scaffold, or improvised partition or platform to protect them from falling off, had no redress and no legal protection in case of serious injury or death...
...If the hazards then were great enough for progressive contractors to abandon when buildings were low how much must they be now when wreckers must go on top of twenty and thirty story buildings...
...The affair being on a Saturday, those compelled to travel a long distance can make suitable arrangements to return on the following day...
...Therefore nearly all the old hardships and risks are eliminated, so much so, that were an old timer to return to the scene of his former activities he would in contempt stamp I the present day craftsmen as namby-pamby...
...government •arpicyees...
...The future welfare of our class is in the hands of the Joint Board...
...Builders make the fullest use of modern machinery on construction work...
...transportation, street car employes...
...Since Companies Exploit Workers and Farmers Unmercifully — Union Men Get Fired then the North Carolina...
...M. Tulman, 481 Claremont Parkway, Bronx...
...P.)—Flatl y ly contradicting the repeatM declarations of President Hoom and Secretary of Labor Davis unemployment is being...
...The letter to the President says: "The Riverside and Dan River Cotton Mills, Inc., of Danville, Va., has announced a 10 percent reduction in wages...
...This year with parti sal crop failure and a price of 24 cents a pound, they find themselves at the mercy of the big cigarette companies, the landlords and the bankers...
...800 Unionists Fired The Winston-Salem tobacco factories are strongly protected against union inroads...
...Tickets are $1 each if purchased in advance and $1.50 if purchased at the door the night of the ball...
...Jacob Kuryliak...
...From nearby and also distant cities veterans of the Socialist ' and labor movement, those who stood by the Forward In the critical days of its early history, and who in later years scattered throughout the length and breadth of the land, where they continued ' their service to the Socialist : movement, come to make of the Forward ball a reunion, celebrate Its rise to the position of the larg- ' est Jewish newspaper in the world, and to gain inspiration for further service in the movement 1 to which the Forward Is dedi- . cated...
...service trades, inetadir...
...At present, they are the only craft in the buiding trades that risk life and limb without legal protection and who have no come-back at the contractors except what comes under the head of insurance, which as is referred to in an early paragraph, is cheaper than installing protective measures on the jobs...
...Other workingmen, specialists also, erect, construct and build...
...Perhaps there would be no reason for the union's asking the city assembly to amend the ordinances if all the contractors in the business were progressive, as it is only fair to say, many of them are...
...The dictator's fury can be imagined.'' N.Y.Barbers Union Join Five Locals In Joint Board JlHIl IriyiMfT...
...We venture to inquire, therefore, what steps have been taken to prevent this reduction from being put into effect and to prevent other employers in the textile and other industries from following this example.'* Underground Newsoaper Attacks Fascist...
...But Z*y have been working longer ' l°nger hoars and our informa*• that the railroad workers net worked as long hours 100 Housewreckers Killed In Five Years as Protective Legislation IgnoresIndustry New York Union Begins Fight to Amend City and State Building and Compensation Codes By Patrick L. Quinlan STUDENTS of social science, labor leaders, progressives and trade union officials were given a surprise the other day when representatives of the House Wreckers Union, Local 95, affiliated with the A. F. of L., sent a memorandum to the Municipal Assembly of New York City asking that body to amend the city codes and ordinances so that men engaged in the demolition of old houses, preparatory to building new ones, be given the same protection the members of the other building crafts have while engaged in the work of construction...
...The Dan River Company is the third largest cotton manufacturing company in the United States, only the Amoskesg and the Pacific Corporations surpassing it...
...N. Plllot, 1246 Park avenue...
...It is filled with attacks upon Mussolini and the Fascist government, giving news and alleged news which no licensed press would dare priitt The Romans are amused, the police puzzled...
...Unemployment increased in jsjmary, according to our reports.' said Green...
...R- J. Reynolds' net earnings of (32.210,000 for 1926 are computed after "deducting all charges and expenses of management, and after making provision for interest, taxes, depreciation, advertising etc...
...Not so with the house wreckers...
...The letter inquire* what steps had been taken or were contemplated to prevent the reduction being put into effect Mr...
Vol. 10 • February 1930 • No. 1
