The A. F. of L. Is Facing the Crisis; Convention Meets in Sober Mood
Todd, By Laurence
By Laurence Todd The A. F. of L. Is Facing the Crisis; Convention Meets in Sober Mood ft INCINNATL—"During our recent yean of prosperity the natural flow of wealth was distorted. Income was...
...Please And enclosed $2 for a yearly subscription to The New Leader to bo sent to: Name...
...The total vote in the present convention is 26,092, the United Mine Workers claiming 8,088 votes, the Carpenters 2,900, the Electrical Workers 1390, the Musicians 1300, and aU others below 1300...
...During the past year ona international union—the National Federation of Federal Employe...
...Forty millions of them have been dragged into poverty by depression...
...By means of charts and graphs It demonstrates that, from 1922 to 1929, dividend payments from the gains of industry increased much faster than did wage and salary payments—143.1 per cent for divi: dends as against 45.5 per cent gain for wages and salaries...
...a more effective organization means a greater Socialist Party vote, and that vote will some day mean potver and rt' sponsibiltiy...
...In 1929 wages were $63,252,000,000, dividends $8356,000,000, and the rich who had over $100,000 income were 4,368...
...For your convenience, use the blank below...
...By 1928 wages were $50,058,000,000, dividends had shot up to $7,074,000,000, and the rich whose incomes were over $100,000 numbered 4.451...
...In other lines a similar practice prevsils...
...Norwood, Mass...
...We estimate," says the report, "that, counting all workers and those dependent upon them, at least 60,000,000 persons are now living below minimum standards— nearly half our entire population...
...21, leads up to a showing of how capitalist greed wrecked the "balance" of production and consumption in 1929, thereby causing the economic collapse which is slowly starving millions...
...But in this first depression year the number of incomes over $100,000 had fallen to 1,676, or only about one-third the number reported in 1929...
...Another slice, $847,276, Is paid for Semiannual Interest due on November 1st...
...more members mean a more effective organization...
...City...
...However, the portions would not be so far reaching if used to buy steaks...
...Jackson, Miss...
...THE NEW> LEADER is an effective educational means of making converts to the Socialist movement...
...Wealth was being rapidly drawn into a few hands...
...Central bodies disbanded were 97, suspended 6, reinstated 11...
...During the first year of depression, dividend payments rose 6 per cent, while wage and salary payments fell 15 per cent...
...In 1981 wages were back to only 108.1 per cent of their 1922 total, while dividends wore 209.8 per cent of the total paid in 1922...
...In the meantime let no opportunity pass without calling attention to THE NEW LEADER and getting subscriptions...
...Convention Meets in Sober Mood ft INCINNATL—"During our recent yean of prosperity the natural flow of wealth was distorted...
...The Federation now has 108 national and International unions, 49 state federations, 619 city central bodies, 4 departments, 604 department councils and 26^62 local unions...
...In these words the annual report of the Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor, delivered to the convention in Cincinnati Nov...
...Address...
...withdrew from affiliation...
...In 1922 the wage bill in American industry was $36,603,000,000, the dividends were $3,437,000,000 and there were 893 private incomes of over $100,000...
...In 1930 wages had fallen to $45303,000,000, but dividends had gone up to $8,790,000,000...
...660 would buy that many bar-rels of soup, or 660 sirloin steaks...
...Convention voting strength is based upon "average membership reported or paid upon to the American Federation of Labor...
...And this year, based on the first 9 months' figures, the estimate is that total wage payments will be only 77.1 per cent of the total paid in wojjes in 1922, while dividends will be 131.5 per cent of the amount paid to stockholders in 1922...
...In 1925 wages were $45,770,000,000, dividends $5,189,000,000, and the number of private incomes over $100,000 had risen to 2,318...
...The moguls cut to the bone but the wound causes no pain to their own anatomy...
...USE THIS BLANK THE NEW LEADER 1 last 18th Street, New York...
...Charters were granted to the American Federation of Government Employes, the Sheep Shearers' Union of t North America and to new central bodies in Moncton, N. B...
...Passaic County, N. J.j Illon, N. Y., and Hazelton, Pa...
...Education means more party members...
...twenty million* more are in industries where living conditions •ven in normal times are below Standard...
...New Leader Plans Big Things Js^O matter what the Socialist vote is, Socialists keep in mind the basic fact that continuous education is essential to a growing Socialist Party...
...bat what about the men who have been displaced by the machine...
...These sharp contrasts prove that not only have wage rates been cut, but that millions of workers have been supplanted by machinery, which cannot consume the goods which industry produces...
...The report considers a decade of economic changes...
...We expect soon to announce a few more features that will appeal to our readers and that will make THE NEW LEADER even more in-dispensible to its thousands of workers and readers...
...Could there be a more serious indictment of our present economic order T We are denying one-third of our wage and small salaried workers the right to work...
...Last year the Mine Workers had 4,000 votes and the Carpenters 8,020...
...To be sure, the boiler washer is a saving—to the company...
...The ambition of the board snd the staff is to make it the very best Socialist weekly ever published in the United States...
...The Wabash railway purchased a boiler washer that cost $21,000...
...Total membership reported this year is 2,632,261, compared with 2,889,660 in 1981 and 2,961,098 in 1930...
...This machine saves them $660 a month—la wages, of course...
...we are slowly starving nearly half our population...
...Income was distributed in such a way ^ A as to benefit the high income groups at the expense of workers, and to encourage expansion of producing capacity without providing for the consumption of an increased volume of goods...
...Helping the Needy By Frank A. Hilker Anyone who has any doubt as to the corporations giving real aid in order to lift the depression hava only to read the figures relating to where the money goes that some of them get from the R.F.C...
...How the Federation is weathering the economic atorm is indicated in Secretary Morrison's re-port, which shows that the per capital tax collected during the twelve months ending August 81, 1932, was $312,809, as compared with $867,201 for the preceding year...
...Stockholders' dividends from industry in this country amounted to more than $5,000,000,000 each year from 1924 to 1930, and in 1930 the dividends paid were over $8,500,000,000...
Vol. 14 • November 1932 • No. 22
