Behind the Scenes in Washington
Meiman, Benjamin
Behind the Scenes in Washington By Benjamin Meiman Our Washington Correspondent PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT plunged into the 1936 campaign with a bang! On Monday night he opened nis speaking campaign...
...This is old stuff long ago abandoned by the Anarcho-S^ndjirahets...
...On Monday night he opened nis speaking campaign in Baltimore...
...construction contracts, factory sjjjpfrsjssassnjt mad payrolls are all on the upgrade and yet, despite wtoiagy goons, the various forms of relief ex-pigp|a«es"for the first nine months of the fiscal year fijgm\j_-_cessjed...
...Besides Green and Vladeck the committee consisted of David Du-oinsky, President of the International 'Ladies' Garment Workers...
...Joseph Schlossberg...
...Y^Tae assumption back of all such methods is that iuwdyisuv is revolutionary, daring and heroic...
...Mt'm0 event, real return to normal for the working snails not in sight...
...To hell with President Roose-was chanted by marchers while others booed lausee filled with Easter tourists...
...They a highly impressionable ane^^H quickly adopt our ini suliad^M uncritical faith in Immeslss^^K tion success...
...Together, with further reduction of the hours of labor, this is the substance of the program...
...to underestimate the ia^ssjMKi thorough and spirited -caasssja but just at one month is-ssl|HK twelfth of a year, so akia!_-li political campaign only one sf Bl educational weapons 4n the aaSsl of Socialism...
...Translated into modern terminology it would mean "when the people ask for bread you can not give them hokum...
...It is prob-ijtteXlbaf big inbWrud .coirrjorations that pay taxes in jfissj^:;|ajat' «V» hnanvss throughout the country may ]|i3piBSsiBe~aapart for mis disparity in relief and taxes be> SB^llai Jiwlmli Jal and agricultural states...
...For years the Socialists were talking economics...
...He has to call in an economist to keep from «~H"g a fool of himself...
...William Green stated to Secretary Hull that he would like our government, in its own way, to make it known to the diplomats of other governments, that,, to use Mr...
...such emphasis shows itself esss) in the spirit of discouragensa disillusion and defeat that W an election marked by the fatal to increase our vote...
...Must I ten the truth...
...TJbvee years have passed during which the policy has JAg-ft m the President s own words, do something, "and jw it- does not work do something else...
...It required three years of measureless sjipevimsx to get hack to something more adapted to the -i*?-!*Kt «ven in this speech the President also cited an i_yd_atry where hours were reduced and then, because of aggaspetitkm and chiseling, hours were lengthened and more than 16,000 workers were added to the jobless ftfifty.T-'Afi of which indicates the supreme need of Labor M lifts* governing and -adrmmstrative power to protect ty sjijfu interests...
...It is significant that the national office press service of the Socialist Party runs a news Hem of this merger, but it does not inform party members that the Thomas job-jfcsa^ ongaiuzation has merged with two Communist or-¦aiirasliuiia Perhaps it is reasoned that the less the party :0»eiiiiWa know the better off they are...
...They call attention to Holland with 100 per cent farm electrification, France with 95 per cent, Germany with 90 per cent, Sweden 50 per cent and Ontario with 15 per cent...
...The harmful effschs...
...It is a disservice to the mijton...
...His ribs almost protruded through the flesh, mute testimony to frequent and savage beatings...
...In this I truly represent the entire American Federation of Labor...
...The average politician is lost in the issues of the day...
...Two weeks htter he will speak in New York, on the eve of the Republican national convention at Dallas, Tex, and then at Vincen-ces, Ind...
...Prior to the verdict—a verdict written in advance—the prosecutor attempted to have the public excluded "on account of danger to public safety...
...Green's own words, "I speak officially for the American Federation of Labor in condemning as strong as...
...Political questions are now saturated with economics...
...THE LIBERTY LEAGUE rET-i* «b old American saying that "money talks'* and *^ aright well he the slogan of the Liberty League...
...or they stgyaos about the possibility of tat Coo> munists beating our vote, sat tba do nothing to prevent it "^B But a far more dJsastrea**3jH of tins psBey fit" tttNnteet m M Youth of our movement...
...i Dramatic scenes were enacted in the court-room...
...In this case, involving the Alcoa (Tenn...
...The council negotiated an agreement with the Aluminum Co., but Wetmore's union refused to join in it...
...Composed largely of up~ g_feMba Workers, many of whom lack organization experience and the discipline that cornea of this experience, the delegates and members recruited at Washington engaged in rowdyism...
...Morris Feinstoae, Secretary of the United Hebrew Trades, and Reuben Guskin, President, Workmen's Circle...
...Probably he will make a personal appearance before the Democratic National Convention as he did in 1932...
...The Committee for the Relief and Liberation of Victims of Persecution in Europe, maintained by the American Federation of Labor, has just received a report of this trial...
...The old hokum sst tim kaeav swaUuaii is speeches with some pretense of research and study...
...Hence the much hated "professor" in politics...
...He was brought from prison to the court...
...The doctrine of immediatt skV toral success is a heady wm> h> deed, and the "morning sjKw quite as unpleasant emotisssly a the effects following injHpa tanking up are physicaHy...
...There is nothing new in this and it correlates with Wt_t the trade unions have been urging, since 1953...
...It is certainly not myJMsm...
...Second, a conference of various organisations of the unemployed, assembling in Washington, demands more adequate aid and protests violently against the present procedure in cutting down relief rolls "in the face of dire need...
...19104, a "federal" labor union organized in 1932, chartered by the A. F. of L. and headed by Fred A. Wetmore, refused to go along with the federation'* leadership and petitioned the Labor Board to be certified as the "appropriate bargaining unit" as provided by the Wagner Labor Act...
...Sponsors of the bill point to the relatively backward condition of farm use of electricity in America, Where only about 10 per cent of farms have power...
...The decision was interpreted as important because similar conflicts are involved in the roW between John L. Lewis and his industrial unionists on one side, and ^he A. F. of L. executive council and its craft-union leaders on the other...
...w 94JsC ftawpgar, of a "militant' "-Thomas unemployed J|'4ga»gMs_dion last w«ek with two Communist unem-plesyeifT organ irations was fallowed by incidents that stta*** a revival of the futile and dangerous methods '4»fc|tffiT by the Anarchc^Syndicalists two and three ftti-afeago in this country...
...of America, the A. F. of L. in 1934 chartered the "Aluminum Workers Council," headed by an A. F. of L. organiser, David Williams...
...At hut Republicans have discovered that the times have changed politics...
...Behind the Scenes in Washington By Benjamin Meiman Our Washington Correspondent PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT plunged into the 1936 campaign with a bang...
...Of course the old politician is still in the saddle, but he is beginning to see the handwriting on the^wa\l...
...First, a House committee considering the President's request for 1V» billion dollars to aid the destitute next year listens to Relief Administrator Harry Hopkins tell what it will be used for, then questions him on allegations that payments are made to serve political purposes in violation of a Presidential order...
...Tired Kg} icals," despondent over the par results, withdraw from active 3* ticipation in the movesMSSV^H making it even more likery H the succeeding year will be tsjaae disappointing...
...Aluminum Workers' Union No...
...t '* State Department Hears of Persecution in Poland Representatives of the Jewish Labor Committee, accompanied by William Green, President of the American Federation of Labor, laid before Secretary of State Cordell Hull proof of persecution of Jews in Poland and implored the American Government to use its good offices to induce the government of Poland to stop the outrages...
...Another typically Nazi touch was the recording of the names and addresses of all persons present at the trial by the Nazi secret police...
...On die contrary, ft is stupid and especially dangerous in this period of depression psychosis...
...about' 40 per cent compared with the afats^panod' of two years ago...
...Its aptness in ^Hesaasssar* its- coamcctkms with munitions and with •^W*«|*?dftng industrial spies age dangerous while many '3_JT j_* f'y***' ^,*B*osaasja anti-urnon mag-|^Sj^^*^j^|^<yJ^^^^i* ' • phase of upper claae feer a* VetP*ttBsa^ icalTcttvpS necessarily ^ fined to the 9x4 of the edues— ai...
...This tm-lg_«ftss_tes becoming permanent wards of Federal relief...
...Polities and Human Need A battle over relief funds opens in earnest on several fronts...
...All were found: guilty on perjured testimony and sentenced to heavy prison terms — virtual death sentences in their cases...
...Ap^B the figures come eat eaSLsHj nesday after the first Toted*] after the first Monday in Nove* ber and they do not reflect |i capture of New York City by SB Socialist Party our young sasjB reaction is swift and certain, decry "Parliamentarianism"^m| issue manifestos on "RevolutioaK Socialism," with the aid and til applause of those older comnal whose "militant" i iiiliiiilsisl| sometimes merely protraetedJK kscence...
...He spoke of "a changing economic order" which requires "just as much pioneering now as it did at the establishment of this republic!' that "geographic pioneering may have ended, but social pioneering is just pegtaning...
...When Markwitx launched into an account of what W happened to htm the details mere -so gruesome that the court was ordered cleared...
...Protests against political use of relief funds come from Republican, Democratic and "third party*' sources...
...Vladeck submitted to the State Department a memorandum detailing acts of physical assaults closely approaching tite pogroms under the Csarist regime in Russia...
...White House word is that be expects to engage in a traveling campaign as in 1932...
...of the unemployed and can only bring reaction...
...Now the President of the United States at a pnlkUal, is thai ins, speaks of "a changing economic order," of need to "increase purchasing power" of "limiting active working ages at both ends" and of "reduced working hours...
...Republican "Brain Trust" Jokes have been made about Republican Chairman Fletcher's new Brain Trust...
...It does not disclose the flli_H thousands or perhaps eves ssgka of Americans have alressy Mfl| ed one or more of our fundsnwats principles but are not yet rssdr* accept all of them...
...It won't be any fireside fight...
...Their purpose is to provide lines and other facilities for bringing current to farm communities not previously enjoying its use...
...It has even saSJMg7: (somewhat naked, and SbmHK on the hps and in the P_H| of spokesmen of the Old PSnfa This is likewise true sfaSs_K other ideas of ours that waaJN' quite foreign to the pubbc SthS> It seems to me that atiSH^H will agree that the main bsss* to be derived from political CS> paigns are the greater oppss-SSI to be heard by the i»uiU*eM<** is somewhat more mteasjsff political affairs at that sMtfC part of the year...
...The spokesman for the committee was B. 6. Vladeck, chairman of the Jewish Labor Committee...
...which reads "tekel, tekel, mene upharsin...
...They cannot be handled any more as simple fodder for cracker-barrel hokum...
...It rrmibinrs mountains of dollars with a rather low type j?*MJffi*y- It is almost childish in its behind-the-curtain ;*t|Wl*os, reminding us of boys who put on a mask and 1»Kgt"T>o©.** Almost every move of this Swiss Guard ^miifii^^ exposed...
...Our political in InH fore, muK be merely ONlsgHE methods by which the Bfl_tlfl_HJ become familiar with the M9_H theories we advocate The tendency to direct .afi a* energies and pin all our hssst« the outcome of political cassja'H is not only unsound but po«tSSj injurious...
...plants of the Aluminum Co...
...he asked, when called upon to testify...
...UNSTABLE CAPITALISM njpwSRE are some aspects of depressed capitalism that J* site somewhat puzzling, it is, pointed out that in-•StiMsf- pgodactkm...
...Our own country, with a* ah tively small and ronservatiqBH movement, falls with'.n thgflH gory...
...When told that he should Msrk-witz's answer was to tear open his shirt and expose his torn and broken body...
...One of the Nasi prosecution witnesses was a trade unionist named Markwitx...
...Following approval by the House, a bill for this purpose goes to conference tot reconciliation with a similar bill paased by the Senate on March, 5. Both measures call for loans to lished Rural Electrification Administration, these loans to run for 28 years at 3 per cent interest...
...Otherwise, competition and chiseling . _p_ he germs continuing the depression disease...
...only they do *%a an exaggerated degree...
...It took a long depression to bring them to their senses...
...The politician flounders around and makes himself ridiculous...
...and the strSjP derived from the orgasmM impetus given by the •aaiH' party and branch actrrttylIB the maintenance in Jhe field of an organized body that* form the basis for a labor SS* whan ceadlttoas are rips, ..-^jaeif The task before us then, sflS reducing the part played by * political aspect to its prefer** in the total activity ot$»9t**F Party, is to perfect uikhoSt ¦ can be utilized to sptaai jHH[ edge of sjorfajjam cvdaljH maehiae that will swt ods to immediate, profltabts SSS^ Certainly one of the first »^*v sities is to develop aducatisselKj tivtty for the yojang people W will enable them to discharge *J abundant energies along Hm» self-improving and useful la.sW general work of tha'pasSs?^3BJ It is equally important ti st range for the further edatsttssj our older comrades both » and in methods of approach, t» »P end that their effectivenemSSjg greater sot only during tjHJHI ieal ssunpaigti but alas year round propsg^agsaa3HBj...
...Then he told the court that the statements be had made to the police and prosecutor were false, that he had been tortured...
...Despite this testimony the defendants were aS convicted...
...ce that peas) more than they received are mainly j__eMa| wifiig thoaerthat received more than they paid iMrtffce* 21, asset they ate mainly agricultural...
...Since the war we have had two White House" incumbents up for re-election—Coolidge and Hoover...
...There's no question where labor stands * * * Labor Mast Settle Its Owe Quarrels The National Labor Relations Board, after wresting with one of the A. F. of L.'s most complicated jurisdictional fights between rival unions, told the A. F. of L. to settle its own internal quarrels...
...The latter proposal is alaa'aaaaed at the Townaend movement with the object ol nnderrrwring it...
...Torturing of Nazi Victim Revealed IpHE kind, of justice imposed by Nazis on their hetpless \-ictims has once again been glaringly (iemonstratea during a rtcent trial of leading trade unionists in Berlin, Germany...
...He cant dispose' of them by telling about heme and mother...
...into making them...
...Hoover tried it, too, but toward the end of the campaign his advisers had a panic and in the final few weeks they chased him around the ..country in a frantic effort to check tits oncoming tide...
...The defendants were charged with the "crime" of reorganizing the destroyed German Labor movement...
...The reverse of this should ^KSf survey also shows that 24 of the 48 states fcaiswrecafred more in the form of relief funds from the jwdgsp^Qovarnment than they paid in taxes...
...its outstanding features were the proposal to exclude: youth from industry, keeping young people in school to the age of 18, and the retirement of workers at the age of 65 ''in security for the |s«jWft» r nf their days on earth...
...THE PRESIDENT'S SPEECH ORE$DENT ROOSEVELTS speech at Baltimore was **a dever periorraarsce...
...Secretary of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers...
...It brought fearful counter-action by the rowdies of reaction, stimulated the organization of citizens' alliances, produced a crop of reactionary antisyndicalist laws, and reduced the syndicalist organizations to impotence physically and financially because of aiMiiisuusly expensive trials of victims...
...It must be a bitter pill to swallow, but good Americans must admit that in a good many things, as well as in social legislation, we are far behind some of our poorer neighbors...
...He urged the United States government to use its influence on the Polish government not only in the name of humanity, but also because Poland "is openly and wilfully violating the minorities clause of the League of Nations covenant, which President Wilson caused to be put in before the establishment of the Polish Republic...
...President Green approved the agreement...
...It has been that ?a<Sey of guessing which we have again and again >ai|asaad out...
...Electrifying the Form Begun last year by the President and now adopted by Congress, a long-range policy of bringing electricity to farms becomes s part of the Government picture...
...Smug and satisfied Americans would not listen to them...
...Coolidge stayed in the White House most of the time, conspicuously attending to , business— without, of course, depriving himself of his- customary afternoon nap...
...But they are beside the point...
...It esse a h denied that our conception ot a cial security as a prims feeds* of governmental concsts is worked its way into the sssshd many people in all sections of B» country...
...I can persecution of Jews just because they are Jews, and all other forms of racehatreds, prejudice and intolerance...
...Prior to thaj_he had been "questioned" by the police and prosecutor...
...It is obvionsV *» most spectacular one, but si • guage of the people's reeepttvNfh the Socialist philosophy iS'JMsm...
Vol. 19 • April 1936 • No. 16
