Behind the Scenes in Washington
Meiman, Benjamin
Behind the Scenes in Washington The President Smiles — Al Smith, at "DuPont's Party." accuses Roosevelt of Being a Socialist aad Threatens to Leave the Democratic Party—Miners' Convention in...
...Industry becomes stagnant, millions of workers walk the streets jobless, and relief machinery is set op let steep them from starving...
...Many proposed aa^ttalmcnts have been made in Congress and more easy ajjttdsodo of amending the Constitution have been pro-MMx...
...body...
...Governor Talmadge managed to say even less, of interest to die masses who attended the gathering...
...Another by Senator Costigan yteimiaar to the Workers' Rights Amendment...
...They had no program team their own order and for months thereafter they gave Roosevelt a free hand...
...in spire of being accused by- capitalists of heing a Socialist and aiming stealthily to bring in the Socialist Commonwealth through the back door, and at the same time being accused by Socialists of being the arch-defender of capitalism...
...Even though no one intends it, such separate organization involves real danger ef discord growing into schism...
...it is showing itself incapable of dealing with the problems raised i by new methods of production and new forms of ownership...
...if he violated the amendment, and a sixth would require the court to inform Congress whether or not a jMts to riMisritiitinnnl if its opinion is requested by the f^t&i&eat and two-thirds'of the members of both Houses...
...It is, within the range of capitalist politics...
...Special Interest' falls back on the old .<'ock phrase of Socialism . . . Te refer to the remedies for all these evils as state Socialism is not constructive statesmanship, it is not leadership, and leadership is what this country k hunger for today...
...By December the number increased to 2,628,-flpl...
...How long will the masses endure their exclusion ¦em these opportunities for making a living...
...f Capital and Labor His speech was bailed as a powerful thrust against the Roosevelt Administration...
...In some cases it does work well—for example, in the printing industry...
...This is kindergarden economics...
...All the old slumbering liafes and prejudices of the post-Civil War period came hot the surface with attacks on the Negroes...
...At the dinner where Smith spoke...
...The explanation ill that the English people started their democratic development three hundred years ago aad have beef systematically educating their kings ever since...
...It is a pity, for Al 'Smith wasjaot tentially a big man, if sot quite s great man...
...There probably have bean equally good men oa the throne in that and other countries, hut none whe heap been loved in the same way...
...Here are his own words: "The cry of Socialism has been patented by the powerful interests that desire to put a damper m progressive legislation...
...There, seated before Smith as he spoke, were 2,000 men and women whose wealth would surely add up to $1,000,000,000 or more...
...Failing to meet arguments fairly and squarely...
...for intelligence is at a discount when confronted with this illiterate mass psychology...
...The fact- is that these conditions provide a '&0t* soil for the demagog and pohdea^adventurer while intelligent social change has no chance whatever...
...This I know," said Smith, "that permanent prosperity is dependent upon both capital and labor alike...
...There can be only one flag, the Stars and Stripes or the Red flag of the godless Union of the Soviet," he continued...
...The President smiles even in the face of Congress overriding his bonus veto with the ease of a steamroIh?r...
...dinner of the American Liberty League widened the crack in the Democratic Party...
...a fourth would wpaJMr a two-thirds majority of the court to veto legis-Mep*t and only then if action "praying for such judgment shall have been commenced within six months after the QtoCfenent of the law...
...But, undoubtedly, many of the President's friends would be glad to know of good reasons for his smiles in the hour of general anxiety...
...Another one answered: "Yes...
...There is only one thing that eaa safeguard the general interest ef-o the working people SO^^^^^B the development of actively inhS-and file of the working clfss...
...Human labor power becomes a drug in 4ps market...
...now, may he rest in peace...
...It's an excellent thing to be able to smile in the face of adversity...
...They did not love Charles II or James II or George III...
...This is like saying that prosperity is dependent upon factories, mills, railroads, raw materials and machines on the one hand and upon workers on the ether...
...To exaggerate its possibilities is only to prepare disappointment for ourselves...
...Whether one nehtt house or another is victorious, we still have the job ef mmaalshsi far, power that we can use for ear program and Out welfare, the Socialist program of relief and final There Is Nothing So Sacred About Form of Organization By Algernon Lee IT is regrettablethat the question of industrial organization should be complicated with that of separate organization within the American Federation of Labor...
...MACHINES AND RELIEF ANNOUNCEMENT by local Works Progress Adminis-flb-tmtOr Victo* F. Ridder that within a week several hundred workers in the bookkeeping departments of the JPPA *r4B bit discharged because of the introduction of ¦¦rliki ipiug machines is a striking example of the ab-¦SJtaaaies on which the whole system of capitalism is based...
...Fhe all high peak wipf reached in March, 1932, when 1 5,652,887 workers #SKe> smemployed...
...Loyatl ty to one's union—ao imUter.vjjH type ef union it may be—is ae'^H atitute for loyalty to cawVchianH a whole...
...If and when it works well, it is a good form of organisation...
...You face the danger, put your heads together, and agree how to handle the stuff without getting yourselves blown up...
...One bearded Johnny' Reb also boasted that- his dad had "killed a sight #4 Yankees** and he wished his ancestor had "killed some asiore...
...of their various aeejMfl and it gives them a iiinfliheieeJM their collective wisdom'w^H transforms them from folhywVrJH this or that leader into bbdhipaH pable of supporting and at the same time controlling their sjtfsa • servants...
...Miners' Convention in Washington • |"kN the eve of the United Mine Workers' convention here leaders, from President John L. Lewis down, emphasized the s i x - h o u r day, five-day week as the next objective of the nation's 540,000 organized coal miners...
...Together with their business associates they supplied $270,000 out of $483,000 spent last year...
...The bituminous miners work seven hours a day, with pay ranging from $5.50 to $5.10...
...How the Smith who now, bitter and bent on revenge, collapses with the mis-be gotten American Liberty Leagefc must envy the Smith, whe Aft spa years ago had the vision and cour-age to veto the Lusk Laws...
...a third would give Congress power to settle industrial disputes apt to regulate industry and agriculture...
...The A. F. of L. General Executive Board threw the gauntlet down to John Lewis, threatened to outlaw the eight internationals banded together to promote industrial unionism as "sessionists...
...The American Liberty League itself is a holding company of big finance aad capital, with Republican and Democratic capitalists and hankers investing large funds in its work...
...To be sure, modern civilization is impossible without the forms of capital mentioned above, but when Smith used the word "capital" he meant aet capital but those whe wwn capital— the capitalists aad bankers...
...Commodities pile up in excess of purchasing pu whO...
...Could there Kenvythmg more insane than that...
...We have had the -Leg Cabin" candidate, the "Canal Mule Driver," the "Tanner" and other men of humble origin used in politics for the purposes of a ruling class, and Smith follows a pattern as old as American politics...
...It is sometimes said that the question of industrial unionism is "full of dynamite...
...fWlr'e live in an age of machine inventions which for decades have made possible an increased production with PUssfeen power...
...CHAOS AND CONFUSION UpHAT gathering of "Grass* Roots" Democrats in con* vention in Georgia this week recalls the rise of die Tillman demagogs in the 'nineties...
...It is bad business to treat a practical question of method as if it were a question of abstract basic principle...
...The dinner was a Tevolt of one section of the nobles of capitalism, many of whom had floated the Democratic Party into power on a sea of jjollars...
...In a flourishing conclusion, which he apparently had prepared carefully and memorized, although the remainder of«his speech was delivered extemporaneously, Smith* urged his party leaders to remember their oath of office and make "the Constitution the civil Bible of the United States and pay it the same civil respect and reverence that they would religiously pay the Holy Scripture...
...No doubt this tickled the dozen du Ponts and other representatives ef our bloated plutocracy...
...Get the component parts of the federation to fighting among themselves, and it will not matter very, much on what structural Hnes any particular union , is formed1—they will all be at a disadvantage in fighting the organised employers, who are against unionism in general, regardless oT its forms...
...in Bbcember, 1932, it was 14,239,800...
...All stand by and listen...
...They charged opponents of the plan are short-sighted, said the 30-hoiu- week will have no effect ori the price of coal, and insisted that it will put more men back to work, despite the fact that most mines now do not average a six-hour day...
...CC^TITimONAL AMENDMENTS . |7 OR the first time in American hiatory the, U. S. Con-pwJNeutosi k» becoming a burning issue...
...Stop," he shouted in warning to the New Dealers...
...Any informed Socialist workingman could have pointed out the fundamental fallacy in the Smith statement...
...Last November, the last month for thharhwe have reliable figures, the jobless numbered g ft is hnpossible to visualize the human misery back of ffcese figures, the broken lives of men and women, the SKSaety, the destitution, the blasted hopes, the suicides...
...Is it any wonder that it was called the duPonts' party...
...The same high hat Republicans and Democrats who attended the American Liberty League dinner were tens* fied and humble when Hoover left office and Roosevelt succeeded him...
...Moreover, the assumption is that factories, stores and on railroads who do not make $100 a month do not constitute the "backbone" of the country...
...Stop wasting your substance in a foreign land aad come back to your dear father's house...
...When these big corporation magnates and bankers recovered from their fright they began to fight for their "right" to exploit the masses aad to role them in their corporation prisons without interference by organised workers...
...It is doubtful whether any man in public life ever made a statement so absurd a.- the following: "We don't want Congress or the Executive, jointly or severally, to tell the United States Supreme Court what it must do...
...outside that range it is vulnerable...
...Month by month die figures are cited to and including Movember of last year...
...Well, if a lot of dynamite is lying around, you don't try to forget about it and aet as if it wasn't there, nor do you start a rough-house to decide what ought to be done with it—not if you are reasonably brave and sensible men...
...What is evident in this notable political event is a division in the ranks of the real rulers of the United States...
...The Constitution can't lose...
...A grave responsibility will rest upon the majority in the Executive Council, as well aa upon the industrialist leaders, if they permit inter-union strife to develop...
...Ihe paralyzed industries embody the labor, genius and inventions -of two centuries and these industries are in the hands of a small class that will not or cannot operate them...
...On the other hand, the gambler at poker, in real estate and in stocks who realises from $100 to $6,000 a year qualifies for the "backbone" class, the class of '"plain fellows" who, to Smith, constitute part of a vital and essential human element of modern society...
...i'fj...
...Nor ^rs^iiMustrial unionism one bit more sacred...
...Within the past year a number of this court's decisions have "rattled the whole structure" ef government and paralysed the legislative branch...
...They are now dissatisfledwTth their investment and Smith was chosen to make the attack...
...If the Constitution wins, we win...
...Each seeks the preservation of • the republic ef invested dollars in capitalist enterprise, but each differs as to how this should be accomplished...
...The anthracite contract expires March 31, the bituminous contract a year later...
...The ruling classes ahO have their demagogs...
...What is happening in ruling class politics is a war between factional cliques, each of wheel, differs on the policies that are required to stabilise capitalism aad bring about recovery...
...HOW LONG...
...Where fa) the balance between three de part meats when one ape eta the other twa...
...The war ef the nobles fat interesting, but it does not concern the deflated, jobless and out east working masses...
...The United Mine Workers of America is the largest of those international and being the first to have its convention since that declaration now has the floor...
...explanation is not that "Englishmen do love kings...
...m^rW vast potential powers for human welfare that lie fallow in the machine can only be realized when the industries cease to be the property of an exploiting class and a»e-%J*vned by mankind- collectively...
...Smith went on to aay that we are to preserve a "balance of power" between these departments and when you "rattle it you rattle the whole structure...
...INTELLIGENT persons\ight not...
...Put class theaght^oH class feeling first, aad then qajdfl loyalties serve aad stescjgtheajB In its absence, they sometimes be-' come a dividing instead of a sm| ing force...
...x |From aU this it appears that some of the holy reverence for the dead minds of the ox-cart age is passing...
...Sparks will probably fly when the convention takes up the question of industrial unionism...
...In the audience were representatives of the Republican and Democratic nobility of big capital and finance, and a round dozen members of the du Pont dynasty were present to give their august approval to the performance...
...Accuses Roosevelt of Being a Socialist A L SMITH, who was accused by *" Hoover in 1928 of being a Socialist, turned around and arraigned President Roosevelt as unfaithful to his party's platform of 1932, and letting Socialistic -minded brain trusters turn his administration away from the doctrines of' Jefferson, Jackson and Cleveland to those of Karl Marx and Moscow...
...Al Smith as Errand Boy For the Du Pont Dynasty AL SMITH'S speech at the...
...Other members erf Congress think a policy of waiting for older members of the Supreme Court to die jjsjj) ¦¦|ila< ill", them with progressive judges would bring e^famdbie change'in mat...
...Sects are as numerous as fhes at a garbage dump and it is just this Tfchaos and confusion" which some of our Utopians think felhrPOsable to a social overturn and the establishment of M^MHJjsm...
...Then instead frrehoplariiig workers the hours of labor can be continu-iej^reduced and we can keep all at work...
...Al Smith's Speech OITTING at a press table in the *^ ballroom of the Mayflower Hotel where Al Smith gave what Heytfbod Broun characterized as "a good performance, but otherwise lousy," a newspaperman remarked: "The duPont's are throwing a nu-e party...
...By this time they have got the sort of kings whe de no harm, who have a certain useful place is the constitutional system, and who, if they are personally honorable and amiable, can be loved...
...There is a line, along which fmW Socialist Party can aad should $ immensely serviceable — ahjH which it was rendering invahnMH service from the oveitlu-uw_ jH De Leon ism down to the time of the Communist schism, aad has beeft woefully remiss in more recent years...
...Experience justifies their existence, and justifies the belief that in the long run, at least in what the Germans call the "heavy industries," this type of organization is going to prove more efficient than, organization on craft lines...
...r' * ^ * - 'x...
...that industry must be owned by capitalists and the workers must remain wage workers to serve the owners...
...The political chaos North and South is a product of die economic decay and chaos of capitalism...
...HuatleV&Am sse employed in the relief agencies and thett^dte'machine is brought into these agencies...
...They hearted the pirate fag ef the "open shao'' aad eebeteawd every effort ef the wet acts to act under Section 7A of the NIRA...
...A curse will Synsjfct a blessing and the difference between the and the blessing is the difference between Capi-and SociaHsrn...
...Carothers, an "economist," went so far as to denounce legislation for a 30-hour week...
...On the other hand, we don't" want the United States Supreme Court to tell either of them what they must do...
...THE one-tlnie Happy Warrior * winds up aa just a Pad Laser...
...It is an old trick of capitalist politics...
...There is ground for suspecting that the source of danger at this time is not so mucn in the importance of the question at issue, not so much in the alleged eagerness of millions of now unorganized workers to have someone come along and organize them on industrial lines and the unwillingness of the millions already organized to consent to structural changes, as in the conflicting ambitions and the rancors of men whe have b*a*„ chosen by the rank and file to «$>J minister the affairs of the labs* movement...
...He stood the test of popularity and success, bat he went to pieces under the bad luck of having to run for the presidency in a year when no Democrat could possibly have been elected and then being denied the nomination in a year when no Democrat coukt possibly have been defeated...
...It is mstanled and relief workers are tossed out...
...and they seemed to enjoy it even more than their guests...
...Smith gradually crawled out of the slums of New York up into the heavenly heights ef the corporate blessed, and he has been picked as the decoy duck of the upper section of capitalism...
...accuses Roosevelt of Being a Socialist aad Threatens to Leave the Democratic Party—Miners' Convention in Washington May Add Fuel to the Industrial Fight By Benjamin Meiman Our Washington Correspondent DRESIDEXT ROOSEVELT still smiles in spite of Al Smith's outburst at the DuPont rxirty last Saturday night, which is hailed as a stunning political blow, or a Brutus knife...
...as wage workers—inspiring then to think aad- act together on * class-wide basje/it gives haejsjH breadth of view which eaejelZ them to harmonize the partfasd| interests...
...There is nothing sacred about the institution of craft unionism...
...now the "happy warrior" is a "lost leader," a "sore loser," and he turned to that "cry of Socialism patented by powerful interests" to scare some weak-kneed Democrats and please some strong-pocket Republicans...
...All knew the duPonts form the backbone of the League, but it was a bad bit of political showmanship to permit them to be so conspicuous, especially since this fhmily has paid or loaned the money for more than one-fourth of the League's budget...
...J2a War of the Nobles ~J Demagogs do not all come front the masses...
...Eventually this brings a paralysis of production PPIp»oUihupon...
...The anthracite diggers now work eight hours a day for an average wage of $5.60...
...Democrats like himself can "either take on the mantle of hypocrisy or we can take a walk, and we will probably do the latter," he said amid applause at this 'implied threat that the former Presidential candidate would bolt his party this year...
...We have for many years had a number of ..industrial unions in this country...
...Eastern Democrats in the campaign of 1896 smeared William Jennings Bryan with the labels "Socialist" and ^Aimrehhrt,- sat the NonjawttW League in North Dakota and is Minnesota leas than twenty years ago was scourged as "Bolshevik" and its active leaders aa "fret lovers...
...But experience shows also that industrial organization does not by- any means work all the wonders that are promised by its thick-and-thin advocates...
...The unity of the labor movement is more important than any difference of opinion within it as to What is the best fans of organization for this or that body of workers...
...there is the poor aad the rich, and in between the two is what has often been referred to as the backbone of America, that is the plain fellow that makes $100 a month up to the man that draws down five or six thousand dollars a year...
...The speaker declared that there are "three classes of people in this country...
...There before him were not a mere two or three duPonts, a name associated chiefly with the manufacture of munitions, but twelve duPonts...
...to be puzzled by the attitude of the British people toward the fit* George V and his see cesser...
...a fifth would forbid judges from swaging acts unconstitutional and providing for the re-Sppssl of a judge under the requirement of "good be-fpritaf...
...The weakness was not so ranch' in his character as in his training...
...So his statement amounts to this: capitalists and workers are essential to prosperity...
...And, by the way, ALpmith was one of the »uaf heesjifchjeheij^ those so-calkd Liberalsllbout whom I was talking last week...
...Stop there," he shouted...
...Addressing the wage we___| ers as such—aee as carpentesejfl cloak makers er: seal miners,'haa...
...In solemn tones he warned that "there can be only one Capital there can be only one clear, pure air of free America, or the foul breath of communistic Russia...
...In December, 1930, the jobless numbered 6,840,-?7...
...How long...
...Ome proposed amendment would give Congress the ¦Meyer to make any laws it considers to be in the interest ¦jftbe "general welfare...
...On the other hand, such an issue as that of industrial unionism cannot be ignored without danger of provoking revolt...
...V When the crash came in Wall Street in October, 1929, die number of the jobless was estimated at a little over 900,000...
...The fact is that it has already won—but the news has not reached certain ears...
...The "Backbone" Class When he discusses the Supreme Court, Congress and the Executive, he gets so far beyond his depth that he strangles...
...He said the country's present situation was brought about ^when the young brain trusters caught the Socialists in swimming and ran away with their clothes...
...The attempt ef the speaker to identify the Roosevelt Administration aad its measures with the Socialist Party is also old staff in American politics...
...Neither side to the quarrel differ on a fundamental issue...
...Spokesmen said the demands would be used in the "horse trading" with mine operators when negotiations for new wage contracts come up...
...The "rabble" is expected to take sides in this quarrel, just as the serfs of a few hundred years ago were required to fight the battles of their respective lords and masters...
...There can be only one national anthem, the Star-Spangled Banner or the Internationale...
...It doesn't require much of a memory to recollect what Smith answered when he was accused of being a Socialist...
...Arriving delegates, numbering 1,700, jammed the union headquarters, while the resolutions committee struggltd with some 3,000 resolutions which hopeful miners expect to introduce when the meeting is called to order tomorrow bv President Lewis in Constitution Hall...
...The fact is that every normal person hi this country knows that the Supreme Court tells Conareas what it can do and what it mast not do...
...in a good many others...
...W'HE American Federation of Labor publishes a graphic # story of a Seven years tragedy of unemployment in ae United States, which includes the "prosperous" year JEJg r929, except for the last two months of that year...
...But-^-then Smith was a candidate...
...But if the Constitution...
...He spoke his piece...
...There can be only one victor...
...m December, 1931, the figure was 10,888,796...
Vol. 19 • February 1936 • No. 5
