CLAESSENS FOR ALDERMAN IN SIXTH
Stanley, Louis
Claessens For Alderman in Sixth HOUSING AND TRANSIT HIS MAIN ISSUES By Louis Stanley JN A certain sense the Sixth Aldernianic District of New York City, where August Claessens is...
...The time has come for taking stock of the epoch-making decade which began the revolution in Russia and Germany and the ending of the Great War...
...May 17...
...He never graduated, however, for his father was only a house painter and the struggle for existence drove the lad to seek employment...
...of corrupt saaftmcU, for the disposition of pubis* asm lllsai, in public work, ta a manner to f)rre profiteers the utmost opportunity to rob the people of our community...
...Claessens For Alderman in Sixth HOUSING AND TRANSIT HIS MAIN ISSUES By Louis Stanley JN A certain sense the Sixth Aldernianic District of New York City, where August Claessens is campaigning for election on the Socialist ticket is the vortex of all the evils which Tammany Hall has perpetuated on the East Side...
...On the other hand, in our country of unorganized labor, strikers and social radicals, particularly during the present tow Socialist tide, are looked upon as criminals, and frequently are convicted as such and are sentenced to serve long terms of imprisonment...
...This will be done by Morris Hillquit in a fivelecture course on "These Ten Years 19171927...
...He had never made a speech before...
...He announced to those present that the next speaker was not the prominent guest of the evening but one who could certainly entertain them...
...When he was interested hi science, be devoured everything on the subject that he could rummage up...
...For workers who become victims of tyrranical injunctions Issued by Supreme Court Judges, may, for violating such orders, be punished by comparatively small fines or for very short terms of imprisonment, whereas, if such workers are found guilty in the Court of General Sessions for violation of the Penal Law, the Justices of that court may impose long terms of imprisonment...
...In this course a distinguished anthropologist and brilliant popular lecturer tells the story of how the human race emerged from the brute world and...
...Karlin by Lester R. Bachner, attorney for Dinhofer, yesterday...
...Is Elected to the Legislature Seven Times Ask Claessens what he did during this period and he will reach for the "American Labor Who's Who" to find the answer, for buried in activity, he has almost forgotten his story himself...
...August became an assistant, while retaining his day-time jobs...
...This class meets on Thursdays at 7 p.m...
...The opportunities of Judges of the General Sessions, however, to strike terror to the hearts of strikers and other victims of the social struggle, Is superior to that of Supreme Court Judges...
...I shall farther ask the Grand Ala...
...reflaot «he political inertia or liveliness of the workers, as the case may be, of a given nation...
...The proceeding was based upon a bond issued by that company, filed by the plaintiff to Indemnify several officers and members of the union, if the court finally decided that the plaintiff was not entitled to the injunction...
...The stair-cases were not to be widened, the corridors were but to be Improvised and the fire escapes were to hare' no bulk-heads permitting escape to the roof...
...One of the most popular schemes among the real estate fraternity Is the alteration of the former private houses In the district...
...It is the irony of destiny that the poor now occupy the premises of the well-to-do of old without the previous comfort...
...It happened la this wise...
...The apportionment tof delegates is on the foiewtag basto: esfn state two delegates at large: each Congressional district two delegates...
...200 Expected At Socialist Convention Secretary Henr y $ ays ..Jtunber^ of, ljt&gates Axe likely« to Exceed That Ffenre for a New trader riwssassliiil) d^HJOAQO.—The national convention ^ Of the Soctodtat Partf held in ****** City April 1«, W*l tarrt about ago ill bigi - ta at teratoma* If the suae* tfem sand the* quota...
...Ml Ml sal sfertkefesstonv a**ca ft iiutlstai m, utmost protectant at ttos esarts...
...Hardly a new dwelling house has been built in this district in more than a decade...
...The advantages here, as Claessens points out, are the same that attach to Tudor City, the wealthy development on East Forty-second street that has replaced the dilapidated tenement houses of Jong standing...
...The latter was his most permanent job but one need not linger over the thought that this was a kind of artist's occupation...
...And here Is where he made his first contacts with Socialism, not through the remarks of the speakers themselves but through the heckling of Socialists in the audience...
...Once, however, he was captured by politics, economics and sociology, he remained enthralled...
...The clock never calls him to rest...
...They are fixed there by habit, associations or proximity to work...
...Yet many stay on despite all inconveniences...
...Samuel C. Schmucker, Professor of Anthropology of the State Normal School, West Chester, Pa., and author of "The Meaning of Evolution" and of "Man's Life on Earth...
...On the other hand, the court of Oeneral Sessions may be administered by persons who see in the struggles of the workers tor higher standards of living and Improved working conditions, a movement toward a higher civilization...
...Suddenly a brilliant thought flashed through his mind...
...In the United States, where the workers have no large political parties ot their own, the courts are indifferent or hostile to the social basis of the labor movement...
...In this series of lectures he will present a survey of recent tendencies in American literature, as exemplified In five typical -writers...
...These lectures trace the evolution of class property and class government, from prehistoric times to the present...
...The landlords won...
...In Europe, where the workers have their own well developed, social, political, cooperative and educational organizations permanently established and are very well represented in the various Parliaments, the courts recognise the difference between ordinary criminal offenders and persons accused of misdemeanors in connection with political and Industrial activities...
...Upon the commencement oi tne proceeding, the Surety Company induced Dinhofer Bros., manufacturing Jewelers, of No...
...He spent his youth there, living for many years on East Third street...
...The Court's Powers ^The Court of General Sessions, for which I was nominated as a candidate for\ Justice, by the Socialist Party, possesses the same powers In criminal cases, as the Supreme Court of the State of New York...
...The arrival of one of the big Socialist chiefs was momentarily expected...
...By means of charts and lantern slides the likenesses and differences between the spaa, the ancient near-men, and the true human type are vividly brought out...
...Candida tas of the following districts are being invited before Election eve: Eighth aldermanie district, 35th aldermanie district, 67th aldermanie district, 23rd assembly district, 50th aldermanie district...
...Where there was one family, there are three and four now...
...Hilkfuit, Schmucker Among Lecturers In New Rand Courses "The Story of Class Rule," is the subject of a twelve lecture course to be given by Algernon Lee, Educational Director of the Rand School of Social Science, 7 East 15th street...
...Readers who have been fascinated by Claessens' stump-box or platform oratory, will want to pry into tba secret ot this change...
...Ladles and gentlemen are permitted to have friends in the kennel, but not in the kitchen.—G...
...When be led Young People's Socialist League circles, he spent the week preparing for the discussion on Sunday...
...Bernard Shaw...
...The whole plan was a plot to legalise fire traps and while Claessens and the other'Socialists pitted themselves against the capitalistic representatives to squash the bill, their efforts were in vain...
...Judges like all other statesmen, follow election returns and give the workers the kind of opinions they vote for...
...Political Symposium To Be Broadcast Over WEVD Sunday A political open, forum, to which Republicans, Democrats and Socialists are betas invited, wfll be inaugurated Sunday afternoon, Nov 6, by the Debs Memorial Radio1 Fund, operating Station WEVD, and will be continued until Election Eve...
...Today all this is gone...
...Jewelers' Union Collects Damages For Injunction OOON after Supreme Court Justice John Ford dismissed the temporary injunction against the International Jewelry Workers Union, granted last November by Justice Wasservogel, William Karlin ot 291 Broadway, lawyer for the union, notified the American Surety Company that it was his intention to commence a proceeding against it for the recovery of damages sustained by the union, by reason of the injunction...
...Where there was bourgeois primness has come proletarian helterskelter...
...By a New Leader Ciiiibj—I nt) Denver, Colo—Bart Uarfft' National Secretary of the Farmer Labor Party, of America, has issued a call for a delegate body to meet and nominate candldaUs for President and Vice-President at Milwaukee...
...N. Bryllion Fag in of the University of Baltimore and one of the most oonstructlve as well as suggestive among the younger generation oi American literary critics will give a five lecture course on "Rebels In Contemporary American Literature" on Saturdays at 2 p.m...
...The old shacks a^lready command such high rentals' that it is doubtful whether the present rates could l>e exceeded in that neighborhood to justify the investment of capital...
...The change took place during the housing crisis that the European War provoked...
...Later Claessens built a telescope himself and went into stargazing on his own account...
...One night he was present in a crowd on Tenth street and Second avenue...
...As a natter of fast, no parson soald ever become a Justice of any ¦sort UBMSar our afftliatat atore or lass actively, wttfa a poUticst ¦aiij...
...He knows the region as only one who has explored it In his childhood can...
...It is the Socialist contention that the East Side 'should be limited, as much as passible, to dwelling places constructed and operated by the municipality, and in any case an East River Drive, such as the rich are now enjoying along the Hudson River should be laid out for the recreation and health of the inhabitants of the East Side...
...His enthusiasms centered at first about the seiences, especially botany...
...Xotoho scat ¦sBtadkr- Cansntoation of '"ror'ttoe flu* UaS» a 1» tatpeetcd that canto a postlse at Isto^Mstoaates from too ronton lying cast of ttos Mississippi River wfll m to tabs aasvsaaaa tn automobiles...
...Just whether there Is any significance la selecting the Socialist city of Milwaukee for holding the convention is not known...
...and will continue to January 19...
...When Claessens joined the Socialist Party in 1909, he offered his services as an entertainer at branch meetings and sociables and inevitably achieved a considerable reputation...
...Neither serious dramatics nor utilitarian speech-making attracted him...
...Brought Up in the Sixth So far as August Claessens goes the struggle to make the Sixth Aldernianic District more habitable Is very close to him...
...Claessens mounted the platform, frightened despite his many public appearances...
...Imagine Miss Zaches' surprise some years later when she noticed her former pupil of elocution listed in the Rand School catalogue as instructor of public speaking...
...There was Ous Claessens right in front of him in the audience...
...The report Is tentative and subject to revision It acstott oat that Wore the «^tt«3sj»* *a*ry it a mere than, ptubstto, that OtJabama win Ibsm * isnaBtasaajsannaan safe'the same to *&4&m£**m^-*m*Smt, iowa...
...On Tuesday November 22 at 8:30 be will begin the course and continue to December 20...
...Accordingly Invitations are going out to ill candidates for Municipal Court Judge In the Second Municipal District to participate in a political symposium Sunday afternoon over Station WEVD...
...on behalf of the union, convinced Justice Ford that the disorder charges made in affidavits were incorrect...
...When- he was growing Into manhood, he fell in with an old savior who eked out an existence as a Street astronomer...
...Samuel Beardsley, Treasurer of the Union, joyfully received the $750.00 and stated that this is the firs: time in hielong experience that an employer of labor was compelled by law to pay tor legal expenses incurred by the union in an industrial dispute...
...Consequently, when in his search for schooling, he encountered Cooper Union, that home of free adult education, he entered upon the study of drawing...
...Candidates in various districts where Socialists are waging hot campaigns will be given - an opportunity to speak on the issues of the campaign regardless of their political faith, G. August Gerber, Secretary of the Debs Fund, announced yesterday...
...Claessens would find himself arguing with these disturbers after the meeting until he began to find himself convinced of their heresies...
...He found himself in a new world...
...Enters Cooper Union Claessens had been told by teachers and friends that he had artistic talent...
...This Is the district In which Judge Jacob Panken, Socialist, is conceded his re-election...
...This open forum," Mr...
...Thus, in such nations, industrial and political prisoners pay small fines or serve short terms of imprisonment...
...The landlords came to the politicians and the politicians to the legislature...
...My nut—Us, Jostarn Ctoarkn a Matt and Geccs* U Donosflan, ai|sjMsan Democrat and Ibaaut islla stapahttoaa...
...He and the others turned the proposal inside out and soon they exposed beneath the humanitarian cloak the naked greed of it alL The repairs were to be made under various exemptions from the new tenement house laws...
...Nowadays the shipping Interests have abandoned this side of Manhattan above Whitehall street...
...So long as there is a lack of cross-town lines and northsouth subways, propertied interests feei no urge to make improvements...
...Elections Stolen From Hfan It is clear from this brief sketch that Claessens is a tireless worker...
...That sounded reasonable, — suspiciously so, August Claessens was a member of the Socialist delegation to the legislature at that time...
...To the residents of Claessens' district this scheme is most intimately alluring for they constitute the hinterland population that has been abandoned to ramshackle buildings, smoke and dust of ancient factories, a water-front of surpassing ugliness and gloating politicians...
...After that he began to serve as chairman at meetings and as he learned to combine public speaking with entertainment, teaching with jollification, he became the inimitable August Claessens of today...
...Connected with these problems of habitation and transportation Is zoning...
...It is a rare thing for minority opinion to obtain expression over radio stations controlled by the monopolists, but we have no fear in giving political faiths with which we disagree an opportunity to be heard...
...He has seen it go through the transformations of a generation...
...While our Board is comprised mainly of radicals, progressives and of the labor elements, old line politicians can say their say over Station WEVD...
...Many of the clothing shops are on the lower west aide, to a certain extent within walking distance of the homes of the workers...
...A check for that sum, made by the firm, was delivered to Mr...
...Becomes a Speaker In the meantime he snatched the time to study elocution at Cooper Union for several years under the direction ot a Miss zachos, who is still there, but never did he attend her public speaking class...
...Wsiuttsr to) * S /^OTJRTS, like all other administrative *" tastitoittoas...
...The substantial one-family brick houses on the East Side, in the past the scene of solid German respectability, are now tenements...
...The lower East Side, particularly the Sixth Aldernianic, is interspersed with factories and warehouses that are reminiscent of an era when the East River wharfage really counted in the commercial life of the city...
...When he was elected to the legislature from Harlem or rather when he stayed in the legislature,—for while he was chosen seven times, he was counted •ut twice and expelled as often for be lag a Socialist,—he scrutinised bills and studied issues diligently...
...Upon the trial of the action, however, witnesses produced by William Karlin...
...The East Side should have good homes and abundant transit faculties...
...When he became interested in pabbc speaking as distinct from elocution, he did not content himself with has native ability but read ail the available text-books...
...The landlords see no need for it...
...They are not three problems that can be neatly sliced apart...
...His memory thus refreshed, he can tell illuminating anecdotes...
...His flare was for amateur entertainment...
...Claessens Enters the Socialist Movement...
...The Justices of this court, like those pf the Supreme Court, are elected for a term of fourteen years, and both classes receive the same salary of $22,500 per annum, and so Judges of the General Sessions claim dignity equal to that of Supreme Court Justices...
...On the other hand former members of the Socialist Party now identified witb the Farmer-Labour Party are anxious fa cooperation with the Socialist Party m support of one ticket next vear...
...He worked as newsboy, shipping clerk, grocery clerk and interior decorator...
...He was something more or less than a mere house painter and plasterer...
...Soma of Sham tatobsf b week or two aad » mating ta tartan* cities to break the tansy...
...Families who develop a higher standard of living under the promptings of the newer generation, seek the first opportunity to move into the Bronx semi-slums...
...It was not long before he learned that his pedagogues and acquaintances had been mistaken...
...through the use of tools and of language, set out upon an evolutionary career different from that of any other species...
...The restriction of immigration has also induced property owners to exploit their present opportunities more intensively without undertaking new ventures...
...These lectures will be given on Fridays at 8:30, beginning November 18 and continuing to December 18...
...150 Lafayette street, to pay to the union $750, rather than risk further litigation...
...Such judges could suppress violence on the line1 is a» nutans SmMbh and ssekars affected** a atria...
...In this territory housing, transit and zoning compel our attention...
...Whatever he undertakes, he accomplishes thoroughly...
...The urchins of the new-comers used to peer through the white-curtained shining windows with mixed admiration and disdain and sometimes dare to play stoopban against the grey stone steps that fronted the buildings like matronly aprons...
...f f«JVn •* A S. ; - NO...
...Unite at the ballot box next year and throw off the yoke of your oppressors...
...both parties...
...If anyone is Interested in this memento, he can observe it still in operation on Fortysecond street off Bryant Park...
...In fine, a Judge of the Oeneral Sessions, with a social outlook, could turn the courts Into instruments for soda] good and for the suppression of profiteering and exploitation...
...And so...
...Rather have they been compounded immutably into a single mess...
...Go to the ballot box in 1928 and wrest the government from the control of your oppressors and use it to establish Justice for all...
...If .sMud...
...Nevertheless, scattered lumber yards, manufacturies and store houses have persisted into the present, defiling that section of New York as a residential section...
...of this county to find Indictments and direct the District Attorney to proceed vigorously for the conviction of each and every professional politician arte is a party to the matins...
...The voters of the Sixth Aldermanie District can be certain that In August Claessens they will send to the Board «f Alderman an indefatigable and intelligent defender of their interests...
...He would have drifted along, had he not discovered one night that there were lectures being given in the main hall down-stairs...
...That was does bbob a false i sprtam taitan cast ttos aasjor parties wish for a nwn psill—n nastatary...
...He was so determinedly serious that he did amuse his listeners...
...His family brought him there from Switzerland when he was a child...
...Gerber said, "is in strict keeping with the intention of the Board of Trustees of the Debs Fund who were determined to erect a radio broadcasting station from which opinion could be expressed free and untrammeled...
...The temporary Injunction was originally obtained upon affidavits alleging attempts of the union representatives to persuade employees of the Dinhofer firm to join the union...
...In this court are tried all cases of a criminal* nature, ranging from grand larceny, to murder in the first degree...
...East River from the Ghetto of Stanton street northward to Eighteenth street and the Irish gas-house district...
...Organize, unite...
...Emancipate yourselves—you have the power—use your ballot to free yourselves from the economic bondage that now threatens your very existence...
...His wife is still the champion grammarian of the family...
...The chairman was killing time as well as his voice...
...He was a poor writer...
...Night after night he would attend, listening to talks on science, literature, politics, or economics, anything that happened to be an the program...
...Fire outbreaks since have justified the Socialist position and Claessens can with satisfaction point out to his constituency the important role he played in this fight...
...Housing and Transit is Double Problem of Residents in the Sixth District The housing question in the Sixth Aldernianic District is, as we have intimated, Inextricably bound up with transit facilities, for a large portion of the territory is almost Inaccessible by public conveyance...
...He read widely and made field trips and has not quite lost his Interest in plant study yet...
...The boy attended a parochial school on Fourteenth street and intermittently the public grammar schools of the neighborhood...
...If labor legislation in the United States were charted, the curves of the socialist vote and favorable labor and social legislation would run evenly...
...4a is -the esumsfte submitted by' MasbtasJ "Executive Bsuslsiji Willi— M. Heavy, taa report to tabs National ftuwuttos Oaasaittee...
...Why not ease the shortage by renovating the old private homes for the reception of several families...
...The oaH urges farmers aad wast workers' "to organise...
...For years he was known at the meetings of the Academy of Science as the "public", which was invited to the learned sessions through notices in the newspapers...
...The Sixth is a comparatively narrow strip extending along the...
...beginning November 19 and continuing to December 17...
...Karlin For Progressive Judieiary e n e r l^stoiWSfcplaias Views on Courts By William Karlin (Socialist Candidate for Judge of General Sessions) (Address delivered before the New Tetfe Idaaa...
Vol. 4 • November 1927 • No. 20
