Socialists for Public Milk Supply
Socialists for Public Milk Supply Monopoly by the Community is Only Solution THE great problem why milk is produced continues to agitate the New York politicians and their corporation supporters...
...He found no papers...
...Amused by Police Antics j By (US TYLER A UNITED Youth Demonstration aainst War and Fascism, sponsored by nearly a dozen radical youth oranizations, was held on Memoiipl Day in New York City, i The largest section of the parade which was supported by several thousand young men and women j vas made up of young Socialists...
...They showed hew intimately connected was the distribution of milk with the health of children...
...Counties are convenient sub-divi-siens ef the state for delegating Itate functions...
...They showed how closely the/ consumption of milk follows the price, rising when the price falls, and falling when the price goes up...
...Party Against Postponing City Election The Socialist Party has filed papers intervening as a defendant in the action brought by William Jay Schieffelin of the Citizens' Union to restrain the Commissioners of Flections from holding an election this fall to fill the vacancy created by the death of Comptroller Cunningham...
...Not only has his income been cut greatly by the depression, but he is faced with the fact, if he is poor, that he can no longer buy loose milk a 5 cents a quart or more, but must buy milk in the bottle and pay almost twice as much...
...That is what Paul Blanshard wanted the Socialist Party to adopt...
...What Comrade Thomas works for in that commission, therefore, will be the party's point of view in the matter of New York's form of government, and the workers must get behind his proposals...
...He is worried about the problems of controlling such a situation...
...The colorful parade was headed by the ever mole popular corps of red flags, carried by our Socialist Guard...
...that is, in getting rid of undeniable evils we must guard against "reforms" that are worse than the evils they are designed to remedy...
...Those who act as execu-| tives in carrying out programs' voted up;>n by the people—such as | utility commissioners, etc.—must be appointed by the elected officials on the basis of their political affllations...
...Thomas is a minority of one...
...but he can be backed by public opinion that will multiply his voice by hundreds of thousands and make him the most influential member of the commission...
...These two issues served to unite the Young People's Socialist League, the Young Circle League of America, the Trotzkyites, the Lovrstoneites, the Poale Zion, the Comunisl League of Struggle, the Student League for Industrial nomocracy, and other organizations...
...And so it should be in our city...
...Seabury's plan is to elect a city government on a basis of supposed merit, without parties...
...In thai way the musses will be able for the first time to hare hoiik thiny to nay about the form of their municipal government...
...on the breadline, honest and faith- j ful employees should he distributed > in borough .state and city offices,' to relieve the overworked employees there...
...Over fifteen years ago the Socialist delegation in the Hoard of Aldermen called attention to the problems that private distribution of milk brought with it...
...We believe that the present issue should and will be decided on the same lines that were followed by the Court of Appeals in that cause...
...The troubles regarding milk have come from both sides in the last few years...
...One thing, therefore, that Socialists must guard against is the danger of throwing out the baby with the bath...
...Socialists for Public Milk Supply Monopoly by the Community is Only Solution THE great problem why milk is produced continues to agitate the New York politicians and their corporation supporters at a time when both the fanner who iroduces the milk and the workers who need it are entering the fight to as*crt their rights in the matter...
...Socialists disagree with those who insist that there is nothing to city government but efficient administration...
...Socialists quite agree with the reformers that existence of counties within the city is a costly nuisance, if it cannot, be more properly described as an expensive graft...
...l-or the first time the Socialist Party will have a hand in framing a city charter, for Norman Thomas is a member of the Commission and is serving with the consent of the party organization in order to urge the party's ideas upon the commission...
...So he issued the summary command to . "move on...
...Hi* methods are such that the price of milk to the consumer is kept up at a time when the real milk producer, the farmer, is selling milk at below what it costs him...
...But in abolishing the counties—and thus ^•jung away their ill-earned salads and perquisites from political ¦•¦—carp must be taken that no ¦MM employee is discharged, and that instead of throwing employees...
...The demonstration began at LiOth Street and St...
...Socialists insist that there are two kinds of public officials—those who create Ipolicies and those who carry them out...
...They pointed out that only through a publicly owned system for the distribution of milk would the consumer be assured of an adequate supply of pure, fresh milk at *, low price at the same time that the daily farmer was ahle to get •Jlough for his milk to be able to keep the sheriff from his door...
...Needless to say, he got no support whatever...
...more and more goes into butter Wd cheese, and less is sold, as milk, B|j*ice goes down, and has gone ' down until the farmer is, and has been for some time, in the red...
...counsel for the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, has pointed* out the great saving monopoly of milk distribution would bring...
...constant agitation those demands will be backed up outside of the Charter Revision Commission as they will be urged within by our party's representative there...
...It was suggested that as soon as the officers of the law drove the others from the lawn the radical groups would also 1( ave...
...Having won their |k>int with the clearing of the lawn, the group* rose in a body* sang the "Internationale" ami marched off...
...sheriffs represent the state when there are large rural sections separating towns and villages, whose police in the very nature of things can have no great authority...
...All this has brought to the fore again the necessity for a municipal milk supply, which Socialists have fought for for years...
...Those who create policies must I be elected on PARTY PLAT-FORMS...
...INHERE must be proportional] * representation, but what kind...
...But in a city like New York a sheriff is a highly-paid party spoilsman, as is the usual county clerk oi» register...
...The distributors were •ble to do this because in the boom years they had urged the farmer to increase his herd and expand his production of milk...
...There is not a single function performed by the highly-remunerated county officials that is not either totally Useless,,or else tl.iat'cannot be performed far more'' efficiently by skilled civil service employees...
...Samuel Seabury wants to' elect public officials by a sort 'of Hare system, eliminating all party designations...
...On the other side we have the consumer...
...An attempt to unite with the Stal-inites proved unsuccessful because of their sectarian insistence upon their name and" purpose in the demonstration...
...The Baby and the Bath ¦ By William M. Felgenbaum TPHK Charier Revision Commission has nut and i> preparing for a ldiij,', hard summer out of which it is expected (or at least hoped) that New York will get a charter more suitable for its needs and the times than the cumbersome and confused document that charts its present form of government...
...Nothing was done and these- who needed milk most, the children of the poor, had to go without it...
...This a great majority of the farmers had done, only to discover tjiat the depression cut down consumption by about ¦Wt...
...It is quite obvious that counties have no place in Xew York city government, the highly-paid, jobs being merely rewards for political services to Farley and McQuades, Al Smiths and Dan Finns...
...This put the farmers at the m«rcy of the distributing compacts, as the price of milk is fixed •wording to use the milk is put to...
...The legislative body of the city must he elected on a basis of proportional representation so that minorities will he represented in the alder-manic body in proportion lo their vote...
...to hold their meeting...
...They had to clear the lawn...
...Ever since the New York State Department of Markets gave permission tc the milk companies to raise the price of milk a cent a 3uart, New York has been dis-tuhed by the fact that such a raise would further cut down on the consumption of milk...
...During the milk strikes of last year, which-forced the state legislature to pass the milk-control bill, prices vere forced up for the farmer, and at the same time to the consumer...
...There seemed to be no reason for this, since others were also on the grass, and so they sat, singing "We shall not be moved...
...and nth Ave...
...bong ago the Socialists have given the answer to this problem...
...Some cities, like St...
...Indeed, the fight to eliminate county boundaries within the city was started nineteen years ago by the late A. I. Shiplaceff, who was first elected to the Assembly in 1915, a fight continued in the Assembly by the oversigned, and continued in platforms of the party i for all the year...
...To extend the term of the appointee for an additional twelve months is in our judgment both undemocratic and unconstitutional...
...Mc-| Kee in office as acting mayor through the whole year 1...
...They showed how private distribution of milk was wasteful and ho\* the milk distributors succeeded in exploiting both the consumers of milk and the producers for their own private profits...
...For practical reasons it is necessary that an appointee should serve until a successor chosen at a general election can take over the office...
...The specific purpose of the pa-i rade was dual...
...it was too late...
...Yipsels Protest War and Fascism...
...THERE is no possible excuse in the city for sheriffs with their elaborate staffs...
...It was, first, a | protest ngainst the brutal actions if members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars who, last year, fell upon six members of the Young Peopi-e's Socialist League when the latter were holding an anti-war meeting...
...A stray policeman wandered into their midst...
...Nicholas Ave., wound, its way through Harlem, amidst applause, cheers, admiration and encouragement from onlookers, and filially ended in a mass meeting at the north east coiner of Central Park, near the now forgotten Peace House...
...Thus the reason for the permission for the advance in price granted by the New York State Department of Markets...
...Soon he was back with two others) In blue uniform...
...Indeed, there is no excuse for county lines in the city at all...
...That was reasonable and was done...
...See New Lepder, last week...
...The supply of loose milk has been stopped in order ,to safeguard health...
...There was rVal reason for forbidding the sale of loose milk in New York City, but some provision should have been made for the supplying of milk to,those who could only afford loose milk...
...Three more policemen came up in un auto...
...Matthew M. Levy is their counsel, Comrade Lee said: "Our deoi-, sion to intervene in this cave is in line with our action in...
...Ho iiov had no complaint so he went forth in search of reenforcemcntB...
...That is what the Socialist Party will oppose to the end...
...And those who merely carry out and administer the policies must be chosen on a strict civil service basis...
...As they began to leave, two riot cam containing a dozen policemen in each drove up amidst great flourish...
...Poor gentlemen...
...His first command was "to pick up your papers...
...when, with the late Morris Hillquit as our counsel, we successfully opposed an attempt to prevent an election that year to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Mayor , Walker and thus to keep Mr...
...Thus minority choices would have*, a chance of electioh...
...A group of i about 150 Young Socialists, Trotz-kji'tes, and Poale Zionists gathered in the park, chatting with one another and singing their songs...
...And there are other matters upon which there is not and cannot be agreement between us and the "re-foimers...
...Secondly, the demonstration was also in protest against the actions of the Dutch government for their deportation of four young revolutionaries to Nazi Germany...
...The result was, as The New Leader pointed out last week, that about 15'} of the city's children are suffering from undernourishment and malnutrition due to the lack of milk products in their diets...
...Indeed, Samuel Seabury is "sold" on the last idea, and about a yeai and a half ago I'aul Blanshard, then a member of the Socialist Party, sought support within the party fcr that feature of the so-called Seabury Charter...
...that have followed...
...Recent events have proven how-true a picture the Socialists painted...
...The only one who can gain by it is the large milk distributor...
...they perform no necessary function that cannot be better performed by the city or state police...
...The paraders now grew suspicions, suspecting that the calm way in which the police were surrounding them and moving all innocent bystanders out of the'way was done with malice aforethought...
...Immediately behind them came the long rows of Young Socialists, with their blue shirts, red ties, Socialist arm bands, marching in order with a dignified discipline...
...s These are some—though by no means all—of the purely political reforms our party demands...
...Riley, Samuel Orr, James Oneal and Walter Hearing, Chairmen of Kings, Hronx, Queens and Richmond Counties...
...Louis, Baltimore and New Orleans, are in no county at all, the city being a governing unit by itself...
...Followed by thousands, dressed in/ civilian clothes, the Young Socialists paraded into, the circle at 110th St...
...Let the distribution of milk be in the hands of the city...
...TPHERE will be many things for * Comrade Thomas to urge, as there will be many urged by Samuel Seabury and others reformers...
...These strikes were the result of a steady pushing town of the price of milk to the fittier by the big .distributing jppanies who control the bulk of the supply...
...Sicialist.s insist that executives, who create policies, must be elected on a basis of parties, on the assumption that parties represent principles (and in our case they do...
...To be specific, there are certain evils upon which all parties (ex cept Tammany and Republican spoilsmen) agree, such as the vast number of useless ami overpaid city and county jobs v. hose only fffnetion is to supply grafters with lasy money...
...Henry S. Manley...
...And finally, there is a demand for the elimination of parties in the election of city officials...
...The papers are signed by Algernon Lee, New York City and County Chairman of the Socialist Party, anil by Bernard .1...
...An interesting incident, and one that captured the fancy of the capitalist reporters, occurred shortly after the parade...
...Each voter would mark various choices, and the vote would be "weighted...
...Thus we have the great contradiction in private milk distribution...
...County clerks and registers draw huge salaries, and they have large and well-paid staffs, but there is nothing useful in their functions that cannot be taken over by borough and city civil servants...
...There is the crying need for some form of proportional representation to end the virtual disfranchisement of large sections of the population—mostly working people...
...I "It is obviously the will of the people as expressed in the constitution that vacancies in elective offices are to be filled promptly by election...
...Thus not only v. ould the purpose of ithe price raise of piitting the milk farmer baek on his feet, be defeated, but the city's children would further suffer frpm a lack of the milk that is necessary for their well-being...
Vol. 17 • June 1934 • No. 67
