S AFTER THOIRY Steel Compact Creates Germs of War O-CALLED capitalist papers of this country are hailing the new Franco-German steel pact as a guarantee of peace. "Innocence" could go no further. The arrangement is nothing of the kind. Rather is it creating the germs of new international conflict. Two tendencies are at present at work in Europe. One of them is the effort to weld the chief nations of the old continent together in an alliance against dominant America. The other is the attempt to develop a new "balance of power"-with Germany and France as the fountainheads of one group and Eng. land and Italy of the other. The latter viewpoint was represented in the Gerat Broadlands man-English financial conference They (Romsey) last month. The former is expressed bluntly by a staff correspondent in the French paper, MATIN: "These two countries (Germany and France) would create a new balance in the world. could hold their own against any other States, no matter how big they might be." To which he adds, that their alliance would mean "a hundred million men who, as we have seen during the last war, known how to fight." France finds herself in conflict with Italy in the Mediterranean and Africa. Mussolini has made no secret of his hatred for France. At the same time, Paris also views the break-down of Britain's iron and steel industry with much comfort, and looks with envy upon British dominance in oil. It was France who played the Standard Oil's game against Britain in the various San Remo, Hague and other confer ences. England and Italy have just divided the spoils in Abyssinia, with the League of Nations helplessly looking on. Where England goes, there must Italy go likewise. Italy has a long seacoast and Great Britain has still a mighty navy. Friendship there is thus born of necessity. French and German economic imperialism must also march together, in the new day. Their coal and iron are dependent, one on the other, more than ever, with the great American advance in production. At Thoiry, beautiful little village at the foot of the Jura mountains, Briand and Stresemann laid the basis for the "friendship" that blossomed simultaneously in the steel combine. After Thoiry many strange things will come to pass. A German-French alliance, either with all Europe against the hated Americans, or with each other and dependent nations against Britain and Italy, is in the making. Our newspapers, alternately hoping that the latter will occur and fearing that the former may happen, are alternately whistling to keep up courage and smiling at the prospects of good antiBritish friends in the oil game. If the workers do not join hands in international action for "No war", the bloody dreams of Marshal Foch will give the world another destructive nightmare. Steel combination is not breathing "Peace", but "War". ers turned to their members' wives in a successful effort to win their moral support. But this enlightenment should not be left for strike time. Women should be interested in the labor movement when the strain on them is not so great. Then they will realize when the strike comes that it is a last resort for the attainment of ends whose importance they will understand. The education of the wives of workers has another very significant reason to recommend it, the potent influence on children that women possess. A study of the lives of many of the world's great men reveals that almost all of them were inspired by their mothers. Most of them ascribed their achievements to this maternal influence. As workers, we want our children to understand the problems, the purpose, and aims of the labor movement to which their parents belong. We want them to know the trials and tribulations, the victories and defeats, the joys and despairs their parents experienced in the process of building their unions, the supreme sacrifice many of them made for the cause of the workers. Who can bring these to the child's conscieusness better than the mother? Mothers a Great Force We must realize that the better future for humanity, of which we speak, cannot be achieved in the future. Our hopes for success in that great task we have undertaken will be much greater if the mothers are intelligently informed enough to carry it on. But if the labor movement is to win the fullhearted support and cooperation of the wives of its members, they must be treated as equals. They must be taken into the confidence of the men and inspired to realize their importance as a social force. The men must frankly share with them their experiences and keep them fully informed about the affairs of the organization. So in formed they will be willing to place at the disposal of the labor movement their will power, their practicality, their influence to aid their husbands in the struggles of the movement. FIVE YEARS OF ACHIEVEMENT "Labor Age" Fifth Anniversary An Eventful One E have reason to be proud. Five years have W rolled round since LABOR ACE unfolded its banner against Black Reaction. On November 1st, 1921 the first issue of the publication appeared. It was a time of triumphant Open Shoppery, when Labor in many quarters was in the Slough of Despond. Our fifth anniversary marks a new turn in events. Still Reaction goes on its merry way. Still it reigns supreme. But it is not so certain of itself, as in times past. It has prepared sedatives and opiates for the workers, to guard against that new era of organization that may be at hand. The American Empire does loom large in world affairs, under the control of its anti-Labor rulers. But those workers, contrary to repeated propaganda otherwise, do not yet share even in the crumbs of empire. There are signs that they may resent this, definite signs that revolt-for better conditions and higher remuneration—is in the offing. LABOR AGE, standing on the principles of the Labor Movement, looking forward to the day of more and more workers' control of industry, out of the trenches of here and now, has brought a real contribution of hope to the sorely-beset unionists-pointing ever to that new period of union action ahead. It was out of this viewpoint and effort that a record of achievement has been made. Pioneering is not always the easiest of tasks, but when pioneering meets with the success that ours has met with, it is more than worth the difficulties. Of those things to which we have devoted ourselves, and which have borne definite furit, we will mention but ten. They are outstanding in the march forward of the organized workers of this country. They are: 1. The promotion of Workers' Education. Among the few voices raised for Workers' Education, ours was one of the first heard prior to the endorsement of this idea by the A. F. of L. 2. The necessity for the pragmatic approach in the workers' educational effort. When the general idea had been established, we emphasized the need for carrying it out in such a way as to be of the maximum value to the Movement, opposing too much emphasis on "cultural" efforts a task in which we are still engaged and which has contributed to the good work accomplished in a number of places. 3. The need for textile union unity. Our discussion on this score gave rise to the unity conference of textile unions, which brought several thousand workers into the United Textile Workers of America. 4. The new drive for steel organization, the threat of which produced the 8-hour day. Our January, 1923 issue called for the new drive, and aroused comment and fury in the employers' organs. Out of this drive, which was made, came the surrender by the corporations on the hours issue. 5. The La Follette campaign. To this we pointed as a thing to which Labor would turn, six months before any other publication or group had thought seriously of it as a possibility. We still see in that campaign the breaking of ground which will lead at the next opportune moment, to a new alliance of Labor on the political field. 6. The fight on company unionism and for more effective labor publicity. The adoption of such a policy was the chief event at the Detroit A. F. of L. convention. Many central bodies have also been stimulated by its discussion. 7. The fight against the high wage lie. On this we have just begun our work. But already we see signs of its effectiveness. When local unions, central bodies and individual workers take this up and hammer at it, we will have put to rout that propaganda of the employers most menacing to organized workers. 8. The promotion of effective methods of organ. ization. Also in its infancy, this has attracted much attention among serious workers' educational institutions, and one of the largest has requested that we go into detail, as to how it can be widely discussed for the good of the Movement. The waiver of jurisdiction in the auto drive is a fine evidence that the idea, pointed to by us in times past, is bearing fruit. 9. The fight on the courts. At Detroit, again, we saw the LABOR AGE idea hammered home by men of such standing at Matthew Woll and John Frey. "Law or no law," said the former, Labor must stand up and defy the courts in their usur. pation of authority and strike hard for freedom. Otherwise, Labor will perish. 10. The effort for Passaic and other God-forsaken places. We stood by Passaic through thick and thin, as we have said, knowing that those gallant workers out there would become members of the A. F. of L. Today that is a fact. At Lackawanna our publicity has stopped a wage reduction temporarily. At Bayonne our agitation won an extension of vacations with pay for the men. And the end is not yet! That is a record to which few institutions can point, in so short a period of time. Ever, in our work, we have refrained from personalities in the Movement itself. We have refused to be enmeshed in political maneuverings within the unions, thinking that to be the business of the unions themselves. We have nothing to do with factional tickets or candidates within the Movement. Our concern has been with the discussion of principles, with the promotion of the most effective means to winning further and further victories for the workers, IN THE LAND OF "HIGH WAGES" "How much hold have you, Mr. Worker, on your job?" That is an important question, even in this "Land of the Millenium" on. Stars of Bethlehem The Grace-Bent-Larkin-Ludlum Comedy-Tragedy By LOUIS FRANCIS BUDENZ THE BIG BATTLE BEGINS We hereby serve notice: There shall be no more peace in Bethehem. The big fight against Bethlehem Bunk is It will spread from Lackawanna to Johnstown, Steelton, and the seat of steel serfdom itself, Bethlehem of the Judases. To each place will we go, with our pen, talking to the men, learning what they are thinking, exposing the facts-laying the foundation for a new day of Hell raising. We have found out that the steel slaves still have souls, that they still propose to be Men, that they mean to map out their own destiny in their own way, not by Grace from above. By God, it's time that they awaken! It's time that they begin to think about themselves a bit and not as much of the welfare of the company! We have stopped a wage cut at Lackawanna. Where are your friends at times like this, Men of the Bethlehem, except among the ranks of Progressive Organized Labor? Get decent representatives elected, pledged privately to a wage demand, make that demand-and see what the Corporation will do. In the meantime, keep your powder dry! That meansget ready for real union organization! RR ED is a color which has played no inconsiderable role in Bethlehem Steel annals. The red night fires of its furnaces blare up perpetually at the sky, making drab and filthy Lackawanna more weird and diabolical than in the day. In the Great 1919 steel strike, it was the "reds" who were advertised throughout the world as the instigators of the walk-out. Red pepper also did its bit, in the hands of Slavish Judiths, to put New York's state constabulary on the run-when they, true to military traditions, rushed to the scene to aid their beleaguered bosses of the Bethlehem. And the red light of commercialized vice hovers, at least figuratively, close to the big mill gates. Whether the distinguished officers of this soulful corporation have deliberately encouraged prostitution around their mills can not be charged, in all fairness, without a much deeper and wider investigation than I was privileged to make. That they do little or nothing to discourage it is evident to any man with his eyes about him-not merely in Lackawanna but in Bethlehem, Pa. itself. In both possessions of the corporation-controlled body and soul as they are (at least in time of crisis)the homes of the scarlet women are in interesting proximity to the mills. That they can serve handily as sources of "amusement" to the shiftless vermin from the outside who serve as strikebreakers, of course, is more than plain. Be that as it may-and it is something which the very busy social service agencies in Buffalo might look into, with some possible good-there is no doubt that prostitution of another sort is stamped all over the men who work for the Schwab-Grace combine. What kind of manhood is that, whose almost every step is reported through operatives, to the General Manager's office and to the Employment Department? What brand of freemen are those who must submit even to lying reports on the part of these lice of the social system-the company spies? "Freedom" of Representatives Score another marker for hypocrisy when you read in the little gray-backed "Plan of Representation" this further piece of bunk: "Article X. It is understood and agreed that each representative shall be free to discharge his duties in an independent manner, without fear that his individual relations with the Company may be affected in the least degree by any action taken by him in good faith in his representative capacity. "To insure to each Representative his right to such independent action, he shall have the right to take the question of an alleged personal discrimination against him, on account of his representative capacity, to any of the Superior Officers; to the General Joint Committee, and to the President of the Company. "Having exercised this right in the consecutive order indicated and failing a satisfactory remedy within thirty days, a Representative shall have the further right to appeal to the State Department of Labor or the Secretary of Labor of the United States. The Company shall furnish the said State Department of Labor or the said Secretary with every facility for the determination of the facts, and the findings and recommendations of the said State Department of Labor or the said Secretary shall be final and binding." A fine flow of fair words, we will grant. Designed to confuse some unwary Liberal, seeking the "good, the beautiful and the true." Designed to aid to the Corporation's publicity department, in chanting the merits of the "plan". Side by side with this work of verbal art creation of humbuggery and lies. Rash representative there lies on my table documentary evidence that it is a would he be who would appeal to any outside agencyeven granted that he might have some trust in it. Even as it is, these representatives are tracked, watched by Should the Corporation dare to challenge this statement, the ferret eyes of spies and reported on to the "big bosses". I shall be glad to show my proof to persons whom I can trust not to injure the men who have given the information-Dr. Harry F. Ward of Union Theological Seminary, Dr. John A. Ryan of the National Catholic Welfare Council, Miss Mary Van Kleeck of the Russell Sage Foundation, John A. Fitch of the New York School for Social Work. Although much perturbed by my first EMANCIPATION article, the Corporation has not attacked any of its charges including the direct charge that it makes wide use of labor spies. To clear up the whole matter, I hereby challenge them to deny that labor spying is not an important part of their real labor "plan". What chance has a "representative" with the cards thus stacked against him? But let us speed up our imaginations a bit, and fancy that Schwab and Grace some fine morning decided to abolish their spy system. Well might they do so, for some of their spies, at least, are close rivals to old Ananias. As fiction writers a number of them would do a thrilling business. It is not so long ago that a local detective agency distributed "union" leaflets before the Donner Steel Works in Buffalo-the second largest mill in the Buffalo district-and thereupon appeared at the Donner office with a view to getting the job of discovering the leaflet-distributors! That is an old labor spy game. A proficient gentleman of this breed, lately active at Passaic, makes it a practice to carry about with him literature of all sorts-"I. W. W., A. F. of L., Communist, etc." so that he may be able to distribute it before factories as occasion offers. Before hand, he warns the factory owner or manager that such and such literature will be distributed, or that such and such groups are active and then, having done the job himself, he can rush in and say to the boss, "I told you so." Thereby, employment at spying is secured and more shekels gathered in. Men Do Not Meet Schwab and Grace, or their subordinates, know of such practices. Suppose they should decide to put an end to the whole leprous business. Would the representatives then be secure? Not by a long shot! Today they cannot even get the men to come out in the open, to back up their own complaints. There is no economic power back of them. Not merely is there no international union. There is not even a plant organization or a departmental organization, to support them in presenting grievances. It has been a common supposition, as the result of all the publc braying favorable to company unionism, that the men actually meet and discuss their problems. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The men of the Bethlehem never meet. Once a year they choose their representatives-trusting to God and the Corporation that the choice will mean nothing. These representatives do meet, with the company representatives always present. In these meetings the "representatives" are as helpless as though they were individual workmen. They cannot even say that such and such a complaint represents the opinion of the majority of the men, except by guess work. They have no united power back of them, and they haven't even the assurance which goes with the fact that a man has been committed in the presence of his followers to a certain complaint. Under the circumstances, they cannot be blamed very much for doing very little. They have to look out for themselves, as several told me. And there you are: Looking out for themselves and not for the group welfare. It is the old story of unorganized workers, completely at the mercy of the 624 Corporation. The Labor Samson lies prostrate before Delilah Company Unionism. The Comedy Trio On men thus Delilah-ized, the gentle reader can judge the effect of such "greetings" each year as those furnished to the assembled representatives by the GraceBent-Larkin comedy trio. Says Prince Eugene, with his labor spying system comfortably up his sleeve: "It is a pleasure to meet with you again this year. It gives us a new viewpoint of our working problems like no other means of communication could. We are dealing with an ever growing and important business and the management wants and needs the help of their employees in the proper direction of it. "Cooperation among our employees in extending campaigns against waste, in reducing accidents, and in giving careful attention to the quality of the products shipped from our plants will be of further help in building up our future business." Vice-President Quincy Bent appeals to the "startling advances in science, industry and social relations" in our generation, adding: "Of all this progress, to me the most impressive one, and |