The Milwaukee leader (Milwaukee, Wis.), May 23, 1932, (Home Edition) (page 2)

Page Two Mystery Telegram Turns Milwaukee Arson Probe to Chicago GREENWALD AND SUBURB CHIEF GOTO ILLINOIS Interested Chiefly in $5,000 Lumber Yard Blaze. Investigation of the activities of an arson ring believed to have caused several fires here, was ex tended to Chicago today by William Greenwald, deputy state fire mar shal, and investigators of Chicago and New York Fire Insurance un derwriters. J. M. Bell, head of the Milwau kee Employers' council, notified Greenwald today that he received the following telegram from the Chicago Fire Insurance Underwrit ers' Assn, "Did you have any lumber yard fires in Milwaukee recently? If so, we may have valuable information for you." Greenwald and Edward W. Bry ant, West Allis fire chief, left for Chicago today. They are interested particularly in the fire that swept the warehouse and office of the North Shore Con struction and Lumber Co., 1115 South Forty-first st., Thursday night, causing $5,000 damage. MIGHTY THRILL AS SOCIALISTS NAME THOMAS Continued From Page One. stage band and the singing of sev eral hundred Ylpsels. Parade Around Hall. The latter paraded up and down the auditorium. A stream of blood red letters wrote Socialist slogans around the hall as the young march ers, carrying placards, were followed by the lights. The band trumpeted the Internationale and the folksy tunes to which the Yipseis have written their own words. The en thusiasm was lighting the faces of the latter was proof enough that, as Waldman had said, "Thomas has been tried in the crucible of public service and found not wanting, either on the picket line, the univer sity platform, the pulpit or the labor circle." Two Yipseis led the marchers, carrying flags of brotherhood and country. They were followed by Mrs. Fannie Schneid, Chicago Yipsel or ganizer, garbed in red. Little Anette Schier, daughter of D. Schier of The Chicago Jewish Daily Forward, bore a huge bou quet of red posies in her arms and was close to the head of the trium phal procession. Mooney "Geta a Hand." Tom Mooney also got a hand. In the midst of the demonstration, some comrade bethought himself of the Californian who has spent the last 15 years in prison for his loy alty to labor. He received a flare of applause to his proposal of "Three cheers for Tom Mooney." A momentary break in the dem onstration permitted the demand to grow for the appearance of Thomas, who was not in the con vention hall. As a committee found and escorted him to the platform, Julius Umansky, New York, nation al secretary of the Yipseis, ex pressed the approval of his group for the candidate chosen by his elders in the party. He suggested that Anette's bouquet of flowers "be placed on the grave of capitalism." That this grave, though fresh, Is full six feet deep was indicated by the applause. The slneing was re newed and this time Thomas' fine baritone was among them. Is Aptly Characterized. Earlier in the convention someone had aptly paraphrased Green Past ures, the Negro drama of primitive religous imaginings, when he saw the New* Yorker enter the conven tion hall. "There's Norman Thom as, walking the earth in the shape of a natural man." Louis Waldman had given the same idea of Thomas' stature, not only physical but mental and spirit ual, when, in nominating him, he said: "Thomas is the only man in public life who has risen from day to day and from month to month in the estimation of the American neonle." Both remarks seemed particular ly appropriate as the tall, distin guished, white haired Socialist lead er mounted to the platform. As the singing went on, he stood at attention, his face as white as his prematurely gray hair, his frame trembling slightly. Maurer was beside him, face set in a mold belying the humor which so fre quently crops out in his utterances. Pose for News Men. The running mates had to pose for the news men. They lifted right hands. Lights. More lights. Flashes. More flashes. The hum of many movie machines. They had stood together thus, four years ago, too. but then there had not been so many news men and cameras. Not so many eyes throughout the nation had been focused upon the Socialist party movements then as now. Maurer's head came just to Thomas' shoulder. Thomas' long arm fitted easily around Maurer's shoulder, at the suggestion of one photographer. "I've never turned my back to a job yet," Maurer had just said in accepting the nomination for vice president. His whimsical, "I've just enough ego about me to think I'm the right guy for the job." was still tickling those behind the cam eras. Tribute to Berger. As the call for more and more pic tures continued, Thomas grinned. r I hMMBM gtr i J IF W' WBl*f BH r Wf wf I SU' KdBIISMim oMMr, mw I I RMI ^iwiKay .y y a ^.7. Natixis O r sivw s y u jmm ^sßs3Ts^3w®aßF' HyTajaHwl p&h^E^ED In oE ISo HILLQUIT LAYS SOCIALIST PLAN BEFORE VOTERS Lashing the two old parties for their broken pledges and do-nothing policy, Morris Hillquit, internation ally known Socialist, last night challenged the voters of America over a National Broadcasting Co. network to the realization that "a country rich enough to provide $2,- 000,000,000 to help a few thousand financiers can surely not plead pov erty when it is asked to provide food and work for 8,000,000 jobless workers, deprived of their livelihood through no fault of their own." The Socialists ask a federal ap propriation of $5,000,000,000 for public works "to break the vicious circle of unemployment and depres sion," Hillquit said. He spoke over the radio with Norman Thomas, So cialist candidate for president; James Maurer, vice presidential candidate, and Mayor Daniel W. Hoan. Cites Vast Cost of War. "A country that could raise $15,- 000,000,000 for the prosecution of war can surely afford to give one third of it for the preservation of life." he declared. Hillquit's address follows: "Since the Socialist party enters the presidential campaign in rival ry with the old political parties, it behooves its spokesmen to submit to the people of the country the grounds upon which it solicits their support. "This is what I shall attempt to do in broad outline within the short space of 15 minutes alloted to me on this occasion. "Unlike the two old parties, the Socialist party has an unvarying social aim and ideal. This aim is to democratize and nationalize the industrial life of the country. "Today we have a political de mocracy with an industrial oli garchy. Under our constitution the political government is vested in the people as a whole and our citizens would revolt at any suggestion that the right to vote, to hold office and to make laws he confined to a spe cial privileged class. Raps Irresponsible System. "But we have abandoned the vastly more vital economic sphere to a limited group of capitalists. II e have permitted them to monop olize our land and natural resources and the whole organized machinery for the production and supply of "Now what do you want us to do?" he asked good naturedly, and when the answers varied, he said, "which one is the boss stage manager?" Little Anette Shier was then called to pose with the presidential candidates. As he drew' her into the foreground, Thomas remarked to the picture boys, "You've had the thorns, now we'll add the rose." At last the pictures were over-- Thomas was again impressing upon the audience his profound sincerely, his magnetic power to exhort "for great and holy causes." He was standing, he said, at the head of the party where Debs had stood; and in the city which still feels the impetus of the Socialist party founder, Victor L. Berger. It was the most touching mention of Berger since the opening of the convention and taken full note of by the listen ers, scores of whom were later to stop a moment, upon a tour of the city, at the grave of him who head ed the Socialist party for so many years. SECTION OF HUGE MASS MEETING AUDIENCE the necessaries of our daily exist ence. "W'e are politically free but eco nomically dependent We have po litical organization but industrial anarchy. "As a result our wealth produc tion is irregular and inadequate and the wealth we produce is dis tributed unjustly and iniquitously. "In normal times our industrial system creates indefensible and un healthy social contrasts: Million aires and paupers, palaces and slums, the privileged few with an existence of leisure and pleasure and vast masses carrying the heavy cross of toil, care ana privation through a joyless and cheerless life. "Breaks Down Periodically.** "At regular intervals the whole unregulated system of private in dustries breaks down and the coun try finds itself in a condition of inestricable misery and chaos. Man ufacture and trade are halted. For tunes vanish. Bankruptcy follows upon bankruptcy and millions of workers are thrown out of employ ment and deprived of earnings and means of life. "A condition of such acute indus trial, commercial and financial dis order as confronts us today, with enforced idleness in face of the des perate need of the people for all kinds of manufactured products, with starvation amidst plenty, throws a glaring light upon the danger of an industrial system based on private initiative and re sponsibility, and operated competi tively for private profits. "The essence of the Socialist program is the proposal that the great industries of the country, one by one, be taken out of private ownership and turned over to the people to be operated by appropri ate public agencies for the common use and benefit Relief Measures Asked. "This program, of course, im plies a radical reorganization of the industries on the basis of planned and steady production with adequate guaranties against beaurocracy, incompetence and graft. "The socialization of Industries is the cardinal demand of Social ism, the beacon light which guides it in all its policies and activities. "But the Socialist party Is by no means indifferent to the immediate needs of the people, the needs of today and tomorrow. "The platform just adopted at the Milwaukee convention contains a comprehensive program of imme diate relief measures for the suf fering masses. Urg $5,000,000,000 Appropriation. "We demand a congressional ap propriation of $5,000,000,000 for all kinds of useful public works to cre ate jobs for millions and to break the vicious circle of unemployment and depression. "A country that Is rich enough to provide $2,000,000,000 to help a few thousand bankers, railroad magnates and real estate specula tors in their self-inflicted business embarrassment, can surely not Ik? heard to plead poverty when it is asked to provide food and work for 8,000,000 jobless W'orkers deprived of their livelihood for no fault of their owm. "A country that could raise $15,- 000,000.000 for the prosecution of can surely afford to give one third of it for the preservation of life. "We demand an effective system of compulsory unemployment insur ance with funds, partly contributed by the employers and partly raised from increased income and inheis itance taxes. Hold Right to Live. "We hold that every citizen will ing to work has the right to live: that in any enlightened community this right must be guaranteed by the government, and that when the THE MILWAUKEE LEADER. MONDAY, MAY 23. 1932 opportunity to work and live is cut off from any citizen without his fault, the government is under a moral duty to provide him with the minimum requirements of life --a doctrine which all advanced coun tries of Europe have long recog nized and accepted. "To further decrease the number of jobless workers: "We demand an adequate retire ment pension for aged and disabled workers. They have given their youth and manhood, their strength and vitality in the service of their fellow men, and when they have grown old and feeble they should not be coldly discarded by a heart less community and left to their own resources to beg or die. Against Child Labor. "We demand that the millions of children of tender age whose physi cal, mental and moral development is stunted in the mills and fac tories, particularly in the south, be removed from industry and allowed the schooling, play and sunshine which are their just due. "We demand that the hours of labor be reduced in keeping with the increased productivity of mod ern machinery and rationalization of industry. The constant inven tion and perfection of labor sav ing machinery provides mankind with increased opportunities for wealth and leisure. It* W inherent ly one of the great blessings of so cial progress. Under our insane in dustrial system of capitalism it in creases unemployment and spreads misery and desolation. "The Socialist platform is not wholly confined to domestic prob lems. We realize that the destinies of our country inextricably inter woven with the fate of the rest of the world by innumerable economic, political and cultural ties and that so long as Europe remains pros trate America cannot recover. Foreign Policy Outlined. "We demand that our govern ment take its rightful place in the council of nations and unstintingiy make its contribution towards the restoration of order and enlightened social progress in the world. "Specifically, we demand: "The razing of the dangerous and preposterous tariff wall with which our short-sighted politicians sur round this country. War Debt Cancellation. "The cancellation of all war debts of foreign governments on condition of a similar cancellation of all reparation payments. "These huge debts and repara tions can never be collected from the bankrupt or semibrankrupt countries of Europe, but our in sistence on the impossible tends to prolong the economic uncertainty which paralyzes Europe and the po litical disorders which convulse it. "We demand that our govern ment take the initiative in a real and earnest effort to secure general disarmament by international agreement, and that it set an ex ample to the rest of the world by granting immediate and full inde pendence to the Philippines, with drawing our armed forces from all foreign countries and reducing our own armaments progressively and drastically to the point of complete disarmament. Justice to Negro Demanded. "Economic justice for the work ers in factories, mines and mills, on the roads and in the stores and of fices, and economic justice for the farmer tilling the soil. "Social and political justice to the colored people and to all races and nationalities inhabiting the United States. "Full civil and political rights and liberties to persons of all so cial and political creeds. Abolition of all classes and class wars at home. World Without War. Peace and amity with our neigh boring countries and the rest of the world. These are the cardinal demands 1932 CAMPAIGN OF SOCIALISTS LAUNCHED HERE Continued From Page One. 5, the Wall Street gang will at least know that the Socialist party exists. Workers Ready to Kick. "The workers of America have at last made, up their minds to protest --to kick, for (east they enjoy the same rights as mules and pack asses--the right to make a kick. And if we don't elect a president now, we will surely do it four years from now." Morris Hillquit, Introduced by the mayor, as the veteran "who worked with Eugene Debs and with every other great leader of the party since then," said: "We have chosen as our standard bearer, Norman Thomas one of the most fearless of Socialists. He has as his running mate, one of the most popular men in working class circles--James H. Maurer, one who has followed closely at alj times in the footsteps of Eugeni Debs.. 14 Million on Jury. "As a lawyer I look on this strug gle as a trial In which 14.000,000 of working class citizens are on the jury. "The old parties and the economic system they represent are the de fendants in the case. "We have the wealthiest country in the world and the most fertile soil. It was created by cosmic pro cesses of evolution or by a benevol ent divine providence. But it was not created to be held by a small group of landlords and to be held back from the people. "All the natural resources of coal and the other minerals were bestowed upon us by natural forces of evolution. They were never meant to be monopolized or claimed as private property by a privileged class. "Machines, those labor saving tools were given to us through the evolution of human brainwork. They were never intended to be held in the grasp of a few hands. They are still our tools and belong to those who labor. Whoever owns the means of livelihood, our tools, owns us. People Economic Slaves. "The American people are polit ically free but economically slaves. The Socialist party demands the restitution of stolen property, the of Socialism. A world without strife and warfare, without poverty and depressions, without break downs and eatastrophies, a free, just, sane and abundant world, that is the ideal of Socialism; that is the objective for which we shall fight in the coming election and at all times thereafter, without pause or let-up until full and complete realization." DRESSES, Ladies' COATS Men's SUITS, OVERCOATS and for SI.OO PRESSED 'W? Any Garment Dyed, SI.OO, Except Celanese ARTISTIC DYE WORKS ORCHARD 8988 5522 W. GRANT ST. BROADWAY 056« H 39 N. VAN BUREN ST. --By Leader Staff Photographer. tools and land and natural re sources to tt|j peoplf of the United States so that they may be econom ically free. "The great brains of our capital ist ruling class stand revealed to us now as helpless incompetents and we demand that they be re moved from their trusteeship. "We ask for a mandate to re build on the ruins of the outworn economic system a new structure." Mahrer who followed Hillquit, "could not see why we can't win this year." Has Room in White House. "If you folks out there will push the cart hard, we will get it over. I.have a orom reserved in the white house and I invite you all to the inauguration." Maurer said: "One hundred and fifty years ago, when this republic came into exist ence, we had a population of 4,000,- 000 and an annual income approxi mating $400,000,000 and a national wealth of $500,000,000. Ox-carts and stage coaches were the means of transportation. "Much has happened since then. The population in 1930 was about 120,000,000 with an annual income of about $90,000,000,000 and a na tional wealth of approximately $375,000,000,000. While our popu lation has increased thirty fold, the annual income has increased 195 times and the national wealth near ly 770 times as great as it was a century and a half ago. 90 Billion Income in 1930. "If this annual income of $90,- 000,000,000 in 1930 had been equal ly distributed to the head of each family of say only four to a family, each family would have had an in come of $3,000, and the national wealth of $375,000,000,000 divided in a similar manner would mean that each family would be the pos sessor of $12,000 worth of property. "But by consulting the Income tax returns of 1928, we know that only about 3,000,000 out of our 120,- 000,000 population had annual in comes of $3,000 and over, and among this group were 20,000 with incomes of $50,000 and over, 1,357 with incomes of over a quarter of a million, and 500 with incomes of a million and over, and 10 with aver age incomes of $8,900,000 each. While this great wealth was cre ated collectively, it surelv does not require much of a scholar to see who it was created for. Surely not for the remaining 117 non 000 of our population who created it and whose annual incomes shrank from less than $3,000 to nothing. Shows Big Increase. "The wealth or this nation has increased 25 times as fast as our population. May I ask, are the workers who created this wealth 25 times as well off, or 25 times more secure against poverty and want as were our ancestors a cen tury and a half ago. Needless for me to tell you that we are not as well off or as secure against pov erty and want as the early settlers of the ox-cart period were. "Who gets the lion's share of this wonderful income? Not the workers who created it; no, by hook CONFISCATION CLAUSE BEATEN IN STORMY PLATFORM SESSION After several hours of spirited debate, the national convention of the Socialist party, meeting in the Auditorium yesterday, by an over whelming vote of 168 to 14 refused to accept a proposal that it stand for the "confiscation" of the prin cipal industries of the country and adopted the original proposal of its platform committee calling for the "transfer of the principal indus tries of the country from private ownership and autocratic manage ment to social ownership and dem ocratic control." A group in the convention fought bitterly to inject the word "confis cation" Into the preamble to the platform. Warns of Danger. But cooler counsel prevailed when outstanding leaders of the party, including Norman Thomas, subsequently named as presidential candidate, warned of the dangers of such a step, which they stated would alienate great masses who otherwise will support the party in the coming campaign. The convention was faced with a majority and minority report of the platform committee. While the two reports did not differ materially in principal the minority platform pro posal submitted by Oscar Ameringer of Oklahoma and Heywood Broun of New York condensed the platform into 20 points. The minority report was voted down and the majority report adopted as a basis of discus sion and amendment. The preamble adopted after minor amendments from the floor reads: Preamble After Amendment. "Today, in every city of the United States, jobless men and wo men by the thousands are fighting the grim battle against want and starvation, while factories stand idle and food rots on the ground. Millions of wage-earners and sal aried workers are hunting in vain for jobs, while other millions are only partly employed. "We are, indeed, facing a break down of the capitalist system. This breakdown the Socialist party has long predicted. In the last cam paign. it warned the people of the increasing insecurity in American life and urged a program of action which, if adopted, would have saved millions from their present tragic plight. "Under capitalism, unemploy ment and poverty are inevitable products of the present system. The few own our industries. The many do the work. The workers and farmers are compelled to give a large part of the product of their labor to the few. The many in thd factories, mines, nhops, offices and farms obtain but a scanty income and are able to buy back only a part of the goods that can be pro duced in such abundance by our mass production. Goods pile up. Factories close. Men and women are* discharged. The nation is thrown into a panic. Class Strife Cited. "Capitalism spells not only wide spread economic disaster, but class strife. It likewise carries with it an ever present threat of interna tional war. The struggle of the capitalist class to find world mar kets and investment areas for their surplus goods and capital was a prime cause of the World war. It is today fostering those policies of nationalism, militarism and impe rialism which, if unchecked, will make another war inevitable. "From the poverty, insecurity and unemployment, the economic collapse, the wastes and the wars of our present capitalistic order, only the united efforts of workers and crook, mostly by crook, it, through our so-called cherished in stitutions of rent, interest and profit, was absorbed by less than 3,000,000, leaving the balance of our population of 117,000,000 abso lutely at the mercy of the individ ualistic and capitalistic disease germs which is more destructive to the human family than any other known pestilence that the human family has ever been afflicted with. Few Own Everything. Those who absorb the lion's share of the nation's income naturally own the lion's share of the nation al wealth. Those who produce nothing own everything and those who produce everything own noth ing. "And in this struggle between the individualist and collectivist the in dividualist has won, with the seat of the government in Wall Street and it's loud speaker in Washing ton. You. iListen/n^ We want to tell you that Gas Coke Prices are Now Lowest in Years 9 Note these new summer F quotations now in effect. Egg and Nut $9.25 per ton Small Nut $8.25 pe r ton Carried to front or side basement window SWSfe. within the first zone limits. This Includes Wauwatosa, West Allis and Shorewood. f F* Orders of 3 tons or more may be paid V V Vlx for in Ove equal monthly INSTALL- VVZIVk. MENTS IF DESIRED. Milwaukee Gas Light Co. and farmer?, organized in union" and co-operatives and. above all. a political party of their own. can save the nation. "The Republican and Democratic parties, both controlled by the great industrialists and financiers, have no plan or program to rescue ns from the present collapse. In this crisis, their one purpose and desire has been to help the railroads, banks and insurance companies. "The Socialist party is today the one party of the workers whoso program would remove the causes of class straggles and class antagon isms and social evils Inherent in the capitalist system. Ask Transfer of Industries. "It proposes to transfer the prin cipal industries of the country from private ownership and autocratic management to social ownership and Democratic control. Only by these means will it be possible to organize our industrial life on a basis of planned and steady opera tion without periodic breakdowns and disastrous crises." The platform then confines to make specific proposals for imme diate legislation under the head ings: Unemployment and labor leg islation, social ownership, banking, taxation, agriculture, constitutional changes, civil liberties and interna tional relations. There are also two separate pro posals on prohibition which is not touched in the majority report by separate groups of the committee. Wet Amendment Offered. One of these proposals, by Mayor Daniel W. Hoan, Heywood Broun* and Oscar Ameringer, reads: "The Socialist party favors tho repeal of tl^ 18th amendment and the taking over of the liquor dustry under government owYi ship and control with the right of local option for each state to main tain prohibition within its bor ders." The fight for the confiscation declaration was led by William Bu sick of California and supported by Broun. "We must let the workers know that we propose to return to them the industries they created and which they should rightfully own," Busick stated. Busick Tells of Confiscation. "The workers mined the iron, they puddled it and wrought it into shape, they fashioned into machin ery, they built the factories housing it and it rightfully belongs to them the creators. "We have confiscation now. Cap. italist confiscation. "There are 44,(KM) people in Los Angeles who have lost their homes because they have been confiscated by the capitalist owners. The health and education of children are being confiscated because the jobs of their parents have been confiscated by capitalism. We should speak plain ly and fearlessly on this matter." A great storm of applause joined in by the visitors in the galleries greeted the declaration and the sup porting speech by Broun. Asks Orderly Change. Thomas opposed this proposal as an invitation to immediate revolu tion. "I do not say that confiscation is basically wrong, but it cannot be accomplished except by violent revo lution," Thomas said. "If that is what we stand for we go even farther than the Commu nist party. "The adoption of this proposal would be a fatal step for the So cialist party to take at this time There is now a chance to in a gei eration establish a Socialist socieL with a minimum of violence." Cites Small Home-Owners. Thomas then cited the ownership of homes, farms and savings by many workers who would be terri fied by such a declaration and would bitterly oppose the party. "If we do not mean to put im mediate confiscation into practice but merely mean it as a radical statement we would not be playing fair with those whom we ask for support. I for one do not want to he a candidate of a party which would make a statement which it does not mean." TRUSSES Fitted by Experts Twenty-three Years in Milwaukee SEE THE FAMOUS Uncle Sam Truss Holds When AH Others Fall. All Standard Makes Carried in Stock Men and Lady Fitters THE ORTHOPEDIC APPLIANCE CO. 123 EAST WELLS ST. Opposite Pabst Theater Phone DAly 8021 Page Two