about the Erectors' Association-section of the Steel Trust-paying money to the wobblies for some purpose, that the cashier or manager or whoever he was, could not remember. But could it be possible to suspect this revolutionary labor organization of serving the employing class? And are there employees who would accept such service and pay liberally for them? Would not the passing away of the trade unions and of government by law be a temptation to some employers, if they could, through this passing, visualize themselves as the absolute and irresponsible masters of all human society-their power without limit, their autocratic will obeyed. [Issued by International Seamen's Union of America] ATTENTION, PLEASE Are the wobblies breaking strikes for nothing? Who pays? Read. If you don't like scabs, if you distrust men who sail under false colors, if you like to know the real purposes of the wobblies, and if you can judge of men's purposes by learning their actions, then read this pamphlet. The wobblies claim that they are organized to abolish the wage system. Reading this, you will believe them and you will further believe that they are organized to reintroduce serfdom. Workers tied to industrial plants as workers were tied to the soil. Their arrival in any community is always the signal for some serious labor struggle. They know when it is coming and they come to the battle field like the wolves and the ravens marching to the tune of that old Scotch piprock, "Come and I will give you flesh." Inside are reproductions from their own official paper, some affidavits and authoritative statements which will surely interest you, either as a worker, a trade-unionist, or a friend of human liberty and progress. Read! Not to contradict and refute, nor to believe and take for granted; but to weigh and consider. Read! Read! Read! REVOLT IMPENDING ON GREAT LAKES SHIPPING CHICAGO. Lake sailors' headquarters here put little faith in the outcome of Secretary of Labor Davis's attempt to stave off the strike of 12,000 seamen on the Great Lakes, following three cuts in wages in the space of one year and introduction of the 12-hour day, 84-hour week. "Secretary Davis's conference will have little or no effect if the attitude of the Lake Carriers' Association remains the same," said J. Kidd, of the marine firemen's union. "We are willing to arbitrate, but the carriers have not been willing to meet us in the last 15 years." A CALL TO ACTION; FELLOW WORKERS GET ABOARD LAKES BOATS SAULT STE. MARIE. Marine Transport Workers' delegates are scarce on the Great Lakes and they are badly needed. Organization is practically nonexistent here. There are still a few hangers-on in the I. S. U., but they are dying off pretty fast. There is also the Watertenders, Oilers, Firemen, and Coal Passers' union. But that is dying slowly and surely. Most of the Lakes are American plan. Under this system the quartermasters, watchmen, and lots of the coal passers are working 12 hours a day. On deck they work all hours. Craft unionism can not cope with the situation. The ships are all lying up now on account of the coal strike, but that will end, then it will be easy to ship any day from Duluth. You don't need to be a sailor to get on these boats, anything goes. Come on, M. T. W. I. U. No. 510! (X-670.) [From Industrial Solidarity, Chicago, Ill., September 30, 1922.] SHIPPING PICKING UP NEW YORK. The Marine Transport Workers' Industrial Union, No. 510, I. W. W., is booming again. Looks like this fall and winter will be better than the last for them. We ought to try and get the harvest workers and the construction workers to go into the marine industry when their work is done. The M. T. W. needs more wobblies in it. The craft unionists have come to it in droves. They need to associate with some of the older members of the I. W. W. Shipping is picking up now. No doubt that it will be good for several months. Let's try and swing the harvest stiffs to the sea. Mr. RAKER. Were the steamship companies able to fill their crews with other men after this order of the Shipping Board? Mr. FLYNN. Yes, sir. Mr. RAKER. They had no trouble? Mr. FLYNN. No, sir. Mr. RAKER. Proceed. Mr. FLYNN. In conjunction with the order, as described, pertaining to the nonemployment of Filipinos, we were able to convince the Shipping Board that it was best to allow passes to be issued to the proper officials of the different locals in the various districts on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, so that they would have access to the docks and the Shipping Board vessels for the purpose of cooperation and to eliminate, to the greatest extent possible, this so-called I. W. W. organization. Mr. RAKER. What is the attitude of the shipowners toward the I. W. W. organization? Mr. FLYNN. Friendly. Mr. RAKER. Why? Mr. FLYNN. By their own statement, they are alleged to be "a means to an end," Judge. The proper interpretation of that is the ultimate and entire destruction of the International Seamen's Union of America. That is a true statement of fact. That is the object of it and that is why they say it is a means to an end. Mr. VAILE. Who said so? Mr. FLYNN. The shipowners' associations and the men hired to transact business for them. Mr. VAILE. Have you heard them say so? Mr. FLYNN. Yes, sir. Mr. VAILE. Who, for instance? Mr. FLYNN. Mr. Peterson, who operates the slave market in San Francisco. Mr. RAKER. What do you mean by the slave market? Mr. FLYNN. Where men congregate and sell themselves like slaves, to work under certain conditions that other legitimate, bona fide seamen will not do. They operate such offices in San Francisco and San Pedro. Mr. McREYNOLDS. Is the Marine Transport Workers composed of I. W. W. people? Mr. FLYNN. Yes, sir; they are chartered outright by the I. W. W. organization. Mr. FURUSETH. It is the marine division of the I. W. W. Mr. RAKER. Tell the committee a little more, if you can, as to why it is that the steamship owners and also the gentleman who appeared here the other day, Mr. Kehoe, insist on employing orientals instead of Americans and others who are entitled to become citizens? Mr. FLYNN. May I bring that out in my own way, Judge? Mr. RAKER. That is the best way to do it. Mr. FLYNN. The statement was made by Mr. Kehoe that Filipinos were preferred because as I took his meaning-they were superior to the white man, so called, and especially the American. In contending with the Shipping Board officials that it would be to their advantage from an economic point of view as well as from an efficiency point of view and for the safety of the traveling public, the vessels, the cargo, and, last, the crew, to take kindly to our suggestion, which was the training of our own nationals and to make the conditions on board the ship so that they would remain there after they were trained, to establish and maintain a permanent, 100 per cent American merchant marine and thereby give some assurance, at least, that there would be some future sea power for America, we cited cases to show that that was the only logical solution with that end in view. Shipowners were appearing in opposition, just as they are in all instances of this kind in which we are interested. They contended that we were wrong; that the Filipinos were far superior in every respect, and so on and so forth. To me, in so far as their testimony is concerned, it is the same kind of a child, only with a little different dress on. Their opposition is the same, irrespective of the angle we are putting forth, as long as it is something of consequence. If I may be permitted, I would like to add in this connection that I can not understand some of their Americanism, for the reason that they make a terrible confession, if they only realized it. At least, I take it in that light, when they say that the Filipino, or any other fellow whose skin is different from ours, is superior to the American. I resent that statement, and I go further and say that they can not prove their contention by statistics or by demonstration of practical fact. Irrespective of their opposition, the Shipping Board did grant passes, and since the passes were granted, and since the order was issued to stop the employment of the Filipino and encourage our own people, ships have come and gone, and the Americans have made good. You do not have to accept my statement of it. You can get the records from the Shipping Board and they will prove exactly what I say. They have made so good that since I left San Francisco, which was January 6, there has been a modified order issued with reference to the Filipino. They have taken them from the last. place in the former order and placed them in the second place, and I am of the opinion that it will be only a question of time when the American will again be eliminated through that loophole, because the engineers and the masters are partial to that kind of help, for reasons of their own and because of the fact that the operators want them. Mr. VINCENT. What do you mean by having taken them out of the first place and putting them in the second place? Mr. FLYNN. The order that was issued before, Mr. Congressman, was that preference of employment on board Shipping Board ships that were operated for the Government, should be given to American citizens first; next, to men who had declared their intention of becoming citizens of the country, based on seniority and then to men who are eligible to become citizens, but who have not declared their intentions, and finally to the Filipino. Now that order has been modified to read that preference is given to Americans first and then to Filipinos. Mr. HOLADAY.. Would that not indicate that conditions under the first order were not satisfactory? Mr. FLYNN. No; nothing of the kind, because the contention of the opposition fell down absolutely and our suggestions proved to be the correct suggestions, Mr. Congressman. Mr. VINCENT. Your position is that the Shipping Board has issued a modified order out of pure cussedness? Mr. FLYNN. I do not want to say that; of course not. I do not think I made any statements that would convey that idea. Mr. VINCENT. You said they had been shown that the operation under the first order had been a complete success. Why did they change it and go back partially, at least, to the old régime? Mr. FLYNN. Why did they change it? Well, of course, I can not exactly say why they changed it, but if you want my personal opinion, I will tell you. It was because of the opposition by the shipowners' association and suggestions made by them. That is my opinion. Mr. VAILE. You think, in other words, that it was the cussedness not only of the Shipping Board, but that combined with the shipowners' association? Mr. FLYNN. Well, I can not work along any other line. Mr. McREYNOLDS. It was influence exerted; is that your idea? Mr. VINCENT. If the order of preference that suits you had worked out, as you say, economically, why do they go back to the other order and why would anybody want them to do so? Mr. FLYNN. That is what I am guessing about. Probably I might be able to tell you as I go along. Mr. HOLADAY. Does the Shipping Board offer any explanation of why they modified the order? Mr. FLYNN. No. Mr. McREYNOLDS. Do they procure these Filipinos cheaper than they do the Americans? Mr. FLYNN. At the present time; no. There is a regular standard wage paid and, of course, that wage has got to be paid, with the exception of the steward's department. Mr. RAKER. Is it not a fact that the Filipino and the American present a difference in that the Filipino is more subservient than the American? Mr. FLYNN. I have stated that in the opening of my remarks and said that that was one of the reasons that they preferred him, Judge. Mr. RAKER. Are they subject to smuggling, like the Chinese? Mr. FLYNN. Of course they are. Mr. RAKER. Is that another reason, in your opinion? Mr. McREYNOLDS. Do you know anything about the proposition advanced that the Filipinos are put down for a certain wage and after they draw their wage they are supposed to pay that back to some one else? Mr. FLYNN. Yes; that is either through a No. 1 man or a leading man somewhere else; that is true. Mr. VAILE. You mean what Mexicans would call a padrone? Mr. VAILE. Of their own country? Mr. FLYNN. The leading men there. Mr. VAILE. Somebody of their own nationality? Mr. FLYNN. Yes; they call them No. 1 men, so far as the Chinese are concerned, and the same thing applies to those fellows. Mr. RAKER. While we are on that subject, the Filipinos, although we are letting them in by a little provision of the law, are not entitled to become citizens of the United States under the naturalization laws. Mr. FLYNN. No, sir; they are not. They are just as dangerous as any people that I know of. I do not see any good reason why they should be employed on the ships while our own nationals are walking around. I stated yesterday and I state again to-day that it is an impossibility to mix the Filipinos, or anybody else like them, with the Americans. With this kind of a loophole I am satisfied that they are going to go back to the old condition, and that the American whom we have succeeded in bringing back to the sea will quit. Mr. RAKER. Mr. Flynn, I as yet have not had an opportunity to present the evidence, because it is not in the shape in which we want it, but is there not the same objection to the Filipino that there is to the Malay, the Hindu, and the Chinaman? Mr. FLYNN. Certainly there is. Mr. RAKER. Not only as to his coming here and being here, but as to his citizenship and his working with an American citizen? Mr. FLYNN. Yes, sir. Mr. RAKER. There is that deep-set condition? Mr. FLYNN. Yes, sir. Mr. RAKER. Is there any way in which it can be avoided that you know of? Mr. FLYNN. Well, I intend to try to explain that particular part of it. I am not going to take up much more time of the committee, because I am almost through, except on the question raised by Mr. Sabath. Mr. RAKER. Before you get to that, is there any practice on the Pacific coast now of substitution, whereby, for instance, a Chinaman who is in the United States can take the place of the man who comes on the vessel, go to China, stay there six months to a year, and come back, present his papers showing that he is entitled to remain in the United States and is duly registered? Mr. FLYNN. While I have not anything that will prove that, particularly if I were asked to produce facts on it, nevertheless it is common gossip on the water front. Mr. RAKER. State to the committee whether or not that situation does exist to a greater or lesser extent; in other words, the younger men come here and the older ones seem to disappear. I am speaking of the Chinamen. Mr. FLYNN. As far as my observation goes of the various vessels that go away and from my observation of the particular type of people that are coming back, that is correct. |