The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1919-05-23
Scott hearings
American Letter

Ane peopie OF the United STATES
are beginning to get the flavor OF
pohtlcal prisoners and political pris-
ons. lie prison treatment accorded
70 some members of the /. w. W.
and to some Conscientious Directors
has been atrocious. The woman suf-
Iragists who picketed the White
house with their demands for the
passage of the Suffrage Amendment
We're subjected to every indignity by
the police of Washington and by the
JAIL officials at Ocoquan. Many OF
the political prisoners, however, have
met with kindness and consideration
Mrs. Kate O'Hare, the descendant
OF an honored American family; a
mother of four splendid children; a
widely known and much beloved lee
turer and writer for the American
Socialist Movement; internationally
famous as a Socialist organizer,
writes her Easter letter from the
pemtentiary at Jefferson City, Mo-,
where she is serving five year term
Tor speech that she made in North
Dakota in 1917.
She has been able to arrange it
rather neatly with bed linen sent by
several CT her friends. However
there are 80 girls here, and there
is not a book, magazine or particle
OF reading matter supplied to the
women" Mrs. O'Hare, therefore, re-
quests that new books be sent to her
direct from publishers, as the rules
OF the penitentiary do not permit in
mates to receive secondhand books.
The kitchen is three blocks from
the women's dining room, SO that ev-
erything is stone cold by the time it
reaches the women prisoners. Things
that do not require cooking may be
sent in from the outside, and Mrs.
O'Hare writes, "Tell the women
comrades that / will be very glad to
have any sort of homemade jam,
jellies and pickles-in fact anything
that is put up in small containers.
Tell Mrs. Wagner to send me some
of her nice cookies and the Jewish
Comrades to send me a box of Mat
EOS"
Some of the women prisoners at
Jefferson City find it difficult to do
the necessary "stint" Of work. Mrs.
O'Hare reports that she has had no
trouble in this direction. "The work
in the factory does not trouble me
at all. understand that I have
broken all records for beginners in
making jumpers. I feel little stiff
and sore, but it is nothing serious.
i feel sure that I will be able to
make the task by next month,
which is SIS jumpers each day." APP
parently, Comrade Kate is, in a way,
to succeed as admirably at jumper
making as she has succeeded at So
cialist lecturing.
the United States is gaining ground.
The Board of Education of the city
of New York has gone on record,
through DR.. J. L. Tidsley, associate
superintendent in charge of high
schools, against the employment of
Socialists. At a meeting where the
activities of the Teachers Union
were being discussed DR.. Tildsley
said, "No person who adheres to the
MARKHAM program, the program of
the Left. Wing of the Socialist Party
in this country, should be allowed to
become teacher in the public school
system and if discovered to be a.
teacher should be compelled to sever
his connection with the school sys-
tenn, for it is impossible for such a
person to carry out the purpose of
the public schools as set forth by
Commissioner Finnegan that the
public school of any country should
be the expression of the country's
ideals, the purpose of its institutions,
and the philosophy of it's life and
At the same time, group of Col
lege Professors at the University of |
Illinois has organized college Pro-
fessors' Local No. l." and affiliated
with the American Federation of
Labor. The President, Prof. A. c..
Cole, said: eve have been dubbed
sitting room soviet Our job in or
ganizing is to provide opportunity
for democratic expression among
members of the faculty. Just at
present we shall MAZE no demands
on our employers"
Thirty workers charged with
starting a revolution" have been ar
rested in Seattle, Washington. The
arrest grew out of the general strike
which recently tied up the industries
of the city for five days. The ar
rests were made on the ground that
the international Weekly" which
during the general strike, contained
articles indictable under law
which renders guilty personable to
punishment by as much as fifteen
years. Imprisonment. The police of
Philadelphia, not to be outdone by
hose of Seattle, arrested sixteen
girls for distributing a circular de-
"Fgeneral amnesty or gen.
eral strike" and calling upon the
Efforts to make a effective May Day
1t is becoming daily more evident
hat the public officials intend to
rush the growing militant labor
Equally aggressive is the
altitude of the land movement. The ,
equally aggressive is the attitude of !
he labor movement itself. The
'ank and file of the American Fed
ration of Labor are far more radi-
al than the leadership. Oppressive
government measures are awakening
armers and laborer alike to the cris-