The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-08-10
Police Get Jobless.


I shifted to Frisco" and found
conditions, if anything, worse, That
city scared me bit. Every day the
cossacks were working overtime,
rounding up the unemployed in the
tenderioin district, Madison, Harri-
son and 3rd Sts., and booking them
on charges of vagrancy. The dead
line was Market st. That's where
the slave instinct tells him to get
off the grass.
Things didn't look healthy in
Frisco" so 1 thought that l had
better pack up my few belongings
and try the great, wide, open
spaces, where men are men and
workers carry their blankets after
trudging most of the way from
Frisco" / struck oil in Willis:
a one-eyed gentleman hired me in
partnership to chop wood.
Boss Rules.
By the way, what slave is up
against in the bookkeeping line
of exploitation is pretty bad. To
begin with, the boss emphatically
lays down the size, length and fin
ish to the standard requirement and
should you contradict any of his
orders, he is sure to remind you
of the depression prevailing through
out the land and that many men
have contracted themselves to do
the same work for lower pay.
Anyway 1 tackled the job, in
partnership with the boss foreman.
That was my first experience at
woodchopping. Now, hadn't been
long in partnership with this bird
when l found out he was a snooper
and conscious lackey of his boss.
From the expression of his earlier
sentiments, l could easily see that
he was a staunch advocate of Ku
Klux Klanism. He was very hostile
to all labor organizations, especially
toward the Communists and /.
W. WIS.
l thought I'd try to convince
him that there was light and way
to better our miserable conditions
in today's life. First, pointed out
the cabin in which we were living.
1t had better have been called a
coffin. l showed him the beds we
tried to rest in, litter of straw,
with gunny sacks as mattresses,
rags and odds and ends as blankets
I pointed out the cheap food on
which we had to live. Always beans
and coffee for our meals.
There were the vermin of the
woods running on the cabin flool
which l showed him. They were
also in the so-called beds and or
the table. The table was two planks
laid on boxes.
Long Hours.
l pointed out the long hours we
had to work, from sunrise to sun
set, and work in all kinds Of
weather. You can safely say you're
working if you make three dollars
in twelve to fourteen hours.
My talk was true, but to the 1OI
per cent. Turnkey it was all in vain
All he could answer in arguing
back was, "Why don't you go ,bacl
where you came from if you don
like the good old United States?
So ended our partnership.
From Willis went to Ukial
only to find conditions exactly tn
same. Here worked at the ranc
of a government official to cho
wood. / had the same rate of pa
and the same miserable living cor
ditions, although he exploited h
slaves more than the Willis 10
per center. Besides chopping WOO
you had to clear his ranch of undel
brush without thanks or compens;
ton.
The gentleman's salary as off
Ger to the Mendicino Company e.
ceeds 5000 per month and he h;
been holding that fat post for
years. Yet he didn't pay me fl
what timber and underbrush hi
put by in some four months. 9th
, fellows have the same complai
b against our governmental boss.
:. I'm rather long about this lette
, l know, but that's what really ha
|, pened, it's true and can vouch f
e it's authenticity.
IL If any readers of The Dali
N WORKER want to live a little 10
10 ger under republican prosperit
T. just give California wide bert
A The sunshine is pretty nice, b
ID never nice enough to make a me
ID for hungry stomach.
lie /, for one, would like to get out
q California, but in the three yea
> I've been here I've not been able
1t save enough to leave and get in
- Il A