The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-01-30
CHILDREN WITH
NO SHOES; NO
MEDICAL CARE
Officials Neglect Rank
and File Members
By w. ]. WHITE.

PITTSBURGH, Pa, Jan. 29.-lt IS
no eXaggeration when men and wo
men speak about the starving min
ars of Western Pennsylvania The
miners of this end of the state are
Silently bearing up under starvation
conditions and facing the future with
the courage of heroes. Back in the
hills where the main line of travel
very seldom reaches, and those whc
lnow nothing about these starving
people never go, there are literally
hundreds of men, women and chill
dren going day by day and night by
night without the necessary food
clothing and shelter to keep them fit
to battle against disease, cold and
exposure Story after story could be
told about men battling the lockout
OF the coal mine owners without shoes
and wearing the vilest and most I'M
sanitary clothing, and tie same can
be said about the wives and children
Of these miners.
Day after day | have met children
struggling over snow-covered roads
on their way to school, with old rub
bers tied on their little feet, with
out stockings, and their little lips
blue from the winter frost and snow
Suffering and starving because theh
fathers were denied the right to carr
money to buy shoes and stockings
with which to keep the little victimr
Of capitalist greed from suffering
those hunger pangs. Society mus
pay for this suffering which is today
sapping and weakening the fathers
and mothers of the future.
Misery, Destitution.
A most heart breaking case haa
Gene under my observation and this is
only one out of many. It is the cas-
Of a poor Slavic mother who visited
one of her countrymen and his wife
to consult with them as to what she
could do to keep her family from
starving to death. This poor mother
caught in the coils of this lockout
with SIX children, had been forced tc
hNoHC bhG IlOuSS lilTu LIell
being evicted by the coal and iron po-
Ice, because the husband, who had
-s'etn locked-out for the past ten
months was not able to find work and
earn the money necessary to pay the
rent of the house in which they lived
Driven from the house, and unable
to find shelter in the town where they
had lived for the past four years, they
moved away from the mine camp into
town in the Allegheny Valley try
ing in this town to find work, but not
understanding any but his own
language, he was unable to get work.
Their little stock of money ran out
weeks ago, and yesterdp when | saw
them they were without heat in the
house and they had not eaten for the
last three days. Their little baby had
been poisoned from the rotten condi-
tlon of its teeth, while the parents
were fearful of calling a doctor be-
cause they had no money. It's little
emaciated body was nothing but a
bunch of bones and the other children
were in a like condition
Neglected by Officials.
This man and father had visited the
office of the United Mine Workers
end stated his case to the reactionary
officialdom. In the face of this con-
difion of the family they had given
hi-2 miserlv $3.50. Out Of this
miserable paltry sum he had had to
"ey a railroad fare of $132 and this
re had to deduct from this $3.50
With the balance, this father, ignor-
ant Of the language of the country
end not able to understand his right
N the local relief, is abandoned bv
these officials to fight this UNEQUAL
battle with this pittance which they
raid grudgingly to this family of
eight
How many such cases there are in
this strike of this kind it is and will
be Impossible to find out. What silent
martyrs there are back in the hills of
Western Pennsylvania. suffering ST.
lently and left to suffer there MARTYR
dom ignorant of their rights in the
PREMISES, just as this Slavish father
and mother have been suffering for
the months and weeks. What anguish
must have ripped at the heart of this
foreign-born mother as she saw her
little brood without food to keep them
from the gnawing pangs of starva-
tor. She herself unable to go out
end make her neighbors understand
her own and her family's condition
nd the irony Of the father going into
pittsburgh and being Knocked with
such pittance for himself and his
wife and children.