The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-02-15
By H. M. WICKS.

THOUSANDS of impoverished men
stand in breadlines on the Bowery
and the Lower East Side in this, the
wealthiest city of the world. In the
bitter cold of winter masses of half
clothed, hungry men are huddled to-
gether for hours in the bread-lines
that grow longer with each passing
day, waiting like docile beasts for
their crust of bread and cup of swill
that passes for coffee.
The capitalist press canvassed a
few of the missions on Sunday and
found the totals at each of the six
leading ones higher than at any pre-
vious time since the close of the world
war. AS early as two o'clock in the
afternoon a breadline begins to form
in the Bowery between Houston and
First Street, just one block from the
office of The DAILY WORKER. In
the terrific storm of week ago thou
sands of men stood in that one bread
line, soaked to the skin and chilled to
the bone in the bitter driving sleet
that was falling. Slowly, almost i'm
perceptibly those who had stood for
hours passed into the filthy, smelly
dump called relief station, raven
ously gnawed the crust of garbage,
gulped a cup of black liquid and
passed into the bleak night. AS the
hours of the night slowly vanished
the pile of bread-crusts grew smaller.
When it disappeared completely, there
were still hundreds of men who had
patiently and silently stood on the
bread-line who were told that there
was nothing for them. Still many of
them stood, they had no place to go.
They had guessed wrong in their pla-
cid desire to secure bite of bread.
The other bread-lines were closed;
they could not again try to obtain
relief from the line until the next day.
pUT the unemployed men, denied
- even the crust of bread because
they were not in the line early enough,
did not stand there contemplating
their fate very long. The people who
conduct the "relief station" had no.
titled the police that closing time was
near and that many would have to be
turned away. To permit hungry men
to stand too long after they realized
they could not obtain even the most
meagre crust might result in demon
STATIONS that would be highly un-
pleasant reading for those who still
pirate about Coolidge prosperity"
Hungry men, brought together in the
hope Of obtaining scrap Of garbage
to eat, and then refused even that.
might together discuss their plight,
and decide to try to obtain something
from the elegant shops few blocks
away. Masses Of men, impelled by
hunger, have been known to smash
shop windows to obtain food. They
have broken into churches and public
buildings to find shelter. The docility
Of the men on the bread-lines might
vanish in the course Of mass discus
sion. So almost simultaneously with
the devouring Of the last crust by
some ravenous worker unable 10 OBJ
tain employment, the uniformed min
ions of claw and order" appear and
brutality dispense the remainder of the
bresdline, careful always to prevent
the forming Of even small gr,ups.
Then the individuals drag their W cary
feet along the Bowery, under the
shadow of the H." trying to eind
doorways in which they may st nd
during the remainder of the miseraI Vie
night.
BESIDES these tens Of thousands
= who haunt the breadlines, there ase
other thousands who still manage 70
shelter themselves and families i