The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-11-21
SLAVERY FOR
MICRATOR|ES
IN the west
Low Pay, Long Hours,
on Railway and Farm
(Rv a WoyI,o,, Correspondent

WSHL WHNC I|Sb HpTlk, IlFSJ TO ar
go, North Dakota, from where I
shipped to Glendive, Montana, as a
laborer with Folev Bros, a construc-
ton comnang doing extensive rail
goad work at the time. Wares were
Rs cents an hour on this lob. with
lots of bosses and a General speedup
for every worker The hours were
supposed to be 10, but as we
travelled to and from work on our
own time, it really amounted to an
| hour dav The day after our
bunch arrived so men quit in BODY
because of the atrocious board in
the company camp, and because thew
learned they were to be assessed 50
apiece for "poor tax"
I stood this place a week, when 70
of US, Disguised with the low pay
and generally bad conditions, threw
down our tools and walked to the
camp. We had to wait from II a.
m. to 5 p. m. for our time checks.
Our suppers had been deducted from
our pay as we'll as the afore-
mentioned taxes. When we started
oatirg the supper, for which we had
been charged, we were told to get
out by the bosses. We insisted on
eating the meal we had paid for, as
we were 80 miles from the nearest
town and it looked as if we would
have to walk back there. We had
been told to leave camp several times
before supper. and know we wouldn't
be allowed to stay the night
We were forbidden to ride out of
town on the work train to Glendive,
10 miles away, but thru the decencv
IT the train crew rranaged to hide in
the cars and get there
worked for Foley Bros. six and
half days, and after the deductions
'or board at S1.20 per dav poor tax
81; road tax So hospital fee for
one month IS cents, and 50 for shin
ring. I had the grand sum of $500
left for my week of the hardest kind
IF toll. AS to the "poor tax"
don't know what it is for, except
that we, the poorest members of so
"ietv. were compelled to pay it.
About the road tax. one can see no
sion of roads (onlv cow pathsl in
that desert-like country. I think it
s al graft. About the hospital
-oe being bothered with ear trouble,
I decided to find out if there was
ANYTHING but hot air to the COM
-,~rv claims of "exnart medical at
tention," as I had paid this fee many
times before in other jobs. So I
saw their doctor. and he never even
examined me, but gave me pre-
scription to a drug store. which
proved to be worthless. One more
swindle of the workers, these medi-
cal fees charged all over the west.
/ had enough of Montana. where
they have devised more legal" but
dirty schemes to skin migratory
workers alive than any other state
| have vet worked, and I have
worked in II.
I then went to North Dakota to
take in harvest work. I found some
great changes from years ago now
rrevailing. had not followed har-
vest work for several years previ-
Gus. For one thing, the rich farmer
s no LONGER coming to town to look
For his harvest slaves. Why should
ne, when the country literally
swarms with.workers from all over
the country, looking for work for
almost any wages. In fact. many
did not even trouble to ask the farm
or what wages he was going to pay.
Iobs are not nearly as easy to get
as years ago.
Another change was the almost
complete absence of the I. w. w.
members. Conditions are as bad as
they were 20 years ago; working
hours from dark to dark, wages
whatever the farm owner is willing
70 paw the hands. Poor food, bad
sleeping quarters, in strawstacks un-
der sky, are the rule.
Owing to the fact that more farm
ars than ever are buying their own
.hreshinr rigs, the threshing runs
are constantly getting shorter, often
not beinc over a week long. Another
new thing in the forming country
< the new machinery being intro
suced. esneciallv the combine" and
the "swather." The former cuts.
hreshes. and sacks the grain, all in
ane operation. But because the
-rain in many places in the Dakotas
does not ripen evenly, making the
oarly threshirg of it with a combine
Eifficult, and the subsequent
troubles with damp grain at the ele-
vators even worse, the swather has
been invented. 1t cuts the grain as
It STANDS anc places it in swathes
over which the combine can after
wards travel when the straw is dry
rnouch, picking IL up and threshing
t.. Three men are REQUIRED to oper-
ate it. Under the old conditions it
took IL. At the elevators there are
now regular drying machines to dry
any wet grain coming in from com
bine threshing.
The farmers everywhere in the
northwest are in bad shape. Wheat
prices average 70 cents to 80 cents
a bushel while potatoes are so low
in price that in many cases it, is
cheaper to leave them in the ground.
Evervwhere farmers are leaving the