davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-02-14
BH LANES VAN HORN.


7 AM a fellow worker and member
i of the TUUL. I have ben out of
work for six months or more so I
same to Kansas City from Denver,
Colo. I was given a bunch Of pam
phlets to distribute by the LID to the
workers of Kansas City. I had Just
gotten about five blocks from the
workers center when a dick" stopped
me and wanted to know what I was
doing. He searched me ard found
the pamphlets. He asked me all
about where I got them and searched
me again and as I did not have any
money he promptly arrested me. I
was kept in a lousy Jail over night
and tried the next morning on a
"vag" charge, was given a SIS fine
and sent to Leeds Farm for II days.
I have bummed around quite a
bit in my time and have heard a
great many stories about prison
camps but this Leeds has got them
ali skinned to a frizel The food is
rotten turnips, the noon diet some
times beans and sometimes potatoes.
We get mean if we are lucky enough
to get hold of the garbage can be-
fore someone else doee. You might
find a piece Of meant about the size
OF your thumb.
The quarters are run on the Jim
Grow System. Colored on one side
and white on the other, You are
supposed to work eight hours. There
are plenty of shot-guns to see that
you do your work. I mean work,
breaking rock or unloading coal, or
digging graves, paupers graves. Luck
lily I happened to be placed in the
grave yard bunch. I dug graves one
day only.
I buried two adults and one baby
all in one grave. Gee, I though while
I was digging that grave, that this
fellow must be giant Of a man or
woman. However, when the truck
came, I realized my mistake as they
put the two adults in the same hole
and the baby in the little hole about
three feet deep,
1 asked the guard if the two adults
were relations. He just laughed and
said, 'sHell, no." not that he knew
anything about it. I said, ''What do
they plant them in the same grave
for if they are not relations?" He
said, do you think that We are 60
ing to come out here every time
someone does and dig a grave? Hell,
no, it would take up all my time,
so we just wait till eighteen or twenty
die and then dig big hole and put
them all in and pound them in"
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-02-14
MARCHING
BY GEORGE PASCAL.

BY GEORGE PASCAL.
Imagine thousands of you
Millions of you
Marching, marching
Shouting
We want work!
We want bread!
A sea of hands
A sea of shadows
A mighty voice
That will make the bosses tremble
Like the fading autumn leaves.
Enough patience!
Show your cynical masters that
Those who create wealth cannot die
of hunger.
You are not asking for charity but
A part of what you own
OF what you made with your hands
With the sweat of your brow
That your bosses now possess.
Just imagine thousands of you
Millions Of you
Marching, shouting
We want work!
We want bread!
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-02-14
Slaves That Lincoln F'Freed"

finally he was driven into making
war on the Southern slave system
because of the conflicting interests OF
the northern industrialists whose sys-
tenn Of wage-slavery was menaced by
the chattel slave labor Of the South,
Lincoln clearly declared that he was
concerned not with the emancipation
of the slaves but with the saving of
the union for northern capitalism.
eff I could save the union without
freeing any slave, I would do it; if I
could save it by freeing all slaves,
would do it; if could save it by
freeing come and leaving others
alone, would also do that"
In 1861 Lincoln reprimanded Gen.
Fremont for issuing proclamation
of emancipation in Missouri, in an
effort to incite revolts among the
Negro slaves.
Negro workers! Smash the myth
Of Lincoln, the Emancipation! Repu-
date the misleaders who utilize this
myth to betray your struggles for
real emancipation! Negro and white
workers! Support the struggle for
national liberation Of the Negro
masses, for the right Of the Negro
n1ajorities Of the South to determine
and control their own form OF gov
eminent! Smash the system of land
monopoly with its share CROP
per and tenant farmer. slaveryl De-
n1and that the land be secured to
the Negro and white workers and
small farmers who work 1t! -
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-02-14

Hungary, Count Bethlen, has pre-
pared Five-Year Plan for the econ
omic recovery of Hungary The Buda-
pest papers state that the Plan In
cludes the industrialization of agri-
culture and the mechanical prepara-
ton of Soda"
This minister imagines that in or
der to carry out five-year plan, it
will be sufficient merely to wish it.
but the free creative energy of the
workers Is not necessary. Thus the
courageous leaders are producing an
ecdotes while the workers of the
Soviet Union are creating new his
tory.
What shall I wish for you, COM
rades, in the 14th year of creative
work for the construction Of a new
world and the third year of the Five
Year Plan? First Of all I wish for
good spirits. There is no hindrance
which cannot be overcome by the en-
ergy Of the working class, organized
by the Party of Lenin. This was I'M
questionably proved by thirteen years
OF work. the courage and the success
OF which were stupendous.
To the young Red Army literateurs
I wish that they should not tire of
learning.
To learn all the time, to know
everything! The more you know, the
stronger you become. And you mus,
remember very firmly that in future
battles, the Red warriors must not
only act with bullets, bayonets anc
swords, but with their revolutionary
proletarian words,--the words of the
workers who have succeeded in be.
coming the masters Of their. owr
country and from day to day EN-.
bellish it with the labor Of free peo-
pie.
Forward comrades, to the grea'
work of building the first fortress o.
Socialism in the world. Long live thu
working class, its Party, its Red Army
long live the Young Communist In.
ternational!
Long live the Five-Year Plan, tn,
audacious plan which is possible onl,
for the forces Of collective heroes!
January 8, 1881. Maxim Gorky.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-02-14
ANOTHER FORGERY is BLASTED

ONCE January, new literary
y monthly, "le Nouvel Age" is ap-
pearing in France, published by the
famous Georges valois, edited by
Henri Boudeille. Among the workers
on this journal, there is published
the name of Comrade Bella Illech
the general secretary of the Interna-
tional Association of Revolutionary
Writers.
The secretariat of the IARW an
nounces definitely that Comrade Bella
Illech had never any connection with
the journal "Nouvel Age" never had
any intention to collaborate with this
journal and never gave his permission
for his name to be used in connec-
ton with II. Comrade Ilech has sent
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-02-14
BY BROWN.


"WEDNESDAY, Yetta Stacker was
W evicted from her rooms at "a
Suffolk Street. After fighting with
the police the unemployed council
of downtown New York put her back
in again. But the landlord wasn't
through
It made no difference. to him that
Yetta Stacker is SO years old and has
one boy too sick to work and the
others unable to find job. 1t made
no difference to him or to the court
that her husband died IL years ago
and ever since then she has been
Shaving in restaurants, shops, washing
floors for bosses wives. 1t doesn't
count with the bosses and their courts
that she is exhausted and worn out
with the hard life she has had.
A summons was served on her eny-
way to appear in the Essex Market
Court. There she pleaded with the
magistrate. IT have no place to go,
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-02-14
Dear Comrades:

Dear Comrades:
I thank you for your letter, which
is extremely valuable. and not only
for me.
I am naturally proud that the
warriors Of the Red Army look on
me, a literary man, as zone of ours
as a comrade, but your letter has
another significance more important
in a cultural revolutionary sense.
How do arrive at this?
Because never before was there an
army which, would say to revolu-
ZIONIST "you are our FRIEND" because
the fighters in the Soviet Red Army,
while learning to use gun, at the
same time recognize the power of
revolutionary words, and hence, wish
to learn to- use words just as they
use their own weapons.
Because. You the fighters OF the
Soviet Union, clearly understand that
in future battles you will be faced
by people like yourselves, workers and
peasants, deceived by the master class.
blinded by false ideas, and that,
against people who are going to their
deaths In order TO fasten the power
OF the masters more firmly on them;
you-fighting comrades, will have to
use also the weapons Of words, and
convert your unwilling enemies into
real comrades. -. -. -. :. =. 49,.
Theirs not to reason why" say the
capitalist generals. Probably they
still think so. But we have plenty
of reason to think that the soldiers
in capitalist armies are even now be-
ginning to reason why" and that
the time Is not far distant when these
soldiers will also talk In the language
Of the Red Army men. The soldiers
Of European armies are frequently
sent against the unemployed, and they
are beginning to understand that, by
serving in an army which defends
the bourgeoisie from being crushed by
the unemployed-from the "internal
enemy"-they are increasing the num-
Der Of unemployed.
The business depression Is increas-
ing, unemployment is growing. The
New Year message Of the political
leaders" Of the bourgeoisie sounded
respondent and hopeless. All their
thoughts flowed together into one
unanimous howl: depression, depres-
sion, and no way out to be seen.
the other workers for better condi-
tons.
Johnnie knew that it was his fathers
work, and he walked with a lofty
stride-but he kept his secret. No
one ever knew until after the strike
was overland then it wasn't Johnnie
who told--it was Johnie's father. He
told Tito the gang SO that they would
;ain make Johnnie q memhar -. N
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-02-14
AMERICA.
BY ROBERT BROWN

America: ,..,
This land of freedom
Where a worker is free to
starve and die
America:
This land of equality
Where one worker and farmer
is exploited
and cheated like the next
America:
This land Of free speech
Where starving workers arc
ordered into silence
for saying they desire to live
America: ..e
This, land Of democracy
Where sixty one parasites rule
the government
America: .f.--.
Where the workers are sleep
ing no longer but see;
Where workers viii starve no
longer but will fight and win
las they saw their Russian
brothers fight and win across
the sea-
America:
Where the word SOVIET will
soon be added. -.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-02-14

gang again? How could he ever look
into any honest strikers eyes when
he knew that his father was a rat
filthy hat?
Johnnie decided that he wouldn't go
home at all, ever. He'd run away.
Finally, he fell asleep amid the quiet
of the astcans.
In the meantime, Johnie's father
was out looking for him. and brought
him home still sleeping. Johnnie was
undressed and put to bed.
The next morning Johnnie awoke.
and thought it perfectly natural to
be in bed, but he reminded himself
that he had run away last night.
Then with shock he remembered
that his father was a scab-.
He jumped out of bed hurrtedly
and started to dress. He looked up and
there beside him was his father.
His father whispered to him,
Johnnie, you can keep q secret, can't
your" al
Johnnie answered, eyes"
We'll, boy, / go to work and 1t
does look as though I'm a scab, but
I'm not, son. was sent into the
mines by the new union to get the
other fellows out. To make them Join
our new union. You see? No one
must know about this.--You must
keep 1t very quiet. 1t must remain
a secret between you an me only"
Johnnie promised this and he kept
his promise. He shook hands with
his father and they both looked each
other souarely In the eye.
1t was awfully hard for Johnnie to
keep his promise, especially when he
was called scab's boy by the gang.
They had kicked him out, because
they had thought that he really was a
scabs child. But Johnnie would hold
his head high! He knew that his
father wasn't a scab. He knew that
his father was working for the miners
new union, and for this reason, he
walked with his head high in the air.
A few days later, the shift his father
worked in came out on strike. They
anne out to fight side by side witha
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-02-14
By HELEN KAY.

tsNHY father scab! My father
NE scab!" screamed Johnnie. HE is
not! And III beat you up! I'll beat
you up any of you guys that says SO
again.
"Yeh, your father is a dirty, yellow,
filthy scab, and he's gone down in the
mines ter work" yelled another kid at
Johnnie.
MY fathers not a scab!" called
back Johnnie. Then he got so angry
at the insult that he Immediately
started to beat the other boy uD
However, the other fellow was plder
and larger than Johnnie, who was OIL
eight years old, and so Johnnie wer
home with a black eye and bloodg
nose.
But Johnnie didn't cry, no indeed.
He was too brave boy for that. All
he wanted was to get home as soon as
possible and ask his father if he was
a scab or if he wasn't. He sure hoped
not. How he and his whole gang
hated scabs. What terrible people
they were.
Imagine, when strike is called and
all the workers go out of the mines
in protest, to fight for better condi-.
tons, these people go into the mines
to work for the bosses. They go in
to break the workers strike!
Johnnie, and all the other boys in
the gang, had decided that they would
fight all the scabs and their children.
First they would try to convince them
of how wrong they we're 10 work with
the boss and break the workers strike.
Now what could be worse than to
have his own father a scabI His own
father, why it was impossiblel
He came into his house and called
at the top of his voice, where's pa,
where's pa?"
'Why, Johnnie" exclaimed his moth
er, look at your face, you're all
bloodyr"
Johnie's mother Immediately pulled
him over to the sink to scrub his face
with some good clean soap and water.
Johnnie, however, struggles and pulled
and tugged. MA, where's pa? I
wanna see pa, where Is hep" Just
then Johnie's father came into the
little house. He was a tall, husky
man, with haggard features and large
circles under his eyes.
Spa" began Johnnie, standing before
his father on his two little sturdy
legs with an accusing look in his
eyes, "did you go into the mines to
work today?"
eyes," replied his father.
Jonnie's little fists clenched, to
think of it, his father went into the
mines. His own father who had
taught him to hate scab as the rot
tenest kind of person was a--was a
scab himself.
Tears came to his eyes. Johnnie could
stand beating without whisper. He
could stand bloody nose and black
eye, but to have his own father whom
he loved SO much be scab, that was
the last straw.
"Pop. are you really a SCAB?" he
asked ina small, lnbelieving voice.
Jolln5 "ould control himself no
longerf dashed out Of the house
before 'ather could reply. He
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-02-14

left the community the people. witE
no prospect of economic betterment
settled back again into their old lives.
They are illiterates again. One of
the pupils is sentenced in the chain.
gang for twenty years. But he prob
ably won't last for a few years Of
chain gang life does man up.
The main duty Of chain gang is
to go about the county and, repair
roads or make new ones. There are
two -kirlds==those- where the men liHe
in cages set on wheels, and those
where they live in tents set on. the
ground.
The tents are usually leaky ones,
and when it rains the prisoners have
hard time lodging the streams 81
water that come in.
The cages are much like those I'M
der circus tent where the tiger or
lion PAGES up and down. But the
tiger has more room than the cons
vict. For inside the convict cage
there are from eighteen to twenty
vernlin- infested beds, to which the
prisoners are chained at night and on
rainy days.
In the spring and summer ana late
into the fall the convict camps are
infested with flies that breed in the.
open sewage pits. The vegetables
are full of weevils. and long worms. :
The meat is never fresh.
There is much illness, with diseases
like tuberculosis and syphilis. The z
same tub Of water is used for several
men when the infrequent baths oc-
cur. A doctor is a last resort Often
the men are made to work when they
are sick, and heard directly of one
convict who had been whipped with
a leather strap because he was i'll
and could not work. Another tainted
because of illness and was whipped Is
and left on the road for the flies
to crawl over so that he might be
an example to the other men work
ing on the gang.
In a certain gang trusty escaped.
one day. In this group the guard
kept a couple of blood hounds. Be-
yond the road the gang was res =.
pairing was a field and then a steep
hill The further side of the hill. was
covered with thick woods. The
tIusty, who was not chained, ran
across the field He was down. the
hill before the guard could urlloose
the hounds. Though the dogs would
undoubtedly have caught the rum
away before he reached the woods,
the guard followed them and shot the
man dead with his gun. s~.s
The lives Of the prisoners are g
counted as very unimportant both by
the guards and by those who. make.
the laws that put the prisoners where
they are. The guards are paid small
wages and must work from twelve to .
thirteen hours day. In some places
their duties have been lightened., Yet.
| they are still paid a miserable wage.
and most of them apparently come
from the same class as the prisoners
! themselves. .....
Many prisoners try to escape. They
know the attempt may mean death,
But they prefer to make an abortiVe
attempt at life than to exist under
the conditions that are prevalent IN
ethe prisons and chain gangs.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-02-14
On the Southern
Chain Gang II h

The Southern chain gang, some
of whose aspects are described in
this article by an eyewitness, is
one of the methods used by the
ruling class to exploit and enslave
labor, and especially the tOiling
Negro masses who live in the Black
Belt.-Editor.
BY ANNE ELLIOTT.
THERE is a saying among the Ne
groes and poor whites of the
South. run, niger, run. The Pat
terroll'll git you"
The Patterroll means the Black
Maria, or the sheriff, OF any part OF
the law that may come after a Ne
gro or poor white. And it is a sure
and certain step toward dreaded
end-the chain gang.
Henry was a Negro boy on plan
tation in one of the Southern States.
Henry liked to sit in the sun, Once
there was an epidemic Of influenza
among the Negroes on the plantation
and Henry of his own vohtion became
the chief nurse For many weeks
he went from cabin to cabin day and
night, caring for the sick.
Five months later Henry went into
town one Saturday night and took"
a waist from a store counter for his
girl. Like many poor people, poverty
had forced him into petty thievery,
Later, saw him on the chain gang.
He was dressed in the* usual barred
suit, with his number painted on.
Heavy chains we're riveted on his
ankles. They we're about fifteen
inches long, so that Henry, while he
used his pick on the road could, like
the nineteen other men on the gang,
take a step one foot and three inches
long. A center chain, fastened to the
other between his legs, was hooked to
his belt and kept the leg chain from
dragging. For year Henry worked,
sweating under the suns hottest rays,
At night, on Sundays, and on rainy
days, his center chain was fastened
to the heavy chain of another mem
Der of the, gang. In this way all
of the twenty men were chained to-
gether and kept from mischief"
while not working.
Henry had been put on the gang
for taking something. Most of the
men, black and white, are on the
gang on the technical charge of va
grancy. Either they have no jobs,
or they have been framed and rail-
roaded. The local papers take pleas
ue in announcing the fact that a
magistrate has provided some more
free" road help for the county.
In another part Of the same county
where Henry lives there is a COM
nlunity of poor whites. They live in
tulnble-down houses and cabins. None
of the grown people can read and
write. During period of about three
years the chain gang drafted four
men and one woman from this COM
munity. The woman had two chill
dren, both of them crippled from in
fantile paralysis.
One winter when night school was
started in this community a group
OF sad, bent adults came from their
cabins every night for six weeks to
learn how to write their names and
to Figure" The night school was
the effort of one person and when
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-02-14

a telegram to the Communist news
paper of France, "Humanite" protest
ing against this insinuatiop, ..aS.
The Secretariat 70 the IARw look
on the inclusion Of his name In tn
list of collaborators of the journals
a new forgery of the bourgeois pres
tsec the recent case of forged lin
tcrview with Upton Sinclear). laavii1
the purpose Of confusing the radical
ly minded petty bourgeois inselh
gentsia of the West regarding the rel
theological tendencies Of this journa
Secretariat Of the International .Asst
citation of Revolutionary Writerv
Moscow, Gosizdat (.1ntwDuzeaaslx
Roshdestyenla q ", a-,ssssve IN
~ y -.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-02-14
Watch for Next
Saturday

A letter will appear from stu
dent Of Electrical Institute, de-
scribing the life of students COM
nlune and their methods Of study
and work. received and translated
from Esperanto by the New York
Esperanto group.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-02-14
THE STRIKE SECRET
"a Story for Children

wouldn't stand for anyone, not even
his own father, see him cry.
He ran and ran, until he came to
a deserted part of town, and there
sat down amid some old asf-cans
The shame of this own father :
gcab. How could he ever face tht
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-02-14

NEXT VIEW A&
Believe 1t Or Not" a flop house
story by an unemployed worker in
Pontiac, Michigan; "The Shock
Brigade" story from Russia;
"Closing Exercises" story from
Mexico by Albert Morales, illus
trated by Paul; Literature for
Children" by Harry Alan Potam-
kin; book review, by N. Sparks;
cartoons and other features In next
weeks Saturday Feature Section.
Don't forget 10 send In your order
for m extsn bundle '-'' -.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-02-14
0MlNG SOON

oMlNG SOON
More revolutionary stories, each
ne illustrated, of the United States
I'D of China. Russia, Poland, italy,
apan, Germany and Mexico.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-10-25
Marine Corps Reserves

Lieut.. Col. J. J. Staley. commanding
the 9Th Marine Brigade, composed of
l,500 District of Columbia residents in
the goth and 23d Fleet Marine Corps
Reserve Regiment. made public letter
Of commentator received from Mai.
Gen. Ben H. Fuller, u. S. M. c.. COM
mandant of the corps in the premises
of the 1881 encampment Of the 9Th
Brigade at Virginia Beach, Va, this
year.
Gen Fuller's letter follows: THE ma
ior general commandment inspected the
9Th Marine Reserve Brigade during
its annual training at Camp Pollard,
Virginia Beach, Va, and commends the
personnel of this brigade on its mill
tary appearance, exemplary conduct,
technical skill and individual zeal. The
comments of officers Of the Regular
services of National Guard officers and
civilians on the brigade were deservedly
complimentary. It was obvious that the
personnel OF the brigade was imbued
with the spirit of the Marine Corps and
the naval service and was living up to
the best patriotic and military ideals
The major general commandant is
cognizant that these achievements were
made possible only by many hours, DAYS
and weeks of preliminary hard work In
recruiting and organizing the brigade
and desires to convey to the officers and
men his sincere appreciation of their
patriotic contributions to national de-
Tense, which they have given the coun-
try through the Marine Corps In max
ing the brigade outstanding in accom-
plishment.
THE commanding oficer Of the 6th
Marine Reserve Brigade will publish this
letter of commentator to the COM
mand."