Evening star., 1931-12-07

A tall bewhiskered man stands Oh
park bench, believing in broken &C
cents. Now sing Solidarity Forever
three times and wind up with For un,
ion makes us strong to the tune o.
John Browns Body"
His followers, most of them as grim,
as he, gather round Another member
Of the army extends his arms, collapse,
wheezy accordion, and the tune
starts.
Thus the members of the west wins
of the National Hunger March kept III
their morale en- route to Washington.
I'VE demand food. We don't wan
charity. We want unemployment in.
surance, and we'll make EN- give it u
us. Down with the millionaire gov.
eminent, they cry.
We're All Brothers"
What the he'll; is this the best ac.
commodation workers can get In these
great United States? We're fighting
starvation and the Government that is
forcing 1t on us. The Negro is oul
brother and deserves fair treatment.
Thus ran the general tone of the com
munistic workers international
League" as the hunger marchers desig-
mated themselves.
/ met the marchers at Cumberland
Md, Saturday night, and stayed with
them as "comrade" through the night
in the hastily improvised barracks
learning their songs and cheers.
Tired and dirty, the marchers filed
INTO Cumberland Saturday night, their
trucks and automobiles, for the most
part dilapidated wrecks. steaming and
coughing from the long pull over the
mountains from Pittsburgh. Cumber-
lands first impression was of a sing
ing, shouting army, as the marchers
pulled in from the northwest, through
the Narrows.
Unloading at the skating rink. which
had been provided by the city as bar
racks for the 500 marchers, the monde
script crew of all races made haste to
get out of the cold mountain wind
which had whipped them all day
Army Says It's Hungry.
Dressed as badly as the worst of the
marchers, mingled, unknown, among
them as they hunted out spots on the
-,
or chose bench
Dog tired the hunger army let no
one forget it was hungry, so, "one of
the boys joined in the hue and cry
raised as they smelled the stew and
other victuals being prepared on their
arrival Shortly thereafter We fell to
with will An attempt to keep us
in line was far from the success it was
planned to be, but all were finally fed,
though grumbling over the fare.
To keep the marchers from doing any
soap-box Grating, Cumberland police
threw guard around the skating rink
for the night, letting no one out except
the truck drivers, who wanted to re-
pair their motors.
Several times I had to resort TO the
subterfuge Of posing as truck driver
to get In and out.
Grumble About Quarters.
Members Of the army, who had
grumbled about everything since ar
irving in the city, found a good subject
in being kept in the skating rink
The ''intelligensia" of the group
called it "an abridgement of personal
liberty guaranteed by the Constitution. u
The less intelligent were even more
was lacking in vocabulary and knowl-
edge of constitutional rights" was more
than made up in knowledge of pro-
family. Even the toughest policeman
must have blushed at the names he
heard himself called by the mumbling
groups.
Police. however, were adamant, and
the grumblers confined themselves to
singing Solidarity Forever" +" Wave the
Scarlet Banner" We Demand Relief
From Hoover" the "Internationale'
and other Communistic songs, each of
which wound up with one of the num-
Der proposing three cheers for the
Communist party" He received a hearty
response from the throats, already
husky from singing and shouting
The leaders saw me, without the arm
band that distinguished most of the
marchers, and were close meuthed
Once a captain called one of the men,
to whom I was talking, and apparently
cautioned him against taking up with
strangers. Talking with the "privates
in the army was easy, but the leaders
spoke little except in their own group
Motives Questioned.
Hey, shorty" a big man with a
foreign accent called to me. Are you
a member of the council?"
/ admitted l want, but said ! would
ike to know something about it.
We'll. we're out to get on the floor
OF, Congress and demand relief. They
can't stop us. This country and It's
millionaire rulers have crushed us
workers too long. We're going to turn
around and fight back" That was about
all / was able to understand in the
'5-minute Grafton he gave meat the
close OF which, unable to stand much
more in one dose, excused myself by
saying l wanted to go down to the
middle of the hall and learn the songs
He winked and l left.
Men and women, colored and white
mingled freely, calling one another
comrade,' with much -slapping
shortly before midnight Mayor
Thomas w. Koon appeared in the rink
70 inquire as 80 the welfare of his
guests, Immediately after learning
ne was the mayor, the captains. lieu
tenants, sergeants and even those oi
lesser rank surrounded him and CON-
plalned about accommodations.
Siienced by Mayor.
The mayor was brief, but quickly
shenced them with. the announcement
We've gone out of cur way to make
u as comfortable as possible for you
II you're not satisfied we have police
0noers here who will be glad to sc