davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-05-04
stockton, Calf.

Stockton Calf.
Daily Worker:
Just few words to let you know
about the workers conditions here in
San Joaquin Valley.
The average wage is 25 cents per
hour. The chambers of commerce
and farm bureaus met in January. to
set the wage scale for this whole val
ley for 1881. Nine principle cities
and districts we're represented, they
decreed the above amount 25 cents,
maximum, not minimum. So this we
see the results. Slavery in its worst
form. Still a lot Of demagogues will
try to tell us capital is not organ
ICED against the workers"
Here are the facts in regard to
actual wages now being paid: Pick
ing spinach, 81 per day. no board.
wedding and thinning beets, $3.50 to
Sc per acre. or around 50 per day, 81
for board, and no one can work IN
less they board with the boss, who
feeds them on stew, beans, rice and
spuds, costing not more than 30 cents.
Married men cannot get job I'M
less they separate from their wives
and each pay board. Many OF the
contractors are bootleggers, force
their men to buy their rotten hooch
or quit.
Hogs Fare Better Than Workers.
In the asparagus fields conditions
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-05-04

the Federal Tin (perhaps Charlie
Sclawab has something to say about
this factory, too, because so per cent
Of the stock of the United Railways
street car system Of Baltimore be-
longs to the Bethlehem Shetland
what does not belong to then?) have
about 1000 young workers. The
wage-cuts which have taken place
during the last year in the mill have
affected the young workers espe-
cially. Through the system Of put
ting in machinery-the shearmen
helpers, or feed boys are going to be
fired, the scrap boys, too-auto-
matte handoverS will be installed and
the shearmen will have to do the
work themselves. This will mean
more speed-up for the shearmen and
the throwing into the streets of these
young workers. The Bethlehem Steel
is now running about so per cent
capacity and the workers are unable
to exc out an existence.
Young workers! Organize into the
Metal Workers Industrial League,
affiliated with the Trade Union
Unity League. Fight against Charlie
Schwab's speed-up system.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-05-04

smaller scale in other cities.
All the reports are not in yet, but
partial list shows: Ten thousand
demonstrated in Cleveland and the
parade was twice as large as last
year; 5000 in Minneapolis, 5000 in
Baltimore, 10000 in Chicago with 26
meets in the suburbs, compared with
8 in 1890; 500 in Roseland, Ill; 1000
in Indiana Harbor, Ind; 800 paraded
in Terra Haute, Ind; 1000 demon
strated in Hammond, Ind; 800 in
Gary, Ind; 400 in Indianapolis; 1870
in Rock Island, Ill; 5000 in Mil
waukee; 300 in Racine, Wise; 500 in
West Allis, Wise; 300 in Cudahy,
Wise; HOO in haywood, ILL.,; 500 in
Breckenridge, Texas; 500 in st, Louis,
Mo-; 1000 in Pontiac, Mich; 1900
in Philadelphia; ITS in Asbury Park,
N. j.; 1890 in Passaic, N. j.. 600 in
Yonkers, N. Y; 1000 in Elizabeth,
N. j.; 1000 in New Britain, Conn;
go miners struck in Coupon, Pa, and
hundreds demonstrated at Portage;
10000 in Boston, with nearly 5000
more in Is other Massachusetts
towns; a crowd that defied the refu-
sal of a permit in Minersville, Pa,
and blocked the streets around the
court house; 200 in Troy; 1900 in
Albany; 1000 in Cincinnati; 500 in
New Haven; $1,000 in San Fran
cisco; 400 in Bedford, Ohio (greets
hunger marchers); $500 in Duluth,
MINI; 600 in Ironwood, Mich; 200
in Sioux City, Iowa; 125 in Negau-
nee, Mich; 5000 in Youngstown and
400 marching with the hunger march
ers; 300 in Warren, Ohio; 300 in
Providence, r. l.; Beacon, NJ Y, five
arrested; Los Angeles, demonstra-
ton smashed by police, after thou
sands start marching through streets.
Also, as previously reported in the
Daily Worker, $4,000 came out in De-
troit; 1000 in Virginia City, Mimi. !;
5000 in Newark, N. j.; 300 in Hart
ford, Conn, and 5000 in Paterson,
N. J.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-05-04
10000 in Chicago Stop Cars and Force
Police to ALLOW Huge Overflow Meeting

CHICAGO, Ill.-The largest and
most spirited demonstration Chicago
ever saw marched through the in
dustrial sections on May Day.
At Union Park, where the demon
stration started, $4,000 workers
crowded about the speakers stand
and thousands more crowded the adj
joining streets.
Headed by band, the parade was
in seven sections, each section sub
divided and headed by banners nam
ing the organizations marching be-
hind. BY actual count at two diff
ferent points workers marching eight
abreast in disciplined militant man
ner swelled to $4,000, but over 10000
demonstrated in all.
For State March.
The State Hunger March to Spring.
field at the end Of May was endorsed
as was also the mass delegation this
monday to Cook County Board, de-
handing immediate relief.
Thousands Wait to Join.
Thousands meanwhile had gath
cred near Westside Auditorium,
awaiting the parade and rally sched-
uled there. After both auditorium
halls were filled to overflow the
crowd numbered over 10000.
The procession was made vivid by
huge cartoons painted in silhouette
by John Reed Club members and
mounted on tall poles. A huge fish
surveyed his report; "Hoover's Pros
perity Is Right Around the Corner"
painted on four sides of a square,
evoked considerable laughter.
500 Pioneers.
The Pioneer section, containing
over 500 children, some in khaki
blouses and red ties, but all wearing
bit of red somewhere, were a par
ticularly colorful sight. Revolution
airy songs, slogans and cheers rang
through the streets.
Overflow Halls.
When the parade reached the
auditorium at Racine and Taylor the
huge procession sang the Interna-
tional and then filed into halls which
failed to hold one-twelfth of the
crowd. While three speakers stands
were being erected the police at
tempted to disperse the crowds, which
then numbered well over $4,000, ex-
GLIDING those already in the halls By
quick action comrades stopped street
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-05-04
Bosses Heap Misery On California Agricultural
Workers
Workers

are especially rotten This is also
contract labor The workers are
forced to sleep and eat in shacks not
fit for animals. Many middle west
farmers provide much better for their
hogs. Sanitary conditions are con-
spicuous by their absence. Many
places there are no wells, no tables or
chairs. The men eat and sleep in
one room. Is to 25 In a hovel not
large enough for more than 6, Their
pay varies from IS cents per cWt to
$1.25, mostly at the lower rate. They
work on bonus system.
This season the price of asparagus
is SO low, that the growers are max
ing the work SO miserable that no
worker can possibly stand it, So many
groups are leaving the camps, bonus
and all, so the grower is making more
money from the bonus system than
from their crops.
But the workers are waking up and
joining the A. w. I. l.. to put an end
to such robbery they have begun to
realize that they must fight for the
right to live, and that the T. U. u. L..
is the only organization that can or
will lead them against their ex-
ploiters.
We are,
The Foreign Born Slaves.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-05-04

When say sometimes, / mean
that the Federal Tin changes hands
SO many times that these young
workers very rarely see the miserable
sum Of 1925. The bulk of the work
ers in this hell-hole is made up Of
young workers who are lured in on
promise of job
The tin they work with is cheap
and it is a common thing there to
have finger cut off. There is not
breath of air in the whole place.
There are so many changes that it is
hard to organize these workers.
The Tin Decorating Co. had about
1900 young workers. The hours had
been heightened and the wages de-
creased to % cents an hour instead
of Is cents as it used to be. The
next wage-cut was the placing of
every worker on a piece-work basis
and not allowing any of them to
leave, since each person depends on
the other for material. This, of
course, gives a profit to the bosses.
The workers make SO a week under a
terrific speed-up.
The Sparrows Point Mills, which
have shares in Tin Decorating Co.
and are making all of the orders for
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-05-04
CONTINUED FROM PAGE oNE>

and J. II. L. Smith, urged 'conserva-
tisn, hoping, they said, to enlist the
influence of the leading men of Bir-
mingham in the cause"
The article concludes by quoting
the letter of William Pickens to the
Daily Worker supporting the I. L. D.
defense program:
Quotes Picken's Support Of /. L. ID.
while the race in Alabama is
wrangling over who should handle
money in the appeal, the I. L. D.
or the N. A. A. G. p, an official of
the N. A. A. G. P. decided that since
it began the defense the Labor De-
tense should go through with it.
"In a letter to the Daily Worker,
william Pickens, organizer of the N.
A. A. G. P, writes:
"This is the occasion for every
Negro who has intelligence enough
to read to send aid to you and the
international Labor Defense"
Exposes Police Attack.
The Chicago Defender also pub
fishes sympathetic article on the
protest parade in Harlem which was
broken up by Tammany police in COL
liberation with the southern boss
lynchers. Two pictures on the case
are also included in the current is
sue of the Defender, one four col
INN picture of Mrs. Patterson, the
mother of one of the boys, in COM
pany with Allen Taub, LID New York
attorney, Maud White, and CarlHack-
er, local district organizer of the /.
l.. D.
In the Afro-A American an article by
George Tyler dealing with the Harlem
parade, exposes the police attack on
white and Negro workers who demon
strated in Harlem against the lynch
verdict.
Pickens Supports !. L. d. In New
Article.
Under the heading struggle to
Save Doomed Youths in Alabama Re-
newed," the New York Amsterdam
News carries a story on the police at
tack on the Harlem demonstration
against the legal lynching The ar
ticle also carried quotations from the
statements of the boys and their par
ents repudiating Stephen r. Roddy
and affirming their faith in the In
ternationsl Labor Defense.
Most of the Negro papers also
carry an article by William Pickens,
Wake Up Black Man in which
Pickens declares.
80 far the white radicals Of
New York and Alabama have
moved more swiftly and effectively
than any Negro organizations to
the defense of these youngsters.
That is prophesy of the coming
union OF white and colored working
masses for common defense. They
may not be able to save these boys
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-05-04
Several Leading Negro Papers Join
United Front to Save 9 Scottsboro Boys

from the wild beasts that have en-
comprised them, but they will give
new demonstration of the need
for cooperation on the part of all
the oppressed, white and black"
Negro Workers Demanding
Militant Defense.
That the Negro masses have begun
to raise in their organizations and
in the Negro press the question Of
militant support for the struggle to
save the lives of these boys is shown
by the appearance of several letters
in the Negro papers this week. One
letter declares, in part:
ut does beat all how we as a
race loll around in life and death
emergencies, only exerting our
selves enough to murmur weakly to
those nearest us-'Wait patiently,
child, and pray
This expression is being used
by many in discussing the probable
eIectr0cution of the nine youths.
And while we are waiting the
wheels of injustice are grinding
swiftly and surely"
Push the Fight to Free Boys.
The demands of the Negro masses
for support of the I. L. d. united
front defense program are affecting
the attitude not only of the Negro
newspapers but Of many Negro or
CARNATIONS and constitute one of the
best guarantees for fighting alli-
ance Of white and Negro workers
and all sympathetic elements to save
the lives of these nine innocent chill
dren.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-05-04
cars the police attempted % senc

cars the police attempted to send
through to smash the assemblage.
Several workers we're injured by
mounted police, but none seriously.
Police were forced to allow the huge
overflow meeting in the open air,
Previously police had unsuccess-
fully attempted to disrupt games the
Pioneers conducted in Union Park.
Cheers for Parsons.
Lucy Parsons, wife Of a Haymarket
martyr, was given a tremendous ova-
ton. Gebert analysed the deepen
ing crisis here and the growth of
socialism and the threat of the war
danger. He called upon workers to
build shop organizations to fight
wage-cuts and join with the lmem-
ployed for unemployment insurance.
When he called for applications for
the Communist Party about two
score hands shot up spontaneously.
Bill Matheson, district secretary of
the Unemployed Councils; RubicH,
secretary of the T. U. U. L.; Ed Will
hams, Newhoff and Killing for the
youth we're some of the twenty
speakers.
Masses of Negro Workers.
All meetings endorsed resolutions
demanding retrial for the Scottsboro
boys endangered by legal lynching.
The largest number OF Negro work
ers demonstrated than ever before.
Twenty-six demonstrations were
held in the outlying sections of the
district, as compared with eight
demonstrations last May Day.
Over a quarter million leaflets had
been previously distributed. Fifteen
thousand Daily Workers and thou
sands of pamphlets were sold or dis
tributed at the Chicago demonstra-
ton.
Steel Centers Demonstrate
PITTSBURGH, Pa. - twenty-five
hundred workers took part in the
May Day demonstration here. Fiji
teen hundred were present at the
afternoon demonstration in East Park
and six to seven hundred in the
evening demonstration.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-05-04
BUILD DAILY WORKER
ROUTES IN NEGROAND
WHITE TERRITORIES

Workers in the state of Alabama
will recognize the working-class
character of the Daily Worker de-
spite terror instilled by the bosses.
F, E. w. of So. Birmingham writes;
so many Of our workers are afraid
to buy. They ask me: Amt you
afraid to sell them papers? I think
when the trial of the nine workers
is won, which I believe We will win,
then will sell a lot of our papers"
We can never expect working class
justice in capitalist court, North
or South, and must therefore organ
ize tremendous mass protest of the
entire working class to prevent legal
lynching of the nine Negro boys now
held on frame-up charge in Scots
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-05-04
5000 in San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO, Cal, May g.
In the best organized and largest
working class demonstration ever held
in this city $4,000 workers stopped
traffic for an hour and As minutes
at noon on Market ST., and marched
a mile from starting point at Third
and Howard to the civic cented and
back again. Speakers from three
platforms in front of city hall were
thunderously cheered as they voiced
the crowds demand for social insur-
ance, defense of the Soviet Union,
freedom for the Imperial Valley pris-
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-05-04
Pillager, MINI,

Pillager, MINI.
Daily Worker:
Conditions here are not much diff
ferent than other sections. AS one
neighbor remarked: you don't have
to go South to find farmers fam
lilies starving"
The merchants are demanding
cash at a time when the farmer has
little or no income. These are
samples of what he is receiving for
his product: Butter and cream, ~
cents; eggs, II cents a dozen; wool,
IL cents a pound
Crops we're short because OF the
drought and these are samples OF
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-05-04
Pillager, MINI. Farmers Suffer from High
Food Prices

what he must pay for what he buys;
Clover seed, % cents pound; seed
oats, so cents bushel, and hay and
feed are simply "out of sight"
Such cases as the following are
waking the people up. A neighbor is
losing his farm on, a $1,000 mort
gage. He and his family have put
in eight years work on the place; he
has relnodeled the house, built a good
barn, garage and other out-build-
ings, and now he is losing it because
he can't pay the interest" as the
crook remarked that is foreclosing
the mortgage. "A Farmer
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-05-04
DEFY PhiIlY Police

PHILADELPHIA, Pa, May 3.-Al-
though no police permit had been
granted for the May First demon
stration in Independence Square, the
mihtancy and determination of ten
thousand workers who assembled
there prevented any attempts on the
part 70 the police to interfere with
the meeting. The whole crowd
marched in organized ranks to the
main demonstration in the city hall
plaza, in whic heighteen thousand
workers participated. There was an
equal number Of Negro and white
workers in the demonstration.
The report of the State Hunger
Marchers and their call to continue
and broaden the fight for unem-
ployment insurance and immediate
relief was received with tremendous
enthusiasm.
Governor Pinchot was denounced
and booed for turning down the de-
mands of the unemployed. The i'm
mediate release of the nine Scots
boro lynch verdict was demanded.
Speakers from five platforms adj
dressed the crowd which cheered the
slogans of the. Trade Union Unity
League and the Unemployed Councils
for organized fight against the bos-
es' wage cutting campaign and for
immediate relief for all unemployed.
workers. Large numbers of workers
came to the headquarters of the
Trade Union Unity League to join
the Unemployed Councils
Two mass meetings at Broadway
Arena and Kensington Labor Lyceum
will be held tonight and large mass
es OF workers are expected to par
ticipate.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-05-04

Q
daily paper leading the fight to free
these youths from the electric chair,
is the best medium for organizing
this mass protest. F. E. w. now gets
copies day, but he'll be selling
many more from now on!
Butte, Mont, Up Against 1t.
Willis L. Wright, Butte, Mont, re-
ports tough going in Anaconda
owned by copper mining interests,
where 'as soon as boy sells the
Daily Worker, the company sends
word to lay off if he wants to stay
in town. Promises to keep on until
he gets someone who can't be
chased out of town." J. K, represen-
tative in Butte, reports out OF 300
received, liz were sold on the streets
during week ending April 49, Not SO
good, john
On the back of distributed May
Day lcaflet, w. ", New York City,
writes: after reading the other
side of this sheet, 1 decided to get
2 copies of the Daily Worker for
two months" The Daily Worker
stretches across the seas. From
CardWell, Australia, comes a note
from Joe B. Lots of workers
around here are interested in the
paper. and L promised to get more
for them. Send more copies"
We're a little late but none the
less sincere in acknowledging dona-
ton from the Freiheit Mandolin Or
chestra. 1T is tradition to make
a collection at the banquet taking
place after the annual concert, and
on Saturday, April Is, after the sew
enth annual concert, Comrade Jaffe
called upon IS present to make a
contribution, and collected $31.
Hit the Road, But Continue Bundles.
Tony J. S., Kane, Pa, leaves for
Pittsburgh, orders bundle stopped.
Wherever I go I talk to workers
about the Daily Worker, even in
jails sleep in overnight. Stop send
ing papers until get to Pittsburgh"
Andy E., leaving JOhnstOwn, Pa, or
ders bundle stopped, but N. C. gets
two workers to take over bundles of
5 each. Moral: Hit the road, but
don't hit the Daily Worker. Get
someone else to handle the bundle.
Charges, Counter Charges.
We get bawled out by I. j., section
organizer in Chicago, ILL.,, who claims
I'VE put through news stand order
a month ago, without results. Seems
to me there are bureaucrats in that
(our) office. They don't even answer
the letter" We attempted tracing
first communication, also without re-
suits. Perhaps with name of origi-
nal writer we can locate first order,
report reason for delay In mean
time, we're putting you on.
John Hilty, Milwaukee, Wis, comes
to the rescue of our temporary
black-eye. "The NOrthside unit does
not yet receive the Daily Worker ON
its address. Told the section Daily
Worker agent, Neil OBJ, to change
address a month ago, which he
claimed he did when asked a week
later. Yet a few days ago he ad-
mitted this was not true. also
turned over sub for vi EIore Hun
garian Communist daily which was
slowed away for a month on his
desk, and was mistrusted and looked
upon with suspicion by the SUBJ
scriber!" ~
We're for wiping out delays in put
ting through orders, answering let
tiers and having comrades suspicioned
for negligence of section Daily
Worker reps!
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-05-04
Masses Demonstrate In Pennsylvania Steel
Towns; $4,000 Block Traffic In Frisco Defy
Philla Ban; Attacked In Angeles

Five workers were arrested the
night before May Day at open all
meetings. -Four were dismissed and
one given ten dollars fine or thirty
days.
Thousands participated in May
First meetings in nearby steel and
coal towns.
The open air demonstration in
Ambridge had nearly one thousand
Meetings
Meetings at Brownsville, Avella,
Strabane, Canonsburg, New Ken
sington, East Pittsburgh, Wheeling,
Bellaire, Neffs, Worthwhile and Nc
Keesport, were held.
Meetings at Monesson, Coupon and
Johnstown were very good,
Strikes in the Brownsville section
begun on May First continuing. Three
mines around Coupon, Central Penn
sylvania are striking aaginst wage
cuts. The National Miners Union is
trying to spread the strike
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-05-04
THOUSANDS RESIST
POLICE ATTACK ON
CLEVELAND MEETING
Parade Twice AS Large AS Last Years Is
Answer to Starvation System
Demonstration Sends Off Hunger Marchers
Workers of Other Towns Out to Greet

But so militant had the mood of the
workers become by this time that the
police began to fear for themselves
and did not dare to drag her down
until she had spoken for some time
But they finally got her too, and
then five other workers one after an
other-August Onusk, Martin ST.
wecki, Thomas Benbow, John Taw-
twid and Louis Kovach. They were
all held in the Central Station ION
open charges for investigation"
At l pm. the main May Day pa
rade began, with red flags at its
head. There were more than 1000
six abreast in the actual line of
march and hundreds more workers
accompanied the march on the side
walks. Better discipline was pre-
served than in any previous march
and the lines were absolutely I'M
broken in the long hike to 55th st.
and st. Clair. AS the long and close
packed parade proceeded under its
forest of banners with their working
class demands, workers throng TO
factory gates and windows and onto
the sidewalk. Foremen and other
bosses could be seen in front, anxi-
ously watching their workers lest
they too should join the demonstra-
ton.
A big crowd had gathered at 55th
and st. Clair to greet the parade and
there were several thousand in the
send-off demonstration there. Hun
dreds OF workers accompanied the
hunger marchers as they started off
on their long march to carry the de-
mands of Cleveland workers, both
employed and unemployed, to the
bosses legislature in Columbus.
From other Ohio cities come re-
ports of the reception to the hunger
marchers.
BEDFORD, Ohio, May 3,--The en-
tire town Of Bedford turned out to
greet the state hunger nlarchers
May !, and meeting of 400 was
held. Many we're turned away from
the hall by the police. The workers
contributed funds to feed the march
ers.
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio, May 3D.
Six thousand demonstrated here in
this steel town, on May !. -Four hun
dred marched to the city limits with
the 81 hunger marchers starting
from here to join with those of all
other cities in Columbus. The enthu-
siasm was wonderful.
CINCINNATI, Ohio, May s.
About 1000 demonstrated here or
May 1, and cheered the idea of a
Soviet government. The Cincinnati
hunger marchers start soon for the
state capital.