The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-06-05
BY EMORY RAYMOND.

TzOFTY-TWO years is long Jlme'
I,deed it is pretty nearly the average lie
-. ,,,orler engaged in the hammer-and-tohgS
s+rTooIe for existence in capitalist society
Forty-two years. ,,,
II is a horribly long time for one to remain
in a six-by-six prison cell I'll.
And what manner act against society," IN
1oubtedlv one must ask could warrant suoLi
brutal treatment Murder? Yes, perhaps Vlla'
would not be an excessive sentence Tor colu,
blooded murder. But scores OF such colo-OIoou0I
killings 90 UNPUBLISHED or even scarcely !io"G
in this class ridden society OF today All oe-
ponds upon the station in lie OF the aoouoou
Can il be a crime of such gravity for a worker
- +oiTs 10 dream of a better day for himself
and his fellows?
TT,5oubtedlv this can be no crime at all
T,v+ e,,cr is the crime for which the elghU
1n,nerisl Valley prisoners oscar Erickson, Can
sl,lar BrauIio Orosco, Eduardo Herrera FIaIih
snector Tetsuji Horiuchi, Danney RoXaS anu
laurence Emery are being deprived OF the peSC
,,t of their lives in California prisons trarneu
~, under the Criminal Syndicalisn Law OF thav
state ONLY criminals of the most hardened
character. or men broken in body ana Innlu
could emerge from such servltude
The sentences under which these workers are
robbed of their freedom carry the catcl- VelIiis
from two to AZ years" three 10 a. VeaIS'
ond ~tu,o to % years" But make no mistake
- - fellow, workers the heart of the owning
class does not soften toward members OF Ile
,,,,rl,iro class It did not soften toward 4om
Mooney and Warren Billings, Sacco and van
yot+i and +7e hundreds of other class war prlS-
orers and we can not expect this case 10 De
on excention. The Imperial Valley prisoners
will only gain their freedom through decisive
action of the working class. II they are hoU
kent in prison the maximum OF the sentences
if will be because the working class rises up Ell
nasse behind the international Labor Defense
to fight for their release.
And what of the conditions in Imperial VAL
lev against which the workers under leadership
of the eight victims were revolving?
Although the outside world thanks to the
o,o,,bers of commerce. usually thinks of Cali
fornia only as a land of sunshine and happiness
these ruch-desired conditions of life are little
known to the larger part of California spopu-
1stion When the chambers Of Commerce 40
,.ertise California thusly, they are not thinking
of the thousands and thousands of agricultural
and other workers who actually produce the
nroducts so widely advertised. Little do these
PARASITES think or care of the long hours OF
no cl, -hreaking toll under the boiling hot sun
exacted of the workers
No Happiness for Workers
In the Imperial Valley alone more IMAM Ieh
thousand workers are employed in the harvest
ing of crops on the huge fruit and vegetable
factorv-fields. Two thousand of these workers
man the packing and shipping sheds where
the products are Grated graded and shipped
MeXicans. Filipinos, Hindus and Negroes COM
prise the bulk of the field workers who are by
far the most severely exploited In the packing
sheds mostly whites are employed, the greater
number of which are migratory workers. by
the Use of the modern machinery furnished by
the large land owners to the tenants from
hinge HEADQUARTERS farms negligible number
of workers are used in the actual cultivation
of the fields.
working in the blazing heat Of the valley
sun. most Of the field and shed Workesr are
entirely dependent upon the short harvest
season. Thus they are projected from long
neriods of unemployment into the feverish mael-
stronn of the harvest season, dashed on by the
Uhip-cracking foremen. Such condition IN
itself is enough to snap the endurance OF the
human system weakened as it is by the long
stretches of deprivation and unemployment
Little wonder that many workers drop OF sun
stroke and sheer exhaustion. But Tor every
worker who succumbs te1 press forward to
take his place in pitifm effort to secure a
few cents with which to stave off the gnaWlng
nanes of starvation. Therefore, 1t Is OF little
concern to the fruit and vegetable trusts and
their hirelngs how the harvesters suffer. The
first last and sole aim Of these trusts is TO
nile I'm huge profits for stockholders and it Is
the blood and sweat of the working man who
pays.