The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-06-21
THE STRUGGLE AGAINST
STARVATION IN KNOXVILLE.
TENNESSEE

And if woman is sick, of child dying, they
are forced to eat the canned salmon or rotten
potatoes given them by the Associated Chari-
ties.
IS Per Month
Besides the unemployed" the A. C. also lists
the "unemployable" These families, according
to Louise Bignall, head of the Associated Chart
ties, are given an average of Sc per month"
The hospitals are full of workers dying of star
Yation. Mothers taking their ailing infants to
clinics are told: Your baby is starving"
30 Per Cent More Jobless-Less Relief.
The other relief agency in Knoxville is the
Red Cross, Todays paper states 1894 men and
women all day yesterday trudged to the Red
Cross offices, only to be told there was no flour
left for them" The papers also state that many
churches are disbanding their agencies for aid
ing the jobless." All relief from all sources is
being drastically slashed while the starving army
of the unemployed grows daily. The Associated
Charities head admits that there are so per cent
more unemployed this year than at this same
time last year. and more this month than last
When unemployed workers can't pay their rent
for their miserable shacks, the landlords either
throw them out or don't pay the water bill The
water is turned off and the workers are forced
to move. In many instances, when the workers
have no place to go, or can't raise money to move,
their health and that of their neighbors is en-
dangered by the foul air.
Huge Official Salaries.
The unemployed workers of Knoxville are
starving While they are growing more enact
ated, thinner and weaker, the bellies and purses
of the City Fathers and government grafters are
growing heavier. Court clerks get $4,000 year;
judges get 5000; tax collectors make IS, 00O The
sheriff gets $500 year.
Magistrates get rake-off of thousands of dol
lars in graft by persuading defendants to sub
init and pay the costs" Wages of all workers
however, are being sashed
While the County Highway Commission super
intendent pulls down his $4,000 a year, "as
closed session of the Commission, it was decided
to cut wages of the employees TO effect saving"
Laborers get double cut as they are forced to
work 10 hours instead of 8.
Other city employees are not exempt. Most
of the $500 reduction in the Safety Dept" says
Councilman Joe Vasey, will be borne by the
firemen."
Wage Cuts for Undcrpaid Workers
Since April Is all city employees have been
getting half pay. A IS per cent cut of salaries
OF all teachers is announced. Teachers now, in
many schools have to pay for janitor service out
of their wages. Negro teachers get only 5000
year wages in elementary and S1,212-50 in high
schools. White teachers who are also greatly
underpaid, but who have fewer children in their
rooms, and generally an easier job, get slisT5o
year for elementary, and $1,6315S for high
school. Employees and faculty of the University
of Tennessee have just got SIS cut, the second
in short period ttt
Not Less Than Is Cents Per Hour.
But the greatest burden of the crisis is put on
the backs of the unskilled and semi-skilled work
ers SO per cent cut was put over at the APP
palachian Mills, a corporation worth nearly
$2OO0,oo0, slashing wages down to so and 80 cents
day. Workers at the Brookside Mill recently
got 10 per cent cut-a mill listed as carrying
insurance of s55O0,0Oo. Workers of the Knox
vile Trunk and Manufacturing Co. are being
paid in trunks instead of wages. At recent
meeting of contractors it was decided "to pay
labor not less than Is cents sn hour