The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-11-08


what to do with that old cluck Of
mine"
At the executive committee meet
ing Pete shows Up. He's harvesting
cats and is dcad-tircd. The chair
man Of tne nesting is a member Of
the Farmers National Committee Ct
Action estabu-hcd Ly the washing
ten conference. A man with face
like a ssccl PKG. Same Of the C5her
farmers have Travelled twenty apd
thirty miles to attend a humber OF
rank and file members Of the or
Ean.zation lie On the grass, Yls
executive committee Is lined UP in
chairs ere after the other. The
Yankee war veteran, the Dutch Men
monte, the Jew, and Pete. The sec
rotary puts the problerls before the
meeting. The chairman hammers
each one down, iron point first. The
executive committee listens intentfy
In the West the lightning cracking
like great flag.
I GOT a good chance to talk 70
Pete's wife when was sent to him
to arrange for a meeting in the red
barn near Hilltown. And l find out
that 1t isn't with forked stick that
you've got to handle her.
She offers me a schnapps, It's
rye which Pete himself made She
squats on q stool In the corner Of the
kitchen.
She had worked for years in a
Philadelphia cigar factory, making
her $50 a week, and sinking every
cent into the farm. She had a 81
acre farm in Hilltown. Sold It for
this. And now after all the years,
she may have to move off the farm.
They can't meet their expenses. The
| farm she was offered $25, 900 for
| Just a couple Of years ago.
And here are the milk checks One
for 14,ol3 pounds of milk at Sc cents
hundred pounds Net amount
| 392.49. And here's another with
about 20 per cent off for carriage.
And here's letter from milk COM
pany telling US to go to to the devil
because we know they amt testing
our milk right and we're organizing
| the farmers
Pete mutters, Three dealers in
| three months. So =" To comfort
himself he lights his pipe. Even that
Is no comfort. Look the matches.
They was IL boxes for ten cents. Nov
| ten for ten cents"
| All the bitterness streams out as
Mrs. Pete continues talking. The
organization is weak, "If you got an
| organization, fight, do something.
Here everybody's got his nose stuck
into a hole. He won't come out be-
cause this is the busy season. And
some is talking about the leaders
and telling them to go to hell
AS she pitches into the weaknesses
"a Of the farmers, you can see the
need for special work among the
farm women, a special study circle
| to explain 10 them the tactics Of
struggle in the countryside, to draw
them with ropes Of iron that soon
become the very cords of the body in
the fierce fight that will give them
their farms, peace, and bread.
l urge Mrs. Pete to speak at the
meeting. She gives all sorts OF ex-
cuses. The night of the meeting at
the red barn she gets UP and she does
speak, telling the 100 farmers pre-
sent her views. She shows her milk
envelopes. She tells the story of how
one milk dealer tried to bride Pete TO
leave the organization. He promised
him $3.50 hundred II he left the
organization and helped other farm
ers leave it.
What is our answer going to be-
What are we going TO do? There's
only one thing" Her strong voice
fills the whole barn. I'VE got to
strike"
Pete stands near the barn window
streaming with rain. His face is
cooked and covered with a grin. He
enjoys heartily the fierce wingthrusts
Of that "old cluck of mine"
And now Pete can do even better
work than for the first conference.
He has brought more farmers into
the organization than any one else.
"1tn soon be over, the harvest. Wen
get our oats and corn in. I'll 20 out
organizing. We got to get farmers in
our ring, in a bullring."
NOW Pete knows, and so do the
other farmers, that his heart and fist
can be matched by his wife's, by their
farmwomen's. And learning this
more effectively with each day, their
strength grows mightier. And that
is another reason that the farmers
conference this year in Chicago viii
strike a more powerful blow at the
very belt and under the noses Of the
greatest grain and meat robbers in
the world. -