The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-06-05

OHtGha-oity of packing houses
and railroad shops. With a popu-
latiou of 100000, IL has nearly
10000 unemployed. T5Uenty-fVe
thousand on the relief list getting
S169 a Veek for a family Of fUe,
"luhich means Il cents a meal"
THE United States Department of
1 Labor under Frances Perkins has
tricled two Anerican-born children
out of their U. S. citizenship and
made them British subjects, after
ordering the deportation of their
father, George Stalker, Of Omaha to
Scotland.
Stalker, section organizer of the
Communist Party in Omaha, has
lived in the United States for 2s
years, his wife, Sue, has been here
for 20 years-and their three chill
dren, Margaret, Is; Florence, 13, and
George, Jr., s, were all born in the
United States.
Passport Deception
In the passports handed to Sue
Stalker on the eve before their
departure on Caledonia" Saturday
morning, Margaret was listed as an
American citizen, but the other two
children we're recorded as British
subjects. This was revealed when
Mrs. Stalker came to the Daily
Worker office Friday night.
Stalker's wife and children had
been left in Omaha to drift for
themselves following his arrest on a
deportation warrant. When the final
papers ordering his deportation were
signed, no provision was made for his
wife and three children.
After George was ordered de-
ported" she told me, mo provision
was made for me and the children.
They weren't interested in lis at all
George went up to apply for relief
and said ne wanted the children
taken care of before he went We
had not been on the relief He told
the officials he would raise hell if
I was left alone with the children"
Mayor Raises Fund
At all the demonstrations and pro-
tests against Stalkef's deportation,
his wife said, I'VE had talked about
the breaking up Of the home through
deportations. The mayor of Omaha,
Metcalf, couldn't stand this because
we always brought his name in"
Finally" Mrs. Stalker reported
"the mayor decided to raise $500
fund to pay the passage and ex-
penses of myself and the children.
He went to the patriotic organiza-
lions and the Chamber of Commerce
and asked for contributions on the,
ground that he was getting rid of
them, Reds, the Stalkers.'
At Ellis Island
The day before the departure of
the family, I visited Ellis Island and
talked with George Stalker.
To get to the Island-under military
rule since Edward Corsi became Com
missioner of Immigration-you take
the ferry at Battery Park. A uni
formed guard was stationed at the
ferry I succeeded in passing inspec-
ton. The ferry boat was filled with
relatives Of deportees, for it was Wis
iting day.
1t is a short trip from the Battery
AS the boat docks many of the pas
Sengers break out into trot, for the
visit is limited to less than half
hour, and they want to be first in
line to get into the reception room"
on the second floor,
THE unwashed reception room"
i looks Ike Y. M G. A. swimming
pool with the water drawn out. The
visitors sit on the hard, small benches
as they wait for their husbands,
fathers, brothers. Accompanied
by uniformed guards and plain
clothes inspectors, the deportees be-
gin to swarm into the room. The
women weep as they embrace them
and then, olssping each others hands,
they sit down on the benches. The talk
is swift and eager, for in few mo-
ments the guards will announce that
they must leave. g.
had come to see George Stalker,
Communist.
A small, grey-haired man comes
through the door and recognize him
from the description once given me
by Mother Bloor who regularly visited
the family on her frequent organic
ing trips among the farmers of Ne
braska and Iowa They're wonderful
comrades" the 70-year-old veteran
labor agitator had told me.
Stalker is 46 years old and has
done practically everything He
worked in the tire factories of Akron,
Ohio, in the packing houses and coal
yards OF Sioux City, Iowa, for 10
years, and had a job in a steel mill in
Pittsburgh. His first job way back in
1905 was in the Westinghouse Electric
in that city From there I went to
Ohio, and then to Sioux City. About
a year and half ago 1 came to
Omaha" he said.
A Prison Train
There were $50 workers on the de-
portation train which brought him to
Ellis Island from Omaha, Stalker told
me. Eight of them were Communists,
in addition to himself. One was
being sent to Scotland, one to Jugo-
slavia and one to Germany.
The deportation train was rugged
up like q jail, he reported. Bars
covered the window, which in turn
were covered with thick mesh. The
men were held virtual prisoners, ne
said, and they were forbidden to go
from one car to another.
There are at least 40 "politicals" at
Ellis Island at the present time, Stall
ker said Manuel Fernandez, one of
the original Tampa prisoners, has
been there awaiting deportation for
the past six months after serving ten
months in Florida jails
The excuse usually given by the