davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-04-27
Women Plan Fight
on High Food Costs
Lay Basis for National
Organization

NEW YORK The burning need
Of united action Of working class
housewives to bring down grocery
costs, particularly to hold down
and reduce the price Of milk, was
emphasized by delegates attending
the Annual Conference of Working
Glass Women at Manhattan Ly-
ceum, Sunday. April %.
Mrs. williams, a Negro delegate
from the Crown Heights section,
wildly described the unbearable
starvation conditions under which
Negro families of that section must
live, and the hardships that any
rise in food prices would impose on
them. Her stirring appeal stressed
the Importance Of organizing these
Negro women in the struggle
against the rising cost Of living.
In another inspiring report. Mrs.
Lopez of the Spanish section Of
Red Hook. Brooklyn, related the
experiences Of workers in that ter
ritory in obtaining relief through
united action.
The sessions of the conference
we're opened by the report of Clara
Bodian, secretary. giving a review
Of past work and outlining plans
for future work.
The basis WIS laid for national
unification Of the fight against the
high cost Of living, by securing cons
certed action throughout the coun-
try Of all Women's Councils, in
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-04-27
Body Wracked, Head UnboeVed, Angelo Herndon
Asks Neavs OF Workers Struggles and Soviet Union

mend mercy" Sentence was from
13 to 20 years on the Georgia chain
gang Jack Spivak in his book
Georgia Niger" showed what a
torturous death-trap these gangs
are.
The iailer shoots a stream Of
'baccy into the spitoon. That gol
dern niggerl The one I get all them
kilograms Notwithstanding re-
lease him. Imagine that! Demand
ing!" At my involuntary grin,
Comrades, let's send more and
moreD, the keepers fury pulls him
to his feet. That blasted cooni
Oughta be on the chain gang, that's
what. Where I'd put him too"
eyes, but for those wiresD
Not Visiting Day For Niggers"
Remembering the lawyers quite
wide connections, our host jingles
his keys. His bearing modifies.
What you mixing up in such a
case for?" he queries, adding quickly,
Come on. This amt visiting day
for niggers, but seeing as it's you,
Mr.. Langley"
His glum waddle precedes us to a
high steel door, one side of a barred
cage. Within are penned human
beings. In the half-light, at square
peepholes stand bedraggled white
men, receiving their families. On
the outside. staring through the bars
at their father are three small chill
dren with their worn mother. Their
faces and the mans are wet. strick-
en-. He is a Poor White" tenant
farmer or millhsnd. Nothing cruel
in his face. However, he may have
broken the rich mans law, it is
clear that poverty has been his
main crime.
The jailer pushes the woman and
children aside, unlocks the door. We
pass through, and the door clanks
to behind us. Beyond another steel
door, in cage further removed
from sun and air are the colored
prisoners. The Jim Grow system is
very strictly enforced here; white
men, be they thieves, murderers or
dope addicts, are still superior" to
any Negro. So the Georgia state
law rules.
From the narrow stone floor stag
ger tier on tier of musty cramped
cells. This damp shaftway is like
those in an East side tenement, only
the stencil is worse. 1t is high noon
outside. here the gloom seeps to
your very bones. The tomb Of the
living dead.
In nasty key, the jailer drawls
to a keeper, Bring that niger
Herndon down here" The cry
echoes up the tiers, "Herndonr p
Somewhere key clicks, a barred
door is thrown back. He starts
down the tiers. this son Of an Ala
bama coal-digger who began work
in the mines too as a lad of 10. I
recall the simple terse words in
which he recorded his first acuuaint-
ance with the revolutionary move
ment.
How Herndon Joined Revolutionary
Movement
Zone day friend and ], in
search of work, happened to come
across some handbiIIs stuck to a
post. We snatched one off. We
did not take time 10 read it right
then. After looking over Bir-
mingham for work. we set out for
home. l took the handbilI out of
my pocket. I saw the startling
headline, Would you rather fight
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-04-27
Pittsburgh Mass
Youth Delegation
Stops Relief Cut
Mas Delegation of $50
Demands End to Negro
Discrimination

PITTSBURGH. Pa. April 26.-
Wholesale evictions and mass star
walton Of the unemployed of Pitts
burgh are the immediate plans of
the Welfare Agencies here. In or
der to start this general attack
upon the unemployed. the relief
heads planned first to slash the
miserable relief given to the Negro
and young workers. After putting
through this, the Welfare Agencies
planned to make a general attack
upon all unemployed.
Rent payments we're cut, and
only the united action of the unem-
ployed will save $4,000 workers from
eviction this month. Shoes and
clothing are being denied to single
workers, and Federal Surplus Food
orders are stopped.
Youth and Negroes Act
On Saturday April 81, q mass
delegation of $50 single workers
marched on the relief headquarters
to protest relief cuts and demand
cash relief to all unemployed single
workers. Mills, the relief admin
istrator, was out"
The committee determined to
stay until Mills met with them
Mills appeared while the members
of the delegation we're singing sol
idarity."
The workers demanded: ~ no
cuts in relief TO single workers;
~ cash relief; (S) free rent.
shoes and clothing; "a recogni-
ton of elected committees of
workers; ~ no discrimination
against Negroes, and special treat
ment to Negro workers because of
the great increase in tuberculosis
among young Negro workers; and
49, endorsement Of the Workers
unemployment and Social Insur-
ance Bill III. r. 1888.
After being forced to admit that
present relief was nothing more
than starvation for the unemployed,
Mills was forced to promise that re-
lief would not be cut, and that if
the reports of the committee we're
correct relief would be increased
Admits Negro Discrimination
Mills at first denied that discrim-
nation against Negroes was a prac-
tice at the local agencies, but as the
workers delegates pointed out fla
grant cases of discrimination, he
was forced to admit that the prev
alence of tuberculosis among the
Negro unemployed was due to dis
elimination. When the delegates
pointed out cases Of discrimination
in the city-owned bath houses and
pools, he was forced to admit the
statements, but regretted that he
could do nothing about it. Before
the last point could be taken up
Mills ran out on the delegation
with parting feeble excuse fol
not endorsing the Workers Unem-
ployment and Social Insurance Bill
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-04-27

or starve?" I called my friend.
We both sat down and began TO
read the handful. Near the bot
tom was the announcement of a
meeting called for 3 o'clock in the
heart Of the town by the Unen-
plOyed Council. All the way there
/ said to myself, It's war. It's war
So / might as well get into it now
as any other time"
The Negro youth finds white and
colored workers uniting-sOmething
new in the South. His friend is
afraid but Angelo joins. goes to his
first demonstration. When the Ma
tional Unemployed Convention is
held in 1880 in Chicago, he is elected
delegate. The Kluxers distribute
threatening handbills, stage night
shirt parades. Angeles relatives try
to persuade him from going to the
convention for fear their home will
be bombed by the Khan. He goes
anyway-and returns to begin or
ganization work among the miners.
The big Tel. corporation orders
his arrest. So at IT, he is hand
cuffed to white organizer and
comrade, and thrown in Jail. They
are charged with vagrancy. SEN
fenced to a years hard labor on the
chain gang-but the LID. has
them acquitted.
Arrested Many Times for His
Activities
Arrested several times after that
for organizing the miners and I'M
employed, he is sent into the Black
Belt to organize the sharecroppers,
and barely escapes a lynch mob.
He is active in the Scottsboro cam
paign, the bred Scott case Of the
Negro people in the South. The
Birmingham underworld tries to
frame him in connection with the
Willie Peterson frame-up, but fail.
Herndon, sent to Atlanta to organ
lie the unemployed, although barely
10, is already schooled in the fight,
and able to meet whatever comes.
Herndon Appears! Eyes Unafraid,
Spirit Unbroken
The steps grow nearer. Down the
jail stairs comes a slight, upright
figure in white shirt and tan
trousers. There is no mistaking;
his eyes are unafraid.
Not even Fulton Prison can break
revolutionist.
The jailer glares his hate "Visi-
tors!" He thumbs at US. The youth
crosses over, slow. modest smile
lighting his face. Visitors are rare,
and our call unexpected. I see my
lawyer friends amazement. New to
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-04-27
JaiIer ScOwIs as White
Woman Shakes Hands
with Famous Prisoner


the case. he has not seen Angelo
Herndon before. In all this fifth.
that lad has kept himself clean as
whistle inside and out, You're
right" he whispers hurriedly. "he
Just doesn't belong here"
We introduce ourselves. Angelo
Herndon puts out his hand. Hello,
comrade!' The words ring through
the gloom We shake hands, the
jailer glowers. what kinda monkey
business is this" he fumes to the
lawyer, "a white woman calling on
and shaking hands with a niggerl"
HerndOn Speaks OF Dirnitroff, Asks
News of U.S.S.R.
We hear him, and shake again.
Barely quarter of an hour we're
allowed; we have to talk fast. He
speaks, not Of himself, but of his
Joy that Dimitrof is free. He is
eager to hear more news Of the
movement, the Soviet Union. In his
pocket is a Daily Worker. he is
so eager to enter as much as he
can into things. even from his cell.
to be a part. He is sure that the
| American workers will soon set him
free. So am I. But Angelo Herndon
has been waiting now. two wears. His
case has been appealed to the
Georgia Supreme Court. Since last
October ne has waited for deci-
sion. Workers, unions, mass organi-
cations. will you raise such a pro-
test that the Judges must grant
new trial, and Angelo Herndon
be set free?
For the message bring from
our comrade in Fulton Prison Is
grave, urgent. True, no terror or
Imprisonment can break our
young comrades spirit. But they
may break his body. In a nine
by-tWelve-fOot cell they have kept
him penned up with four other
prisoners, condemned men. He has
been forced to listen, night after
night. to their bitter cries. AL
though wracking to a sensitive
nature like HerndOn's, if they
thought by this to break his
morale, they have failed. But it
is not easy. We must see that he
is Immediately accorded the rights
Of a political prisoner, until set
free.
Waiting for Workers to Set
Him Free
Suffering from the terrific food
and air, Angelo has only escaped
serious illness through the extra
food supplied him by the LID. He
was examined recently by two prison
doctors. one white and one Negro.
The white doctor actually made no
examination but lectured our COM
rade on "bein' bad niger. Stop
givin' out these statements" etc
But the Negro doctor did examine
him. He reported that Angelo
Hendon is threatened with tuber-
culosis, and requires sunshine, fresh
air, special food. Also his eyesight
Is extremely bad. An immediate
change is urgent
OF all this, Angelo says little, ex-
cept as I question him But as the
jailer demands we leave, we see
Angelo standing there in the gloom,
waiting. Waiting to be set free.
to come back to his comrades and
place in the ranks. Surely he shall
not wait long, or in vain!
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-04-27
Jail Six Leaders of
JObleSs Council
of Fairmont, VIVA.
Workers Are Urged To
Send Mass Protest
Resolutions
Special to the Daily Mnrkerl

FAIRMONT, w. Va, April 49,
Six workers, members of a commit
tee of Is, representing the East
Side local of the Fairmont Unem-
ployment Councils, were arrested
at the Marion County Relief offices
on April 81 at the orders of the
relief officials. The committee was
trying to get relief for four fam
lilies who had been denied relief.
Charged with disturbing the
peace" "rioting," etc, they are now
out on bail of $500 each, secured
by the international Labor Defense.
These cases will come before the
May Term of the Grand Jury. Mass
support will free them, and send
them back to the Unemployment
Council to continue the struggle for
increased relief and higher wages
for all workers. This attempt to
smash the struggles of the unem-
ployed and terrorize the workers of
West Virginia must be stopped by
sending protest resolutions to Sher-
if H. c. Toothman and Prosecutor
w R. Haggerty. County Court
House, Fairmont, West Virginia.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-04-27
4 arrested Stopping
ScGbs at Cam pbeH
Strik @ in Cam d en-


CAMDEN, N. j., April 26.-
Four Campbell Soup strikers were
arrested yesterday in front of
the plant, as they stopped scabs
from entering the plant, and re-
sisted police attempts to drive
them away. They we're all dis
charged by Judge Pancoast.
While police were breaking up
the picketing at the plant, Man
ming, the Socialist leader Of the
union, was getting ready to sit
down to another conference with
the president of the company,
Dorrance, before the National
Labor Board.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-04-27
Butler Co., Ohio,
Relief Strike Solid
Middletown Strikers
Hold Mass Meet
Special to the Daily Worker

CINCINNATI, Ohio, April 26.-
Three hundred and fifty strikers on
the Butler County Federal Emer-
gency Relief Administration work
relief met at the City Auditorium
in Middletown, Tuesday, deter
mined to continue the strike until
all demands are granted. Middle
town is company-owned town of
the American Steel Company
The workers unanimously voted
down the proposal of the A. F. of l..
as put forward by Barker to return
to work at 40 cents an hour. An
employed steel worker put forward
the proposal of the Steel and Metal
Workers Industrial Union to fight
for the full demands.
The assembled workers enthusi-
sstically voted to continue the
strike, rejecting the relief officials
invitation to a meeting TO sign up
fer return to work. All efforts Of
the Socialist Party, the A. f. of L.
Labor Council and Relief Director
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-04-27
Heroic Negro Organizer
Confident Workers
Will Free Him
BY MYRA PAGE

ny W ma FhkrE
THE sombre walls Of Fulton County
1 walls of Fulton County Prison
where Angelo Herndon is entonbed
rise in the very heart of Atlanta
cultural center Of the South" The
Jail doorbell iangles several minutes
before the jailer bestirs himself from
his comfortable chew and gossip
ing with a bIuecoat, to let us in,
We spy him cycling us idly through
a grilled window, like some slow
witted Bessie behind a barbed-wire
fence.
The heavy door swings back. He
takes us into his Office. My COM
panion, member of a we'll known
Atlanta law firm whom the Inter
national Labor Defense has just in
terested in the case, produces his
card. The jailers waddling person
exudes an ingratiating importance
And what may he do for us?
I'VE came to see a prisoner-An-
gelo Herndon."
The keepers jaw says. "That goI
dern niger! You come to see him.
Perplexed fear in his eyes, his bear
ing resumes its old hardness. He
surveys me and 7 him, with mutual
contempt. To think that this BIZ
ped has in his keeping that rare
spirit and working class fighter, An
gelo Herndon!
He may manhandle and insult as
he likes our young comrade. SEN
fenced to 20 years on the chain
gang for having organized Atlanta's
jobleSs in march to the Fulton
County Commission to demand re-
lief. This alone has been his
Crime"
HerndOn's Militant Defiance Infuri-
ated Slave Drivers
What had most Infatuated the
Coca Cola and mill and cotton in
terests controlling Georgia was hi,
defiance of Jim Grow. That damn
white niger" had dared organize
unemployed councils and demonstra
lions that included both colored and
white. This was open rebellion! In
citing to riot!
The orderly demonstrators won
their demands. The Commission
found an extra $4,000 for relief. Gut
get that Redo Some days later
as he was entering the post Office
for his mail, Angelo was arrested
For II days he remained without any
charges placed against him. Mean
while he was treated to trips to the
electrocution cell and similar diver
sions, TO make the bastard talk
Terror proved useless.
Old Slave Law Dug Up
Finally the Red-baiting Solicitor
Hudson bethought himself of an OLD
law directed against rebelling slaves
and resuTTected in recent years fol
the rebelling workers. SO in the
summer of 1892, Angelo Herndor
was charged under a law dating bach
to 1920, for melting to insurrec.
ton" The penalty was death.
For six months before wa,
tried the 19-year- old organizer
writes. Il was forced to live in a
cell with condemned men. I al
most died from starvation and lack
OF medicine" After three days of a
farcicsl trial, he was found guilty
But the wide protest reused by the
LID. caused the jury to recon
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-04-27
Force Closing of
Gyp Employment
Agency in N. Y
The Hotel Union Open,
Campaign Against
Labor Racketeers

NEW YORK IF. P0 One less
racketeer lives off the hotel workers
as g. result Of the cancellation Of
the license of the Vincent Employ
ment Agency, 1888 Sixth Ave, New
York.
The Hotel and Restaurant Work
ers' Union, Amalgamsted Food
Workers, brought together SO people
who had been gypped by the Vim
cents out Of amounts from a fen
dollars to as much as $50. Three
had been sent to Florida, to Miami
or Palm Beach on false promises.
Commissioner Rosalie L. Whitney
ervoked the license, forfeited the
Vincents' $1,000 bond toward re-
funding the 1880 the workers have
lost, and announced that they could
not get a new license for three
years.
The union had group in the
Vincent Office demanding return of
unearned fees when an investigator
for the license commissioner arrived
and this helped along the process of
lifting the racketeer's license. Miss
Rose Weiss, attorney for the A. F.
w, had charge Of the hearing for
the workers.
Union Opens Campaign
1t was announced yesterday at
the headquarters of the union that
this action against Vincent marked
the beginning of a campaign against
gyp agencies, labor racketeers and
strikebreaking agencies in the city
Of New York.
A meeting has been called at the
union headquarters, 915 Eighth Ave,
Monday. April 80, at 8 pm, to take
up the question of driving the gyp
agencies out of business.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-04-27
CALL FOR MILK STRIKE
SOUNDED BY BENTLEY,
PENNA. FARM LEADER
" arms That Victory
Against Wallace Plan
Must Be Defended

PHILADELPHIA. Pa,
April 26.-Warning the dairy
farmers of the milk shed here
that tn cir recent victory
against the proposed Wallace
milk reduction plan is only
causing the same plan to be put
forward under another guise, Lewis
BENTLEY, farm leader of the United
Farmers Protective Association,
urged the farmers of the Phila-
delphia milk shed to strike against
any efforts of the officials to put
over reduction program
THE milk companies are after
some kind of cut in the milk sup
ply. through one form or an
other" Bentley stated. This is
their only way of maintaining
their huge profits We have al
ready seen this in the action of
Supplee Wills Jones, who was
forced to withdraw his 30 per cent
cut on the basic only because Of
mass resentment. But this means
that the companies will only try
another scheme"
Continuing his call for militant
action against the whole Roosevelt
Milk Company program Of reduced
milk supply in order to boost retail
prices in the cities, Bentley de-
clared:
when we farmers see the A.
A. A. trying to put over q reduc
ton program making the small
farmers, workers and children the
innocent victims of their "Starva-
ton insurance" plan and the Milk
Trust, the Interstate leaders, and
the Milk Control Board trying to
put across the same thing with
another name-we know that
there is only one road for us to
choose. This is the way Of the
rank and file farmers-mass ae-
ton. using our only weapon, strike
action.
I'VE have seen the leadership of
the Allied throw in its lot with the
Milk Control Board and the Amer
lean stores. We don't understand
their program, which says it is
against the basic surplus system
yet in favor Of a classification plan
with grades l, 2, and f. Isn't this
the same thing with another name?
I'VE demand the abolition of the
basic surplus and classification sys-
TENS of buying milk.
eve demand that the price of all
Grade B Milk, 3.5 BF, shall be five
cents a quart to the farmer on the
farm and that the price charged to
the consumer shall be lowered to
nine cents a quart.
I'VE demand that the federal
government buy all so-called sur
plus milk at five cents a quart on
the farm for free distribution
among the unemployed workers and
undernourished children.
Abolition of the check off sys-
tenn.
This is the program asked for
by the great majority of farmers
We call upon all farmers, regardless
Of what organization you belong to
once and for all-put all the lead
ers on the spot by striking" Bentz-
lev concluded
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-04-27
new ORLEANS SEAMEN
PLEDGE SUPPORT OF
BALTIMORE STRUGGLE
Nurses, Supervisors
in Teu-Minufe Strike
at Chicago Hospital

Daily Worker Midwest Bureau)
CHICAGO, April 26.-Twenty
nurses and eight supervisors
went out on a ten minute DEM
onstration strike yesterday at the
Francis E. Willard Hospital, de-
handing a SIS a month increase
in the present wages Of Sc a
week, working seven days and u
hours day.
At the same time a petition for
the demands was presented to
Paul Gerhard. business manager.
and Cyrus F. Campo, trustee. The
hospital workers are determined
on a real strike if their demands
are not met.
Their petition is to have
hearing April 30th.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-04-27
Ex-Servicemen's Leader
Speaks in Toledo, Sun,
at Bonus March Rally

TOLEDO, Ohio, April 26.-E.
Levin, National Organizer Of the
Workers EX-Servicemen's League,
now on tour rallying support for
the Bonus March on washington.
will speak in Toledo, Sunday. April
20, at 8 pm, at the Veterans Hall,
1877 N. Erie st.
All ex-servicemen in Lucas
County are urged to attend this
meeting and special invitation is
given to all who participated in the
last Bonus March in 1882
Browning to broAk the strike have
failed.
Hoese, president of the A. F. of L.
Trades Council is so discredlted
among the rank and file that an
other Moulders Local Of the A. i.
Of L.. Local 2s3, following the sim
liar action of a moulders union last
week, voted to GUST him
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-04-27
San Francisco Cooks
Continue Their Strike
Despite AFL Officials

SAN FRANCISCO. April % cBy
MaiD.-Three hundred and fifty
cooks continue on strike over the
heads Of the a. F. OF L. officials.
The international president of
the Hotel Workers Union sent
telegram designed to break the
strike The wire was as follows:
Strike has not been author
lied by Interns ,ional. Advise re-
main on Jobs. Appeal to Regional
Labor Board.
"tSigred) FLOES,
international President"
John O'Connall, secretary Of the
Central Labor Council. came on the
scene in his strikab~eakiny role and
declared that continued refusal to
srbitrate will GU law the union by
the A. F. Of L.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-04-27

GLIDING many not affiliated with
the United Councils.
A new executive committee Of %
was elected. which will Immediately
plan steps to lover the prices of
milk and other groceries, through
demonstrations. mass meets. leaf
lets, petitions and more militant
measures if necessary. The Coun-
ellis demand support Of such meas
ures by all working class women.
A more detailed report will ape
pear later
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-04-27

Down tools May 1st! Rally the
fight against the N.R.A.'s attacks
on living standards and workers
organizations.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-04-27
"tSigned) FL0RS,
"Interna tionsl Pres dent.

Down tools May l against the
Wagner strikebreaking bill and
for the workers right to strike.