The Daily Worker Newspaper, November 28, 1932, Page 4

ee ee I os Pablished by the Comprod: ath St, New York Cit Address and mail che ¥. Telephone ALzo to the Daily Worker E. Unemployed Masses Are Moving ggles are being planted naking its way to | 13th St, New : | HE seeds of jocal unemployed stri by the National Hunger March as it is Washington. The Hoover hunger gogic approval of the pri Roosevelt, hoped to strangle in the loc: of the hunger march. McKee, the the New York bankers considered it representatives of the New York divis of the Washington police to yvernment with the smiling, dema- vate citizen of Wall Street, Mr. | ss the organization and progress boy” mayor of Roosevelt and | an duty to “convey 5 a g ¢ s ra < 8 g s 4 local and state police ad- ion of the hunger But all of these attempts of the natio! ministrations are fai Why? Because the or march is rooted and based on the development of the local struggles, be- eause the idea of the hunger march and ‘its demands have s the very depths of the masses and because the starving workers have actively taken up the fight for and repulsed the brutal a ‘ks against the hunger mareh <{Minnesota, Cleveland, etc.) It is the development of the local struggles in conjunction with the main national demand of the hung ch compelled many of the local authorities not only to chang d about “discouraging” the hunger marchers but to grant lodging and food to the marchers. After a few splendid local mass battles some honorable governors and mayors considered it more prudent to yield to the * = = EH see that practically everywhere the organization and, yes, struggle for this year’s national hunger march go hand-in-hand with the strug- gle against the growing cuts in local relief, against the growth of forced Jabor, against evictions, etc. And it is precisely this which made possible the development of a mass base and mass understanding of the hunger march. We also see that in connection with the hunger march the be- ginnings of breaking away from some of our old sectarian habits. We witness more consultation and active participation of the workers in the formulation of their demands and struggle for local grievances. The or- ganization of the national hunger march stimulated the development of local struggles. The local city unemployed councils must consolidate these victories and gains organizationally. There must be no let-up and loose- ness in local struggles after the marchers leave the city. ‘The existing/block committees must be strengthened. Each day up to the arrival of the delegates—each day up to December 5th energetic ac- tivities must be carried through to fight for and popularize the main de- mands of the national hunger march. The growth of misery throughout the country, the growing widespread dissatisfaction with charity relief, particularly with the recent cuts in relief, have created a mass basis for the struggle for $50 winter relief and unemployment insurance. December 6th, the day the hunger marchers present demands in Washington, must witness the organization of mass demonstrations throughout the country for $50 winter relief and unemployment insurance in their support. s s . .JN spite of the many weaknesses brought to light by the organization and development of the hunger march ,the persistence of sectarian habits and methods of work, inability to develop the united front on a broad basis ‘and draw in new layers of workers, surrender to sectarian ideas, we can already note that this year’s national hunger march has developed on a higher plane than last year’s. (The growth of local struggles, or- ganizational consolidation of block committces, the political defeat of the attempt to break the hunger march in the localities, the granting of food and lodging on the part of leading ind ‘ial towns. The earlier doubts and hesitations regarding the organization of the national hunger march have been dissolved in the growing mass response on the part of the workers and the persistence of the Central Committee of our Party in encouraging and leading this struggle. Working-class history is being made by this great combination of Jocal and national action of the unemployed with the employed workers. ‘The masses are moving into battle to defeat starvation. Every worker and workers’ organization must move into the battle front! Fight for winter relief and federal unemployed insurance! Why the Gods Aren’t Laughing HE GODS are not shrieking with laughter these days at the spectacle of capitalism trying to crawl out of the crisis which its own contradic- tions created. The reason is that they are exhausted by their Olympian mirth. The last gasping giggle was expended when the following item from the New York News dealing with the latest suggestion for a planned capitalist economy came to their attention: @ “Mrs. Vanderlip, who already has organized a system of community Singing to help people sing and forget the depression,” declared: “The Bolsheviks have a plan. Let’s get a better plan. Their plan can’t possibly work, but certainly it is within the power of the brains of the United States to form a workable program Quite unaware that when capitalism has to talk about planning it is piping its swan song, the singing organizer who is the wife of Frank A. Vanderlip, banker, suggested the names of Mary Beard, Robert Mil- liken, Professor Howard Scott of Technocracy fame, and Newton D. ‘Baker as members of the planning board that is to boost capitalism out of thé crisis by its bootstraps. ; Totally unimpressed by this evidence that the brains needed to save capitalism are available, at the time of going to press the Soviet govern- ment and its Bolshevik leadership had not sought to induce Mrs, Van- derlip to betray her trust and put her wealth of organizing experience at their disposal although if business doesn’t pick up soon the Soviet government will probably be able to purchase the services of both Mrs. Vanderlip and her husband for about nine czarist rubles. . |Mitchell Palmer Crops ‘Miner’s Daugh- ‘Up Again Under Wing ter Has 7 Months| Of New President More in Prison’ | WASHINGTON, D. C—‘Private citizen” Roosevelt has already indi- cated in more ways than one that he will continue the Hoover program of hunger and terror, when he takes up the presidency in March. In his reception room in Washington, where he met the press correspondents, Roosevelt boldly flaunted his friend- ship for Mitchell Palmer, who was | present in the room. Workers who remember Mitchell Palmer's record \of terror against the workers, when | he was attorney-general in the sec- ond Wilson administration, will real- ize what if means when this thug crops up again under the protecting wing of the new president. Palmer has been little heard of since 1920, when in the winter of that year, a nationwide protest MX strikes land women in jail as well as their husbands. De- manding only the means to live they are sentenced on charges of “inciting .to riot.” Mrs. Rasefske and her daughter Stella, now 19 years old, are serving as a result of their action in the Pennsylvania~ Ohio-West Virigina coal strike, Stella has seven more months to serve, her mother 30 days. Mean- while the father finds himself blacklisted and totally unable to tind work of any kind. He and his three children are dependent on oc- asional odd jobs which the eldest, boy gets. ‘They are destitute. And there is still another difficulty. @telia’s sister, Mary, writes: “Stella wants you to write to her as offen as you can and to keep informed of everything in- to her, You see Stella . worrying about the time have to serve after Mother her. She wrote saying she doesn’t think she will be stand it.” International Labor Defense calls on you to help get freedom tor Stella, to suport this family, crippled by the mine owners. Sup~ port the Prisoners’ Winter Relief Campaign! Send al funds to: 80 East Ath St,.Raam 430,.New York, HIE a against his raids and illegal arrests forced a senate committee to listen for days to an exposure of his crimes against workers, After passing out of the political picture for a dozen years Palmer is now welcomed back to the councils of the president-elect. Build a workers correspondence group ip your feetory, shop or neighborhood, Send regular Istters } i the Daky Worker Creer 4 Elections- Next Tasks (Resolution Adopted by Dist, Buro, Dist 8) ‘HE November 8th eleciions have resulted in the Democratic Party, Party of capitalism, obtain- ing control of the national govern- ment (elections of President, majority of the House of Represen- tatives and Senate) and the ma- jority of the State governmenis (in our district, Illinois, Indiana and Missouri). In view of the deep-rooted dis- content of the toiling masses, the | capitalists applied different meth- ods to keep the masses in the frame | The | of the two-capita’ parties. Hoover-Republican government was discredited and the Democratic Party was assigned the task, under demogogic promises and speeches | of Roosevelt and other Democratig leaders and candidates, to parade before the masses as “opposition” to Hoover, creating an illusion that the Democratic Party will improve con- ditions. The Socialist Party, altho it did not receive as large a number of votes as was estimated by the lead~ ers of the Socialist Party and pre~ dicted by the capitalists, neverthe- | less shows growth. The S. P. in its | election campaign carried on a policy of assuring capitalists that it | has no aims to endanger the capi- talist system but to improve it and Spread faith in the soundness of the capitalist system, and serve as @ safety valve; on the other hand, because of the radicalization of the masses, it paraded among the mass- es under the slogans “for classless society,” “for Socialism,” and that it stands on the principles of the class struggle. Many thousands of workers who voted for the Social- ist Party were under the illusion that the S. P. is a working-class party—workers whom we as yet did not reach and win for the working class party, the Communist Party. INCREASE IN COMMUNIST VOTE) The vote for the Communist Party has increased in 1932, in com~- parison with 1928, In Cook County, Hlinois, by 1200% (in 1928 Foster received 1,009 votes—in 1932, 11,917 votes). In Lake County, Indiana, (Calumet Steel Region) the Com- munist Party won a permanent place on the ballot, receiving 646 votes, while in 1928, in the whole state of Indiana, Foster received only 248 votes. Likewise, 508 votes in East St. Louis, lL, and votes in other cities shows growth, with the exception of St. Louis, where the Communist Party got only 361 votes. (In Missouri the Party was on the ballot for the first time), As yet we have no full report of votes cast for the Communist Party. The increase of the Communist vote is an expression of the growing revolutionary trend among the toil- ing masses, However, the increased vote for the Communist Party does not correspond with the growth of the militancy, activity and revolu- tionary upsurge of the masses, and this once more shows our isolation from the masses, because of our sectarian approach to the masses, Communist Party entered the election campaign with a clear- cut revolutionary program, and set as its task to develop the election struggles on the basis of developing struggle for unemployed and social insurance, against wage cuts, for farm relief, against persecution of | the masses, for Negro rights and self-determination for the Black Belt, against imperialist war and for the defense of the Soviet Union. The Communist Party program called for a revolutionary way out of the crisis, That is, the Com- munist Party is the only anti-capi- talist Party and its task was to or- ganize and lead the struggles of the masses against hunger and war, against capitalism. But in the elec- tion campaign the Communist Party did not come sufficiently into the forefront as the only anti-capitalist Party anq did not sufficiently carry the struggle against the capitalist system as a whole, undermining it among the masses and in doing so, it was necessary to concentrate the main fire against the social-fascists (S. P., Muste, AFL, Farmer-Labor Party, etc.). UNITED FRONT POLICY To carry such a struggle success- fully it was necessary to unite the broadest masses in struggle, that is, to carry in practice the policy of the united front from below. First of all, in the factories against wage- cuts, among the unemployed, farm- ers, Negroes, ex-servicemen, work~ ing women, etc. In our district the factories were completely forgotten in the election campaign. No con- centration, no special activities in connection with the election cam- paign among the masses of workers in the stockyards, Western Elec- tric, steel mills, mines, railroad, eto, With the exception of the united front of the unemployed (Cook County Hunger March on October 31st, the local struggles of the un- employed in Chicago, as well as in other cities) there was no united front activity. Not a single group of the workers of any significance, especially workers of the AFL, work- ers following the Socialist Party, Muste, or unorganized workers in the shops or poor farmers were or- ganized around the demands of the Communist platform and devoloped struggle and therefore support the C, P. in the elections. Even mass organizations close to the C, P. such as 'T.U.0.L., Unemployed Coun- cils, LL.D, language mass organiza- tions did not make the elections a task confronting them. ‘The strike of the Ilinois coal miners against wage cuts and strug- gles against Lewis-Walker machine offered our Party one of the best opportunities to mobilize miners in the struggle and lead it to an ex- pression in the elections by voting Communist. Because of our weak- ness in the work in the coal flelds the vote for the Communist Party, in view of the objective conditions, ‘was very small, While on the other hand the Socialist Party vote in- creased largely because of the sup- port given to the 8. P, by the lead- ers of the Progressive Miners of America, we { seen 1 CARON “WINTER RELIEF! UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE!” —By Burck The Russian Workers Eat Three Meals A Day By N. BUCHWALD [T was in a tea-room in Minsk,'U. S. 5S. R. ‘The young Russian was intrigued by the ingenious buckle of my American raincoat, and asked me whether the raincoat and I were German. I told him we were both American, and we got to talking. ‘There was something striking in the combination of high boots, cal- lous hands and the brand-new black leather brief-case, of which the Russian was obviously proud. He was a worker fresh from the bench. He came all the way from Leningrad on a mission of great importance: ‘his factory entrusted him with the job of purchasing a quantity of various foodstuffs in one of the regions of the White Russian Republic. At the mention of his mission, I perked up. The food situation in the Soviet Union had been im- pressed upon me while I was still in New York. I remembered the stories printeq in the capitalist and social-fascist papers (particularly the Socialist “Forward”) about “wholesale starvation” in Russia. There was no mistaking the vicious intent of those stories, but from a distance it was difficult to tell just how far these slanderers and liars went in distorting the facts. Sao eit 'WO days in Minsk were suffi- cient to allay whatever misgiv- ings I may have had about star- vation in the Soviet Union, Surely there were no outward signs of starvation. In the milling crowds on Freedom Square, in the jammed trolleys, in the tea-rooms, in the parks, in the movies, one could not find any of those pale, pasty faces that one finds by the thousands in New York. If looks mean anything, the people in Minsk did not look starved or even undernourished. The comrades in Minsk were amused when I told them of the “starvation” stories printed in American papers, So I was quite reassured on the subject of star- vation. But what of the food situ- ation in general? TWO CHIEF DIFFICULTIES My Russian friend of a few min- utes’ acquaintance was glad to discuss the matter with me. The food problem resolves itself into two main difficulties: actual short- age of certain foodstuffs, and in- efficient distribution of available food-stores. Both sides of the problem are being tackled vigor~ ously by the Party, by the respec- tive governmental agencies, and by the plants and factories individu- ally. There is no complaint about the unavoidable shortage of certain food items and other articles of general use. The Russian workers are quite aware of the fact that, because of the strenuous efforts to build up the basic (heavy) indus- tries under the most difficult con ditions, without the normal credit facilities abroad, which are ac- corded all countries but the Soviet Union, the development of the so- called light industries which man- ufacture articles of consumption, while also developing rapidly, can- not keep up with the constantly growing demand. We have also to be reminded— and a couple, of years ago the Soviet press devoted considerable attention to the question—that the first period of — collectivization (1929-1930) was followed by a Specially fierce resistance of the rich peasants (kulaks). One of their methods to fight against col- lectivization consisted in slaughter- ing their cattle, at the same time spreading anti-Soviet propaganda, disbelief in the measures of the government, and panic in the ranks of the backward elements of the toiling peasants. As a result of all this, the first year of collectiviza- tion was accompanied by a marked decrease in the number of cattle. Sake ar N the other hand, we have to note the generai rise of con- suming power both in the villager #ng in the cities during faq Nears | | Daily Worker Corresponden: in Soviet Union Tells of Improving Conditions Despite Difficulties of revolution. The villagers, who, during Tsarism, had to sell on the market the greatest part of agri- cultural produce in order to pay the ceaselessly rising taxes, have | at the present time the possibility to consume a large part of their produce, and therefore are send- ing it to the market in a lesser de- gree. Obviously this has an effect on the supply of the towns. The cattle-breeding and dairy Soviet farms, which are organized on a large scale by the govern-. | ment, are not yet able to cope with the needs of the town population. The reason is that, as compared with the grain problem which was solved in the first years of collec- tivization, the meat probl2m needs a much longer period for its solu- tion. All this the Soviet worker fully understands. There is no complaint about this sort of short- age, for the average Russian worker knows that it is just a question of putting up with tem- porary difficulties ang discomforts in order to build up his country. FAULTY DISTRIBUTION But there are other difficulties that are both avoidable and sur- | mountable. Much of the food shortage, wherever it becomes seri- | ous, is due to faulty management and faulty distribution of available supplies, The fact is that the food situation varies from region to | region, from city to city, and in the same region or city—from factory to factory. In addition to the rations of basic foodstuffs( bread, sugar, potatoes, etc.), supplied by the government, each factory, each economic unit of production, or- ganizes its own supply and dis- tribution apparatus to provide the workers with additional foodstuffs and goods. The government has set aside certain state farms {o supply the needs of specified fac- tories or of other organizations. It is largely up to thé factory management to organize its own supply of additional and available foodstuffs and their distribution at cost to the workers, + 8 is precisely on such a mission that the worker from a large in- dustrial plant in Leningrad came to Minsk. He was assigned a cor- tain territory in which hg could buy up quantities of food and make bargains with the local kothozes | (collective farms), or, for that matter, with individual peasants. Part of his task consists in help- ing the collective farms and the individual peasants to obtain man- ufactured goods of everyday use. For, in the matter of manufactured goods, there is also the double dif- ficulty of insufficient supply (of certain items of general use), and faulty distribution of available sup- plies—the latter perhaps being the more serious and more vexing part of the situation, The peasants want goods in ex- change for their food, and it is part of the job of this energetic young Russian worker from Leningrad to make such goods available to the peasants. The task, is complicated and calls for much initiative and a clear understanding of the many factors that enter into the prob- Jem. But this particular represen- tative of this particular plant in Leningrad had managed to solve the problem: all the workers of his factory are assured a, year's supply ot potatoes at; nominal “firm” prices, a supply of butter at fairly reasonable “commercial” prices, a supply of meat for the workers’ families, in addition to the meat- lunches the workers get at the fac- tory at low prices, an additional supply of bread over and above the quite sufficient rations of a pound and a half to two pounds a day per worker (very cheaply). In Minsk proper I had occasion to visit two fair-sized factories and inquire into the food situation of each of them. The “Voroshiloy” plant (machine-building) had had its troubles about tood supplies, and there was quite a row made | ment in conditions, Party Committee of the factory. ‘The Factory Committee was taken to task for neglecting its work of supplying the workers with suffi- cient food at prices within their budget. Also for permitting the factory kitchen to lower the quality of the meals and raise their prices, The workers of the factory had their say and they removed the entire Factory Committee. When I new Committee had been function- ing only a few days, but already there was a measureable improve- Certainly the lunch of delicious potato soup (with double portions available for every one), and the tasty roast veal with barley, potatoes and a pickled cucumber on the side, tasted good to this writer who had eaten worse lunches in some of our better cafeterias in the United States. The old kitchen manager was placed on probation. If he doesn’t make good, he too will go. I think he will make good. The problem of cost is one he has not yet solved. The meal described hhere costs 85 copeks. It should cost less. With efficient manage- ment, it will cost less. the “October” clothing factory, employing 2,000 workers and producing nearly a million women’s coats a year, the average pay of the workers is lower than at “Vo- roshilov,” but in many respects the work of “October” are better supplied with foodstuffs and ar- ticles of daily use, because the management and the Factory Com- mittee are more efficient in this respect. I had lunch also at the “October” plant. mately of the same kind, tasted omewhat better and cost only 75 kopeks. In addition, the workers could get tea free of charge. Ap- ples at nominal prices were avail- able at all hours, both at the “Vo- roshilov” and the “October.” BOSS PRESS BELITTLES, ACHIEVEMENTS There are still difficulties, but | when you put these difficulties in their proper place in the Soviet picture of socialist construction, of buoyant optimism, and that won~ derful sense of self-reliance and self-confidence on the part of the workers, and the fight of the worker class under the leadership of the Soviet Government, these difficulties look much smaller. It is precisely here that the bourgeois propagandists lie even when they tell some of the truth: they “tear the text out of the context”; they put the difficulties of socialist con- struction to the foreground, and omit or belittle the tremendous achievements both in reconstruct- ing the country on socialist foun- dations and reconstructing the workers and the peasants in a spirit of pride in their own achieve- ments, in a spirit of social respon- sibility, of collective effort. When you come in contaci with the Sovie; workers; when you ob- serve their pride at being the build- ers of socialism; when you come under the spell of the boundless faith they have in their own future and the future of the working class the world over—then, and only then, do you realize the true mean- ing of this great and glorious event in the history of the world, called the October Revolution, AN instance of this spirit: Tt was conducted through the “Voroshilev” factory by a worker from the bench who had just fin- ished his shift. He was not a Party member, just a man from the ranks. He told me of a “break” that took place at the plant: last month they fell down on the pro- duction. They fulfilled only 90 per cent of their quota. I made an entry in my notebook, The work- ers noticed it, and skid to me pleadingly: “Please, don’t write this about our factory. We'll make good the next, month, I assure you.” They’! make good. NEGROSLAVERY TOPAY John ©. Spivak’s Stirring Novel "GEORGIA NIGGER” NOTE.—“Georgia Niggs is @ smashing exposure of the hideous persecution snd national oppression of the Negro masses, The Daily Worker is relentlessly opposed to the white ruling class term, “nigger,” and to the oppression and contemptuous treatment of Negroes ‘ich it symbolizes, ~The author shares this view, but. in order to paint a true picture of these horrible conditions, he considered it necessary to use this term as otherwise he would have put into the months of tho boss lynch- exs_terms of respect for Negroes which they do not use,—Fditor, INSTAMENT 24 THE STORY SO FAR: After escaping trom the slave farm of the powerful white’ planter, Jim Deering, David Jackson, 2 Negro youth, finally gets his release trom Deering with the aid of the planter, Ramsey, He is on his way to Macon, Ga., to look ‘for a job when he is picked up on the streets of a small town, chatged with yagrancy and sentenced to three months on the chain gang. While the warden, Bill Twine, is sited the factory, the” Tt was approxi- | read on: ISDEMEANOR offenders. may not be sentenced to more than twelve months and are kept within the county of sentence, but felony allotted to counties in proportion to their population. The Prison Com- mission, which has sole control over of three men elected by popular vote. It is not essential that com- missioners be penologists, but it. is essential that they be good vote getters. Convict camp wardens are ap~- pointed by the Commission, upon recommendation sioners of the county where the camp is located, unless the pro- posed man has too unsavory a rec- ord. The Prison Commission makes its convicts which are subject to no one for approval, 4 A Negro doing life and a year arrived for the Chickasaw county camp the day David was sentenced. ‘The two were handcuffed together. Ebenezer Bassett was his name and he was in his forties. He had es- caped several menths before from @ northern county camp where he was doing life for having killed a Negro in a brawh He was caught when he was arrested in an easy house for striking the madame over the head with a chair. He was given a year for escaping. : * LL this he chatiered while they waited under the watchful eyes of a guard, while Bill Twine shopped in town for his wife. Ebe. nezer’s face was wreathed in smiles when he talked except in moments when his eyes clouded with a per- plexed, bewildered expression; then the looked as though he were grop- ing for something he did not quite understand or grasp. “Figger youll escape again, Ben?” the guard asked jocularly. “Dunno, suh,” he chuckled. “Sho got a long time to figger hit out!” LIFE AND A YEAR He turned to the boy. “Whut you doin’?” he asked. “Year,” David said sullenly. “I wouldn’t even hang my hat up gang. poison”. convicts are the. state’s and are | the state’s convict camps, consists | of the commis- own rules for the supervision of | taking him to the prison camp, David tries to escape badly beaten up ant sentenced to an, additional nine months, * I DREADED SPIKES— Negro prisoners at work on a Georgia ‘Note the one in the center wearing steel pikes such as David Jackson in “Georgia Nigger” is forced to wear—20 Ib. against the legs and often produce an infection known as “shackle (Copyright by John L. Spivak, author of “Georgia Nigger.”) fle is caught, Now in the red Clay, Its walls were stained with the years’ accumula~ tion of grease until the very boards seemed to ooze of the pots and pans inside. Twenty feet away was! the mess hall, as blistered and as gray as the kitchen. A deputy'’s shack leaned towards two trusties’ shacks. In the easternmost corner of the stockade, under planks rest-' ing eayes-like on eight posts, was! the last stopping place of the con- viet before free legs were riveted with’ chains: the blacksmith shop. The shelter was filled with old shovels and picks, chains,. broken halters, saws, files, bolts and. nuts ana ol tomobile wheel rims, Two hundred yards from the stockade gate was ihe, warden’s house, a slat-board, rambling build~ ing with an ancient coat of paint peeling off its walls. A luxurious! fiower garden faced the ugliness of) the wire inclosure. Two acres of vegetable garden, pig and chicken pens stretched back of the house. On these acres were the kennels for the dogs, the terror of convicts and the despair of those who had been tracked down by them, A heavy, summer stillness hung over the camp. A trusty came out with two suits of stripes. | “Git in ’em,” the deputy ordered. ‘HE change made David resentful. Ebenezer was sobered by the} wrinkled convict suit that marked| him so irrevocably as of the chain gang until his dying day. From the open door of a cage a gaunt, black scarecrow of a man. came haltingly down the steps. He was bareheaded and barefooted. His striped pants were rolled above his ankles, and his torn undershirt clung to his bony shoulders. He walked slowly to them, “Yall got a lemon fo’ a sick cullud man?” he asked plaintively. They stared at him, The guard ‘No, they ain't got no lemons, George,” he said. ‘The scarecrow returned dejected~ ly to the cage and sat on the steps, resting his head on his hands. s askin’ fo’ a lemon,” chain weights that rub fo’ dat! Me—t got life an’ a year!” He laughed loudly. “Dat jedge is outer his haid! How he figger a man kin do life an’ a year? W’en yo’ daid you cain’ do no mo’ time!” pie E NOTICED David look at him with a puzzled air. “Got my haid cracked,” he ex- plained cheerfully. “Skull busted wide open. an’ brain jes’ ploppin’ all over de place.” He shook his head vaguely and added: pt “I git awful haidaches some- times.” into, another loud “Yes, suh, cracked my skull clean open. I laid in jail fo’ weeks fo’ I was up an’ aroun’.” The guard watched tolerantly with an amused grin. WIFE AND CHILDREN “Jes’ one thing troublin’ me,” Ebenezer said confidentially his eyes clouded with that searching, grop- ing look. “I dunno whey my wife an’ chillun is. Dunno whose gonter tek care o’ dem.” — He shook his head sadly. “Two li'l chillun,” he explained, holding up two fingers of his free of thé Buzzard’s Roost eight acres were inclosed with barbed wire strung on posts ten LECTURE BY JOHN UL. SPIVAK-~At the ‘Beyond the inclosure |~ the guard grinned. “Tried to escape a couple o’ years ago an’ got pretty badly beat up an’ he’s bin off since. Good worker, though.” i He scratched a, stubble of beard. “Make yo'se’f to home. Cap’n's , gone to the house to register you in / his hotel book an’ it'll be a while befo’ the blacksmiths back,” UZZARD'S ROOST: red clay under a tropic sun, A cage for Negroes and a cage for whites, Flies. Mosquitoes. Tiny red ants. A cress, Two concrete poles eight feet apart and stocks, like a heavy wooden box with three sides missing. To David, who had seen men faint in them in Snake Fork, the four holes in the wood were round eyes of terror. And a coffin of thick wood. standing upricht, the like of which he had neyer seen, but it was recognizable from the tales he had heard in the convict camp, of men in it who had pleaded for a merciful bullet to end their agony and of one who had died: the sweat box. ‘The blacksmith came and looked curiously at them. “Joe,” the guard called, “double shacks fo’ this nigger,” nodding . toward. Basseit, “an’. spikes fo’ the other, You first!” he shouted to David. . (Continued Tomorrow) HERDED TOGETHER WITH © ) OLBER NEGRO PRISONERS IN JIM-CROW CAGE, WITH 'TOR- E DEVICES STARING HIM | IN THE FACE AND HIS LEGS WEIGHED DOWN BY’ S SPIKES THAT OFTEN PRODU! “SHACKLE PO'SON,” WHAT THE WORK FOR WHICH DAVID AND HIS FELLOW-SLAVES. CHAINED AND DRIVEN BEASTS OF BURDEN? DO! MISS "TOMORROW'S INST. MENT! N.Y. John 2 : i