The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 6, 1933, Page 3

rs mcs ,/ der its control in preparation for DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, Ay HURSDAY, APRIL 6, 193% Page ‘Three Well Obl PM if IHeY RE TURNED EOUSE™ ‘Threaten Lynchings If ' the Scottsboro Boys Are Freed by the J ury ¥ By STANLEY GIBSON {Special Daily Worker Correspondent.) HCATUR, Ala., April 5.—Beyond the railroad tracks here are streets where a forgotten people is rising. They wind in all directions, bumpy, unpaved roads scarred with holes and wagon ruts and littered with rusty ash cans and | broken bits of furniture. There are sidewalks for the shacks and weather beaten clap- * 3 board cabins resting on red brick stilts on either side of the roadways. When it rains here , the red Alabama clay becomes soggy | and water forms in puddles and runs in rivulets under their homes. | They call it Vine Street, or nig ger Town” here in Decatur and so | forgotten are these streets where the black people live that the boss white folks who run the city and its mills and own f#ms around it, never even troubled to name the | covers you and you stumble along, winding alleys and roe branch- ing off. In the daytime it is usly, @ loath- some sore on the face of green lands stretching around it, but at night darkness hides its squalor and filth. For three blocks unshaded electric lights glare before each dilapidated store where thin, raw- boned whites, trained from birth in an unreasoning race hatred, are willing to sell them food but not willing to eat with them. When the last store is passed the darkness of “Nigger Town” your feet serqping the rusty cans. Sauares of window panes stare out of the darkness. Forms loom against them and vanish like shad- owy ghosts. Vague voices reach you through the darkness but as you j; stumble uncertainly towards them they become sient and you are i lost in a world of darkness. When your eyes grow accustomed to the light from the stars powder- ing the deep sky overhead you see a shack looming before you and the ghostly whiteness of 2 shirt near the ground. You know some- one is sitting on the creaking steps of a porch. Sinister Rumors, ‘There are few lights here on this night which usually finds every cabin lighted and cheerful, for it is Saturday night and rumors have spread that white men from Scottsboro are here. No one knows what may happen, so, though dark~- uuess fell scarcely an hour ‘ago, most of the lights are out. black folk do not want trouble. You sit on a@ friendly porch and | The distant Over you talk in low voices. window lights go out. are only the stars and around you men speaking in low that sound like the bling of a gathering <@ -m, that say they are tired of being forgotten, tired of being afraid of the white bosses. “We hope there ain’t no trouble,” a@ deep voice says, “But if them white folks comes here lookin’ for it—well, we ain't runnin’.” A forgotten people was tired of being oppressed. It was no longer an unintelligible muttering of a rumbling storm, It was a clear \Ready to Work First 200 Men Labor Camp, Penna. WASHINGTON, April 5.— Two hundred men, the first contingent for the forced labor camps, will begin working within ten days in the Alle- gheny National Forest in Northwest- ern Pennsylvania, The men will be placed in camps near the place of work. Already it is decided that besides planting trees which was the work originally intended for them to do, they will be used for building roads and clearing strips along the sides of the roads. This is only the begin- ning and will later be followed by using the unemployed for many other kinds of work. In the meantime, it is officially an- *nounced that Robert Fechner, vice- president of the International Asso- ciation of Machinists, will draw the fat salary of $12,000 a year. This is the same as the members of the cabinet. An advisory council for Fechner will, including the war, agri- culture, labor and interior depart- ments. Many unemployed workers on the verge of starvation are forced to seek entry in to the camps. Hundreds of STEEL COMPANIES PLAN NEW SLASH More Control of Mayor | and Local Officials GARY, Indiana, April 3—With the appointment of George H. Lewis by the City Council as new mayor of oan Chicago a few days ago, the corporation has taken another a to ore th the city government un- further attacks on relief doles and} wages. Under the guise of “econ-| omy” many officials in the city gov- ernment are being replaced by more willing tools of the steel companies. | ‘The present Park Board officials, whe refused the Unemployed Council a yermit for a demonstration on) Majch 4th on the ground that “the | erowd would harm the grass and shrubbery of the City Hall grounds,” are all officials of steel companies here, They are Wm. J. Rossman, Guygerintendent of the Inland Steel Co.3 John J. Miller, a steel manu- facliurer; Bert Smith, auditor of the Youngstown Sheet ‘and Tube Co., and Carl Smith, connected with In- land Steel. ‘The steel companies are preparing to slash wages again, and relief for the unemployed is being cut. Ac- cording to reports, 3,000 Mexican families will be deported from East Chicago within the next few months. ‘The Communist Party and the Steel and Metal Workers’ Industrial Union are arousing the workers to the need for organization and struggle against the steel bosses’ offensive. In the U. S. for Twenty Years, NowFacedWith | Deportation to Italy SAN FRANCISCO.—For 20 years Guiseppe Greco has lived in the U.S. He established a window-washing business and securett the contract to/ wash the windows of the San Fran- cisco Post office. Then he joined the ‘Trade Union Unity League. He was arrested during a Communist dem-)| onstration, and has been ordered de-| ported to Italy, where his life will be in dager because of his Communist affiations. ‘The District Court of Appeal has dedided against him, and unless fur- ther action can be taken, Greco must go to almost certain death. Toronto Authorities Move to Act Against Left Wing Students TORONTO, Canada. — Reaction- ary measures to suppress radical student activity in Toronto Univer- sity and High School circles is seen in action taken by the provincial government and Canon Cody, prési- dent of the university. It is under- dents’ League will be singled out for action by the authorities. For some months Toronto stu- dents vas bom publishing a left- The Spark and The Stu- The recent anti-war held by Toronto students considerable interest in Forced men crowded the U. S. Army re- cruiting stations in New York in search of some means of existence. | They hope to get some food by enter- ing these camps. Similar reports come from many other cities. It is necessary without delay to de- monstrate at these recruiting stations demanding immediate relief for all} unemployed. LOS ANGELES, April 5.—Three hundred members of the Unemployed Cooperative Relief Association pick-| eted the streets where an unemployed | worker was evicted. They camped all night and demonstrated the next Morning forcing the charities to pay @ month's rent. ‘The unemployed workers forced the county to either have a house ready by noon or the furniture would be put back in the house. Bundy told the committee “I want to get back} to the house and I don’t care much how I do it, just so 1 get back in} there.” The pickets were reinforced by members of the League of Home- less Youth and from the units of UC. R. A. News Briefs NEW YORK, April 5.—On Satur- day, Army Day, there will be a Parade in commemoration of the entrance of the U. S. into the Worlg War in an attempt to foster the war drive of American im- Perialism. But the tens of thousands of boys who sixteen years ago were sign- ing up and other tens of thousands in New York who were drafted will not be present. Of those still alive a large number would not look well in a parade glorifying American imperialism. Were they to parade it would resemble a hunger march —half-starved, ragged, ill strag- gling men who are regarded as out- casts by the government of the ruling class in whise interests alone | the war was fought. MATERNITY TOLL IS HIGH NEW YORK, April 5.—Sixty-seven per cent of the deaths of mothers from childbirth could be prevented in New York state, Dr. George W. Kosmak, editor of the “American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecol- ogy,” told the Medical Society at its annual meeting in the Waldorf-As- toria. For two decades there has been no improvement in the percen- tages of deaths from this cause de- spite the great advances made in medical science. It is due to the fact that poor mothers haven’t proper medical and hospital attention. KILLS EMPLOYMENT AGENCY BILL ALBANY, April 5.—The senate yes- terday killed the bill providing for state licensing of the employment agency racket. In New York City and other big cities these job-sharks prey upon unemployed workers, get- ting fees from them for jobs that |do not exist. They are also recruit- ing centers for scabs and thugs in levery strike. Tammany doesn’t want to interfere with them becayse they are part of the political corruption that enables Tammany to keep go- ing. NEW COAL WAGE OUT DRIVE CINCINNATI, April 5.—Under the guise of “improved labor conditions,” the big coal marketing agency, the Appalachian Coals, Inc., at a mect-) ing of directors planned another drive | against the standards of life of the| coal miners through wage cuts. The agency represents more than 140 mining companies Caper aera FORCED LABOR FOR NAVY WASHNGTON, April 5.—Chairman Vinson of the House Naval Affairs Committee yesterday had a confer- ence with Roosevelt on the advisa- bility of using forced labor under the fake “unemployed relief scheme” to work on the building of stronger units of the United States Navy. He reported that Roosevelt appeared im- pressed with the suggestion which en- tails labor “recruiting” at $1 a day, the same as in the forestry service. a eaoN le FISH RAVES AGAINST REDS WASHINGTON, April 6—J. Ham Fish, the professional red baiter who was notoriously identified with white guardist forgers, frame-up artists and professional perjurers in his “investi- gation” of Red activities, never lets an opportunity go by to come for- ward with more absurdities. This time he wants congress to investi- gate whether the Communists had anything to do with whipping up the “Akron” on Monday night. ORGANIZED GANG OF 200 KLANSMEN| MOVE ON DECATUR, ALA. JAIL (CONTINUED PROM PAGE ONE) | son “boasted” of having participated | jin the alleged attacks. | Negro Boys Testify | Leibowitz today called each of the Scottsboro boys to the stand and all | vehemently denied any attacks upon Price or Bates. Willie Robinson, one of the boys removed from the train by a sheriff’s posse, was the first de- fense witness called. He denied all | knowledge of the attacks upon the) two women. A dramatic moment in the ques-| tioning of the Uefendants came today | when Prosecutor Knight was ques- | tioning Haywood Patterson, now on | | trial for his life. “I Was Framed” “You were tried at Scottsboro, were | you not?” Knight asked. “I was framed at Scotisboro!” the | Negro boy answered heatedly. This came as a culmination to the | testimony of the other Negro boys, | who traced every moment of their ac | tions on the freight train, using the | miniature trains set up in the court- | room, Robertson, another of the defend- ants, testified that he was physically unable to jump over the freight train | and engage in a fight or the alleged | attack, since he remained in the; same flat car all the way between Chattanooga and Paint Rock, Never Saw Women All the boys testified they never saw the women on the train, and observed them for the first time. Im- mediately upon reaching the witness stand, Eugene Williams told how he was for nearly two years kept in full view of the electric chair at Kilby Prison, although he had not even been convicted. He then told the story of the fight between the white and Negro boys on the train on the other side of Stevenson. The young Negro boy told his story calmly, in- dicating by use of the miniature train how the white boys stepped upon Patterson's hand, while passing over the oil tank and how Patterson asked them to be careful, and how this incident led to the fight which resulted in all but two white boys and an unknown number of Negroes | leaving the freight train before reaching Paint Rock. Quiet and Confident The bearing of the boys on the witness stand was quiet and self- confident, and they were unswerving in the main points of their story, refusing to permit themselves to be confused by Prosecutor Knight’s detailed and deliberately involved questions. Young Williams told how Patter- son saved the life of Gilley, a white boy, by pulling him into the gondola train while the freight was travel- ling at a high speed. When Knight tried to take the alleged attack on the white girls for granted, Patter- | son replied: “I never did that, did not even see the girls, You think I would save a white man and then let him witness such 2 thing as raping white women?” For some time the Negro boy ar- gued directly with Knight, all the time vigorously denying the prosecu- tor’s charges and insinuations. Victoria Price In Jungle Dallas Ramsay, Negro from Cha- ttanooga, was an important defense witness. He testified that at 6 in| the morning before the freight ride he saw Victoria Price with another girl in the Hobo Jungle at Chatta- nooga. Wednesday, Victoria Price testified she had spent the night at the home of “Callie Broochi” in Chattanooga, not coming to the rail- way yards until late in the morning. Ramsay testified she asked him when her train would pull out. He saw her again at 9 p.m. toge- ther with Ruby Bates and two white men boarding a freight train. Vic- toria Price has testified she never met Orville Gilley or Lester Carter, two of the boys on the train, before she got on the train. The defense announced it would prove that she and Ruby Bates spent the night in a freight car at Chat- tanooga with these two men before boarding the train. Testimony Unbroken ‘The prosecution tried to break down this damaging testimony but failed completely before the compo- sure aevl clear tewthfulness of Ram- \ say. Mrs. Beatrice Maddox, sister) |of Roy and Andy Wright, the next guards, who will testify that Patter-| witness on the stand testified she | scribed as “Callie Broochi’s” and had These | | | | 5 | Scottsboro boys are in the Morgan | | | | | | | | | treasurer flash of lightning rising from a | rickety porch in the foul streets of a once forgotten. people, 2 clear cry that they were men who would not be frightened any more. THE business life of Decatur | pulses weakly on Second Street | | this Saturday night. Here white farmers and Negro share croppers within a five-mile area come to buy their provisions or to stand about on street corners in small clusters and feel that they are hu- man beings again. But this Satur- day only a few whites and a few Negroes have come, for the nine | County jail three blocks from Sec- ond St., and fifty Scottsboro whites | have been in town since the trial began. | Trouble is in the air. Some say the jail might be attacked. So Second Street is virtually de- serted for a Saturday evening. | Peaceful farm-workers, not sharing | in the feeling of race hatred, dimly | aware of their common interest | with the Negro people, who had | come to town, came early, stocked up and left; and those Negroes who came stayed until sundown and left, The brightly lighted stores look deserted. The few customers walk about aimlessly. Snatches of Conversation. But in the Apollo poolroom, sporting blood of the town has gathered. In the grayish, smoky haze eight or ten young men are intent upon pool or billiards. A dozen more sit about in chairs along the wall watching the players and a group of five leans aimlessly against the half empty cigar coun- ter talking about the International Labor Defense attorneys. “Two of them is Jews,” one boy with a fat, rolly face and squint- ing eyes says indignantly. “Yeah,” says another. “A bunch of Jews defending them damned ‘niggers.’” A thoughtful, middle-aged man with graying temples and a straight line for # mouth nods his head solemnly and spits on the floor. “It’s a white jury. Let’s see what they do. Plenty o’ time to take care o’ the niggers if that Jew gets ‘em off,” he drawls slowly. j had searched all of Chattanooga for such a place as Victoria Price de- not found it. She was followed by General | George W. Chamlee of Chattanooga, | chief Scottsboro defense counsel who | testified he has lived for 25 years on Seventh Street, Chattanooga, | where Victoria Price said “Callie | Broochi” lived and has never heard ‘ of such a person. This was a wealthy | business neighborhood. Vets Wire to Scott NEW YORK —The National Com- | | mittee of the Workers’ Ex-Service- | | mten’s League today addressed a | sharp wire to Dr. E. Scott, who was | charged with responsibility by the | | government for recruiting Negroes | into the imperialist war. Scott was |at one time secretary to Booker T. | Washington, and is at present the of Howard University, a | Negro institution. The wire follows: | On behalf of four hundred thous- and Negroes recruited in World War we demand you wire Governor Miller Alabama for change Scottsboro trial to Birmingham stop Demand De Priest others do likewise. GERMAN SEAMEN INTERVIEWED IN N.Y. SAY THEY'LL FIGHT PAY CUTS A Daily Worker reporter recently interviewed the crew of a German ship. The crew was represented by 14 men, mostly from the “black gang” or firemen, etc. To protect the crew from Nazi reprisals, the port in which the interview was held and the home port and name of the ship are being withheld.—(Ed. Note). Q—How long since you left Ger- | many? A—We left our home port about a | month ago. Q.—Haye you been notified of aay wage cuts since Mitler came into) power. A.—No. However we have been no- tified of increases in taxes, which amounts to the same thing. Q—What specific increase in taxes has Hitler decreed? A—Every male citizen of any city | must pay a tax, sort of head tax, 25 to 30 marks annually. There has been an increase in taxes that are supposed to go to pay the unem- ployed benefits. Union Underground One crew member exhibited a pay Sheet for three days amounting to nine marks, ($2.25) from which two and @ half marks had been deducted for taxes. Q—The government has forbidden trade unions. Is the German section of the International of Sea and Har- bor Workers affected by this? - A—Yes. The government has taken over the reformist unions and driven our union underground. This doesn’t |mean that our activity stops. We are in communication with our union center and receive instructions and literature. At the present time the government is planning a 30 per cent wage cut. Our wages at present are very low. Under the leadership of the ISH and the RGO (Red Trade Union Opposition) we will fight this cut. Witl Fight Wage Cut Q—Can you fight the cut just on | your ship without permission of the union? A.—Our union {is not a bureaucra- tic machine. We can and will resist on our own ship and try to spread the fight to other ships and to the dock and harbor workers. This is what we ate in the ISH for, to fight the bosses. This is its policy, a policy of class struggle. Q—What are your wages? A—Coal passers receive 96 marks a month, firemen, etc. around 108 marks, some deck workers get 113 marks. Q—Why is it that most of the ISH organization on your ship is “down below?” A—The black gang and deck gang are the most proletarian sector of a ship. Nazi thugs can ship as stew- ards and for other light work and try to intimidate us. but they have no hold among basic workers, on ship or shore. Glad of Solidarity ‘The delegation were informed of the activities of American workers in the anti-fescist fight. They were asked if they thought this would help them. “egy are happy to hear of this. report that reaches Germany telling of acts of solidarity in other countries spurs the fight against fascism. We are also certain that the carrying of literature to German dockers by American crews will help. Since we are illegal, any such help may fall on virgin soil,, so to speak. We hope and are certain that further mass protest action will occur in America. @.—Since you are illegal, do you eceive any literature of working- | class organizations? Hilegal Literature A—We have. (Some iliegal Com- | munist pamphlets and leaflets were | shown us). But only from the Com- munist Party and Red Trade Unions. The Social Democrats have issued no illegal literature with a program of resistance to Hitler and the bosses. Q.—Is the Communist Party active in your home port? A—Thousands of Party leaders and members have been jailed but the work of the Party goes on. It is too firmly rooted in the shops, ships neighborhoods and other places to be ousted. It is not a Party that quits under fire, that we know definitely. The Red Front Fighters, of which we are members, has steadily grown in our home city. Red Front Fighters Grow Q—Hasn’t the Nazi terror been able to smash it? A—The Nazis have not succeeded in locating it or its members. We have been illegal for a Jong time. A Social Democratic official first drove us underground. We meet and Grill regularly and are present at all workers’ demonstrations and strikes, ete. Q-—The American capitalist press concentrates on anti-semitic outrages. Is this the only persecution of Hit- ler’s government? A—The Jews are victimized by Hitler but they are far from the only targets of his policy. True, some of the non-worker Jews are outraged. Q.—Are the Jewish bosses mis- treated? Nasi Attack Workers A.—(Laughter), No. Jewish capit- alists are regular contributors to the Nazi war chest. It is the German working class that is being attacked. There was some discussion with the delegation on the latest acts of the Socialist leaders, The delegation, all non-Communists, were acquainted with most of these deeds. Q—wWill the workers be defeated by these betrayals? A—These acts are making more and more Socialist workers under- stand what the Communist Party means when it appeals to them over the heads of their leaders. Now the German working class is gathering strength unequalled before; @ real united anti-Fascist movement that will create Soviet Germany is being made, The crew were given literature which they took back with them, and expressed their agreement with the translation of the interview. The Ma- rine Workers Industrial Union dele- gate, who made the interview pos- sible, and the DAILY WORKER re- porter then sneaked off the ship, cluding the Nazi spies on board. aad the | The click of billiard balls strike sharply, While they play they talk of the Jews and the “niggers” too— plenty of time to take care of 1e two, not aring in this statement, sit silent | AROUND the Morgan County Jail | x floo throw their radiance upon brick | building. Never s as built was it so brilli bayonet, | gas bombs, Across the street where the militia is quartered ‘Smiling Captain Burleson sits on s shift wooden tabl twenty subordinates “There were no tub in and “I don’t expect any until the verdict is brought if it is for acquittal— 5 his shoulders signifi- oldiers laught } men shoot into n white men to protect Ne- U give you some news if | want it. That Patterson | a cell by himself. Had a I knew why Heywood Patter- son, heavy with restless sleep, had jumped upon his cell mate with a despairing ery, for I had seen the shadow of the hangman's noose which he saw during his waking hours. He had told me how he dreamed of the mob hu | gry for his blood. With the shad- ow of the gallows facing him in jail during the day and the ter- ror of a lynching to haunt him when he tries to sleep, I won- dered why he only dreamed of being choked. Others would have been stark mad by now, Organization and Struggle of Farmers Developing Rapidly Southern “Employers Use R. F. C. Relief for Their Own Profit (By a Farmer Correspondent) MOUNTAIN VIEW, Ark. — How small town southern bosses in charge of R. F.C. and Red Cross Relief use | this agency as @ lever to extort pro- | | would be solved, as they raise about 90 per cent of what they eat here. fits to their economic interest and political advantage can be gleaned from typical examples. Chairman of Stone Co. relief, Mr. Mohry, operator of several lumber products mills, first opposed paying the regular scale of 25 cents per hour because it would hamper his getting all the “hands” he needed tor fifty cents a day. In league with others of a@ political-commercial ring, he was able to force R. F. C. workers to accept $1 a day and donate the third day until complaint was made to the state officials. When impoverished farmers ap- plied for relief, Mr. Mohry told them to “haul in your timber”—. In antici- pation of renewed beer manufacture Mr. Mohry is buying lumber mate- rials for his stave mill as cheaply as possible. “If you stand in well with the store in the corner, you may get re- lief,” is @ common saying among workers here, knowing the discri- | mination practiced by the merchant on the Committee. “Corn bread is good enough for farmers.” All thru the south is this phrase hurled at hungry farmers by favored business- men handling Red Cross Aid. But farmers of Polk, White and Stone counties, Ark., are organizing committees of action under the farm- ers Protective Assn., are pressing demands for adequate relief adminis- | tered and accounted for by a com- mittee of actual farmers and not in the hands of politicians and bu- sinessmen, the only way to end dis- | crimination and graft. La Guardia Wants Job As N. Y. Mayor : Tries to Get McKee - Out of the Road NEW YORK, April 3.—Former Congressman F. H. LaGuardia, who was once candidate for mayor against against Walker, is trying to pave the way for the republican nomination to the job again. In a statement La Guardia said ne| would support Joseph V. McKee, president of the board of aldermen,| if McKee intended to run on a fu- sion ticket. This is regarded as an} attempt to get McKee to declare his candidacy far enough in advance so he can be eliminated, thus clearing} the way for La Guardia to run on the republican ticket. Modestly Nominates Himself. Using one of his old tricks that is characteristic of his whole demagogic | career a8 a spoils politician, La Guar- Farmers Beginning to Hold Up Their H (By a Farmer BOISE VALLEY, Idaho the government could furnish them they have discovered there are other | rates, middlemen, and last but not le ~The farmers in these eads and Fight Correspondent.) that i problem Bu high freight farmer’ parts thought with cheaper water their things to be considered- ast, the banker who has the | tied up like a bundle of wheat @ Then comes this farm relief gag by the government which cuts the bankers’ bundle, replaces the twine band by one made of steel (steal), which enslaves the farmer and his children right down to the last chicken he owns. It is only a short time until the separating will tak place, as the farmer cannot exist with prices such as potatoes 20 cents, eggs 5 to 7 cents a dozen, butter fat A Black Belt Farmer Helps to Organize Against Landlords By a Negro Farmer Correspondent DADEVILLE, Ala—In the revo- |lutionary movement that is waged in the Black Belt, step after. step is taken to organize the unorganized | Bybsietg and farmers whom the land- | lords are depriving of the right: to live. Just as the landYords are doing | everywhere else the world over, ex- | cept Soviet Russia where the work- have successfully overthrown | ers capitalism. Every worker and farmer should | join the labor organizations and fight | for better conditions. Once there was a time when everything was far off but everything is right here. A few days ago I heard a fellow say |the next war would be fought by | youth and he further stated it would be in some other country and the U. 8. youth are better trained than in any other country. The working cla: ing trained to class youth The working outh are the ones who are be- other fight working a pound, n, The farmers have the e of fecling trampled in the mire rs, but I can see is head rist looking for a er day ane he joins hands with all the working s¢ e will overthrow the government which made them slave and then only can we live in a world with love, justice and harmony for all kA Negro Farm Women Clean White Homes for Relief Flour By a Negro Farmer Correspondent. CAMP HILL, Ala—The Red C: has changed their plans. They to give the flour away but r have to work for it, or else you | won't get it. Of course we had to | work hard enough as it was. They | would: give you a blank to have signed. You have to walk all over |Camp Hill trying to get someone to | sign it. But since they changed it, you have to walk like hell to some old Miss’s house to clean up before you | get flour. —A Farm Woman. BUILD the working elass paper for the working class inte a powerfal weapon against the ruling capitalist _slass. We | are farmers and tsboro boys. Red Dot. NEBRASKA DISTRICT COURT VOIDS STATE FARM “MORATORIUM” LAW | Dairymen’s Strike ft for Higher Milk Prices In Upstate New York May Start Anew OMAHA, Neb., April 4—The Nebraska farm mortgage law, the passage | of which resulted from the militant actions of farmers in preventing fore- | closures by organized action, was today deciared unconstitutional by the | Hebron District court. The law affected $560,000,000 worth of farm mort- | gages in this state. | ‘The law, passed by the legislature to prevent farm foreclosures for the | next two years, forces the impover- ~ ished farmers to start paying rent jat a rate fixed by the court. This) jrent goes to the mortgage holder |after payment of taxes, insurance and other debts. If rent cannot be) strike truce declared by. Teaders” ot the Western New York Milk Prod- | ucers’ Association due to end today, the strike of the mijitant dairymen which met with brutal attacks by dia nominates himself by stating that | paid, the farmer losses possession of the stat police last week, may flare persons unknown have asked him| “repeatedly during the last few days! my plans in the coming municipal campaign.” Worker WarnsAgainst | Petty Racketeer in Jacksonville, Florida A worker from Jacksonville, Florida, warns against a racketeer who is ex- ploiting the interests and sympathies of workers and others for the Soviet Union for his personal advantage. | This indfvidual goes by several names, one of them being “Iocky.” He approaches people with a small circular in which there are a few facts about the Soviet Union and tells a story of how he wants to go there to work in the telephone in- dustry and is collecting dimes in order to pay his fare. “This” writes the worker, “is a barefaced lie and an attempt to ex- plott our comrades.” French Auto Workers Fight Lock Out PARIS, April 5—Announcement by the Citroen Automobile Co. that it was closing down the Javel plant, which employed 17,500 workers, re- sulted in a militant demonstration of more than 1,500 strikers in protest against the lock-out. Police broke up the demonstration. Fifteen thousand strikers are reparted to have re- turned to work at reduced wages. | his property. Goes to Higher Court Despite these heavy burdens on the farmers, the banks, insurance apparently divided on advantages of the law to them The Hebron court the “moratorium law” impaired the} | obligation of contract. The State Su- preme Court will undoubtedly soon act on the action of the district court when the case comes up for ap- peal. | The decision today was based on the attempt to foreclose a $14,000 mortgage against a farm of 200 acres owned by Mie: Ida Stephens. Milk Sirike Looms | ALBANY, April 4.—With the milk companies and other mrotgagees were | declared that) up anew. Meanwhile, state politi- cians are seeking to kill the move- ment for higher milk prices for the dairymen by putting ov he Pitche Bill which is approved by Woodhead president of the striking dairymeri’s association. The passage of the bill |is expectd momentarily. Will Not Aid Farmers | The Pitcher Bill is a double-bar- | reled weapon against both farmers | and workers. It is Geliberatly vague | about giving the farmer better prices | for his milk, for which the dairymen | are demanding a minimum of three |and one half cents a quart. (Prod- | uction costs them three cents a quart). The Bill is designed to com- pel the farmer to accept less than the cost of production by establish- ling a statewide “minimum price” | be paid by the Milk Trust. $10.00 a Thotsand $5.00 Five Hundred ‘ Ci SEND MONEY WITH ORDER at ~ WORKERS’ ORGANIZATIONS! PREPARE FOR A UNITED MAY DAY Celebration Order your MAY DAY BUTTONS from your district, C. P., U. 8. A. or from emmunist Party, U.S. A. FP. O. Box 87, Station D, New York, N. Y.