The producers news. [volume], May 24, 1934, Image 1

About The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937

Image provided by: Montana Historical Society; Helena, MT

                
H, »T OWCAL
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The Paper of the Oppressed and Exploited
PUBLISHED WEEKLY
PLENTYWOOD, SHERIDAN COUNTY, MONTANA, THURSDAY, MAY 24, 1934
XVII. Numoer 9
VOL
(0 CASH FOR RELIEF WORK IN
JURAL AREAS, OFFICIALS AT
PLENTYWOOD TRY TO EXPLAIN
Down Demands of 40 Farmers; Nave no Explana- \
tion for Discrimination; Budget Is Cut
v to $8,000
T*n
HEED INCREASES WITH DROUGHT
"Don't Know What to Do," and Have Done
Nothing to Include Eastern Montana in
Officia Drought Area
Officials
PLENTYWOOD, May 22.— The new Roosevelt Emerg
cy Relief Program, that was to go into effect on April 1,
• intended to be applied for industrial centers only, it was
stated today by the Central Relief Committee here when
about 40 farmers, mostly from Comertown, demanded an
Explanation of the many discriminating features of the pro
gram in Sheridan county. The officials explained that ac
cording to new instructions they were not allowed to pay
cash for the relief work that was being done now.
The farmers, largley members *
rftte U.F.L., had met at
town in an U.F.L. meeting last,
Friday ard decided to put the mat-1
tor up to the Relief Committee.
They agreed to demand a 60 cents
per hour minimum wage for every
working for relief; cash pay
ment, and work for at least 24
hours per week. A committee of
lereJi, elected by the farmers dis
eossed these demands with the lo -1
cal planning committee and the
keyman and made these people also
come to Pleut ywood to press the
demands "with the Central Relief
I Committee.
The chairman of the Central
Committee, Percy Neville, is of
the opinion that "it doesn't make
any difference whether a family
receives cash or food orders." The
discrimination in paying cash in
Plentywood and giving food orders
m other communities he tried to
explain by saying that "the peo
pie in the Plentywood community
have to pay rent, water, e'c., and
therefore need cash." He is ap
patently very definitely of the
epinior. that fanners do not need
However, he did not maintain
ths* Plentywood is an "industrial
center."
on«
NeviHe "Explains'
any cash.
An answer to the demand of 60
IC-iBtiiraed last page)
■ ■i. , ,, ■
Call to the United Farmers League State Convention
New Dealing" the Farmen
<<
To all Locals and to all Members of the United Farmers
League,
To all Working Farmers, Farm Workers, Dispossessed
Farmers, Farm Women, Farm Youth of Montana:
The Farmers Second National Conference which was
held at Chicago, HI., last year decided upon certain demands
which were absolutely necessary for our welfare. The
United Farmers League as an organization of rank and file
fanners participated and helped organize that United Front
Conference. Their leaders were the real organizers of the
Conference, along with the delegates from the First F»rm
ers National Relief Conference, which was held at W'ash
Ngton. D. C., December 7th to 10th, 1932.
At the Chicago Conference the following basic demands
*ere put forth :
. However these demands in general have not been real
and have been realized in part only in those communi
ties where the farmers and workers demonstrated and
JjjKgled forcing the local authorities thru power of mass
-*
. Our conditions have continually been getting worse.
^Rard| nS an< ^ ^ orec ^ osure sales have still been t^£g^lace
2L 0f P £° se / elt s p ^ mls6 t and o e?= fn m*nv
case h ha Y e f . been
-JW of farmers have helped lead the fight. Mass
Dovo? u , * n man Y counties forced more relief to the im
ers'i farm ers. The united mass action of the farm
i 8 * the only power that has won them anything and it
k S 1 th f se Principles that the United Farmers League
caumg this^state
' L For cash relief.
2. Cancellation of* debts.
o- Against foreclosures and evictions.
4. An increase in the farmers' purchasing power.
5. Tax relief.
6- Reduction in rents.
*• Against the oppression of Negro farmers.
Evictions and Foreclosures Continue
convention.
The Crisis Is Growing Deeper
*v: ? JPCe lhe general nation-wide and world-wide crisis
be ?an in 1929 with increased wage cuts and wide
. < • unemployment to the city workers, the problems of
who ^ e [ lcan I arm ers have been multiplied. Th,e workers
l ess , JfP the majority of the consumers can buy even
w a$reR ^ arm ers products because of less work and lower
in» l ' and the rise in commodity prices because of process
es and inflation. f ' "
in i® n °t solving the. problems of the workers
uues, the Allotment plans and the Farm Board Acts,
ZARRE PLAYERS
Players will give two performance*
here at the Parmer-Labor Temple
on Wednesday and Thursday night,
May 80 and 81.
The opening show will be a four
act comedy, "Ole the Devil and the
Girl." On Thursday the troupe
will play a three act farce comedy
"The Girl i n Green."
Admission to either show will be
10 and Ig cents if tickets are ae
cured from the local storekeepers.
Without those tickets, regular ad
mission will be 30 and 40 cents.
-
TAXPAYERS MEETING
-
A general meeting of the tax
payers of Sheridan county and the
Taxpayers Association is called for
: Monday June 4, at 2 p. m. at the
j court house in Plentÿwood.
Severay ma'ter s affecting the
taxes for the coming year will be
! taken up as well as organizing the
i Association more effectively. In
j terested taxpayers are asked to
| help along this movement, it haa
1 proved its value in many oases
1 during the past, four years of its
SHOW 2 COMEDIES
AT LABOR TEMPLE
PLENTYWOOD.—The La Zarre
1 existence.
Edgar I. Syverud, 3ec.-Trcas.
CO. COMMISSIONERS
SILENT ON CHARGE
OF FAVORITISM
Keymen Receive no Salary;
Relief Officials
Stale
The Board of County Commis
sioners of Sheridan county has
far not thought it necessary to
I
so
ex
plain how it is possible that one
family is allowed to earn $435 per
month on road work.
a s was
charged in the last issue of The
Producers News.
When the representative of your
paper demanded an explanation of
the case from the Central Relief
Committee, Chairman Neville an-!
swered that no keyman receives
any remuneration tor the work he
is doing and that for the rest of
the charge the relief office had
nothing to do *with the case. "That
is for the re-employment off ice to
explain," he said.
The mayor of the city made no
Affnrf ; L" VT C : y made *°
effort to answer the charge made
by The Producers News that fa
vorito is pieced Iv the JU
employment office And aonar
enUy he^ad no inten ticm to Ck
into the matter 1 k
^ ' ,
. en spea *°"^ of . f fact that
- aT ® receiving a cent
wLnV* JftT 7*Jf domg Mr *
oonor funit U f rit* * • CF ^
ducers New«» 0 icizm £ e ro
i '™ 1N K ews '
ea ' but you never publish the
act . at t * iese men are burning
? p their a " . OCCUr ex P«yAses
! .*? ae ' p taeir communities,
"® said '
We told him then and we state
here now that The Producers News
Will be only too glad to let the
public know when a keyman really
doe s good work for the poor farm
ers and workers in hi R community,
lot us know.
In the meantime farmers and
workers insist on their right to
hear from the county commission
ers in regard to the Collins case.
Farmer Delegates to Meet at Dagmar, Mont.
June 15-16 to Prepare Fight for
Cancellation, Against AAA
etc., are not solving the problems of the farmers. The
C.W.A. and P.W.A. are not doing away with unemploy
ment. Now we even have BEER and WHISKEY which was
supposed to employ thousands and to raise the prices of
barley, etc. None of these campaign promises have solved
our problems. The "recovery program" of the Brain Trust
will not solve the problem for us in Montana. These
brainy politicians" to whom we have listened for years,
have given us programs of promises before election and
have done work for the bankers afterwards. From them
we have gotten only more promises. Officials whom we
have elected and supported in the old farm organizations
have turned out to be closer to the banker« and merchants
than to the rank and file farmers. We are tired of promises,
We want action, and experience has proven to us that our
own mass action is the only action that we can depend upon,
The politicians tried to foist the Sales Tax onto us with
the intentions of helping the bankers by paying the in
terest on their State Bonds that they own, tried to shift
the burden of the expense of the State Government largely
äms äcä èrr äs
"ly ^Jes that have recently Wn aWe to naTtaxS
(^eJTthowe 8 farmers 3 aL^oSng^ur Tam^and our wfres
and children are forced to go without sufficient of the
necessities of life)-all of this attempted on the pretext of
"keeping the schools
u
"The politicians promised that "free speech" would be
guaranteed. Instead, free speech has been suppressed as
for instance in the recent cases at Linton, N. D., Sisseton.
S. D., Lincoln, Nebr., Grand Island, Nebr., Warsaw, Ind.,
White Cloud, Mich., and many others, where fanners and
workers were arrested and jailed at public meetings called
for the purpose of investigating the activities of the local
administrators of the C.W.A and for fighting against fore
closures and evictions, etc. State and government officials
have not acted to guarantee the Constitutional rights of
Free Speech to these men.
After producing a great wealth of farm products, ere
ating a so-called "surplus," building fine homes for the
bankers and business men, and after having put furnaces
in their basements and bathtubs and radios in their homes
that we gave to them, the farmers and workers are poverty
stricken and hungry, being forced to work on C.WA JW"
jects, where in the majority of cases the bosses (who of
DIMITROV HONORED ON MAY DAY
■
a- ■ -• ■ v ,Ä 5 . ' - -
■■■
The Communist leader, George Dimitrov, who escaped from Hitlerite Germany When he was
mide a Soviet citizen af er having been charged with burring the Reichstag, i s shown at Moscow's
May Day with the Soviet's outstanding leaders. From left to right, they are: Kiselev, Sulimov,
Dimi rov's mother and sister, Dimitrov, Maxim Gorki, Zhdanov, Premier Molotov, Stalin, Pres. Kali
nin, Y er ukidze.
MANY ANSWER CALL
FOR NAIL YOUTH
Ti A\T IT 1 117TT I IPTAI!
DAY AI WlLliMl/lN
50 From Sheridan Co. Will
Join Demonstration
Mav 30 <
*
um t xr n m
V. S."
n. n. f ° r ,*5 National
J. , n 1 ' onrtiation here on
? * 3 ' S" J"* 1 ""». txce | lent
"a?T
f? *2* of tile territory, indicate
' kat th « cal1 to demonstrate again
' . pre P a ta t,ons tor imperialist
war is meeting with good response.
Younc- farmers, from Ravmond
a J 1 g j n V
Arc ! ier , and ComertoWn are get;mg
a ^ )out strong to
^ ton - , Efforts ™ ^
to ««cure two trucks and several
c&rs ' 0T their transportation.
The Committee instructs all
delegations to report at the Labor
Hal1 as soon as they roll into
town ' T* 1086 who want to stay
over night are asked to bring
I blankets along; sleeping quarters
will be provided. The committee
also thinks it advisable that every
one bring cold lunches sinoi it
quite impossible to feed the entire
' demonstration.
j On Wednesday night, after the
! demonstration, there will be a
dance at the Broadway Club, ar
ranged by the Committee.
Again the Provisional Commit
tee for National Youth Day is
j calling upon all young people to
show their de'ermination to fight
against imperialist war. Unite in
j a powerful demonstration at Wil
1 liston on Wednesday, May 30.
TOM MOONEY ASKS
HELP IN DEFENSE
Personal Letter Calls for
Contributions of
" Producer s News
"Plentywood, Montana.
i"My Dear Readers:
" M * attorneys, Prank P. Walsh
0 f New York City. John P. Fin
erty of Washington, D. C, and
George T. Davis of San Finnoise»
fikd »Potion for a writ of
habeas corpus in he United States
District Court (or Norther Cali .
forria at San Franclsco 0n ^ 7te
of Ma 1934 chareimr violation ot
r " , y ' ^ ^ violation oi
the 'due p:cces s of law" clause ci
the Fourteenth Amendment to the!
p e( j era l Cons itution on the ground
of my having been acquitted May
l24 , 1933. on one indictment which
covered the identical material of
the indictment on which I was cor
victed February 8, 1917, and that
| suc h conviction vrua the direc re
| suit of a premeditated and delib
■ e rate frameup corspiracy on the
part of the prosecuting and police
officials by concealing and sup
j pressing evidence material to Jus
is^ice and the defense, using vital
testimony that they knew to be
j perjury, coaching of state wit
nesses that amounted to suborna
tion of perjury, exhibiting the de
fendants to prospective States wit
i nesses instead of having them
1 identified in the «regular manner,
: and generally inflaming the pub
lie mind of the community with
highly prejudicial statements is
sued by the District Attorney and
the police department and publish
(Continued on page 4)
Readers
course get better pay) are busted bankers and ex-merch
ants who have naturally climbed into the softest places as
it has always been their nature to do. We farmers, along
with the unemployed of the cities and towns have been out
working in weather often 30 or 40 degrees below zero, freez
ing our hands and faces. Many have been out working on
these "slave" jobs without even proper clothing, many have
been injured and killed while on these primitive pick and
shovel jobs and many more have died from sickness brought
on by the exposure suffered while on these degrading jobs.
Under Roosevelt's new schemes, more discriminations are
shown in the form of lowering wages to relief workers by
paying as low a« 30c per hour to some and as high as 85c
to bosses ; paying cash to some and only store orders to
others, also by varying hours from 24 to 96 hours per
ujonth. Thi« starvation program is to extend over a period
°^Dfty yeara. In no instance have we heard of any public
official protesting against these terrible conditions under
w hich so many farmers and workers are suffering.
All of these conditions have come unon us with thp
a* 1
to J?f « Power—as witness their support of
velt'^Allotment Plan*' *"* n ° W thdr support of Roose_
A ^tment Flan,
Under the whip of a false patriotism, the "new deal"
drives back to old slavery. Back from motor to muscle—
from the theory of two blades of grass where one grew be
fpre to the new theory that surplus food causes starvation.
And these withered vultures dare to force us who grow the
?°?r t. n JT® of life to plow down cotton," "leavel fertile
fields lie faUow next year," "let four leaves rot on every
^ooacco stalk, dump fruit into the ocean." (farmers need
«m and can t buy it) and "kill every third cow" (city
Jf 0 ™" ^ lb ren are undemounshed, and even starving, for
«J« ia cx oi milk), all this while starvation is rampant in
Covild a government policy be more idiotic, than what
bas heeii this year ? In March the government lends money
r° p j ant cotton—-m August it promises money for plow
ing d0 Y T1 , self-swne cotton (while twenty million farm
ers and workers and their families go in rag«.)
We condemn these cold blooded plans of a system of
"surplus" and "starvation."
The New Deal in Agriculture
TAXPAYERS ASSN.
ANNOUNCES MEET
IFOR MON, JUNE 4
-__
, - ,
P® . r Shendan county's tax
^ for the 'onung year are go
"* u . p ' w««k*. »w» we
see signs of this, m addition to
'What we hear. Taxpayers are
warn€d t0 *>e °* the lookout again,
T
. week's news biought us the
information that the high school
levies are to be set at eleven
mUls for the coming year, an in
crease over the limit set by the
Board of Commissioners last fall
u Pon demand by the taxpayers.
This limit was set at 10 mills, and
ample notice was given.
H is also reported that several
school districts are contemplating
raising their levies for the coming
year. Some of this may be due
to + he new la'w passed at the spe
cial session permitting an extra
levy for old registered warrants,
Salary increases for teachers are
also talked of.
It has been officially stated that
the county road levy will be re
instated again. Thru the efforts
of the taxpayers in the past sev
eral years this special levy has
been dispensed with. But now It
is contended that a lot of old
registered warrants have to be
, i'C<».rtinned on last page!
To Discuss Indications of
Rise of Tax Levies
By Edgar 1. Syverud,
■Sec.-Treas. Sheridan County
Taxpayer Assn.
Indications are beginning to
up
to protect their interests.
UFL Training School
To Start Four Weeks
Session on July 1st
i
I
All Locals Asked to Select Most Active Members as
Students; Three Courses to Be Taught by
Excellent Staff
*
j
J
!
!
j is
i
Fnfnrre WhmAnt an J r„i
EJitorce Settlement and Gel a
•
I
rTFM T4Mi U , c a l.
GLENTANA, May 16.—About
farmers, members of the Holi
day Assn, and U.F.L. gathered '
here yesterday at the office of the
Federal Land Bank and forced a 1
grain dealer to abstain from ex
tor-ing money from Mabel Krause,
Who is farming near here.
„ s !
a. l. borensen, money lender
and gram dealer of Gletana, was
holdmg the second mortgage
against the farm of Mrs. Krause
and had threatened foreclosure,
His object was to buy the first
mortgage and sell the farm for a
good price.
Previously this loan shark had
agreed to settle the matter thru
the Federal Land Bank. When he
was asked to turn over the mort
gage papers he flatly refused and
tried to extort $50 more out of
the Woman than he had originally 1
agreed to accept.
However, no', much persuasion
On the part of the farmers
was needed to make the grain
dealer change hi s mind. Whe n he
saw that they were ready for some
mass action he decided that it
was best to keep his word. The
attitude of the farmers also made
him agree to pay for their gas and
all expenses connected with their
efforts in helping Mrs. Krause.
After the demonstration the ac
tion was discussed by the farmers
and certain mistakes Were pointed
out. For $2.25 worth of Farmers'
Defense Stamps were sold.
FARMERS WIN
VICTORY OVER
GRAIN DEALER:
Gas and Expenses
Paid
!
HOLIDAY MEETING
A Holiday meeting will be
held at the Griffin school, east
of Medicine Lake, Sunday, May
27, at 2 p. where Emil Moe
and Art Wankel will speak.
Who will be refinanced, the small farmer or the rich
farmer? Who will get "relief"—the ruined farmers or the
bankers and the rich farmers? To force thru the "volun
tary" allotment, a spy system is instituted in the country
side. Under the Allotment the small farmer will not get
back enough to pay for his lost production. But the rich
stnThave^a^v^imp!^
and hp ™ piffnw '
^
^ JuÆL'a«
V '. lts destruction, its i ^d®s» tat new vays to furth^
de c eive beat down f ?*e hvmg standards of the farmers
tîp
trusts, the monopolists, middlemen and the rich farmers
attem pt to exploit, rob, and plunder the poor farmers with
even less dllllcu ty than belore -
The United Farmers League condemns this bankers
for the small farmers and we propose that we
or ? anize to defend ourselves against this "farm relief" that
s M ns us and starves our class brothers, the workers in the
Imperialist War
.. • • j,
, £t the same time Big Business is preparing rapidly to
^ry the desperate gamble of abloody war of conquest for
lhe . I Iî ark , e , ts .? f the J? rld *. TTiey would not hesitate to
r
as taxes from the toilers and should go to feed our families
and save what k left of our livestock from starvation. Bil
* %
lions have already been appropriated for WAR.
A part of this convention will be devoted to the dis
cussion of the special issue of war, and our attitude towards
Imperialistic War. This matter of war is of greatest im
portance especially now when war seems a certainty and
may be upon us before the summer is over,
Faced with the growing demands of the starving work
ers and farmers the Wall Street ruling class openly talks
0 f a Fascist dictatorship to suppress the poor farmers and
workers with a rule of the most reactionary and terroristic
elements of society. The United Farmers League is un
alterably opposed to the bankers imperialistic war plans,
and their {dans to establish Fascism which is a military
dictatorship of Big Business to suppress the farmers and
workers so that they may continue to exploit us.
^ Let us unite our farces. With the weapon of orgar
nized mass action in our hands, it is not necessary for us
(Continued on Page 2)
Fascism
Call to the Exploited Farm People
The Farm School on Wheels, the
training school of the United Farm
League, will roll into this terri
tory on June 30. A four Weeks
session will start immediately to
which locals of the U.F.L. of both
North Dakota and Montana will
send students.
The purpose of the Farm School
to help train farm organizers
for the militant farm organiza
tions. Three courses are given by
staff of compe tent teachers. The
coarse "History of Farmers' Strug
gles and Organizations" will help
acquaint the students with the pur
pose and principles of the old line
farm organizations and will ex
Plain 016 baSÎS 0n WWch a "H*
tant organization of the farmers
should be built,
_, „ . . .
Sf* "itaS.m 1 ' 'rST"*^
t ' h p . 8 ,
? *****. reaso f s wh y
T fT * Workmg m such
an absolutely maane way; it
shows the role of the state, the
press, church and all the other in
itutions of capitalist society,
However, this course does not only
try to give the student a thorough
understanding of the system under
which we are living but it shows
also how it came about and what
we, the workers and farmers have
to do to bring about a form of
society where there is no starva
tion when there is a surplus of
food, a system that is sane and
sensible,
Fundamentals of the Class
cours*
our
Problems of Farm Organisa*
tions" is 'he third course. Here
the students learn hoV to go about
in the easiest and most effective
way to build an organization. The
reasons for failure are discussed
and solutions are found for many
questions and problems that occur
in the daily struggle of a militant
farm organization.
The locals of the U.F.L. are ex
pected to select from their mem
bership those farmers who have
shown the most in'erest in the de
velopment of the U.F.L. and who
have had some experience in orga
nizing farmers. In other words,
the most active U.F.L. members
should be given opportunity to at
tend this school.
A definite place for Ihe location
of the school will be announced
shortly. Since the tuition for the
four weeks course is rather low
($3 per student), farmers are
asked to provide food for the stu
fconttimed on page 2)