Over the Heads of the Mighty!
Over the Heads of the Mighty! OUT of the depths of the depression arise thousands of men and women representing the toilers deprived of incomes in industry and agriculture. Their destination...
...Louis...
...that Illinois will despatch 800 more, probably in "Continental .Congress Specials...
...Only you have been able to get incomes without rendering any useful service to .society...
...Mayor Hoan made public correspondence between himself, Senator Robert M. LaFollette and Secretary of War George H. Dern In which tho latter announced that the War Department cannot loan Federal property without permission from Congress...
...It will be our Job to keep them trembling until we have completely thrown them from the seats of power...
...And now we lack the warm clothing, the food and the shelter that should be ours...
...B. Cohen, 904 Olive Street, ia in charge of transportation for Missouri...
...We are locked out of the Places of employment and we want *• get in, You have not opened the doors and the doors must be opened...
...The arrangements committee is completing a list of suitable rooms at f l a night The list will be sent to all delegates...
...F. D. McCormick, Alliance: Fred Hoppe, Columbus...
...Northern New Jersey, including Newark, will exceed the quota set for it, William E. Duffy, who ae* established headquarters in Newark, reports...
...We want action and we will not be satisfied with anything less...
...Here is the farmer whose tools and lands and home have also' passed out of his hands...
...Delegates from nearby ritity* Mrv re...
...Workless incomes will Anally be abolished...
...Many of them are tre'vllng to and fro by aul<> » and truck...
...cities, may exceed 3 0 0 . | Up-state New York is coming i j to the fore, with delegations from [ I every one of the industrial cities, j l l u T a i n will have one of the largest delegations, and it will in-j dude representatives from many trade unions...
...to Clarer St., Chic Avenue about the •ni Chicago...
...To insure a large representation from the Southern states, arrangements for an exceptionally low rate is being made with^the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad...
...However, they art the many and you are the few...
...Here is . . . Put we cannot parade before you the millions who have been locked out, those who walk the streets begging, those who want access to the opportunities of employment and who are denjed...
...Assurances that all delegates can be housed at rates not exceeding $1 per night per person have been made by representatives of the Board of Trade and by hotel men to the Housing Committee...
...Among the 240 official endorsements this week there was one from the board of directors of the League for Industrie...
...We have been patient...
...Roy Burt, former miner and now Cook County Socialist secretary, is in charge of Illinois arrangements...
...It is easy for you to be calm, for you to wait, as the days are short for you...
...Hamriu* have a big ball ** will dance after •"ting...
...War Department Refuses Senator LaFollette relayed the request to the War Department and received the following reply from Secretary Dern: "The War Department Is without authority to loan Federal property for any purpose, except as may be specifically provided by Congress, and it ia therefore regretted, in tho absence of legal authority, that tho Department is unable to make the loan in question...
...Rehire been held in oi» with miners, I, the unemployed, Wist Party memnuking transporRits...
...Missouri Delegation Missouri delegates will concent r a t e in St...
...Arkansas *•» and pie bakes •rtiinment...
...In the meantime the delegations mount daily...
...Camden...
...Dance" 1 wich Ho* April 291 All of states re Marx Li Washing...
...In the richest nation of the world there is widespread Mot...
...The report of National Director Ciarence Senior and National Secretary Marx Lewis, from Washington, showed huge delegations will come to the congress from the Southern states, including 150 from Virginia...
...You have •Wttity, but life is uncertain for at...
...Newark will have about 65 delegates, with about 1 an equal number coming from ether nortWn New Jersey cities...
...John Sobcsak, Milwaukee organizer for the hosiery workers, has been appointed state director for Wisconsin, and is seeing that all the unions in the larger cities a r e visited by congress speakers...
...If he plants he cannot realize the cost of production...
...Louis for a special t r a in or several special busses...
...To bring resources, plants, machines and skill together in cooperation is the great task .that faces us...
...Democracy announcing the election of four delegates, Mary Fox, Mrs...
...Stirring Reports Mayor Hoan's statement was made after he had seen reports indicating support for the congress from more than 800 labor union, farm, cooperative, unemployed and labor political groups...
...The estimnte of 5 00 delegates from Pennsylvania, which was made when plans were first drafted, will have to be re-J vised upward, with over 200 ex pected from Philadelphia and vicinity, 200 from Reading, and possibly 3 0 0 more from other parts j of the state, including Alleghany County, in v.'hleh I'itMiur h is located...
...S. Lerner, Nebraska ?:ector for the Continental Congress, reports five concentration points and directors as follows: Koy Heinlein, Grand Island...
...it is your order that has failed...
...He has pawned what he could spare and now he and his family exist upon the sparing charity of the rich...
...Sam Lerner, Omaha, Houston Trades and Labor Council, Texas, has officially endorsed the congress, as has the Houston Non-Partisan League, which is the trade union political body...
...So have we, but it has reached the breaking point...
...Industries have been wilt on a vast scale...
...It will mean that the fat money bags will have to disgorge something of their workless incomes...
...No one fotea them...
...Therefore, I am Writing to request that you inter* cede with the War Department to secure a permit for the use of army cots and blankets...
...Yes, but don't faint This is our suggestion and if realised it would bring joy to the countryside, the machines would respond to our skill, and every broken family in the nation would enjoy some of the vast fruits of our industries...
...West ** the best state J st the congress) »y Day meetings » t o its delegates •"expense...
...The problem of proper houaing while in Washington is a difficult one...
...that the Southwest will send some 400 men and women...
...Oklahoma delegates are arranging to gather in Oklahoma City and then travel East along Highway 06 to St...
...I The total representation from New I I Jersey, with delegations from, Paterson, Trenton, Bridgeton...
...The (thus far *»Porting) will •""Ired miles for IMo sell congress *™"tinental Con* the "Yankee Pjmtal Congress P «t the Green7 * York City on F* northeastern elected to * 1 K t h St, N.W., P Others report Randolph OPENING ADDRESS MAY BE BROADCAST TO ENTIRE NATION WASHINGTON...
...The greatest piece of working class statesmanship in this century," is the opinion of a Texas farmer as he writes of the congress...
...The congress will be celled to order at 10 a. m. on Saturday morning...
...Because of tho financial distress of many of the delegates, they will find it difficult to finance themselves on this trip," Mayor Hoan had written...
...In the meantime we will gather In Washington to formulate a program of what must be done NOW to make life more livable and we expect to be heard...
...students, housewives and veterans have Joined together under u common banner...
...When the producers of tho nation have found the unity thus to Join forces the wealthy despoilers of our people's prosperity may well begin to tremble...
...Your call was enthusiastically and unanimously endorsed," writes C. A. Culmore, secretary of the Beaumont Trades and Labor Assembly...
...And now thousands of us arc going to Washington and there we will go over the heads of tho bankers and tho statesmen, over you who have failed, you who have left us in the ditch...
...You have marveled at our patience...
...We know it and so do you...
...Perhaps he is thinking of suicide...
...Milwaukee and Chicago Milwaukee and Chicago congress delegates a r e working for a special train to start from the l a t t e r city Friday, May 5, with at least 150 delegates who can go by car...
...Our fathers before us and their fathers before them have tilled the farms and worked at the furnace and the loom...
...Machines are capable of gushing great quantities of goods...
...Wilson, North Platte...
...For the first time since the LaFelUtte revolt of 1924—but in '¦r greater proportions—work** of city and farm, office *M fKttory...
...The organization committee of the congress met here this **«k...
...Commenting on Secretary Dent's letter, Senator LaFollette saids "I am very sorry that tho Secretary feels that he cannot respond , to this request, and in view of the fate of resolutions which have been previously introduced to secure the loan of materials for the use of the unemployed, I doubt ; that there is anything I efen effectively do in tho matter...
...Socialism t you say...
...that a cavalcade of trucks will carry more than 100 workers from western Massachusetts, and that distance will be no deterrent to delegations from the Far West, the Northwest and the wheat belt ' The War Department, which seems to have an endless supply of tear gas, guns and bayonets ready to silence agonized protests from unemployed and hungry veterans, has refused to supply the Continental Congress with the loan of a few thousand cots and blankets to house the mora needy of the delegates...
...To the bankers, the kings of capital and the politicians we say: It ia you that have failed...
...Reports from the Washington office as well as from national headquarters here led Mayor Daniel W. Hoan of Milwaukee, » memlier of the committee, to make this confident prediction: Tho Continental Congress has already achieved this great mselti It has called into being the Urgent constituent assembly or workingmen and women the <<>untry has ever seen...
...These an the facta...
...Their aim is pressure to compel a program that will .in tome measure meet the needs of the suffering wojrking class...
...You cannot or will not manage >them...
...We have the skill to produce...
...The Virginia delegation, according to the latest reports, will consist of more than 150, coming from every part of t h e state...
...We are the working class and we live in a world different from yours...
...that New Jersey will send 800...
...Our natural resources are ample...
...Largest Congress of Workers and Farmers in Our History Expected In Washington, May 6. (By a New Leader Correspondent) QHICAGO.—-The largest congress of workers and farmers in the history of the United States will convene in the national opital within two weeks...
...Numerous Milwaukee unions are now acting...
...Louis, then to Indianapolis, and cn to Washington...
...For we who have work have little income and those who have no work have no incomes at all...
...However, we will all fight together to force you who have failed to yield concessions to us that will enable us and our families to live on a plane higher than animals...
...i bers join t a t i o n SI In wit books ol free to | to help I for thcii zationa which w spread I mond, ft April 86 a big Hi reports 1 with gsi Virginia, in repral will hall to give I and helpi New Met the .livd stop evst a public stamps I Kress | Primer...
...He cannot get the commodities the city workers can produce and the eity workers cannot get the foodstuffs that he can rake...
...Westmoreland County will have at least 2"> delegates, according to the latest reports, while in New Castle arrangements have been made to charter a truck which will have .'t.r> delegates from that section...
...We are tired of delay...
...C. II...
...Bertha Poole Weyl, Paul Blanshard and Harry W. Laidler...
...I more than 2,000 **» stamps sent ting organizations he expense money many organi«r»nged affairs »ake money and Wss idea...
...Ours has been a life of toil...
...But, alas...
...the masses who will assemble in Washington are not yet fully prepared for our pro* gram...
...Pennsylvania, while retaining the lead among states near WashIngton with tho largest number of de eg«te< elected so far, is being followed closely by New York ami N. w Jersey...
...Following an appeal I by Robert Hoffman, the Niagara County Labor Conference, In which j j are represented several central I labor bodies, elected two delegates : , to the congress, and paved the I , way for similar action by other1 ; local groups, Utica, Rochester, j Syracuse, Ithaca, Nyack, and j Westchester County organizations 1 are reported to be actively at work | ' lining up support among both l a b o r and liberal groups...
...Senator LaFollette felt that previous treatment accorded requests in behalf of the jobless precluded any hope for favorable congressional action...
...The position of the W a r Department will not keep a single delegate away from the congress...
...Their destination is Washington...
...Efforts are being made to broadcast over a national net-work the opening addresses before the Continental Congress for Economic Reconstruction which will meet here May 6th and 7th...
...Between 4,000 and 5,000 men and women—all duly elected delegates of bona fide labor groups—will ««wer the roll call on May 6th and 7th of the new Continental Cwigresa for Economic Reconstruction...
...Why isn't it done...
...We have made you comfortable...
...The days have come and the days have gone through nearly four years of measureless privations...
...Following the report of the credentials committee, permanent officers and committees will be named and begin their work immediately...
...There isn't a thing that you wear that we did not make, not a ear that you use that we did not build, not a home you inhabit that we did not erect...
...Already the Central Labor Union, the Carpenters and t h e Machinists of Kenosha have voted to send delegates...
...Those who own and those who rule ham failed, hither they cannot or they will not bring the** things together...
...His savings are gone...
...We think that tho raw materials, the machines, the plants, the railroads and tho banks should pass out of your hands...
...Louis Socialists a re making arrangements to entertain delegates with identification cards before and after the congress on their way to Washington and home...
...Here is the workman without a job for two years...
...After appointment of a credentials committee, national farm, labor and unemployed leaders will deliver short key-note addresses...
...Since all eleven members of the national executive committee of the Socialist Party have been elected so delegates from various organiastiona, there will probably be s meeting of the committee en Thursday or Friday before *"Jhe congress oonveaea...
...His home has been sold for taxes and interest on the mortgage he could not pay...
...The opening of the congress is set for 10 o'clock, Saturday, May (5...
...There goes a despondent young man almost giving up hope...
...that special drains will also be required to send tike huge delegations from New York City, from Philadelphia and from St...
...Information can be secured from Cohen...
...unemployed work...
...Other Delegates The Massachusetts delegation is expected to travel by special train to New York, and to join the New York dnlcgation when it '.eaves on tho Continental Congress special Friday evening, May 5. Western Massachusetts delegates will travel mainly by truck...
...If in four years you have been unable to revive your system, how many more years do you expect us to wait...
...l i i J ' . l . - n l (*» ham at 3252 special t gional M down-eut common farmer...
...After the appointment of a credential committee, speeches of nationally known labor and farm leaders may be broadcast over a national network...
...Jersey City, and other...
...We are in earnest...
...Here is the girl who seeks a job for only meals and room rent and cannot even get that...
...A list of available houses and hotels is being compiled and will be mailed to delegates...
...Siegfried Ameringer, Box 777, Oklahoma City, is making arrangements...
...But the days are long fcr us, terribly long...
...In North Carolina, Alton Lawrence, picking up the work where Paul Porter left off a week ago, has arranged a tour in which every one of the sixteen industrial centers in thst state will have delegates in attendance...
...Delegations from Jacksonville, Miami, West Palm Beach,' and Orlando have been chosen...
...We ean use them and we need them to end this miless anxiety and suffering that have come to our class...
...Here is the widowed mother who has sent her children to ah institution while she is in the breadline...
...Mayor Hoan had written to Senator LaFollette asking him to intercede with the War Depart,-, ment...
...that Pennsylvania will exceel its quota of 500 delegates...
...Even, you have observed that...
...They are due there on May 6 and 7. The occasion is the Continental Congress...
Vol. 15 • April 1933 • No. 16
