Nase Novine, January 05, 1983

              '- -!
,';v
January 5, 1983, NASE NOVINE -1- 1 Memories of a
It was cold, penetrating cold, as we
huddled around a bonfire in the "jungle"
next to the Chicago, Milwaukee and St.
Paul railroad in Renton, Wash. This was
mid-Novemb- er, and our destination was
Washington, D.C.
While we intended to visit and talk with
congressmen and senators, we knew there
would be no hob-nobbi- ng and back-slappin- g,
no martini lunches. This was,
after all, the second National Hunger March,
year of Our Lord 1932. Herbert Hoover was
the lame duck president, and somebody had
to impress the Congress that the country
was hungry, and patience had run out.
I was one of 22 funddled around the
bonfire, the beginning of what was to be
known as Column One, which was to grow
to about 1 ,000 of the 3,000 who marched on
Washington. It was near midnight, and
some of us who had "ample" winter clothing
offered extra pieces of clothing to a couple
who were poorly dressed for riding freight
cars in the open; there were no empty cars.
All pesonal finances were pooled into one
fund.
I chose to ride an oil tanker behind a box
car that served as a windbreak, using a belt
to strap myself to the tanker so that I
wouldn't fall off if I momentarily dozed off. I
had, after all, ridden the freight cars and
hitchhiked all over the country and was no
"greenhorn" at this sort of thing.
For two years I had criss-crosse- d the
country looking for work, any kind of work,
and had found none. I wasn't alone; there
were millions like me. They even gave us a
high falutin' designation; we were part of the
"Lost Generation".
The choices I faced were to starve, which
is against nature; to beg, whieh is devasta-ting
to one's self esteem; to steal, which is
no solution; or to fight. Here at the "mature"
age of 19 years, I chose to fight.
While on the oil tanker we had thought, or
rather had hoped, that at the next division
point some empty box cars would be
attached so that we could at least ride on the
inside of the freight cars. No such luck, so
by the time we reached Miles City, Montana,
our unity was beginning to crack.
Some argued that our mission was
impossible and wanted to turn back; others
felt that we had gone this far, and going
back would be just as strenuous as going
ahead, so why not go ahead?
We noticed a cattle train being put
together with an old passenger coach
hooked ahead of the caboose. Someone
thought of asking the cattle crew for whom
the coach was intended that we be given the
use of a portion of it. A committee was
selected with Hunger March credentials to
make the request. The cattle crew respon-ded
that we could use the whole coach, and
they would use the caboose.
What luxury! With a pot-belli- ed stove at
each end of the car, we began peeling off the
layers of clothing, and we "rode the
cushions" all the way to Minneapolis.
A tone point, the cattle train stopped on a
side rail for hours in the middle of nowhere.
There was nothing in sight but a cornfield
with the corn gathered and bunched and
with the ears still on.
Youthful impatience and hunger soon
took over, and two of us ran toward the
bundled corn, took two armfuls of frozen
com on the cob, and scrambled back. The
frozen corn was roasted on the potbellied
stoves. What a feast!
On arrival in Minneapolis, we were housed
at the Finn Hall, participated in a mass
meeting, and joined a local hunger march.
Some misunderstanding occurred between
the marchers and the police, and some
police were injured. About four of the
marchers were detained in the local jail and
couldn't continue the march.
La Crosse, Wisconsin, was our next stop.
The city furnished an empty warehouse to
sleep in, provided breakfast, and used the
police Black Marias to transport us to the
freight yards. In Milwaukee the city's
Socialist mayor and council provided us
BYMARKHALLER
with dinner, a modest hotel room, and
breakfast.
Chicago was something else. With the
spirit and the singing, it seemed the whole
city was involved. A huge Illinois contingent
joined us, and Column One went to South
Bend, Ind. Lansing, Mich., was to be our
next stop.
By this time, Column One had become a
motorized column. At an intersection where
the highway split with one going to Lansing,
the other to Detroit, the state patrol blocked
our way to Lansing, so we headed for
Detroit.
In Detroit, more marchers were recruited
and we went on to Toledo. The city
furnished a warehouse for lodging and a
meal over which a ruckus developed about
the quality of the food. Here I heard the
"Bean Song" for the first time:
Oh! those beans, bacon and gravy,
They almost drive me crazy.
I eat them till I see them in my dreams.
When I wake up in the morning,
Another day is dawning,
And I know I'll have another mess of beans.
They have Hooverized our butter.
For milk, we've only water.
We haven't seen a steak for many a day.
As for pies, cakes and jellies,
They've substituted sow bellies,
For which me work the country road each
day.
Next was Cleveland, with a brief stopover
in Lorain, my home town. I spent the night
at home with my foster mother, who argued
that nothing would come of our efforts, and
that we were bashing our heads against a
wall. Years later, I had the satisfaction of
having my foster father receive Social
Security, which had been one of our
demands.
After Cleveland and Pittsburgh, there was
one more stop, just a stopover in eastern
Pennsylvania whose name 50 years has
erased from my mind. Here we were met by
a vigilante group wearing yellow arm bands,
and we were forced to camp out in an open
field in driving rain. Any resistance would
have resulted in a riot, which is what these
Govore6i na proslavi 60-godi§nj- i-ce
Sovjetskog Saveza, sovjetski
lider Juri Andropov je kazao da je
SSSR spreman da smanji broj svojih
raketa u Evropi na onoliko koliko ih
imaju Britanija i Francuska i ako te
zemlje smanje broj svojih raketa,
SSSR ce isto toliko smanjiti broj
svojih raketa. To zavisi od americ-ko- g
odustajanja da instalira Par-shin- g
II rakete u Evropi i Cruise
misile.
Sjed. Drzave su odbacile prijedlog
Andropova. To je u6inio i NATO.
Andropov je zatim izjavio sprem-no- st
da se sastane sa ameri6kim
predsjednikom Reaganom, u koliko
se u6ine valjane pripreme.
U Washingtonu su izjavili da "ce
brizno pripremljeni sastanak na vrhu
biti uzet u obzir ako se pokaze da 6e
donijeti plodne rezultate".
Andropov je upozorio: "Danas
sovjetski ljudi i Amerikanci imaju
jednog zajedni6kog neprijatelja,
opasnost rata..."
2333 t,wwf.jf.niiim m чип.тчич IUU.J .LJ
SVOJUSTAMPU!
г1Ч9Утш%чћРвлмчк-шт'уттћи1Ш- З
PI SAC
MARK
HALLER
SA
SUPRU- -
GOM
vigilantes wanted. Guards were posted at
key points to prevent any surprises or
penetration.
On the first Sunday in December, we
approached Washington and our hearts were
beginning to beat faster.
It was early evening when we came to
Washington, only to be met by what seemed
to us to be the entire police force, fire
department, and who knows who else. We
were stopped and told to turn back and go
home. We responded that we hadn't gone
through the trials and tribulations to get to
Washington only to go back without
fulfilling our mission. A stand-of- f.
Column One was joined by another
column that had originated in California and
had picked up recruits in their southern
swing toward Washington and a third
column that had converged from New
England, New York and Philadelphia. All in
all, on that December morning, 3,000 men
and women stood before the might of the
capital's power structure.
We were edged to a highway just outside
the Capitol, a gully with a railroad track on
one side and a wooded hill on the other with
the police blocking any entrance to the city.
We were scheduled to march on Tuesday
and to have our representatives meet with
key lawmakers. This being Sunday night, we
were destined to pass two tension-fille- d and
hectic days sleeping on the concrete
highway and eating whatever our Washing-ton
committee was able to get.
There were constant assemblies to report
to us about the protests flooding the
lawmakers from all over the nation. Monday
night we marched round and round on the
highway and ended it with a report that the
authorities had given an absolute "no" to
any march on Tuesday. Our leaders asked
whether we would go back without mar-ching,
and the answer was a thundering
"NO". They asked whether we would march
and got an even louder "YES".
No one slept that night. On Tuesday
morning small groups began marching, then
all 3,000 marched and at a signal instead of
turning around, the marchers headed strai-ght
for the Capitol, whose entrance was
blocked by police. We reached the police,
who stepped asside, and we marched into
the Capitol.
Now, half a century later, I reminisce on
the cause, the hopes and demands of the
Hunger March. Joblessness and utter
despair were the cause, and unemployment
insurance, Social Security, and a jobs
program, its goal.
That national march stimulated state,
county and city marches. It engendered a
mass movement which coalesced in the
Unemployment Councils and the AFL
Committee for Unemployment Insurance.
The job demand saw a response in the WPA,
PWA and the CCC as the New Deal
responded to the presure. Unemployment
insurance was enacted, and a few years
later, Social Security became the law of the
land.
Today, I am drawing Social Security, and
the young of the land once again find
themselves the "Los Generation".
Will they have to repeat what we did 50
years ago?
(Reprinted from Long Beech
Press Telegram)
Poljaci na
Antarktiku
VARSAVA (PAP) - Sredinom sijecnja
iduce godirie iz VarSave ce krenuti sedma
polarna ekspedicija koja na otoku King
Georgeu u Antarktiku treba da zamijeni
ekipu u istrazivackoj staaici. U sedmoj
poljskoj istrazivackoj ekipi nalazit,ce se 16
ljudi, medu kojima su biolozi, geolozi,
meteorolozi i stru6njaci iz oblasti
scizmografije.
Ocekuje se da ova ekipa obavi opsezna
istrazivanja biljnog i zivotinjskog svijeta
Aiitarktika, te rneteoroloskih, seizmickih i
magnetskih kretanja.
''. '"""7 '.."". "" iiii "llllirriHMW
KANADSKE PRIRODNE LJEPOTE
1
г
' ,
" " Г
, i i ' " i
i '