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. , The following article by Herndon J. Evans, Editor of the Pine- 1 ·· ·— · · ·—~—··r ··- V V
i - ville,‘Ky., Sun, is reprinted from the Knoxville, Tenn., News-Sentn j_   - ~- —   -. V. —·»~r  
. nel of March 6, 1932; ‘ _ · A-; ,   .. .,.,. .- ~  .-
·_ ‘ 1,......-»—-—— . ..s.  '  " ‘``'’ ..-..Q i“""`.
Southeastern Kentucky is tryinglby agitators who come in to ex··and his family to a plot of ground ‘··· ···* ··  
to meet the problem of caring forlploit human misery, call men fromlunless ho is properly equipped to "”""” ' 'j"""""
her people. If the world-wide de- jdbs (even if they are underpaidl,ltake cure of himself and family af-    
pression has hit the coal fields a and racketeer in food and cloth- ter getting there. Farm imple-
harder blow than other sections, as ing taken from poor workers in ments must be provided, livestock _
· many nbelieve, then the people of other sections. must be olbtained,`a house must be
this section are making even great- 'Last January, that is, 1931, built and outbuildings miut·be con- ·
er efforts to meet the problem. ,drouth relief operations were car- structed. This all costs money. The - I
The one thing that the residentswried on in this section with an ex·ipro·blem is, where to get the funds. ‘ i
· of Southeastern Kentucky resentlpenditure of about $25,000 in Bell Need 500iTo 'Go Back' _
` arbove all others is the implication, County. This work was carried on A government advance of $500,- ' I
- or direct charge, that her people in a limited way during tho sum- 000, if such is possible, would re- '
` · are sitting ·by and looking with mer, after being officially closed hnbilitato 500 families in this coun- ~
complacency on the sufferings of down May'1. The first of the year ty. This would solve the trouble
` . _ , the unfortunatcs and that nothing found conditions worse than at the so far as Bell County is concerned, '
`. isbbeing done about conditions. beginning of last`* year and the for the miners who remain would
_ It is this attitude on the part of leaders of Southeastern Kentucky be able to get in enough days a `
` Theodore Dreiser and his commit- rallied to tha task of caring for week to make a living. Living con-
V tee and the Waldo Frank commit- the unfortunates. This is the plan: itions would he improved und, ul.
tce that has stirred the people of lA: three-fold program is being timntely. the coal industry might _
the mountains to action. It has carried out in Bell County. First, get on its feet to such an extent
, been tho refusol of these radicals there is the matter_of employment; that much better wages could be '
or liberals to give credit to the ef- second, comes family relief work; paid.
· for-ts ofjheimountnin people that and lost, rehalbilitation. The Rehabilitation Committee
l` `· has led to deportation and warn; A complete organization has ¤l50 deals ih other problems: It - . _
_ ing that such outside interference been set up to handle the casesisces whether this youngster, who
'will not lbe tolerated, ' More than 1,300 case are on file n0W apparently does not have qi l
_ . Friend. Society Given Praise in the Pineville office, which takes chance, can be placed in a chil- `.
` Southeastern Kentucky wel- care `of three-fourths of Bell Coun- drcn’s home in the state; it talks
coinesitheaid that more fortunate ty. and similar offices may be things over with this old and de- ·
sections may o[fer_ The`Fr-iends found in Middlesboro or Harlan. Cfedli €0\·\PlB and advise them I
· Society has demonstrated ably, Where there is u man in the fam> they Should go to the county in- '
, leaders say, how relief can he giv- ily able to work, he is placed on flvnery for tho declining years of
en and real service to the mauve the employment list, and givenitheir lives; it sends this old man to ,
tain people rendered without the from one to three days work ailive with a son, and this old lady .
pufblicity and fanfare of literary week, depending upon the size of to il daughter in another state.
` excursions. Today the Quakers are his family. · i It gets jobs for men discharged l
feeding more than 3,000 children He is issued scrip good at any ffvm One camp and fills a vacancy
in Bell and Harlan Counties, land store in Pineville equal to the day-lin some other line when available.
not a single motion picture ma· `rate of pay. if he is not able to\'I‘his committee is now co-operv.t- · . ·
i china has .been used in the distri- "m¤ko ends meet" on the amount ln: with the Quakers in a plan for
buticn project; Waldo Fmnkv, nf work dvgilnble, hg receives Suplrehabilitation and it will be glad
party rbmught {wg motion picture pleniental orders from the relief to eonfer with any other group
, · machines, the leaders say, tu dig. agency. Public works are being which may be interested in the
_, L . mum ico gaiions of milk in pa. used by the E¤ivl¤yr¤e¤t Com- vmblem Mw ¤¤¤fr¤¤=i¤c the bi- ‘
¤».s;.~:--:.i>e¤· `oonminers and to distribute miitee and numerws civic im- ¤¤mi¤¤¤¤ ¢¤¤l fields ` » - ··
_ , two truck loads of food. Drovements will lbe carried out Two Workers Paid, 10 Volunteer I l
The cities or southeastern Ken. -if the funds last that long. In the general office of the
_ - tueky.»MiddlgSb¤m, Harlan and Food Twice Monthly to Families Pineville Welfare League are two "
.Pineville—were tho first in the Where there is no one in the {mid W¤fkers and ten` volunteer .
United States fully organized for family able to work, the case goes workers Wh!) givdgenerously of ' '
_ relief work under the can gf pres. to tho regular family relief list. thai? time in We relief l>l'0gfé\m. . `
~ ‘ ident ·I-Ioover. .All charitable orga- Orders of food are issued twice ii ln addition to the staff, there is a
, nizations were merged in each month W these f¤r¤ili<>¤ end they msg °°mmm°°° wmposed 0f f°“¥' ‘
community under a general wel. are urged to supplement the re- 01* five business and professional
fare committee, the Red Ci/oss, Ag. lief,with any odd jobs that .may m€¤ of Pineville Who meet every I
· sociated Charities, Unemployment come-,up. day for an hour or more and pass
‘ Committee ¤nd.o:her— agencies eo- Few eetthe"¤dd iebs" and they °’* °°S°$- There ere ¢¤¤¤¤¤ittees
. ` operating to seo that the greatest usually are back at the expiration who go into the mining camps, visit
. V good could be done and that du. of the two-weeks periods. Because the homes of applicants and make
plication of effort could he glimit funds have not been available for Y•>P¤¥‘i·5 BS to the need. All work is
· natcd.· Campaigns to raise funds unemployment, many families have on 8 v¤l¤¤€eeY basis. 4
· were launched and the response been placed on the family relief The Welhfe League operates
was'most hear-toning to those in register. Practically all the men its °"·'¤ store. and through this _ V
' charge. Middlesboro raised a com- are willing to work, if lalbor is nec- h¤¤d1‘edS of lens of food have been i
munity budget of $18,000, with ii essary, ibut most of them gre sat- lisiled in 3 systematic way to fam- _
.p,,,—,.,iBt;0,, 0; about 10,000; Hm. isfied to draw their twotweeirs soo ilies in need. Himdreds of anirs of -
lan’s population of less than 5,000 plies, shoes have been issued to school
set a budget of $10,000, and Pine- ;A Rehabilitation Committee has children and adults and thousands
villo with a population o£`3600 ibeen operating in the field, seek- of E¤!‘¤1e¤€5 have been given out. * .
~ raised $6,000, ing some permanent solution of No estimate can be made of the ‘
‘Havin·g done their part, these the problem. IMI realize_ that no ¤Y¤0¤¤¢ of f¤¤d end Clothing sent _ ·
communities called upon the ·Red lasting good can come from pou- in by the Red Cross and purchased
‘ Cross or other national agencies `perizing certain members of the l¤¤¤lly by the general committee. - _
for assistance. =It was too great o community and asking others to la· Another committee of 20 Pine- "
. load for the communities of the bor on an unemployment relief ville Wvmen sew two or three i
A mountains· to carry. The coal busi- basis. times a` week for · the 'Welfare i '
ness was demoralized and when This committee is looking tothe League. Girls’ dresses and boys’
_ g \ {bankruptcy left many coal camps future. in its hands is placed the shifts ere turned out by this com- · ·
- _ helpless, the welfare organization taslé of finding homes for the 500 mittee and taken to the general `
immediately stepped in to ren- to 1,000 miners in Bell County, store room for distribution. When ·‘
  der assistance. Naturally, with the and ·probably a greater number new material is not available, old ` V
limited resources at hand, it was in Harlan County, where they will clothes are gathered up in Pine- `
" impossible to take care of all calls not have to be dependent upon the ville and made 'over for the people »,
but the organizations have been coal industry for a livelihood. This who need them. These women give _ ¤
doing all that is possible to take committee has adopted a slogan of generously of their time and means _ l
I care of 'tho problem. "Back to the Farm" and most of to help the unfortunates. V
Tolvnrstrive to Help its work is along the line of find- The `set-up in Pineville is dupli-
Tho work vplarii in, Pineville is ing homes for miners on small cated in Middlesboro and Harlan.
'being dupliacted in Harlan and farms in Bell or other counties of Every agency is uniting to see
Middlesboro. Every town is [bend- Kentucky and Tennessee. Efforts what can be done to meet the prob- '
ing every effort to meet the situa· also are being made to obtain gov- lemc of unemployment and the
· ‘ tion arising from over-production ernmental or other aid in meeting resultant prolblem of idissatisfac-
in the coalfields and theileaders in the problems of sending men back tion. Every community is doing its
, these communities are of the opin- to the soil. The committee realizes utmost and all welcome construct- -
ion that matters will not be helped that it is impossible to send a man ive, sincere offers of assistance.