University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

The Compton unemployed Co-operative Relief Association: A sociological study 1932-1933

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The Compton unemployed Co-operative Relief Association: A sociological study 1932-1933

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Content THE COMPTON UNEMPLOYED CO-OPERATIVE RELIEF ASSOCIATION A SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY 1932-1933 A Thesis Presented to the Faculty o~ the D~partment ot Sociology University of Southern California In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts by George Knox Roth June 1934 This thesis, written under the direction of the candidate's Faculty Committee and approved by all its members, has been presented to and ac cepted by the Council on Graduate Study and Research in partial fulfillment of the require ments for the degree of Ma.s. t .e.r.. _ .af. _ . .Ar.t .s. _. __ . _ .. ___ . __________ . _. ___ .... __ .. ________ . __ ---- __ ... ___ . __ . ____ . J · i.a·7 J1 Date ..... J.Ule_,__ ~Q:;;. ________________________ _ To Mrs. Geraldine (H. Wilden) Carr, M. A., who first interested me in the problem and significance of the unemployed and their co-operatives. Her anxious inquiries have stimulated me to make this study and find the truth about the old order and the hope and ideals for the newJ PREFACE The thesis in its present form was completed in Septem ber of 1933 bu~due to inadequate presentation of the material, was delayed. until the following year for acceptance. No material not contained at that time is presented here. The writer gave the material to Dr. Erle Fiske Young, and he gave the material to Dr. Pauline v. Young, his wife, who proceeded to make a copy of it, after having been given permission to use it in her classes. Subsequently, w1thout the writer 1 s · knowledge, the material was given to Wal ace Campbell, an assistant in the Department of Sociology at Oregon State University. Part of it appeared in the Commonwealth Review for January 1934 in a distorted form. Since the investigation contained in this thesis, the writer has made an intensive study of the further ramifications of the unemployed co-opera tive relief movement since August 1933 in the History of the Unemployed Co-operative Distribution Committee, further and more extensive investigations into the Compton Unit, the survey of the Government grants to co-operatives, and has interviewed inumerab.le city and county officials and citizens since August,1933. The writer was appointed as the Administra tor for the Federal Grant of $13,766 to the Compton Unit and selected as Chai~man of the Local Committee appointed men who were favorable to the co-operative to work out the production for use rather than profit. The committee resigned because of a lack of co-operation on the part of local and state officials. As a document of sociological research, however, the thesis still remains a single piece of research. The thesis itself was utilized by Mr. Arthur Goldschmidt, Project Analyst, Division of Self-help Co-operatives, Federal Relief Ad.ministration, who took the thesis to Washington in October of 1933 and arranged for its presentation to federal officials. Also Mr. Winslow Carlton, Federal Director of Co-operatives for the State of Cal~fornia, has utilized the material in his Government Report of April 1934. The author has served on the Research Committee of the Sub-Committee on Co-operatives of the County Citizens' Committee on County Welfare and has had a substantial part in the preparation of the report on the Co-operatives in June, 1934. The author has also serv. ed on the preliminary research of Dr. Constantine PanuDZio, of u. c. L.A., who has directed for the Family Welfare Division of the Los Angeles Community Chest, a project on the Co-operatives. Lastly the Report to the Federal Government regarding Co-operatives contains material relevant to the transitional stage rrom March 1934 until the present (June 1934). · rn connection with the research of Dr. Paul s. Taylor, Department of Economics, University of California, at Berkeley, and especially with his assist.ant, Mr. Clark Kerr, M. A., he has contributed aid in the reports to the Social Science Research Council studies, (faul s. Taylor, Ph.D.,1933) and to the Rochefeller Foundation (Pauls. Taylor, Ph.D., and Clark .Kerr, M.A. 1934). Several small articles have been published, one in the Tax Digest for May, 1934, on The Co-operatives, and the other on The Co-operatives become Consumers'-Producers' Co-operatives, in the Pacific Co-operate~ for March,1934. Also the mithor spoke before the Family Welfare and Administrative Officials of Public Relief Sections, at the California Conference .of Social Work, held at San Diego, California in MaY, 1934, on Co-operatives--An Appraisal. Thanks are due to the interest of Dr. George B. Mangold, Dr. H rbert L. Searles and Professor John E. Nordskog for their advic~ and assistance. Acknowledgment is due to the co-opera tion of Clark Kerr, a fellow Quaker, in showing me the import- ance of these co-operative in the economic trends of today. While not being able to utilize his findings or he mine, we have jointly worked together in an increasing understanding of unemployed problems and planning for unemployed futures. Thanks are due to my wife, Irma, for constant aid in the ' collecting of material, in securing interviews, in discussions, in edlting, in typing and preparing the manuscript. Her indulgence to the squandering of time which the research necessitated is a measure of the patience required to 1nvesti- gate the unemployed. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. THE PROBLEM. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 2 II. Statement of the problem. • • • • • • • • • • • 2 Validity and importance of the study. • • • • • 3 Review of previous studies. . • • • • • • • • • 4 Statement of method of procedure and sources of data .• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Statement of organization into chapters • • • • COMMUNITY SITUATION OF COMPTON • • • • • • • • • City of Compton • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Size • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Wealth and industries • • • • • • • • • • • • • History' . • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Institutions •••••••• • • • • • • • • • History of economic background • • • • • • • • Farming community surrounding Co~ton .•••• Failure of public social agencies to function adequately • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Attempted s~lutions of unemployment • • • • • • 6 7 9 9 9 10 10 11 12 12 16 17 Growing unrest . • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 20 Types of unemployed ineligible to receive relief aid . • • • • • • • . • • • • • • • • • • • • • 21 Definition of the situation • • • • • • • • • • 22 CHAPTER PAGE III. HISTORY • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 24 24 25 26 26 27 27 Periods of the unit • Problems of food • . • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Records . • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Community co-operation • • • • • • • • • • • • Meetings and formation of constitution • • • • Trends • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Formation of adjacent units • • • • • • • • • • 28 Formation of the Compton Co-operative Relief Association • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 29 Formation of the County Council • • • • • • • • 30 Formation of the State Council . • • • • • • • 31 Organization of other units •• Leadership of councils • • • • Established policies •••••. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Formation of a record and bookkeeping system • Food Administration • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Trends . • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Reorganizatipn of the unemployed unit • • • • • Reorganization of the Compton Co-operative Re lief Aisociation. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Formation of accowiting system • • • • • • • • 33 34 34 34 35 36 38 39 40 Formation of labor-exchange system and reorgan ization of the contact department . • • • • • 41 CHAPTER PAGE III. (Continued) Formation of the Social Service Department and the entrance of women into the organization • 43 Methods of creating and maintaining loyalty • • 44 Stabilization of function . • • • • • • • • • • 45 Assistance of American Friends' Service Com- mittee • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 46 Organization of the Wrecking Department • • • • 47 Conflicts and tensions created by the Wrecking Department • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Other forces competing against the unit • Failure of the County Council, U. C. R. A. • • • • • • • • Organization of the Area Plan • • • • • • • • • 48 50 51 52 Other plans for securing assistance ••• • • • • 53 Internal difficulties of operation • • • • • • 54 IV. ORGANIZATION . • . • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 55 Barber shop • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Clothing Department • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Carpenter shop • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Receiving and Distribution Departments Milk and bread details • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Minor Departments • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Social Service and Contact Departments Gasoline station and desk • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 55 56 57 58 59 61 61 62 CHAPTER IV. (Continued) v. Red Cross flour • • • Shoe shop • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Garage Office • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Transportation and labor details Wrecking Department • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Housing Department • • • • • • • • • • • • • • MEETIN.GS • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Deoartment He~ds me~ting A local meeting • • • . • • • • • An area meeting • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • PAGE 62 63 63 64 65 66 67 68 68 70 79 An area county conf erenoe meeting • • • • • • • 89 County council meetlng • • • • • • • • • • • • 97 VI. MOTIVES OF CO-OPERATIVE MEMBERS • • • • • • • • • 111 Leaders • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Organize re • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Department heads • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 111 125 132 Women ••• ·• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 136 Types of workers • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 140 VII. COMMUNITY EVALUATIONS OF THE UNIT • • • • • • • • 148 Salvation Army County Welfare • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 148 150 CHAPTER VII. (Continued) State and Federal aid • • • • • • • • • • • • • Business and professional attitudes •••••• Food Administration • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Attitudes of .city offioials •••••••••• Compton Co-operative Relief Association· •••• Educators • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • . • • Merchants • . • • . • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Corporation officials . • • • • • • • • • • • • Japanese farmers • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • American Friends' Service Cammi tt·ee • • • • • • Miscrellaneous attitudes . • • • • • • • • • • • VIII. STATISTICS OF THE UNIT • • • • • • • • • • • • • IX. SOCIOLOGICAL FINDINGS • BIBLIOGRAPHY • • . • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • APPENDICES • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • PAGE 153 154 156 157 162 163 164 164 165 171 172 174 192 209 210 Original Constitution • • • • • • • • • • • • 211 Revised Constitution • • • • • • • • • • • • • 220 New Constitution • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 224 Typical Unit Plan • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 229 Area Plan • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Constitution of County Council • • • • • • • • Constitution of State Council • • • • • • • • Forms of Unit Operations • • • • • • • • • • • 232 236 239 242 TABLE I. I :i:. III. IV. v. VI. VII. VIII. IX. x. XI. LIST OF TABLES Economic Background • • • • • • • • • Manufacturing Plants . • • • • • • • • Time Unemployed • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Number of Dependents • • • • • • • • • • • • • Comparative Ages • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Years Residence in Compton • • • • • • • • • • Married and Unmarried Members • • • • Voters Registered • • • • • • • • • • Statement . • • • • • • • • • • • • • Occupations of Active Members • • • • Occupations of Inactive Members • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • PAGE 176 178 179 179 180 181 181 182 182 187 190 CHAPTER I STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM AND REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE The economic depression has quickened the interest of the general public, as well as the academic world, in economic, social, and political conditions. The study of social change, reflected in the rise of new institutions during the depression, furnishes a basis for evaluating the social order in which we live. The capitalistic system is crumbling, democracy is being challenged, and a more co-operative society ·is being created. I. THE PROBLEM Statement of the .Rroblem. The problem of this study is the scientific analysis of the social causes and forces of an unemployed relief eo-operativef as revealed by the aooial attitudes and values or the members, the citizens, the business men, governmental officials, professional men, and the farmers. As the unemployed co-operative relief movement originated in Compton, California, and was extended to adjacent connnun1~1es, a sociological analysis of the situation which engendered this particular institution ~e unemployed relief co-operative is distinguished from the consumers' co-operatives, producers' co-operatives, and other types or co-operative economic groups by direct barter of labor .for necessary food, clothing, and shelter, without the use of script or credits. 3 affords a knowledge of social and economic reform processes. A comprehensive investigation of the interactions of the economic, psychological, and sociological processes f\lnction ing in this relief co-operative provides the milieu for scientific analysis. II. VALIDITY Validity and importance of the study. The study is timely: (a) because the enormous increase of relief and welfare work during the depression has created an acute problem for city, county, state, and federal government; (b) the plans for a more co-operative economic order are being undertaken; (c) unemployment has not been substantially decreased by any program of the government or o~ industry; (d) economic reform and revolution are possibilities in the future. The study is significant because a sociological analysis of the attitudes and values of men in a co-operative group reveals the way to decrease relief and welfare, provide employment for workers, change the economic order, and pre vent catastrophe by predicting and controlling social change. The study of the Compton .Unemployed Co-operative Relief Association is espe~ially important because it has been the mother organization of the unemployed co-operative relief units in Los Angeles County, and also because it furnished the inspiration for similar relief organizations elsewhere in the State of California. Further, the study of the 4 character, status, social attitudes and values of the members is important to welfare administrators, government leaders, sociologists, social workers, and citizens. The study, more over, will be valuable to men interested in organizing co operative economic enterprises, because it reveals the prob lems and dif~iculties, as well as some solutions, of economic co-operation. The study is valuable scientif icly in providing an analysis of the causes and forces working at a particular level of. human society, in realizing the values, organizing the attitudes, and securing the stable satisfaction of the basic wishes of man. III. PREVIOUS STUDIES Review of previous studies. There have been no previous studies of the relief co-operatives, as these co-operatives began only one year ago and seem to be indigenous to California climate. Several reports of these relief co-operatives have been made in magazine articles and newspaper editorials, but no systematic sociological study has been made. Mr. Clark Kerr, now graduate student in Economics at the ~niversity of California, at Berkeley, has just completed an economic study of th~se unemployed relief co-operatives and other self-help organizations, tor his Master's Degree in Economics at Stanford University. His study is a survey of the organization of these barter groups and indicates the economic trends of such co-operatives s in providing for existence. This study is not yet available at the writing of this thesis, hence no mention can be made of the findings. The purpose of the present thesis has been to scientifically analyze, on the basis of sociological con cepts, one relief co-operative and its centrifugal relations. This intensive sociological study of one co-operative and its problems is intended as complementary to the more extensive economic survey of Mr. Clark Kerr. Neither thesis has been available to the other writer, although there have been frequent discussions, in the past six months, of the problems of the units. The reports contained in the Monthly Labor Review of March, April, May, and June, 1933, of the various co-operative self-help activities among the unemployed constitutes the only systematic presentation of the related co-operative movements. These reports, republished by the United States Department of Labor as a special bulletin, are descriptive material rather than scientific analyses. Reference needs be made to the Master's thesis of George D. Nickel, of the University of Southern ~alifornia, on "Ce,..tain Aspects of Emergency Relief in Los Angeles During 1931-32", as it presents a scientific description of . . the relief work undertaken prior to the formation of the co-operative relief units. While concerned primarily with the City of Los Angeles, it is an excellent background contrast to the type of self-help relief of the co-operatives. 6 IV. METHODOLOGY Statement of method.2f procedure and sources of data. The method of procedure has been: (a) to interview members of the co-operative; (b) to interview interested members of the connnunity who sustain relations with the unit; and (c) to secure reports and records from the unit and the community. The writer actively worked in the unit ror five weeks follow ing the earthquake of March 10, 1933, as the field representa tive of the' American Friends' Service Committee, with twenty five volunteer workers. Following this he maintained an orficial position as one of the directors of the wrecking company of the unit for three months following, and, in addition, returned to work with and observe for approximately two months. As an instructor in the local Junior College he was enabled to obtain the intimate viewpoint of the community. Thus, at once, he was a respected member of the community and also a trusted member of the unit. As arbiter of the d1f'f1cult1es of the unit, he attended all the private and public sessions of the unit. All dealings with the mem bers, other groups of unemployed, or business or proressional organizations were ~hus made available to study. By becoming a "participant observer" rather than a mere inves·tigator, it was possible to analyze the social attitudes and values or the leaders and followers more completely. By maintaining 7 status as a citizen of the community it was possible to ascertain the attitudes of the community, free from any suspicion naturally aroused against inquiring members of the unit. V. CHAPTER ORGANIZATION Statement of organization into chapters. The study is divided into Community Situation of Compton, History of the Compton unit, Organization, Meetings, Motives of Co-op- , erative Members, Community Evaluations of the Unit, Statistics of the Unit, and Sociological Findings. Appended are the Constitutions (which contain their only ideology or philosophy), the Record System, types of Propaganda including newspaper articles, the Los Angeles County Department of Rehabilitation and Tax Reduction Plan, the Area Plan, Maps an:l Charts used in extending the influence of the Compton unit to the county. The Community Situation describes the environment in which the ·co-operative originated and f'unct.ioned. The History contains the rise of special conditions, the failure of relief activity to :runction adequately, the interplay of social processes functioning over a period of more than a year. The Organization chapter indicates the patterns and ' structures developed in .fUnctional adjustment to the problems encountered. The Meetings indicate the interactions and conflicts which resulted in tensions in attitudes and values arising within the group, as well as the function of the group in seeking the satisfaction of the basic wishes. 8 The chapter on Motives of Co-operative Members indicates the organization of basic wishes in the personalities of different leaders and followers. The Community Evaluations of the Unit indicate the conceptions co-operative response from individuals and organizations in contact with the co-operative. The chapter on Statistics gives the signifi cant trends for reference. Sociological Findings shows the scientific reference to the organization of the group and the socialization of the individual. The Appendix contains material relevant to the understanding or the co-operative. 9 CHAPTER II COMMUNITY SITUATION OF COMPTON City of_ Compton. The City of Compton, formerly a large ranching connnunity, is located midway between Los Angeles and Long Beach. It is centered near the industrial districts or Los Angeles County. (Cf. Chart No. 1) It is a residential section with industrial and farm areas extend~ 1ng in all directions. Within a radius of twenty-five miles, some forty-five cities with a combin~ population of 2,500,000 people are located. The Pacific Electric runs through the town. The city is divided- into rour wards represented on the town council by a councilman and governed by the Mayor. l The population of Compton is approximately 12,516. It is composed of middle-class white Americans (and approximately 8?5 Mexicans) engaged in various occupations ranging from farming to business and the professions. Compton is known by its composite rural and urban character in spite of its proximity to the large cities. Size. The area of the city of Compton is fifteen square miles, but its official boundaries do not circumscribe the community of Compton, as continuous residential sections extend beygnd the legal boundaries. To the north is the 1un1ted States Bureau of Census, 1930, p. 112. 10 county territory called Willowbrook, to the east is the county territory west of Lynwood, to the south and the west are farming connnunities end oil well property. Wealth and industries~ Compton is noticeably a poor but respectable community. The homes are old and inexpensive, ranging on the average from $500 to $3,000. There are no large industries and no large incomes or expensive buildings. It is not a town where men retire for li£e nor where tourists vacation. Its municipal enterprises are few, the public utility corporations strong, its schools appropriate but highly encumbered by bonds, and its merchants hard-pressed by chain stores. It possesses two newspapers (one bi-weekly, the other weekly) which delineate the current history of the town. History. The town at one time was part of a large Spanish Land Grant. It then became a large ranching area. Then it became a farming community town. It subsequently became an oil-boom town where men lived with their families. Finally it became a rural city administering to all needs • . Many citizens wanted to make it a "college town'' and to this end a large tire plant was forced out of town through high taxation and zoning ordinances. Industrialists were encour- aged to bene£1t by the city of Compton while enjoying the low taxation in County territory. While Los Angeles was to be the "white spot'' for industrialists in cheap labor, Compton 11 was to be the ideal center for cheap taxation. "We have not extended and will not endeavor to extend our city limits to take in the wonderful industrial acreage by which the city is surrounded, but will leave this acreage in the county. The industrialists will realize what this means to them from a tax standpoint. Our aim is to build the city along resident ial and educational lines. ttl In the immedi~tely si rrounding territory there were thirty-one diversified industrial plants furnishing employment to a large number of Compton residents. Institutions. There are numerous patriotic, fraternal, civic, social, patriotic, and religious organizations which are active. There is a four-year junior college, a junior high school and ten grammar schools in the city. Prior to the earthquake there was a large city hall and a library in the city park. The school district extends to the surrounding communities with a combined junior high school district extend ing to the limits of the former union high school district and including buildings in Lynwood, Clearwater, Willowbrook, and Enterprise districts, in addition to Compton. There are variais centers of amusement, dance halls, a moving picture theatre, a band stand, and other types of entertainment. There are three strong banks, a number of hotels, garages, and two block§ of pusiness, professional, and store buildings. 1 Chamber of Commerce Bulletin for 1930, contained in the Los Angeles County Chamber of Commerce Bulletin, Compton Edition, p. 1. 12 History of Economic Background. The gradual transi- tion from the farming community to th~ small acreage community, and subsequently to the oil boom community and the residential suburban connnunity brought varied economic influences. The Japanese came to supplant the farmer as the tiller of the soil. Revenues came rrom many sources for the economic welrare of the community. The building permits from 1928 to 1933 indicate the expansion and expenditure of money in Compton. The census distribution according to age levels indicates the numbers of workers and should be later compared with the age distribution of the unemployed unit. The payrolls of the various industrial firms in the surrounding territory in 1930 indicate the extent of financial and economic forces. The payrolls and the building activity are the only measure of relative prosperity whi ch the city experienced until the collapse o~ 1932. Farming communitI surrounding Compton. Compton is the center of an extensive Japanese truck . gardening district. On all aides are Japanese farmers who cultivate, the year round, from ten to twenty acres of rented land, by a rotation of crops. They have from twelve to fifteen different vegetables in cultivation at the same time and plan to have some salable vegetables daily. They usually have a large family to assist with the work, the women also working during the day. They work from sun-up to sundown. These Japanese have a simple system of marketing, whereby other Japanese, called "hauling men", regularly transport the produce to the market and, for a commission, sell the vegetables. They know little economics or trade, 13 having in their own country (and being for the most part first-generation Japanese) a stable market from year to year, with little fluctuation in the prices. They carry over their habits of planned farming with this stability of the market in mind, although gradual losses of savings caused large numbers to gamble their labor on larger and specialized crops to "make a killing" and recoup their previous losses (since 1926). They were not discouraged by the first signs of the depression and continued to plant and cultivate their crops even though it became necessary to destroy them unharvested. While waiting for the haulers to take their crops to the market, the vegetables became over-ripe and unsalable. In many instances the Japanese was forced by the hauling man to pay f~r transporting vegetables that did not yield the cost of transportation and marketing. These crops were ~ughed under and t~e Japanese continued planting full crops for a year or more, rinally realizing that they must curtail prodti ~~ ··· n, yet not daring to do so too rapidly. The Japanese in this work are, with few exceptions fir~ · -generation Japanese who immigrated from Japan before the Japanese Exclusion Act of 1924. They profited during the post-war years and up to 1926. Their habits of hard 14 work, long hours, patience, thrift, and love of industry, have given them an exclusive position ot permanence (and needless to say a "natural monopoly") as farmers in the community. They have previously employed Mexicans as workers, although Japanese farming is an art which few Mexicans or Americans seem capable of learning. Approximately one-third of these Japanese farmers in the region are now unemployed, although in 1932-1933 many were working for other Japanese. The land owners have refused to reduce rent on the leases and many are unable to pay the expense of water and rent. The Japanese, moreover, have planted only two-thirds of their land in 1932-1933, although in 1931-1932 they did not curtail production. This reduction was accomplished by mutual agreement on the part of the farmers, who are organized into different community growers' associations, which seek to direct problems and adjust dif ficulties encountered in marketing. On several occasions in 1932-1933 they destroyed parts of crops in order to raise the price, but northern growers only benefited ~rom the scarcity of produce on the market and continued the price at a low level. Sad experience in this regard on several instances, has made the farmers grow more than can be sold, although they limit production nearer the amount required by the market. Most of the unemployed Japanese and their families have been absorbed as laborers on other farms. 15 Due to the alien status of the first-generation Japanese, and the deportation proceedings that are instituted against them if they apply for County aid, together with the opprobrium and stigma of beggar which they will bear if they return to Japan, the Japanese have been over-anxious to assist the unemployed and hungry classes in the United States. The sympathy which was created in the hearts of the Japanese by these social forces was responsible for their generosity to self-help, non-charity cases. "Whenever a Japanese once begs, that record (whether we think it good or bad) is put on their census record register, and however valiantly one tries to rid himself of the stigma of that record it is impossible to blot it out. Just as when a person has com- mitted a crime and has served a term sentence and his record is kept on the census, so also is .his charity receipts. Many foreigners, as well as many second generation Japanese, who do not know that such conditions are prevalent in Japan, wonder why the Japanese people think it is most shameful to receive charity aid or anything like it. This also affects the Jap- anese residents in America in receiving aid from their own people, ~ven when everyone knows that the Japanese take care of their own Community Chest subscriptions. ttl lHiromu Oda, 0 survey of the Japanese in relation to the self-help unemployed relief co-operatives in Los Angeles County." Unpublished manuscript of research in sociology at Compton Junior College. Credit must also be given to Isami Suzakawa, Japanese Language School, Compton, for his assistance in the analysis of the situation and for his research help. 16 Failure of public social ..!S_encies to function adequately. Six months prior to the formationotthe unemployed co-operative relief on March 14, 1933, there was a considerable increase in unemployment, an increase in the need for relief, and a growing unrest on the part of the citizens. In addition to the County Welfare Department, which handled the social work of the district, the following agencies were supported by the Community Chest: Salvation Army, Health Center Association, Red Cross of America, Christmas Cheer Fund, Camp Fire Girls, Compton Chapter War Mothers, Volunteers of America, Boy's Week Committee, Girl's Day Committee, and the Catholic Welfare Bureau. Two-thirds of the $6500.00 budget of the Community Chest was spent on direct relief and one-third on character building agencies. The character-building agencies and the smaller relief agencies, shortly after the Comnru.nity Chest crisis in January 1932, returned their money to be used by the Salvation Army, the Catholic Welfare Bureau, and the Red Cross· for direct relief. The relief work administered in the fall of 1931 indicated the insufficiency of the Community Chest budget for the winter~ In January the crisis became acute and a special meeting of chest agencies was called. Inch and one-half headlines in the local paper on January 26, 1932 read: CHEST MEETING IS CALLED IN CRISIS. The Salvation Artrry' breadline was $700 behind in its finances, 17 and there was even a threat by the District Salvation Army Major, that "if the community does not take care of its poor, the poor will take care of you." 1 The Community Chest was reorganized, the immediate Past Commander of the American Legion was appointed head of the Chest, and emergency relief was administered. The formation of the co-operative relief two weeks later, relieved the tension and strain and no more was heard in the papers or the burden on other agencies dispensing relief to the community. Attempted solutions of unemployment. From October 1, 1931,to March 1, 1932, a rapid increase of unemployment was ·noticeable. "From August to December, 675 men registered as unemployed with the Stabilization Bureau. " 2 On February 26, 193Zthere were estimated to be 700 men totally unemployed. In addition there were men in the com..-rrru.nity, living outside the legal limits of the city, who .were 1nemployed. 3 The mayor suggested that the employed in the conmmnity donate two percent of their wages to the unemployed. The Municipal employees subscribed one hundred percent, but rew others contributed, and only $300 per month was raised. The Salvation Army received the money for the purchase of food in the breadline and supplied able-bodied unemployed from their breadlines to work on the city streets under the direction or lNews-Tribune, Compton, January 26, 1932, Vol. 11, No. 24. 2 Ibid., December 1, 1931, Vol. 11, No. 5. 3Ibid., February 26, 1932, Vol. 11, No. 33, article on the "American Legion Campaign for Jobs." 18 the City Manager. This became inadequate in caring tor all the unemployed. The Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Disabled .American Veterans organizations were assisting the needy of the com- munity and placed barrels in the stores to receive contribu tions of food and ciothing. They supplemented these donations with money, foodstuffs, and garden produce secured by solici tation from the merchants, the residents, and the farmers. In February the American Legion became interested, and the "Rochester Plan of Blockade 01 was undertaken by the community as part of the American Legion Campaign for Jobs. The American Legion opened an employment office in the City Hall and began its campaign for jobs. Unemployed veterans walked from door to door asking for work. The Campaign also sought to release horded money, provide pro-rata work, stimulate merchants campaigns to increase circulation o~ money, secure cultivation of vacant ground, and consider the possibility of seript. 2 The drive railed to decrease materially the unemployment and was hastily abandoned in the middle of March. The rinal gesture was to sponser a grandiose planting program l.ni1s plan provided for each block to furnish sufficient work for one unemployed family. The able-bodied unemployed man was required to work on lawns, yards, and houses for his pay of fifteen dollars per .week. 2 Artiele on the .American Legion Campaign in the News Tribune, Feb. 26, 1932, Vol. 11, No. 33. 19 for the Boy Scouts to cultivate vacant lots with one-third planted in flowers and the remainder in vegetables to be given relief organ1zat1ons. 1 The Stabilization Bureau 2 assisted the community to the extent of providing thirty jobs on County funds and seventy-five men with work on projects along the riverbed on "made work". There were fifty-three families receiving direct aid from the County Charities, in addition to the Stabilization work relief. This was inadequate to meet the need, however, as Harvey c. Fremming, Director of the Bureau, realized: 11 In a community such as Compton, where few people but wage-earners reside, the proportion of unemployed is somewhat higher than the average. •• 3 The churches in the region reported that they were assisting their members and other needy families as much as possible. The fraternal organizations, the Odd Fellows, the Moose, the Elks, and the Masons were all giving aid to the needy, especially those who refrained from joining the bread line. These organizations had. assisted the unemployed with relief during the preceeding winter. The service clubs, the Rotary, the Kiwanis, the Cl1.amber of Connnerce, end other groups had raised donations to be given the destitute. Every organization was called upon for some assistance in the emerg- lNews-Tribune, March 11, 1932, Vol. 11, No. 37. 2Legally known as The County Bureau of Unemployment Stabilization, this office attempted to secure employment · and distribute aid to those in need without case investigation, from County and Federal f'unds. 3Ib1d., Dec. 11, 1931, Vol. 11, No. 11. 20 ency. The women's organizations, likewise, contributed their share of assistance. Almost every men's organization had an auxiliary which was drafted for relief work or contributions. The last attempt, prior to the formation of the un employed co-operative relief in the middle of March, was the street work provided from the gasoline tax funds. There was $4700 provided for "those entirely without funds and who need food and other elementary necessities immediately."l The m~n "only temporarily out of employment, but still in the possession of enough funds to eat and clothe themselves and their families decently for the time being" were exempted from aid. 2 The men repaired the streets, another illustration here as elsewhere of the economic fallacy of public works 3 expenditures. This is the final attempt to relieve the distress caused by the unemployment prior to the formation of the unemployed unit. Salve the suffering and save the system! Growing unrest. There was fear o~ Communism and terrorism in the comnru.nity. In the Armistice Day speeches of 1931, the State Chaplain of the American Legion, spoke on the "Russian Menace." The papers reported "Law Observance and 'Red' Communist Menace stressed in Holiday talks. 0 There was an lNews-Tribune, March 11, 1932, Vol., 11, No. 3?. 2Ib1d., Vol. 11, No. 37. 3'.rhis fallacy, known as Seligman's Fallacy, is the failure to realize that expenditure of tax money for non productive enterprises only aggravates the existing economic imbalance produced by mal-distribution and under-consumption. 21 increase in petty crimes. The Chief' of Police "cited the need of welfare and charity work as a means of preventing crime. He said that the Police Department had had to deal with a number of people who s t ole things to eat because they or their dependents were actually hungry. 11 1 Many children were hungry and the schools provided boxes where portions of lunches could be placed for hungry pupils. Taxpayers beaeiged the city o:Cficials demanding work. "City of'ficiala are finding administration of funds difficult due to many unfair demands being made upon them. Men are demanding that they be given work out of the appropriations merely for the reasons that they are 'taxpayers'. • • • Many were in possession of property or otherwise ~ar from being desti tute. " 2 There seemed to be no way out of the chaos. TYPes of unemployed ineligible to receive relief aid. The ordinary agencies did not administer to unemployed men who had never before been in need of aid. There were rive classifications of unemployed not assisted by the County Welfare Department, the Community Chest, the City Funds, or the Stabilization Bureau (the last three in surficient amounts) who were in need of assistance, in order to keep from starving. lNews-Tribune, February 5, 1932, Vol. 11, No. 27. 2News-Tr1bune, March 11, 1932, Vol. 11, No. 37. (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) . 22 Unemployed veterans possessing a pension, a small income or some property; Unemployed property owners possessing over $250 value and refusing to accept a lien against their property; New resident unemployed ineligible £or aid by reason of not having lived in County one year or state three years; Unemployed eligible to but re:fusing charity aid; Many partially employed veterans, property owners, new residents, or residents; Many unemployed not welfare cases and not receiving Stabilization aid; all these formed the basis for the unit. In addition many welfare cases, Salvation Army and Connnunity Cheat cases, Stabilization Bureau and City aid cases saw the possibility of adding to their scanty income by joining the unit. Out of these cases the unit was formed. No one asked what the status of his fellowman was, all felt a common opportunity, few questi~ned the right of any to the connnon good. Definition of the Situation. There were several ----- - · - ----- leaders in the veterans' organizations who undertook to focus these various tendencies into an effective relief of distress and unemployment. They had e~erienced the failure of the various unemployment suggestions undertaken. They had observed the failure of private. charity relief, the Community Chest agencies, the Stabilization Bureau, the allocation of gasoline funds, the Mayor's two percent plan, their own American Legion Campaign, the Rochester Blockaid Plan, and the veteran relief through charity donations from farmers, merchants, and the general public. They acted in accordance with their de~inition of the situation and ex- 23 changed labor for food, received donations to accelerate this process, and sought the establishment of adequate relief for the destitute citizens of the community without suffering loss of status as charity recipients. All the elements of the situation were present before the formation of the unit; vegetables had been donated, men had worked for food, donations had been made, and unemployment was increasing. All that was needed was the establishment of an organization to utilize these processes already at work. Men were available for work, surplus food was abundant, a simple organization bridged the gap, end the crisis was over. The opportunity to exchange labor for food together with the spirit of co-operative effort, provided the solution. 24 CHAPTER III HISTORY The relief co-operative was the outgrowth of the American L~gion Campaign. Several unemployed veterans went to surrounding Japanese farmers who had surpluses of veget ables and worked for their subsistence. A warehouse was then secured by a moving and transfer man through the co-operation of interested citizens. Gradually more and more unemployed joined the organization to obtain roodstu~fs. The veterans were the rirst to organize the relief work, but soon were outnumbered and played a minor role. Vegetables were first obtained, afterwards more aggressive men secured bread, milk, and fish; later fruit, beans, potat9es,and a small amount of meat were acquired. Trucks and gasoline were required to transport the men and foodstu~fs. Thus the unemployed grew. Periods of the unit. There are six periods of the unit (to date August,1933): (a) boom period, extending from the middle of March until the middle of June 1932 is characterized by expediency; (b) expansion period, extending to the middle of October,is characterized by enlargment of function and area of operation; (c) institutional period, until the middle of March, is known by solidification of function; (d} experimental period, to the middle of June, 1933, is known by new efforts and new f'unetions superimposed on 25 the old institutions; (e) reconstruction period until the rirst of September 1933 is known by efforts to adapt t~e function of the organization to a new sit11ati) l or "~lief; {f) unchronicled period--indeterminate rollowing this, not included in this thesis {see Preface for further history). 1. BOOM PERIOD Problems of food. The main problems encountered in this period are food, transportation, and gasolin~. There was no attempt to organize a movement; each man merely sought to exist until prosperity returned. Everyone thought that every day would be the last and was constantly looking for and expecting work. There was a considerable surplus of over-ripe vegetables in the Japanese gardens at this time. In return for work on the gardens, this unsalable 1 produce was distributed to the unemployed. There was an abundance of men available for this work. Day-old bread was donated or worked for at the bakeries. Milk was obtained from the local dairies. A contract was entered into wit a boat owner for the use or his boat for £1shing, in return for repairs Sld equipment. Contact men 2 were sent out who acted as salesmen in: (a) borrowing materials or .equipment; (b) 1 While unsalable, this produce was edible to those who preferred to work for their food rather than to accept charity, or in order to supplement their scanty diet. ~es 'e men were called "chiselers" by the members, 26 securing donations; and (c) arranging for exchange of labor for foodstuffs, equipment, materials, supplies or services. Collective solicitation was less annoying to the individual conscience, and men would willingly accept for the unemployed what they would have refrained from asking for their own use. There were three types o~ contact men: (a) vegetable scouts; (b) "chiselers"; and ( c} labor-exchange solicitors. Records. The records kept by the organization con sisted solely of the names of the workers as they appeared in the morning for work. . Everyone was put on his honor as there was ample supply for everyone's needs. The men were assigned or volunteered themselves to a foreman who took them to the fields and returned with vegetables·. Each man was paid with a packing tag exchangeable for food. Men were required to work only one day per week. Other men worked as clerks, contactors, carpenters, mechanics, or laborers. Face to-face relations were sufricient for the operation or the unit. Voluntary co-operation and loyalty were the only requirements exacted from the members. Comnru.nity co-operation. During these days there was considerable suspicion on .the part of the community toward the unit. Several ministers had become 1nterest~d in the organization, and, to allay suspicion or communism, church services were held in the unit for a month. Agitators had joined the movement but were qui~kly eliminated by the 27 patriotic veterans in the membership. A number of rraternal organizations and private citizens assisted the local unit in relief work. The community co-operated by giving dona tions and whatever aid it could. The American Legion influ ence was strong, as well as the Disabled American Veterans and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. The business men of Compton exercised a paternalism which kept the unit within a relief function. Meetings and formation of Constitution. The meetings held by the organization were of two kinds. Every day at three o'clock the manager held an open meeting with the department heads and discussed the problems for the following day. Every Friday evening there was a general meeting for discussion, business, and oratory. As an outgrowth 0£ these meetings, and of necessity, a cons~itution and formal rules for organization were adopted by the members. The constitu tion1 contained the principles of the movement, operation of the unit, organization or a board of Directors who selected the manager, and an outline of the duties of the officers. Trends. The movement surged ahead during this period, but was merely emergency in character. The dire need of many, the rapid addition of new members, the rapidly changing person nel, and the constant reliance upon the communal spirit of 1 Cf. Ohapter on Meetings and Appendix on Constitutions. 28 co-operation in a disaster kept the m9vement a spirited one filled with excitement. The uveterans" attempted a coup-de- , etat for leadership and operation of the unit but failed when they had no trucks, workers, or warehouse. The elected them- selves as officers, giving eachother ranks from Captain to Corporal but the former manager (himself a Veteran) and the workers would not join the army of the unemployed. These veterans held the fort for about a half hour ant then retreated and broke off and organized a separate unit in Willowbrook. A great many workers received more for their energy than they could elsewhere. A great many got something for nothing as the office never knew what the workers did. Many thought the unit would be a genuine way to earn a living if its production could be increased to a fair standard of living. 2. EXPANSION PERIOD Formation of adjacent units. Adjacent communities, acquainted with the movement through members coming to the local unit and obtaining vegetables, formed units of their own. Southgate, Huntington Park, Lynwood, Maywood and Bell, all nearby cities in adjacency (Cf. Map of units) formed units in rapid succession during this period. Men caine to the local unit and. learned its plan of operation and made arrangements with the Japanese farmers for work. The basic income of the local unit continued as in the first period. There was no exchange between units, as Compton was located in the center 29 of the truck gardens and vegetables were the only surplus in income. Relief work was extended to many of these new un employed relief co-operatives by their city officials, to supplement their supply of vegetables. However, in the local unit, with the increasing numbers, sufficient gasoline (obtained in the boom period by contributions, donations and solicitation) became more and more difficult to obtain for the transportation of food. In addition other necessary items, such as utilities, telephone service, aito parts and sundries became needed for the continuance of the unit. Formation of the Compton Co-operative Relief Association. As the numbers of unemployed increased and financial assist ance for gasoline became inadequate, a crisis was immanent. Some citizens interested in the unit persuaded the city officials that immediate aid was iinperative to prevent starva tion and a citizens' committee was organized to administer the aid. The Community Chest or the previous year had made no provision for the unit, which had not come into existence until after the allocation of fUnds had been made to the different relief organiza~1ons. The city officials appropria ted the Band Fund of one hundred arrl eighty-seven dollars to be given to the local unit for expenses. As several rraternal .organizations were carrying the burden of relief, a council of all civic, patriotic, fraternal, and social organizations in town was organized to administer this fund and to secure 30 donations from their respective organizations to augment the fund. This advisory council of citizens elected a president, vice-president, and secretary-treasurer a:rrl was known by the name of Compton Co-operative Relief Association. The money obtained was expended for gasoline, automobile parts, tires, telephone service, and other imperative needs for the main tainence of the organization or of individual members, as frequently gas, water, or other aid was extended to members. The citizens on this council voluntarily contributed their time and effort for the assistance of the unemployed. Finan cial reasons, however, were not the sole cuase of the rormation of the advisory board. There was some public disfavor towards the unemployed organization, and both interested citizens and the unemployed sought to prevent misconceptions and to curtail such antagonism. The citizens were also interested in keeping the unit within relief limits and with no political or social reform character. No attempt at formal organization of the advisory council was attempted at this time. The advisory group left the autonomy of the unemployed intact, merely giving friendly counsel and supervision to the organization during this time. Later the advisory council was reorganized into definitely planned control and supervision from above. Forrnation of the Countz Council. As Compton was the center of the vegetable gardens, meetings of the various units were held to arbitrate problems encountered, to arrange 31 for exchanges of excess produce, and to plan for greater function of the units. The managers of the other units had attended the local meetings of the unit, and out of the e local meetings the County Coumcil of the Unemployed Co-op erat i ve Relief Assoc1at1on, 1 was formed. A very loose organization was formed to provide for the problems encoun- tered by different units in the overlapping of their endeav- ours. As this council grew in size, it became apparent that there was real need for the additional unemployed units 2 elsewhere in Los Angeles County. Formation of the State Council. The local produce ----- - - ------- was limited to garden vegetables, and, in order to obtain potatoes, fruits, beans, rice, and other foods, other farmers had to be approached. For this purpose several scouting trips into central and northern California were made. It was impossible to trans~ort and maintain laborers to work in the fields for surplus quantities of produce, and it was impossible to secure donations from growers. Therefore, it became necessary to organize the local unemployed in order to secure exchanges of surplus produce. The scouts became organizers 3 and while little trade or barter resulted, yet the energy of the men increased in this task of organization. l Cf. Chapter on Meetings and Appendix on Constitutions. 2cr. Chapter on Meetings, of typical County Council. 3From interviews with local organizers in Compton unit. 32 The men had received encouragement and expenses for their efforts from business men and civic leaders. This encouraged the organization of units in other parts of California. The plan of procedure was to approach the local relief committee, the Chamber of Commerce, or local Civic clubs in large cities, and arrange to explain the lief co-operative pl.an to the unemployed and the o~ficials or philanthropic citizens. As other types of relief organizations were being perfected in other communities, the local organizers assisted in organ- izing the unemployed according to the relief co-operative plan of the Compton unit. The State Councill meeting was composed of representatives of unemployed of every county . . in the state, and was called to test the strength of the unemployed, to secure recognition and to exercise influence upon public authorities. The cou~ty delegates rode by air plane to SacrementoJ Shades of power1 The State Convention met, adopted a constitution 1 patterned directly af'ter the County Council~· c. ~· !·, elected officers, talked over grievances, and left for home a few hours later. There was no effort to plan for distribution, barter, exchange, or operation of councils or units. An unsuccessful scouting trip to arrange for an exchange of foodstuffs resulted in lcr. Appendix on Constitutions. The very same policies, principles, and organization were effected. Only a few counties were represented and a member of the local unit was elected Chairman. 33 recruiting new units and culminated in the formation of a State convention of the unemployed. Any frustration was compensated for by some larger undertaking. Organization of other units. During this expansion period, the local unit sent out its leaders to surrounding communities and organized new units. The first units had been .formed by osmosis (C.f. p. 28); thes :.inits were formed by definite innoculation. After explaining the plans of operation, the unemployed would be brought to Compton the following day and given an opportunity to work for vegetables. Members of the local unit would remain with the organization until it was fUnctioning smoothly. As an illustration, the "Assistance Leagu~ of Holly-wood" desired to sponsor a unit and discontinue dispensing direct relief. A manager, a contactor, a personnel clerk, a vegeta- ble foreman, and sever·al depe.rtment heads were sent to the building selected for the new unit. The unemployed were notified that if they wished aid in the future, they must apply for work in the relief co-operative. The members of the Compton unit gradually withdrew 1 , leaving the organization functioning on its own leadership and personnel. A number l"Gradually withdrew" however applied only to the men who first worked in the unit. The manager withdrew· under political pressure--pressure of thirty armed co-operative men from the County Council U. C. R. A. badged with tin Special Deputy-Sheriff badges at the behest of the sponsors who held a supervised election and replaced the manager. Things were not always peaceful co-operation. 34 ot units were formed in this fashion. In Riverside and San Bernardino counties these organizers were called upon by County officials to explain the operation of the local unit. In their efforts to secure foodstuffs, they would encounter unemployed who needed assistance and the establish ment of a unit would be the result. Leadership ~~ Councils. The leadership of the County Council and the State Council was drawn almost exclusively from the local unit. Individuals who had become experienced in the problems encountered in this particular type of relief work were needed to manage these larger groups. The local unit not only supplied food but alsa prophets, missionaries, and priests. As soon as the term of the first president was finished, anothing member of the local unit was elected to the office. Established Policies. The basic philosophy of all periods is respresented by the placard, "NO WORK, NO EAT", which hung in the warehouse for months. While no effort was made to ascertain how much a man worked everyone was supposed to be earning what he received. Self-help was the basis of all their conceptions of the units function. The contacts were supposedly based upon this principle of trading labor for commodities. Formation of ~ Record anq Bookkeeping System. In July,1932,a competent accountant joined the organization, 35 served on the personnel desk, and soon realized the need for records. Men were constantly dropping out of the organiza tion, thus crippling its efficiency. · Unless adequate records were kept, the unit operation would be injured by changes in the personnel. Record cards of labor and issues were drawn up, together w th all the necessary business forms for the operation of the unit (Cf. Appendix on Bookkeeping Forms.) It was six weeks before they could be put into operation, so difficult was it to obtain printing. No forms or indexes could be made and personnel workers were required to work long hours, because they could identify the members as bona fide workers although few were turned down if they wanted food. Various alternatives to a bookkeeping system were attempted. Brass checks were issued to each member, to be handed out in the morning and returned in the evening for issues, but these soon failed, as they were counterfeited. Finally a simple systemof recording the days worked and the food issued was completed. Records were also made of gasoline issues and receipts. Very simple tabulations of receipts of foodstuffs and issues of gasoline constituted the reports of the unit. Oral traditions were important, and records were frowned upon as challenging the honesty of the members. Food Administration. Beginning on the first of September, 1932, the County of Los Angeles appropriated money for gasoline for the various units. The local branch of the 36 State Food Administration was assigned to supervise this allotment for distribution to the units, and eventually be came a branch of the county charities. Other men in the Food Administration scouted districts for information on quantities of produce that could be obtained, families aided, and gasoline dispensed.l Some barter exchanges between the units were arranged. Investigation of the records of the unit was made. The work of the Food Administration con- tinued until the end of August, 1933. Trends. This period is characterized by the extension of the unit to other communities, organization ofcouncils, and an elaboration of the functions of securing food. There is also the railure of democratic2 management in this period. The democratic form of planning in such a unit did not work in accomplishing the needs of the orga.riization. ''When people became members, for some reason, they adopted the idea that, this being a co-operative move ment, every individual member had just as much voice in the program as any other member. The result was that everyone tried to run the co-operative's business. The idea that, no matter how many there were, someone had to head the organization, never occured to them. The trouble with the Board of Directors was that no lcr. the chapter on Statistics. 2By democratic I understand the right or each member to exercise, by popular representation through majority opinion, his decision in the policies and operations of the group. group of men could agree on any program. Under this system any member could gain the ear of one or the directors,. £ile a petition or charges! hold an elec tion, and a new policy would result." 37 New resources in the form of fruits and staple goods were being obtained. The gas, water, and electric bills of many members were being paid by the Community Chest and the city. Everyone expected that the depression would be over in a short time and all hoped for a return to work. There was a growing conviction, however, on the part of some members that the organizabion was more permanent than they had first ima gined. Men began to plan for the winter. 3. INSTITUTIONAL PERIOD During the previous period, the citizens had taken no official part in the operations o~ the unit, allowing the members a democratic form of government. They lent their of ficial support and aid, but many unemployed were resentrul and disgruntled. There was considerable trouble and dissen- t ion among the unemployed. One of them was found to be guilty of selling some donated oranges. Th former manager had been forced to convalesce from a nervous breakdown, and the new manager was not able to cope with the growing restlessness of the members. The conmmnity had become irritated by many ap- 1 Interview with o£ficer of ComEton Co-oEerative Relief Association. 38 preaches of the unemployed. Reorganization of the unit was necessary. Reorganization of the unemployed unit. Upon the re turn of the former manager in October, a meeting was held. The Board of Directors was abandoned, the old manager re elected, a new constitution written, and a complete reorgani zation of the unit made. The reorganization was coincident with the reo~ganization of the Compton Co-operative Relief Association. Vfuile the principles of the organization re mained unchanged, more control over the conduct of the as sociation was given to the advisory board. Approval of the advisory board was necessary for eny important actions, such as: approval of members, holding of meetings, review of grei vances, election of officers and manager, appointment ot as sistants, payment of bills, and proposed innovations. The officers of the advisory board, ho·wever, were men with busi ness experience and profound human understanding and, rather than dictating the policy of the unemployed, they success fully guided the organization through the problems and dif ficulties it encountered. Some members of the unit, however, were opposed to this reorganization as it was contrary to the previous democratic form of government held by the unemployed. Nevertheless, the reorganization resulted in a more carefully planned economy for the unit. 39 fieorganization of the Compton Co-operative Relier Association. The loose functions of the advisory group during the preeeeding period was eliminated by the reorganiz~tion of the council. "An executive committee of men who could give time to the organization waa drafted into the council. A board of directors of not less than five nor more than fifteen members was authorized to represent the forty four organizations assisting in this type of relief. The president, vice-president, and three other members constituted a quorum. The City Council provided t-wo councilmen who had no official connection with the as sociation but. were called to meetings as frequently as it was thought their services were required; in order that the city might be informed rully as to the associa tion and what it was doing. No vital decisions affec ting the unemployed unit were undertaken without first being •thrashed over'' by the advisory committee. This affected the relationship between the unemployed and the community as a whole. It also expended the money. This advisory board was a well-organized and harmonious group. "l This reorganization was necessary ~n order to more completely control the operation of relief to the unit, to have a com plete record of relief expenditures, and to suggest ways and means for improving the usefulness of the unit to the commu- nity. The advisory council per~ormed a great many other fune t ions. It sought aid from various sources, conducted investi gations, and co-ord.inated the relief agencies in the local eom- · munity. It served as a liason between the unit and its offi- 1 Interview with president of the Compton Co-operative Relief Association. 40 cial connections and made possible aid which otherwise could not have been obtained. A complete knowledge of the unit tor the Advisory Committee was obtained through official sources of investigation. Formation of accounting system. VVhile extensive ela boration of records was made in the preceeding period, not until the reorganization of the unit and the advisory board, were all forms of transactions of the unit's business inati- tuted. A complete record system was outlined by the Chief Clerk and the president of the advisory council, and, after considerable effort, it was finally put into operation. As the Chief Clerk reports: "I tried to get men to unde stand what t.:tie nurpose of a record system was. We me ely wanted a record. They didn't see why we should check up on them. Some of them rlatly refused, from the first, to make out the proper reports. They wouldn't check things in to us. This looked bad, but what could we do about it? We couldn't discharge the man; we had nothing where with to command him~ If we asked him for mileage on his car he could refuse to give it correctly or refuse to use his car. I had to get their co-operation to get anything done. The organization began so loosely and went without any rorms for so long, ·that the m~n couldn't see why we couldn't get along without them always. It took about a month to educate the people as to what we were going to do end another month to get them functioning and in operation, so dirricult was the task of securing their voluntary co-operation."l 1 Interview with Chief Clerk 41 The forms were drawn up for the particular problem -situations of the unit. Every transaction was given a proper report form in order that a complete record of every operation might be available for the use of the unit or for references of the advisory board or Food Administration. This was not com- plated until the end of January. It was a slow process of changing the habits and customs of men where no penalty could placed upon carelessness or refusal, and where voluntary co- operatiop had to be elicited. Formation of labor-exchange system and reorganization of the contact department. At the rirst of the year a compe tant salesman entered the organization and sought to effect an establishment of the barter of labor for commodities on a systematic basis. The contact department was reorganized. Accurate records and forms were ma~e for the opera.tion of the solicitors in the unit. Accounts were opened on the books of many large .corporations and records were kept by the local unit showing the balance of credit. The unit agreed to fur nish labor for materials and to operate in a business-like and efficient manner. Most of the labor-exchange dealings previous to this were indeterminate in the credits between the merchant and the unit. As an illustration: "I helped the unit out everytime they needed some thing I could fix. I couldn't spend money on them, of course, but I could give my ervices in my garage busi ness. I didn't expect to receive anything back for it, 42 although they would send a man occasionally, and I would put him to work at some odd job. I really didn't need any help, for my brother was working for me then, and, while business was poor, I had to keep him on, so I could 't very well take work from them. After the earthquake ingured my building, I found I could use their help, and carpenters and plasterers came and worked. We have. just helped each other out. I never thought of keeping books on the organization or won dering where we stood, I just did for them what an one would do."l The new contacts w re faithfully kept and men were sent, whenever requested, t c work out the balance due the unit. Nevertheless, no one in the unit took the responsibility of assigning men to the various places when work was requested, except in old contacts. No one supervised 9utside labor, and firms became more reluctant to give or receive aid. These ex- changes or labor ror commodities were limited, however, to those firms possessing unsalable merchandize or su~pluses, as the unit did not compete for work. There was no checking of materials into the unit. Whenever materials were requested, regardless of the justifi cation of them, solicitors were sent out and brought back the desired articles. The articles then were given to the per- sons requesting them, and the matter was closed. The mer- chandize included tires, batteries, rubber boots, fishing tac- kle, office supplies, orfice equipment, drugs, garage equip- ment, automobile parts, and incidentals. The solicitors at- 1 rnterview with garage owner in district. 43 tempted to obtain whatever was requested. There continued to be a lack of supervision, and the cont c J department was perpetually getting things without labor being exChanged for them, yet the contact department did make arrangements for many services, such as dental and medical aid,· by giving work in exchange. Ultimately the labor-exchange system failed because of the former types of chiseling practices permitted by the organization. Formation of ~ Social Service Department and the entrance of women into the organization. As women had been excluded from the organization, with the exception of several women in the office, the Women's Auxillary had been formed, by the woemn, to take care of many of the needs not supplied by the unit. Shortly after reorganization of the :unit, the women were instructed by the management to disband and join the men's organization, in whatever capacity they could. The presdent of the auxillary became the head of the Social Service, the secretary became the head of the Clothing Depart ment, and other women took .important assignments in the kitchen, warehouse, and other departments. The auxillary had undertaken a number of social s· ervice tasks, which were now undertaken b· the Social Service department. This department provided fer whole milk for the babies, medicine for mothers, clinical aid, medical treatment, health service, 44 nurshing aid, advice, and counsel. There were several trained nurses in the organization, and these were used in special cases. A chiropractor joined the organization and administered whatever medical aid he could including the delivery of a number of babies. The needs of the women were cared for as well as possible, under the limitations of expediency. The women were now entitled to receive regular issues ror their work. Moreover, a number of women were given laundry work to pay for their issues. Single men, regular women workers, and women unable for a time to do their own washing, had their laundry work done for them. Methods of ~reating and maintaining loyalty. Various means were use~ by the management to create loyalty in the membership. A special issue card was given to the employees who work~d six days a week. 'This plan was abused and had to be discontinued. When the County furnished gasoline for transportation of vegetables, the gasoline worked for or donated by ·the oil companies was then distributed to the more f'aithful workers a.s "personal gasoline." Allocations .from the "petty fund" to take care of dire necessities were often made, as well as loans by the manager himself to the members. Small jobs on the transfer trucks of the manager benefited many members and created loyalty. Special asstgnments or details where more choice articles could be obtained assisted in this process of creating more loyalty in the members. The 45 "petty .fund" was raised by donations of interested individuals, of members, and from levies on the pay of members obtaining work. The membership had voted to give each member the op tion of paying ten percent o.f his wages, if he obtained a pay job, or of forfeiting his ration card during the period of em- ployment. The money obtained from the 10% levies was also placed in the "petty :f'U.nd", and checks written only on item ized vouchers containing the endorsement of the manager of the unit and the treasurer of the advisory board. Stabilization of function. During this period, the forms o.f work and the operation ofthe organization were per fected. The unit had reached the maximum expansion of func tion and efficiency of operation. There was a stable per sonnel, an abundance of orkers, a surplus of foodstuffs, adequate records, complete operation of all departments, adequate managership and leadership, and a spirit of co-opera tive existence in the membership. Men had learned their tasks and executed them with dispatch. A newspaper had been published containing items of interest to the members and information about the movement for the public. (See Appendix) The reports for February and March indicated that the peak had been reached in rood and materials obtained and in the number of families served. 4. EXPERIMENT AL PERIOD Earthquake. With the unit at the peak of efficiency . . in operation, the earthquake of March 10, 1933, occured. warehouse building used by the unit was demolished. The 46 The alertness of the manager and the persuasiveness of his assistants secured the used of a former tire manui'acturing plant of ten acres containing six structural steel buildings. The next morning the unemployed relief co-operative moved into these buildings. The unit functioned efficiently as one of the emergency relief dispensing centers for the destitute families of the community. The regular production operations of the unit were partly curtailed, but new functions were undertaken. New members joined the unit during this period. Many members obtained work in the community and withdrew from the organization. New problems were presented and new difficulties encountered. As many of the departments had been scattered in vacant buildings in the town before the earthquake, these departments were now centralized on the new plant. During this period staple groceries were appor- tioned by the County for the units. Additional supplies were received as a consequence of the earthquake relier. Assistance of American Friends' Service Committee. ----- - ---- ---- ----- On the day following the disaster the unit was reorganized on the new location. Everything was in a disorganized condition. Tires were needed for the trucks, mechanical aid was imperative to keep the workers at the peak of pro- duction to take care of the increased runction as a relief 47 agency during a disaster. The Field Represen ative of the American Friends' Service Co ittee, a local instructor in the Junior Colleg~ organize force of twenty-five college men in tour units: {a) u. c. R. A.; ( ) edical; (c) Radio; and (d) Engineering. The heads of th norary fraternities took charge of the respective sections of the Committee. The demor'alized unit accepted their youthf'Ul initiative and energy and allowed them to direct the organization. The Medical group undertook to make health surveys of the com munity and of the unit. The u. c. R. A. proper undertook to obtain by_ solicitation adequate relief assistance from tan.e connnunity, and to supervise its distribution. The Radio unit installed a short-wave station and sent messages and received them for the unemployed unit in connection with their foodstuffs and with friends in the east the unemployed could not pay costs of telegrams or were unable to reach. The Engineering unit manned the garage and proceeded to repair all the automobiles or the unit and put them into running shape, as well as install a complete telephone system for the large plant com.prising fifteen telephones and a switch board. This activity encouraged the unit to make the most of its opportunity and to plan for some degree or permanence. Organization of the Wrecking Department. There were a number of unemployed wrecking and construction men in the organization. The unit decided to provide employment ror its members, as the local community was in ruins, and the 48 opportunities to obtain buildings for wrecking arose. The construction department never materialized; the .wrecking department did. Through their willingness to underbid other companies, they secured a number of buildings and sold the materials salvaged from themto pay their workers. A business manager was appointed, and men were entitled to work if they were members of the unit. To avoid insurance, the men were made joint partners of a separate orga~ization. The workers were paid union wages for their labor. Conf'licts and tensions created~ the Wrecking Depart ment. Soon difficulties were encountered inthe administra tion of the Wrecking Department. The business manager of the Wrecking Department and the manager of the unit failed to agree upon certain policies. The loyal personnel was encour aged to oppose the manager ofthe Wrecking Department, who had formerly been the chief labor-exchange contact man. Rumours and suspicions were spread by the manager, and a secrete slate of candidates for Directors of the 'reeking Department was drawn up and submitted to the members at a called meeting. The situation became intolerable ror the business manager, who resigned and withdrew rrom the unit. In retaliation, charges against the manager were made by the business manager. The charges claimed a misap·ropriation of funds, unbusiness like management of the unit and the Wrecking Department, and theft of donated articles and gasoline. These charges were 49 openly discussed in a special unit meeting. No attempt at conciliation was attempted by either of the men. A number of 1n~luent1al workers left the organization at this time in protest against the manager. The entrance or money into the organization had created a realignment of social attitudes and values. The charges were investigated by the unit, the District Attorney's office, the advisory board, and the manager was cleared of the charges. The District Attorney's office stated there was no basis for a ·grand theft complaint. A petition of confidence was circulated and signatures obtained by the manager. The unit went back to its usual tempo. A few individuals, however, held grievances against the conduct of the wrecking business. One member apr'ealed to the State Labor Commissionfor a t'ull payment of his wages. The commission decided in favor of the unit af'ter a lengthy hearing. Many members were not able to work and yet felt that they were entitled to some assistance from the Wrecking Depart- ment. As only ten percent of the money earned was turned inbo the "petty fUndn to be expended for necessities, the members of the Wrecking Department were maintained in food by the remainder ofthe workers. Greater tension was developed when the lack of able-bodied men for the regular functions of the unit forced an increase, in the number ot hours for regular issues to thirty hours a wee • This increase prevented men / from looking for work. As t·h value of the issues was negligible, members withdrew. The regular working membership 50 was forced to support the Wrecking Department members with food, while the only income to the unit was in the form of building materials for the milk house. Furthermore, many of the loyal officers of the unit were forced to join the . Wrecking Department in order to obtain money. This injured the morale and function .of the organization. Other forces competing against the unit. On May 1 1 1933,while the unit was laboring under the difficulties encountered in connection withthe Wrecking Department and its depleted ranks, due to men receiving work, the County Welfare Department took over the work of the Stabilization Bureau and received considerable funds fromthe Reconstruction Finance Corporation for direct relief. The County Welfare Department expected to be reimbursed from Federal funds for extensive direct aid and work order aid to the unemployed. Many members now became eligible because of new rulings for unemployment cases, and the expectation on the part of the County Welfare that they would be reimbursed by the govermnent. Many unemployed had now become destitute and were willing to receive County aid. Staple groceries, work orders on projects, and financial assistance for gas, lights, and water could be obtained from the County Welrare. There was a sudden increase in the amount of direct relief given by the County, which incre . s c 1 f om 1· ~ 1 or.L , .u anc 1 ghty cases handled by the social elfare worker the previous winter to twelve hundred 51 cases on the first of Jul~ 1933. 1 There were nine paid relief worker~ compared to the one formerly used, investiga ting cases and handling distribution. Other relie.f agencies had continued to operate during this period as only a small amount of Community Chest money was apportioned to the unit. Under these new . forces the unit further decreased in size • . 5. RECONSTRUCTION PERIOD. Failure of the County Council, u. Q. R. !· The County Council continued to function during the three previous periods as a central body, electing officers who worked for the goodof the unemployed units in securing aid. The Council did not seek to be a co-ordinating body for the economic functions of the units, although it maintain- ed a central warehouse. Because of political entanglements, it had lost favor with many officials of the c~ty and county. Its eatings had degenerated into oratory and debate. No constructive attempts were made by the body to further the interests of the unemployed. They had dispensed purchased staples, mainly for city units, during the pre-election days. Its function had never been effective except as different officials might be fortunate enough to secure meagre assist ance for the 11 U. c. R. A." At this time there were a.pproxi- mately forty-five units maintaining connections with the County Council. There were, in addition, ap roximately eighty units bearing no relationship to this body at this time. lEstimate of County Nelf are Superintendent of the East Compton district. 52 The U. C. R. A. County Coilncil became infested with politics, filled with indecision, prepotent with danger, liable to radicalism, unwieldy, and unrepresentative--yet nothing was done by anyone except to use the leaders as the source of influence. A great number of unemployed units felt the need of independent organization. This move toward the Area plan was assisted by the Food Administration, who sought to build a County Rehabilitation and Tax Reduction Department. Organization __ of the Area Plan. The local leaders of Compton, together with the former Director of Expansion ror the council, drew up plans for reorganization of the units into a new plan in order to obtain assistance from the County. This was in opposition to the U. c. R. A. County Council. The area plan consisted of five areas approximating the five supervisorial districts, as the basis of organization for the unemployed units. The leaders sought to organize every unit into these area meetings, and from each area two delegates .were sent to the County -Conference. The Area meetings transacted business and planned for the economic operation of the units. The County Conference represented the unemployed in the Area Plan before the Board of Super visors or other officials concerned with the dispensing of relier. Each area had an area warehouse and were also convenient hauling groups for the nistribution of food. There was considerable confli 1 bet ': een 1he Area Plan and the County 53 Council, although many independe~ts now joined the area which had formerly ~efused to join the County Council. Considerable difficulty was encountered in securing aid for these groups and only after a coalition with the County Council and the independent units as aid secured in the amount of sixty-thousand dollars from the Federal and County funds ~or the purchase of groceries and staple art~cles. Other plans for securing assistance. The leaders of the Area Plan meanwhile sought to influence the County Welfare Department and the Board of Supervisors to grant a surficient amount of work orders 1 to the Department heads in the organizations. There were attempts to make the relie~ co-operatives, work projects for the unemployed, but all these plans failed to bring any results. The leaders threaten to close the units and force the County to care for all the unemployed. Protest meetings are p.eacefully held in the Board of Supervisors asking for aid. Increased allotment of money from the city, based on an exaggeration of the numbers of members served, was sought by the local unit in order to continue its activities for the following year • . The president o the advisory board recommended the appointment of an unemploymen~ director for the city of Compton to undertake the dispensing of aid to the unemployed,· but this was shelved. The city allocat~d a small fund pend ng final determination of its budget for the ~ollo ing year. Everyone is awaiting lA work order is an order from the County for a specified number of days, conditional upon need, of work on a publ~c pro ject, at a specified rate of pay (usually three dolls.rs and twenty cents for seven and one-half hours work.) 54 new developments. The employment drive of the National Recovery Administration is u ay (August, 1933) and many members and citizens feel th t there is no longer need for the organization. Internal ditr· ulties encountered in obtain~ng men t the various labor details. As eration. Difficulty is in the fields and on st resort, men have to I be drafted by a systemof compulsary assignment. Voluntary co-operation 1a abandoned. Men become demoralized and seek to escape from the unit. The leaders remain· ~way from the unit seeking some assistance to revit.alize the movement. Men are sent to secure gasoline and other items for donation to the members, but they return ·.empty-handed. The leaders ;.. do not understand the situation and frantically appeal for aid to support the unit at any cost. Petty theiving increases; several men are discharged for misappropriation of donated articles • . Vegetables become poor in quality, Red Cross flour is discontinued, staple groceries are not to be obtained; members exist on vegetables, milk, and bread. Medical supplies I run low, the Clothing Department is closed for lack of materials, and the Health Department of the City is on .the point of closing the kitchen. There is not food enough in storage to maintain t organization for ·o than a few days. The city council discontinues 1+- ort of funds. Dehydrating plans are completed but no fruits or vegetables are being obtained, and time is rapidl 1p away. Men a ait a new inspiration 55 C3 'PT~R IV QR;! 1'TIZATION The prese!'lt 'll·· n of organization (August 1933 ,'. is that of manager, two assist·-nt mana, ers, secret a.ry an~ C.1.1ief clerk, deoartment hecrs, foremen, contactors, and workers. The clothing room, car9enter sho9, wood yeard, wrecking depart ment, housing, gara5e, milk detail, maintenance, food, reoeivin~, commissary, transoortation, outside labor, and watchmen are handled bJ one assistant manager. The barber shop, shoe renair shon contact, junk, kitchen, distribution, off~ce, furniture, oersonnel , gas st: tion, social service red cross floor, investigation, and storehouse are handled by the other assistant manager. The . manager keeps a general suoervision over the unit.. The manager and the assistant managers have aut~~ority to act in issuing county gasoline, determining olans of oueration, granting requests, and issuing orders. The secretary and chief clerk perform their functions as executives. The deoart .nent heads and fore .l~en act as leaders of t Leir respective tasks. A brief descrintion of each deoartment, its function, oersonnel , ~nd oroolems will give so ·.e insight into the magnitude of work undertaken for the relief of the workers·. Barber Sho-o . The barber sho ~· is r 1 J.n by two veteran ba.1. bers; one a fort.er organizer of tne barber's union in the 56 district. Haircuts for members only are 0 iven during regular hours each day. Equioment for the shop was donated by some o:t· the closed shoos. A member is entitled to haircuts only as his work card shows a sufficient amount of labor. Hair cuts were first obtained by solicitin~ the~ from local oar bers, but after several unemnloyed barbers joined the unit a shon was ooened. These barbers receive the meagre remun eration of the unit, but hone to have a clientele when tne denression is over. Clothing Denartment. The clothing department is xun by a comoetent business woman. Quilts, under ear, shorts, dresses, shirts, and other nieces of clotning are oroduced in the sewing room. There is work for young and old alike. Waste materials, such as cement sacks, flour sacks, and heavy linen from the tire comuanies, furnish shirts for the men. Scraus are _tilized for nuilts. The local unemoloyed are entitled to a considerable quantity of Red Cross material, wnich is made uo for tne members. The towel and coat supply comoanies send the unit white coats, used in restaurants and lunch counters, which have become too shabby for use. These are renovated and used in the kitchen, the milk house, and wherever food is disoensed. Old clothing, dresses, coats, trousers, s~its, children's cloti es, hats, caps, ties, and overalls · re collected, fumigated, cleaned, renovated, mended, and neatly arranged like a second-hand clothing store for 57 issue on ran.er reauisition to members. Little of this cloth ing has been taken, as many have been too oroud and otners without ~ro)er !ittin 0 . T~~e women · re given regular issues for tLeir work in tt.ese de · .., rt ... ents. They entert~ ln tnem selves at ~ork in t i is friendly J~ thering. A record is keot of the hours worked, materials worked, and clot: es issued by the deoartment. There are as many as twenty women a day working in this deoartment, many of whom help to increase a meagre income and add to the economy of their homes. They are entitled to work even if their husbands have emuloyment. Many, however, are forced to support their own deoendents, some supplementing their allotments fro !. charity or welfare sources. Caroenter Shop. The caroenter shoo contains as many caroenters as can be used b . t.a:.i.e unit. These me~ - , all capable artisans, do whatever work the unit requires or can be traded for other commodities or labor. Ma.ny of these j obs orevent the re- emoloyment of carnenters for oay. Dehydrators are made for local use in oreserving food for the winter. A cabinet maker belongs to tr e deoart ,nent and is available for fi~ished ,.vorK. There is, unfortunately, no accurate record ke ~t of the balance of l~bor-exchange with outside employers. The unit has run so far into debt in many cases t.LJ.C:tt it can no longer get a st - tement of credit from tne emoloyer. Tne problem of obtaining suoolies is diff'icul t, and ti1e carpenters 58 must utilize r~· te~er ~ ood tley can secure in ad ition to the salva~_eable material from tne lumoer yard. Tnere has never been enoug 1 ork for such skilled men, and no one has system atically arranged to excnan e t _ eir labor fore .uivalent value in com.odities or materials. Receiving and Distribution Denartments. The receiving denartnient, located in the ve 0 etable warer.louse, merely acceots vegetables. All otber CO r.. uOdi ties cone into t.ue unit Wi t.uout being recorded as received. A ca ,able and co ·~JJetent man, experienced in ware~ouse ~ark, receives t~ e vegetables and fruits. A number of old or cripoled workers and a number of women ere assigned to this department to seuarate tne usable produce from the refuse. As a great deal 01 tne nroduce received is second-grade and unsalable foodstur!, in addition to refuse, tnese workers nreoare the ve~etables an fruits for issue to tne members. Tne bi1..a.S are ke t clean, t L e sooiled reduce, fruit, etc., is removed and dumped. The warehouse sunerintendent makes reuorts of all oroduce received and sent to the distribution counter for issue. The dis.tribution counter maintains suftic1ent food for issue to the me ubers. The is J.es are given out only after t -o o'clock when the workers have come in from the fields and each thus has an e-ual chance to receive food. Each member secures from tne nersonnel desk a certification of his work and is given chec~ s for is~ues . These are tnen exchanged 59 tor ve, etables, bread, milk, or s eci 1 issues. Many of t"'~e vebetab1e workers and .r rehouse orkers select tl~eir food before it is t· ken to tue distribution counter. There is al ~ys sufficient ve~et~ bles and nilk for everyone. T.e bread is also distributed Et t _ _ is counter, as well as any narticul· r donations, sucn as b~tter, margarine, meat, or reclai _.ed souo bones, that tl!e unit receives. Eacn me1.uwer in tne unit .. ,ust co e and receive his su-~nly as soon as he can, and often individuals aonly too late to receive anything but > icked-over vegetables. Tne bread is limited in quantity and is not aunortioned to need because it varies in amount from day to day. The milk deoartment .uas its own distribution of milk, buttermilk, cheese, chocolate milk, mayonnaise, and dairy oroducts. Each individual comes witn a jar and taKes as much as he feels is re .uired for his family. Milk and Bread Details. The milk and bread are handled by snecial details of men who work daily in tne oakeries and creameries for the reduce received. The ork consists in salv ging edible food from refuse. This material is then billed out in full cost to the unit as a charity donation, and a refund on income tax is allowed the cornoany. This unit, being ti~e oldest to do such work, has three large dairies and half a dozen oakeries operating under this Plan. In addition, so ... e skim milk is obtaine from the Surplus Plant. 60 The foremen on these details have a truck and ta.Ke ti.e men 7i th the · .. Gasoline and oil is furnished, and tne truck is kent in reoair and tires by the garage. A considerable ar..ount of the delicacies is taken by the fore .uen and workers. As the "···orkers receive -roduce in the name of t · e unit, and the com .anies make 01"0-oer re _orts on sue _ donations, the nroduce should be returned to the unit. The fore"en Lave resented any c.~ecking or receiving system, and some oroduce h· s been sold by foremen and 0 asoline misaoprooriated by them. The bulk produce of milk, buttermilk, cottage cheese, and bre~d are returned to the local unit for the members. Foremen take considerable quantities for t~eir own use to give to friends, neighbors, relatives, or in some cases to be sold or used for cr icken feed. reduce is not checked into the unit. On the brea detail men go and work in t~-e bakeries in unwrapping bre ~ d for duck or nig farms. They are given one loaf in twenty in return for thi8 labor. This bread, most of it fit for human consumntion, is sold for seven to fifteen dollars a ton for fattening ducks or uigs. It seems that tne fore l·en must be given so. ething more t1.lan tJ.1e regular ,·or· er, :·hetuer it is money or st··" tus. Te leaders must be given so1 ne status or tangible benefit of additional co . ... "',ensation, if only the rie:.ht to obtain certain thin :._, s f i :"st . 61 nor Deoartments. There are a number of s .. iL 11 deoart- ment s which should be mentioned in · assing. The furnit~re dena.rtment functions as a 0 rouo of ex .ert furniture reoair men ho reconstruct broken or old furniture for use of the me ~ ·.ers. The JunK de 1art ._ent is nandled by men ex erienced in obt· inin~ and selling junk, old bottles, oaper, lead, and salvcble material. Tne watchmen onerate as a grouo of old men who are rAs_onsible for rotectin '" t~ e oronerty and serving as timekeeJers and 6 ate checkers. The commisary is used for issues of staple groceries. A poorly equiooed kitchen is administered by an ex.:erienced cook, who manages to serve a lunch for 125 to 200 every da., on tr1e bones, vegetaoles, milk, and bread. There are a number of women who serve as waitresses an diswashers. The Kraut denartment has been abolished but at one ti.e furnished barrels of kraut for the members. The unit has nad at various ti ·.:es investi gators who made inauiries as to the need and condition of members. The investig tion was never extensive, however, as the unit has no authority, and ti.Le investig"wtors no great ability. Investigation is now conducted by a well-trained officer, who is used by the managea1ent for tLis ourpose. Social Service and Contact Denartments. As no one nlans very seriously on the future, many undertakings once established are allo · ed to laose. Tr-is true of tne social service and contact de-artments. They required able 62 individuals ith oarticular abilities to engineer. There has been a decrease in tie need for social serv:ce during the summer, and donations c _~n no lon 0 er be secured. Gasoline station and desk. ·The esasoline st tion is a b_ildin erected frolli salvaged brick, with tanks for 10,000 gallons of gasoline and ~ considerable 1 uantity of oil. It is managed by an old reliable member of the unit. The County gasoline is ke t very carefully, and ,-roper reoort is .nade to the Food Administration. Only unit members ob taining a written order for gasoline or oil can receive these articles. The recenient must sign a receipt for tne amount received, whicn is contained on his order for supplies. The duolicate and original are comuared in or.er to keep a check on the amount issued. An accurate check is immediately available on all transactions as to the au~ount of ~ saline, to whom issued, by whom received, dates, license numoer of car, make, and otner data v.aluable for ~,urooses of record. The donated gasoline is dispensed in a similar fasllion. Red Cross Flour. The Red Cross flour department has functioned successfully since the e rliest da~s of the unit. It h~ s been handled by an efficient, business-like, and conscientious woman who has ke v-. t careful records on all matters in ti.is de art .ient. T .. ~e flour was distributed oy the unit to the community. Very stringent and rigid rules were laid down b tbe 0 overnnient for tne distrib"..ttion and 63 careful investigation by the unit has been made on all aooli cants. I t is to the credit of t~e association and the head of this de art .Jent that t .. _e affairs nave been· conducted with out comolaint or dif:iculty. This efficiency is indicative of the deoendability of the units in administering an~rooriations. Shoe Shon. The shoe s.oJ is anot~er servi~e wnich the unit has successfully operated for the use of its members. Small quantities of leather have been obtained, especially for women 1 s shoes. E~ uio 1.ent nas been lent by ti1e shoemaker himself. The worn belting obtained from industrial establish ments is used for shoe leather. The .ork done has been considerable (see tables in Annendix) in alleviating these minor needs. Garage. The garage is an imoortant ~art of tne unit. Trucks needed for trans ~ortation are repaired. TI.e mechanics are not esoecially skilled automobi'le mechanics, many of them are uhandy men", although occasionally skilled men work. A few tools, a small amount o!' e uioment and no machinery con stitute the shop. Many young men are gaining their aoorentice shio in the garage. The trucks and automobiles are so old that no great harm can be done, though often no great help is given, either. Private cars of tne members are repaired after trucks are reoaired. Rough work, changing tires , repairing and changing engines, and making reolacements of oarts is satisfactory. minor adjustuents and reoairs not 64 requiring snecial skill can be satisfactorily made. ~ost work has been done on the maintenance of old trucks and automobiles. Under the limitations of experience and equip ment, not to mention parts, the garage has done exceotional work. Office. The office of the unit takes care of all records oertaining _to transactions of the unit operations. The Chief Clerk, a very competent accountant, makes and receives renorts of all matters pertaining to the unit. The records are the same as those of any large business establishment. Reports are nrovided for all departments and these are entered, filed, and tabulated by the Chief Clerk. The personnel desk makes a record of the hours worked by the men and tne issues they receive. A registration and an occuoational file are keot in addition to the work card. All records are handled by exo~rienced office workers. In the office prooer is tne gasoline desk with a responsible clerk who makes out gasoline orders and has them properly authorized. The Red Cross issue desk is also in the office; the yardage is checked, the amount certified, issue~ and returned when made uo, in order to nrevent material being sold or wasted. The secretary to the manager handles all callers who want information. He is also the complaint clerk and suoervisor of operations, acting much like any 65 secretary to the president of a corporation. The 11 -petty fund" is administered largely t rough this of!icer. It is properly checked when items accumulate, and checks are made out covering disbursements frou this fund. He receives all donations to the unit from the members or from outside sources and deoosits all money in the bank, making oublic statements of all receipts. Transoortation and Labor Details. These de0artments are handled by the Suoerintendent of Transportation who has charge of obtaining all men and assigning them to their specific details for the day. He also secures transportation for all required purooses. Ten men are assigned to tne bread det i.il, two men to tl:.e meat detail, fourteen on tne milk details, two wen on the oil company details, four men on the lumber yard detail, and a variable number to the ice company, junk collection, and other miscell~neous details. In addition, the various denart m ents which remain relatively stable from day to day require men. The vegetable details, the depart ments, transport ation, and contacting require a number of men each day. Outside labor for labor-exchange is also arranged by this foreman. In the past it was possiole to secure volunteer workers for all jobs, but now when there is a lack of available help in the organization, it has become necessary to assign or draft men for s ~ecific tasks. All transportation 66 has been arranged with the trucks and autotnobiles available in the unit. One large truck has been purchased by the unit from city funds and in addition, the manager has two large moving trucks available for us~. Men secure gasoline , oil, tires, and repairs for the use of the trucks or automobiles. Wrecking Deoartment. A detailed ·discussion of the wrecking department, already described (p. 23-25) would oe a study in itself. The wrecking department was headed by two assistant managers, a former credit manager for a national oil company and the construction suryerintendent of a large cornoration. The wrecking foreman was an exoerienced wrecker. The books of the company were kept very loosely. Records were made only of the hours worked and the money obtained from sales. One hundred men benefited from the ro ject, nine or ten buildings were wrecked, and aporoximately $3400 was paid out to the workers . The officials were paid six dollars a day, · the men four. The W recking Department will pay only eighty percent of the wages due to: (a) under bidding its competitors; (b) possessi~g unskilled wreckers; {c) emoloying non-essential workers; (d) failing to economic ally plan the business dealings. Neither the workers nor the Directors of the cornoany were able to make any audit of the books to ascertain the financial condition or ooeration of the company. 67 Housing Denartment. Following the earthquake a number of small home owners, in exchange for labor in repairing their residences, permitted the unit free rent for several months. Unit members moved into these houses and remained. The housing situation .is perhans the most unsatisfactory situation in the unit. The members have paid no rent for years, and others may own homes but are about ·to lose them through foreclosure. A considerable acreage in land has been obtained on which houses may be constructed, in addition to the land available for growing vegetables. There is some desire on the uart of members to establish this work. Various otner depart ments, such as entertainment, education, dramatics, building, and oublicity have been attempted. Tne newspaper was orinted for three editions but was abandoned due to lack of a printing ?ress , formerly secured from the local Junior Colle~e. A medical clinic, dental clinic, pharmacy, drug department, radio communication department, and departments such as electrical, plumbing, and farming have been seriously contemplated but never established. To have urovided gas and electricity in addition to satisfactory' housing, together with the food received in the unit would have made the members entirely indeoendent. The woodyard sunolies cord wood for tne use of the members. The maintenance department works in the plant in keeuing things in reoair and straightened up. The storehouse takes care of the suoolies which are preserved for future use. 68 CHAPTER V MEETINGS The various meetin 0 s of the organization are significant sources of social trends, tensions , and values in the movement. The first type of meetin~ is tne Deoartment Heads meeting , next comes tl1e general unit meeting, then tne Area plan meet- in"·· o' tnen tne Area Conference meeting, next as an offshoot, tne County Council Unemoloyed Oo-ooerative Relief Association meeting to whicn t11e unit formerly . belonged, and, finally, the State Convention (U.C.R.A.) meeting. There have been various types of meetings in all of these grouns, and the meetings here described are selected from a great numoer as tyoical of the meetings in question. The State Convention meeting is n t descri-ue· exceot in tne communication from state o:f!'icers of the U.C.R. A. There nave been but two of these State Convention meetings, tne first described in detail in the history of the organization, and the second clearly delineated in the letter reported and act 0 d uoon in the County Council meeting. These meetings show the failure of democracy or of even a represen tative form of government for the unemployed units. Deoo rtment Heads Meeting The !'irst meeting is tne Depart ~~~ent Heads meeting. A member circulates around the unit informing the department 69 heads of the meeting. They straggle into the mana~er's pri vate office Presenting a motley group. Some old, some young, some tnin, some fat, with various exnressions from worry and fear to euphoria on their faces. The manager calls the meet i ng to order. Routine business is undertaken. No minutes of any Previous business are read, as meetings are called only by necessity and to expedite the affairs of the unit. The manager outlines in detail the olans contemplated for imnroving the lot of oeonle in the unit. He indulges. in considerable pleading oratory about federal and county aid. Next the Contact Denartment head calls for more accurate reports on articles wanted and on a checking system on articles to be received. An assistant manager says a con venient and simole nlan can easily be outlined for the unit. The members raise the needs of their oarticular departments, and these are considered by the grouo as a whole. The manager makes the meeting a session in which he can indoctrinate many of t l. e members with his oarticular views of tr e moment on the unit accepting 5 overnment aid. Several of the members comolain that they are not getcing sufficient food and that someone ought to helo them to do this. The cook wants more utensils for her work; the social service wants more medicines. As a whole the members merely remain passive to what is going on, not knowing what to suggest. The meeting dismisses with 70 a discussion of the reasons ~lY oeople have been disloyal to the organization. There is no active oarticioation, and the matter is dropoed. The meeting ends with a 11 oep talk 11 by the manager on the unit, ''how much it is doing for the hungry," and how much it should do in the future. A Local Meeting There is an announcement on the bulietin board that a meeting is to be held several days hence. On the morning of the day in question the executive officers, the 11 Confidential Secretary", and the Assistant Managers decide there is no need for a meeting, as the petition which is to be drafted can not be nresented until the following day. They, there fore, say the meeting will not be neld and orally tell the members that there will be no meeting. In t : e meantime they allow the notice posted on the board to remain in full view. Many men who did stay for the meeting go back to work or leave for home. Then, about tnree o'clock, the time set for the meetin 0 , the manager returns and advises his assistants that the 0 meeting will be held just the sarne 11 • He knows that a great number will be away, but that doesn't matter to him. So the officers "round up" as many men as nossible and pro ceeds to have the meeting, at which any member who wants to . speak may sneak. The manager of the unit tells them teat the petition will be ready the following week ,, and that, there fore, the meeting today will oe thrown open for a discussion 71 of the oroblems of the unit. '' If you have anythin 6 on your chest, let it off; now is t, e ti.: e, 11 he invites the members. nThere is as much destruction. as construction in these meet in0s, and we don't want to hold meetings anymore for that reason. 11 11 If t.i.iere is anything we could imorove in anyway, for God ' s sake let us snit it out. Everyone knows that nothing should be keot in the dark, when we are working one for all." One member meekly arises to speak. "Here is the way it came to me, 11 he starts .. He reports how the men refuse to work on his detail after tney are assigned to him, esoecially on the days when t here is considerable amount of work. He comnlains that the young fellows 11 make a skating rink" and a u rough-house" out of the crea1aeries. The manager never hesitates to sueak himself while acting as oresident. He threatens to utake the women out of the kitchen and go down myself to the creamery. By God that is a good way for an exaarole to have it done. u He adds , nwouldn't that be a fine bit of business for you able-bodied men?" The vegetable superintendent reoorts a similar difficulty in getting men for fields he has promised to work in. Then another man gets up and re Jorts that "they have got to do so1:i:iethingu or they will lose · t:.leir contacts. No one makes any move whatsoever, each thinking it refers to 72 someone else than himself. One man asks tlJ.at the men w110 are going to work get to 0 etL.er and decide on what days they want to come, and maybe they will agree to do it then. He exnlains the nawe and nature of his work. He tells how the young men all seek out · the best things for thea1sel ves and 11 cache them away" and tnen rob each others caches. The manager complains of "honest-to-God goldbricks.u The members are too timid or afraid to sneak or say anything. All members bitterly com olain that there is no co-operation. The assistant manager then takes charge and exolains that there is money alloted which will give them so ',.e staples, and they spend considerable part of an hour deciding on what they would most like to have, much lik·e children soend money they never receive. They take votes on one item after another whether it will be pork or coffee, sugar or shortening. The assistant manager instructs them nif they give us ten cents soend fifteen, tnat is the way to get them to give you more. 11 Everyone is 11ooeful that the government will give them groceries. A petition is tnen oresented asking the city to assist them and pledging support and co-operation of eacn member to whatever will benefit the unit. Immediately one man rises and asks for men to work his milk detail t-at day, if tney are so loyal. No one responds. The man :: 1 ger looks in amazement at · tne 0 loyal group. 11 It is easy to oass ·oeti tions of loyalty, another matter to be loyal. 73 They _ vote to make every uember work and assign the member when a job is needed, regardless of whetner he wants it or not, and if he doesn't.like it, he can quit. The foremen then oicks the . ... en he wants for the day by pointing them out. One man bitterly conrolains that ''the unit will lose two dollars, if I have to work t' ,at detail tonight. 11 Someone else is drafted in his ~lace. The meeting disperses without the formality of moving for adjournment. The members leave, talking among themselves. The leaders are planning for policies concerning which the meuoers are not give full de tails. They use the body as a weaoon of tHeir ovvn planning, though for the gqod of most in the unit. At other meetings, sneakers are often called, and the long talks made on such subjects that are related to the unit. These soeakers who are willing to talk without oay usually have some oarticular hobby to preach or doctrine to teach; the meeting affords them an audience. The members have little or not ... _in 0 to say. The meetings have no democratic s ·irit about them. Even tne most heated argu . ~ents are extende s --,eeches by rival individuals. The l~inutes of a meeting held on June 15, 1932, wi1ich was virtually a County Council meeting com--oseq. of a number of different units and their managers, but tecunically only the regular meeting of Unit No. l~ is auoended in the following uages. Note tne way in wnich e· ch sneaker tells his own story 74 and fails to see the ooint of discussion. This is noticeable in all the general meetings of the area, County Conference, County Council, or State Convention. June 15, 1932 Subject-Meetings Meeting called to order by Mr. Downing, and he suggested that the meeting be opened for discussion on various subjects which had to be straightened out immediately. No. 1. Mr . Downing. Suoke on straightening out the matter of Huntington Park. We are dumping lots of stuff to them, and they verbally agreed to donate staole goods for our helo. Taken all steps for the foundation, so that the city of Compton and others can helo us. Also, he suggested we buy our staple goods in Compton to keep down dissension among the merchants. No. 2. Mr. lvlays (Huntington Park). Says he did not make any nromises as to financial helo . They have no treasury. Exolained the systein they oper ate under from the start of .it. The other organization had Dromised to nay certain sums and did not do it. He remarked that the Chamber of Commerce is not a work ing-man 1 s organization. Compton is in tne center of the vegetable belt, and Huntington Park is not. We should all have Privileges on these products. He also said that they had a lot of friction in tneir own organization. You cannot sell vegetables and will get in dutch if you do. Nothing to prevent us from getting staole goods, if they can get them. wen who say they will donate the most donate the least. Asked us to let matters stand for a while. Exolained the reason why he took 800 pounds of ootatoes to Huntington Park instead of here. Cannot see why we should haul them in here, and then oring tnem back to Huntington Park. Also wants to see copy of anything that is left at any olace. They cannot give us anything un til they get organized, and do not mean to olay hog with us. We are welcome to insJect tneir olant. They have an employment office. They gather anything up that can be used, and all are welcome to it that work . 75 No. 3. ·jr. Torrance. Made tne contract with them. Said that they would give us ~oods (At this point wr. Downing interuosed witL the exolanation that we could not trade goods but could accept donations in exchange). We told South Gate what could be expected of us, and they told us what they could do, and ooth parties have lived up to it. We have plenty of man power and do not need it. Got to have something for our vegetables. No. 4. Mr. Reynolds. Remarked that the .Mayor of Huntington Park is behind them. Says for them to donate staole goods to our unemployed so that we could helo them. No. 5. Mr. Van. Was uu there and saw all kinds of staple goods at the Welfare. Says tneir two organ izations backing each other, but all the stuff is donated from one nlace. They get work with oay, while we get nothing but vegetables. No. 6. Mr. Downing. If Mays will get us stanle goods, cash, or equivalent, everything will be o.k. --------Explanation of Huntington Park men working three days--The unemnloyed work for the city, so that they can oay their gas, lights, and rent. They can not give us what they haven't got. No. 7. Mr. Torrance. We symoathize with them, but the Comoton City Fathers will n.ot do anything for us, if we do not stop helping other city's unless they help us. We will have to quit until they start to heln us. No. 8. Mr. tIB.ys. If we can't work with Conmton, we will have to work without them, but do not want to. ~o. 9. Mr. Jones. Remarked it was his oninion that others cannot aooroach farners. He can produce stuff enough for us. Will do all he can to keep peace in the family. He does not want anyone sent on his territory without his o.k .. Someone has been getting his stuff. No. 10. Mr. Clark. We appreciate Jones and Torrance, they are go getters. Labor and welfare in Huntington Park have nothing to do with each other. Forget the Welfare at this time. Let's see the Southwest work in unison. We are not short of stuff here. If they give 76 us me~ we will help them. Send Huntington Park Jones and Torrance so that they can get going. Give Hunting ton Park time enough to get on their feet. We have men who have ability to get our stuff. We are to produce and not fight. Use their men and trucks and gas to get their stuff. No. 11 . Mr. Blake (Huntington Park). Somebody may have said that .they would donate staple goods, but this somebody did not know what he was talking about. The Compton man that went to the Welfare in Huntington Park was misled on the staple goods they had. I will do all I can and Mays will do the same. No. 12. Mr. Jones. Said that Mays did not have very much in store house today. Farmers grow things the year out. Other vegetables coming in when spuds go out. Gardners will give us 2nds and some firsts of corn~ beets, cucumbers, etc. No. 13. Mr. Hynes. We had 135 surplus men before we had any other men from other cities. W e cannot give all the men labor. No. 14. Mr. MacArtnur. Says Soutngate truck was here when he arrived. We cannot live by ourselves. M ust co-operate with others. Must consider others also. No. 15. Mr. Mays. Said that people have been getting tnings from Welfare. Will not give Welfare anything anymore. Willing to send people to them. Does not want to buck us. They are going to feed the people of Huntington Park in spite of anything. No. 16. Mr. Downing. We have got to get rid of friction. We should all work together, and they should give us staple goods if possible. Leave them enough stuff for their share and bring the rest here. No. 17. Mr. Torrance. In 30 days we will be done in the fields. We are going to Bakersfield in order to get stuff to keep going. No. 18. Mr. Downing. If we could preserve stuff now, it would last. W e should help Huntington Park if they help us. No. 19. Mr. Torrance. Southgate is not going to furnisn us with money to feed other cities. No. 20. Mr. Van. Vegetables going into Welfare Organization. 77 No. 21. Mr. Mays. W e gave the vegetables to the Welfare because they did not have anything, and t he people are the ones who need it. A case of not having it spoiled. No. 22. Mr. Van. We have been told not to help organizations that nave money to help tnem. No. 23. Mr. Miala. Says Mays does not mean that he is going to bust us up. They are going to the wrong place for money. Should go to Council for their money. Says his Mayor will go to Huntington Park and speak to council for them. Mr. Downing settled the question. Clark resigning in favor of Torrance. No. 24. Mr. Torrance. If Huntington Park will keep their stuff in their own storehouse, we will help them. Don•t help Welfare. No. 25. Mr. Clark. Says he takes oranges and lemons to other places. Says to continue helping Huntington Park. Send Jones and let him help them. Seconded by Sly. No. 26. Mr. Torrance. The reason for argument is that we thought we were going to get financial aid. No. 27. Mr. Nicola (South Gate). I heard the men from Huntington Park say that they would give us financial help. No. 28. Mr. Mays. Some men will promise anything. The council wil! not give anything to us until we re organize. No. 29. Mr. Downing. Reads Chris's letter.l This is not discordant due to reporting, but is the type of minutes that are taken of all meetings of this sort. 1 Minutes of t he combined units and County Council on June 15, 1932. 78 The general meetings of the organization are not designed to present issues to the people which they can act upon. Most decisions do not require tne sanction of the members for approval anyway. The army would not think of calling a mass meeting on 11 maneuvers 11 , and neither does the co-operative. In times of action, decision of the leaders becomes the law. If a proposal works, the members are satis- fied. If it doesn't, tney wait until something else is suggested to bring about the realization of the proposition. The meetings are depressing from the standpoint of intelligent and concerted effort seeking to accomplish anything of im portance. There is a lack of initiative in the exercise of the prerogative of democratic sanction. Plans for tneir own self-help, an attitude of dependence, lack of assertiveness, mediocre leadership and discipline, and fantastic ideas characterize the local meetings as well as every meeting. The most efficient manager of the units, used by the food administration whenever a district is in dire distress to organize such communities and place them on an independent status, has said of "meetings": "I never allow my members to hold a meeting in the warehouse or elsewhere. The poor fellows don't know what to think or act or feel these kind of circum stances. It only makes them more dissatisfied tnan ever. It is better to keep your plans in your head and work them out, for, if they fail, the plans fail but not the courage of the men. The staff officers would not discuss with the men the matter of "going 79 over the top" when they knew there were few cnances of doing anything else. So it is with the units. I don't promise them anything, and if I get something, they are glad. If I don't, they are not despondent over it. Why, to hold a meeting of the members in the warehouse would only break down the morale they are under, and they would see how futile their lot was. You don't want meetings for talk when you don't nave anything to say, and talking things over with them will not help anyone out. I know the problems of the unit; they don't need to tell me in an open meeting. That only gives them less confidence in what the movement is and what your managership is. Meetings are im possible with these people as l~ng as they are in the state of mind they are now in. 11 An Area Meeting the Area meeting is attended by twenty-five delegates from the southern part of Los Angeles County (Area 1: see map in appendix). The delegates, after preliminary talking before entering the meeting, assemble and listen to the minutes of the previous meeting. T.ne list of mem bers, names; unit rep resented, and town is read first .. Details of the previous meeting contained in the minutes are given to provide some of tne business of tne day: Beans available for picking, canning projects, wasting of food because of shortage of bands, complaints from Japanese that the unit members are over- stepping bounds dishonestly and that Japanese farmers will not tolerate this in the future, report of the food commission er of district, and detailed reports of foodstuffs available for labor exchange, all constitute the active business to be 1 Interview with manager of second unit. 80 continued at this area meeting. The purpose of area meetings, in contrast to the "County Council U.O.R.A.u, is that of dis tribution of food, not oratory. Tne minutes are approved after a slight amendation by an unauthorized ranter delegate who catches the secretary on a minor point. Next comes the call from the President asking for twenty workers in the warehouse. They are promised a special issue to be given them of "choice vegetablesu if they will work. Various individuals report on the number of volunteers they can give. There is a disproportionate number of men from certain loyal units. During this discussion a number of delegates arrive late, including the Secretary of tne County Conference. A few non-delegates from Long Beach arise to protest against statements made by the delegate from the area concerning "their world-beating scheme for recovery." (Referring to a proposal made by Long Beach delegates to the Board of Supervisors for fantastic relief.) "He was just trying to be clever, that is a11n Long Beach remarked to each other in confirmation of their belief· that the meeting was worthless to them. The meeting is given only listless attention by the members, as if no one had the energy to speak. (They have the energy, howe.ver, for on the following week they organized a huge protest meeting with banners and speakers to influence the County Board of Supervisors--lethargy only betokens 81 confusion, not 'stupor.) The delegate-at~large and Director of Public Relations of the "County Council of the U.O.R.A., 11 the rival organization to the 11 Area Plan, .. arises to speak at length of what the unemployed are doing, launching into oratory, only to be oalled down by the area delegates, who protest that he is a friend of the wiemployed but that he is out of order in this area meeting, as "it is for business." The speaker meekly looks with an appealing smile to the chair, but the chair remains adamant on the matter of "no oratory" and asks the delegate to be seated. The business proceeds with matters of food distribution. A report is then read concerning the appropriation of $50,000 to the unemployed from the government to make an experiment with the self-help groups and to give them a trial to make good. The units must prove themselves as capable of keeping books on the expenditures for groceries, and of alleviating the destitution, as well as the established County Welfare Bureau. The Secretary of the County Conference (Area Plan) is called upon to make a report of the meetings held since the previous week. He describes the efforts to organize the un employed and secure government aid, and the squabbles had by the "Area Plan" with the "County Council U.C.R.A." and the Independents. He reported details of supervision, experi mental planning, decrease in demands against the government. 82 relief functions on better economy, and plans to make these relief groups models for other communities, if successful here. The Secretary, although a very competent writer, evidently distorts the actual findings, as one of the delegates in favor of the Secretary gives amendations in a very friendly fashion to indicate that the plaµs are not as easily attained as might appear by the Secretary's combination of fact and fancy in boosting "Area Plan" work. The report of the various committee meetings held since the previous week were voluminous and were clearly distorted by the Secretary, as was evident by discussion of other members of the same commissions. The Secretary did not hesitate to change the minutes slightly to fit his interpretation of what the situation should be. He was clearly seeking to obtain more support for a certain plan than the facts justified. He said afterwards, when asked about details, "I changed those plans because I thought that t hey would be more acceptable to the higher ups wnen we approach them.u Hopeful distortion is a characteristic of such reports, and any investigator of such movements who relies on the minute· s most likely has a story of hope and not fact. He finished with the reports on the conferences and told of the arrangement to see the Supervisors and seek County aid (for the self-help groups, incidentally) for relief. They 0 camped outside the door" until they got some action. Tne Supervisors sought to "sneak out, 11 but they 83 "hit them up" for action when t hey "faced t hem." The head of the County Charities consulted with the Board of Supervisors and, after a long seige of waiting, invited the delegates in and inform ed tnem that they could do nothing for them. "Poli tics," the Secretary informed t he audience, 11 is the cause of it all. They are all so handy at passing the buck that they got their feet tied. 11 1 The Secretary continued his outline of the plan of the government, and how it must be carried out witn very rigid supervision in expenditures for groceries to local units. After detailed explanations, many distorted, of the proposal of the government, the matter was put to a dis cussion by the members, as to what they would do. Members are called upon f or t heir ideas. One member ri ses and pro claims his name and his unit number, responding by saying ••My unit is heartily in favor of the Area Plan and supports this p· rogra.m for aid from the government one hundred percent. 11 It sounds like the reports at a nominating convention of one of the national parties! They all feel the political import of their endorsements and the power of concerted action. Another me m ber arises and makes a similar response. The Chair man then congratulates the body on its willingness 11 to 1 After these weeks of persistent "lobbying" methods in us~ strangely enough, t he Superintendent of Charities resigned "due to poor health" in a few days after such active agitation was continually made to the Board of Supervisors. The Board thought the hords of the une mployed were after them. 84 support this plan. 11 No attempt is made to discuss the merits of the plan (which incidentally is supposed to provide grocer ies for a reputed 150,000 people for two months on $50,000) or its limitations. They never stop to think of the meagre amount they are going to receive. Fifty thousand dollars sounds more than the fact of $1.00 for groceries for three people for two months. Even with conservative figures of 12,500 families, the amount is too small to even experiment with. They never stop to think of practical matters, and when the leaders were later asked, their reply is 0 tnat is only bait we wil! catch them with and get more for ourselves later." The leaders are evidently trying to get the full support from the membership rather than securing new i deas or understanding o:t· the feasibility of the plan. The leadership of the "Area Plan, 11 like the 11 County Council," act and secures support for their action from the membership after they nave executed their self-conceived plans. The leaders continually discuss the matter with audiences that do not, for the most part, understand the meaning of the questions. The me1nbers will not admit they do not understand, but leave the matter as it is stated and support anything that seems to betoken hope for themselves. The session concerns itself with little or no planning or exchanges or arrangements between units, as might be expected, but mainly is rationalizing tne procedure of the "Area Plan" and its encounters with tne old 11 County 85 Council U.u.R..A." members. Former meeting~ however, have taken up, in rather arbitrary fashion, the matters 01· area business, exchange of produce, arbitration o:t competition for fields, and common plans for mutual aid. New converts from i one plan of County organization to the other are warmly com mended, and everyone is expecting tnat their machine will control t he situation in the future. There is long and ex tended criticism of their opponents tor so loosely handling their affairs, but this criticism reflected bac~ on the weak- ness of t neir own plan. Some members fil ed out quietly without giving excuse for leaving. Then the President of the County Conference arrives at the meeting and is greeted by the members. He considers himself the leader of the unemployed and accepts tnese remarks and ovation as natural. He speaksi repeating more slowly and in colloquial form, the personal anecdotes of the conferences. The members can understand him and laugh and joke. He is then challenged on some newspaper clippings which axe contradictory to his remarks, by a member who asks whether it is true he made misstatements. He talks around the issue, never coming to the point. (He has claimed to represent all the unemployed; whereas, he merely represents about sixty five percent). Another member, also in opposition, asks whether the manager of some of the unite is in private business (a technical violation of the rule s for managers) implying 86 that the president of the County Conference (who runs a busi ness) should be challenged. Again a direct answer is avoided, and the matter is forgotten in the welter of other items of interest. The associations of the delegates are so diffused, that one can, as with children, confuse the issue. Everyone deplores "charity, which is a social crime, 11 while asking f ederal aid in receiving groceries. "Them's the absolute God Almighty's facts in the case," speaks the manager. The meeting then turns to the incidental complaints of different delegates. The President of the County Conference ends his remarks with the threat of "going political and putting other people in office if they can't get what we want for us." One of the members rises and askes the cnair if he knows tnat "work orders" have been obtained by some of the units? "I got some through political connections which I can't tell you about," he goes on to say. Some of the other delegates get their heads togetner and decide they want to know. The Chairman requests the information and is refused and the members continue to lay plans for their own units "getting son1e of these work orders if anybody can. u Tbe meeting adjourns without so much as discussing the issues of the matter or tne possibility of putting tne careful checking system into practice in tneir disorganized units. Every one expresses his loyalty without realizing the difficulties of t heir promises. Everyone seems to be motivated by a certain 87 kind of fatalism and ennui and is not alert enough to consider the matter intelligently. The leaders know nothing can be done and that to suggest difficulties in the open meeting would be ruinous to morale. They decide matters between themselves and proceed further, with the sanction of meetings, to attempt relief. The meeting ends by the delegates dis cussing matters with themselves. This same body a week later becomes tired "of hearing false promises and not knowing wnat is going on" and proceeds ~ masse with their wives and children to the Board of Supervisors office, independently, to deter mine why assistance and relief can not be given them. (Of. Daily News article of August 16, 1933, p. 1) After a spirited plea by the Chairman of the Area, in which 0 comrades fought for life and death in the trenches, but are now fignting among civilized citizens for bread itself," the Board of Supervisors is, to use tne language ot· the officials, ' 1 put on t h e spot." After being told that the government can not legally take any action, the officials decide among themselves that: "If the law keeps us hungry and starves us. a man is a citizen if he takes it upon himself to break the law, and the sooner the better. Rather the Board of Supervisors break the law f han the unemployed take the law into their own hands." linterview with Secretary of the Area County Conference. 88 Many of these meetings, however, are planned to discuss the issues involved in the obtaining and distribution of food and have been planned with this in mind. There is not enough need, however, for planning meetings at present on this re lief system. Consequently, their excess energy is utilized in a political way. W'nile the area plan is much more care fully planned, there is still the lack of centralization, adequate reports, findings, and planning. Tne surplus vegetables are given to the central warehouse and distributed to the wiits needing certain supplies. Warehouse reports are usually read and efforts are made to work on the distribution of work for the area. Both the political events and business events are undertaken by leaders. The area officers manage things as they see · fit. There is little use in discussing policy when one man should have authority to act. The tendency, here as elsewhere, to delegate authority to the executives and then to be forced to withstand the results of their actions, which often are not representative of the wishes of the body itself, is the consequence of such types of relief organization and lack of democratic policy. One questions the possibility of democracy among those who have not the ability wherewitn to exercise an intelligent choice in the decision of tneir own affairs--should social and intellectual morons determine tne standards of education, law, or government? 89 An Area County Conference Meeting. The County Conference, a representative. body ot· the unemployed, is composed of ten members. Each area has two delegates to the County Conference. In addition, tne Di rector of Expansion, the Executive Secretary, and a member of the Food Administration Office comprise the group--thirteen in all. The manager of the local unit (Unit No. l in the U.O.R.A. set-up ) has now succeeded in obtaining the presi dency of this larger group he has organized on withdrawing from the County Council. He has the largest group of unem ployed units in the County. He opens the meeting, a secret meeting behind barred doors, with the minutes. The minutes contain detailen reports of all conferences with off1o1als, other committees, and problems in arranging for aid from the government or from tne County. The most important committees are those detailed to co-ordinate with the U.C.R.A. County Council, the Long Beach Independents , and the Bellflower In dependents. A system of accounting had been arranged by one of the members and was now approved by the area. Detailed discussion is held of attempts to obtain control of the central distributing warehouse by different representatives to this joint conciliation committee. Next, the Food Administration, wnich heartily approves of the Area Plan, calls upon one of its members, and he 90 speaks about a large consignment of pears being donated by growers and banks in Antelope Valley. He stated the need of twenty men and five trucks for the hauling, everything else having been obtained. The President wants to know immediate ly, i f the County will guarantee repairs on trucks donated, as many of the unit trucks are not good enough, and other trucks will have to be loaned by interested citizens in the community, and they will have to be repaired in case of break downs. For three quarters of an hour discussion is held on whether County aid could be secured, members talking and ex plaining and no one acting on anything. Efforts to obtain the Railroad are unsuccessful. Camping equipment is necessary, as well as a camp cook. Various sorts of proposals to use trucks are suggested, no one with a positive attitude. All the problems of arranging for County assistance are discussed over and over again. Some individuals offer small trucks which are not worth the gasoline. The matter is finally left to a committee to meet on Monday, postponing action until they can call upon the Supervisors. The Supervisors of the Cowity are to be contacted by the group also to demand 11 why we can't get some assistance in feeding the starving uner.aployed." The one member donates two large trucks capable of hauling most of the pears. He further suggests and urges members to get as far away as they can from the Board of Supervisors and County aid. "You won't get any help from those fellows, you might just as well admit it now ... He obtains the trucks, 91 they do the talking. The only difference between this small meeting and the large County Council meeting was that the members were the managers of different units, and there were only ten to talk instead of two hundred. There was a more determined attitude to accomplish business between frequent flights or oratory and argument. Next, complaints about the distribution of the salvaged edibles from the Wholesale warehouse, sponsored by the .Food Administration, are made by various individuals. Detailed stories are told about injustice. The Food Administration man suggests that "if you don't cut out quarrelling you Will lose everything ... There are long discussions on how the amounts should be apportioned to the units. After lengthy discussioI\ it is moved to leave it as it is and "see how it works out." One delegate, more talkative than the rest, tells the Food Administration that "the place wouldn't operate if it wasn't for us citizens," although he thanks the Food Admin istration for its efforts, "backing out 11 after his charges. The President lets everyone talk that wants to talk, and no one greatly under stands the others, although everyone is agreed on doing something in a united fashion. At the same time, there is no feeling of rapport between members in 92 making decisions of importance. As one member says on giving up his plan, HWell I will second the motion, not because I want to, but because I think it agreeable. 11 They conciliate as much as their natures allow. Each one seems to be headed in a dif'f erent direction and each doesn't know where he should go. They appear like men driven together in a storm and not knowing what there destiny is to be. One member speaks of how "most of our members are not really sane all the time, the depression makes them that way." One member seeks to make an effort to oust the head of the County Welfare Department and seeks to produce evidence that there has been graft in the office. He is overruled. "We won't get anything until we stick our fist out and ask for some rights," he pleads. The President keeps calling in an orderly fashion 1 let us get this .to a close, gentlemen!" There still seems to be considerable difficulty in deciding how to get aid from the Board of Supervisors. One member folunteers to get "his Congressman behind the unemployed,u and two others also fall in line. They go to call him up on the phone to arrange for him to 11 present their case." Then there is the suggestion that tne Superintendent of Charities of Los Angeles County be called before the County Conference "to see what he will do for us." This is agreed by the members and to be arranged by the Food Administration Office, which 93 is itself becoming worried and •lput on t h e spot" in their work for the unemployed. There is a long communication from one of the Dele gates presenting the off er to support all of the County W elfare indigent and relief cases at $1.00 per month, a preposterous suggestion which never ~ould be aocompliehed. The letter is considered at length and rejected, to be given to the Director of Expansion for action, if he sees fit. It is thought best not to antagonize the Board of Supervisors at t .his time. The President keeps entertaining motions, is criticized, and retorts that he is not ma.king motions. Another delegate arises and apologizes for not having ttas much education that you other gentlemen have" and complains "he didn't want them to go radical, but he thought they ought to get some action." The Food Administration then tells that a spot check ing system is being undertaken by the government to determine the size of the units in order to obtain an active regis tration and asks for co-operation. A member, on leaving, emphasizes the need for radio communication, "get at it, get at it" he implores. A radio is needed about as much as a railroad. Anything is suggested that will make the members feel they are "getting somewhere. 11 The meeting seems more discordant than the silent area meeting. 94 The delegates are men of considerable importance, two lawyers, a businessman, a farmer, a highway foreman, a doctor of a sanitarium, a real estate salesman, an electrical line man, a former credit manager for an oil company, and several competent office workers. The Director of Expansion requests the Food Adminis tration to have telephones connected from their office to all the warehouses and to the radio control station for immediate action in case of emergency. what they all like is the fir e of emergency. Most of them could easily succumb to another war hysteria or mania. A delegate reads a resolution protesting against the cut in the number of hours given the men on County work. The discussion centers around whether to protest to the Board of Supervisors or to the County Charities Superintendent. Men have been given work orders out of their territory to dis courage their taking sucn aid. The discussion finally ter minates in holding the petition until the following week, when it will be possible to interview the new head of the Charities. The Conference, after much more argument, arranges to meet tn1s head the first part of the week. One delegate tells the conference that he is ready to close up, that two thirds of his men have jobs, and, consequently, that he thinks there is getting to be less need for the units. "We ought to 95 do everything we can to register the big ideas just the same," he admonished. "I move we use the story of the action of the County Welfare for publicity, anyway," states a delegate. The matter will be published. The delegates spend endless time in delineating private conversations. One intelligent delegate speaks to the con ference urging them to get some goal to aim at and not drift. "Gentlemen, I urge you to stand for the speedy change of the present capitalistic economic system," he urges. There is no response to his talk. There is some attempt at mutual understanding. One member tells how another "does things that I do not approve of, and I do things he doesn't approve of, but we can sit down and talk things over. 11 The delegates are willing to under stand e· achotl1er. A local social science instructor is called upon for a speech, and he addresses the conference extempo raneously on the need for adequate registration of the unit members and tne need for concerted effort to organize the different units. A delegate speaks of the absurdity of t he government's experimenting with the units to determine if it is less costly, "as if it wasn't obvious!" Stories of tne dem oralization of the unit members by County Welfare workers is given. The delegate has a · neighbor 96 "two doors from me who says, 'Why in the h--- should I take work orders to go to work, when the cowity pays my rent, gas, lights, and food. I am never going to work another day in my lit·e. '" The delegates agree that this is "awfuln. 'r-ne matter of restoring to men the "same feeling of self-respect they had before they lost their job or were picked up by the County Welfare 0 is discussed at length by the conference. The delegates feel that it is more difficult to bring this morale back than it was to save it. Another member feels the unit should be something more than relief, and he says, 11 We must have some object, not merely the objective of filling the stomaohe (he pats it). We must have som ething to fill the mind and morale of people. People need something to live for, not merely something to live on." Tne President allows the Secretary to go out to write up the minutes. He appoints an organizing committee to attend to organizing all the units in the ·County under the Area Plan. Everyone breaks up and leaves after accomplishing nothing of importance for the units. Everything on which action was taken was postponed to the following Monday. The remainder was just a mutual talking society, each having his own ideas. Each unit gets along by itself economically for the most part, so there is nothing for the County Conference to do. There is nothing like the "spirit of the meeting" which guides them in their efforts. 97 The delegates become more and more perturbed and begin io soeak on many things they have withheld. A sense of des peration seems to be fastened to everyone. The meeting ad journs after five hours of such effort. Everyone is seeking for he knows not what, no one is satisfied with the present, few can envisage the future--auoh is the temper of the moment. A great calm of darkness seems to shroud their hopes. The future will tell the end of their wander ing. County Council Meeting The County Councill meeting presents an interesting spectacle. People of all races, descriptions, and ages, have assembled for the meeting. The Executive officers (See Constitution for plan of operation) sit in the front of the room before a large table. The delegates are scattered in lThe County Council is the "old" county meeting. It became unwieldy and purposeless. Delegates of Unit No. 1, who formerly sponsored the movement (Cf. minutes of June 15, 1932, p. 5 of a combined local meeting and a district or County meeting), withdrew, protested against the leadership of the council, and forme d , through the assistance and active support of the County Food Administration Office, the Area Plan of Organization. The Appendix contains full information on this plan, whio4 briefly, is merely a sub-division of units into convenient hauling groups by 11 traffic agents•• of the County Food Administration who are unknown but who incidently gerrymandered the districts so that the County units out voted the city units and could give control to the County Food Administration, and an allocation of gasoline and con signments of surpluses to areas rather than to the County Council. Two delegates from each unit attend the Area Meeting; two delegates from each area att end the Area Plan County Conference meeting previously described. 98 the back of the room. The meeting is called to order by the President, who represents himself as belonging to Unit No. l (Compton), although he has no official credentials (he merely served as contactor for the unit till his election as President of the County Council), nor has he reported back to the unit with information for several months. The President has been appointed to n1nvestigate the County Council" and has become President, deciding that the unit was just trying to "snoop into other people's business." There is no attempt on the part of the Executive officers to ascertain if the members claiming to be representatives of the different units were actually bona _ fide members or not. They bring no reports from their organizations; they are not managers, nor do they carry any report back to the units, with the exception of what they can remember. It doesn't matter, because no business of the units is conducted affecting the welfare of the members. People who have never had the opportunity to represent anything in their lives are now the official repre sentatives of the unemployed. The p~sition is more to be desired than the opportunity of service in making the units better. The Secretary reads the minutes of the previous meet ing. The delegates to the State Convention from the County Council report on a oommunication from the State Convention 99 officials regarding the reasons for the split in the ranks of the unemployed. The following is a copy of this letterl or communication and gives a good picture of the State Convention: UNE:MPLOYED CO-OPERATIVE RELIEF COUNCIL OF CALIFORNIA July 14, 1933. From EXECUTIVE BOARD, U. C. R. A. of California. To ALL UNITS AFFILIATED WITH U. C. R. A. OF CALIFORNIA, AND TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: Regarding the convention held in San Francisco on the 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th days of July, -- the fourth day being added because of lack of time to accomplish any business,--the delegates arrived on the first day from several counties in the state, but when the Credentials' Committee reported on their findings, it was found that only eighteen units in the state had qualified for seats in the convention. This qualifi cation was judged upon rulings adopted by the previous convention, namely, that in order to qualify for seats in the convention, units must send to the secretary of U. C. R. A. of California monthly reports of activities. Discussion on this point consumed considerable time, and in order to be fair to the body, the officers of the executive board and the seated delegates became out of order and commenced to seat delegates who had presented credentials and a one month's report, taken from a re port in possession of the first vice-chairman, and another member of the committee on R. F. C. budget for Los Angeles County. Hour after hour, yes, day after day, the time went by without accomplishment other than discussion on minute technicalities regarding seating of delegates-- 11 jockey ing for power", as it was termed by one disgusted delegate. 1 Letter from Executive Board, U. C. R. A. of California, July 14, 1933. 100 It soon became evident that a certain faction, or so called 11 machine" was present, and that it had but one objective, and that was to elect state executive officers. The chairman, backed by the members of the executive board, tried for three days to follow the regularly out lined order of business, but because of this political 11 machine" which was constantly at work from the floor as well as among delegates privately, it was impossible to make progress. There were constant secret sessions both outside the convention hall and in the aisles of the hall i tself, and so much disturbance was thus created that it became necessary for the chair to appoint sergeants-at-arms to keep t . he aisles clear and subdue the distracting noise. Continually the "whisper ing campaign" went on, namely, "If you Rat me on the back, I will 2at you on the back." The convention was carried into an extra session on the fourth day, and it became very evident to all fair minded delegates that this. ma.chine was not in the con vention to create any constructive .policy for the future, but to create a one~man political policy, even to the extent of humiliating voting delegates, offering them rewards for their votes, and so forth. Three nominees were named for state chairman and one ballot was taken. What had been evident during these three and a half days became an actuality at that time. A "dark horse" was being run -- a man unknown in all parts of the state except where he had worked, and very little known among delegates from his vicinity. He, himself, admitted that he would not have time to carry on the work of the sta.te organization, and t hose of us who have seen him at work know that his nomination was the greatest farce ever perpetrated on the U. C. R. A. Setting such a man in off ice to represent 300,000 or more citizens of the State of California was very plainly tragic. Many of the ballots were cast by the irregularly seated delegates. The officers tried to be fair. They considered all the delegates who represented large numbers of unemployed, needy people and who themselves had come many miles to see constructive work done toward feeding, clothing, and housing the unemployed in the state. However, on this result it became an absolutely established fact that a group of delegates had come to the convention as a 11 machine 11 seeking power, and that this man had been elected as a "figurehead" for the machine. 101 The Credentials' Committee -- who had previously been re-appointed by the chair to investigate certain flagrant irregular1t1es--had been in session meanwhile. At this point -- after a recess for lunch -- they brought in a report which was in substance: "We, the Credentials' Committee, having examined the credentials of all Delegates at the Convention of the U. C. R. A. of California held in San Francisco, July 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th, find that the cre dentials of a large majority of delegates present are irregular and unconstitutional and illegal. Therefore, we recommend that this convention be declared illegal and suggest adjournment until such a time as properly elected delegates with legal credentials can participate." Signed -- Members of Committee -- The chair then ruled on this report, declaring the election illegal. At the moment of his ruling and before anything else could be accomplished, a body ~f delegates, many of whom were the irregularly seated ones, arose and walked out of the convention. After some informal reports from members of the Executive Board and discussion on the part of the re maining delegates, the chair adjourned the convention as a recessed convention, to be continued by the Executive Board whenever a place can be procured and proper notification sent to all the units throughout the state, so that a quorum of properly seated delegates may be present. The reason for the discrepancy in credentials was that many of the units had not complied with the con stitutional amendment made at the April convention, namely that each unit must send in monthly reports to the State Secretary. Also, it was pointed out that many units had failed in their promise to share the burden of expense of the state organization. If your unit has not complied with this constitutional require- 102 ment in the past, please do so at once by sending a monthly report of activities as w~ll as $1.00 monthly to the Secretary of the U. C. R. A. of California. By so doing you will be eligible to seat delegates at the next session of this recessed convention, and we un employed will be able to prove to tne government officials that we are a systematically operating institution and therefore entitled to a share in the R. F. C. funds for unemployment relief. Frances Kroese Secretary P.S. The name and address of the Acting Secre tary of the u. o~ R. A. is Mrs. Frances Kroese, 1455 Webster St., Alameda, Calif. Yours for continuous co-operation, E. J. Kruger Ohairman C. M . Christoffersen First Vice-Chairman · R. H. Buck Second Vice-Chairman _ R. C. Hanley . Third Vioe-Ohairman After the delegate has finished, the f ormer secretary of the U. O.R.A. County Council, discharged by the council for having obtained work, who feels she should remain as secretary (for reasons of her own), gets up on one of the tables in the rear of t he room and shouts at the top of her voice, "In justice? 11 When a m otion is attempted by a delegate (while she is still shouting) to accept the report of the State Con- vention officers, she increases her voice control and then shouts, 11 Po1nt of order, Mr. Chairman, point of order!" She wants to be recognized to have the floor, but the chairman denies her t he floor, because she is no longer a delegate or a member of t he U.C.R.A. The chairman instructs her to sit 103 down. She retorts, "I won't sit down, and I will stay here as long as I want to and speak as long as I want to, and no five men of you can tnrow me out, either!" They refuse to recognize her, and so she continues shouting, "Point of order, point of order!" in a very shrill voice which can be heard for blocks. Then she taunts hex objectors, 11 Come and get me, you cowards, come and get me!,. She holds the floor in this fashion from fifteen to twenty minutes. Finally she tires of the matter, after the delegates merely sit quietly and allow her to tire herself out. Then she climbs down from the table and leaves .the room by the back door. The business then proceeds on the matter of accepting or rejecting the State Convention communication. One of the State Executive members wno had taken a group of delegates from the local units north to the State Council, a former member of Unit No. 1, proceeds to tell the members present the reason for the schism in the northern meeting, where neither the newly elected president nor himself, elected by another group, were victorious. After several opposition speakers finish their remarks which make the local meeting much like the state meeting in its unfairness, a motion is made and seconded "to reject the report of the Governing Board of State Officials." Now the meeting becomes a bedlam of arguments pro and con. Invectives, slander, rumour, threats, and aoousations 104 are voluminous. Some of the disgruntled delegates do not want to support the State comm ittee, others do. The Chairman can not hold the meeting in order and keeps pounding with a huge gavel for order. Four or five individuals stand up with hands in the air demanding to be recognized. Discussion is long and lengthy, and no one gives relevant information to be considered on the question. Each misrepresents his case until the matter becomes a tissue of lies and ignorance. Each group is striving for "power of some sort" not knowing wnat is to be done with it. No one is seriously concerned witn con vincing anyone. No one seeks to understand the other. After lengthy talks and accusations by a number of members, a vote is called for; someone moves the previous question. More debate is in order. Two men jump to their feet with Robert's Rules of Order books in their hands derranding that no debate be allowed. They do not agree on the passages in the Rules. Each contestant protest the interpretation of the other. None knows enough about rules to decide. The cnair lets them talk. Each makes remarks on his argument on the question while try ing to be a parlimentarian. Other individuals arise to speak. Then the Chairman, much like a referee involved in tne fisti cuffs himself, calls for order and puts the question to the house for a vote. "Which question" came back the inquiry from a dozen t hroats. "The question we're voting on," replies 105 the Chairman. 0 you know which question I mean.n More dis cussion is held as to what tne question is and argument on the question in addition. "Read the question," pleads a delegate. Then the original question is read to them in full. '!'hen the parlimentarian complains ttiey must vote on The Pre vious Question first in order to stop debate. The Chairman accepts the point, the other parlimentarian not disagreeing this time. The Chair puts the question of voting on fhe Previous Question to the house, but he has just read the original question and many, if not most, members think that he is referring to the first motion. The Robert's Rules of Order are again flourished when a member tries to talk to the question. Finally, the motion on The Previous Question is put. The roll call list is produced, and the Unit numbers are called in rotation. Acclamation is used for the delegates and absent delegates are voted for by alternate members of other units. They vote, and the motion on the Previous Question is passed, calling for the original motion to be put before the house. Many of the delegates protest that they have already voted on the question. More inf orma.tion is asked. Finally the motion is put, and then the delegates must in some cases reverse their original vote. The motion was stated in the negative in the beginning, then the pre vious question was introduced, then the original motion. A delegate wanting to accept the state convention report will 106 have to vote "no" on the original motion and "yes" on the Previous Question, the other individual will have to vote 11 yes 0 and"yes", although some want to continue speaking. This takes two hours. Most of them don't know what to vote on, and a considerable number vote, "I don't know." Many get up and bitterly complain that they don't know what they are voting on when called upon for a "yes" or a nnQ 11 Many are disillusioned when the chair informs tnem that the motion is lost. What will they do; accept the report? More debate is in order. The Chairman, a huge burly fellow, keeps pound ing for order, not knowing what to do or when to allow people to speak. He reminds one of a policeman directing traffic. They keep debating and asking for information, claiming rules of order and reading them. Everyone wants to speak and be recognized, and no one ~nows what he wants to say or why he wants to say it. Each shout s for the floor, many calling "Point of order, point of order! 11 Finally the matter is dropped and the Chairman calls for new business, overruling anyone who speaks on the previous question. A letter is read by a member commending herself for work for the U.O.R.A. and thanking herself for the work. Why the council should hear this no one knows. It is accepted and filed. Next, Unit No. l {Compton) has the secretary read a very pointed letter complaining that the council is doing 107 nothing and that the President of the County Council is not their representative as he claims to be. They ask that he be deleted from membership and the unit be allowed to with draw. "Any fool can tell when a man is misrepresenting him self as being a member when he isn't," continues the com munication. The whole body quickly reacts in favor of the Chairman. Everybody looks upon Unit No. l, which the Cnair man up to now has claimed to represent and whose vote he had cast, as a common enemy. Something is needed to solidify them into co-operation. Everybody wispers that this is wrong. The vice-cnairman says, "They can't withdraw if they wanted to. This is sent only by the manager, not by the members." The members of Unit No. 38 then off er the President a place in their unit, · at if Unit No. 1 doesn't want a good man, 11 and, by acclamation without opposition, he is voted into the other unit. The request for withdrawal is tabled for further in vestigation. Next is extended to the group a long report, which is represented as 'verbatim' but is actually distorted and transliterated, of a World Peace Meeting. Political remarks are in order on the Food Administration and the Director of Expansion giv~ a talk on the limitation of armaments. A young man get~ up and reads an invitation to a Communist gathering to secure the recognition of Soviet Russia. Handbills are circulated by unkept and unshaven individuals 108 calling for a mass meeting for the workers. Another young man invites the delegates to a Commwiist Anti-war gathering. The members by this time have grown indifferent and are wait ing for the end. Next there is a report of a joint meeting with script organizations and with individuals interested in County Co operation. One young lady, anxious to assist the unemployed, joining the movement to 11 write 1. t up,n and remaining to work for it, bitterly complains about 11 t hose enemies who have deserted the movement and are seeking its downfall. 11 She repeats her say and innuendo against men who have "sold them selves out for the County Welfare and the Food Administration." Another individual at the meeting, who is a representative of o~e unit and also president of one of tne script organizations, speaks in favor of the meeting and corrects some of the erroneous statements. He speaks as a trained and polished speaker and public executive. No sooner has he seated him self, than two individuals proceed to attack the script move ment, which holds no relationship to this joint meeting for County Aid. For a half hour the Chairman can not stop the talk about script, although it is of no concern of the council at this time. Anyone who bas ideas to express, expresses them. Debate is flagging by this time. The County Council committee, seeking County aid, is called upon and a State 109 committeeman to speak. There is a debate. Tnen the Onairman states t hat the off icers will have to present the report of securing aid if the State off icer has to introduce it. He says, "I didn't think we would introduce such matters here, because we had gone ahead and done so much we just thought you would approve of it. 11 The members protest that they want to know what "is going on behind the scenes." One executive member after another gets up and tells how he has Hfailed to do very much. 0 This closes the matter. The delegates now make requests of the Chairman. One man wants a laborer to haul brick to pay the County Council exoenses. Not one worker can be secured from all these units .a. (approximately twenty-five answering roll call.) Another man wants an experienced peach packer. Tne delegates again sit quietly, not knowing the whereabouts in their organization of any type of labor. This indicates very clearly that the delegates · are delegates in name only, failing to do anything on the council. Another member asks why the prescri otions at the drug stores have been stopped. No one knows why nor how they can be obtained. The Chair~an meekly turns to tne man an <i says, "Get your handiest druggist to give it to you, can't you?" He further states t hat he will 0 handle the matter.n Not one item of business affecting the welfare of the 110 units has been discussed in the three and one-half hour period. Not one effective policy is attempted or suggested. The meet ing breaks up into small groups, discussing and agreeing with each other as to certain ideas. No one carries reports away, for no business has been conducted. The secretary makes rough notes of every procedure for "it doesn't matter anyway," the former secretary having "run off with all of the County Council records," and "they don't need to save them anyway ... The President and vice-chairman are going on social calls to the unit meetings in the evening and must rush off, but not without stopping to remark to one another as follows: "Well, we fooled that Unit No. 1 bunch. They are a lot of crooks anyway. I didn't answer roll call when they came in, for I knew they were going to frame me. I was just waiting for them to say something on the floor. I know we would have had a big scrap, and I wouldn't have come out on the bottom. Why, they can't lick me, no two of them. They tried· to .put me in as snooper on the County Council, but I wouldn't be bought. That is how I came to be their delegate; . I was to snoop and tell them about it. Well, wneri I got the job of President, I didn 1 ·t play 1 that ga~e .. I . am ·going to fia;ht them to the last ditch· ." Tnus the meeting ends. 1 . Remarks of the Chairman of the County Council. 111 CHAPTER VI MOTIVES OF CO-OPERATIVE MEMBERS A study of representative types of individuals in the co-operative throws some light on the reasons for the organi- zation. The contribution of these men to the institution gives the significant social psychology involved in the move ment . Their values and attitudes are all differently organized. The unit is a contributor to all other groups and hence a study of these members will give a good cross-section of the relief co-operative. First in importance are the leaders (or prophets -- the idealists, ·the adventurers, the missionaries, and the politi cal opportunists). Then follow the managing directors, the managers, and the dictators, planners, organizers, record keepers, and office personnel. Next in line are the capable bosses, foremen, and department heads. Then the various women who have been members. Following these are the older laborers and the young men. Then the loyal and devoted workers, some idealistic, some disillusioned, some self-seeking, some indo lent, some wanting something to do and keep busy, and last the labor organizers. Finally we nru.st show the values and atti tudes people receive in such an organization. Leaders. Among the prophets there are a number of dif ferent types. The "idealist" is the man who has plans, ideas, 112 and schemes and seeks to effect novelty , changes , and innova tions . He works for the organization in the capacity of archi tect . He feels the thrill of new ideas, of new power in se curing fulfillment of frustrated ambitions , has ideas of gran- deur and delusions of importance for his inventions . The "ad venturern is the man who is interested in "getting things done" that seem impossible, meeting new people , and making the im possible possible . The thiissionary" is interested in spreading the movement abroad and in convincing everyone of i~s worth whileness . He is interested in making it a. widespread move- ment and receives much satisfaction in interviews with digni- taries , profes sors , officials , professional people , and busi ness exe cutives . He is always called upon to "explain the movement" and its "basic principles ~ " The "politician" is interested in the control of the masses o~ men and in the attainment of power and of political position or leadership through the movement . He feels the power the hungry wo r ker s could be , ir properly ·controlled . As an illustration of the s e various types , the following interviews give perhaps a b etter picture of the motives of men than a general descript i on . There are several.good cases of the "idealistic" type : "I joined the movement , because I wanted to see people fed . That was my only purpose in joining it to fill the stomaches of these hungry people and es pecially the children . I knew that something must be done for these people . I have always wanted to help people . I wasn ' t out of work , although busines s was 113 poor for me . But I have given my time to creating an organization in which men could save their self~respect and yet live . _ That's why I have always tried to get the government to help us with funds . People need to be helped . I wanted to save people from starvation and from charity. You know when a man takes charity, he loses his self- respect . That's why I always wanted to help them help themselves . I wanted to give them a chance . I saw that we should get national recognition, if we would plan far enough ahead . That is why I or ganized these other units and the State Convention. I knew the government would sooner or later come to our aid , like ·it is going to if we get enough pressure on them. We are going ahead in th~ future, too . This movement is the greatest thing ever. happened to America . We are going to do more than feed people in the future . We are going to build portable houses on the land so people won ' t lose their property , and we are going to return to the land like President Roosevelt is talking about . These houses , a type like the auto camps , for temporary emergency use , can be owned by County, State , or by the Government . They can be put on any land pro ject owned by the government or anything else . We are going to use the idle man- power ta.king care of the housing problem along the lines of President Roosevelt ' s Recovery Program, like putting these single men out in the camps . Why not do that for .the families? It has got to start somehow, just like · we started these other ideas . We could build these houses right in here on our ten acres . There is plenty of vacant land for planting and for raising stuff to feed pwople . They can be brought back into the factories in the future . Every thing we would .create could be owned by the government . We could get land dpnated or lease it . People would be mighty glad to have a roof over their heads that they couldn ' t be kicked out of . Families could l i ve in colonies . We would put all the business in the unit . We could dehydrate our fruits and vegetables and p r e serve them for the future in our own stores . These .units have got to have County , State , and National re cognition. We could keep from going competitive anyway . We would just help the ones who are unemployed through no fault of their own . If we went competitive with existing business , it would flpp entirely. Ir we went competitive , we would put business out of business . We have not a foundation to take care of all the people we would put out of commission, so we can ' t do i t r ight now. We will not go competitive further than doing 114 things to protect ourselves . We should prepar~ to go co_ mpetitive in any line of business , however , for we never know what might happen. This will be putting a new form of government in material form and co operating with President Roosevelt . That ' s the thing we want to do , to co- operate with him. The reason why we can ' t get support from officials ~or this is because they are af:baid of losing their "pie wagons . " We don ' t want to go political , anc yet we are the moat political force in the community today. That ' s the secret of it . You don ' t know what this movement will do for us . "l These tendencies or imagining possible schemes, plans, and methods , few of which can be carried into operation by the followers , is an example of the fraritic idealism and leader ship the movement must tolerate . The "flight from reality" is a characteristic of these leaders . They forget the welfare of thei~ members , their family , or their own health to do something "f'or the unemployed . " They neglect understanding the problems immediately before them and seek to escape to a world of fantasy where the Utopia is being reali'zed . Another individual who worked in the unit for some months at the -beginning better typifies the "idealist" i n the pure type . When a simple plan of distribution of labor crune up as a problem, he immediately formed , on the basis of "prin ciples , u a complete system of organizational function fo r the unit . Most of the schemes could never be put into any prac- 1 rnterview with well- known exponent of movement , known as one of its founders . (Manager of Unit No . 1 . ) 115 tical effect, and the aggressiveness of such an individual prevented more level- headed men from thwarting his plans . These types have to be tolerated like any type of visionary . He soon left the local unit for "bigger th1ngs 0 and became the Director of Expansion, a very apt self-characterization. Here he has undertaken all the various National, State, and County organization "paper work" of the m<Jl ement . He is possessed of a legal training but has allowed many of his ideas to become compensations for his own past failures . v\lhile these men seem superfluous to the movement , yet it is to these men that the movement persistently turns for its plans of future operation when their life seems threatened , rather than to practical managers . Everyone in the movement seeks to escape from the drab worl~ of bare existence to a Utopia in which their feeble efforts are a part of a larger plan. As Christianity enabled man ' s little task with infinite significance in the sight of God , these members at menial tasks seek the expulsive power of a Utopian dream to hide from themselves the vicessitudes of the present chaos . The elaborate plans for the fu'bure which the "idealists" possess stimulate the movement . The unit , for the "idealist , " be comes a tangible compensation for the world of unreality he has faced . As it takes some sensory process to stimulate an hallucination, so does it take some concrete social reform 116 to simulate a Utopia for these men. These men become as in toxicated by the movement and its possibilities as they do on other substances . Faith as the "substance of things hoped for , the assurance of things not seen" is a dynamic in the brains of these men. When this faith is lost the movement turns out to be the ennervating one of discouragement and despair , loss of hope , and a fear of the future . This might be called the religion of the movement . The Marxians might truly call it the opiate . It alone deadens the condition of the men. It is this faith , which, when ravaged by false promises , leads to disgruntled followers . The new members keep the organization in its "idealistic" enthusiasm, the old members have become immured to stoicism, to conditions as they are , while remaining faithful to the perfor~ance of their tasks . 'Nhile the strain of the "idealist" is present in all, yet the lack of native stoicism makes members become cynics and give the movement up in despair . The n adventurer" type is illustrated by ingenious plans , similar to the inventions of the demented, for bringing the unit into possession of more resources . A discussion of the movement with one of these men revealed an inte r esting side light into the possibilities the unit has sor the frust r ated ambitions and repressed "will- to- power 11 drives of certain disillusioned individuals . One individual of this type , whose 117 previous background gives a picture of maladjustment, is an example : "I have been looking everywhere for somf;thlng ori ginal like this movement . Ever since I was a kid , I was always doing something new. When I was a youngster, I went to India with an uncle in the Diplomatic Corps, I came home and joined the Navy , in order to "see the world . " I served in everything from seaman, mechanic , machinest, radio operator, Ensign in the Naval Air Force, investi~etor in the Naval Intell igence Bureau. to taking Captain 1 s chevrons (to make an investigation. ) I have seen the whole thing inside out . I left the Navy and worked as an assistant to my uncle , a geneco logist , at a clinic near Columbia University . Then I became a telegraph inspector for the railroads , then secretary to the president of a large oil company , and finally I became campaign manager for this same man who was running for United States Senator . This work secured me the headship of the State Police . I lo st this in the next campaign and crune West and worked at various trades I know . I would get tired of everything after a time , and , while I had recently gotten marr ied, and started to settle down, yet I always thought there was something yet I would like to do . I always felt the infustice of the present system, for I could always get ahead of someone else without deserving it . I joined the movement , because I thought I could get a system of justice for people . It looked like everyone was getting his share at last . I think we should educate people to this new society. The movement is only started . The trouble with this world, anyway , is that selfishnes s is the basis of it all . The unit offered me the pos sibility of achieving some of my ambitions for do i ng what I always wanted to do . I knew what politic s was , but I never knew what being a leader ~fmen was. I be came Secretary of the County Council , the President , arrl. I got tired of that after I tried to plan everything for them. I have worked with the State senators, the Governor , the Board of Supervisors , and all the officials . I got tired of it all and took a job later. The County Council accused me or theft , but I cleared myself of the charges and just walked out and want to San Francisco to work for the State Council . The job I got I got by daring one of the officials to let me see the confiden tial records of the. County Welfare . He got me a job as watchman, and I watched . Then I went out in the r elief 118 stations and worked out budgets , made out "work orders" for the people , investigated cases , and all that sort of thing. I investigated what they were doing and soon found out how political that whole gang is . I lost my j ob at that because I took too nnich interest in my cases . Now I am back in the unit . I think what we ought to do is to try some mew plans for organizing the unemployed. That is w)ly I run interested in these new setups and trying to put the County Council out of business . I am now the investigaoor-at- large for the new Area plans . I have a badge and all the priveleges of an ofricer . My file contains enough against some or those County Council boys to hang some good charges on them that will set the whole bunch on the frying pan . It is interesting the developments that are going to take place . I used to have a lot of plans when I was president of the County Council . I had plans all made for transporting the goat meat rrom Catalina to the mainland . We have everfthing arranged ; boats , refrige rators , and equipment . I tried to get the State Depart ment to give us their trucks . For some reason they wouldn ' t do it . Then I tried to get the State Health Officer to declare a quarantine for tuberculosis , be cause people were underfed and thus obtain the use of the State trucks now idle . We couldn't get it done , and I got tired of trying to get things done and being turned down. I can do things like that . I a s always wanting to do something different; that is what appeals to me in this movement . You never know what is going to happen the next day . It allows your ambitions a chance to realize themselves . Here are the Minute Men visiting us . There is Hell going to pop with this move ment . That is what I liked about organizing the state , we were always running into something to overcome ; new problems , and new plans always ahead . Then too , you meet all kinds of people . I was "taken for a ride" one night by some of the Communists I claimed were being paid by their party. They laid for me and picked me up at the point of their guns , but I managed to 0 kid" them into thinking I had arranged with the D. A. (Dis trict Attorney) to have an investigation made ofthe reports I had left in his safe if I failed to turn up~ I said that I had made the complete record of their ac tivities in that report , so it wouldn ' t do them any good to put me "out of the way. " They saw the point , and I got home . The County Welfare workers also lai d for me one day, and I crune near being "rubbed out . u They fired at me but missed me . I think there is a 119 lot of fun in the work . "l This type of individual evidently, as might be sug gested, craves new experience . His basic drive is in con trast to the other drives for response , security , or recog nition . This is an aberrational type we must recognize in the movement . As one member has said of him, "He is always trying to do something no one else can do . " He is practical in the sens e of devising ingenious schemes for accomplishing his purpose , but loses interest when they are about to be con summated . There are a great many of this type in the movement who are the temporary leaders o.f different groups . They . "do not · last" or become permanent managers of the units~ The "mis s i onary" or "evangelistic" type of leader has settled already in his mind what the movement is and 11 how good it is" for all people and communities . He seeks only to in- doctrinate others with his plans . He is opposed to the vision ary or t _ he prophet -- he is the priest . There are a number of these types in the local unit , and they still operate in various capacities . One of the most sober is an individual w ho was successful in always "writing the constitutionu fo r the new councils . He wrote all the constitutions . He has accomplished the organization of the various larger organi zations . He is known as a ready speaker and debater, but he lrnterview with member of local unit, now "Chief In vestigator" of the Area plan. 120 is always trying to make the organization stable by rules . His wife gives a good description of him, better than any thing he might say of himself: "He_ is so fair and above board . He is always wanting to treat everybody so s quare . He is always honest with the members . So many have said to me , ' We are not behind , but we are behind the prin- ciples he stands for , and , incidentally, we love the man.' That's what they all think of him. He has gone everywhere trying to tell people what the move ment means to them. Of course we have had a hard time to keep going while he has been away, but I like to sacrifice for something big like starids for . Sometimes we have not had enough to eat . The ~nit gave us such poor stuff, and unless you knew ~ow to get it , you were left out . They didn ' t like it when ~--- didn ' t work for his food . They didn ' t appre- ciate his efforts in the Council . He used to be the President of the Young Men ' s Mutual Protective As sociation where we crone from . He always was the head of everything he went into . He always rose to the top . You couldn ' t k_ eep him down . He then worked in one of the Co -operative stores, run like the Roche dale Plan. Then he was t~ president and organizer for the union. He always was an American though, he never went in for any of this Comnn1nistic stuff. He would say , 'We are Americana, American citizens , and I for one do not worry what is to become of America.' He was always a patriot . If he is going to work out these other plans , he can't be worried at home . If you can ' t suffer with your husband and help him, it is no use doing anything. He used to make good money , but we spent it . He is sometimes up on the peak of things , then he is down in the dumps , but he always has a smile . He usually comes home discouraged after he works so hard· on something. We always know he will b e home when we know he is doing something big. He al ways says when we complain, 'If you don ' t understand me, Mom (he always calls me Mom) , how can I hope to have the world understand me? ' He has such a wonder ful philosophy of life . We have eight children t oo. He don ' t think of this life ; he thinks . of the univer se . I sometimes think I should like to get that philosophy, but I can't get it very easily . Knowledge is the greatest joy . I wish I had gone to school more than I did , maybe I could be a greater help to • Yet I wanted children and motherhood . To be a mother is the greatest thing a woman can· do . I 121 was satisfied . I have never deliberately hurt any body . I have never put the world on fire . I wouldn ' t want it different . I would rather have 'a clear conscience and a crust of bread than live in the lap of luxury and have a bad con science ' as someone says . My boys like their dad too . , the eldest, now 19, has a philosophy like his father . Sometimes they sit down and talk of the mmon, the stars, the universe , and all those big subjects . likes to spread this movement and get everybody interested in the unemployed . That's why he is all the time trying to or~anize and make things uniform, -so people can see it . 1 He says of' his own work and purpose (his wife is on County Charity , ·incidentally , while he is away worki ng for the self- help groups) : "I am only interested in getting the unemployed to co- operate , to get everybody in the United States to co- operate for the good o~ all . We need to realize what co- operation is and to realize that the rules m d by- laws are the most important thing, just like law in getting people together . I try to get the people to see the need for co- operation with each other, and to get the people who have things to see the unem- · ployed . I have always stood for the principles o~ our movement that we formulated in the beginning . "2 This type of individual runs away from responsibility , but as most or the members of the unit are interested in obtaining the nece ssities of life , they allow the visionary to do as h e pleases . The local unit was not only "playing Santa Clau s " lrnterview with the wife of one of the "leaders" of the unemployed who is the missionary type . 2Interv1ew with leader of the m~ssionary type . 122 to all the surrounding communities , it was also prolifically breeding the prophets . Almost every important State or County leader in any of the councils until now (September , 1933) was at one time in the Compton unit . One of the more sober mem bers , who toured the state in theinterests or the movement , was more efficient in transplanting the ideoloty and plans of the movement to other communities . "I joined the unit in ord.er to eat . We were with out food, and I refused to accept charity. I guess I couldn ' t if I had wanted to , because I owned some pro perty I hadn't yet transferred to my first wife for the kids . I couldn ' t beg for food , though. That is what inpresses me about this movement and the good it can do for the laboring man . I think other communities need a plan such as ours . I have gone to these other communities , and I find that this idea is the best ever adopted for relief and for obtaining the means of sub sistence. I am interested in seeing this plan spread just as far as possible , and, if we could do that , we would be able to maintain ourselves independent or all other sources . Everybody thinks the plan an excellent one, and I am always accepted by the responsible people in the communities . We just go over the situation, and it is clear to everyone how feasible the plan is and how simple it works . You just have to explain things to people and then help them to work it out . Sooner or later we will have the movement spread over a larger group of people and will be able to make more exchanges and become more and more independent . Yet it always will be a relief system, I guess . "l There are several of these individuals in the local unit . In the early days , organizing parties were made to . various groups of unemployed . The local unit would send five 1 . Interview with one of the best organizers of well- planned units. 123 or six men out to speak . One would be an ideal~st, another an organizer, another gave the results of his experience in management , another would provide the set of plans, by-laws, constitution, and still another would promise assistance which was given the following day when men came with their trucks and worked in the fields and saw nhow things were done. 11 It is interesting that the most non-co-operative individual in the movement, who sought to oppose everyth±hg but his own ideas, spoke always on the announced subject of "Co-operation; " and the man who has a felony warrant over him for disposing of donated oranges, spoke on "Stealing" and urged the members never to sell anything he got for them. These "four horsemen, 11 as they were called, were a curious lot . They helped each other out at all times. When one of their members was accused of selling oranges (and being guilty of other more serious charges of embezzelment of funds ofthe Association in connec tion with wrestling matches he promoted) , their attitude was that of assisting the' culprit secretly and openly prosecuting him to the limit . He was first discovered, through selling some frostbitten oranges, donated by the orange house . The I State Fruit inspectors made the investigation on a peddler for selling frozen o~anges . The oranges ~ere traced to the 1. ndividual in question. When his friends in the movement found out about it, and he frantically crune to them for advice, 124 one of them told him to "beat it as quickly as possible and get out of the State." The others condoned the practice be cause he had "handed out a lot of money" to the needy in the unit. As one of them said: "I don't blame him so much .for I know what he did with the money. He used it to pay our bills and take care of the members with the money. Somehow I don't see it was so bad. I have a kindly feeling towards him." The leader of the movement took the man ostensibly to the police and never returned with him, the man disappearing after that time. Nothing was ever done· , the man has since appeared, and no one seeks to make him an example. The matter is closed and forgotten. In the leaders there is lastly the political opportunist. He is typified in the local unit by one ·of the most able and efficient, as well as scheming, leaders. "I have been he.ad of the credit department of the largest oil company in the Southern states and carried over thousands of dollars on my books, so I know what a system like this can become. I lost out and retired for a time, but I lost my property gradually and, due to my wife's sickness, I haven't much left, but I think I can get ahead again. I joined the movement because I thought I could prepare muself for the positions that are coming. This movement is going to be the biggest thing you ever saw in the United States. The govern ment is going to have to step in some day, and I think we might as well P.repare for it . There are going to be big jobs in this setup for a new deal, and I want to be on hand when things begin to boom. Most of these people don't know what it's all about, but we aren't through this yet, by a long shot. I can see what is going on, and I know from my knowledge of economics that nothing is going to come out of the present attempts at relief either charity, business, or farming . What I want to know is why these grafting politicians think they are going to be safe all the time. W hy, we have a setup here that's got them beat a mile . Some of these days you are going to see something out of these units. W e're making the ~ig boys sit up and take notice riwht now, but they haven't seen the end of us yet •• l 125 Another type of leader the unit in Compton was prevented from developing, due to the preponderence of idealists, will be described in connection with the organizers. There are, in addition to the ''idealists," the ration alizers of t e movement, those who stand by and confirm others in their opinions and seek to encourage new tendencies. These, of course, are always behind the picture, but they possess enough intellectual equipment ot be serviceable to the leaders and give support to their flagging enthusiasm. The unit has provided opportunity for leadership for men who could not achieve it elsewhere, except perhaps in a labor union. These men should have chosen between an efficient relief system and a political one a long time ago. They ar~ neither politicians not relif workers, but both . As long as relief is functioning at all, they are pol .iticians~ when it begins to flag, they are relief workers . Organizers . The managing directors of the organization are practical, level-headed men who know how to control men. Many of these individuals have been sidetracked from time to linterview with secretary of Area plans . 126 time in the Compton unit , because they crune to possess too great a power with the rank and file and were demoted or shunted into other lines . One of the convenient ways op position in managership has been eliminated in the local u unit from the very first has been to put the potential leaders and effective managers "out of the way" after a time . "Use them till they become powerful and then dispose of them 0 , is the motto . These men often left the movement entirely. A typical worKer of this type illustrates the frus tration of his leadership: "I have held a number of important positions, be fore I joined the unit . I ran a chain of restaurants . I have served as marshall in one of the local Southern California oities . I have had experience in the Depart ment of Justice as an investigator . But my business got worse and so I dropped it after I lost most of the money I possessed . When I first crone to the unit , I worked inthe fields for quite a long time , before they saw what ability I had and made me foreman of the ware house . I worked at various jobs in the meantime . No one seemed to pick me as a manager , although I had had considerable success at this , but I didn ' t care, I just worked along . Sooner or later, I took overo one respon sible job after another . I was soon assistant manager, and , as I knew business practice , and as I had worked in every position in the unit, barring none , I could unde.rstand what problems the men had to deal with. I handled most of the operation of the unit for a number of months until recently. The workers knew me . I could get the work out of the men, end I could under stand their problems . The manager was all the time trying to organize the other units and councils ~ so that left me pretty full rein for managing things . I liked to be at the h e ad of an organization of this kind , and I gave all m¥ best .effort and time i~ this direction . When things didn ' t go just right in one department , I would go down and find out and fix things up . I kept a careful check up on the operations of every department 127 and with the new forms and records I was heartily in accord • . We needed to have a checkup on the operations o~ the unit, and I found when these records kept coming in that I was able to make better checkups than before . You had to know .en and understand hem in order to do anything with forming the records, though. I had the most efficient organization the unit has ever had. I didn't care to organize other units. I put the efficiency of the local unit first. We have the most resources of any of the units, and we could get along without them if we wanted to, and I always thought we should have a model unit if we were going out to organize others. However, I couldn't go very far, for the manager was always trying to run things. What we needed waa good management . I appointed most of the men to their positions they have now, and yet when I went out on a job the manager came and told me he was going to appoint two other men in the positions I held. Neither of them knew the first thi~g about handling the affairs of the unit, as you can now see . They have never known the inside of the work at all . They never worked in the various departments, and they don't know how to handle men . The men are all my friends , that is why I could get so much out of them. The unit has been on the decline ever since . I know the trouble the unit had with some of its members , but it was all due to the operation of this political setup . Men can get in and influence the manager, and he does what they say. I didn't do that sort of thing . My record stands . You can see it for yourself what I have done . Now , I am out of the movement after all the energy and effort I spent in doing something for them. That is the reward a man gets for such sacrifices . The leaders are too much interested in making themselves feel important as leaders , than in making people healthier, better fed , or happier. They don't care, so long as people are not hungry .· I think some of them would just as soon keep the people like they are, so they can lead them. I always thought the movement had a better side to it than just feeding people , too . The co-operation we used to get from people , the loyalty they showed to the organization, and the friendships whic~ were established, when things ran smooth ly and each worked for the good of the whole , was something like religion to most of us . But you can't have that when everyone is trying to get his own and forgetting everybody else. What we need is real organization and the elimina tion of these idealists and dreamers . Let them take higher jobs if they want, but let them realize that without our practical planning the unemployed movement is doomed . They 128 can't do two things at once. They must either give up the managership of the unit or give up their wild ideas and their attempts at talking. There are a lot of people with big ideas but no push--no effort at work or trying to plan production. Why they can't be kept where they belong, I don't know. I thought of trying to organize a counter-movement against them, but with the present setup you can't do anything. I guess it is hopeless. I would 1 be willing to work if they could be eliminated, however." One of the managers of the second unit to be organized is the opposite type of leader, being the 'dictator' or perhaps a benevelent paternalist, and was certainly more efficient in providing relief. The movement was "transplanted" to his community by himself. He has successfully fed people by his consistent efforts to trade labor for food. As he says: "I was a general highway maintainence superintendent, having about one hundred and fifty men under me all the time. I made big money, and I knew what it was when the depression came along, and most of rp.y men (I say my men, because I knew them and liked them) were our of work. They were laid off and, li¥e most of the working men, had lived up their money as they went along. I had consider able savings in the banks and they used to "hit me up" for several dollars. They all knew me, and so they just came, and to as many of them as were in dire need I would give something. So many of them came, that I got worried as to what to do. I soon saw how futile this was going to be ror them, as well as for myself. Then the banks closed on my money, and I had to do something for them and for myself. We saw what the Compton experiment was, and we worked there for several days until we got the plan, and then I came back and started my unit. I made my men consistently go out and work for eight hours a day when they worked, at a stated rate of fifteen cents an hour for the farmer. I would make the farmer sell .us first grade merchandize at the amount of work we gave him. I had a good labor foreman, and if a man didn't work I would kick him out. There hasn't been a time yet that I haven't been able to handle any man who protested about linterview with former assistant manager, who was manager in fact as far as operations were concerned in the unit. staying in my unit, if I didn't want him. I could always handle the situation. Well, they call me "outlaw" because I followed this plan consistently. I was given ·all the culls and 11 seconds'' the Jape couldn't sell. I know that it throws the Mexican and other workers out of work, but it feeds more that way than could be fed without exchange labor. I guess it 's justifiable. I don't want to do any thing that will injure a return to normal, however. 129 I traded my labor consistently for everything we needed. We had potatoes, beet sugar, fruits, good vegetables, staole groceries, dried fruits, coffee, and canned milk (I never went for tnat skimmed milk). I never did have trouble in getting men even at fif teen cents an hour to work for me, for I could always nay them. I had department heads·, and they worked like other denartment heads did. I f a man didn't do what I wanted, I would just put him out. I have been successful in keeoing these units going at a .maximum. I have secured work for over two-thirds of my men (August 1933) at various jobs from sixty to ninety days, and I am going to close uo for three months. I think this nlan of trying to make a big movement out of this, like Oomnton has done, is mistaken. They don't care whether the oeople starve ox not, just so long as they can lead the narade and be leaders just to be leaders. They want to have this money appropriated for groceries; why don't ttiey work for it like we did, instead of try1ng to get the Suoervisors to donate Ciarity to them? I just went out and consistently arranged for oeople to work for food, and they all were satistied with my work. Most of these oeople call me the "outlaw", because I don't go in for their oratory and olans . The Board of Supervisors, t '1e State, and the Govern ment are not going to helo us any. We have got to helo ourselves, and the sooner we realize it the better off we are going to be. Tne sooner we get some peoole to head this movement·, wno are not try ing to run the whole show, we will get somewhere. If I didn't think these men would get a higher standard of living and couldn't get aoove the level of existence they, are now on pretty soon, I would go home and comm it suicide and blow my brains out. I can't stand to see men made to live like t _is in a 130 free country like ours. 111 Another group of nlanners in t.L.e movement has served faitnfully against this snoradic and morale-breaking idealism, as illustrated by the Chief Clerk: n I h'.ve held a number of good accounting jobs in large concerns in Canada. I came to California because conditions were better here, and then came the depression. I had a number of snall jobs, but sooner or later, due to my being a Canadian esoecially, I could get no work or aid from anyone. The movement was a helo in some ways to me. I always wanted to work for what I got. I remember the first day I came down to the unit. T hey offered me vegetables, and I said I would work tomorrow for them. They told ne to take what I wanted. I refused and came and worked for what I got, even if it was culls. I have always wanted to see things kent straight from the very first. I tried to organize a system whereby checking could be made on things. - I finally got this organized, but they thought I was a 11 fadist 11 • I knew how oractical nlans could be worked out. We had all sorts of trouble in keening it in operation. The men, from the first, just helned themselves. We had no checkup on work except that you knew the man when you saw him. We oerfected a checking system, but the management was always giving snecial favors. First, they allowed the good workers to get things without being checked UP on. The workers were given brass checks. TI1e) would give them to tLeir relatives or friends, and everybody .could get issues without v.orking for them. That was done away with. Then, when we oerfected the accurate checking of hours and issues, the manager issued a special oass or pledge card, better called the orivilege card. 9ith this card they could get thin 0 s without oeing c.t..ecked u.., on. This saved tLem the trouble of h ving to go to the oersonnel desk, but they abused it just like all soecial favors. Tnis defeated its own purpose. It 1 rnterview ith man ger of second unit to be formed, ho is t.-e oo JOSite tyne of .... na , er to the Cornoton set-uo, and who is now in one of the outlying agricultural regions of the county. was so difficult to acco~uolisl anything. T·he Advisory Board uresident finally persuaded them all to put a record system into ooeration. Even tLe manager was oonosed to it and never made oeoole follow it. These 'idealists' were al~ays trying to avoid the proceedure of planned economy the unit needed. My business trainin 0 and education made me realize the necessity of it. I first saw that, unless we nad permanent records, of a com-areuensi ve sort when men droooed out and others took their nlaces, they wouldn't k~ow what to do. Thus tne w1it could go on whether a cer tain oerson was here or not. We finally got it put into ooeration Vtith the asoistance of the Assistant Manager, but the unit had done without it so long that men could not get into the habit of ma.king records. They simoly refused in many instances, in others were too lazy to do hat we wanted. What could you do? You couldn't refuse the~ food, if they didn't do it. I stayed in the organization rather nermanently. You see, I couldn't get work the way my eyes have been for the last year, and yet I could do the work well enough with the assistance of other oeople around me. I need glasses very .badly, but I I had no money to buy them, and I guess I couldn't have gotten work if I had had them. What we need most of all was our own enuinment to use. But we made a success of it nevArt eless. I think we could plan a much more efficient system than we now have, if we could enforce it on oeoole. I think it ·can be done by someone on the outside who will initiate it, and all I know is how to plan it and make it function. Everybody was always trying to get out of the unit if they could. They had no sense of res .. _ onsibility toward it or its system. We all tried to get work but couldn't do it. Of course, one did not want to stay in the organization any longer than he had to, so you see they didn 1 t care whet11er it remained per manent or not, just so long as they got food from day to day until they got a job. I guess most of us were just as well off to stay in the unit. Most of u~y friends never got any work, and we have managed to eat at least. Peoole oring us thin~s in occasionally, and, al though I ai:h a long way benind wi t~J. the rent 131 and otiJ.er bills, it is surorising how little you can get by with if you have to. The movement has certainly shown us w.i._ at we could do with nothing~ 4~e ought to have something li~e this to uelo us out from time to time, however. I tried so many ways to make it function better, but tl.tey failed V\L.en we needed ti!ern, that I just got into tbe haoit of letting tnings go ahead until something would haooen. I could have been assistant mana~er a number of times, but I didn't want the grief. I was always wanting to leave and you couldn't do that if you accepted such a position. I couldn't stay unless I had to. 11 132 The other Dlanners were merely clerks wno were instructed oy the Chief Clerk. Deoartment Head~. The Deoart tent heads were usually the more exnerienced in a uarticular li.J.e who served to direct others to their ·Jroner tasks. The contact .&n, T,.-ho w· s resuonsible for most of the labor-exchange undertaken by the unit, oresents a different aJ~roach to the movement and the olace wuich he found in the unit. It is interesting that each man in the unit sought to find wi t.&..Lin tb e unit a place souewhat corresoonding to the nosition he occuoied in soc'iety before the depression. The salesman then sought to make trades as satisfactory as oossible. Tney needed sale's talk just as t~ey formerly did: nI came here from Washington and was a wholesale drug salesman before tne de :)ression. The moven~ent annealed to me because I felt we could make something out of it oermanently. I think the ~vement could be, if _ ronerly controlled, t.1..:.e seeds o:r the neV\ order of government. My interest was in ar.ranging adequate labor-exchange for the unit. I could always ooen an account with a firm, if we would ,romise to give labor in excl.1.ange for ~terials or eauinment tney couldn • t any longer use. I ooened accounts with every tyoe of 1 rnterview with Ouief Clerk, the virtual syste ,1 of the unit. (See forms in aooendix). fir n I could. I secured articles Wf_ic .L .. could not be secured in any otner · ay. The trouble was ~ e could not exchai..c e labor for articles, becauoe tuey didn't need .:uch labor and would excba ~ .. e 0_1ly - ... ~en they had something they didn't want and we did. But nevertheless, there was no system whereby men could be regularly sent to tnese olaces, and, without a bookkeening system, we could not check on them. We 133 got the bookkeePing system, but no one would get the work done, and the business firms became dissatisfied, and I no lont:,er could make any contacts. I think, however, until ade uate leaders ~ome into the move ment who can control things and run them right, we will always be just a relief system. You see the only oeoule who are leaders are oeoole who can ' t do anything else and never could do anything else before the depression. The oeoule who want to lead some thing are always allowed to get in control, and you never can get the1.u out of a relief system such a s this. I became disgusted wit h the lack of adequate management and never went back after they olayed un fair with me. I worked hard for tne unit, but you can't do anything witn it like it is now. I felt the movement would oreserve one ' s self respect , and everytning I did was intended to get away from begging for ti.Lings without giving just comoensation in return . I think you must olan on something uermanent even after the deoression is over. That is w~at we need, and I saw we were only feeding oeoole from day to day, and I couldn't stand that. Anybody can do that. That is like the Salvation Ar·y. The moveuient could helo us to save our self-respect if' it were so . ... ething more than a relief system. That is true only when we can work for things. I t was hard to get tne labor-exchange system going, for only the stuff they couldn't use could be given to us. That is why I wanted to go in to different kinds of business and suggested the wreckin 0 business. The manage :.ent is trying to get as much charity d _ nations as possible to keeo people where they can lead them. Ufuat the s el f-help move ment needs is more self- helo. You can ' t do it , tnough, when every force in the community tries to control the org '".nization.. It breaks a man's in i eoendence when the community dictates ~hat is coing to be done or not - one. .-e can make out own way without the 134 community if we only ·cnted to." 1 The rank and file of tJ.J.e ~e1.lbershio on tue v~rious details indicated a willingness to assume resnonsibility . . ·~an"T o! t Le fore . ~en in the unit have been .. en with exoerience in directing men, and their at-citudes ex ress tLJ.eir feeling of st : tus i n leading men. "I have had ·good jobs. I always £nade .oney, out thin~s got uoor, and I got drunk and lost the last job I had. By God! tue time's oeen when I could nick uo and get a job at .any of these tank farms (oil worker). I have ' ot eleven cnildren to t ... ke care of, so I nad to do something. I h~d always had gangs of men under me, and so I would take tJ..iem out in the fields and get the work out of them. I knew how to farm, and I would work them wit.t..L me or know why. I think the unit has given-us a lot of real help , but I am an Indian, and I ca.n' t stand t1.J.ese vegetables all the tiwe, I need meat. It isn't a permanent thing, but I don't know what I would have done with out it. I had to have helo, and I could get it here where I couldn't get it anywLere else. You always had to wait so long for help from the County, I got tired of it, and so I kne ~ . what I could do here, and I did it. I think I have been better off than wait ing for them to investigate us and help us--we would have starved if we had waited for the A. Occasionally I get a job from the city, and that helps along. The only trouble is that the unit ('"oesn ' t control .hings as they should. There .are too many of these "wise boysu getting too :nuch. ·rhey are trying to run us. I can tell these -: eoole "who know everythin~ 11 and know how Cl to run you" and don't k Q'11r tne first thing about what you are doing. I got their number and just let me see them ouli something off on me·. If they don't come across with ·-.~nat tney owe me (for wrecking), I will take it out in tueir hide , don't forget tuat! I don't stand for any of their funny 1 rntervie·· ·ith f ·rwer business nanager of the reck ing deoartment and Chief Contactor. 135 business. 111 Other de 1 art L uent r·ea ·S were ! < r .er business wen -ho had ad ex· erience in olannin~ things ratuer tnan in being leaders of uen. The ve _et ·- ble detail, tne _.ilk detail , the bread detail, and ot~er details re ~uiring labor used the "boss" type of leader, tne inside de .artments took the business- like ty~e of leader. The head of the Contact Deoartment for sometime, a former business man, gives a ooint-of- view of such a nerson: 11 I was in business here before the deoression and things got worse, and so I car.ae over and got uelo from the unit. Tnen I saw I could or ganize the Con tact Deoartment and make it business- like , and so w e made uo a system of records and for _ s so tnat we could make accurate reoorts and not duolicate each oti~er ' s .. ork. I felt I could hel r in tnis, because I had had exoerience in such matters. We soon got it to function ing pretty well but we were all tne time being inter ferre . with by d1en who did not 0 work with 11 us , and we couldn ' t do anything about them for they always got oermission from som e autnority to do so. We needed to have some careful olanning in the neads before any thing could be done. I felt this gave me a posit i on of resoonsibility wnere I could really do something . I was proud of the f ~ct that I could work for an organization in such a caoacity. My former business frien ~· s ~'ere soon to realize what kind of an organization I was in, and w1at I was doing. This Lel oed us all out. ·e need to nave so e careful planning in t 1 1e heads of the unit, before anything could be done, however. I felt this gave me a osition of r e soons i bili ty, where I could really do so etliing for otner oeoole and also m~ke a living . :iyself. I didn 1 t mind giving ,ny tine, if I could do some good and get some- nere. I tf.1.ink t.i.:e wnole matter, t1owever , needs t o 1 Intervie ~ ~ with foreman. 136 be reorganized. T1 e co~nunity looks do n on ,s, and that's nad. If it isn't run on businiss-like --~ethods, at all events, ,.··e should ~nake it so. 11 The Contact de artment absorbed all of t ~ e salesnen in the organization and, to indicate the nature of suc ... .L work, at one tL ~-&e tnere were aooroximately twenty-five men working at tr.Lis alone. The men of the unit also claimed to esca e from tneir orries by working in the unit. 11 ! owned some orooerty, and things seemed to get worse and worse. I knew I could t:Set SOLething if I came down here, at least vegetables, and so I came down and worked and forgot my troubles in this fashion. I am a writer and actor but that went bad, and so I find that I can keep my feeling up better ba being with oeoole and heloing out as best I can. 11 Women. The women in the organization for the most part, are supoorting themselves, their families, and in some cases t-ieir husbands who are sick or invalid. They stay with the unit, because it orovides them witn . emoloyment they could not otherwise secure as readily elsewhere. Several of these women thro·· 1 a different "slant 11 on the movement from the standooint of ~il~ t Jart the movement lays in roviding work for women outside tiie home, which formerly was taken care of by the family. 1 rntervie with for ~er ousiness1nan ·and head of the Contact Deoart .. ent. 2 rntervie: with _ersonnel clerk. 137 "When I graduated from Junior College, I tuought everythin . ~:- was 6 oing to oe fine for me. ~:. husoand had a 60od job, we nad two cars, a home, a baby, and everything was J. .. aooy. Our home we had was mostly oaid for. Then my husband lost his job, 5ot sick, and became an invalid. I had been a secretary~ and so I ca· ~e down and worked on the Red Cross Flour desk for a time. Then I worked in the Women's Auxillary and next in the Social Service Department. We could alwasy eat vrhile I worked nere, an, we could ''get by". The work was interesting, and I felt like we would keeo from starving anyway. You just don't know what it means when you can't find work anywhere and know you have sometLing to turn to. I liked to meet oeople and know them. I don't know hat we would have done without the unit. • ... ost of us just needed the help we got, we couldn't get helo from the charities oecause we had nrooerty, or thought we did. It is mucb better than charity for most of us, though, because we felt we were suoporting ourselves, ~nd we were~ too. If you only knew the work and time we out in down here. It helos us to keep the wolf from tne door. 11 1 Another of the women, a much older oerson, who had exoerience in orking in different organizations with men, gives a different ooint-of-view: 11 I joined the movement after my daughter did. Of course we were not down to the oottom of the flour barrel. I heard t ~ey t.ad vegetables down here, and so I came down to 6et so~e. I saw thin~s going to waste all around me, and I thought we could prese:i;ve some thin~ s, esoecially the fruit. I came into the organization to helo them ;reserve some of the oro duce. I went on contact for sugar. Then I saw they needed other things. I like to go contactin~ for things. I would ask anyone whom I thought had some thing we needed for it. It took some ability to do that, but I enjoy·ed it so much. ue couldn't get anywhere, though, i tli the the cannin 0 , so I came back into t .. e unit. I sa.v I could helo out many of the 1 . o. :en in the unit and work with them. The wives 1 rntervie ~ with young onan in the movement. 138 of the men were not workin 0 in the unit, -ut they needed thin ~ s, and I saw tnat was my olace. I liked the work. It was what I always t •• oug.n I was trained for--social work. I gave all my time to it, I never thought of anything else. I was a mother a1yself, but my CJ.lildren had all 0 rown uo, and I couldn't sit around home doing nothing. I felt for once that I was doing something for ~nich I could be oroud. They all looked to me as tne 11 mother" of the organization, and I was. When we acco olished things, I knew the or~anization was a service to t • .Le oeoule who never could get helo like we were giving. It was hard and difficult, as nothing was orovide -. for us. People recognized what I was doing, though, and I was made the head of tne Social Service. Tne women never olayed a very large uart in the organization. The men didn't want thew to, but I made ~ ulace for u1yself. I think we need to h ve more efficient planning and organization, though. nl · :ost of tne wo . en, as well as most of the unit members, were urohibi ted fro:-ti aid from tJ..e County and while many didn't want to receive cnarity, often it was necessity that made them seek to save tneir · rooerty. This is the case of another woman in the unit: "We had a small amou..T1t of urooert , but we got so we didn't have anything to eat. Peonle brought us things in, out I couldn't stand that. The veterans heloed us before they started tJ.~is self-help unit. · y husband 6 ot sick, and everything aJpeared to be lost. I didn't know what to do. I had to 5 et food for ourselves, and the on __ y money we could obtain had to go for medicines for him. I just came down and oersuaded t,.e manager. After a lot of argument (women were not "supposed to be in the unit") with t.be manager, I was finally allowed to work. They out me on the Red Cross flour. I was out on 11 trial 11 as t _ey tuou. 0 J.1t the or ~anization was ~o olace for women--it wasn't unless 1 rnterviem wit.. form - r member, head· of the ''Social Se1vice 11 , since abandoned oy tne unit. you had orked w r i th men. I wouldn't ta e anything like so _ ,e of these women lave, unless I ·orked for 139 it .. e 0 ot so little food even tnen. You had a hard time to eat it. After a couple of weeks, it just made you sick, but we went on swallowin~ it or st ~ rve. I T orked fai t.L..fully on tuis, keening such an accurate check of tne recor: 1 s t11at we could al ays get flour. There was ~eve1 anythi~g missing and no com la i nts fro 1 n tne officials or the · ,eonle on my work. I put in long hours ~ i thout conroensation for it , but the food we gov to take home. Occasionally, I could get a small amount of work , and this keot us going . The Aux1llary was one t hing tnat heloed keeo uo our spirit , at least a .ong the wo .uen. v e knevY t 1 e men couldn ' t get work and couldn ' t stand being idle, but that didn't heln nut clothes on kids or feed tnem with nour ishing food .· The men did away with the Auxillary though , I don ' t know why. The unit has eant a lifesaver for me , and I nave always tried to give them in r eturn far more tr~an I got fl"' Om the .. . ~ .. r,lat money I got had to go for gas, ·water , and taxes. I haven't 11ad money at times +'or even my husband's 1he icine, al t~1ough h e is .u.ch better now . I felt it was my duty to others who were in a ti 5 t s1ot like we were to helo tJ..i.em . I would just 1. ve stayed ~ t home otherwise . ~vell , anyway, . e have nulled through . I don't Leno~ "·hy I couldn • t be as -isted some ;-, y for all ttiiS time and effort I out in for the govern~ent , but I guess that is the way tnincs run . I f you are villin 0 to do it they juet let you do it. The work is tedious but I continue it all the time. .._ ybe we will oull through all right. I think tne organization has done a wonder ful thing for many oeoole who couldn ' t get anythi ng else and yet who wanted hel-o. We are -oroud , too or oud to acce)t things for nothing, that is why I worked so hard down here--someone had to do it , and I knew i f i t 1asn ' t done right we would all lose hat litule the govern .. ent gave us in flour or cloth. But i t ' s so hard. though, just. 11 getting by. 11 I Other -o .. ien found a lace in . hicn they could keep uu soiri t, and many of the , ,. ere saved from worry oy associating 'f i th others and se~in'- thAt all were in a si1nilar olight. As 1 rntervie ~ itl~ a ·orker in t~e Red Cross flour sect i on . 140 one of the~ said in s eaki1.1 0 of J. er own difficul t.ies: "I tuo lit I was the only one .. ·ho had trou. i.es, Ollt when I ca e .nto tLe sewing I found everyoody had troubles as bad as I had. Not the sane kind, of course, but when we all sa we . ·ere in the same boat, the troubles seemed to leave ~s. It is marvellous how you can go on, ·· . .a..Len you kno"" otner Jeoole a.re ready to hel~ you and · .re in tne salile situation : s you are. Then, too, r·e i)et things done tnat we need done for our cl1ildren. 11 .I Still other women found that it was necessary to work after their husoands could not ~ .ork; 11 ray husband worked down her·e for quite a time. It ke ~ t hi busy and it kept our food oill down. You see he was receiving a govern.ment 1ension for in juries he received du1"ing tl.le war. Then after he was the secretar~ and office force for some tim~ he took sick. He died siJ.ortly after from a stroke. Then I saw nothin 6 to do out co1ue down here and ·: ork myself. I just ca !i e down and took his olace and went on as usual. I had my children to suooort, and our income was not sufficient to keen us going. I worked hard at anything they gave me. The organization has heloed me to forget the failu~es of the oast, and hel~s other oeoole ou\ too. 11 TyDes of Workers. bfiany of the older men in the move- hent _resent a type which may, oerhaos, become the permanent members, if it continues to be a relief system. The unit nrovides one for of unemployment insurance, and another form of old a6e insurance for these ._ en. There are several different tynes, howe•er, tlose '~o feel the organization provides t ~:em ith "so .·ethin 0 to do 1 ', a Y.ay to earn some 1 rntervie ~ ,. i tn se lnstres 0 in se· --ing room. 2 •t t "f Int e rv i e v 1 j_·_ v e u er ~ " n s . i e . income, or nerha s both. "I l..ave been a caroente1 in .ny days, but I ain't much good any more. I can't keeo 5 oing like these youn 5 er fellows do, and so tney don't want me. I was lying around home witt nothing to do, and my boys had work, and I couldn't find any, so I just came down ~-ere to see what they were doing. They said I could work for my ve 6 etables, and I don't 141 take very much away from here, but I like to be busy and active. I have been all my life. I am haopier when I am busy. I tnink tlJ.is thin 0 is the only thing for men like me, whom tney don't want in the factories and shoos. We aren't wanted oy anyoody these days, even our kids think we are in the way. well, we get to know each other, we get to do things, and we have something to keeo our minds off our troubles. They have ulayed square by me. I have worked in the fields and in the olant, everywhere, and I always find that co-operation is the thing. I sat down one day and asked myself whether I was really getting very much, and I decided I was nutting in too much time, but when I saw one of these widows come in and ask for something to eat, I just couldn't sit at home and do nothing and read and smoke. I had to be out and working. I feel like I have a way of earning Jart of my living, anyway, and don't deoend too much on my boys. That is wh·. t I don't want to do. I think the unit is the only thing for some of us old fellows who won't ever get work again. 0 1 Or there is t ne type of man who has a small amount of savings or orooerty accumulated and wants to conserve. 11 I ca ~! e down to the unit, when I found I could get so .e eats. I have been a master ship-builder by trade, and I had a lot of 1 rooerty around here. I lost a lot of it for taxes and got just a little bit left, and I couldn't get any help from the County. and so I just says to myself, well I can save my money if I can e :. t down there. You see my wife died several years ago, and since then I don't have much to do any way when I am not orkin 0 • Sotnetimes. I get sad and mind you! I could blow my brai .1s out and end it all -------- 1 rntervie · wi tr_ a man of sixty in the unit. 142 if I wanted to , I got a six shooter in there all loaded too , but that is not me . I just got to keep at some thing . When they build a ship on the west coast , they always call for old , that ' s what they do . They give me a job of watchman, and I can do that you know. I can keep time, for I had a busi ness training a long time ago in a bank, before I got tired and went into the trade with my father . I can do a job if they give it to me to do, that's what I am . I always worked hard, long hours and all t hat sort of thing . I think we old men who can't get work for a long time can just keep going .on this unit plan. We can work a little-- enough to get things done . Now maybe it would take more of us, but we can still do it , you know, and I don ' t want to ask anybody for help if I can stop it . Just so I can save my place , I don't care what happens. I think this organization is all right if you keep them "bossy guys" out of it . They bossed me around one day , and I just told them where to head in , and I never came back . But the unit needed me, and so they sent for me after a while , and I don ' t hold a grudge against anybody, so I came back . .I run always glad to work where they want me to do something . I can do a good job if they. only give me a chance and make me feel I am wanted . '1 The old men comprise a considerable portion of the move ment and will no doubt be permanent for a great while in the future. As one of them, a little more acute than the rest , said with reference to the future : "I don't think many of us can ever hold a job again . We want something we can "count on" that isn ' t charity . We can work like this for a long time to come . · This is the only thing I know of that will ever give us any thing . They don't want us in industry , we can ' t work like the young bucks can, so I think we ought to stay here . What else is there when the companies get thr ough with you?"2 1 rnterview with a skilled shipbuil~er in the unit . 2 Interview with an old man in the unit . 143 The young men in the unit J._ ave not 0 ained any oer soect i ve on the nove ... ent, and many of tnern are Just eating as much as t.L.ey can and getting as much Jroduce as their work entitled them to, thereby suooorting tnemselves or their family. 11 ! am only sticking with this till I can get a job, but it's better t an nothing. The folKs need every thing we can get t _ ese days, and I can heln out some. I never have learned a trade, so I can't go back into it, and t.~is is soinething I can do. It is hard enough to get a job if you know a trade, let alone when you don't know one, but here I can get just as much as anyone else and a little more, because l know how to work it. You see I work different details different days and get tuese extra things that most peoole don't know about. That way I can keen our suonly nretty well stocked- uu. 1 I am sticking by as long as I can 0 et what I want. 11 Many youn6er single fellows, however, who have had jobs have come in for \ork in order to obtain whatever small amount could be obtained by their efforts. 11 I was a re~ul ~ r e noloyee in an oil company, and then I was let out with the rest o! tnem. I came down and an lied for work, and tney out me on what I did in tne oil cou~any--kee J records and serve a s a clerk. I don't get very nuch for it, but it's better than loafin 0 , and I can't get back into a job for a while anyway, as I see it, and we need some heln rig1.L t a a:... You see, I keen my .ilother, and when we don't have anything, I have got to dig it uo. o::.· course, I will 0 0 back ,. J. .. en I 0 et a job, but in t J.e meantime it is oetter t.LJ.an notning. I ·couldn't get O§lli ty aid if I wanted it, but I can get tnis aid. II 1 Intervie ~ 2 Intervie ith adolescent 'Orker. ith young office clerk. 144 There are ot __ er ty _es o! inai viduals orking as oarts of t '_e move .ent wno do not turn into leaders, organizers, bos~es, or clerks, but w_o fill tne wove~ent with ade:uate sources of work. One of these, a vagabond~ who had travelled everyw11ere, is a go d ty-oe of t.t'.Lis sort of oerson in the movement: 11 I have been a traveller, a hobo, a soldier, an advertising manager, a cook, a junk peddler, a fish seller, and even a lecturer. I didn't join the move ment until I saw I could do them some good. I would rather work hard and see what can be done with the unit than talk about it. I thought at last, maybe we could make a go of this movement somehow. I have had good jobs, but I can't stand just doing things, ·being forced by others to do what they want. If I can be fre e to do it myself, I will work hard and long at it. The work I have done for the unit since I have been down here is worth many dollars a day, but I wouldn't do it for anyuody who would oay me, for I don't like to be under their control. They are no better than I am. This is one olace in which a man can feel he is still his own boss, and no one can make him do anything he doesn't want to do. This kind of organization I have always stood for in the Socialist Party, but we couldn't ever get it done. I tnought at last we could see what tne otner type of society is. Peoole are too selfish and too dumb to try it: I gu~ss the uni~ ca~'t.do it either, but I don't mind trying and seeing if it can." Lmny disillusioned individuals seek in the unit a plan of society for the future. The lliovement attracts not only Co 1 6:~unists who seek to make it effective in t· e revolution a~ainst establis!ed order, but also Socialists wno seek in it the means ·.hereby t, _ e soci·_l order may be rev. moed: 1 rntervie . with a ~1it worker. 145 "Here was a concrete case in · '~.Lich .~.en '.r ·rl:ed and exchanged tLeir refits for each otner's good and not for t r eir own. ·.\Thy not extend this ""'lan to include other industries tne unit needed? ~hy couldn't we make a radical reform in our oresent forw of social organization and econo .. ic organization by this ven ture? ·.re wo _~1d ~~ave to eliminate the poor workers and the grafters. We would nave to eliminate those trades we didn't find room for, exce - t in the fields, oerhaos. .e could 0 et land and cultivate crops. ~ve could ouild l .. ouPes, estaolish colonies, and work on new ways in ,, hich to make ourselves inde -endent. I cane to the unit, oecause it seemed to me that we could get away from tl1e bad and corruot S)' stem we are now in, but we acceot charity so much that we are tied hand 1 and foot to the system and the bottom of it' t 00. ft Other tyoes of men assume oetty positions in the unit which give them rank and status they nave formerly lacked. This shows the motivation of some individuals in the movement: 11 1 never h7~ .ve held a good job, and I always wanted to 0 et into something where I can snow theu.& what ability I have. I now am where I feel I can really do what I nad always wanted to do. I like to meet oeoole and to take care of their wants and do things for them. I feel tnat the movement nas meant a lot to me, even if I don't get much for my efforts, yet I can b~ nreoaring ~yself for a good secretarial job later. 11 There are a vast number, whose motive is not expressed or even forwula ted, wl.Lo have work habits of industry which, when the 00 1ortunity offers, they out into operation in the olan of sAcurin~ aid., Tl e h bi ts of work L.1 many men are 1 _nterview ,!i t.L .. forner member of Llano colony who entered the move~ent. 2 rntervie T· -,~:th 11 00 ... fi ~e .,.ti~l Secret~ ry" of the unit. 146 ends in t .... emselves 'P·_icn must be exercised raGardless of wLetJ.~er t:.ley are oaid for working or not. They know how to work and just keeo active, feeling that so.ue go d will come out of it all somewhere. There a number of for·il· .er laoor organizers J..i.O have sou 6 nt in the movement tne means o:t or5anizing labor or tJ._ e unemnloyed. They have oreserved and held to the nrinciples of labor unionis1u, wnile at the same time seeking indeoendence of the unit from the system in w~J.iCJ.J. tr1ey live. One of th.ese is noted for attemoting to get the by-laws, rules, and con stitution for the units. There are other men who nave joined the movement oartly because of its princioles, oartly because of need, but mostly because of onoortunit~ to continue their drives towards organization of the unemoloyed. There are also a great nany unmarried sin5le men who have joined the unit rather than going into the Civilian Con- servation Corns. ~ny of them joined, es~eci~lly after the eart ·J.quake , when they riad come to 11 see what was going on•• and reu.1ained to work. There are hundreds, of course, whose sole end is tLe aiount they receive, and often they receive aid fro . other sources, County .,elfare or Salvation Army, in addition to what t.Ley ootain at the unit. There is little oooosition from these individuals, if they are disgruntled, for no one nas r c:. more th·. n the rest, and consequently, 147 they must either be satisfied or leave. The or.._; nization i ~ driven by co .1. osite coai Jlexes of attitudes and v _. lues. E cJ..L fin :.Q his proper nlace by being thrown with others, and the rank and file ·assesses so little initiative, that the le ders can obtain t Le nositions of im oortance and resnonsibility, if they merely attemDt to do so .ething. TLe wish for sec~rity is basic, for resJonse and for reco 0 nition imnortant, for self-expression and mutual aid strong, and for new ex>erience ninor. Different tyoes reflect a different balance of tnese wis~ies and SOi ... e tyoes certainly sho· ·,r an imbalance t . . at is equivale .. 1t to a type of abnormal ""\atvern. The cases ~ iven indicate the i .··ortance of such conce Jts quite clearly. 148 C.t:iA T ~-- VII c T.ue a ttitui1e of t,e co . .. nity to r t_e unit ..., •. o s the f n --t ion it erfor ns in tlJ.e life of i. e comrnuili ty, o"' t le· t t e rel vi ~ it Ol 1 s 'itl va1io l attitude of the unit towards the institutions and officials of the community shows the interactions and the social dis- tance oetween the leaders and the comffiunity. Few people except those occuoying relief, fraternal, oatriotic , relig- ious, social, or oublic positions, know anything about the unit. As one of the interested citizens reported : Whenever I mention the U. C. R. A. or the 11 une ~.1oloyed unit, 11 peoole ask me what it is. Vlhile they know that the unemoloyed have helped themselves, they do not know the magnitude of the work they h~ve done in keeping themselves from starvation. When men help themselves it is a long time before people kno . ., about it, when they seek hel£ from others ~ all people know _bout it im~ediately. The attitudes of the comrnuni ty, the ref· ore, are -orir.aarily restricted to tnose organizations or individuals sustaining relations with the unit. Salvation Army. The Salvation Army is the oldest relief disuensin= ~5ency in the community, and its attitude lrntervie with Social Science inst·ructo1" in the Junior College. 149 is tn - t of jealoJ.s SUS' 1 icion and en 1~1ty covetuousness. Since the early days of the move .1.ent, when the Citizens Advisory Comn:ittee, com :.'osed of the local fraternal, o ,, triotic, and civic or 0 an~zations, was arr 'ngin the su ~id; of the ~nit, the S 41v ... t~o .L Arll1} h s consistently on ose~ tne unit. ..'nile few ueonle h~ ve con~ }cted relief war , as extensively __ s t _ e Salvation Ar .y, it is not dif icult to underst~n~ ·hy they question the inte ~ritJ of tne leaders an the n0rmanence of a r:val relief move ent. The dissoc1atio~ of t_e need for religion and tne charity orevention of ooverty was incom ·re- hensiole to these who fe ed the uod~ to save tne soul. These unemoloyed ooor ere not to be reached to as oeni hted "noor"; the"j. rere out to honestly hel ·_ tnelliselves to remain on e ·ual st tus to all. One of the Salvatio i .8.l"1hj le~ lers, durin~ an ear thquake relief conference meet1n 0 , directed his remarks toward the unit: 11 The unemoloye r, unit is all rignt in its way, but there is nothinc ermanen t to give it standin 6 in the community. ~ ·en steal tnings from each ot ner and an:prooriate thin 6 s for the 4: selve . ; t.uey do not s· .cri:..1ce for tne uoor and ne~dy (as te ~o). The unit n-~ becoae a sore- spot in our community for sorn.eti1ue oecause it makes re ue t s for don~tions t.t1· t it is not e !.1title ~· to receive. The.>" don't Kno · _ht c:.i. .. r · tJ r~lie! or · is. T.a..ey haven't had any ex Jerience or t ... ie ri 6 ~ ... t anoroa\...<h. e have nad to 6 et exoerience i. e lin " i tu S~(;ll kinds of oeoole. Peoole sno~l e suoervise ~ in receiving aid. 1 ·e on't co-ooer ~ te · i"t:h tne ..le ~se tnej- trn.nk they ~re bet er than -·e re. ·.e ~ rp invereste, in heloin the ooor, not in or · nizing for ot~~r re~ ~ons. This oi- _anization allo ·s 'eo le to or ~i".:e and d. 0 : ... nd thinbs. It ill b~come too ol ..!. tic · l." 1 So e e c r· · ~ 1 iv t? re t o ea rt h '.r r e --. el i .... !' - o ~.: d of v o m0 t on , April 1, 1923, b1 one of tne S· lvati'"'n .L r~ ... ~ le 'ders. 150 This is perh~us a fair sa::ole of the attitude of s ch relief. County .velfRre . The County welfare Department is second in i ,ortance to the unit in snonsorine: a si 1iil~ r tyoe of reliet. There has been until the oresent time (August , 1933), no coordin~t~ng council for interchange of records an~ cases between the S~lvation Army, the County ~elfare work, and the Unit. A family can receive aid from all three or5anizations at the same time. The County 1 .el- fare work has been directed oy the social case worker who handle- 1 from fifty to one hundre:'.. eighty fa ~lilies before May 1, 1933 . As the Stabilization Bure ~~u maintained an i moortant office in the city up to Af;ay 1, 1933, the County ·t· :elfare car-ied only a oercenta~e of family r~lief, esoecially tnose ne2din - socihl case ~ark in ad :ition to relief. The citJ of Comoton administered relie:t' only throu.gn tJ..1.e unit. Since May 1, 1930, the County .elfare has undertaken all the ~ ork formerl:· ha rrile~~ -j t -e St3.bilization Bureau and does not un :ertake soci. 1 case ·ork. There ·f re, accordin- to these renorts for the E:. st Comoton di~trict since the gov _, rn ·1ent exoeriment o:r' r~0ent Iionths, annroximately 1200 f . Aili es in ' the County .elf re file - O'?ln t ,re~- c::: re of OJ the County ·e1~·are. The at · itucte oft e County ''"l:V ··re in the r1i -trict is ui te cle:-' r. Cornnle tel , J. 5 norin ~ tLe unit for a ye r and a uarter , it is no givi1: iv r tever o 1~0~1tion c n oe nlace '. in its -Tay. Tne le~~ rs of tne Count., ~1 - -i re h ve 151 nursu 0 ~ a oolicy of man1 reliet or 0 anizations , the wiit not excented , to a ccentuat 3 t_ .. eir own function . Co 1peti ti on fo r adhinistration of the unemoloyed relier seems to be present in Comnton , ~s else· uere. One of tne old workers represents th i s attitude : nThe une.~olo:yed unit does not helo neoole at all . They have no accurate etho · .. s, nor any scientific procedure for conducting r 3 lieI . Tne~ only want to cre?te nolitical f~voritism and Com~unism and anti Americ~n nronagand~ . They want to gain oolitical cont r ol . Th e y oetition the Board of Suoervisors and nlay ooli tics . I have never h~d much to do wi tn t l.1. e m on any basis , as I only did social work . We can ' t n ossibly co- ooerate with them. We ignore them entirely in our calculations of jobs or budgets for the family r elief . we don ' t care if they ~et aid down there , it ' s not income as far as we are concerne~ . They can file a pauoer ' s oath an~] still belo.-. ... 0 to the unit, that i s hon. much we tnink ot· tne unit. I am surorised, however, to see so m~ny members in the unit who are not aoulyin@ fof County aid--I can't un _ ·erstand what they are doing . But · e have over- a 11-:· l! ot tnose who used to be in the unit, now on our files. I can ' t see how they keep going . 11 2 Some of the newer emnloyees merely fin<1 that many ot· the c~ses as3iEned to them for bu~5eting h~ve been in the unit : 11 I am co;1t:..nually runnin~~ acros =· membars who claimed to have bePn at one time in the unit. ·:.e give tnem groceries V!.rhenever they -- re a.ctuall)' in ne -a o!' food. 1 1 ·.-itn ad"'itional fun~s fro , the Govern ent, the County nas no~ t· ken c re o~ e · ery ao 1 lic nt for r ·lie!" i '. the di8trict ; nartly as a govern ... ent e~~· eri ent in te · t1 .. e; tl.Le efficienc o _ t __ is t; - 1 e o! r lief, t> rtly ~ov 0 r-L ~ent aid . 2 Intervie , itJ. County .. el! re Soci 1 · o.rker in 100~1 ~·istrict . 152 ~he unit.., can not give tne m many tr1ings, and many of them Just f. l.J.. b~ ck o_i the government for assist nee w_.e_l tuey ::on't ge t enough at tne unit. Tne y don ' t say much about the unit, and ~-·~ don ' t ask them. .. e are instructed to ignore tHem • .-1 One ot the olr-1_ .. orke1~s , who for ._erlJ condu . te ~ tne assign- ment of jobs for tJ:1e local une.1 ·- 1oye -: 1 at one tim~ lJ\as in the une~i.oloj ed unit and is now in the County lf elt !l re, has a dif~·erent annroach to the oroblems o! the unit: 11 I symo:_ thize wi tn the unit. It has tried to do big t h i ngs for t£e men the~selves, but it is hopeless w hen you can 1 t get cash or mone~~ in addition to trie aid t. e unit might give. The unit used to have a littl e tendency to acce 't some ot the n r opaganda of t he Co mmunists, but they soon 0 ot rid of t~~t . Some thing gre~ter than t ne unit must be done to relieve conditions tnese d ys , and I gues- the County Welfare must do it. The Unit is to~ loosely 02~anize· ~ to do much in the way of reliet with ft;.nds . 11 These various vie .. ooint -..; reflect the tren ·s in ¥Jel- fare Administration. The at-ci tudes of t.L.te worker s towards the unit a.nd of tne unit leaders towar~ s t11e workers ·and the T elfare s ... _o 'S the ~~orking ooeratione. oetween these two institutions. The le -ders of the unit are continually oressing the Count y aut orities to make 0 work orojects " for the traine r and loyal personnel in tue unit. Tney have made their attacks ag~inst tne Uounty •elfare in ~i~n n~ace· and lrntervie ·· · i th ReconPtruction Finance Cor oration worker on temoorary ork 2 rnte. vie· vi tn loc ~'-1 "'rotes io J.. J. man, who, when une lli~loyed, ~s assi~n~~ a osit i on itn job r~l~ef for tne city. 153 not in the local office where little or notnin 0 could oe attainei exceoting for individual aases . The lersistent efforts of the local leaders, probably more than any other factor, caused the selection of a new Suoerintendent of Charities and tne various sub- heads administering welfare in the County of Los Angeles. Gaining the attention of some of the members of the Board of Supervisors {one of whom is a veteran and anxious for further political advancement), they persistently oetitioned. for aid until some action was taken in their behalf. T~ey neglected the functioning of their own unit to do so. They used the Food Administration officers, members of the County Welfare Denartment, as the opening wedge. They drew uo new olans for the formation of a new deoartment of Rehabilitation for relief of the unemployed. They finally forced the issue by thre tening to make the County .~~#elfare entirely sup -ort tneir members. I n such dealings they acted ·ithout the authority of the various units and did not reoresent all of tne 0 rouos of unemployed. The ,restige and exoerience in the moveuent g~ve the leaders of the local unit a hearing which the~ caoitalized on y sneaking for all the unemployed. State and Fed~l Aid. The relationshi of the unit .'i th the State and Federal Govern .ent in the ad1uinistration o"! aid for the self-heln 5 rou 1s i.L.l lL ve to oe ·ri tten at a later date. The auditin5 syste ~. re uired oy the i:>Overn uent, tr-e ro . tratio. of t· ~e ueubers, and tne formation of arbit- 154 ration committees to diso~nse government aid to the units is being attempted. A study of the functioning of these olans will have to be checked several months hence. The Government is interested in these barter grouos. The Department of Labor has made an extensive study of these groups. The Wa5ner- Le is bill provides for assistance to self-help groups. However, as yet, no assistance has come to the relief co- operatives and what will come seems to be mereli a snecies of charity emergency relief, no financing of self-liquidating production project~. · Busines~ and Professional Attitudes. The attitude of the local business men is varied. The attitude of the Chamber of Commerce is an interesting sidelight on the attitude of businessmen in general, however: "The unit has done some relief work in tt1e past of some character, but they don't wor k very hard for it. Their purpose, I am sure, is something different than they claim. They are too Communi stic, or perhans it is better to say, too Socialistic, to gain any support from this bureau. They are no credit to us anyway. I don ' t see why they should go on. Besides,. I am oouosed to them in nrinciple. Some of the businessmen in the have sup :orted them, but they have dropped off. I know on- evidence that some of the leaders are Con&unists. I know that every ti me t.ey hold a meeting in Oakland of "Reds" that (one of the leaders) is there. If they don't actually belong , they sympathize with all those scheme s of anti-American tactics. Then too, they hurt business by their metho s. {That's the trouble with all those schemes. .._ost of the members try to get something for nothing and don't work very good either.) I hooe they lose tLeir suoport from the city, and have to close un. 11 1 · 1 Intervie with Secret =. r J of the Cnamoer of Commerce. 155 The businessmen differ, however, dependinb on their knowledge of the unit. One of these men has given his opinion as follows; it reore sents a favorable attitude tyoical of ma~y informed business leaders: "The unit has done a good piece of work. Many of the businessmen were interested in these men who were actually hungry. I told some of tnem that I could see the point of' view of these men. If my family was with out food, I would just go out and get it, and that is what we would all do if our children needed bread. Well, we got together and helped them a little. We gave them a building, and we donated some money for gasoline, and we gave them our counsel and advice. We just kept a fatherly guidance over them so they could get ahead.in t he best way oossible. I think we kept down any oossibility of Communism starting, by our attitude. It wouldn't have done for us to just leave them to themselves . Whenever we heard there were some suspicious characters, and in tne early days there were several who ca me from outside the city, we would go down and just talk with the men and find out what was going on. Sometimes we would suggest to the manager to have a member leave, and sometimes we would let them stay. We discouraged any entrance into farm ing. Why, most of them couldn't weed my own garden very well when they came up there. It wasn't going to be a permanent thing , anyway--just something to tide us over t he hard times 'til things go t back to normal again. It has helped them to helo themselves and to s ave the taxpayers a lot of money, too. We have not had violence when tnese m en could get some thing to eat. The oolice were too suspicious of t n e movement but I talked to the .. and reasoned with them about it and their characteristic oolice attitude of suspecting everyone. I think the unemuloyed have done a remarkabl e thing for themselves. We also heloed them to get some work on the wrecking, for t ... ey needed some money. It is a good or 0 anization ~urine these times until we c n 0 et back to normal.n Those who kne~ anything about the ooeration of the 1 Intervi ew ··i t1 leading business man. 156 organization and its roblems symoathized with its leaders. Those who were in anyway adversely afrected by it, were susoicious. Those who kne j nothing of it at all, held what ever oninion their economic or social view disnosed them. Other orofessional eonle, doctors, dentists, and lawyers, regarded the movement as serving a useful function in the community. As one of the doctors said of the movement : u They need a lot of~ helo down there, and I am ready to give it whenever I can, without asking for nayment. I know they don't have a cent to their names, many of them. I have always written nrescriotions for them, if they could secure some way of having them filled. It doesn't cost me anything to do that, and certainly these ooor. oeople need all the help they can get tnese days. The organization has done a marvelous work in keening people as healthy and as nourished as it has during these times. I am surprised there is not more sickness among them. 11 1 Other urotessional peoole in the community have ex- pressed a similar willingness to helo in whatever way they can, and it seems as though atwitudes are reflections of action. However, everyone believes the unit merely an emergency measure. Food Administration. The Food Administration, as part of the County Welfare, administered tne gasoline fund of the County for the local unit from Seotember 1, 1932, until this date (Sentember,1933). They have been intimately associated lrnterview with doctor who has aa 0 isted the unit at various times. 157 with the units and t._ eir attitude is a contrast to the County Welfare workers. The Food Administration survived or perished ··ith the units, and t:1is gave them a different motivation. The County has been divided into certain hauling groups. The investigators from the Food Administration determine whether or not the units are entitled to their gasoline, if food is being orooerly used, if exchanges can be made, and if auoro priat ions of food are nrooerly disoensed. The District Reuresentative for the local unit since its beginning gave his ooinion of the unit: uwe merely dispense gasoline and aid the units to obtain foodstufts. Our plan is not to organize or to interfere in any way with the units. Tnese move ments are actually functioning in administering relief in a satisfactory manner far superior to the County W"elf'are Department, although, understand, we are actually under tne County Welfare Department at the present time. The County Welfare Deoartment is trying to ruin these units by giving work orders and by offering groceries to unit members, thereby in juring the morale ot the unit. The units, the Food Ad 1inistration hones, will be nermanent. Tnis ~nit has made a very care1·u1 and accur te record, and we have had no comolaints of any kind on tne act1v1ties of the movement. I think that thi~ unit is a model for the other units. That is why the leaders of Compton are as acceptable to the Food Administration as they are. Everyone is for them, for they have done a marvelous piece o:f work here and in the County. nl Attitude of City Officials. The city officials are rather indif!erent to.tne function of tne units. Their close . lrntervie. ' with Food. Administration . ins ·,ector for district in whicn Unit No. 1, Comoton, is located. 158 connection with the oresent oroblems of the unit made inter views to obtain attitudes impossible. The city officials fear the unit as a political menace or danger. Tpe relations of the unit with the various candidates for mayor in the elections of June, 1933, give a rather interesting picture of the situation of the ooliticians and their attitudes. The unit officially supports no candidates for office. The President of the Compton Co-operative Relief Association, the advisory board of the unit, ran for mayor on his own standing as a business and Professional man in the community, but was defeated. He made no effort to secure the support of the unemployed. The second candidate was a local grocer who was famous for his low orices and his merchandizing practices. The t hird was a young merchant with a college education in Political Science. The fourth, the incumbent, was a LO's Angeles junior high school principal, who resided in Compton. The unit refused to commit itself to any can didate, largely for fear of losing financial suooort in case their candidate was defeated. The fear of loss of financial support has created the "non-oolitical 0 character of the movement. Too denendent unon the forces of the community, the unemoloye~ have been forced to await develooments and circumstance and consequently have formed no political party. Yet, after the election, tne victorious candidate ole~ged himself (for _olitic 1 reasons and V\ituout sincerity 159 or works) heartily in su_ ort of the unit, tninkin~ tnat they had backed him to the limit. Many members were disappointed that the head of tne advisory board was not elected mayor, but no open agitation was created by the members or the management--yet all realized the advantage of having ~s the mayor the former head of the committee. One of the important councilmen who has acquainted himself with the movement from the beginning has stated his concept of its f~ction: ''The unit is only relief in character, and there is no need for it when the County and the Government are taking over relief. We can not burden ourselves with additional expense at this time. Let the men find assistance where it can be secured. Tbis ·organization was not created to continue indefinitely, so why not allow it to gradually disappear? A limited appro oriation for the unit will be enough for tne time being. 11 1 The local police nave been unfavorable to the unit for sometime. One of the local law enforcement officers says: "The unit is a br~eding ~lace for idleness and, ultimately, for crime. It makes men lazy and good for-nothing. They try to get something for nothing. We don't have any members of the unit under our control, but just the same it only shelters snongers and beggars. They cnisel oeoole out of everything they can and try to get something when the-'(r don't deserve it. They get away with it in the name of the unemployed. I think it is unfortunate we have to let them continue as they are. 11 2 1 statement or one of the councilmen at the regular Council meeting on . August 1, 1933, at the bandstand, City Park, Comuton. 2 1nterview with one of the local law enforcement officers. 160 It seems likely that the local law enforcement officers know practically nothing about the actual situation , but, with characteristic police stuoidity, oppose everything dis turbing for the moment the American system. Anything con trary to custom is criminal. The local Police Judge, however, is of an opposite position entirely in his opinion: ''I have handled many complaints o:f disgruntled in dividuals in the unit and out of it, who wanted the manager thrown out or charged with some serious criffie. I usually talked with the man, and then went down and talked with the manager or the oerson involved, and found out that much of the charge was invented and promoted by a d_ esire to retaliate against some action of the manager. We have had a number o! different c omplaints, which, when I went to the bottom of tnem, I usually found had nothing to suostantiate any cri minal action against anybody, and that the best thing to do was to leave things run as they were run. I tnink the unit is a snlendid thing. These people have been able to salvage foodstuffs for themselves that no one could ever use and to live without accenting charity. I think it makes them more · industrious and honest, and .I have always suoported them. I have said a number of times that I think I have seen the worst side of them, mostly, but I . think, for the work tney are doing, that they need to be commended for trying to do the right thing by the peonle. I have sent many of my speeding cases down to the unit to see wha~ it was, and. then, when they would donate to the u~it, I would suspend sen tence on them. This heloed them out a little. I have had no trouble more than you would exoect from the members or from t;.Le unit's operation.· Their record is clear as far as this office is concerned. I think the unit is a marvelous thin 0 for honest men. n l This judge seems to be not only judge, but district 1 Interview witn local oolice judge. 161 attorney, 1 Ublic defender, investigator, and clerk at the same time. Without legal training himself, he confidentially states he has "no need for the lawyers who try to get neoole out of things" and takes it uoon himself to find out the facts. He nossesses the ability to understand and inquire into conditions as do few people. He is conservative in all his ideas from religion to morality and economics. Hence his renort indicates something significant . He has served ten years and thus knows the community. Other of:ticials in the city, noticeably the Community Chest leaders, felt that the unit had been assisted without making any effort to reciprocate with them in the matter of relief. One of tne ofticials of the Community Chest ex -;ressed himself: uwe gave the unenroloyed a large part of our budbet this year, and they were sunuosed to furnish solicitors, but they never conroleted tneir oart of the job. (N.B. tne unit received no aid directly from tne Community Chest. ) i·.e have found tn~ t t11ey can't be trusted or relied unon for such co-ooeration. The Unit tried to get along without any as · istance wn~~Roever from tne outside, and t~is made it difficult to deal with them. They demand too much and misreoresent statements as to membershio and what they are doing. I think we are through with the need for them now. We never gave tnem anything directly, bu£ I tnink our relations have been unsatisfactory." 1 Interview with official of the Community Chest, a local utility comoany official, whose company indirectly received a good urooortion of the donations of the Community Chest to the unit and its members. 162 4- .1.ier of.:ficials of tne Cou1muni ty Jhest found. difficulty in dealing with tLe rather unwieldy organization and its needs, but exoressed themselves as being in sympathy with tneir emergency reliet for the needy. Oomnton Co-operation Reliet Association. The feelings and attitudes of the Compton Co-operative Reliet Association and its cnembers are amnly expressed in the history of that organization in another section. Quotations from the Con stitution, however, reflect the spirit of the movement and policy of its advisors: 11 This association is organized for tem~oorary emer gency purposes only. 11 --Article 1, Paragraoh 4. Again, "It shall automatically cease to function when tl1e emergency for which it was organized shall be .Passed, or when it is deemed by the citizens of this community that the best interest of all concerned will best be served by the dissolution of this organization." This, they all have felt, has been carried out to the fullest. Many of them think tne work of the unit is over, now that the deoression is over--that is while the 1200 families are on government funds and do not demand any aid from the community. 11 It is not to be thought that the unemployed over came all of their difficulties by simply trading something t"hey had, namely man-power hours , for com modities, because, in a time of economic stress, even material for which ~ 1an-power hours can be traded cannot be generated by any magic . So fundamentally this nronosition of trading man-power hours for materials only held good to the extent that a surplus of materials existed fOr which there was no mark·et. The result was that, as the unernoloyed movement gained headway as a ·successful enterorise, the idea spread. When this is understood, it is re ~dily olain to any one familiar with marketing, tnat, as soon as the unemployed had consumed all the available surnluses, then men must once again go to work to generate materials and money with his labor. We are right back now starting to oush up the surpluses again. This surplus is being used un completely even to old materials and various what-nots. There had been an abundance of everything but money. Trading was con tinued for this reason, and conse ~uently they needed aid from citizens interested in t.ueir welfare and from whateve1 .. funds could be obtained. nl 163 This illustrates not only the donation aspect of the movement but the conceot of it held by the citizens committee. 11 The organization was only a stoo-gao in a bad situation. The major crisis was reacned in January and February of 1933, and we are now about to firiish our work. We should _ step down shortly. We have salvaged humanity on the revenues of salvaged material. 11 or again: uwe never thought the movement was anything but a temoorary one. Men can not go on living as they have lived for life, and there is no way to put the organiza;ion on a footing to rnake it anything but relief."~ · Educators. The school system had lit tle kno ·ledge of the unit, although as ;isting in orinting a newspaper. Tnere have been no investigations by social science students of the movement. Feiv have knoVvn that one of the most impressive social movements in the country started in their very town. The of.~."icials realized that tbey should aid as much as nossible: 1 Intervie·· with President, 0.0.R.A. 2 Ibid 164 0 \Ve have merely Hel~oed tne nemoloyed as far as we could, realizing that tney were doing a work for the community which could not otherwise be completed. Many of' tne nuuils of the schools h :- ve been in families where the fat~ exs were unel1 ployed, and, consequently, we feel the need o:t· contributing to t 1 _eir welfare as far as it is possible. 11 Merchants. The merchants have a different point of view towar1s the organization, and feel tney can no longer aid the unit in any of its enterorises, as the deoression must be corrected by getting rid of relief measures and re- turning to normal. Few realize what is hapoening in the economics of their.own city. As one of the local merchants recently told a contactor for the unit: 11 I can't help the unit out, they must help them selves out. I have helped them in the past, but I no longer can do so. You must nlan to gradually retreat and be re-absorbed back into the system. The emergency is over. They are defeating business to some extent, and you need to return to the old ulan. :Many of them are being emnaoyed and conse quently we do not need the unit." Corooration Officials. A rumber of large corporation officials were interested in the unit, many from the stand- point that the unit was saving the taxpayers money. O~of the heads of such a corooration which was contributing to the unit represents this point of view quite clearly in a letter linterview with business official of the school. 2 rnterview with local businessman. 165 to the unit: "Your organization is outstanding for the intelliesent and sensible r~nner in which its affairs are conducted and it seems a oity that all other relief organizations do not foll~w a similar line of effort. It occurs to me that this (Chamber of Commerce Bulletin urging a consolidation of donations ·to unemployed) is just another effort in ~he direction of consolidating these matters in the · hands of oeonle whose purpose is to capitalize themselves and provide additional jobs for paid workers . The oroposal may have merit; but I am one of those old fashioned individuals who opoose the centralization of activities, with the building up of overhead expense. Then too, it is a habit v. 1 ith some, when they find a rran doing a bood job, to reach 1 out and take credit for his intelligence and ability." Jauanese Farmers. The farmers hold diverse opinions on the unit as ment ione - 1 in nrevious cnaoters. The Japanese nave ·not found the work-exchange as successful as people believe, and they are constantly objecting to some of the practices o:t tr.le unit in its work. 0 There have been comolaints from Jaoanes·e that unit members are overstepping bounds dis1J.onestly and "" Japanese farmers will not tolerate t.1..is in the future. ••G In a survey conducted through the assistance of a Jaoanese interureter and the veteran field contact man of the unit, various Jaoanese farmers were interviewed. The following interview reveals some of the possibilities for the future. The Jaoanese farmer is t~ .e president oI the Japanese Language Association for the district. 11etter dated August 20, 1932, in oossession of unit, from cornoration official. 2 Minutes of Area No. 1 meeting, August 6, 1932. tt i f the unit would only do good work, I wouldn't care. I hav e tried t. ese men over and over again. They fixed my trucks up for me. I let tliem do it, because tney said tney could and insisted on it. 166 They didn't do a good job on tnem, but I couldn't complain about that, for it didn't co s t me anything. I f tney were only particul~r and careful, but they are not. They come late and leave after a short time. They don't want to work. I mus t employ people I can tell to do things. They only get in the way. I can't tell them anything if I am not paying them, for t he stuff isn't worth anything. I have no right to complain if I don't give t hem anything for what they do. They came to my garden and did some water ing, but the y were not careful to block up t he ends and I lost a lot of water. That's it; tney are not caretul or particular about t ·ieir work . It they would only do something I could count on for sure, if it was only pulling weeds. Tha t they can do with t heir muscles. Strong work is all ri 5 ht, but skil lful work on my garden they cannot do . No, I can't count on t ne m in the fut ure. I won't nlant anything in t·he future for t ne m. I don't think they can learn to do t he JOb. I don't mind giving them the stuff I can't sell, t hough , for I don't like to see peopl e hun6ry. Don't tell these Americ~ns what I t hink for I liKe to do what I can, but l have been disappointed with t hem.nl The Jauanese colliol~ined that, by unskilled hands, their gardens were olucked of the finest uroducts leaving them at a los s to kno wn~t tiey nad on ha 1 d . Each man, at first and often 1. ter , would take • nh _ t i:-1e needed f or nil self, even tnougn he mi gr. t haul to the unit what other rnembers could avail themselves. It was necessary to secure tne co-ooera- tion of the Jaoanese Consul who wrote a note to tne Janane s e which was carried by the cnie!' contacter of vegetables, 1 Interview with Jaoanes e farmer. 167 shown to tne sr~ll farmer, and used by the of!icials as a lever for all sorts of other ourooses. 1 This seemea to have a good effect upon the Jaoanese. Tne letter rnerely conveyed the sug 0 estion that "wouldn't it be a good policy for tt.s.e Jananese to as sist their American Legion friends to eat. 112 It was ourely a reouest and a suggestion , not a command. It is hard to tell wnether t 1:i s nad a great deal of effect exceot that it gave an introduction. The attituaes ot· t he Japanese farmers vary. Some have been exceedingly generous, others demand assistance, others have refused to co-operate. 11 I CE~n•t use the U.C.R.A. very rnucn . They come in · large bunches. Tney don't know how to do anything. They know only how to hoe weeds and tney don't do tnat very well . They don't care about the job they do for me and I have to do it over again when they get through. If you don't pull all the weeds, you have to do it over again. I c . n•t tell them to do anything, because I am not paying them; anyway I don't sneak English well enough. The foreman is as bad as the men. TLe m en take things out of my garden without my oe r mission. They come late and some of them sneak off after work ing a little while. One Mexican I pay is worth ten Aniericans I don 1 t pay. I haven It got very uUCh to give them anyway 3 If I can't sell something, I can give it to them. The Jaoanese in most instances have donated the un- salable ve~etables obtaining whatever work the unemnloyed could nrovide. 1 see footnote on following oage 2 see translation following cooy of _ letter, by Isami Suzakawa. · 3 rnterview with a Jaoanese gardener. 168 Some of the Jananese have found the unit of use to them. It seems to de- -end uoon the -·articular gangs and foremen. Second-generation Jaoanese, Hawiian born who soeak English, find them more valuable: nrf the unit can guarantee 1e good foremen and honest workers to do for me what I would otnerwise have to nay for, I will agree to raise more produce and give them .what they earn. I have done that al ready for them, esoecially when I had B for so long. I don't care whether the unit sells it or gives it away or what it does with it. I will make it a straight business deal, if they can supnly me with men who can do the work and are willing to work for me. When B left, some of tne other units came in. I couldn't stand the kind of work most of the men from these units gave me. They would take all my ve 5 etables everywhere they saw them, and wouldn't take wnat I told tnem to take. I have ·ot to nlan on them, if they are going to plan on me. Anything they want to work for the future, if they can assure me I can count on them, I will plan. As it is now, I have some surpluses, because I can't sell it all, and so I give tnat to them· , but even if I could sell all my surpluses I would be glad to raise wore for them. If tne men would only take their tiu1e and do work and not try to get t1rough as soon as they can and as quickly as nossible, . everything would be all right. They If a .dispute came un, the unit le ~ ders always fell back on the authority of the official signature of tne Consul and the Japanese · inscriptions for aid, where lang·uage failed them. An instance of tnis occurred wnen a Japanese wanted credit for laths for his beans, to be taken from t~e unit's Wre~king Deoart ~ent which was separate from the unit in finances but not in location. The Japanese could not see why he shouldn't have their aid in tuis matter as tt.Ley had his, the disnute being settled by showing him the letter and he acquiesed in the matter for the time being. 169 can't come here with t_.eir little sacks and take what they want for themselves either. The y must take what they work for. They must learn to do work more care fully than even the best of them have done. I will be glad to give them the stuff I can't sell for nothing, but if they want good stuff, then I must get something back for it. It won't oay me otherwise. I am satisfie 1 with B , I don't know where he came from, but he knew what to do and bow to get the men to do it. He would work nard, and while he didn't come back in the afternoon as I should have liked, yet I got along all right.nl The foreman has t o know what to do and be able to make these m en work.whether or not they get anything. He must work along with the ! and get work out of t h em. The Jaoanese differ among themselves in their liberality, some being indifferent, due to the lack of co-operation the units have given while other Jauanese have been generous with donations. As an examnle of the latter: "I give a lot of things to the unit, I can't sell them and why should not someone have them? I don't want to make them do things, I can't do that. The vegetables aren't worth very much so what can I do if t hey don't wo rk? I can only use a few men , but they must be steady all day long and hel , me all the ti m e. I can't use many men, because they are in tne way, and I don't have t ools for t hem. Even if I could sell some of this stuff, I feel I ought to give it to oeonle who are hungry. We are having a hard time ourselves, and we know what it is for some of t uese peoole who can't 0 et anythL.1g to eat. I like to hel them out. Maybe t hat will helo u.s all out. Sometimes I have given them tr ins I couldn't make much money on. They are good people, b~t I can't count on them much. The men don't care, even if t:1ey are without 'food. I can't stop to teaqt the or keeo after them all th~ 1 rnterview with Japanese Farmer time. The man in charge can't know himself, so I can't snend all my time showing 1 t:t1em. I' .11 help them though, as much .as I can." 170 The Jaoanese were friendly to the unit, and as the interpreter we>~s known by all of the y as an important teacner in the school where their children were sent, they bave their attitudes witbout reserve. They informe ~ the interoreter not to tell the unit members, the Americans, what the Jaoanese actually felt. There are a number of second- generation Jananese in the territory, but they are all in school and seeking to escaoe from the fa r m life. Consequently, the difficulties of contact have been increased between tne native Jananese and the Ai~ericans, who little understood each other. As a whole the Jaoanese have merely assisted in whatever way tney could and have been large contributors to relief work in the country duri ng the depression. They have never sought to sell their nroduce to the county nor to secure subsidies for tlJ.eir farming. Considering t11e great numbers of these Japanese and their abundant generosity, it is not difficult to see why men have not starved. Would ttat t.ceir human feeling might quench .. so _ e of the unfounded racial ure judice based unon the sense of inferiority which Americans betray towards tnese hard- workin 0 and industrious eoole possessing such qualities of co-operation·our own society 1 rnterview with Jaoanese r~rruer. 171 lacks! Not only h~ 1 ve tne une . nloyed 11elped themselves; they have been 6enerously helned by Jananese. The unit members are so heartily in favor of the Ja~anese that tiey have done much to destroy the racial antipathies formerly existing. One wonders how far the fear of a recurrence of race pre judice has motivated ~-1e Jananese rather than fear, tne oosit ive f~eling of generosity seems to have been their motive. Many J apanese in this district h_ve co-operated to the noint of injuring tneir own business, little realizing the economics of the situation involved. Most often, however, they have donated that produce which could not be sold on the ooen market but yet was worth the time it took the un- enroloyed to nick, harvest, and nrenare for use. American Friends' Service Committee. The attitude - of the group which assisted the unemoloyed unit for six weeks shows a different evaluation than those organizations or individuals who merely sustained distant relations with it: 11 ! found the unit in need of many things, the health of the members poor , their morale low, their honesty not exce~tional, their intelli 6 ent planning inadequate. The members lived on the unit because of necessity. There was a nerennial desire of everyone to be freed from the necessity of co-operation. To co-ouerate because it was necessary in order to exist (or subsist) is a base motive COJD red with · the desire to intelligently olan a co-onera tive society her.e men themselves produce for use rather than profit . To live on tne surplus foodst_ffs by trading labor~ or by receiving quasi- donations in the form of commun~l en ri ty, is the most rudiu1entary form ot· co-opera tion. It is artificial cooperation to CQ.Oper ,te only when one is hun 0 ry, or when one i.: st .rving . .en .had to be driven to co-c )er~ te with eachother _s they had formerly 172 been driven to work well--because of fear and its abnormal motivations . None of the oositive motivations of loyalty, consecration to a ouroose , and self- sacrifice ~ere allowed to emerge from the slough of despond in which their efforts left them. All were anxiou· to escape from the co- ooera- t i ve as soon as ttiey could , hoping from day to day to "~et a pay job . 11 Those wno remained behind were for the m.ost nart individuals who found in the moveme ... t comnensations for their own frustrated awbitions or past failures. Mo permanent econo .. :ic adjustment w_ s secured which would make men satisfied , and While some valuable traits 01· industry, and work were being conserved , many suffered loss of mind and body . There .was no 11 spirit of' the rneetingn in their 5 atherings , there was no "inner l ight" 01:' inspir _tion to give them insight . They all blundered on wil~ing as oied nioer followers to look ever to the will- o-wlliso of p r osperity that lured them into stagnation . Their charac ter de .. ~oralized by the industrial system, they yet con tinued to hold to the outworn modes of thought and action ill befitting those of a new social order . Where the vision i s lacking the oeople perish . Without moral indigna tion to develoo into radicals , or moral cour ~ge to be liberal reformers , they languish in the stunor of relief . 111 :~iscellaneous Attitudes. il.B.ny organizations who had no relations with tne co- oJerative forme · no opinions of it .. The conception of the unit by the large companies and their attitude is colored by the advantage wnich donations possess in decreasing their inco1ne tax. Even cbari ty is not exempted from the profit motive . The co-ooerative likewise held no attitudes toward any other group save those related to its work. The oolitical or _.? nizations, the religious grouns, the civic, the oolitical grouns, an' the fraternial grouos were sunoosed to be on th~ Comuton Co-ooerative Relief Associat-ion 1 statement of the Field Repre ~entative of the American Friends ' Service Co¢mittee at the close of their activities . 173 contributing their aid towards the unit. Less t han one hundred fifty dolars was contrib~ted by these organizations, but their good will was secured oy this plan of unit ooeration. Everyone considered it as an emergency relief organization and conse~uently sought to curtail its function as soon as oossible, and whenever it assumed larger im9ortance ttan necessary. There was considerable as istance by various agencies in the community and innumerable individuals who asQisted in the generosity of the moment. 1'74· CHAPTER VIII STATISTICS OF THE UNIT The statistics of the unit from March to Octobe~ 193~ are meagre . The unit did not feel itself permanent, and , so , rew reports of issues, numbers , or work were kept. At this time , the City of Compton began to more rigidly supervise the unit . The unit began to keep books under the competent guid ance of the Chief Clerk . Many of the figures are incor rect , especially on the matter of registration; a great . many exag gerated . The registration took place on the reorganization of the unit in November . From this time on a careful check is available on members and transactions . The active and inactive are roughly calculated on the plan tm t a member who "does not show up" for three months is not in the unit. It has been impossible to calculate the permanent amount of time spO nt in the unit. In the early days only one day was required a week. The amount was tra n increased to two days, and now it is thirty hours a week . Most of the active are "in and out" regularly, getting issues approximately three- fourths of the time . They can take enou on these days to keep tlem the rest of the time . The age span of the members show th~ significant trends in the support of the previous contention that the older men 175 are finding the unit a place where they can obtain some assistance. More of the younger men drop out than do the older men, as is significantly · shown by the table of Compar ative Ages. The number of years. in residence indicates that most of the relief work is conducted with the old residents. The number of married members indicate to some extent the stability of the homes of the unemployed. The divorced are rare, and many are included among the .,unmarried." It is noticeably true that the unit has fostered the permanence of the home, rather than provoking disunion~ The . number of registered voters indicates the number of citizens. It also indicates the potential strength in be- a f'uture political organization. Most of the men are registered in order to obtain work for the County. This factor may make the units powerful in the future in their voting strength. The remainder of the tables are self-explanatory and show the trends of the movement. Year 1928 TABLE I ECONOMIC BACKGROUND Building Permits 1'76 1932 1933 Total:$1,341,671-l,l66,171-980,050-379,248- 92,313- 416,649 Jan. 1'7,405 1,290 Feb. 3,850 9,125 Mar. 4,210 45,'720 Apr. 11,004 67 ,347 May 11,600 69,489 June 3,850 76,325 July 8,140 66,906 Aug. 7,413 40,914 Sept. 7,7'73 11,591 Oct. 16,475 2,835 Nov. 3,190 7,415 Dec. 1,465 3,000 ,,,..- p~R1t- - -·1 -- I " 0 Ga,..da.nal _T_..J I I t I I I ' I I 17'7 Los R11salo1 • lo"!I fJa4cJ. fla..,l:,01- . lo. 1. 2 . 3 . 3. 4. ..- . s. 6 . 7. s. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20 . 21. 22. 23 . 24. 25 . 26 . 27 . 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. TABLE II MANUFACTURING PLANTS Payrolls Plants No. Employees Spartan Steel Co. 60 Latchford Glass Co. 125 D. H. Burden Materials Co. 104 Owl Truck Co., Inc. 132 MacClatchie Manufacturing Co. ff'7 Chaffee Truck Co. 15 Compton Plaster Co. 6 Story Sheet Metal Co. 4 Hercules Casing Co • Loraine Manufacturing Co. 40 Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. 1200 Central Manufacturing Dist. Vernon Manufacturing Dist. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. 1300 McClintic Marshall Co. 280 Athens Oil Field Rosecrans 011 Field Alco Oil Tool Co . 102 Compton Air Port Compton Brick and Tile 25 General Petroleum Co. Site Dominguez 011 Field 200 Shell 011 Refinery Dominguez Chemical Co. Pan~American Refinery 550 Shell 011 Ref ine'.O" 800 Associated 011 Co. Refinery Texaco Oil Co. Refinery 500 Union Oil Co. Refinery 580 New Ford Plant Signal 011 Field Richfield 011 Co. Refinery 600 So. Calif. Edison Co. Cent. Sta. 86 . Goodrich Tire Co. Santa Fe Springs Oil Field Samson Tire & Rubber Co. 500 Dominguez Water Co. 50 Totals •••••. 7,36'7 178 Payrolls $ 1,200 19,000 12,000 15,000 12,92'1 12,000 l,OSO 1,000 7 , 000 150,000 160,000 '1,000 23,500 3,000 20,000 80,000 96,000 ?0,000 62,000 rto,ooo 12,000 70,000 $ 6,500 901,177 Time ot Onemplopnent2 Less than 6 months 6 months to 1 year 1 year to lt years lt years to 2 years 2 years to 2i years 2j- years to 3 years 3 years to 4 years Over 4 years Not stated on cards TABLE III TIME UNEMPLOil.Dl Active members TABLE IV 86 98 148 82 201 19 102 55 200 NUMBER OF DEPENDENTS 179 Inactive 53 36 72 42 82 5 40 20 90 No. of Dependents3 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Active members: 3 119 JOO 201176 la'! 94 38 18 7 8 2 0 Inactive members: 0 41 80 l04 89 71 32 23 14 4 4 0 1 lit is to be understood this registration took place between November, 1932, and March, 1933, and to each of these active members at least one year must be added in addition. t 2rt 'is understood that occasional employment for a few days is not included. Permanent employment is specified. 3 This does not include the member himself. This list is conservative, as amounts or issues depend upon it, and a man could obtain far more benefit .by falsification. Investi gators have cut this to its present number, hence it is likely correct. Many cards include the revised number af'ter investi gation. Age Span 15- 19 20- 24 25- 29 30- 34 35- 39 40- 44 45- 49 50- 54 55- 59 60- 64 65- 69 70- 74 7 5 - 79 80- 84 Not stated Totals TABLE V COMPARATIVE AGES Active Inactive Members Members 41 18 106 40 90 71 104 53 133 V·O 113 47 95 45 86 33 50 19 53 15 32 13 24 10 17 4 1 0 19 9 974 447 180 Percentage Active Inactive 4 . 2 4 . 05 10. 85 8 . 95 9 . 25 15. 85 10 . 65 11. 8 13. 65 15 . 65 11. 5 10. 5 9 . 7 10. 05 8 . 8 7 . 4 5 . 12 4 . 25 5 . 45 3 . 36 3 . 4 2 . 68 2 . 45 2 . 24 1 . 75 . 895 . 103 .o 1 . 95 2 . 100. 000 100. 000 181 TABLE VI YEARS RESIDENCE IN COMPTONl No. of Years Active Members Inactive Members Less than 1 year 187 90 1 to 2 81 42 2 to 3 84 41 3 to 4 917 37 4 to 5 70 55 5 to 6 62 22 6 to g 183 71 10 to 19 188 82 20 to 29 15 6 30 to 39 5 3 Over 40 3 2 Not Stated 18 7 Totals 993 438 TABLE V'II MARRIED AND UNMARRIED MEMBERS Class Married Unmarried Totals Active Members 707 270 977 Inactive Members 334 107 441 1 Percentage would not indicate any signi~icant trends. Class Voters Non- voters Totals u. c.H .A . No . 1 Month Fdibles March Unknown Aprill " May " June ti July ff August u TABLE VII I VOTERS REGISTERED 182 Active Members Inactive Members '796 187 983 TABLE IX STATEMENT VEGETABLE GROSS Wastage Average 20% Non-Fdibles Meals No records None " " " " fl " ft u2 ti " 350 92 442 Compton, Calif . Families Served 50 to 150 150 to 300 300 to 600 600 to 1000 1000 to 2000 2000 to 2500 1 see Appendix for samples of reports during this period . 2pr~uoe was being handled so rapidly 'that no records of amounts can be obtained f'rom files . Thia was the'hrushroom" period of the unit . Other units formed rapidly . u. c.R. A. No. 1 Month Edibles September 500,000 October 264,762 November 292,257 December 198,761 January · 287,734 February 447,515 March 292,291 April 303,059 May 234,288 June 162,823 July 132,073 TABLE IX (Continued) STATEMENT Non-Edibles 20,000 Unknown " 1,483 79,640 133,892 2,853 2,065 2,925 2,06'7 2,670 l Re-registration 183 Compton, Calif. Meals Families Ser. 1500 6871 1452 750 2640 750 3026 712 2895 713 3295 815 5250 559 4946 528 4204 538 3729 322 184 u.c.R.A. No. 1 TABLE IX (Continued) STATEMENT RECEIPTS 1 Compton, Calif. Item January February larch Apr11 Kay Men 237 236 215 200 217 Hours 1,600 1,686 1,570 1,411 1,632 Lbs. Veg. 232,754 326,338 62,374 171,352 152,305 Lbs. Bread 10,958 13,161 2,608 14,213 13,386 Lbs. Meat 9,970 10,024 1,800 635 6,033 Lbs. Dairy 33,240 9'7,711 14,744 94,921 60,757 Lbs. Misc. 812 281 27,912 21,938 1,807 Fam. Ser. 768 713 496 . 559 528 Persons Sei: 3,095 3,026 2,063 2,348 2,218 ISSUES OF MATERIALS Month Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June Clothing Furnitures 217 556 1,268 43 454 29 496 g 260 8 369 42 254 195 377 45 ~ompiled from Reports 2 Daily 3 Month Shoes Shoes Repaired 152 308 74 366 1'72 82 219 95 309 95 25 208 7 165 22 116 June July 237 157 D2 1,593 1,174 D 3 93,690 87,330 M 10,831 8,366 M 8,928 5,927 M 45,524 25,096 M 4,351 2,670 M 538 322 M 2,259 1,352 D Haircuts 247 207 232 373 109 225 201 216 185 TABLE IX (Continued) ISSUES OF Foonl D1tes Reg. Fam. No. Persons Ho. Fam. iss. Food Lbs. Food 9/26 to 10/2 2,337 11,451 2,337 92,403 to 10/9 2,206 10,909 2,206 . 103,812 to 10/16 1,812 8,879 1,812 63,333 to 10/23 1,445 7,081 1,4452 57,781 to 10/30 1,488 7,291 567 65,920 to 11/6 1,527 7,482 687 40,759 to 11/13 1,575 7,717 728 55,199 to 11/20 1,586 7,771 736 33,912 to 11/28 1,587 7,776 798 57,589 to 12/5 1,599 7,835 625 53,214 to 12/11 1,300 6,500 654 51,527 to 12/18 1,100 5,500 689 41,527 to 12/25 650 3,250 438 38,027 to 12 31 736 3,606 448 47,6883 1 1 to 1/31 927 3,832 768 56,026 2/1 to 2/28 1,047 4,396 713 80,1713 3/1 to 3/31 1,209 5,026 815 57,2933 4/1 to 4/30 1,112 4,570 559 62,1633 4/30 to 5/6 966 4,057 366 51,131 to 5/13 983 3,928 364 4'7, 438 to 5/20 1,000 . 4,200 362 48,708 to 5/27 1,008 4,234 356 35,374 to 6/3 934 3,924 324 35,820 to 6/10 951 3,894 348 37,554 to 6/17 972 4,082 310 30,706 to 6/24 972 4,082 247 24,360 to 7/1 980 4,110 268 23,700 1 Food Administration Reports. 2New registration. Distinction between registered and active made. ' 3 Per week average. iss. Month Sept . Oct . Nov . Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July TABLE IX (Continued) RECEIPTS AND ISSUES OF GASOLINE County Gasoline Oil 5,740 848 3,966 296 3,250 380 3,500 440 2,500 300 4,000 500 6,864 984 2,503 300 2,702 260 2;035 200 2,252 280 186 Donated I Gasoline 011 1,328 160 1,850 120 1,350 260 1,510 none 1 No record kept on· receipts or issues at beginning. 187 TABLE X OCCUPATIONS OF ACTIVE .MEMBERS A Accountant •••.••••• 4 Aotor ••••••..•••.•. 3 Air bags •••.••••..• l Auto painter .•••.•. 4 B Baker •••••.•••••••• 3 Ba.rber ••••••••••••• 4 Blacksmith ...••.••. ? Boat builder ••••••. l Boilermaker ..•••••. 5 Bookkeeper •••..••.• 5 Briok layer ....•.•. 9 Builder •....••....• l Butcher •...••••..•• 2 c Cabinet maker .••••. 2 Candy worker ..••.•. l Oar builder •••••••. l Caretaker •••....••. l Oarpenter ......... 63 Oartoonist ••••••... l Caterer •.••.••.•..• 2 Cement worker .••.• 10 Chauffeur .•.••....• 3 Ohiropractor ••..••• l Cigar maker ••...••• l Civil engineer •••.• 2 Clerk ••.•••..•••.• 33 Concrete foreman ••• l Construction .•.•••• a Contraotor •.•••••.• 3 Cook •....•••.••••• 11 Crane operator ...•• l D Dealer •••••.•..••.• 1 · Diesel engineer •••• l Drafter •.•..•...••• 2 Dressmaker ••.•••••. a Driller ••••........ 1 Druggist ....••...•• 1 lC Educational coach •• l Electrioian ••••••• 10 Embalmer ••••••••..• ! Entertainer •....••• l F Farmer •.......•••• 17 Firemn ............ l Floor dresser ••...• l Ford dealer ••••..•. l Foundry worker •.••• l Fruit grower ••..••• l G Garage worker ....•• 2 Gas station ••••..•• l Glass blower ••..... l Glass worker •••...• l Glazier .•..••...••• 2 H Handyman •...•....•• 2 Highway worker •..•• l Housewife •.•..••.• 77 Houseworker ......• 18 I Iron moulder .•.••.. l Ironworker •.•.•..•. 4 J • Janitor .........•.. 3 Jewelry polisher ••• l K Kitchen worker ..... l L Laborer .••••.•••• 145 Landscaper •••.•.••• l Lather •...••.•..•.• 2 Lawidry ••••••••.••• 3 Lawyer •••..••.••••• l 188 TABLE X (Continued) OCCUPATIONS OF ACTIVE MEMBERS L Lineman ••••••••••••. 2 Locksmith ..•..•.••.• l Lumberman .•..•...... 2 M Ma.ohinist •••....•.• 19 Meat cutter ........• 3 Mechanic ...••••.••. 53 Merchant .....•..••.. l Messenger ••••••••••• 1 Milker ••..•..•.••••• l Mill worker .••••..•• 3 Miner •.•.•••••••.••• 5 Mining engineer ..... l Mortuary ..........•. ! Moulder ............. 5 Mud man ••••••••••••• l N Newspaperman ...••..• l Nurse ...•....•....• 10 0 Office manager ..••.. l Office worker ......• 6 011 worker ••..••••. 46 p Painter •..••••..... 25 Palm work •.•.......• l Papier mache worker.2 Peddler ...•..•...... l Pioture ••.•....••... l Pioe fitter ...•.•••. 8 Pipe liner ..•••••.•• 4 Plane meohanic .••••• l Plasterer •....•••.• 11 Plaster paris wkr ••• l Plumber .•..••...•..• 7 Policeman ...•...••.. 3 Preacher ....•.•••••• l Presser .••...•.•...• l Pressman •.••.•..•••. ! Printer ••••...••..•• 5 R Radiator repairman .• ! Radio technician •••• 4 Railroad employee ••• 9 Realtor ..•.••.....•• 2 Restaurant •.•..•..•• ! Rig builder ••••••.•• a Rigger ••••••.••••••• 3 Roadworker ..••.•.••• 2 Roofer ..•........... 3 Rubber worker ..••.• 21 s Salesman •••••••.••• 17 Sander •••.•..••...•. 1 Seamstress ...••...• 10 Secretary .•.......•• l Sheetmetal worker •.• 3 Shoemaker ...•..•...• 4 Shovel operator ••.•• 2 Sign painter ..•.•••. l Steam engineer •...•• 5 Steam fitter .•..•••• l Steel worker •...••• 10 Steeplejack ....•.... l Stenographer ..••..• 10 Steward ............. l Stone ma.son ••••••••• 2 Student .•.••.••••••. 9 T Teamster •••••....... l Telegrapher ..••.•...• 1 Textile worker •....• l Tile setter •....•••• 4 Tinner ...•........•. l Tire maker .....•••.• 4 Title searoher •.•.•. l Tool grinder ...•.••. l Tractor worker •...•. l Trance worker •..•.•• l Truokdriver •.•...•. 51 Trunkmaker .....••..• l Tube splicer ••....•• l TABLE X (Continued) OCCUPATIONS OF ACTIVE MEMBERS u Undertaker .•••••••• 1 Upholsterer •••••••• 1 w Waitress •••••••.••• 4 Watchman ••••••••••• l Welder. · •••••••••••• 7 Well driller ••••••• 1 Woodworker ••••••••• l Not stated •••••••• 14 Unable to work ••••• 4 189 190 TABLE XI OCCUPATIONS OF INACTIVE MEMBERS A Aocountant ••.....•.• 2 Advertiser •••.•.•.•• l Artist .....••.....•• l B .Ba.ker •••.••••••••••• 2 Barber •••.•••.••.••• 4 Blacksmith ....•...•. 2 Body and fender man.2 Boiler maker .••••••• 2 Bookbinder ••••...•.• l Bookkeeper ••.....••• 3 Bricklayer •••.•..••. 2 Builder ••••••.•••••. 2 c Cabinet finisher •••• ! Canvasser .•••••••••• l Carpenter .•••.••••• 27 Cement worker •••...• 6 Chauffeur •....•••.•• 3 Clerk •...•...••.••• 10 Construction worker.2 Cook •..•••••••••.•.• 5 Crane man ...•....••• l D Dairyman •.•••..••..• 1 Dentist ......•...... l Dish patcher •.••..•• l Driller ..••••.•....• 1 E Eleotrical engineer.! Electrician ..••.... 11 Engineer ............ 1 F Farmer ...........••. 6 Finisher •..•.••...•• ! Fireman •.•..•..•..•• 1 Fly boy ••.•..•.••••• 1 r Ford motor worker.· ••. 1 Fruit dealer .•...•.•• l G Gardner •• •.•••....••. 2 Gas engineer ........ ·.1 Gas maker •••••••.•••• 1 Gateman •..••••••••••• 1 Glass blower •••..•... 4 H Highway worker .•.•••. l House mover •.•.•••••• l House wife ••.•.•••.• 30 House worker .•.•..•.. 3 I Inspector •.•••..••••• l Insulator •....••..••. l Iron worker •....••..• 2 L Laborer ....•...••..• 42 Landscaper .••••.••... l Laundryman •••..•••••• l Lineman ....••..••••.• l Lumberman .••••..•...• 2 M Machinist •.•••••••••• ? Meat outter ...•..•••. 2 Mechanic .......••.•• 27 Metal worker •••••••.. l Mill worker •••..•.•.. l Miner ••....•.•....••• 2 Minister ..••..•.••••• l Motion pictures •..••. l Moulder .••••••••••••• l N Nickel plater •••..••• l Nurse ..•••••••••••.•• 4 191 TABLE XI (Continued) OCCUPATIONS OF INACTIVE MEMBERS 0 Office worker ••••••. 4 Oil worker .•••••.•. 31 p Painter .......••.•• 22 Pipe fitter •.••••.•. 5 Pipe liner •.....••.• l Plane turner •...•••• l Plasterer ......•••.. ? Plumber •.•....•••••• 3 Presser ••....•.••••• l Printer ••••••••••..• 5 Power machine opt .•• l s Sailor .••••.•••..••• l Salesman •.•..•..••• 11 Sander ••..••••••.••• l Seamstress ••••..••.• 2 Sheet metal worker •• 2 Sign painter .•.••••• 2 Stationary engineer.l Steel worker ..••... 10 Stenographer ••.•••.• ! Steward .•.••••••...• l Student ...•...•..••• 4 T Tailor .•.........••• l Teacher .•....•.•.••. l Tile setter ••....••• 3 Time keeper .•..•.••• l Tire dealer •..•....• l Traffic offioer ...•. l Truok driver .•.•.•. 21 u Upholsterer •..•••••• l w Waitress •....•.••.•. l Warehouse ma.n •••••.• l Watohma.ker •••••••••• l Watchman •••••••••••• 1 Weeder •••••••••••••• 1 Welder •.........•••. ? Woodworker •••.•••... l Unable to work .••••• l Not stated ••••••.••• a 192 CHAPTER IX soc:OLOGIOAL FINDINGS From the standpoint of s·cientific sociology a number of conclusions may be made with reference to the organization of a co-operative relief unit. There are four imoortant nhases of such a study. First, the social attitudes which individual members reflect in tne organization of the basic wishes.l Second, the social conflicts and crises which the organization has exnerienced. Third, the nature of the social organization of the unit. Fourth, the socialization which the activities of the unit affords in the oarticipation of the members in the group life. The social attitudes (or tendencies in the revised terminology of Znaniecki) provide the insight into the social forces in the unit. The members of the unit indicate various balances and imbalances in their social attitudes. The basic wishes within tnese oersonalities are grouped under various attitudes. The leaders especially show the imbalances which 111 Attitudes are mobilizations and organizations of the wishes with r 0 ference to definite situations. . . • The wistes enter int'o atti tu.des as comoonents. . . The attitudes an senti-ents, ho ever, in vhich tue wishes of the individual fin ex .1ression are determined, not merely by these wishes, but by other f ctors in .the sit _ tion; the wishes of other individuals, for examole. 0 Quoted from R. E. Park and Ernest \ . Burge8s, Introduction to the Science of Sociology, Chica60, 1924, P. 438. 193 have resulted in diQtorted attitudes. The movement has profited from these imbalances in solving its problems. The weakness of the leaders before tue formation of the unit, their ser vility, shame, deoendence uoon others, fear of the future, is transmuted the new attitudes ·of assurance, confidence, in dividual initiative, and hooe. The attitudes of superiority and inferiority alternate much as in any cyclic mental dis order. Dr. Erle F. Young has described this ohenomenon. "Another striking instance of balance in -personality is that between inferiority and suoeriority attitudes which arises in the struggle fox status. This struggle , as has been frequently noticed, is not merely for high status, but for some status . Tne duality of the master-slave tendencies in each of us makes us first sunerior and t~~en inferior in our attitudes towards others, ac ...,ording as the situation C.1. .. anges. The more craven the slave 1 the more domineering he is wnen he becomes master.n The members in the unit afford an interesting case of this fluctation in attitudes caused by the balance in the basic wisnes. Their former weakness beco!nes strength, fear be- comes courage, both more exaggerated because of the opnosition. New attitudes are born in the milieu of new situations. There is a constant te dency on the art of the members, however, to w aver between the attitudes formed by the new organization .and the attitudes derived from the older social or~er, as tne condi tions vary ann chan_e in the unit. !Article on "Balance and Imbalance in Personality" in Kimball Young, Social Attitudes, New York, Henry Holt and Co., 1931, p . 91. 194 There are other · attitudes than tLose rlerived from t.be old order where secur1 ty is orectomin-._nt . There is the emergence of new values, tenuous and fragile. There are new balances of wishes ~n tne Personality adjustments. These result in conflicting attitudes or tendencies of members both toward the unit and toward the economic system they n· ve deserted. As Znaniecki has said with reference to tne formation of new values: "There is a psychological contlict between this desire for stability and the desire for new exoerience whic. h leads every member to wish to co-operate with the · group in the r·u1t ill l ent ot the new task. However, tne social con!lict is not reduceable to the agglome ration of these individual psychological conflicts, for the desire for new ex _erience of each member is onnosed not only to his own desire for stability, but also the structure of the grouo as obJective expression of the desire for stability of all the other members, and his desire !or stability is opoosed not only to his ovm _ esire for new exnerience, but also to the new task as 001 on mani:t'estation 01 the desire for ne 11 exnerience of all otner members." There is the resulting con!'lict not onl) ot attitude with attitude, but the interactional conflict between the old attitudes with the tensions oroduced by new attitudes, and oari oassu. The unit members are constantly achieving new social values within the grouu and forning new attitudes while 1 Article on 11 Grouo Crises Pro uced by Voluntary Undertakingsu, in Kimball Young, Social Attitudes. 195 nreserving the old. Tne unit nas orovided for a ne type of satisfaction of the wish for security. The reliance upon the goodwill of otners has been. substituted for the reliance uoon money or savings . ~~ile members cannot bank their earnings, they can take advantage of the future co-operation and orotection the unit affords through the other workers. In case one oecomes sick or cannot work, the unit is t eir insurance against the future. The wish for new ex~eiience is const ~ntly being satisfied by the novel problems , which even the most routine worker must exoerience in his daily tasks. There is less and less of this as the unit becomes more stable and the tasks more toutine. The leaders, more than the followers, turn to otner fields of activity for their satisfaction of this basic wish. The wish for response and the wish for recognition are amply satisfied in the constant interplay of oersonalities witnin the unit. There is a comoanionshio and an interest of each for all which affords response. Further, the leaders take an interest in the needs of the members and t.~eir wel fare. The oositions of responsibility and leadershio afford recognition. The positions are multiplied without discretion, and everyone who desires can achieve tne st tus of an officer after a short time, if he works. Tne status of tne members which has been lost by unemoloyment is again restored in the 196 work in the unit. The community recognizes their place, their fellow comrades recognize their resoective olaces , and the leaders in the unit recognize their olaoe. A makeshift status is thus cre~ted which resembles the former satisfactions of the wish for recognition. The wish for self-giving or mutual aid (sugcested by Bogardus 1 ) and the wish for self exnression (suggested by Eubank 1 ) as added to the basic cate~ories of Thomas (security, response, recognition, and new exoerience) by Eubank, play a very important oart in the live s of the members of the unit. They have undoubtedly not experienced these last two wishes, and their satisfactions elsewhere in sufficient degree, exceoting within the family or oerhaos the church. However, there is a strong oond when men eat and exist together that can not be attained when they merely talk or think together. The wish for self-giving and the wish for self-exoression both are supressed by society and repressed by the individual. The unit thus nrovides in the self-seeking society in wnich we live a situation where the satisfaction of these basic wishes can . be attained more fully. The failure to comoletely satisfy the wish for security is comoensated for by the satisfaction of these two wishes.· ~en prefer to labor with others than 1 Earle Edward Eubank, The Concepts of Sociology, New York, 1932, P. 186. 197 to gain merely for themselves. Tney also orefer to do what they want to do ratuer than to be cramned and stunted by the control of others. Many individuals, realizing the evils of the economic societJ where the~e basic wishes have been re pressed, find a liberation for tneir spirits in the unit. Many find a place for ex .ressing wh·; t they have "always wanted to dou, no matter how feeble such expression is or how dwarfed they are by the limitations of opoortunity. New attitudes are constantly being formed while the old are pre served and held in abeyance. This constant conflict between the two sets of social values, one derived from the unit and the other from the economic order, create tne conflicts in individuals and in the groun which result in crises in the movement. The continuance of tlie social attitudes derived from the ca :italistic social order and the acceotance of the new social atvitudes hamoered by weakness, created by the co- l operative group, make many unhaooy. Many, however, are enabled to forget the evils of tneir own lives by living on the delusions created by these new but nebulous social values. The unit tnus provides a betuer society, .less filled witn reoressions and frustrations of the basic wishes than the society out of which they have come. It offers the hone of a greater world, which many make almost a religion. F·or this reason many individuals will remain within the organization, 198 hooing that the organization will raise the standard of living sufficiently to enable them to live within tnis new social order rather tJ.1an be forced to return to the old. An un- conscious 11 hone of deliverance" oervades every life. If the unit Lad been able to provide the necessities of shelter, clothing, and food alone, a more oroper estimate of the social values could be made, but the constant tension between satisfaction of the wish for security, which the economic · order nrovides , ahd the new values attained through satis faction of tne other basic wishes, prevented a clear analysis of the new values. In the soecialization of modern economic and industrial life there is an isolating tendency which makes the individual a solitary creature. The social values of an agricultural life have been lost to some extent wi t:.l this specialization. Consequently, as the member participates in the welfare of others as well as ·himself, ... e gains the ne ~ satisfaction of wishes , and realizes ne values. The members do not consciously realize tne source ot t11ese ne · values where the new values are emasculated by frustrations of tne satisfaction of security in existence. Thus ~he permanence of the grouo is constantly being effected. This is in accord with the statement of Park and Burgess: nThe securit., and Permanence of any society or association deoends uoon the extent to which it nernits the individuals 199 who comoose ·it to realize their fundamental wis.ues." 1 This imbalance between the wish for security and tl1.e other wishes has resulted in the unit becoming merely a temoorary organization for which the ot:L~er wishes can oe satisfied witDin the unit. They cannot f unction when this b~sic wish is not satisfied. A man may only exist, but he cannot be a social being without existing. It is interesting to note that the four periods of the unit's history, roughly grouoed acc9rding to the oroblems encountered, correspond to the discussion of · the four stages of grouo crises described by Znaniecki: "It is an obvious and indisnensable nostulate of ~ ;_ scientific sociology that the effect which a definite cause wil l nroduce in a social grouo depends orimarily on the structure of the grouo, and only secondarily on such factors as racial comnosition, geograohic environment, etc. . . . First, the group which has undertaken t he new task tries to have it performed outside of its own structure by drawing tue necessary social forces fro n the supert·1ous nersonal activity of innovators and volunteers or from otner grouos. . • . Secondly , t~e gr oun incoroorates tne new task into t ,_ e nor nal orocess of its development as a m ere increase in the rate of this urocess; it reduces its task to functions qualitatively similar to those it has already been oerrorLing , though quantitatively more extensive. New social forces are obtained by drawing uoon tne suoerflous uer sonal activity of its functionaries or by enlisting new functionaries wi t hout cl:1ange of organization. . . . Next, the grouo agre ; S to inevit ble qualitative changes of its functions, but merely as external ad 'itions to the normal system w.t1icn are 1 Op. cit., o. 441. 200 not allowed to disturb this system. New social forces come into Dlay, either in the shaoe of new exneriences, institutions with new functionaries, or by making the private activity o:e its ~nerbers useful for the public task by control and regulation. . . • Finally, new forces snontaneously arising from the mass of members create ne functions for the group and thus reorganize it functionally, though they leave unim oaired the formal organization. We may add, not as a scientific hypothesis, but as a mere supposition, that the next stage should be the formal reconstruction of the groun in fccordance with its functional reorganization. 11 The orocesses involved in the growth and development of a new group seem to be the same everywhere. Human nature has similar organization in all situations. The ''unit" went through these four stages and finally is emerging into the speculative stage suggested by Znaniecki as the formal re construction in accordance with new functions. The new constitution adopted in November of 1933 redefined the f:tmction, in accordance with the realization that their organization would be quite oermanent. The first constitution constantly referred to the "return to normal conditions 0 , while the second constitution is aware of the relative certainty of orolonged unemoloyment. Other orocesses seem to be evident in considering the type of group activity l,ossessed by the unit. One would 1 znaniecki, Florian, article, 11 Grou 1 Crises Produced by Voluntary Undertakin s", in Kimbrll Young, ~ocial Attitudes, Ne.... York, Henry Holt and C or11oany, 19 31 201 exoect, where action was imperative for survival, that there would be constant friction between t nose orogressive in their social or nolitical ideas and those who were reactionary. The lack of this conflict is described by Znaniecki: "In our instances, though there were innovators, they met little, if any, O )oosition; and initiative was welcomed at once by t heir groups. Nor do we find any division within the grouu between "conser vative" party wishing to oreserve the established society at the cost of failing in the new task, and a 11 orogressive" or 11 revolutionaryu party desirous, above all, of success in the new task, even tt the cost of breaking un the established system." However, there are crises within the group, and t hese are more intense in voluntary grouns than in forced groups. "The intensity of the crisis depends on the rel ative imoortance of change w hich t h e ne : task seems to require. The duration of the crisis oro voked by a given new task deoends on the r elative power of resistance of t he group structure as against the new social forces which the group members bring to bear uoon it. I n grouns based on voluntary co-ooeration, allowing free play to individual initiative, the conflict proceeds fur ther than in grouns where co-operation is enforced. On t h e other hand, in voluntary groups tlJ.e conflict is less intense, for t h e strugture is m ore elastic and allows m ore for novelty." The conflicts and crises in the groun, h owever, come at cer- tain oeriods int_ e "unit 1 s 11 activity, when unrest appears because of .inst ... bil_ i ty of t he inco .e or the failure of progress of t he unit. Unrest is contagious and spreads into 1 Florian Znaniecki, Ibid., o. 286. 2 Ibid., o. 287. .202 a crisis, if there is enougn tension in the group. As Park and Burgess have described t hi s genesis of social conflict: 11 Unrest in tne in-~ividual becomes social when it is, or seems to be, transmitted ~rom one individual to another, but more oarticularly when it produces something akin to tle milling process in the herd, so .that the manifestations of discontent in A, com municated to B, and from B reflected back to A, oroduce a circular reaction. . . . . The significance of social unrest is that it reoresents at once a breaking up of the establisned routine and a oreparation for new collective action. 11 .J. The meetings of the units described previously are essentially potential mobs; individuals unable to reflect and consider a o1an of action, because dire necessity is so close that one of the members is reported to have said: "You don't think when you start working down here, all you do is to hope for something better, and you hooe so hard that you cannot h~ve a connected series of thoughts called reasoning." The social distance between the rneubers is too great and they never see each other except as other workers in the hive. Their discussions do not betoken mutual understanding and desire to come to an agreement; they indicate rather that tendency of all to rationalize the desire and to make the wish the father of the thought. Concerted action is the result of unconscious agreements becoLing voiced and lR . .t£. Park and E. . .. . Burgess, Introduction to the Science of Sociologx, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill., 1924, o. 865. 2 Interview with veteran worker. 203 suonorted ~ masse by the group. 11 The crowd does not discuss and hence it does not reflect. It sirnoly "mills". Out of this milling process a collective impulse is formed dominates all members of the crowd. Crowds, when they act do so impulsively. . When a crowd acts it becomes a mob. nl The predominant olace of agressive leaders and imnulsive leaders is clearly because of the loose character of the organization. As Park and Burgess describe tne acting crowd: ''The organized crowd is controlled by a common ournose and acts to achieve, no matter how vaguely it is defined, a common end. . • • The crowd, however, responds to collective reoresentations. • . . The crowd carries out the suggestions of the leader, and even though there be no division of labor, each individual acts mo~e or less in his own way to achieve a common end. 11 The function of tne leader, in mouldin 0 his grouo in accordance with the motives g~iding his own life's work, is described by t~civer and is esoecially apolicaole to this situation of leader-follower relati nships: "The recognition of an interest wnich can be pro moted by an organization is not of itself sufficient to bring an association into being. There are inertias, nrejudices, oroblems of ways and means, still to be overcome. Here is where the service of leade·rship is most manifest. Usually it is the iniative, enthusiasm, and courage of one or a small number which prenare t he ground. The leaders , whether from sheer devotion to the cause or from the sense of incidental advantabes to themselves in the form of 1 Ibid., u. 869. 2 Park and Burgess, Ibid., o. 876. 204 place or oower or orestige or economic gain--usually no doubt from a combination of these motives, accentuate the advantages of organization and seek to establisn attitudes in the uotential members favorable to its formation. Often some orecioitant, some crisis or conjuncture of events, stimulates the leaders them- selves to action. . . The tasks of the leaders in the nascent stege are to create or in tensify the consciousness of the need for ·tne new organization or in other words, the sense of interest around which it is organized, to instill confidence in themselves and thus, in the ef j'iciency o!' the organization, they propose, and to harnass this heightened sense of need to the practical necessities of financial or otiler co-ooeration on the oart of the members. In order to organize an interest, it must first be presented in a certain detachment from otners, and then, in its organized form, it must be brought into harmony with the comolex of interests of the members. The nature of the interest to be organized determines t he soecifi c task of leadership. The latter is obviously different where the interest is of an economic nature from wh -. t it is when a cultural interest is in question. 0 1 Maciver continues with an analysis of the var~ous types of crises which a e:;rouu may experience: "We select for brief discussion three main types of conflict which occur persistently in the history of associations. Tne first arises from the lack of harmony between tne objectives which fall within the interest-comolex. . . . Tne second type of conflict arises where a S ·.1ecific interest of association demands a course of action which is· ooposed to some other interests not relative to the association as such but also entert~ned by some members of the group. . . A tnird source of conf"lict is found in the constant necessity of the new adaotation of means to ends. By the end we R. New York, l • .aciver, Society, Its Structure and Changes, mc~illan, 1931, p. 153. 205 understand the orovisional basis of agreement regarding the interest of the associati on wnicn haf to be trans lated into action by means of a oolicy." A chart showing t he vario us varieties of group agree ment is indicative of three tyoes of agreement oossessed by the unemoloyed grouns: Basis I Authority II Compromise TYPES OF AGREEMENT 2 Process Acquiesence and assent Give and take Nature of Decision Formal unanimity Formal unanimity Treatment of Differences Suoressed or held in abeyance. Registered in the -result but not reconciled. III Enumeration Inconclusive majority Registered in IV Integration discussion determ ination the process but Conclusive discussion not in the result. Real unanimity Expressed in the process and conserved in the result. The unit nossesses three kinds of bases for agreement, those of authority, co mnromise, and occasi onally enumeration. A hybrid between authority and enumeration seems to occur where the leaders act on authority and gain acquiesence and lR. M. Ma.elver, Ibid., o. 167. 2 R. m. ~aciver, Ibid.' D. 178. 206 assent to their orooosals by the failure of the inconclusive discussion. Between themselves there is the compromise basis where give and take and formal unanimity are oresent. Every one in the movement feels that he is caoable of being a leader when the leaders oresent such poor guidance, and, consequently, aggressive and active leadership results in whatever success has been attained. The most successful types of units have been the units oossessing a dictator as the manager. The Oomuton unit did not possess such a man and, consequently, remained in a semi-democratic condition, where the Compton Co-ooerative Relief Association, the Advisory Board, functioned through its president as the arbiter and di~penser of aid for the mass of members. On other matters the unit has had demo- cratic control, e.g. in the handling of local problems , details of apuointment, work, food distribution, etc. The co-onerative, moreover, has restored the collective spirit of men's activities and has effaced the isolation pro moted by modern snecialization in industry, where each man does not know the other's labor or understand t!.Leir common life. Cooley's remark about tne necessity for class-conscious ness in the orkingmen aoolies to the unemployed. "It is quite aooarent that an organized and intelligent class-consciousness in the hand-wo~king ~eool~ 1 is one of the primary needs of a democratic society.' ------- lcharles Horton Cooley, Social Organization, Ne York, 1921, p. 284. 207 Men fail to see democracy in a world where they are not bound togethe r in a common life. The breakdown of the church, the tremenduous numbers of the 11 unchurched", and the ~eakness of l abor unions has lead to the type of individualism which makes for anarchy and violates all of man's basic social wishes. The unit, therefore, brings a new sense of social solidarity men have never found in their lives before. It is a new economic society , however poorly it is enabling men to exist. The chief values of the unit to the men is social rather than economic. Men join the unit to forget their troubles and worries as well as to obtain food for their labors. Men stay with the unit after they no longer need it. Indeed, many join it before they are forced to do so. It serves the function of reuniting men with one another. The descriotion biven by Cooley of the function of a union equally ao9lies to the unemployed unit: "The function of the union as spheres of fellowship and self-develooment is equally vital and little under stood . To have a we- feeling, to live shoulder to shoulder with one's fellows, is the only human life; we all need it to keeo us from selfishness, sensuality, and despair, and the hand-workers need it even more than the rest of us. Usually witJ.out pecuniary resources and insecure of his job and his home, he is, in isolation~ miserably weak and in a way to be cowed and unmanned by misfortune or mere ap rehension. Driven about in a confused society, unimoortant, aooarently, to the rest of the '.orld, it is no wonder if he feels, 11 I am no link of thy great chain" and loses faith in hi .self, in life, and in God. The union makes him feel that he is oart of a whole, one of a fellowshio, that there are those ~o stand by him in trouble, that he counts for something in the great life. He gets from it that thrill of broader s~ntiment, the same in kind that men get in fightifig for t :.eir country; his self is enlargei and enriched and his imagination feeds with hooes. 11 208 His descriotion of the motives of this class aoplies to the responsible and deoendable members of the unemployed unit: "In general no sort of person means better than the hand-laboring man. They are simple, honest peoole, as a rule, with that bent toward integrity which is fostered by working in wood and iron and often lost in the subtelties of business. Moreover, their experience is such as to develop a sense of the brotherhood of man and a desire to realize it in institutions. Not havin~ enjoyed the artificial suoport of accumulated property, they have the more reason to know the deoendence of each on his fellows. Nor have they any great hopes of personal aggrandize ment to isolate t he n1 and oam9er t heir self-conscious ness. u ~ The lack of union organization in this territory probably accounts not only for the conditions creating unemoloyment but also by an irony of fate or Providence for the birth of the co-ooerati ve in the "white snot 11 · of America. . Men must live in a brotherhood or lose t ;._eir mind and in this case their bodies. The soirit of man and the economic determinism in life makes somethings inevitable. 1 Cooley, C. H., Ibid., p. 287. 2 Cooley, C. H., Ibid., o. 289. 209 BIBLIOGRAPHY Cooley, c. H. , Social Organization, New York, 1921, pp. 284, 287, 289 et ~· Eubank, E. E., The Concepts of Sociology, New York, 1932, pp. 186 and 441. Maciver, R. M., Society, Its Structure and Changes, MacMillan, New York, 1931, p. 153, 167, 1?8. Park, R. E. and Burgess, E. w., Introduction to the Science of Sociology, Chicago, 1924, pp-.-438, 865, 869, and 876. Young, Kimball, Editor Social A~tituc;ies, Henry Holt and Co., New York, 1931, p. 91 and pp. 286, 287. Young~ Erle Fiske, Article on"Balance and Imbalance in Personality~ in Young, Kimball, Social Attitudes, p. 91. Znaniecki, Florian, Article on "Group Crises Produced by Voluntary Undertakings 0 , Henry Holt and Co., New York, 1931, in Social Attitudes, Edited by Kimball Young. Newspapers News-Tribune, Compton, California for the following issues: December 1, 1931, Volume 11, No. 5. · December 11, 1931, Volume 11, No. 11. January 26, 1902, Volume 11, No. 24. February 5, 1932, Volume 11, No. 27. February 26, 1932, Volume 11, No. 33. March 11, 1932, Volume 11, No. 37. Oda, Hiromu, Research Manuscripts "Survey of the Japanese in Relation to the Self help Unemployed Relief Co-operatives in Los Angeles Cou.nty", Unpublished manuscript of research in sociology, Compton Junior College, 1932. A. ORIGINAL co~sT!TUTION--JUNE TO OCTOBER, 1932. CONSTIT .. -TIO AND BY-L.a· .vS OF THE UNEMPLOYED CO-OPERATIVE RELIEF ASSOCIATION~ ·unit No. l Chanter 1. The name of this Organization shall be: "Unemployed Co-operative Relief Association of Compton, Unit No. 1. 11 PREAdBLE TO CONSTITLrrION I To observe and defend the laws of the Nation, State, and/or Community, and to render all aid oossible in enforcing the same. II To do unto others as you would have done unto you. III To pass no judgment on anyone or anything without a fair and impartial trial. IV To orotect and assist in maintaining a living wage for all able and willing to work. v To orotect and assist all existing business establishments, in securing a reasonable return on their investment. VI To urotect and assist in maintaining a reasonable standard of value for our . National medium of exchange. VII To maintain the highest efficient 1roduction nossible. VIII Conservation of all food and other oroducts now or hereafter oermitted to become waste. IX To sacrifice all personal feelings for tne 6 ood of tue whole. x To feed, clothe, and otherwise care for the widovs, orohans, criooles and other unfortunate non-producers. XI To abolish idleness, both mental and ohysical. XII To trade manoower hours for the necessities of life, ~hen and wherever practicable, by usin 0 man-oower hours as far as is possible in lieu of money until the oresent deoression and money shortage adjusts itself. XIII To adhere to a simnle olan of ooeration as far as is -Jossiole, oermitting a ra ·1id exoansion or contraction as conditions require. XIV To guard the laws of God, Nation, and Nature in reventing any abuse thereof. CHAPTER II CONS·rrTUTI ON The objects of this Association shall be: 1. To mobilize all available idle man-power and utilize the same. A. In accumulating, transoorting, and/or distributing to the workers, hungry, destitute, widows, and/or or bans all food and other roducts, other~ise permitted to become waste, and/or necessary beneficial or convenient to this Association. B. To provide the means there£ore . 2. To co-ooerate with, and/or otherwise deal witn any otner body, organization, individual, and/or grouo of individuals in carrying out any one or more of t11e •)urooses of this organization. 3. To accumulate and 1 or otherwise conserve any and all of the necessaries of life that ·may be useful, beneficial, and/or convenient. Carrying out any one or more of the objects of this Association. CHAPTER III MEMBERSHIP 1. All oersons uoholding the laws of the United States shall be eli 0 iole to u.embe1shio in this Association, subject to the aonroval of the Board of Directors. 2. QUORU~~: Trenty me !1bers of this organization, at any regular or s · ecial meeting orooerly called, shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of the business of the meeting. 3. VOTING POWERS: Voting powers in this Association at any regular constituted meeting, shall be limited to members who have worked for the benef it of the Association at least one week. 4. Y~~TINGS OF T HE ASSOCIATI O N: A. A meeting to be held at regular intervals by the manager, for him to receive detailed reports from his department heads. All me m bers of the associati on eligible to attend. Manager to act as chairman of t his meeting. B. A business meeting to be · held at least once a month by all the members of the association to transact such business as may come before . them. C. Board of Direc~ors to hold regular meetings at least once a week for the purpose of receiving reports from the manager and administer association busines s as may come before them. D. Special meetings may be called from time to tim e as necessity requires. E. Any and all actions in any specially-called meeting must be ratified at t he next regular meeting of the Board of Directors before it becomes a permanent order of the Association. 5. AM ENDM ENTS: Any. Amendm ents or changes to this constituti on or by-laws to be submitted in writing at a regular meeting of the association, to be read and act ed upon at t he next regular meeting. Article 1. All by-laws amended shall .not become a permanent law until they have been approved by t he asso ciation in a regula r business meeting. 6. Order of Business: A. Rules. All meetings to be governed by Roberts• Rules of Order. OHAPTER I V BOARD OF DIR.l£0TORS 1. The Board of Directors of this as sociation shall be com- posed of eleven members. A. These members shall be elected from t he body of the Assoc i ation. B. QUORUM: Six members of the Board of Directors repre sented in person shall constitute a quorum for tne transaction of any business that may come before the Board of Directors. C. PROXIES: No more than two proxi es shall vote in any ~ regular or s oecial meeting. CHAPTER V POWERS A N D DUTIES OF DIRECTORS I. The Board of Directors shall form ulate, or cause to be formulated, suitable rules and regulations in conformity with the Preamble, Constitution, and By-laws of this association for the orderly conduct of the business of the association. A. The Board of Direct ors to appoint a manager. II. To fix the duties and resoonsibilities of the manager in the conduct of the business o:t· this association. III. To prepare or cause to be prepared and put into operation, as simple a system of operating the business of this asso ciation . as is permissible, permitting th~ rapid expansion or contraction of the operative methods of the association. IV. To Cause to be divided, and/or subdivided into departments, and/or other suitable divisions the operative system of this association, as will be for the best interest of the asso ciation as a whole. V. To create, and/or cause to be created new anu additional department~ subdivisions, enlargements, and/or extensions that may be for the best interests of the association. VI. To delegate any powers hereby conferred upon tne Board of Directors, to the manager, and/or any other oerson or persons who snall hereafter be vested with the powers so delegated, when tne Board is not in session. VII . DUTIES OF THE MANAGER: A. Duties of the manager shall be to appoint assistant managers and deoartment heads, and delegate systematically any power or authority upon these departments. These appoint ments to be approved by tne Board at their next meeting. He shall sign with the President and Secretary important documents of this association. B. To put into operation, as soon as is practicable, all the powers conferred upon him, and any other power and authority bestowed upon him from time to time by the Board. 0. To at all times adhere to the Preamble, Constitution, and By-laws, rules, systems, plans, and/ or methods in operation, or to be hereafter put into operation. D. To submit to the Board at its regularly constituted meeting, a report of the Progressive Activity of the Asso ciation, for its approval. E. Assistant M anager to take full charge of tne Manager's duties in his absence, after having_ been approved as Assistant Manager by the Board of Directors. CHAPTER VI I. Officers of this association and Board of Directors shall be: President First Vice-president Second Vice-president Secretary Three trustees CHAPTER VII I. The President shall preside at all meetings, act as Chair man of the monthly business meetings of the association, and of all the meetings .of the Board; he shall be oonsidered as the executive of this association. He shall sign with the Manager and the Secretary all documents, leases, contracts, and all important transactions of this association. II. The Vice-presidents shall act as President in the absence of the President. III. The Secretary shall keep true and accurate minutes of all meetings of the Board as well as have charge of all clerical transactions; see that a good systenatical and order ly system is operated in each department; see that a general and accurate report can be obtained on reasonably short notice; at all times working in full co-operation with tne manager. B. Submit a monthly report to t~e Board of the detailed operations of the association, such as inventory receipts and expenditures, number of registrations of working men, amount of produce received, gasoline and oil used, gasoline and oil bought or donated, etc., these reports to be filed for future reference. He shall sign with President and Manager, all important documents, and in general perform such duties as the Board may delegate to him. ELEC'l'ION OF OFF' ICERS No. 1 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Election of the Board of Directors shall be held at the regular monthly business meeting of the Association, in the months of January, April, July, and October. The term of office to be six months, re-election of six members of the Board to be held in the months of January and July, and the other five members to be re-elected in the months of April and October. No. 2 PRESIDENT, VICE-P~SIDENT. AND SE CRETARY Re-election o:f' these officers to be held at the first meeting of the Board of Directors immediately after the regular monthly business meeting of the Association, held in the months of January, April, July, and October. No. 3 'rRUSTEES Three trustees shall be elected from the Board of Directors and serve for six months, the first three to be elected. One to serve for two months, one for four months, and one for six months. Duties of the Trustees shall be to: Act as an Auditing Committee, audit the books of the Association quarterly and submit a report in writing to the Board of Directors of their findings as to the Assets and Liabilities· of the Association. To hold a quarterly inventory of all property and equipment used by the Association, keeping an accurate record at all times of said equipment, that it may be returned to 1 ts owners at the expiration of its use:t·ulness to this association. The Trustees shall examine all important papers, contracts, and documents before the President, Secretary, and Manager affix their signatures to same. To perform such other duties as the Board may designate from time to time. I. Roll Oall. CHAPTER VIII ORDER OF BUSINESS II. Minutes of last meeting. III. Correspondence and Documents. IV. Reports of Officers and Committees. V. Unfinished business. VI. New business. VII. Good of the Association. VIII. Next meeting and adjournment. B. REVISED CONSTITUTION--OCTOBER, 1932 TO NOVEMBER 20, 1933. UNEMPLOYED CO-OPERATIVE RELI~F ASSOUIATION PREAMBLE The Preamble is the same as the one given in the uoriginal Constitution" section. Section l CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS ARTIOLE I The name of this organization shall be the Unemployed Relief Association of Compton, Unit l. Section 2 Object and Purpose. The object and purpose of this Association shall be to solicit, accumulat~ and conserve the economic waste and utilize all such economic waste products accumulated, for the sustenance and relief of our unemployed friends and neignbors during a time of depression, to the end that their individuality, self-respect and American independence may be maintained until such time as they can again devote their time to pursuit of gain. Section 3 This Association recognizes and acknowledges the right of each individual to exchange his time and efforts to the best advantage in his chosen endeavors. Section 4 This Association is organized for temporary emergency purposes only. Section 5 This Association shall automatically cease to function when the emergency for which it was organized shall have passed or when it is deemed by the citizens of this community that tne best interest of all con cerned will best be served by the dissolution of this organization. Section 6 This Association shall not affiliate with any other Association or organization other than the Compton Co-operative Relief Association without the consent of the officers and directors of the Compton Co operative Relief Association. ARTICLE II Section 1 The officers of tnis Association shall be; President, Vice-President, and Secretary, and two Committeemen, chosen by the Association. Section 2 The officers and directors of the Compton Oo-oper at i ve Relief Association shall be, officers ex officio of this Association. Section 3 . The officers of this Association shall be men or women acceptable to the Compton Co-operative Relief Association; Section 4 The officers o:t· this Association, and all other subjects or propositions decided by the Association shall be elected or decided by a popular majority vote, either by acclamation, sign, or ballot. Section 5 President: The duties of the President of this Association shall be to direct the work of the Association, preside at meetings, sit as a member of the grievance committee, be active manager and executive of the Association, examine and sign reports, appoin\ in addition to the Vice-President and Secretary, additional assistant managers or department heads subject to the approval of the Compton Co-operative Relief Association, shall be responsible for reports, information, and such like duties as naturally fall to the head of the organization. Section 6 Vice-President: The Vice-President of this Asso ciation shall fulfill the duties of the President in case of his absence. Section 7 Secretary: The Secretary of this Association shall with the President be responsible for compiling and issuing reports of the activities of the Association, shall keep a true and correct record of all meetings of the Association and ehal~ at tne discretion of the Presiden~ be an assistant manager of the Asso ciation. The Secretary snall furnish all possible information concerning the Association activities when requested or as authorized by the President of this Association or President of the Compton Co operative Relief Association. The Secretary of tnis Association shall be chairman of a grievance com mittee of this Association and shall have the power to appoint or select two members to act with him in receiving grievance reports. The Secretary shall be Chairman of tne Registration Committee. ARTICLE III Section 1 Membership in this Association may be acquired by the applicant, registering his or ner name, correct address and occupation and furnishing such other information as may be required by the registering officers. Section 2 The management of this Association acting with tne administrative officers and Directors of the Compton Co-operative Relief Association shall approve all membership for relief through this Association by an O.K. dating and initialing the original registration card. Section 3 The approval of the President, Vice-President or Secretary of this Association, with the approval of the administrative officers or directors of the Compton Co-operative Relief Association shall place applicant on record in this Association for relief. Section 4 The officers of this Association acting with the officers of tne Co~pton Co-operative Relief Asso ciation shall have the power to extend or. withhold membership in this Association at their discretion. Section 5 This Association does not contemplate the regis tration in its membershi p of anyone living within the confines of a oorporated city other than Compton. Registration of any member of an applicant residing in any other incorporated city than Compton snall be passed on by the officers of t his Association, tne administrative officers, and the Directors of the Compton Co-operative Relief Association before such Applicant shall receive any relief through this Association. ARTICLE IV Meetings of this Association shall be oalled by the President as occasion may require. For calling any special meeting for this Association, the President shall consult with at least one of the administrative officers or Directors of the Compton Co-operative Relief Association, shall state the purpose, time, and place for which said meeting is to be called. No meetings . of this Association or its members shall be called for any religious or political reason or purpose. ARTICLE V Section l Grievances Any member of this Association may state a grievance to the chairman of the grievance committee at any time he feels he has a just grievance or cause for complaint. All grievances shall be set forth in writing, clearly indicating time, place, and cause of the grievance and stating such constructive cor rective measure as in his opinion are required where policy or principle is involved. All grievances stated in writing shall be reviewed by two or more officers or directors of the Compton Co-operative Relief Association before a final decision is made. Section 2 Appointments The President or Manager of this Association shall appoint assistant department heads, clerks, of committees as in his opinion are necessary to carry out the function or purpose of this organization in accordance with the spirit of its inception. The Secretary of the Association shall be ohairman of the grievance committee and the President shall with tne co-operation of the Secretary appoint two additional members to act on the grievance committee. The President shall appoint such investigating committees as are necessary. ARTICLE VI Section l General This Association being altruistic and benevolent in purpose, each member making an application to this Association for membership automatically pledges his co-operation and offers his time, labor, and efforts for the common good and agrees to accept as his voluntary duty, sucn tasks as are assinged to him by those placed in authority in this organization; to be tolerant of the faults of others and to work for the good of all. Section 2 The management of this Ass.ooiation in conjunction with the officers and directors of the Compton Co operative Relief Association shall promulgate such rules and regulations for the operation of this Association as shall be just and equitable for the members of this Association and the best interests of the community. After reorganization of Unit fl. Approved by the whole Association November 15, 1933. 0. NEW CONSTITUTION ADOPTED NOVEMBER 20, 1933. PREAMBLE The Preamble is the same as the one given in the original constitution of Unit l, except tnat number 5, 6, 10, 11, and 14 have been omitted. Section 1 CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS ARtICLE I The name of this Organization shall be tne Unemployed Co-operative Relief Association of Compton, Unit #1. Section 2 The object and purpose of ·this Association shall be to provide; so far as is possible to its members through the utilization of such economic waste products as can be accumulated by their efforts, sustenance and relief in these times of depression, to the end that their individuality, morale, self respect, and American independence may be fostered. Section 3 This Association recognizes and acknowledges the right of each individual to exchange his time and efforts to the best advantage in his chosen endeavors. Section 4 This Association shall not affiliate with any other Association or Organization, or accredit delegates to any meetings of such other Organization or Asso ciation, except upon approval of a two-thirds majority of the members present and voting at a regular or special meeting of this Association. ARTICLE II Section l The officers of this Association shall be a President, who shall be ex-officio General Manager, a Vioe President, and a Secretary-Treasurer, all to be elected from the registered or honorary membership by popular vote at a regu ar or special meeting called for that purpose, together with a first and second Assistant Manager. to be appointed by the President-General Manager. Section 2 All elective officers shall serve for a period of six months from the date of their election unless removed within that period for cause, by a majority vote of the members attending a meeting called es pecially for that purpose. Any such meeting shall be called only after at least twenty-four hours notice to the membership given in the customary manner. Section 3 The duties of the President-General Manager of this Association shall be to direct its policies and activities, to preside at all meetings, and such other duties as are customarily delegated to the President of an Association of this character. The duties .of the Vice-President are to assume the duties of the President during absence, except those of the General Manager, which are to fall to the First Assistant Manager. The duties of the Assistant Managers are to super vise, under the guidance of the General Manager, the operation of such departments as may be assigned to their charge. The duties of the Secretary-Treasurer shall be to carry on all secretarial work of the Association in such manner as he may be directed by the General Manager or the Assistant Managers. He shall be responsible for the accumulation and preservation of all data bearing on Association activities, particularly the minutes of all meetings. He shall handle and make due accounting of all funds of this Association, under tbe supervision of the General Manager, or such Auditing Committee as may be appointed. ARTICLE III Section l Membership in this Association shall be divided into three classes as follows: CLASS #l shall consist of all new applicants who have registered their name, address, occupation, and such other data as may be required by tne Executive Officers, and shall be a Probationary Membership for a period of thirty days to enable proper investigation of the applicant. Members in Class 1 shall be entitled to a voice but not a vote at the meetings of the Association. CLASS #2 shall consist of all members of this Asso ciation who have satisfactorily passed through the thirty day probationary period, but who do not devote at least thirty hours weekly to the work of the Association. Members in this class are entitled to a voice and a vote at all meetings. OLASS #3 shall consist of such members as have satisfactorily passed the probationary period and who devote thirty hours or more weekly to the work of this Association or who may have been declared by a vote of at least two~thirds of the members present at any regular meeting, honorary members in consideration of special services rendered. These honorary members shall be entitled to a vote and a voice at meetings, but no· other benefits of the Association. No member shall be considered as in good standing, or entitled to any of the benefits of this Association unless his work record shows compliance with the work regulations of the class in which he has been placed. Section 2 The Sunerintendent of Personnel shall serve as Chair- /; man of the Membership Committee, with the authority to select such assistants as he may deem necessary, and no applicants shall be entitled to receive benefits under classes two or three until such Committee has formally approved his application. ARTICLE IV Section l Regular meetings of this Association shall be in the afternoon on Monday of each week. Me·etings falling on the first Monday of each month shall be devoted exclusively to business. Section 2 No special meeting of this Association shall be called for any purpose, except upon the approval of at least three of the officers of this Asso ciation, and upon not less than twenty-four hours notice to the members, and the call for such special meeting shall state the time, place, and purpose for such call. Section 3 No meeting shall be called at any time for religious or sectarian ourooses. ... ... ARTICLE V Section l The General Manager shall appoint a Chairman of a Grievance Committee, to consist of five members, and any ~ember of this Association shall be privi leged to file in writing w~th such Grievance Com mittee any complaint whioh may in his judg~ent merit investigation. Section 2 Supervision of the various departments of the Asso ciation shall be vested in the two Aesista·nt Managers, who shall have full authority in the appointment of the heads of the various departments under their jurisdiction, and shall have full authority to dictate policies and methods to be followed by these departments. Any appeal from their rulings shall be passed upon by the Grievance Committee, and shall be subject to final review by the General Manager. ARTICLE VI Section 1 This Association being altruistic and benevolent in purpose, each member making an application for membership automatically pledges his co-operation and offers his time, labor, and efforts for the common good and agrees to accept as his duty such tasks as are assigned to him by those placed in authority in this organization; refusal of the applicant to carry out such pledge shall be ample cause for his suspension, pending action by the Grievance Committee. Section 2 To amend or strike out any article or section herein ascribed will require a majority vote of tne attend ing membership at a regular meeting, but notice of such intention must be posted in a conspicious place twenty-four hours prior to said regular meeting. Section 3 The use of intoxicating liquors or their possession on the grounds of this Association shall be positive ly forbidden, and a violation of this rule in the presence of two or more witnesses shall be good and sufficient grounds for the immediate suspension of the offending member and his ejection from the grounds without recourse. Suspension for the first offence shall be from ten to thirty days at the dis cretion of the General Manager, and a penalty for second offence shall be expulsion from the Association. Offending members, however, may file statement of their case in writing wit~ the Grievance Committee for review and the findings of such Grievance Com mittee shall then be submitted to the General Manager for final review. D. CONSTITUTION OF TliE COUNTY COUNCIL PREAMBLE The Preamble is the same as the one given in the original constitution of Unit 1. ARTICLE I Member ship in this Council shall be limited to relief asso ciations operating with non-salaried officers. ARTICLE II Three members from each relief association shall form the County Council. ARTIOLE III Representatives from one-half of the affiliated association shall oonstitute a quorum. ARTICLE IV Meetings shall be held once a week, the time and place designated by the Council. ARTICLE V Eaoh district definitely bounded and represented at any meet ing, shall have power to cast vote on any vital matter. ARTICLE VI Officers shall consist of a Chairman, Vice-Cnairman, Secretary, and such other representatives as the Council shall appoint from time to time. ARTICLE VII Election and Appointment Section 1. All officers shall be elected by majority vote at any regular meeting especially designated for the purpose. Section 2. Re-election: All officers shall be elected by majority vote at a regular meeting especially designated for this purpose. Section 3. Temporary appointments can be made by the Chair man on any minor committee without election. ARTICLE VIII · Authorities Section 1. Chairman shall preside at all regular or special meetings, and, in case of tie, shall cast deciding vote, and perform such other duties as the council shall authorize from time to time. Section 2. Vice-Chairman shall assume duties of the Chairman in the absence of the Chairman, according to their seniority. Section 3. Secretary shall keep a true and lawful account of the minutes of all meetings, notify associati ons of the time and place of meetings, and keep such other records as a council may determine, and forward such minutes to the affili ated bodies. Section 4. Finance: Such expense as might be approved by this council shall be borne equally by the associations affiliated. REQUIREMENTS FOR MEMBERSHIP IN COUNTY COUNCIL Unemployed Co-operative Relief Council of Los Angeles County. Instruction for investigating new units. 1. Organization must adopt the name of "Unemployed Co-operative Relief Association Unit No. -·" 2. They must have an organization that consists of unemployed members. 3. None of these members shall pay dues. No officers or members shall receive any salary for services rendered to the Association. 4. Organization must function democratically, in a way that the general members elect a board of directors or Board of Control, and they in turn elect or appoint officers and manage ment to operate the details of the organization. It must be a non-profit, non-political, and non-sectarian organization. 5. Any and all property obtained by any association through loan or donation shall be considered in their custody for the purpose of feeding, clothing, and housing the unemployed and needy. 6. All produce or anything of value, obtained through the legitimate method, coming into their possession, shall be used for the purpose of alleviating suffering and want among those who have no money with which to buy. Under no circum stances shall any of these things be sold or be used in the competitive market. (For by so doing we would lower the market prices and prolong the depression.) 7. All jobs received through the organization to be paid in money shall be given to the people most fitting for such jobs. All. money received through such jobs shall go to the people doing that work. Any of tnat money finding its way into the organization proper shall always be considered as a donation. In no way ·shall the organization obtain jobs that in so doing would cut any one out of employment for the purpose of pro moting the organization. 8. Each association shall adopt a simple system of operation from wnich the following information can be obtained. Regis tration of all members, number of men working by the day or week, how much produce is received and distributed, how much gasoline is used for procuring same, and a record of what each person received for their services in the form of commodities. ~- Definite boundary lines within which members shall live. 10. ·Adoption of the Constitution and By-Laws of the Council. E. CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS OF THE STATE COUNCIL PREAMBLE The Preamble is the same as the one given in the original constitution of Unit l. Paragraph 1. The name of this organization shall be 0 The Unemployed Co-operative Relief Council of California." Paragraph 2. Membership in this council shall be limited to duly elected delegates from district units affiliated with the County Council, operating according to the preamble of this association, operating with non-dues-paying membership and non-salaried officers. Paragraph 3. Meetings shall be held quarterly at a time and plaoe designated by the council, or at any time properly called by the Executive Boardi Paragraph 4. Officers of this Council shall consist of Chair man, Vice-Chairmen (First and Second), Secretary, and Assistant Secretary, shall constitute the Executive Board of this Counoil with the power to aot, performing the duties of this Council when the body is not in session. Paragraph 5. One Vice-Chairman of each affiliated County shall represent the State Council when the council is not in session. He shall also be the Chairman of the delegates from his County. He shall be subject to call by the Executive Board, to meet with them, to discuss any problem of importanoe to his County, after first receiving instructions from his County Council. Paragraph 6. Any other organizers or representatives may be ap oointed by the Erecutive Board to be ratified at the next meeting of the Council. Paragraph 7. All executive officers shall be elected by a majority vote at any regular meeting escpecially designed for this purpose. Paragraph a. The election of officers shall take place at the regular meeting held in the month of January and July. Any vacancies shall be filled at any time at tne discretion of the Council. Paragraph 9. The Chairman shall preside at all regular or special meetings and act as the Executive of this Council and establish headquarters with proper name and identity through which the Secretary shall transact the business. Th~ Vice Chairman shall also work through the General Headquarters where it is is possible. The Chairman shall have the power ·to appoint such assistants in performing the duties of-his offic~ and perform any.and all things authorized by the Oounc1l from time to time. He shall, with the Secretary sign all documents and contracts that the Council may draw. ' Paragraph 10. The Vice-Chairman shall assume all duties of the Chairman in the absence of the Chairman, according to their seniority. He shall have the power as neces sity re quires, by the proper action of the Executive Board or the Council as a whole, to establish an offic e- to better accomplish this work. Paragraph 11. The Secretary shall keep a true and lawful and accurate account of the minutes of all meetings and notify County Councils of the time and place of meetings. He shall have charge of all clerical transactions and see that a good systematic and orderly renort can be obtained or reasonable short notice; at all times working in full co-operation with the Chairman of the Council. He shall submit a quarterly report of the detailed operation of the Council, such as inventory, receipts, and expenditures, number of Counties affiliated, amount of actual produce exchanged between Counties, and perform such duties as the Council may designate from time to time. He shall, with the Chairman, sign all document s or contracts that the Council may have occasion to draw. Par~graph 12. Finance. All finance in the association shall be obtained by voluntary donations and by the proceeds of any legitimate enter tainmentt same first having been approved by the Executive Board or the Council. Paragraph 13. The expenses in the legitimate operation of this Council, always keeping in mind the Preamble to the Constitution shall be borne equally by all affiliated Counties. Any money obtained by the State Council from the County Oouncils shall always be understood to be voluntary donations and shall at no time be construed as being dues or 1?J!!. capita tax. Paragraph 14. The order of business enall be as follows: 1. Call meeting to order (Ceremony ) . 2. Roll call of delegates. 3. Reading of minutes of last meeting. 4. Correspondence and documents. 5. Credentials for new delegates. 6. Seating of new delegates. 7. Reports of officers and representatives. 8. Unfinished business. 9. New business (elections). 10. Good of the Council. 11. Next meeting. 12. Adjournment. Paragraph 15. Constitution and By-Laws can be amended by submitting in writing at a regular meeting to be voted upon at the next board meeting, or any contemplated amendment duly presented to the Executive Board shall be forwarded in writing by the Secretary to each County Council to consider, and to be acted upon at the next meeting of the State Council. At no time shall this Constitution and By-Laws be amended in any way to be constrµed to mean a change in the Preamble, the Rober~s Rules of Ordert or the· general policy of this Council. Paragraph 16. At any time where the Constitution and By-Laws cannot, from lack of details, settle any question on the floor of our Council meeting, the Robert's Rules of Order shall always be used to help and interpret to determine such question. TYPICAL UNIT PLAN ANIMATE DIVISION lst. Asst. Manager in Charge. Labor, Base Sup. )ly Executive Personnel Intelligence Service Contact Public Relations Publicity Oomnunications Education Entertainment .ANA GER Unit Warehouse INANIMATE DIVISION 2nd. Asst. Manager in Charge. Field & · 'arehouse Accumulation & Storage . Unit Property Control. Canning & Preservation. Transportation & Equipment. Loaned & Borrowed Property. Shelter & Equipment. Clothing, etc. Reclamation, Equiornent, Salv .... ge. Resoonsibility divided as ne· r as oossible: - . 1. - Onerations of Unit .. 1iac11inery, 1st. Asst. lvlgr. 2. - Resoonsibility for Care & Maintenance of Unit Prooerty, 2nd. Asst. Mgr. TYPICAL UNIT PLAN The Unemployed Self-Heln Movement as it was conceived in Los Angeles County is no resoector of nersons. The nri. ... ciole, not oersons is the ob~ective of this movement. The .. ovement was designed to Jrovide means and methods for all able self-respecting, law abiding ersons to rehabilitate themselves and not retrograde to shiftless , dole recioients. COMPOSITION QE UNIT CONTROL The Unit control snould be self- overning, self-operating and indenendent of nolitical, sectarian and/or other influences to the extent of full co-oneration and co-ordination in the general nlan of rehabilitation and Tax Reduction . . There are no dictatori·-1 mandates in this humanitarian move ment; all machinery shall be as simnle and flexiole as is oossible to me~t changin 5 conditions--the aim oeing, to Lonor intelligence and not ignorance. urrr REPRESENTATIO ~ AT AREA c ·_ TFERE~~CE -------- 1. A Unit to be eligible to renresentation on Area Conference shall prescribe and carry out, as far as is oossible, the general nrinciples adopted by reoresentation at the Oow1ty Conference. 2. To set un and maintain as si IDle a form of self-government for their resoective Units, as is oossible, under existing conditions. 3. To co-ooerate and to co-ordinate with all means oossible , in carryin 0 out the gener-1 olan adooted oy County Con ference Delegates. 4. The general rehabilitation Plan of this movement shall be the governing oolicy tliereof, and shall govern the actions and/or conduct of all officers and executives placed in their resoective oositions of trust and confidence. EXPLANATORY DaTA OF ..§.QGGESTED OPEP~TIO~S CHART You will note tl.1e sug 0 estions for Unit O~erations· olaces the nrincinles of the ~ · ove ent above the ~~:=ina~erial autuori ty. The ooerations under the ~iana 0 er are divided into two (2) deuartments-"Animate" and 11 Inanimate 11 , presided over by 1st. and 2nd. assistant managers. All "Animate" functions of Unit Ooerations are under lst. assistant manager. All 11 Inanimateu functions of prouerty etc., are under 2nd. assistant manager. Citizens Com l1 i ttee sends one Reoresent a ti ve per Area to County Conference . Citizens Committee sends two reoresent a ti ves oer Unit to Area Dele gates Oon ferenc e . Read up. AREA PL 0 0 U N T Y C 0 N F E R E N C E A R E A , D E L E G A T E S 0 0 N F E R E N 0 E M eets: Area #1, ~on. 2 PM 2, Tues, 2 PM 3, Wed. 2 P111 4, Thu. 2 P~ 5, Fri. 2 PM 5 5 5 5 5 Units Units Units Units Units 1~:EMBERSHIP OF LOCAL UNITS lJEE TS: Saturday Delegates Conference sends ten Delegates to County Conference or 2 from each area. Each Unit sends two Delegates oer Uni t to the Delegates Conference. Read up. SUGGESTED PROCEDURE FOR AREA PLAN - ·- -- ----- From the units two delegates shall be chosen by pooular vote of two thirds of the family stren 6 th of the unit. Then two delegates after being chosen shall renresent the unit at the area delegates conference held at a desi6nated nlace within the area: Area #1 shall meet Mondays at 2:00 P . ~. Area =/f 2 shall meet Tuesdays at 2:00 p. ~~. Area #3 shall meet Wednesdays at 2 :00 p lv; . .. . Area =#=4 shall meet Thursdays at 2:00 p ~- . . .... .. . Area #5 shall meet Fridays at 2 :00 p . :M. From two thirds of the area delegates meeting within the area, two delegates snall be chosen to represent the area at the weekly county conference which meets a s a reoresentative body of the unemoloyed. The following area policy control shall aouly. It is further sug;ested that all areas organize along similar lines. AREA POL I CY CONTROL DELEGATES: 1. ualifications. No oerson shall be seated on tl~e County Conference rerresenting the Unemnloyed until he shall have qualified as follows: (a). Must understand the nrincinals of the unemployed movement . (b). Must have had six months experience in Unit ooerations . ( c ). Must understand the meaning of co-ooeration a~ differentiated from personal gain. (d~ Must be loyal to the nrincioals of the unemoloyed movement , rather than to individuals. {e). Must know and endeavor to live up to the 14 points adopted by the movement. COUNTY. CONFERENCE 1. Shall be composed of two delegates from each of the five areas-. 2. There shall be at least five executive committees composed as follows: Committee on FOOD composed of Chairman and Assistant. Committee on CLOTHING cornposed of Chairman and Assistant. Committee on HOUSIN G & PER. composed of Chairman and Assistant. Committee on TRANSPORTATION composed of Chairman and Assistant. Committee on OOMMUNIOATIONS composed of Chairman and Assistant. 3. Each department to be subdivided into as many oom mi ttees as is needed to carry out the functions of the un employed plan of re-habilitation and tax reduction. 4. All committees under their separate departments shall answer only to their department heads. SELE0 1 fION OF DEPARTMEWT DIRECTORS ·- - · and DEPARTM ENT _ SUPERINTE.NDEN' l1S The person receiving the highest vote shall be auto matically selected to become the Director or head of the Department voted upon by the Area delegates. The person receiving the next highest vote for that Department shall be automatically, Superintenden~ of the Department voted upon. The two (2) persons so chosen snall constitute the Department Head and Assistant Department Head and shall have full power and authority to draft from any Unit within the County of Los Angeles, such person or persons as is needed by that Department to set up the necessary committees and/or operating machinery of that Department. DEPARTMENT ~ .QE. ___ FOOD l. Field and Warehouse operations. 2. Home canning and preserving any and all food products. 3. Mercantile canneries and preservation facilities and operations." 4. Dehydration facilities and operations, plants, etc. 5. Field dehydration facilities and operations. 6. Storage warehouses and other facilities and operations. 7. Fish and sea food accumulation, freezing and other preservation coordinating operations with other Departments. 8. Flo~r, bread, and other cereal products accumulation, manufacturing, storage, and distribution. 9. Meats and meat products accumulation, preservation, storage and distribution. 10. Staple groceries accumulation, exchange, storage and distribution. CLOTHING Exchange and manufacturing. Reclamation. Storage and issue. SHELTER ~ .AND PERSONAL Temporary and portable shelter. Exchange of labor for housing. TRADE _ AND VOC.ATIONAL __ CLASSI~ 1 ICA 1 rION , .. , E'l'C. Bureau of Employment and Exchange. TRANSPOR*fATION 1. Aocumulation and distribution of vehicles. 2. Tires, tubes, and other rubber products. 3. Batteries, and bat t ery re-building. 4. Parts and accessories. 5. Repairs and maintenance. 6. County wide traffic network control. COMMIJNIOA 1 r IONS 1. Expansion ana co-ordination. 2. Intelligence. 3. Radio, telephone, and telegraph. 4. Public relation and education. ~Ii COMPTON t003 2 W . T . DOWNING, MANAGER OLD SAMPSON TINE PLA N DOING FINE Unemployed CoOperative Relief Association UNIT .No. 1 . Formerly Veterans• Relief A••oclatlon COMPTON, CALI J."OHN I A t ~mHro OO ~ ~ t;j lo1 t-xj 0 5:: 0 p:j CD 0 ~ZZP.l-3C:: tll t-3 tt: .-0 0 H <: H !I> ro~tx.10 mt-3 •• - H c+ H 0 o<D oo > '"'$ 0 ~ tx1 t-3 § t-4 H ...,.. 0 t:1 ,_ z ~ t;i H a • t-3 ~> ~ t:1 • HO tn 0 t/l s:: ,,,........ ~~ 0 ~ tj c.ct . :xi t:X1 '-' to< b:: 0 :a t"f 0 :z Q :s ~go ::Y ~ (]) CD t:Lj ~ <D "4 *-< 0 0 s:: c::: p:> > $' ~ (TQ tQ ._.. 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SD - - - - - --- -- ---------- ----------1 ---------- -------- ------- ,=~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ l ~~~~~~~~~~ I ~~~~~~~~~- ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ c+ ~ 0 1------- ---------- ---------·- ---------- ---~--- ------- ~ ....... w 1---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- -------- ------- w I RELIEF WORKER'S PLEDGE I piedge myself in this relief work to be loyal to each other, careful ·in· my conduct; careful of false criticism of my fellow workers. I will not pass judgment on anything or anyone until a fair trial has been granted. Last, but not least, I will live up to the Golden Rule-- " Do unto others as I would like to be done by." In so doing this I will uphold our Local, State and Fed eral Laws. MEMBri' COMPTON UNEMPLOYED GoOPERATIVE RELIEF ASSOCIATION 809 North Willowbrook Blvd. n > z 0 > :-f 0 -< :0 ~ "' (fl (fl z 0 • ~ en 0 0 • -Cl = < ~ ~ = ~ MEMBERSHIP T HE undersigned, hereby accepts membership in the Unem ployed CoOperative Relief Association, which membership entitles him to participate equally in all of the advantages and profits offered by or derived from said Association from any and all of its ac tivities in proportion to the time and services rendered by the under signed member to said Association bears to the time and services ren dered by the other members of said Association to said Association. The undersigned agrees to conform to and abide by all of the rules and regulations adopted by all of the membership pertaining to the operation of said Association. It is understood and agreed that the relationship of Employer and Employee does not exist between said Association and myself, but that myself, together with the other members of said Association are engaged in a joint adventure for our mutual benefit. WITNESSES: Member's Signature Sept. Oct .. Nov. · Dec . ... «> Cl() ns c: I Mariir• " Manager ·Manager Manager :s ~ ~ Cl'.J s ~ ~ ("t) 0 ., ~ = 00 ~ ~ :l 00 ...... ~~ ~ 0 "a' ~ ~· a (D =" '"I 0 = = 0 ...... ...... ~ = = ~ o~ ("t) = -~ ("t) . =- = ...... ~ ~ ~ ~ = r:n =- 00 ...... CID ~ >= 11 ~ -· = , s::: ns .... 00~ :s ~ ,.... I I 00 :t J-e.Juuew JeJl?Ul?W Je~uew JeJeuitw ~ :;;s ILi ~ '"I aunr .&uw ·.1dv ·.1uw > ~ = = • ~ ~ =- • UNEMPLOYED CO-OPERATIVE RELIEF ASSOCIATION UNIT NUMB. ER ONE OF COMPTON, CALIFORNIA W()rk N(). ___________________________ _ D at ------------------------------------ Na me --- ---------------------------------------------------Occu pat i()n ____________________________ Married _______ _ Address --------------------------------------------------City---------------------------- N (). in Family _______ _ Previ()us Address ------------------------------------ _______________ H()w l()ng in State ________ C()unty _______ _ City ____________________ Registered V()ter ____________ Have y()u an inc()me ? __________ Am()unt $ _______ _ Do you receive aid from County, City State or Private Agencies? ______________________________ _ T () what extent ? ________________________________________ Full lnf()rmati()n ______________________________ _ -------------------------------------------------·----------·------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ C()st per m()nth ()f Rent? $ __________________ Gas? $ __________ Lights? $ __________ Water? $ ________ _ Have y()u been a member of any co-operative unit ()r m()vement ? __________________________ _ If S() give name and address of unit or movement ---------------------------------------------------- Working at present ______________ H()W long out ()f work---------------------------------------~-------- Man's First Na~ ------------------.. A e :· ~------Wife's f.if!St ·name _____________ _______ Age _______ _ Health.;, ___ ~----... Biahp:l~ ....... - ........ -...... 'T .. _____ Heal · -~---------- Birthp~ace:.:.t. _______________ _ Children's names--------------------.. --.. Ag~-------~-- Health -----..,-,,.In. Schoo.I -----..,--B· thp ce-.. -- ---------~---------------------------~-------------------------------------------------------------------------------.----------- ---------------------------~-----------------------~-------------------------------~--------------~----~-~-~~~~~~~~~ Other depend en ts Relationship Age Health _ Birthplace . S porsored by --------------.------------------------------Remarks : ------------------------------------------------- ! HEREBY AGREE TO GIVE ___________ .ll ()urs of my service each week -to .this Unit in exchange for whatever commodities are available, and abide by the Constitution and By-Laws ()f thiis Unit. Signature of Applicant -----------------------------------------------------~----·------ Signature of perSE>n you recommend to take y()ur place or receive your issues. -. l"ORM 5·3000·CIUfl . Inter-Depar~ment Requisition · Unemployed CoOperative Relief Association N~ COMPTON UNIT NUMBER ONE 9157 Compton, Calif., - ---------- 193 Please Issue to _ _ _____________________ Registration No. _____ _ The Following:. _ _____________ _ ______ --'------------- Received by Form 6 CO " JTACTORS DA L~ Trips ___ _ - ..... - .. .... --- .... ... _ .... .... ~--- __ .. ___ ... - .. Firms Contac ~~ --·------------ ·-------·- - ---"----------- ~ --~---- - ..... .... ·--·-- ____ ... - ,._ .. ___ ..,,. .. ______ ...... .. _ .. -- -- --1 ~ ..... . ·-- .. --- _ _.._ - .. , ___ ..... ---· .. - ...... - ..... ~---- ----· -------- Remarks - . r I i:-- - I I I • I r I I I I I t ' t I I • t. 1 • • I ' Department Date 193 ----- - - Fo. , ,,sul ts -----~---------·--------~---- - · I . - - -- ·--., --- -------------------·---~------- ---·~·------------------------· ... -- --- .. ·-- __ ... _ . -- __ ... __ - " _ , - ~ - - • - -t~ - •• - ------------------------------ I I - • • - - - " --- • -• - · ·----••••• ,. ..... _ .., .... -·- I I I I -~ -- .. ·- __ __ __ .,. _____ .. _ _. __ __ - -------· I r· - ' I I I I I • I I I I I ...... -- .... -- -- ----- -...--·· ... ------- ~- --·--~- - - -------------~-~------- ! l • UNEMPLOYED CoOPERATIVE RELIEF ASSOCIATION FORM 7·2000 UNIT No. 1. Formerly Veteran's Relief Association . Compton 11671 OLD SAMSON TIRE PLANT COMPTON, CALIFORNIA UNEMPLOYED CoOPERATIVE RELIEF ASSOCIATION Formerly Veterans' Relief Association INTER OFFICE MEMO Phoae: Compton 10032 OLD SAMPSON TIRE PLANT COMPTON, CALIFORNIA INTER OFFICE MEMO To FROM To ERBAL ORDERS DON'T Go---WRITE IT! 0 Rs DON·T Go---WRITE IT! VERBAL ROE U BJ E CT: ·---·----------------·-----------------·················-···············-------------·-·-····-···-···- SU BJ E CT: ---------------------------~----------------·----····----·---·-··-------·····-·-·····-···---------·· Form 8 DEPARrrMENT DAILY REPORT U nemployed Reli ef Association of Com~:~: ________________ ___ DEPARTMENT Reports as Follows : ... __ .,. ... ___ --·------------ ___ ..... __ .. - .,._ .. __ ... ___ ... ,., ·--~----- - - - -~~::7-=--·---------------------- - ----------~ ------ - • - -·-------- .. ----- ........ -- ... P'ORM 9·3000-DUP. GENERAL WORK ORDER UNEMPLOYED CoOPERATIVE RELIEF ASSOCIATION CQMPTON UNIT NUMBER ONE 4647 Contactor __ ~----------------- Compton, Calif.,------------ 193 from name address approximately miles l. Transportation Details: Kind of equipment required, _ _ ____ ·--~-~----~-------~------- To start. Tim"'-----~----------- Starting from Loads to be delivered to ______ _ Nature of loads __________________ _ 2. Labor Details: No. of men required - - ---------------- -------- - ------ To start. Time Starting from_ WORK ORllER RECORD Transporta tion D epartme n t Labor Departme11t Amount Prodec d L IClltNSE I EQ. \ GAS ) 01L [ MILES j] ORDER j MEN jLABOR HRs.j J 11e1. No.[ ~---_L ____ _L_ _ _.!... __ ..__ _ _..__ ___ ==~== , __ l_~j--[ __ -- -i __ 'I ______ ----- - __ , ____ _ ---- TRIP -----,----- ---------- - f'ORM 10 CO LUM DAILY · REPORT OF ISSUES UNEMPL OYED CoOP E R ATIVE RELIEF ASSOCIATION COMPTON UNIT NUMBER ONE Compton, Calif.,· ····--··---·--·······································-····· 193 II COLUMN 2 II COLUMN 3 II COLUMN 4 II COLUMN B II COLUMN 8 R•GISTER I NUM~ERINI NUM BE R FAMILY REGISTER I NUM B ER · 11 NU M BER I FAMILY REGISTER I NUMB•R •NII NUMBIER F A MILY REGISTER I NUM BER IN NUMBER FA M ILY REGISTER INU MBER IN II REGISTER I NU MBER IN NUMBER AMILY N U M BER F A MILY -----·-- · - / - -·-----, ----- 11 . I SU MMARY Total Col. No. 1 Total Col. No. 2 Total Col. No. 3 Total Col. No. 4 Total Col. No. 5 Total Col. No. 6 --- ----- Total Form 12 Work Order No . TRIP ORDER Unemployed Relief Association of Compton Old Sampson Tire Plant ---- -- Date NO . To Driv€r No , ------ Eqpt , Lic ence No . This Order is your authority for this trip : To go to ____________________ .. ·-- ·-------- Name Address ..... .,.._ .... - .. ""' ........ --· --- --- _...., - .. -------.w. ... --·---· - .. ··-·-------------. -~- .. _ ----· --- ...... __ ..., .... __ ..... ---- -- ______________ .... ______ ~---· Aqpr ox Mi 1 es. ___ .. _______ ~ De t ai 1 .. ------- .. ---------------------------- __ ·---· ............ - .. _ ....... ·-· ...................... _.., ., - - ................. .. ........ _______ .._ ... ----·· .. Name Address tJ at t1re of 1 o ad ~ ______ . ..... --------- _ ________________________________ --~ --------- .. ··- . ___ --· Work Crew ________ -· Men Start f rem ·----------- Ti~e out M . __ ..,...,..__._ ................. ~ Tj.me in --- Gas tioket no . -~ ... --- ____ _ Gas (Gals . ) ·-----·· Form l, Wor\ 0 .. l ) • Trip 0.:. ~.~ .... Quan ti · Certifj !l Recd . i r. , to~ - --------· At M . M . Date --- Transportation Clerk Oil q ts . AO __ ___ , _ _ _ .. - .... ·- .. - __ .,. ___ _ C . r.:-• ,i .. ... J.\. FORM t 4·200() REPORT UNEMPLOYED CoOPEHATIVE llEI"IEF ASSOCIATION 809 N. WILLOWBROOK BOULEVARD RECEIPTS-EDIBLES PRODCUE lbs. !Heat Fish BREAD MEAT Soup Bones Total Total DAIRY PRODUCTS Full Milk Skim ~1ilk Butter Milk Cottage Cheese Cream Cheese Total MISSCELLEANOUS TOTALS Edibles Non-Edibles Poduction Families Served Persons Total Department Barber Shop Coinpton9 Ca.lif.9 __________ 193 OPERATING REPORT Men Hours Renu1rks ---- r------~-----------------------.._. ____ .._ __________________ ___ RECEIPTS Non-Edibles 11------ 1--- ---- ----------- ------- ------~-----------------·----- ---- Clothing Carpenter Contact Distribution Furniture ----~·--- Garage Gas Station " . . Investigation - - Junk Kitchen Kraut Milk Office Personnel ------- ----------------------- - --- - -- - - ----- - - ------------------------1 - ------c-------------------------------1------ • -- - - - ------------------- - -- - --- ---------- - - - ----- 11-------------------·- ---- ---- ------------ --- ------ ----- !---· - - - ------ -------- - ---- ----------------------------- ----- -- - -------------------------------------------·---- - - ------ - - - ·- . -- -------- ------ - -----------------------------------· - - - ----- - ·- - - -------------------------------------------------------- - --------- 1-------------- - - ------------------------ 1 - - ·----- --------- - --- - -------------- Receiving Red Cross flour Social Service Shoe Shop Stores - ---·--- _ T _ r_ an _ s _ p_ or _ ta _ t_ io _ n 1 _______________________________________ _ Watchmen -------- ;·-~~-------------·----------------~ · Wood Yard 1---1-----------------------------~---~- _W _r_ e_ c_k_ in _ g_ Y_ a_ rd _ ·---~~- l-~...:_~~~~------~~-~---~-~~~ 1------ Outside Labor Totals !---- ------------------------: , --- -- - , ____ _ _ _ --- ---------- _ ______ _______ .._ ___ _ ~~ --------~ - -- ----------· ----'------J---------------------------------------~--------m-.-1--------1 CbiPf Clerk Form 15 LABOR DETAIL REPORT Unemployed Relief Association of Compton Date _____ l93_ To Foreman ------------------------------------------------ Work Order # ...... ----~---------- Please go to ------------------------------~--------------------------------- For the purpose of ·~----~~~---------_. ___________ ,,_, __ ~--------------------·· -------- Starting from., _______ _ _ at ______ M. Date ____ _ of Transportation ___ . ____ ~--------------- ---------- Kind 1 rhe f ollowing men are assigned to you for the day: ~~-------~-------------~-----------------·------·---~-·---·~----~-~----~-----~----------·--~-·~~·"·~· I I Reg . No! Time rn: Time out~ Labor Hours I ' : 1 j I Remarks • I I -----··-----------1---"-~~---------~-------··---------r-------·------------~--+----·-----~---------- • I I I I I I I I I I I I ·--·-----~---~~~·--~~--~-----~------~~-~--~------•M•-~------------~M----------+---------------------~ I I I I I I I I I I I I : : : I . ·---------------~----------------~----------------~------------------------+---------------------- ' I I I I I I I I I f I I : : I I .~----------------i·---------------~-----------------r------------------------r--------------------- , I f I I I I I I I I ; ~---·-------------~----N--~------~-l-----------------~-----------------------+---------~----------- : : : I I I I I I f I I I I I I t t ~·-~~------·-~-~--~-------·------·--'-------·---------·----------M••·----------~-----------------~W-~• I I l I I I I I I I I 1· l I I I I I ~-~---------------....--------·----~--_:,..----------------~-~---------------------~~---·-----~---------·· I I I l I I f I I I I t I I I I I I I I -"·---------·-----...:..----------------L-*--------------~------------------------~--------------~----·· 1 I I I I I t I I 1 I I I I I I t I I I I --___ ,.. __ ...., __ ..., ____ .,. _...,.,_ ·----- -- _. -- ----"'"'"""' ----- __ .,. _______ .., __ ------•II '_.., ----- ... -----..-...-----------·-------- f 1 I I I I I I I I I t 1 I I t I I I I I I I t -~-~--··--------~-1--·-------------..a..----------------•---~·---------------~--~r-------·------------' J I I t I I I I I I I 1 I t I t I I I I I I I I ·--··-------------·r-------~---~---~r·----------------:-------------------------:--------------------~ I f I t I I I : I I ··------------·--~ ...... -------------~--~---------------- : : l ( i t -·~--~-----------------r--·-----------·-·--- • ; t ~ ! t Total t -----~-------·----------------·------"·--·-~-------------------------------· Was Work Completed? ______ _ Foreman _________________ _ ll'ORM 18·100e·DU~ . p GAS REPORT UNEMPLOYED CoOPERATIVE RELIEF N~ ASSOCIATION Phoae: Compton 11671 OLD SAMPSON TIRE PLANT COMPTON, CALIFORNIA 3008 Date ............................................................ 193 Work Order No.......................... Trip Order No ......... ._ ............ .. QUANTITY ISSUED Gas ........................ Gals. Oil ....................... Gals . ....................... .Qts. Type of Vehicle ..................................................................................................... . Capacity .. ~............................................................... Tons ................................ . COMMODITIES HAULED ····-·······-······-··-········-····· Lbs. of ............................................................................ .. -··············-·-··-----··········Lbs. of ............................................................................. . ----------~----···-·--------------·Lbs. of .............................................................................. . . .. -···-····--·-·····-------·-··--Lbs. of ............................................................................ . ............................................................. Lbs . . Totaled Hauled WHERE DID VEHICLE GO? ····-·····-····················································-··············································· ....... Miles ................. -·····-········-···············-··------················-·······················-····················· M i'les ........................................................................................................................ Miles ................................................................................................................. ...... Miles Total Mileage ................................... . Signature of Driver Reg. No. License No. 0 . K ..................................................................................................................... . GASOLINE RECEIPTS VETERANS" RELIEF ASSOCIATION Pilon: Co•ptoa 10032 809 North Wlllowhrook ATenue COMPTON. CALIFO RNIA Date ........... ..... ...... ...... .......................... 193 Received .............................. Gallons of Gasoline, Oil from ....................................... -········· ............................................ Tank Wagon or equipment license No, ............................. .. Driver .............. ·············-·~~ .. ················· ........................................... Checked in by ........................ . Stored at ....................................................................... ' Delivery Ticket No ........... k ................... . Entered by ....................................... . -- ......................................................................................... .. Sheet No .... "~--·-····················· Date. .................. '"·······················~···-·······--···········-.· .. 193 UNEMPLOYED RELIEF ASSOCIATION COMPTON, CALIF. S09 N . Willow-brook Blvd. Tel . 10032 Time ............. Date ......................................... . This authority to issue order for Gals. Gas ............................. . Quarts Oil. .......................... .. Dept. --··············------------·········---···----- -----------------------------· To Mr. No ... ___________________ ..... . For --······-·-----··--- ----·-·-·····-·----------···--················---------·· Type of Car _ __ ·······-·--·-···-·--··--------···········--------------------- Signed .... ..... .. .. .... . . . ··············--·············- ......... .. .............................................................. ··o-~j;t:··fio~~-m~;; - .. American Relief Ass'n. 809 N . WILLOWBROOK AVllNUE PHONE: COMPTON 10032 Time........................ Date ......................................... . Service Station ...................................................... __ _ Gals. Gas.............................. J:'rice ...................... .. Quarts on ...................... .. Price ....................... . Dept . ............................................................................ .. Type of Car ................................................................. . ·capacity ....................................................................... . No. Men ....................................................................... . Man's Name ....................... ······················-·--------- -·······························s·e~r;;iirY"··········-··············· ·M-~ilag-er·· mber ~IONTIIL Y 1-~I~IE SllEET UNEMPLOYED CoOPERATIVE RELIEF ASSOCIATION, UNirr No. 1 CO~IPTON., CAI~IFORNIA Month of· ·································--·-·-·····-·-···-···-------·······--·-----·--···-·----····-~----···-----·-···---·-·--193 NAME 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 I 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 I 18 19 20 2 1 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 ii!: -·.- -,. - -- -~--~ - .___ --- _- ---- -- -=- - - . - ---- - - - -- -- -- ·- ,__---L-·-- -- - ----~= -=---~-==-=:_---~-- -- __ -- __ --+---!-----+---+---- - I I ' I -+--------------+---+-! --4-------+ - -~----+-.-----_l-+----+----t---+---+---+---+~'--+----+---4----+---4---4---+---1----4---i---+-- ---r----------ttt--~·-t I ~-. J_. --4=f=t. -i±~f------1---1---l -+-----+---+-+-----+-~--4-----+--+--~---+-----l-- 1 I *-' __ J_ i I I ! _LJ----f-----t---+---+- 1 --l----+-~·--+-----1----1----+-~~--l-- i r-- 1 -+---i~= I 1 r , t-+--+- 1 1 ---t 1 ---+----+---+-+----+---l-l----l---!---~4-------l--+--l----l-~- -1·--· I I - +l f-rtl -I ,- [ r I I I . I ' I ! - 1Tt~1~~1rrl-~------- _____ __,_l___.L.i - I I I -t-----i--t- i t-t--- ! ------'-!. -1-+--+-- I ' 11-lt---~l-----lf------lf---__,l---+---+--~~- 1r-r--1=t=- ·-r. --r·--r-t- -··t---r---1--r · --- 1 '·, 1 1 --t-, --------------+---<~·--4-1 . +-----1--i-+-_L-+-r--1-+----+-----f---+----+--; --t-: --i---+---+---+----+-1---+---+----+---l----+-- . i l __ _J__ l I I_ - I I J_ I i I 1!~~m1~ ~~-1~-~- i I I I ++-1-=+-+-+--l--+- 11-- ~------~H~1 ~. ~11:~~~ ~-~~--~- rt -+- j -t---+ i -r---r--+-1-+---- . +-r--t . L++ . ·_ +t t-1-. 1. ·----r·t-+---- ·----· -r 1+ -,- 1 I i r1 +-t-+ --+---, ~---1-+-- ----~-+--- -;--------------+--L------·- -L -1 ·-+- -1--+----+----+--4--~.\----l----l-~---+---l-~- t---+---+---t--+---I-·--+-: -+--, -+--+--J_-r, . t+ +~-+----1--4-4---~-~__.__ I I I I I -.--------~-~--+--+---t--+---1---+-~-+-1 I ·r-- --+~-1---+--+-+--+--+-~--+--+-~ ~·-~'~-~~~~~----- --~~~l~~~-~-~--+---+--J_J ___ ~-~--~~1~'~ Driver's Order For Gasoline VETERANS' RELIEF ASSOCIATION 809 North Willowbrook Avenue N COMPTON.CALI~ o. Phone: Compton I 0032 Date of lasue .................................................................. . Time........................ Date ....................... -.·: ...... -----------··-···········---------·---------------·-·--·--------·-· License No. -----------------------·------·-----------··~: Driver ....... -···············-······················-··-·-------- Issued To ························-·······------------·······································-············--·················-----· Address -···············-········-·····························································································------· Gase l In e ----·················------------------··-·------·--------·· Price $-----------..................................... . 011. ..................................................... . Price $ ............. ------............................ . Equipment -................................ - ..................................................................................... . Estimated Travel in Miles ·········································-·····························-----·······------· Tank Guage Before Trip----·········-··············-·-··-··········--··-····················--·-------------········---· Tank Guage After Trip --·················-·······-···································-·················--·······-···-· Tank Guage After Filling ............................................................................................... . Detailed for -····-·············-······························································································------ on scout equipment state what for Issued by ............................................................................................................................. _ Approved for Issued by ···················-----··--········-----················································-··-·-- Posted by...................................................... Date ..................................................... . Remarks: GAS REPORT UNEMPLOYED CoOPERATIVE RELIEF ASSOCIATION Phone: COMPTON 10032 UNIT No. I 809 North Willowbrook Ave. COMPTON, CALIFORNIA Date------------------------------------------------------------193 No. -----------------------------------· QUANTITY ISSUED Gas-- ------------·---------Gals. OiL ------------- ----- -----Gals. ---·-·-------····--·-·· Qts. Type of Vehicle-------------·-··········-----···············-··················-·············----- Capacity ·---------···········--------------------------------- Tons ------------------------------ CO MM OD ITIE S HAULED ············--··········-·······---·Lbs. of -·······-·······-------------------------···------------- -·-············---------············ Lbs. of ------··----------------------------·-·······----·-------- ···························--·-····-Lbs. of- ---------····--------------------------------······------ ··------------···-····------------· Lbs. of----~------------------------------------------------------ ··········----------------·-········ Lbs. of Commodities Hau led WHERE DID VEHICLE GO? -·--------------······--------------------------------··------------------------------------··········Miles ----------------------------------------------·········-----------------------------------·········--Miles ---------------········----------················----------------------------------------------------- Miles -·-·········-····-··············-----------------------··---------------------------------------------Miles Total Mileage----------·····--···--·-----·-······ Signature of Driver License Number DETAIL Foreman's Labor Report VETERANS' RELIEF ASSOCIATION 809 North Willowbrook Avenue COMPTON, CA.LIP. Plrnue: Compton 10032 Date ........................................................ . The men whose numbers appear below have worked with me on tnis date approximately .......................... .hours each ............................. . PLEA~E STATE DETAIL SUCH AS CARROTS, MILK, ETC. Total New Men ............................. . Total Old Men ............................. . Tot:.I Reporting. ............................. . Foreman INSIDEGeneralLabor Foreman's Report "'"¥ETERANS' RELIEF ASSOCIATION 809 North Willowbrook Avenue COMPTON, CALIF. Phone: Compton I 0032 Date . .................................. __ ,. ................................................................................ ... TO THE MANAGEMENT: The following men reported to me on this date for inside labor det~ils and were assigned to foremen: Remarks: Total New Men--······--··--·····--·-··----· Total Old Men ............................. . Total Reporting. ............................. . ....................................................... , ..................... .. Foreman

Abstract (if available)

Abstract The problem of this study is the scientific analysis of the social causes and forces of an unemployed relief co-operative as revealed by the social attitudes and values of the members, the citizens, the business men, governmental officials, professional men, and the farmers. As the unemployed co-operative relief movement originated in Compton, California, and was extended to adjacent communities, a sociological analysis of the situation which engendered this particular institution affords a knowledge of social and economic reform processes. A comprehensive investigation of the interactions of the economic, psychological, and sociological processes functioning in this relief co-operative provides the milieu for scientific analysis.

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University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

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Asset Metadata

Creator Roth, George Knox (author)

Core Title The Compton unemployed Co-operative Relief Association: A sociological study 1932-1933

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Sociology

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag OAI-PMH Harvest

Format application/pdf (imt)

Contributor Digitized by the USC Digital Imaging Lab (provenance)

Advisor Mangold, George B. (committee chair), Nordskog, John E. (committee member), Searles, Herbert L. (committee member)

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c40-187691

Unique identifier UC11274167

Identifier etd-Roth-193406.pdf (filename),usctheses-c40-187691 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-Roth-193406.pdf

Dmrecord 187691

Document Type Thesis

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Roth, George Knox

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA