January, 1940, 1940

The Sixth Annual STFU Convention met at Blytheville, Ark. From Jan 5 to 7; the papers include: the Annual Financial Report for 1939; Revised STFU Constitution; Proceedings; STFU Legislative Program for 1940; and "Resolutions Adopted". NEC minutes appear both before and after the Convention (4, 8). Further evictions of share-croppers in Missouri led Governor Lloyd Stark to form a "Southeast Missouri Landowners-Tenants-Sharecroppers Conference". The STFU, through correspondence with the Governor and Bishop Billiam Scarlett of St. Louis, successfully sought representation on the committee (3,10,18,20). There is also much correspondence with Missouri locals and with the FSA on the plight of the evicted families, including an outline of the FSA's five-point program for meeting the crisis (16). Members of the STFU local at the Dyess Colony in Arkansas complained to the union about the project's management, and the STFU got FSA Administrator Will Alexander to begin an investigation (13, 19, 23, 25). Complaints also came from the Delta Cooperative Farm; see Kester to Butler about the Trustees' plans to investigate (19). Lastly, there is a report on the status of the educational program by STFU Education Director Evelyn Smith (31)