February, 1940, 1940

Items related to the Dyess Colony investigation include two reports from Floyd Slayton, Secretary of the Dyess local (6, 14) and a list of grievances submitted to the FSA (22). There is an exchange of correspondence between Kester, Butler, and Blaine Treadway on the Delta Cooperative Farm inquiry. The reader may follow developments in Southeast Missouri through the correspondence with Jewel Mayes, the Chairman of Gov. Stark's special commission (5,9,10), through reports on the situation from STFU organizers W.M. Tanner and D.A. Griffin (12, 13, 20), and through a report from the Missouri State Employment Service based on its own report survey (13). There are several lengthy letters to and from Pauli Murray concerning plans for NSW, as well as one from Morris Milgram of the WDL to Butler on raising funds in Hollywood (21). The STFU sent a delegation to Washington from Feb. 29 to March 1 for a variety of purposes; the papers include the delegation's schedule (March 1) and materials relating to the delegation's appearance before the Senate Sub-Committee on Agriculture (27, March 1). Gardner Jackson sent out a letter to all sponsors of NSW, asking them to support UCAPAWA instead (24); Mitchell, Walter White, and Benjamin Marsh of The People's Lobby all replied immediately (27, 28). Final items of special interest are: a memorandum from Mitchell to the CIO, entitled "An Organizing Committee for Migratory Workers" (10); and To Establish Justice: Sharecroppers Under Planters Law, a booklet by Howard Kester (8)