September, 1942, 1942

The union held a Wage Conference in Memphis on Sept. 7 to demand the same wages for cotton picking which the government had guaranteed to Mexican workers imported by the War Manpower Commission. Papers related to the conference include a press release (2), circulars, petitions, and handbills distributed at the conference (7), and the draft of a press release which provides a rough account of what took place (9). Toward the end of the month Mitchell went to Washington to try to convince the Manpower Commission to send STFU members to Arizona in place of Mexicans; see his report from Washington (25), the memorandum he submitted to the Commission (28), and his letter to the US Employment Service in Arizona offering to send 1,000 workers (26).