July and August, 1943, 1943

There is a flurry of correspondence beginning on June 29 and continuing throughout the summer of the use of prisoners of war by planters to depress farm wages in the South; major figures involved include Frank Fenton Organization Director of the AF of L, Marvin Jones, the new War Food Administrator, and Clinton S. Golden, Vice-Chairman of the WMC. The union also discovered that county agents were interpreting the new labor laws to mean that farm workers could not leave a state without permission, even if they left for private employment; see a letter from the Justice Department on this question (July 14) and Mitchell's protest to the WMC (Aug. 28). The union issued a timely bulletin to its members on "Legal Rights of Farm Workers" (June 30, July 5). Also, there is a lengthy report from Clayton on his organizing trip to New Mexico (Aug. 26). Lastly, there are several replies from STFU locals to Mitchell's questions about post-war plans for the union (Aug. 8 to 28 and n.d. [August])