◆ SpookStack

Lo ty ° i Springfield, Illinois, was interviewed at his home on September 7, 1943 by Special cS | py ee a anglisn with difficulty of expression and can wriderts and 1t only en it is spoken Slowly. He claimed to have a poor memory, and denied that anyone had told him not to give anv irformation_te the F,B.I. He did not state whether he would cr would not testif>, SEY «eins to have no criminal record, He furnished the following signed statement. “Springfield, Ill. September 7, 1943. make the following volimtary statement to whem J] krow to be Special irvents of wT os, + ze and am work- i 1liVco uo: (em ee Blig all woTn= ing at (hie B. JT Wasp cr” RB a = came to the United States in Twas naturazize i I joined the U.ie. & belonged £0 that wmiion until 1932 when I joined the Progressive line workers of »merica, I re- joined the U.M.i.. in the fall of 1939, and am a member of that umion at the present time, qe NPron to 1932, the conditions at the mine were all right, However, the men didn't seem to be satisfied with the U.M.W. The UM wasn't looking out for th: miners, but was just interested in collect- ing dues, In 1932, when the P.Ma, vas started, I just went along with the men and didn't take any part in starting the P.M.a. From 1932 to 1937, the conditions at the mine were just about the same, The P.M.A. mion was all right, but at made no difference to me which union was in, The P.'.a,. was a little better just because the dues were less. I went to union meetings once in a while, but not often, During that time I didn't heur of anything said by the mine bosses which would show that they favored the U.Msuw. "J don't remember going to a P.Maa, meeting the night before the strike in ify of 1937, and I don't remember ever hearing about the meeting. On the day of the strike, I worked all day. The next day the mine was closed down. J don't know the reason for the clesing dow, although I think the management was looking for another union. I don't remember anvthing about P.M.a, men being fired, or anything about a wage dispute. I don't remember Signing any paper for the P.la, just after the strike, = 362 =