February, 1939, 1939

Two issues, the Missouri Highway demonstration and the battle with UCAPAWA over STFU autonomy, continued to dominate the correspondence during February. There are a number of important letters throughout the month by and about O.H. Whitfield, who shifted his support from the STFU to UCAPAWA. The papers include reports on the situation in Missouri from organizers F.R. Betton (8, 18) and J.F. Moore (12), as well as a flood of letters from the evicted sharecroppers themselves. One letter from Mitchell to Jack Herling gives especially detailed information on the situation (10). The correspondence also concerns the union's efforts to obtain relief for the demonstrators from Northern contributors and the FSA; in this connection, see the Financial Statement for the Southeast Missouri Relief Fund, which contains a list of contributors (18), and a letter from R.C. Smith, Regional Director of FSA, on his agency's efforts (27). Papers related to the UCAPAWA fight appear throughout the month and include: letters from Donald Henderson to STFU organizers, (23); a four-page mimeographed "Analysis of UCAPAWA" apparently prepared by the STFU (14); a letter from Gardner Jackson, advising Mitchell to comply with Henderson's various requests (21); and approximately 30 returns to an STFU questionnaire on the status and condition of all locals (17).