eg” “cme ns

\

(000 Oe VV TT oT A kT VT Da lI

HEN I chatted with
Avrom, the Canad-

ma artist whose sketches are
UStrated on this page, he

s 3
SPoke of his visit to Nova

peeiia where 13,000 miners,
ieee of District 26 of the
ited Mine Workers of Am-
erica, are on_ strike.

eee picket scenes on the
sla Bay-Sydney road were
ice rable. Pickets were stop-

& trucks with bootleg coal

Ww A :
pa was being sent to Sydney

'0 be sold, Bootleg coal is coal

ad up from areas saturated

ere ca You just have to

ae the surface of the earth
yOu have coal.

Pickets often put huge trees ”

cee es road to block cars.
the Hi ei put a plank across
ae he Way, the plank was full
i Fe Spikes. An RCMP told
te Pp ae! ‘Someone will get

» The picket captain .grinned

“nd replied: ‘Yes, but good
Miners won't.”

Lhe full of enthusiasm,
BA er he concerts he attend-
Se was taken to a number
aa certs held at union locals

Churches—two and three a

n
ight, in fact. There were usu--

en to 500 people. in each
cigs Participated in the con-
the ae doing chalk talks for
hese Wners and their families.
Aas Chalk talks were always

their strike. The concerts

c
°nsisted of local talent such.

as
dancers, bagpipe players,

et
att. I did special chalk talks

f
ee the children. . They partici-
d to such an extent that

T discovered some really talent-
€d children,

is boy of eight went to the
ce drew with sure, rapid
airs: two prize fighters. 1
pene 800d that I had it re-
nan uced in the mineworkers’
One orn? Glace Bay Gazette.

other boy, called Bozo, of

Se

iene painted landscapes

the house paint. I interested
union to get him some prop-

€r oil
paints i -
terials” and painting ma:

Night pickets on the highways outside Glace Ba

°perators.
FRAY, MAY 16, 1947

\

Glace Bay, seen from the
Atlantic. These cliffs, which
recede two feet each year,
are the playing grounds for
children.

Artist finds coal town

a grim place

Conditions for the miners in
Nova Scotia are, according to
Avrom, terrible. There are no
real streets or roads. Every-
thing is a mass of mud and
filth and you can smell the
outhouses wherever you go. In
the places where they are for-
tunate enough to possess a sew-
er it is often open to the sky.

“It’s grim at Glace Bay,’ he
said. “It is even grimmer for
the. children who. have to grow
up in such terrible conditions.
Those. with talent cannot hope
to. develop it because of the
poverty and misery which per-
vades the whole place. Children
have nowhere to play except in
their own backyards. These
filthy yards are often fenced in
within a few feet of a cliff-drop
with the sea thousands of feet
below.

But the miners are pretty
staunch fighters—ready to stick
it out, depending on the rest of
organized labor.”

Avrom made his tour of min- ©

ing areas by arrangement with
World News Service.

Reserve Road, a typical muddy street in Glace Bay, which has only one paved road

SET ee) AE WARE:

although it is a city of thirty thousand people.

Mi the Phelan
meeting at Glace Bay.

\ ‘

local attend a strike relief

é

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 11