Mrs. Clara Sullivan's Letter

Dear Mister Editor, if you choose,

Please send me a copy of the labor news;

I've got a son in the infantry,

And he'd be mighty glad to see

That someone, somewhere, now and then,

Thinks about the lives of the mining men,

In Perry County.

In Perry County and thereabout

We miners simply had to go out.

It was long hours, substandard pay,

Then they took our contract away.

Fourteen months is a mighty long time

To face the goons on the picket line

In Perry County.

I'm twenty-six years a miner's wife,

There's nothing harder than a miner's life,

But there's no better man than a mining man,

Couldn't find better in all this land.

The deal they get is a rotten deal,

Mountain greens and gravy meal,

In Perry County.

We live in barns that the rain comes in

While operators live high as sin,

Ride Cadillac cars and drink like a fool

While our kids lack clothes to go to school

Sheriff Combs he has it fine,

He runs the law and owns a mine

In Perry County.

What operator would go dig coal

For even fifty a day on the mine pay-roll!

Why, after work my man comes in

With his wet clothes frozen to his skin,

Been digging coal so the world can run

And operators can have their fun

In Perry County.

When folks sent money to the Hazard Press

To help the strikers in distress,

They gave that money, yours and mine,

To the scabs who crossed the picket line,

And the state militia and F.B.I.

Just look on while miners die

In Perry County.

I believe the truth will out some day

That we're fighting for jobs at decent pay.

We're just tired of doing without,

And that's what the strike is all about,

And it helps to know that folks like you

Are telling the story straight and true,

About Perry County.