'■m

THE BANCROFT LIBRARY

ISITY OF CALIFORNIA r^ BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA 94720

Regional Oral History Office
Room 486 - Library
University of California
Berkeley, California 94720

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WiM^

University of California • Berkeley
REGIONAL ORAL HISTORY OFFICE

Digitized by the Internet Archive

in 2008 with funding from

IVIicrosoft Corporation

http://www.archive.org/details/brentwoodplanforOOmillrich

University of California General Librairy/Berkeley

Regional Cultural History Project

S^t^^v-b<v- /5", /^^ 3

John A. Miller
THE BRENTWOOD PLAN FOR AGRICULTURAL LABOR

An Interview Conducted by
Villa Klug Bauffl

Berkeley
1963

ito^tCT'i Yic*«i^^ ij&iijilfjO ijBflOiaefl

lellirK .A fuicL
flOaAJ uLAHIiTJUOIHOA v^OI v'AJ<I GO

mu£>& giJli^ £iXIxV

John A. Miller, Washington 1942

All llttr«t> rights tp i ic ^-wiustT.. w»
t>^-i rlrv^t to publish I «r *>o the

of th« ■' v^ity ui w<.

th« bo ii

All uses of this manuscript are covered by an
agreement between the Regents of the University of
California and John A. Miller, dated 30 May 1963.
The msnuscript is thereby made available for research
purposes*

All literary rights in the oanuscript, including
the right to publish, are reserved to the General
Library of the University of California at Berkeley.
No part of the manuscript may be quoted for publication
without the written permission of the University
Librarian of the University of California at Berkeley.

'to Y.jIb-i"^- •' '-1^ lo s:tr-,sx«6lr' stilt iWdw^vKi Jrt©j06©a>ii;

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before titi« 193^ pl^idLa^ eeaunoa by t*a as-wiy-el^cted Afi^r^ ***

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INTRODUCTION .,

MA lOQuiry bv t t« d $«.» ^

During the second half of the 1930s when agricultural

strikes shook the rural counties of California, Contra

Costa County remained quiet. In June of 1934 a brief and

explosive strike of the apricot pickers in Brentwood had

t.
ended unsuccessfully for the strikers; after that date no

attempt was made to organize the farm laborers of the

county with the possible exception of the arrival of a

known labor organizer in 1936, He departed rapidly with

sheriff^s escort. This industrial peace was in large part

due to the Brentwood Plan, a system of registering and

keeping close check on farm laborers, which was worked out

before the 1935 picking season by the newly-elected sheriff

John A. Miller with the cooperation of the leading growers.

Sheriff Miller, a self-made man, had defeated the
previous sheriff of forty years standing in the fall of .
1934 with a vigorous radio and newspaper campaign in which
public dissatisfaction with the handling of the Brentwood
strike made a natural issue. The young sheriff immediately

;-pfl boowc^iis^id fix 3T8iotq .tooiiq^ erii lo ©lii^c^a evtzci.^.K.
on 9^*^.b ij&ii^ 19*1j3 ;aieiLliia ed^ igJ xil oosj&nu botna

jL. lo ImvIiis sfJ^f let noiiq«3X9 t>idiznoq ©ii*j no I ^rujoo

biift ^niir si'^xr:,^ 'i 'to L^eSaxB e ,n/*I*I 6oowl:i«Tir - oct ©ub

I'iXTOii^ Lsitooif-, Iwon srii ^d ('.02*92 :^fli3ioiq ^^^I srii oiolsd
.aiowoi;^ ^nii>«©I .Mil to iiol;tiiTd<^ooo ©ri;J ci^iw islill^ .A nrfoo

tc XIjB't arU iix ^^nxbi \iv^x Y^iol lo 11 It .joxveiq

rit^Xiiv nx n;i,i£CfiRiiO leqjeqaw^n bru- oxbBT sloiojjxv j^ ':' ' NJ!^!

br ow;f:i^7fcL 9fl^ lo nxlr:a .ri ©fi^ riiJlw noi;to:^'' '>. xixiaaib oxlduq

11

set to work devising a scheme to prevent further labor
upheaval. How he achieved this end was the subject of
sin inquiry by the LaFollette Committee in 1939* as well
as of this interview*

the interview was taped on December 5f 1962 in
Sheriff Miller's home in Martinez, a comfortable stucco
house not far from his travel bureau office on Main Street.
The living room was decorated with mementos ajid trophies
of his hunting and shooting skills and of the sheriff's
Bounted posse which he directs and which performs at
distant and nearby civic celebrations. A film projector,
screen y and rolls of film were standing ready for his
next invitation to lecture on a travel subject.

Miller, a tall, heavy-set man with his greying hair
In a youthful crew cut, pulled no punches in answering
questions on the setting up and operation of the Brentwood

Testimony by Sheriff Miller and exhibits illustrating his
role in the Brentwood Plan appear in the Lafollette
Committee hearings and report as follows: U.S. Senate, 76th
Congress, 2nd Session, Hearings before a Subcommittee of
the Committee on Education and Labor pursuant to Senate
Resolution 266, 74th Congress. Violations of Free Speech
and Rights of Labor. Part 49, pp. 17999-18195. Part 73,
pp. 26905-26968. Same, 78th Congress, 2nd Session, Report.
Part YIII, pp. 1298-1329. [WB]

Jl

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to ;

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Plan. The interview was terminated just in time for
Miller to dash to a meeting of the city council on which
he serves as vice-mayor of Martinez. He later went over
the transcription of the tape msiking careful corrections
and donated a number of requested photographs that
illustrate material in the interview.

» This interview forms part of a collection of
interviews tape recorded by the Regional Cultural History
Project to document significant persons and events in the
history of Northern California* The Project is under the
administrative supervision of Assistant Librarian Julian
Michel.

Willa Klug Baum, Head

Regional Cultural History Project

27 June 1963

Regional Cultural History Project

The General Library

University of California

Berkeley 4, California

xxl

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iXBXliflj fusliiiidxJ Jxu?Rla«A to xioiai\n&qi8 evi;t«T;feiffJt«JbjE

^osto-j*^ Xi

Note: Further information on the Brentwood Plan
appears in a history seminar paper by Gerald A. Rose
entitled "The Brentwood Plan for Agricultural Labor:
A Study in Suppression," summer session 1962. Mr.
Rose has deposited the paper in Bancroft Library.

C.A

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iv

TABI£ OF COMTENTS

INTRODUCTION i

TABI£ OF CONTEMTS !▼

BACKGROUND OF THE BRENTWOOD PLAN 1

CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH OF JOHN A. MILLER 5

CAMPAIGN FOR SHERIFF OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, 1934 21

MODERNIZING THE SHERIFF'S OFFICE 31

THE BRENTVOOD-MILLER PLAN IN OPERATION 40

LAFOLLETTE COMMITTEE HEARINGS, 1939 69

AREA COORDINATOR DURING WORLD WAR 11 78

POST-WAR ACTIVITIES 85

PARTIAL INDEX 89

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BACKGROUND OF THE BRENTWOOD PLAN

Baufflt

Miller:

: t

or , s^i

I thought we*d start with the beginnings of the

Brentwood plan. I believe the whole thing started
with the trouble in 1934. This was before you were
sheriff?

Yes. The sheriff of Contra Costa County, whom I
succeeded, had been sheriff for forty years, and
of course more or less operated in horse and buggy
style. He was a wonderful gentleman, perhaps the
best sheriff we ever had, but the transition had
not taken place yet wrien I was elected.

In 1934 there was the birth of a new group of
labor people trying to organize groups that hereto-
fore had not been taken into unions, and one of
them was the initial effort made to organize the
fruit pickers. There was infiltrated into the
early movement, of course, certain communistic
elements and certain people who were more or less
red in nature, and this whole idea of striving to

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lo SCO ba£ ,sncimj L*^al n©AiiJ nssd ^on ^ c'v

Qtii o^ni ba^Jbi^Xilni 3aw 9ieri'I /^'le^loiq iiiJil

8£eX TO oiofli uis»w oriw eXqosq nijtj^ioo bits ain^iasXo
r;t nivii^a to b»Lx . Xorlw slii^ bnxi ^siiJ*Bi3 ai fcst

Miller: get a better wage and striving to get better condi-
tions for the fruit workers was the initial move in
the state of California. It culminated in a series
of riots, at Brentwood.

Baum: Are you saying that this was the first organization

B&ua« activity and that it began right in the Brentwood
area?

Miller: Yes. This was the first that I know of.

Bauat In the fruit season of 1934?

Miller: Yes, which would be July 1934. It culminated in a
series of riots and very bad feeling, and that cul-
minated in a series of incarcerations by certain
peace officers in a cattle corral or series of cat-

;. tie corrals in the vicinity of the apricot fruit

farms in Brentwood. Of course, this aroused the
people, and in particular the agitators, who were
known at that time. Some had national connections
and were in the files of the peace officers. And
of course this repercussion moved over into the
fall campaign. I fell heir to some few votes
because of it and because the peace was not kept,
and to my surprise I was elected by an almost two

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oiew O'lw ,3ioijb;tl^ ©fi;t xslwjl^tljsq nx » .

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Miller: to one vote, over a man who had been in this office
for ten terms, or forty years,

Baums That was Sheriff Veale.

Miller: Sheriff R.R» Veale, Richard Rains Veale. He had been
sheriff for forty years,

Baum: He must have been very old, wasn't he?

Millers Yes, he was quite an old gentieman*

Baum: Did he want to retire?

Miller: No. He was a peace officer at heart and had devoted
almost all his life to it. He had no hobbies of any
kind, no way of exercising the energies of man, and
therefore within a few years after losing the office
of sheriff he passed away*

Baum: Was this organizing group the Cannery and Agricultural
Workers Industrial Union?

Miller: Well, that would be generally the name that I would
think of. It probably got its birth right there in
the embryo stage, probably out of Stockton or San
Francisco. I wouldn't know exactly, but it was what
you would call a disorganized organization. They
had absolutely no prior knowledge of what to do in
matters of that sort and they had no pattern to use

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i ^jfaXlv Iwon3l loiiq on xXoi^iitcasdi;

Mi Her J from what I could see.

Baum: Vere conditions particularly bad in that year for
the pickers?

Miller: Veil, the wages in California were bad all during

those many early years. I had been a picker in the
Ztiveraore valley area of grapes and prunes and
almonds, way back from 1898 till the time that I
left for Richmond, California, in 1915f and the „
conditions were very very bad those years. We used
to get about a dollar a day for a twelve-hour day,
or $30 a month. No field workers ever got a decent
wage. Of course, 1 had been not only a picker but
a small farmer with my dad, aind 1 had seen both
sides of the picture — the farmer's side and the
picker's side. I came well equipped to cope with
situations exactly like this* -.^.^ "> t^ ,

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tffixi^d
:i0XXiM

9

CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH OF JOHN A* MILLER

BaumJ I wanted to get a little biographical information
from you. Where did you come from?

Miller: Mother %ias a blue blood, born in Hamburg, Germany,
and Father was a peasant, born in Denmark. Mother
came here with her uncle. Her father was the post-
master of Hamburg, and she came here with her uncle
to Chicago about 1891 in preparation for the World's
Fair in 1892. Germany took over Denmark in 1870,
and when Dad was nearly twenty years of age he
didn't want any of this military conscription by
Germany; he got on a saltpeter boat somewhere along
the German river near Hamburg. He came out of the
province known as Schleswig-Holstein, and he then
went as far as Chile and absconded from the vessel.
He then worked his way over a period of several years
'Id North Carolina and there stayed the customary
period to get his first papers. At the time that
he did the ;)udge said, "You are now to be an
American citizen and you should have an American

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oBiii-iefluA n^ svi ri bli/orie uo^ bar? n«si:,J^ro riBaii?

Miller: name," and my father said, "What is American for my
name?" The judge said, "It's Miller." My father's
name was Moeller. Father said to change it to an
American name, Miller*

j[,^f Jif then worked his way to Chicago and there met
,» my mother, fell in love with her, married her, and
they immediately proceeded to get themselves ostra-

Hlller^ cized and cut off — she had married beneath her

t station. They said, "Well, the heck with the folks

in the old country, we'll make our own way." Mother
i then went to work as aji artist in the Marshall Field

leri store in Chicago, and Father went to work as street-
car horseman — on other words, he drove a horse for
a streetcar on Halstead Street, one of the longest
streets in Chicago and in the world, and they put
their money away in a hank* Unfortunatelyt the
Cleveland administration had a very severe panic and
at that time the bank busted and the folks saved seven
cents on the dollar on their money. They packed what
few things they had, and me, as a babe in arms — I
was born in Chicago September the 15th, 1893» Soon
thereafter, 1894, they took me to the little island.

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,r.nx^l5i ^l^ili Qcii oi ©ft lioo* Y»£W ,I^BX ^leiljioisri^

Miller: Boulden Island, which is in San Joaquin County adjoin-
ing Contra Costa County, California, and they stayed
there until about 1896 when they moved to the city of
Llvermore, Alameda County. We resided there until I
left for Richmond January the 4th, 1913.

Bauas So your home was in Livermore up till the time you
were grown.

Miller: That's right.

Baum: Was your father of Danish or German extraction?

Miller: Danish.

Baum: Your father had a little farm, is that right?

Miller: We moved four times while in Livermore, and finally
wouBd up on a 52-acre farm near the Cresta Blanca
Wliiery on the Arroyo del Val, which is now used by
the Country of Alameda for the juvenile tuberculosis
home. This lies between Livermore Veterans Hospital
and the adult tuberculosis home, right on the corner
around the bend of the creek, a very beautiful loca-
tion*

I went to work on the first day of June 1906 in
the vitieultural business, in the winery of the -^
Costa Blanca Wine Company at Livermore, and worked <

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bfi^tTr ,f»'tOl]*I8VXJ .7 'J

8

Miller: my way all the way up, "burning corks and Biaking cham-
pagne and doing all the necessary things. As shipping
clerk later I went to San Francisco during the Christ-
mas period in 1907 and 1908. We were getting $30 a
month for twelve hours a day and six days a week in
this winery, one of the largest in the world at the
time. Father got the same wage as I did, and there
were nine children in the family, a total of eleven
people. Unfortunately there wasn't enough money to
go around to have us eat properly and we went on
strike the fall of 1912. I got a $5 raise for a
couple of months, but after the Christmas rush was
over the boss coae along and said, **I*m sorry, we
don * t n^ed yoii aiif «Ore . "

* So Mother then went around crying to the neighbors
and gathered enough money to buy me a suit at $22 and
put me on the Southern Pacific train, and I went to
San Francisco, seeking a job. There I met an old
friend of mine, blind political boss, Chris Buckley,
a former political boss of San Francisco before the
Ruef time. He had his summer home next to ours in
Livermore, and he said to me, "Hello, Johnny Miller,
what are you doing in San Francisco?"

6

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^di 010^ sd oc«xOj to &ao<| I<RoiiiXoq laiaiol js

ni ^xi»n BBLLti t^. td bs d ©H •oixiid leuH

,~-siitr^ Xi^^«"^"^ ,oIi»H'- ,'-n. c>^ b Ilia sri biTis ^{ji.^sixieivid

Millers I said I was looking for a 30^*
"What do you know?"
lit "X'a sorry i I donH know anything but the wine
business, the grape business, and the f arising busi-
ness*"

ii4k ^hen he had a letter written and he told me where
to go, to Third and Townsend Street to see Mr. A.R.
Morrow, general manager of the California Wine Asso-
ciation. :: of te-y

I went in to see Mr. Morrow that day, started to
tell him my story, and he said, "Johnny Miller, I
don't want to hear your story, I know all about it.
But I can use youj so if you'll take the streetcar
out to JRichmond and go over there, there is a job
waiting for you." He said, "Your wage will be $2 a
day and you will be a department foreman at $2 a day."

Baumi What year was that again? ....

Miller: That was 1913- I took the streetcar with 12.20 in
my pocket, to the end of the line, which is now
where the Standard Oil Building is in Richaond, main
office. That was the terminus of the streetcar. I
walked over the hill and ran into a terrific snowstorm

'*VwO«Di ii<5Tt Ob ^i^ifW

" .sesxi

".v?:flD M ^^ ^jB iXi^iii&io'l ,;ae8 Jiisqsb & oC iijw lc\; bfi£ ^isb

Tnx^;^ ;?.Bri;f 3.1V. ~ -i,^ ^j riv: :--• -^^

10

Millers and slid dovmhill* When I got to the winery I was a
mess. My suit was gone and what little 1 had in a
little wicker basket. I remember very distinctly
they all laughed at me. I went to work at $2 a day.
I had thirteen girls and men working for me for I
did know this business and what my work was. For
five years I worked all the way up through the vari-
ous channels. My work was packing the various dif-
ferent types of wine in the various cases and ship-
ping it out around the world* Later on I became
" l^rt shipping clerk and internal revenue stamp clerk.
Much of the time I went to Oakland Technical High
at night, three nights a week, putting on a raincoat
and walking into Richmond, catching the streetcar,
and getting myself very much laughed at because I ;
was striving to learn to speak foreign languages —
I speak three or four languages very fluently. I
type eighty words a minute now very well, and I have
no diploma of any kind. I*m very proud of the fact
that I have no diploma, f. ts.ni?s #- ^... v,

Baum: How far had you gone in school a« a boy?

Miller* I went only about to the eighth grade•^

CI

I 3>A i .lefliw sd* ci Jo . I n£;fl • •XIlrlawoi> bile bou tieiXiM

v^X^DiilJiifc \'^3V ^ ■ '' I .cf^>'a^ i3>oiv.' t^iJill

I lol 9fi» lol :>flx>iT:ow avtr dob eX'iX> noa^ixii* fefsd I

10 i .aew j^'ivv: "^r icfiv bfl& sasniftud alrt^ womj bib

-iijijv »i :r d^^Gtaj qu ^*^w t>fi^ XX.u be^'i':*/ I z-i^ei evil

-Hb .>s.oii*»v tfiij ^.flijiosv; aBV 3I70W yM ,r.Iemi*rit> euo

-tjXi.- uii.1, asa^co i.ijOii^v bi 3 as <>nx\7 lo a«q^^ ;>rtei4»'i

•^•xsXo si4iiii4"e 9uftev9'i Xi^mt^fji bai, >i"r9lo ■.nlqrjirfa

i sat^osd ;Jr boiivijil riajjyi y,i9V IXen -^^«5| bn*

I .Yl^iiOL'Xt yisv a:. :cX lu -'I lO oo'i. := .a I

sv i: I bijiv ,XX©w YTev won eSurtiiLX b nbiov xi .

f
ior'\ siiit 'to bycnq \^'iev .. ' . .hniii ynr lo tiOoXqib on

.BticJqit ca svjsifi X ;> .ij

. .cf ^ SB : nx ono:ft i-oij b«ri ist w©H :i3UBa

.f:t..vi^ n;t£{3Xd eri^ o^r ^wodjB yXrto in&vf I rr XixM

11

Bauai And the rest was night school?

Miller; No, From the Italian people there I learned my
Italian, from my mother and father I learned my
German — I still speak it very fluently, I read it
and write it. The teaching I had in Oakland Tech-
nical High was spasmodic, three nights a week, and
I learned there some bookkeeping and some typing

^ ftnd Spanish, and of course while here I picked up

f^A'^lQT' Portuguese. I speak some Portuguese too. •. fih<.

Baum: You picked that up just from the men you worked with?

Miller: That's right. Of course every day of my life is an
important one. I strive to learn something from
everybody and I* a learning every day of my life. I
have a different psychology of education than anyone
else. I say school only provides a foundation, and
upon that foundation if you will strive to learn
from everybody you can build a beautiful teraple on
top of it, and you'll come out all right.
^- A few years after I came to Richmond I was still

"^ Sending my money hoiae for the support of the family

when Dad passed away in October about 1915. I'm *
the oldest of a family of nine children. Then I-

IL

?Ioor(o <te©i tfrt* bnA

Si JD- ®T 1 ,v;iJ^no«Il V19V ;il Hji^qm XXlJe I —

?^fiXi joa bn« c? bem;;,9l I

c(L — ;^xq I «TGri aXxi'W ©eiwoo ^o bnjc ,i'aix

Vftrfiw tot*:H low ijo\^ il *«?ii(; am ^ iiolq ijoY

n^ ax Q'Mi Yfi* to ysr v ;^.^^> i.v; .^rigxi a'J^ili rielixM

aioil ^iiij^^aioa ni .x o^ 9W£ii .ano ;^Aii^'io<^jox

X ••'lil v,^ iv. v.; if. ^i9V© ^.itii^&l Ji*l 6fli8 ^ioax'isv^^

ba/3 ^noi^Bbauo'l jb seblTOicf X^no Io» ^

ai^eX c^ svxije 11 iw woy li aoxs .^ i iACii nouy
no ' :f X«lx*jL'««d p blind n^o uoy v.^of^Y'X^v* «07l
.d.i.-.i'i ili? :tijo 9ff!0o XX'jjOY tciB ,^x "lo qo^
liii^ i-„- i fcnoffirioiH oi wi^^o I a«il:j aiJB9X vat A

I itsfil .ncibXido snXn io Ylxf""** ^ tc ;taa5Xo »ri*

12

Miller? went to Mother and told her frankly that she'd have
to come to Richmond or I could not support her,
because there wasn*t enough left over, so she then
sold the house and the place , and I think after she
paid all the bills they had less than $10 left when
they got into Richmond, The whole family moved
down there.

Baiams How many children were still in the home?

Miller: There were nine children; I was the oldest one. They
are all quite wealthy now, every one has made good*
I had a sister next to me, Kmoia, 1 helped her through
the Alameda sanitarium so she could be a registered
nurse* She was in World War I* There's a star in
her honor in the veterans* building in Richmond.
She married a captain and they both were gassed in
France and came back to live in Elsinore, California.
She lost her husband two years ago. All of my broth-
ers have done well. They're scattered around close
by.

Baum: How long did you work in the winery in Richmond?

Miller: I worked in Livermore almost six years, and then I
worked from 1913 to the beginning of 1918 for the
California Wine Association at Wine Haven, and then

sx

sda Tie.' xdi I bna ^eoitio sdi hu i bloe

t>$vo«i \:i^xfn,sl fioriw adT .bciOBiiDiM o^ni *o>i y,©i4^

QfllT .Gfio is#feJo ©ii,t s^w 1 ?i3eii>iiol© otiin et^ti si«i.'T
fiJt oosaa^ sT&v £i^(«ii ^9r(4 i>a£ nxir^^qj^o

:7dXXJt»l

Qcolo nni'ot*; Jbeie^^JBoe $i'^s>itf .XX^w 9aoi>

X^

«3w;r lol bi ., iHuijvs<J st^i^ ci tX^X nio-xt bo^iiow

:i9XXiM

:cu/b€
:isXXiM

13

Millers the war came*

t I couldn't go to war but I wanted to do something
productive for the war effort. I was publicity
chairman there for all of the various war drives in
Richmond and I had a very very illustrious career
nighttimes helping in every way that I could, but
that still was not going to war. So I felt obligated
to do something that was for the war effort.

I went to work as an assistant to the superintend-
dent at Point San Pablo for the Visayan Refining Com-
pany. Most of my work there consisted of asking out
bills of lading and shipping and doing the shipping
work for carloads of cocoanut oil. It came in from
the island of Visayan. I remember very graphically
an incident there: you see, we had loads of oil that
went from the Standard Oil Company at Point San Pablo
to the Orient and the vessel returned with cocoanut
oil, which was pure white. When the vessels got to
the Golden Gate I went out there to meet them.
Under the pressure of steam heat this oil became
liquified and it looked yellow like olive oil. We
then pumped it from the ship at Point San Pablo docks

u

flx 8"viib law rswoiiijv arii lo XIa lot isifr;Ji nefu'iijb.flb
leeiiio KuQitiGk*ll'i y/xev yij>v ^^ b«d I oclb ti iH

C94BniIdo ile't I oc .i^v oiT wnto-^, ion :it& iMiii

.^loVt^ 'i.^?w «rii lol a«w i* jd^ }i,nl . - :j ob o^
-rs^fil'i jd^ -J jt'.aisieaf -. tow c;' '

i^o ^juljbii; to l)t?.:^axttao9 siari^ jti „ .^njsq

aiOl'^ Ci OC. . 0 J I .1X0 ^LUiOOOO ^O Zb^.Cili^O IQ't liiow

emjBO^d Xlc air;t ^«9ri cj^e^ d to oiwaeeiq " lU

eW .Xio oviXo b:tiX woXXsx b9Mcyol ii biiM b«xliiJplX

«:>iooi oldfiiH. i'j&'t^ ^nio4 ijs qids sri^ moil ii . jjq n^iU

:if5XXiM

?M

Miller: into storage tanks and dropped it by gravity into

the tank cars and shipped it to Ivorydale to Proctor
mnd GaJible in Cincinnati and around the worlds

I stayed there three years and at that time I was
getting $100 a month* My wage had gone up* the
problems of the home were still very rough* I wasn't
|[»rried yet. I was engaged, but I didn't have money
enough to get m^irried, so one day the captain of the
"Princess Arrow" came to me and he said, "Johnny
Miller, I*ve heard your story."

I said, "What's wrong with it?" -

"Well, I know you're in need of money, and I can
help you. If you will gather five $20-gold pieces
for every trip, I'll get you an extra $50 by taking
them to China and selling them at the rate that is
in China because China can't get any gold." So ho
took $100 and brought back $200, and I got $50 and
he got $50, and this went on for a year or two, one
voyage every two months, and this way I could con-
tinue my education and was able to keep my body, my
clothes, and the family together* .^, <!

Then another very peculiar thing happened in my

>£

8. * I dfiiJ ;j£ui* ^a bn rU 919/i* t i

e£i$ 'to lilWqjdO dii^ xfd) dno oa ^bsii^ii^ ^<»^ oi r

". 1UOX biibeii ev'I (leXIxM

^xaJ«^j x;d 0^^ ni^x© iie uox ita^ £1*1 »qxi^ ^^wre lot

©ri 08 ***tIos Y* S*n£^o frridD €)?»f»c ..iriO iix

btim O^t io:?. I t*fx^- fOOSt /fojbw uu;*.^.!.; <;> OOXt >(oo*
scfc ,owi 10 xfi^x & lol no ;t ifit ba£ ,0<.

^^C^'od ii o* r •■ - ./ £50^ nci*: "^ inli

15

Miller: life at that very important time. The captain of the
"Royal Arrow," which was a sister ship, came to me
and he said, "Johnny Miller, I've heard your story.**

And I thought, "Well, what have I done wrong now?
This gold?" There wasn't anything wrong about it at
that time because in California we had nothing but
gold. I remember distinctly that in 1914 when the
depression came people wouldn't take paper money, and
I then urged them to take paper money enough so that
they could buy their food with it, half in gold and
half in paper. 3o the gold that they had they oould
hide in the ground or do anything they wanted with
it. This was the way I used to satisfy them. I went
every month by horse and wagon into Richmond and
cashed these cheoks for these men for around $40,000
a month.

Anyway, the captain came to me and I got quite
worried about it. He said, "Now, you know you're
getting some gold for the captain of the 'Princess
Arrow.*" ■•'■■-'V-,^' .^-^-..« , ^..,,-

And I said, "Well, I can't get any more. I can
just do with so much and that's about as much as we

:H

",\io^^ 1U0X bifisti 9v*i ,telit^ ^tt«rfo^** ,bi*: '^'^ ^ -

bor ^xffncki isqaq 9^^ s'fifcXiiOw ©Xq09<, . . oi««B»*iq0i)

bitfe i>Ioi* flx IXjaxi ,^i ri^iw bo«t ni^ri* %vd blu^t> ^ef»;J

biifo© ^^i, '« ^.., -^an"^ ctjarf^ viu ^14 oL . . v ni IX-bxi

ri^Jiw bo^iwsw v;si ;f j^iriiY"^ <5^ i<> bmroivi \m^ til obtti

f~ ~ rloii* <vJnX ao^s - 3-10/i- Yd li^fxroin ^Tdve

l€

,•*»»

Miller: can get." Gold was running out rapidly then/ "' *^<*^*
• "That wasn*t what I wanted,** he said. •*! want
you to gather 100 empty Velvet cans for me.**

I said, **Wh©re will I get those?**
L He said, *'I guess you can go out to the dumps
and pick them up.** These were tobacco cans, brilliant
in color, green and red. He took them back to China.
Because the war was on they couldn't get any chemicals
in China and they couldn't get any lacquer. By >
vacuum suction they sucked this red and green lacquer
off the Velvet cans and transplanted it onto their
toys, so 400 a can was the price Wt l^Cfeived. That^'^
meant $40 every two months; divided by him and me it
meant $10 a month to me. This is what saved our lives i
Tou can still find Velvet cans on the market.

One day I had been working with newspapers and
had received an award from the Call Bulletin for the
finest slogan in the state of California — I think
it was quite a nice award — and I had been put on a
lot of publicity campaigns for almost everybody for
nothing. This newspaperman, Jack Galvin, came to me

dl

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.!i> &rli 0^ ^uc OS MHO jaox &««4f^ I" t^i

.EiiiiiO Qj 2U> i :7toci eM .l^ai boa n yIcIuq ai
sl.j-,jifi»i;to Yn« i^rg ^ * nbUf^Q x^n* na a^v i^w ^di w^ ^-

i^i^pDAl at^et-^ bfUi bet aliii b^ioija ^en^ iiox^Gij&

$ii£^ »i>£vx99ei aw 90 iiq ftrti a.iy imo n ^^ oa ,&^o^
;tx ©ifl 5ns fliiiff x,c bsbivlb ;at{;inom o\i$
,s^vil in: bev«a isLi\; «i eXii'X .tnr o^ - „ - Oi, »;

.;f»3iijtBi eriJ ao 9n£u:> ;tevi$V bail JiiJa a^tio woi

siii lol ax;t:^Iiua .f,£i^ ofl;f moil b" ^ " vjteo©7 bi>ti

Jixii/i* X — jaiiiiolx .rs ^cii at fli*aoXa ^aeail

& no iijq flssj i)iia I 5n^ — _ soxn s a^iifp a*jw 5i

^

Millerf and said, "Would you like to work for the government?"
I said, "At what?"

He said, "Well, I think you're not getting enough
money, and maybe you can stand a little more money,
and I could get you a ;iob in the income tax department.
Internal Revenue, because you have the very qualifica-
tions that they need. You have the Oeriaan, you have
Spanish, you have Italian. You have knowledge of
bonded wineries and they pay tax on these, and you
have the farm experience, and the government needs
you." (A great many farmers took a piece of raw land

^'^^' and developed It and sold it for a profit and forgot
to report the income tax on it.)

So Senator Will R. Sharkey, whom I had just helped
and whose paper is still here, and I helped to get
him elected senator of this county, took me one day
by train to San Francisco. There in the custom house
I met John P. McLaughlin, who hired me, and I worked
then from 1921 to 1930 for the United States govem-

>tiil9. aent for $150 a month*-

Baudi 3 In all of the larger income tax cases, the impor-
tant ones, I acted as a judge, although I was a young

TX

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sbeoii ^ 70Ti aift fonjB ,9on!>iis 9f<^ svad

- 'fci lo ooeiq a >loo^ &i9ffli£,':. ^-,.-_ : aoT^ ^) "•WOX

ic^io't bHiH Jilt'"' 'iot it bioa bnn ^X i)©qoXovsi> £mia

(•(tX no Xi8;t orcoofiX »rfi cficqsT o#
b«c<X<^ S9ul b.^D X MOiiv; ,\;$;4l£i4ii .fl XIxV' lOw^ r^ " oB

^©^ o;r r .: I tan f&i»ii iil$e zi tdc,-m f»::Oiiw b«»

t^ eno sfiw : .cyct ,vifnt<oo Biri;f 1© le^-^nep. Xq^^osXq fcXri

r^3iiow X bm? ,9id jys^iXrt oriw ,fllI£i^4«J5Jc?^^. .<i flfioT. i&ex I
-m^svo, a^ijfcMtci IsiliBU ©rlit lot O^f'X o^r XitX nc-i'l i:;^:i;t

-ICqir.i 'otii ,89B;fciO XA^t affiOOilX IS'ijlJai ©iU lo XX*^ nl

18

Miller: man. I went from one part of the state to the other
on the larger cases in every city in this state.
Those days we had a little Pord car and we'd drive
through the state and we'd get the return on what
was the actual railroad fare only» From Richmond to
Fresno if the fare was $4*80 this was all we would
get. We had a regular aonthly allowance, of course,
to stay in hotels, and we stayed in every town and
got a check practically out of nearly all of the
early farmers of the day. So I had a tremendous
experience from one end of the state to the other*
You specialized in agricultural cases.
Yes, and wineries, and interpretation cases. Then
one day they needed a new postmaster^ and all of a
sudden out of a clear sky I was appointed postmaster
by President Hoover. I was postmaster during the
depression years from 1930 to 1934 for the city of
Richmond, California.

Baums Does this mean you were a Republican?

Miller: Yes, I am a Republican. * this %2a»E -• -^

Baum: Had you been active in polities prior to this time?

Miller: Mo, ma'am. I»m just a registered Republican and I'm

Baum:

Miller:

81

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Gi baotTLii^ iU. fiioil •xiflo sijs't bjsoiiitAi i : Soj& «x1j^ asw

b£u& nwo^ T.iovy iil f>«> , ils^ofi ci ^i^^re cj

aeiV£ ,8eajB0 nox;^jg;teiq7&^ai i- , alieniw bn« ^a^lt :-
leja? bo^cioqqjd, e«¥ I ^at8 i«oXo s lo ivo aob^ua

lo ^*x;^ ,. „ lo't ^1^1 cS O^C'X moil 81jb»x flOX«««Tr" f-^

• X-XmoixligJ ,lDIIO«Kt»X7i

VoBOxXduqoH jci ^lav uo^ fi«90 «lfft sood

.fiaoiXc«jiq< T ,-nY :i©IXlM

Vemxi 8iiii oi loiiq aoxixXoq ni ©vX^o . loy J&bH

19

Miller I not a party Republican. I vote for people the way I

see them, regardless of church, color, creed, religion
or politics. I*ve always been that way. I pick a laan
if I think he's a good man, and I'll vote for him

Butuais regardless of what his religion is or what his creed*
--i.«rx this has been my way of life and I'm not a party

jkkzimi politician. I was active in this ways I managed many

campaigns, yes.

Id As a young mem I managed a number of campaigns,
particularly for congressman, and I did manage Senator
Sharkey's campaign when he had a terrific fight to
be re-elected senator of this coimty, and that's why
he took me into San Francisco. There had been a
fight on between the sheriff, Veale, and Sharkey, in
which they placed a man by the name of Tony Heggiardo
to try to beat the sheriff, in 1918. The year might
not be correct. But anyhow, this is what happened*
In retaliation the cohorts of the sheriff put up a
candidate against Senator Sharkey, and Mr. Galvin
asked me If I would manage this campaign and I did*
Later on I managed campaigns for four or five various
people who were congressmen seeking re-election, and

el

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lalri TG^ &;>ov XI* I bus ^HviH b0OT^ JB ts*6^ %nkAt i li

• be^eio alfi Jiiilrf 'to ^i oci^iloi aid 4*iiw 1 i

X^i-><| fci ^of! m'l &«.»'. 8 ^ii Ic ^Gw ^ nf*- ' ' -.a !*.id2

\njsiz « i sv^w si:-.;^ at ^vl;iO£. 8v.-*v/ I .nfiioi;?iiCKj

oii-tiok^ "^ ^^ib i bft« ,i? too ^Ol •^i*X£jJijJ3Jt*ll;»q

i., need fymi €>ior* .ooaioniati sfcaft oinx i ff

ni ,v:oJtiAri(: fcn^; ,f:Xi?9¥ ^^'liena Dili ne*vto4 no ^riyit

;?ii>4i'ai i»' i>Y self . .1.1 ni ^nj'^'^sjia rrfi^ *jfc©d oi ^ii o^
r-ijcti^iv svxl 10 iLx'if io1 . no TfftaJ

20

Miller: I managed a number of local caimpaigns but only strictly
as an independent. 4

Baum: But you did have political experience.

Miller: Yes.

Baum: Where did you live during this time?

Miller: I lived in Richmond.

Baum: You were married by then?

Miller: I got married in 1922. I'd been engaged five years
to the one girl and I couldn't get married since I
didn't have money enough, and she said she'd wait
and she did, and we got married. We never had any
children. There are no children in the Miller
family. We've just gone out of the picture altogether.

ior it

for

to e

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i3iiJM ^lii ai nt^iblXi o on eije $»ir .• .nsTblida

21

2*..

f\'i ■ rm i

CAMPAIGN FOR SHERIFF OF COKTRA COSTA COUNTY, 1934

fS. r

Miller: Anyhow, I was going to run for sheriff, I think in

•32, or it might have been in •28, and they diverted
me to run for county assessor auad I did run and I
was defeated by thirteen votes. I was elected up
until 10 A.M. the day after election, and then
four or five precincts came in and all of a sudden
I found myself defeated. I found that I got in
politics — what do you call it? -- a doublecross,
and this excited my ambition to someday pay back.

Baumi What do you mean, a doublecross?

Miller: Well, the people who had told me they were going to
support me for this election did not, and I found
myself defeated. So I made up my mind then that
someday I would run for sheriff. Well, the fact
that I ran for sheriff Was not of ay own accord,
really, because I used to eome up once in a while
to Martinez on political matters and the sheriff
then was a pretty good friend and he used to say to
ae, "Johnny Miller, whenever you want a horse race

IS

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ir>?cuy4i I? to XIa ijfta flx subac n^fcaiociq ovil to ihl/I
ill ;toa I ;t«fi;r buifol I .a^ 1 I

? Moioeifliijol) a , jjoy Ob « :£rj^££L

o^ £4iio^ 9'i9W 'i©ii;r ©B bid bad Oiiw olqo^q {?rii ,XI&W rita^i.
fcnuol X bfijbJ ,;fon bib nci;?o«X6 sirii lol icqqwa

SBtii fl»! ^ bnlji! yjE uu . oB .fc

,b'xooo>i nvo YK! lo ion a^-w lliieria lol nei X ^ ri;^
^Xiiiw i. ixi t^onu qu ewoo eJ bseu 1 ©cxu* oed ,yiXirisi

oi Y,ii8 0-1 be 31; oii btiJi bneii'l boo;^ Y^^«iq J^ a-ew i

ti

■M

Alller: we'll get on the old horse and we* 11 put on the old

spurs and we'll have a horse race."
Baums This was Yeale? "^ * ^ '^^ «^ - ^

Miller: Yes. And he laughed quite extensively at me and they
all haw-hawed. So one day I was ready to run for *
sheriff and I walked up to the sheriff and shook '*
his hand strenuously auid I said, "Sheriff Veale, I'm
getting on the old horse, I'm putting on the old
spurs, and by god if it kills me I'll be the next
sheriff of this county."

He said, "Let's go to it."
* And we did. It was perhaps one of the most
terrific campaigns ever put on in this county, but
I was top man by 552 votes in the primary, out of
four of us.

That same election night before I went to bed I
went to the other two candidates and I got a written
statement that they would support me, and two o'clock
in the morning I went back to Richmond and put the
two statements in the safe aiid went to sleep. I
n#tet brought them out until a week before the final
election. I never said anything about them and the

ss

bio 9di no iuc I/'- ^ r- - --;' o ^<i no i^\ .fT'-^" rielllM

''•sQai 981011 « evj^d ii'9W t^ni^ aijjqe

bic oxi^ no ^iii^j&iiji »'I t«aicii bic 9i;^ no ^t^^s^
;fxen ori^ eo' JIM • ' -Jltii iX li i.< .i "^d bits ^Biiiqs

"•^itfli.'co exni lo lliioiia

;t80Ei Gn;t lo sno aqaiiioc; a^w il .^i.. '- i...
Skid tXitoiOo 3tdS ni ac ituq lev© &i w jiiiTio^

I b^ci ci inmy I siol^fi ^ligin noi^oelb t>iujtis ^jjiti'

jlooio'o owi bnjB ,i»« ^TOqqup bXiic^/ XQtii ti^ii^ inom'^^iii^a

Qdi ;Jui; boi. bnoiarioJL>i ©^ iiOBd ^naw .1 xix.moih 8rl»t ni

I .q&oXa o^ ^ii9w b/.^^ s'tjaa ori;^ ni a^tx. ,j

edS biia idorii ^uodji s^ixri^^inxj bi^e isvon I ♦noxdoeX©

23

Miller: opponents were saying they had the endorsement of

these two men and I just laughed and didn't say much
about ity and then a bombshell struck. I took a
photostatic copy and threw them istto the press all
over the county and here was the endorsement written
the night after the primary election. So it bounced
on the incumbent and I was elected by a tremendous
vote.

Baum: This means that all the people who had voted for the
other candidates -«

Miller: Voted for me, yes. I later hired those two men —
their names were Ralph Harrison, and he stayed with
me until he died, and the other man was Joe Longo,
and he stayed with me until he became a judge in
Hodeo.

Baum: Getting back to the 1934 trouble then, in the apri-
cot district. I read about this corralling of the
agitators*

Miller: Yes. I just never did know how many, but quite a

large group were temporarily detained. This proba-
bly was the easiest way, because they had no fast
means of communications, to detain them until such

on CB5L;

^s

do^.'^ Y^ia 4'ftbxiD i>A*.; ■ i ^^M{. 1 'onsi mm owj «s(S^iU

ju 2[oo;t I .>i0ijij& IlSi B aad;^ i;;it& ,^1 Jiiod^

XI-B Qeeiq 5*ri;t oini ru©ii;f .v&id^ brui Vi*^^ oUa^«o;Jofiq

bsomod ;ti oc .AOi^QSxa ^lAOiiiq wid Tciti* ill:- iA acU
ajjofcceifiisii ,-; Y.«i JbL^ioel© a.f>w I bau tn^mi^oni s>rii ijo

.©icv

— a&m cw^ saoiii beiiil leisi I .456^ ,siB lo^ ft»;JoV xisIIlM

fO-^acd »0t Ciw a*iEj isfijo oiii bxu* ^i)6xb art iiioi.
ax ejv jj^ ift -vRjsoQd tart aiiiiu am t44iw be^*^® ®^ t)**'^

,oeboii

;ta; /^ on fai^ri Yodi e-i.iosd ,^aw :^-!-^^© edi f^w ^id
liOLS lijujj aisdi flxJBJab oa eSisoii&»xr:wxf..;-co ^o an

24

MillVi*: time as they could get them to the county jail or
get them before a justice, but it was, of course,
a very, well, it was a very vicious way of doing
t't and not an American human way of doing it and
it brought tremendous resentment into the hearts
of the working people • This had reverberations all
through the county and this of course had something
to do with the campaign,

^^ " There were a number of other items that came
into the campaign. In the early days in Richmond,
while I couldn't go tx) war, I told the government
that I would go to war if they would take care of
Mother and the children, and they couldn't, so
there was quite some discussion about me, I was a
controversial figure to the extent that soae people
thought I was a slacker, being partly of German
parentage. This came into the campaign, but the
people in Richmond, all of them knew that I was not
a slacker and they knew how well I had done so they
really got out and got mad when this was used. They,
the opponents, used everything they could and this
was one important thing in the campaign that bounced
on them again •

^^

^.iob 1to ^v; aifoioxv ^jij. v , ^' ii , f leV ,yi3V is
^x /Anxofc lo yj«w OPiSi/ri fiAiOiiwruA fie ;)ofl bciB St

il^R enox^t/iiSGit^vM b&j^ ax»iT .eXqosq ^jflijliow 9d^ 1©

• fl^.JiiqnLdO si^cf riitiw ob ocf
©aijRo ;fi3jrl* -- i for^to to tedmim .ix

,^noia/{oi>i nx sx-st xlrtae oiii nl , ^ ©fji o;ffli

1:0 STfio datf!^ bijjow x^^^ "^-t "^^^ ^^* o?^ blwow I i '
08 ,^'flbljj<o '^eriJ" bfu; ^neiLIlflo efi;> bnis ler

9lqoe<^ 6iHoa j/:rij ^ii9^> ijjjiXl Xziaisvoi^^noo

^CH 8^^w I ijsri^ w9fx>{ Hiari;^ lo lis ^bnomfioxH cil eiqooq

,Yi>riT .Lssi/ 8.CW 3 iff 5 neriw iiisa io^ bn^i ix/c ;?c.^
airf;^ Dau ftiuco x^i^^t -^^aid^^ifev ij ,a:tfienoqqc

,nr 9fli no

25

h.

Milleri This led, of course, to the fact that when the
Second World War came and I was in better shape,
financially and every other way, at the end of aiy
second term for sheriff, after the eight years, I
chose not to run again and I chose to accept a pos-
ition for a dollar a year to go to Washington as
area coordinator of civilian defense of Contra
U^^.xt^i Costa County for Nathern California. This was my

way of paying back my country and my people for the
way they had helped me. ^

So X devoted several years in Washington, back
and forth, getting flour and food auad steel anC ,
schools and sewers, and everything that was neces«-
sary here to help win the war, in this area. Of
course, I increased my education. X hobnobbed with
all the biggest people of the nation and the world.
Many of the highest people in the whole nation
slept right in this house, my home. When the war
came along X was sheriff here and immediately they
came through to see how well we had our country
protected, and one of the men who came through and
stayed right here was Doolittle, General Doolittle.

es

a*U norvw ii^^ io^yt anii oi , v. c 11500 lo ,I>«X fcjtilX iioIXih

,6><ii*iii; i^i'^iird fix «i^w X bim muMO i&^ blio^ fenoo©t

afc flo;t^iiidaj?v oi 0^3 a4 ii-'s^ ^ t^iiolj jb ic1 aokii

iii^JiioO Ho ©enelsw rufiiivio ..^ o,t«nxl)iooo a^-ifi

biLtj ItJ€»^a tfs.a bccl bfljfci ftfci'l j^iirf^^ ,fi;?ic''x
-Agoen soiw »r.fexii ^Aid^xiffV* brue iS-xewea baa sXoono^

• lliow 0f<.^ iiii?. aoiiBti ed^ to «Xqo»q iae|,>*W erU IXjs

iicx^.n sXciJW Qfii til iulqGoxi i^eri.^id eti^ lo \tu^

•ii.v; Of.) J ii^., V .sj&pd yi^T ,^3yori «lfi^ nx ii-i^ii iqfii&

ijiiv ri;:\LiCiii.J 3^ruco Ojiw naKi erii lo ono bnij ,be^oo^oiq

26

Miller: Another one was President Eisenhower, who was a general
at the time. They just pulled off their boots and
they slept right on that couch right there. I met
all the various high dignitaries and continued daily
to get my education. This was my pay of course, for
I had only a dollar a year with no oth^r emoluments
whatever., td

Baum; How did you make a living?

Miller: I had all those years — my hig problem of course was
to retain what the sheriff had gotten. This was one
of the best-paid jobs in the United States, as sheriff
of this county. There was salary, there was prison
food, there was civil mileage and state mileage and
all types of emoluments. This former sheriff had
seen to it in all his life to gather for himself,
and he was a great fellow to help people. For
Instance, if they'd come in and say the roof of
their church was leaking he*d give them a new roof,
or another colored group would come in and say they
needed a paint job, he'd paint their church. He
would up almost broke by doing it. He had a lot
of income but he gave much of it away.

as

^9fii I .9^i>iU ;lrf%it i^ouoo t&iii no ;frl>\xi ^qw*.. v^**^
XlliJi b^uni^aco bnxj seliijtixrsifc f^TK.iri et/olijsv ori:> Ilia

ainexKJlot^^ 16^:^0 on dii'.j ii '^^v - xgllofc v -?*«' jjcri I

.T©VS

V^nJtvxl rs 9:^fiei tfOY tiif> woii

fci.w t>fe.iijoo lo oeldoiq "^td v;e — ^-'^'ifi si-uif^ IXa fexsil I :i9XXiM

noeiiQ^ «iRW siearf ,y^«Xjb2 t^w 51 exit .ytouoo slrl;t to
bati g;, »^£i8 bos ^:j4&siic! livio a*5W sjior;^ ,boot

,lI»8iBia 10 i z9.lU&:^ o;r e*^!! alri XX^a ai it o^ .
loi. .sXqocq qied oi voXiel if«ei^ u gjer ©ff brm
lo 'tool odJ X-B* &fl* «-t Sli* 0 ^'ver»^ ':i ,£? f

,too*i v»ii jsi »0i'i fevijjs b*©fi gflivrcoJ 4».iju rio-^.
V.esic^ \j:;3 bnr. ni cirrc bluow oifoin fc^ioXoo toriioflxs lO

iol li br.ti sH .;Ji ^^nlob \id ssloid ^8G«Xjb qx- v/

• iJEa** ^Jl lo rfot's; evi»3 3fi iu<i ssoo-^i lo

rt

Baiun: Personally, or out of the sheriff's fund?
Miller: Out of his own pocket. So, of course, my job was to
Wilier J follow in his footsteps. They all thought that I

should do the same thing. Well, I followed the old
creed of Robert Louis Stevenson: "To make a little
money, to spend a little money and to save a little \.
money, and to spend a little less than you make.**
So therefore ay big job was like a tightrope walker,
to keep the people happy, and there were many years •
that I made as high as $42,000 gross, but when I
got through on the income tax return there was about
$6,000 left. I invested it wisely in stocks and
bonds and my wife was very frugal and we lived very
cautiously on the few dollars we had — $150 a
month was ample to take care of us, and the first
thing you know, little by little, 1 had just about
enough to keep me comfortably. Many people think
I'm a millionaire and many others think I*m broke,
but X nev^r have been either and I*m just in the
middle ground and I do have just about enough to
comfortably keep me*

^ '^-*' ...... ..-..-^ i^^ntl

TS

oi aiiW dot V I .1U00 \o ,t>€ ,#fe»x'ooq nwo siii lo JuC JibiliM
I itii.S tiii^sjoiif 1^ - " -^«^col «iff ni wcIXol

bio eH^ bsvolio^ I ,Ii©W .^tnlii^ sfluesa srtJ^ ob bluodc

".9Xs»a ifoic nfiii,t aa©I oliij il & fcneqs o4 bn*> ,y
^isjflfiw eqo'x^ri^^id ^ ...^^ " « -hi \ x- ....« v-

bat^ sjtooie ni \X9aiv ^i b«^es/ni 1 •ctisi OOC,d|
X1GV beviX dw bne Xa-r^inrl YTev afiw eliw ^ baB «baod

4^iili 3hi bnjs ^au lo ei^o s»fij^ o^ feXci ^ n^aoai

;fi«odr'. isiti, bt-iii 1 ^^Unii vd eX^^TxX ,woai «o^ S^i^^

,sfiiiij eXqooq ^n£;K . Tds^iolaoo dm qdo>f o4 dgjiOfle
,^2foid fii'i Jiflirii 8i9ri^o YfLMi b«B STlfiflOlXitm a c*!

oi d^ono ^iioJfi Jiiijc 6rVt*i Ob I boA brujoi^ ^Ibttm

.011 q£t»j( ^Xd*. 0

28

Baumi Tou invested your money during the time you were the
sheriff?

Miller: Tes. I invested it — I had a little hit prior, I
practically used all my savings except my home and
ak service station which I had bought while I was in
the post office, and a few stocks which I had bought »
As a matter of fact, I started buying stocks in •29»
a few, and then in '30 a little bit more, very, very
frugally, but I bought them on margin aJid I was rather
in trouble because as they kept going down I tried
some way to buy some more and finally I was about
to lose my stocks, so this particular year — I
think it was '35 — they were just about to close
me out* Vhen 1 got my month vacation as postmaster
and 1 took my wife, we went to San Leandro, and with
the Negroes and the Mexicans and the Portuguese we
picked currants for 20^ sui hour each. We worked
Sundays and every day^ and everybody there laughed
at us, with a big Packard car, and wondered how
people in a Packard car would get down there and
pick those currants and stay. The man said, "You
won't last for two days. Mister," and finally when

BS

foiU3 dffiod ys J 0 60X9 a. ^fti ilis

• ^rf^od ■ ./ «ilo<>^8 wet . : Itlo Seof\ »(i^

belli*; I mK>£) «^iia^ ^qej^ x&^^ cjt Sc . .
•aoiD otf ^aod^a :i9ul ©i©w y,*'*^ -^ ^C* a-^w ;tl aLiiiii^

f
wori be^»bniow bm* ^ijso biB3iio«*f i^id s rfifw ,stj ;?'-!

no riv * rl bn. '\ :^;t8lK ^^Y.:ib owt lol t^.c^I ^'nov

ii

Qi

HULfJBCi

:i©IXiM

29

Millers he paid me oif he said, "Who in the world are you»

anyhow?"

I said, "I'm the postmaster of Richmond,**
He said, "Why in the world did you stay here

in these kind of conditions?"

I said I had to.

"What are you going to do?**
t>

I said, "I*m going to take that money and sav#

my stocks and bonds." And soon the depression was
over, and the stocks rose, and I was in good condi-
tion again, and I sold them and I ran for sheriff.

This was one of the different ways in which I
accumulated a little here and a little there, and
of course as sheriff with, say, $6,000 a year net,
because I had all these emoluments and everything,
according to my income tax return. So it was in-
vested, it mounted up here and there, and I reached
the place where I wasn't wealthy but I could have
enough to comfortably live#

And many other things we did. As soon as I
became sheriff I started a move to publicize the
state. The old spirit of congeniality and

es

='?efloi^tbnoo to ^"fii::^' -• ■ -^^ ;ti
.o# b^ I bx/>8 1

8^»w 0'3ig??e"icft>fc ofid nocg tinA *" . bnj5 jpjoo;^

-ibxToo bc»o;;3 ui aijw i boe ^^ _ f:i3ioo|H eili i^iie ,icVO

I doirfv ai evz-.w ^a^iallib «rfi lo »ao a^w i?litT

-ill «?■•• ; .'• cB .mtij^©T --:f : - 1 -'- f" -liQoo^

betioaoi i bae ^eiBtii btui Bt&ci qu ae^sujou si ,b9i8cv

I £r, noo8 bA ^bib aw «*^><iifi^ ii>(iSo y^s^ii bnA

50

Miller: conviviality and hospitality remained in my blood*
X thoiight the best way that ve eould do it was to
go around the world with our posse. I organized a
sheriff's posse. Ve started then auid there, in a
small way but growing all the time, during the eight
years I was sheriff. I organized a great many horse
groups and a great many posses and had a big hand in
all that in those early days. Then by train and later
by boat. After I had been sheriff and had finished
with the war effort, I went into the travel business,
not because 1 had to, but simply for something to do.
In this way again I didn't use up any surplus I had*

'.>r- {■ : "o

.i^l

l»

oc

J ni«7jt xcf fldoX .a*>vb xXi*« oscil^ ai li

l^oiiexnl't tt.Tl baa llxieue nv-^.d brrf I i>;>1a .■: ,d

♦ oc o;t ^ni . lol \Xcaiie ^i.J ,oi bifi 1 9<i ion

31

MODERNIZING THE SHERIFF'S OFFICE

Baua: Well, when you became sheriff. Sheriff Yeale had
been in there for forty years. Was it a problem
for you to take over?

Miller: Yes, it was a problem, because this was an office

run in the horse and bu^gy days, and it didn't seem
to me like it was modern in any way. In the first
place, they did all their communication by the old
system of telegraph. I immediately junked the
telegraph and went into the telephone communications
and started right out to go to the state and ask
them for a teletype service. So I installed the
first teletype service by which we entered into
communication with the various sheriffs' offices
of the state and police chiefs of the state. This
didn't satisfy me either because we were beginning
to get soae radio service out of the Berkeley office,
and we installed immediately a radio connection with
the Berkeley office. Unfortunately, tne Berkeley
office could not always reach us because at that

11

bio &f<i Y<^ no 14 30 iiujfflffP? tlfrij XXja bib X' ' ^9

©ill f>&Iiv,jcr,i i oa •ool\ns8 oax^eXft^ /» ir*^ - ii
exr(X .a^ijia d/(;t lo 8l:€»xiio eoiXoq b«ia e^fia 9£ii lo

31

Sheriffs of Contra Costa County, 1850-1959

31b

Inauguration Day, January 5, 1935 •
Newly-elected Sheriff John A. Miller
showing cup presented to him by
former Sheriff R.R. Veale to Mrs,
Esther Miller.

5f

Miller: time a radio wave could not be bent. They didn't have
enough power to bend it over the hills and down into
this hole here in Martinez. Many times the lower
elevations didn*t get good reception*

So we conceived immediately to build our own
radio station* We installed here the first radio
station, imder my supervision* And about a year
later I wasn't satisfied with that. We had lost a
prisoner and they directed us all in our cars to a
©ul de sac type of place back of Mt. Diablo. When
I found that they were directing all the men to the
same road that I was on I then and there made up
my mind that I'd stop this practice. This was the
father of the two-way radio whereby I was able to
talk back to my office. We then gave service to many
cities and many counties around the state of Califor-
nia, including Lake County.

We now have the three-way radio station, but we
made another innovation. We couldn't get into the
holes, like Berkeley could, because we didn't have
the power to bend the wave into the lower elevations.
So we installed on the top of Mt* Diablo what is now

9V^i i^iibib \,i»K: .^fseo ed ion bX woo ©Vf?w ol. . ii iisXIiM

i«woi yfli 3 :;ij vn£iJ .sdnidii^ll nx ^isrf ©ioii alas

aiiGY jb ;t«rdf? dha •nci:«i:\n,*qus Yi^i 'xo->nr ,r.oi-....

JB o;r ei/o iiio iix IXr; ^i5 hB^oe'ilb \mi^ bsxj^ tocioextq

OBii^ .cici^i:'^ *ifH to iioj:id soiiXq Ic evj^^ or .. .,w Xlo

eri;f o^ nyr- snct XXjb j^ni^to^iib low xor# iadi baaoJ I

(jAJ Qtj^jr si.^a^f oius ASf'i I no rjbw I ii*i1^ bj^^oi ©a^iae

\ii»m OCT :)oiv3ii^ ^Vj-^ nSx^'it sW .eoillo -^a ol .Tloisd lil.'t
"lotiifiD "Uj ^jx'Jh e.L 3 bm'Oi- ac^ic^rujop yosit mu- eei* xd

9w Iwd ifiollisja oiij^i \;j8V-9f:7dl aril 3V£f( won eW
8fij oliii li^ji.J 'xii)IiJuo »w .llctl2^vof(fiX toiilooB dbii«

• sxioxlfvveie lewoX anj oirtt dvsw axil bns(i ol lav/oq sril
won £ii ljt>t.w oidir-iu .IM lo c;Ol silj ao I>©XXaJ ; ni ew ofi

53

Miller: knovm as a reflector set. Thus ve sent our radio

message from Martinez to the radio reflector set on
top of Mt. Diablo and bounced it down into the holes
and it was very easy* Witliout bending th# vaT« vt
just had a stral^t imve up and a straight wave down
and we solved that problea*

Also in the early stages we built what was known
as an honor farm. I wasn't satisfied with the incar-
ceration of the prisoners. It didn't seea like we
were doing then any good. We weren't deliquoring
them and we weren't getting them out into the open.
So we made a survey of the state and had built here
the Honor Fara — the first of its kind around these
parts, there still stands a aonument built by the
prisoners for oe at the Honor Farm. This Honor Farm
was an innovation here that I enjoyed very much.

We were beginning to have a great volume of boat
traffic and waterway traffic in the use of our water-
ways. We were beginning to have a great many dro%m-
ings* So we had installed here in the various cities
and the various areas of the county sets of grappling
hooks. If somebody were drowned — and there is

n

»irf ^:% .!> ^I • it

. , 4

^TsH ill- 1" ^evii ;/ oZ

... . nttH siffX .isTi?'"* -xofroH *ri^ ., _^ ';o^ "^.^ _^ _,

.fiOiJK ;i»v I $mdS

54

Miller: nothing worse than to have a mother knowing her son
is dead in the water down there — we would immedi-
ately set outf and many and many a time I set out
with a rowboat and a set of grappling hooks and we
recovered those bodies for the families. We had
twenty-three of such drownings in this county in aqr
eight years. ^ t > : t : -

In many other ways we strove to modernize the
office. Each and every move was an important one.
Specifically the most important one of all was the
fact that I perform as a trick shot, and perhaps
am one of the world's greatest trick shots. So -^
every noontime I used to shoot in the basement of
the courthouse here. We*d bring a prisoner out from
the jail and have him witness my shooting, and not
brag about it at all, just simply shoot, and then '^^
lead him back into the jail. And the jailer would
say, "Well, Sheriff, you shot well today."

"Well, maybe I won't so so good tomorrow."
But it was impressive to the prisoner that here
was a man that was shooting and was able to shoot
and able to handle a gun. So from time to time I

^^■

bs'.ii eW .csxXitt; not ssxiioc* eeorta bei9VOo©i

9fl;^ ©xi c.j 8V0i;J8 ;- il

Siidf ^^w Xl£ Ic Oil'- ^nB;>iCKfF?i ^isOffi oii^ X-^I-^oil-JtoscfS
uc. ,.; -■ 'oiii ^a©rffi9i^ s'blTtow oili to ©ao Cis

Jon bae ,*;^nlioorf8 ^a 8£on;tiw mxrf 9VJk.fi boii 11 ' It

Oft' j biUi ,ioort2 ^fcfiila. i8D(; ,11* i-e ^i ;fijodA;
bliiow ieXijB(, s.'v^T tnA .Ix^t ^^^ o^ni >tojBd mid baei

" •woiiofijot boc;^ eg 08 .t'ltow I ©cfvui ,IIeW"
9'iSfi ^p«^ i*^no?.X7 : fjili ot oviaaeiqa.x a*<w Jl iufi

iooiv. c^ ?Xdfi ^.iw bfii5 iJtnitoorle r.4BW ierf^ nr. w

35

Milleri went to Folsom and Saji Quentin and shot, and the fact
is that they would nudge one another and ask, "Who
is this fellow?**

*He*s the sheriff of Contra Costa County,"
And of course they'd say to one another, "Keep
out of that county."

So we solved much of the crime problem by scaring
them away.
Baumt How come you were such a good shot?
Milleri Veil, as a boy in Livermore I did shooting. It was
one of my hobbies as a kid.

But the point I wanted to make was this, and this
is the first time this has been divulged: I never
carried a gun for the eight years that I was sheriff,
on routine duty. I didn't have to carry a gun. I
had the heck seared out of them, and they behaved, and
we lost less than 11,000 a month here in this county,

a month! while now we lose more than that every day

on nlm. tiat bia in -^O^ s-' " » ^

here. I did have a gun, several of them, in the car,

a rifle and a shotgun and a revolver; I did strap a

gun on me when I went after several important crim-

inals — I can give you the names of them — but I

-»

5

♦^twoliel alri^ si

?*©fle boo«^ « tioit aoo woH : .

BJTw Si .ixjl^oonu Life I 9iofrx5viJ nl x^ct .' :~~ ^ Vfn ' noIIiM

•bij( x^ 8ib ESlJdori \^ to eno

e^lxiexie axjv I ^.tii^ ei^j^Y ^ri^i© eai lol fl*»^ i* b©i tl«o

bfljB ^berhded oa sioari ©x1^ b&d

t^inuco ..xri^ ox -^nri^ri dSaom & 000 ^ It OBdi esdl ii^ol sw

Yv«b Yl-vw o^rj .jj.iS ^-iOiM e^cS -■ won bS istv '
tiiO 9{i^ ni ^'.-nii to lisievse » ovjtiri bib i .^jiba

-^xiQ ia^ioqmi Xin«v©a i<»iTe Insv I neiiw 5>ra no xuf^
I iud — K'.mi^ lo ox 9v o i — aXfini

36

Miller: never always carried a gun as a police officer should
do» This was unnecessary. I donH think you can
find a similar case in the whole United States where
the sheriff for eight years didn't have to carry a
gun. I just had them frightened to death.

I'll give you an instance herej I shot one time
in Antioch at a carnival. A few people started coming
in and pretty soon a very large crowd of about 200
when a colored man stepped up and said [in dialect],
**I understand you*s the high law."

I said, "Yes, sir.**

**You the high sheriff of this county?**

**Yes, sir.**

**I*se an escaped murderer, Missouri State Pen.
When the law shoots like that, they're gonna get me
sooner or later. I give myself up.**

I was never so surprised in my life. I clapped
the handcuffs on him, put him in my car, rushed him
down here, called the warden at Joplin State Pen,
and he said, **Yes, sir, that's the worst criminal
we've ever had. Hold him.'*

d«-

nijo ii< Y. aatni j * nob I .yisesoof^nriL ^--.^ .i.iT •ob
eT9ir.. ss^ia^ci bti^ifib ylortw edi ui aajso ijbI Jtmie fi bail

OGS ii/od*- lo bwcio ^^^i^i x'J^v ^ (iocs ^J^oiq brus ni
, [;^o©IjRii> ni j bXAts bat qu beq\\^ia atM beioloo ii neriw

".lie ,39Y" .b^jKB I
"VViujGO Ri. ;> lo l-'^jfcisria ri? in ofi;^ uoY"

^.lia ,geY"
• ne-i »JR^8 lijjoasiM ,iST9bijjc oao an ee'i^'

"•qtf lie yjB svigi I ,T^.^fiI io lenoos
b*^uQx.lo I .©"xii Yifi ni oesiiqiiis oa '^sv^^n 3i:w i
iuirf b6r:3j>i ,1^0 ^ ni mid ^jj'j ,iiiiri a^ a^x nsobnsd et{3

Ir.i.ir/ii'u: J. '/ ,1X8 ,?Jtjy** ,bii-?8 Sri bfLb

".»irl bi. .. .Ti.^ii 1 v\, jv'sw

37

Miller: That fellow just simply got frightened out of

his skin. He gave himself up. This is an indication
of how people respect the law when the law knows what
to do about it. And I guess I*m one of what you*d
call the old-time sheriffs, because we lived by our
ability to shoot a gun and to ride a horse, not
because of our political ability at all.

Baums You*ve given in a considerable detail, I understand,
a report of how you modernized the sheriff's office
to the Contra Costa College. Is that available for
scholars to look into?

Miller: Yes. I made two tapes, one last Saturday and one

last Sunday, of an hour apiece, for the junior college,
and this is the exact thing that I just said now. I
gave in detail how I modernized the sheriff's office.
I guess this should be available through the junior
college.

Baums Do you know if they're going to make a transcript of
that?

Miller: No, I don't know that. I know they played it back
and it sounded very, very wonderful.

Bauai If you ever get duplicate copies we'd be happy to

v^

ii-u X'' &©viX i^v e^ijBOsd ^el'tlTsria 9mi;t-blr -^:' IIjso
ion j'-iBio. >i'i oi bn£ cw% b ioocia oJ \':ilijfccfjp.

• ll£ Si xmii^iB Ifioiiiloq 1UO 1o . „ .

90X110 e'lliT k»ox wod lo o' &

i ,woii cxaa ;^8Jj|, I ii-iii ^nirli .to£Xd »r<^ si airii btis

..iOiVio fc'l'tiisria 9fi# besimeboii I wori liB^Bb sil avjia

ioxiii>(, adi (i'^iio'tiii &l(i,dljt^^ ' bluoiie eirS aaeu^g I

to Iqxioaiijsii u oi 03 is^fliojj 91 ' \.^i1;l *tx woxtii uox oQ :.„ ..

>!ojfcid ji i)OYi>iq ^siU womi . ■ nii woni ^ 'nofc I ,oH nellxM

o3 \:q :A-ii ecf b*sw aaiuoo 3Ji^oiIqk'i) j I

:»

BauBi: have a copy to deposit in Bancroft Xiibrary.

I was wondering if when you took over the office
the men who had been working under Sheriff Veale for
many years were immediately loyal to you, or if you
had any discipline problems.

Miller: No, I let them all go — I never kept a single one.

We went in cold. There was only one man that started
to work for me tnat had ever had one day of law en-
forcement experience. Ve learned from the bottom up.
I did have a radio man there who knew how to build a
radio, but had never built a police radio. I did
have men who were sensible. I went to fl^ leader in each
town and said to get me a man, not to turn then over.
I didn't care whether he was Democrat or Republican,
black or white, I didn't care whether he was Catholic
or Protestant — get me an honest, honorable man in
your community. And I thus made an appointment in
every town, every major town, of one man, and they'd
had no experience in law enforcement.

Baum: You weren't satisfied with the previous law enforce-
ment officers?

Miller: In those days, to the victor belonged the spoils.

90X110 siiu levo >iOo;t tJO\ neriw 11 ..rsiisbnow aiii/ I
icl sIjs^V liiisrii iftbtiij "3^1:^10^ n6 !w nser sri^

MOY li ^o ,JL»o.^ 0^ I-HYoI ^Ie^£Xb9ffunl siew

.eseXdGiq 9£iiIqioax£ X^i$ b£d
.6n<j eiyTike jb ;tq3> T^^ven I — oj^ IIjs iC9fi4 iJj^i" ' » ^^'»
i3&;^'ii:;y«? ^ briJ mii! rno \ino z^m ^z&tT£ •bioo ni iu^

-n9 *;£l to xj^b one b^.r- iov» b^fi ^jani em tol liiow oi

»qtj flJOiJod sfi^ (snl Lnmjjji/ sV .u^oitciioqxe itndffiaOTOl

e blxucf ci 'wcri w w eiert^f obk oibi)i £ ©Viiri bib I

nib I .oiL' 'i aolicq m ^Siad laven bsil ^ud ,olb£i

.T9VC ino.:4 ftiv-J ^-i ioa ^sum jb dm ieg oi bii?B ^^* nwo^t

Gi: ujfe.j a^.w afv igri3enw e•";f^c) ^'fibib I ^'^^ Xny to HobX^

nl tmm ^idi^ioaoti ^tssncri ni» »jc .te;:^ — ^niji«e;toi*i lo

ni ;^D:iCij nioqqii rtc 9b«#i .,^..j i bnA .v^^f^^^-^co luox

i:*^9rf^ bus ,iU££:

-^lOIOlfl^^ -fell Sk'OlVf

.Blio<?e srij

,nsod

YiQvii ,n*'0^ ^o^vo

ioln« yfcl «i ijoneii^qxs on bad.

J /"(^iw bsllel^^Be **nt»iew ucY

Teieolllo ^nejn

nelllM

itnu&ii

noIIlM

39

Baum: That was a pretty bitter campaign, too, I think.

Miller: Oh, yes, it was bitter. Not bitter between me and

the incumbent sheriff, at all. As a matter of fact,
this cup that you see here was the cup that he gave

Ml Her I *® *^® ^^y that I was installed. It was a loving
cup, and he stood %s staunch as a rock and smiled,
and I was crying. He was a gentleman all the way

Miller; through. He and I wound up as friends. But the

bitterness came from members of his staff and friends
in his behalf, and there was considerable bitterness
there. Not particularly between me and him, but
between my friends and my family and various others.
There was a lot of bitterness, but most of it has
disappeared. It's pretty well cleaned up*

J. They e: to ke«p

tt^oy wifrrM

I tH^m f^ th#'

At

pay ti*'**^ i-

e^

OfiB »fiT nti9W^dd id;r^ld ^oK .icUitf &£v il ,e9x «xiO sieXXiM
»vj^:;^ 9x1 ti^efS quo ^ri;f a£v eiod £>G& uox ^Mi^ cil/o ^Iri^

"^w sd* IIjb nsia»l5. ■ ai'iio anv i tOM

«i :i::^xi^ f)ftB tl^ia Rid 1o air"~- --"' -- ' 'vnei^id

iu6 ,iui£i bats 9i& 09swidd ^i^iyol^ifiq ^oM ••i9ci^
.ei©ri;^o RU0X1J-.V bn* v.-J^icuc't ' aondiil

e^ n Jl lo ^dOiJ iutf ,aa9nie>;tild lo doi dT

THE BRENTWOOD-MILLER PLAN IN OPERATION

40

Baumi You went into office in November 1934?

Miller: I went into office January the 1st, 1935»

Baum: So this was the time to begin thinking about the
picking season, wasn't it?

Miller: That's right, and this was the thing that occupied
my mind extensively. The farmers were very, very
worried. If a man who had been sheriff for forty
years could not hold the situation down, if the
riots were going on as they had in the past year,
in '34, then how, in their mind, could a young
sheriff without experience hold the fort? And
they were tremendously concerned, and I was tre-
mendously concerned. They expected me to keep
the peace*

I then called them into conference at the
very earliest date. I would say this was in May,
at Brentwood, and I said to them, "How much do you
pay these men?"

They said, "We pay 200 an hour."

CA

ViiJllAHH'IC »il

Sii }*R^iM ^ClOSSi9Z sixi^oiq

Xiov ,\'JGV ^le^? aijEMfir*! edf *yJ^*'^-^»^^^3C9 bnif* ^ai

Y^iol TOl 'i"ii'i/rfs neeo &.«-[i oriw ni.j^ i< 11 . ii-icw

ois4 'is ,m/oft fr iii-:0^i3 9j^j oiod .ton bXyco eiB&\

, n Vi ni 5B/i v.© lit e<5 no v,nlo;B\ eiew pi oil

tU'^o ,trti(i* ^iftii^ ni ,v'Of( non^ ,>ir* ni

.J- L.iod son ■ x'9 ^jjoffctiw ^'!ii9rl2

•eoBse srii

41

Miller: I said, "As a picker and a former farmer, this
is not enough. If you expect me to keep the peace
here you've got to pay these men what I think is a
fair wage, or don't expect a full measure of support
from me."

They said, "What do you think^ Mr. Sheriff, is
a fair wage?**

"Fifty cents an hour."

And they said, "We will go broke paying that.
We don't get a good enough price for our apricots."

So we eompromised at 40^ an hour. (In other
words, I was able to raise the wage of the workers
to 400 an hour. ) This is an accomplishment that I
did all by myself with the farmers. They asked me
then and there, "How do you expect to keep the peace?"

And I said, "This is my business. I*m going to
run this show and I'm the boss, and I'm going to keep
the peace."

Kow they said, "How do you propose to do it?"

"This is my business."

So a month before the picking season started, I
left my office here with my radio in my car and I

i^

:f'Toq^,>a to »'iij«iui'6ffi IXwl i, *09qy» J * nob lo ,e:i;M&w lifit

*'»f^m moil

*' •'2^001 "xq^i \uc 10*5 sialic ;ie.Jwi»;i© ooo^ a ^a^ ;t * nob o**

I .t r'^ Jnftadeiiqflicuox. lUa ei BiriT ( .iwori n*:^ SjO^ o4
i?iii b^i^sjt, \:»ii'i .eiaujial ©rli Hiiw tl . ^d Xiu Mb

o^ ^iixo<3 a ' i . .i?2t*ijxsjjd >Cii si f.itCV ^bijB? I fexiA
.r5©>i ci niO'A j'^l bnc ^p.scd eii;i m'i bruj worla 8Xii:f itwi

f
I bftp. 7 0 ^ ni cx.bt'i vjc ri^ Iw sisri eoxtto "^ ^taX

42

Miller: opened up a temporary office in Brentwood. I there

and then asked all the potential pickers who expected
to be ready when the picking season came, somewhere
around the Fourth of July, to come into my office
and register. I told them that I had seen to it
that wages were increased from 200 to 400 an hour.
I asked tnem to register here with me and I gave
them a card, and asked them, Please, if they weren't
satisfied with the conditions, to come to me first
and not to strike. Then I would try to straighten
out the situation for them. I did give them a card,
I registered them, and unless they had suoh a card
and had passed this examination by me, they couldn't
get a job.

Baum: This was an agreement between you and the farmers?

Millers This was an agreement that I would register them, I
would look over the type of people, and that I would
give them a card whioh entitled them to go to work,
and they did.

At this critical time I set up unknown to any-
body but myself a subsidized shooting gallery and I
put it in the city of Brentwood at my own expense.

s^

^i o3 nsys rTfi I ii>ri* i^^iM 'iici I .lei&ij^fiT biM;
.•iucri fii. sO^ oi ^OS iaoiftbocjieioni discs' ae^^aw J

biiio JD fiotys t)£d Y.rri^ £:f^9ln« bos ,' X

^'raaw--'j iors^ ,Uir. v-j noi^t-nlji^xe sirii boaef?q barf baB

^ei .ffl-ifc/i Gd3 i>4i^ fjo\ /i^fwi'^cf ^neffi®t?'XT»£ .t- Si?^ airlT

.bib yehi bfie

i vii. ^leXI ~ ^ . . -. ., t)©sxblacjua ** tla^YiH ^i/<i v,bocf

42a

Sheriff Miller's Registration Card

<*

' 1 2 1 3 1 4 i 5 1 6 i 7 1 8 i 9 ! 10 ; n ! 12 ! 13 i 14 i 15 1 16 ! 17 1 18 j 19 1 20 i 21 ! "S<.

NAME

NO.

CLASSIFICATION
KEY

OAT-iM/^ A— EXCELLENT C— FAIR ^

RATING - B-GOOD D-POOR X-undesirable

1
?

PICKER

IF UNDESIRABLE. GIVE REASON

SORTER

3

CHECKER

4

GANG BOSS

IF FAMILY WORKED. STATE ABILITY OF FAMILY AS A WHOLE

5

DRY YARD

in

6

SCRAPER

REMARKS:

z

Q
C
0

7

SHED

8

SULPHUR

...

9

DEHYDRATER

.

10

TRUCKMAN

u

t 1

SWAMPER

.

/

U

I

12

TRUCK OWNER

»-

13

TRACTOR

14

PRUNER

!■;

IRRIGATOR

J6

THINNER

17

MECHANIC

18

HANDYMAN

19

WATCHMAN

, .

20
21

GENERAL

— -

MAY I FOREMAN

• REEMPLOYED
MAY NOT DE \

GENERAL |
DESIRABILITY 1

: ;:i:.;..„i

- .^. 1

. --'

: Jia:3i>s's:i-rt.: 31. .

i a 1 3 i 4 ! 5 I 6 I 7 i e i 9 i IP I 11 I ia

AOCRESS - TEMP. PERMANENT

WORK DESIRED

1 S_ J_ ',4 J 1^S_ I 1 6_
DATE REGISTERED

JjJ_.'?J„L9_L?.«L
NO.

CITY

MARRIED CHILDREN

SINGLE L^GE

EXPERIENCE

FAMILY WORKERS

WORK HERE BEFORE

WHAT WORK

CAN SUPPLY ADDITIONAL

I MEN WOMEN _

FOREMAN

NATIONALITY

UNION AFFILIATION. IF ANY

CAMPING EQUIPMENT?

LICENSE NO.

REMARKS:

If employed, I agree to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America and the
Constitution of the State of California. I agree that the Employer has the right to dis-
charg-e me at any time -without cause or previous notice; that if I quit or am discharg-ed
for any reason whatsoever, I -will remove myself, my family, and my belongings from the
quarters furnished by Employer, and from hia land; that if I do not do so upon verbal
demand by Employer, Employer shall have the rig-ht to remove my belongings from his
land, using whatever means necessary to do so; provided however, that Employer shall
not be obligated to remove them further than the nearest public highway.

REGISTRATION AMD SIGNATURE OF THIS AGREEMENT DOES NOT IMPLY ACTUAL EMPLOYMENT.

i.v

L^-

43

Miller: I had a man running it. I went there every night
between eight and nine o* clock and shot my rifle.
No gun, no star, in workingman's clothes, no evi-
dence of being a sheriff, but I always had a deputy
sheriff with his gun strapped on and his star handy
who would say to me, "Well, you didn't shoot very
well tonight^ Sheriff," oaking sure that the asseijii-
bled crowd and the whole town that was there would
hear the word "Sheriff," and I would say, "No, I'll
probably do better tomorrow night." At that time,
being tired, I would go up to the Brentwood Hotel
where I stayed and go to bed.

The next morning at five o'clock I got up and
without breakfast I'd go to a different field every
morning, I'd see the pickers there with their buckets,
and I'd beckon to one to come over and hand me his
bucket, and he'd ask me, "What are you going to do?"

"Mister, I'm just going to pick you a bucket
of apricots and show you how I pick apricots."

So I climbed up the ladder, picked a bucket
of apricots in jig time, brought it to the man, and
walked away. And I always looked back in the mirror

Cl»

ifiy^in Y^evi^ 91$^^ ^jb©w i .it paiap -^ «..d I ctsIIiM

-ii^c-aiijs ©ff^ isidt eiu& ^ni"' - '*,ilii©if3 ^^Tdj^xno^ Xisw

,oaii;f ^^M -' ' ", In wcTioi;:Qj isued Ob xXdt>vfoiq
It>^oii boow^naitt arii o* ^jj o^ bijjow I ^hQi.ii Saiad

• bed o^ c^ bag ^i^^^ci I et9r(«i;
bruB qij J -^ I iloolo'o svil: ,Ja ;:^«ixnoffl JxGfi ®dT

, icfsiiaiju ii5*i.u il^iw oisrt^ sna^foi': ^rf^ sae b*I ^Hnimoo

fcin »it biiMii tn^ isvo f?moo o^ «^fto cj" noxood b*I biuj

"Tob o;l ^iiio^ uo^ 6i£ ^ ^tai Jta-if h*©ri b£u> ^le^oucf

^9;ovj i, ijOY >'olq o^ nio^ J?.ut ei * ^ iidtfalM**

r
".r:Jooiiqj8 >ioiq I wori i/oy woha biu* eifooJtiqij lo

^9;ioud JR bealolq ,iebijfli ^d^ qu bodoxlo I oE

bfii^: ,n t od ^i iri .jLir-jd ,f !(, ni SaOoIiq^ To

Toiiim ©rfJ ni >:D4Sd bsjioci E.\H^i& I b«i^ .\jew£ tei.

44

Miller: of my car as I drove away and I could see the assembled
pickers probably saying, "My god, isn't that guy the
sheriff, the one that shot last night?" "Yes, it was."
So I educated them in a way that they knew that I
could ^oot and handle myself, in a way that they knew
that I was a worker, in a way that I got the admiration
of both the pickers and the farmers. And of course
the farmers thought that this was mythical, that this
was almost impossible. "He got by this year, but I
don*t think he'll get by another year." But as each
succeeding year went on and each succeeding year I did
the same thing, we wound up an eight-year service
without the loss of a single life and without one
single man getting hurt, and not a single arrest. I
have always contended, and this is the biggest fault
I have — overseriousness with my work -— that I was
80 serious about it that if I had one person hurt
that would have been a black mark on my record.

I also did this: I put a tape recorder in my car
and I put an extension arm on my motion picture
camera with a small watch at the end of the extension
arm, recording the time, and a little slot underneath
the watch in which I could push in a small card with

>.^

si.^ ^xit ^«fi-t ^*he1 ,feo^ ^K" ,^1^A8 YJ^distfo^q eiealoiq

I iJarJ 9fi^ iiifl^ y,«v iB ni iBSrit ' I 08

wsfi3{ \;©fi* *jaii^ ai ,lie^.Yffi 9l^niUf bfLB iooiSBfeXwoo

1 ;tiJCf ,i/.©Y. aid* ^rf log qH" *©Icfl8soq«i ;rEc-f ^ ■/

rioBS G*^. Jwa **.'ix9t i^ri^oni^ X*^ ^sg II'sil 3(nifl;f i^^nob

bit I iii9y aifixhsdooija fl9<&e biui fio ^nsu ib^y ^t^^^ooups

90 ivies TLSY-Jiij,xs n^ qu bav' ^'^atr^J '-■ ^ffJ

©no iiioiMiii ^m, sitl ^Ij^flls is Ic asoX »fi* JiLiori^l^

;rXiJjt.'i ^tae^i^Xd sri* ::! ainit bciB , noo /x-ri

esw I iri\^ - )w -^ diiw .ssnawolitjeitvo — 6Vi:>ri I

.bTooei \p no ^t^eio jio^iXcf xj n&eU bXjjow ^^i

lijo '^^ ni icit loosi . luq I xt*/tiM bib f>sX£ I

siij^^oiu nox,Joiu ^ no mi* ncXaaeixe -. • *" "^ •'.ob

.*cxans»uX6 ©n;t "io bua j^ftl i& tioiBv lih^a & d;riw aidouso

rtJJeofli^-batf cTcia -X;t.tiX ij ba , U ©£il s'^lbioodi ^mta

tiii\f bix.o Ixii'...ci jl ill riauq bXx;oo I rioXriv ■ ' " w ^rf*

44a

Motion picture equipment, Sheriff's Office.
Extension arm, motion picture camera, clock,
slot for title.

45

Miller:

Baum:

Miller:

h&t,iS^'

the name and the date of the incident, and I always
carried those in my car so that I would not have to
verbally testify against anybody. If I expected to
see an altercation I'd switch on my tape recorder and
I would get the words, and if one word led to another
and if one of them led to the flying of a fist, I
always was ready to take the picture of that first
blow, and with that knowledge that I had those instru-
ments in my car nobody struck a blow.
This was a preparedness campaign.

Yes. Now, I also knew this: this is all that I testi-
fied in front of LaFollette, and I feel to this day
that I made the biggest monkey out of that gentleman
— and he was a wonderful man — that any man ever
did, for a guy that never went to school, and he was
supposed to be a reputable man of high intellect. I
actually will describe to you how I did it, if we have
time.

Anyhow, we had heard about those reds coming in
there. These were not organizers, these were just
agitators. We had heard the names of a few and of
course the farmers were very anxious and there were

e^

G^ jvsri (ton iiixicw I ;tr'^J 08 ijso ^ nl •BOdcf bciiii^o

titij 'i©i:>iooeT eqjBi ^w no rioixwa b'l nolifio : .

I ,^2xt fi Jo ^ai\i1 ©ri^ *>^ orirf to sno li bn*

-n;tgai aeodS bx^d I ;ff>riiJ oXwcn^i Sani tii .void

.wold a jfouiie y.bodon tro y^ nl ain&iu
.nslBQiiiiiO c. .^i,..;^ii;;q9iq i? ^' • sldT

Y«b Eiit;f o;f lesl I bnjR ,e^^eIio*'fjftJ lo ^noil ni bsil

aBfi?eI:fn9^ ^iiri^ Jo iuo \93inoti ;fE©rcUd 34J - - I ;ri^fi;t

i9ve nj3iflj Tjmi i^rii — ni^o lult'ietnc w ©rt brtiB —

bjl.w erf bnjB ,Ioonoa oi itnow laven iJisri^ ^y^ j. lol ,Mb

I .So&Iit4nl tiiiti %o tmm el<Ssiuqoi jb »d o;t b' ua
sv^ri 9«*' li ^^i bib 1 woxi uoy oj sdiioaob lliw ^IliSjj^Ois

II Jt ^^riiniLO abei eaod^ itjudfl ^ijaftfi b^d »w ,wodv,iiA

;t^^K/i, ^>tow daorU ^cTssinjB^^io ^on eiaw easifT •sisd^

**(; bnjK ws'i fi lo scjDJ^fl 9f{i bijssri bnri »'<^ .«'io^j5^1^£

©'!9w eTs/';f bn/^ ciLOlxna ^t^v ©Taw gTsmiBl on^ bziuoo

4€

Miller: some mutterings around about a lynching this year if
this wasn't taken care of. So one day there was a
fellow by the name of Nathan, he was a known agitator.
He came into town and I had him pointed out to me,* I
said, "Come here, Nathan, here in my car."

He got in the car and he says, "What are you
doing to do, Sheriff?"

**I'm going to take you to the line and get you
out of here."
*" ^ •Well, why?"

**I'm going to take you out of here to save your
life. There are some mutterings around here, they

dtiizsj. don't want you around here, and I think I have a right
to save your life." So I took him to the Contra Costa
-Alameda County line and gave him 15 and said, "Don't
come back. I don't want you dead. I'd rather have
you alive." And this was my way of getting rid of
agitators in sutfh a way as to save their lives and
save trouble .

Baum: I think Nathan had been run out of town in 1954*

Miller: Yes. Yes, he'd been run but and he was one of the
main agitators. " "^ ^^

Baum: He was a recognized organizer, I think.

J.B. Nathan, a union organizer, arrived in Brentwood
on June 20, 1936; was persuaded to leave the area
under escort the following day. [WB]

rfK

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i - 1 . cJ irifi 3ioc* I oc- ' •e*:xl luo^ ©vbb o^

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f

.'iC^i iti I'Woi "lo vJjjO nxji need l" • <i' ruBfi^«5^ >tn"in^ 1 raruiea

•

.0

47

Miller;

Baum:

Miller:

Mi

Yes, I think he was. Of course, he was in the hair
of all those farmers up there and he had helped to
cause all this agitation up there before, which led
to the trouble, and led to people being put in cattle
corrals, and I had made up my mind there would be no
riots and there would be no cattle corrals and that
this would be handled in a business-like way. I took
the position that anyone who wanted to could win this
strike but not with violence, and there is where I
stepped in. When violence came along, this was my
job and I governed, or expected to govern at that
s tage •

When you asked Nathan to leave the county, or took him
to the line, did this get any reaction — this was a
heavy labor-organized Qounty, I think — did you get
any reactions from organized labor?

None whatever. No, I had no reactions; this was just
done so easily and so quietly smd so beautifully that
if anybody had any ideas they just quit it right then
and there. I had no other altercation that I remember.
This was the nearest I had in the whole eight years*
I learned this later — can we go into the LajFollette

71^

i^.. . 3 3ij^-;0 on ed Jbii^ow etsiU Las eioii

^iooit I .x..c;w 3>-iI~»3©ni«ud ii ni bsiba^ri sd bXuov aixiJ

\^ . ncliv StaiisO sonelciv aarirf .ni ' ja

jb ciiw sirf;t --- : \njR ite^ aid^ bib ,?3r»iX 9;:it oi

r

fc/>ri iS 1i

nci^ oieiIi\ TCv.iJo on fc-^ii I •eisii^ bar;

48

Miller:
Baum:

Miller:

Baum:
Miller:
Baum:
Miller:

situation now?

Well, I'd like to get a few more questions in» Getting
back to the beginning of your plan, there was this
registration. I think you also had a committee, didn't
you, of farmers who worked with you there?
I had a committee of farmers. I represented the workers,
and of course they weren't organized, so naturally I had
to be the representative. There was no such a thing as
organization here, and I had to be the go-between
between the farmers and the laborers. So I did have
these farmers agree that they would not cut wages, and
that they would not rais# wages, that they would stabi-
lize the industry, that there would be no incident by
them of any kind, and no agitation and no more mention
of this or that or agitating within themselves, because
in the farmers there were some agitators too.
Agitators for wh^t?

Well, agitating on behalf of the farmer.
For lower wages?

Of course; anything to break the situation, to gain con-
trol again. I said this to the farmers, just the same
as I said to the workers, that if there's one of you

H^

2ir^ ' cieri^ ,ajBlq i«o\ lo ^xiifii^ed ari^ c^ ifojMT

neXIxli

r>"f!:

lei I .8^^Ci^^l lo es^:tx.i!

: ' • y ^

/.il I

p--, inxiiJ ^. iiaue on a^^w eiPtiT ^evli&ii ,._ sdi ecf a

9. rl bij I o<i .aiaiodfiX fc*ri^ bn^ STdunjg'i :>d

bnM> ^ao^iriw iuo jon 5Xi;ow z^ ^ ^bpJ &«T*yf> aieim£.l t-..vUv

-io.-i^ bXiiOw Y^^i^ ^fcii:? . if^'i ion bXirov ysni isri^

Y<i ;Jn©bloni en sd !)Jl.ow s:?rti ^tr.fid ^x"^^ i ^"^^ ©slX

nc i:tnjffl ©lom 00 ijaa noiis^l^^ oa bar*, ^hniil \^, iv. fiz^H^

oaii::50«ci ,e9viosiii9ffi airiiiw juiiJ&;li?Mi 10 ;ti£ifli ao aidl lo

«oo^ yioiiiii^ 9IIJ08 ai&%r sTsrii RTsiniijl Qdi ai

vi rtw ici aTo^ti^ix^A
Vi98?ijsl 9fli lo lijFrted nc ^aiii-iii^ »lie^

?e«>a^w i9wcX TO'i
-1100 r.ixi^ o^ ,noi;t .ii^ia sdi^ ii£.t»'id oi ^nxdi\;xui ?98ijjao 10

tBTeen-;! sit^ oct r-.inj fcii g I .nii:,y,B Xoii
uc\ lo ©no ii'dTftfiif li i Li v . . i33Jiow 9i!:t ci bles I e^.

:Tf

zneXXiM

:i9XXiM

49

Miller? here that's agitating I*m going to bring him before

s ^is group and make a charge against him. I am not ai
going to be dominated by any particular agitating
Miliert farmer nor any particular agitating laborer. If you
have any just cause, come to me and I'll call a meet-
ing, and 1*11 form a committee out of the farmers
HilX^r^ themselves to come to me daily and report that every-
thing is going all right or if anybody isn*t living
up to the wage, so that you help me to make it possi-
ble to get this crop off and smoothly. 1*11 do my '
part, you're going to have to do yours. ..-

I will say this, they cooperated very veil, and
th« Workers and the farmers all did eooperate wonder-
fully well with me. a tf<-
Baum: This committee was called the Diablo Valley Public

Relations Committee?
Miller: That's right.

Baum: I think that's the one you explained to LaFollette
rt was made of five big farmers and five small farmers
and five local people.
Miller: Yes, they brought in five and I appointed mine.
Baum: « Vho chose the five big farmers?

eA

» J. r

3 qjj

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UQX II .i3ictfBl gfii^B^iuB liiljJox^TBq v,i'«.. iv/x, itjnriAl
-^©5 a: it* IIi>o II • I i)n -0 ydftjj£0 ipst^ itrus svjaii

-^19vn "" - T- -^ bite X-^J""" ""

gnivii J*nax XJ^oo^aa 11 lo ;fr(3ii li& snto
-ieaoq ^i ©ii^m - _ __ .„ jjox S&i^.^ _ «- -
YtD o5 II* I •^Iri^cCiua bfljs llo qoio air ■ •

,3iijOY oj3 o^ QVBii oi 8x1x054 ei'uOY ,
bfl£. ,Jl9w Y19V 5**>i£i'<f:o"'- ':^;t V ,.:.x.>^ \,*,^ XIxw I
-icjbnow ei 0 bib ius 8is«i£l ©ri;? bR& sisjIiow eri^

.ejB fiJiw II 9 w xliul
OxXdjj*! k^HmY OioGiQ Siii bslljso - .-^^ ^.....- jj gj^iff :r '

?0&^;rii{aBo0 enoI;ti3l»ii

.(fd^xi s'ijerfT iiellxM
' ' J u^ b^wI^lQxa uox si» edi E'^jsrii liaiiii l :;

siDsij.it II it bna iiTeiQTi auw

• elqosq IbooI «vi'j „._.
.©niin boJQloqqa I btiu »vit ni Jri^uoid X9iii ^aeY :i6

. , vil 9fl^ eeorio oriV imxiisa

50

Miller: The farm group.

Baum: Did they have a meeting? Or were they of another farm

organization?
Miller: No. They had a meeting among themselves and they gave

me the names*
Baumt These were the apricot-growers only.

Miller: Apricot-growers only, yes. And there were tnree groups
that made that one. If I chose to call them into
emergency session I wanted them there immediately.
Ml* — and I wanted to lay down my problem with them. I will
say this, I didn't have to use them — only as indivi-
duals reporting that everything was going along all
right, but I very, very seldom had to ever consider
using them. I used to meet with them once a week and
w«*d go over these mutual problems together.
Baum: Did tney gather once a week?
Mi Her t Oh, yes.

Baum: And they were cooperative in coming together? "
Miller: Oh, yes, they never missed*

Baum: How long before the picking seasion did this group get
Jtilj^r X . appointed? i..

Miller: I was in there I would say three weeks before the
picking season*

oe

8Vc , Y.eii^ fens 33vl83ffl9(i^ J.iiltii^IJB T^nl*^ J^ fejBri "^C^di . :\> ^ a in

.ss-

o^ni fiieii^ il/o c o X 11 •f»ftc .^^ri* ctRiW

,v* . -oofflffii Olefin r.^fic w,.. ;i*!.v I aoi^a«»^ \;on9)^i8nw>

liiw I . ..nij rfrf iw • Y^-^ ^^ ' ^ '^f^

Ilfi gnoXfi T^nlo^ ajgv .-nidi viovs ;>ibiiij> ^inX^iocei sX/ji/b

letianoo isve^ o;t t X^a ^19V ^xier I ^i>d ^ ) ; ,xi

5ne- ieow i^ eono rsd^ fi;tx^ ie ^ of be^x.^ I .j&ierfl i^i^^u

V^BQw £5 soifo tjai^i^ YOil* i>XQ :.'> nit

.3<j . ,rf»: :*?bX£xM

r
i.,i oxD :r-iBj:>e(- . i -j..^ ...li etoiad gaol woH :?.iiaa

oi.:J s'.' ^i^a Y . X £'*i®h;t ni ajaw I tioiXXM

51

Bauffls
Miller:

Baufli:

Miller:
Baum:
Millert
Baum:

Miller:

Baum:
Miller:

And would this committee begin to meet that soon? '*-
The committee would meet even during the winter some-
times, getting ready for the next season, and go over
the yhoie situation yearly in regard to wages, and
of course the wages went up little hy little, in
regard to the whole picture ♦

And were there any other problems they considered,
such as camping facilities or other problems, as a
committe*? , t««r. h^^A = « ■» '^ .

^^* ^i 1*0 W vl iiJll

^^•S? t\ntl ancie a t lio\i, tula i«

Wages and haraoigfi. living conditions, wages, and harmony.
How about grievances? If a picker came to you and he
complained — or didn't any of the pickers come to you
with grievances? , . .,

I*m very proud to say that I never had a single soli-
tary grievance of any kind by the pickers. I'm very
proud of those pickers. They were wonderfully behaved
and I never had one instance where I had to intervene.
They didn't come in and complain to you?
They never complained. And I had them nailed right
to the cross, because they made me a pledge tnat if

le

tmtfM&

• oH

©rl btiB sjo\ or 1 aevsi'i)^ ^i/odi, woH

ucy o;> emoo aiejiolq erU ^o xnx? :t'nt)iJb 10 — biaic^Iqiaoo

bevjbrisd \;XIu'ii€ibnow ♦low yorlT .si0>i'olq eaod$ lo buoiq
.on9V-ir;^njfc o^ b..,ii I sTeiiw s^iiiBJiai ©no bsA ivvon I bus

^l^.i"r beXxfcrr fi.orj b^ /i I bnA .bsniislqffloo lovsn y^^T :TeXXi><
'ti it-ij sgbaXq is 0£i 5>b;>ia >:«>fi: 000 ,s80io &ii^ o^

nsXXlM

zmuBd
tTsXXiM

52

Miller: something didn*t suit them they would come to me first
so I had them pledged; I had the farmers pledge to me
that if there was something they didn*t like they
would come to me too. So I had them pledged on both

Baum:
Miller:

-!

Millers

sides*

4 ^ ^ ■• «,

'^. *^'

. fe,

All information would come to you? ad 10 .
I handled everything and stayed on the job from five
©•clock in the morning till eight o'clock at night.
I worked fifteen hours a day there. ^ ^^y ^

^0 «^ Of course, I made a note of all these Various ^^
things and made a regular report- Now, this is some-

"thing I had learned from the government. In the gov-
ernment income tax work we had to make a daily report
of what we did in the hours and whom we collected from
and this was my way of making a dally report and
documenting everything that was done. Anything I did
was documented — where I went, what I did — thsre
was no secrecy about it at all. It was absolutely
open to the public. Nobody could do anything to me
because I had it all down and it wasnU ;)ust hearsay.
Because htarsajr ana talk is'nd gOOd. When you've got
something documented, and who came to see you, and

se

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svi't ico-x't rfo(^ orij r? ' ' ^ ■■ ..:i ■ I tr^ltiM

.iti:^\in t^ 2(00X0 •» $sii^l9 11 1$ y,nkniom eri^ ni ioolo^o

• ei9r:^ Y«b e aituori nesim beafiow I
awoii/v 9R«i JB I ,d.3nuoo 10

^7r>vj&T: \:lifib /* iiAf>B o;i bmi 9w aivm/ xjii efiiooitx ifl9flifl*xe
)i;oil bB#a«Iioo e siuOi fli bib 9W IaiIv to

bain ^ioq©T Y;Xl*5i> li ;%nl3i.fiin to - - tiii bus

bib I gfllri^Ya-A .enob si ;f*ii^ ^.nitiJ^i «oob

9Te: i — btb I ^>^dv ,;fnc

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©ffl o^ ^i^niifiY*** ^^ ciuoo xt .oiidiiq drii oJ neqo

.Y,^.8^ii©ri ^aift j*a*.t-w ^i bns fr^ob XXa^l b'^ri 1 eai/AO^d

;fo^ »v»jjo\; flr .doc;a on al ilXisi bn li^ari eauAoaA

53

Baums

Millers

Baua:

Millers

Milleirs

Millers — well, everything was in detail, beginning with the
Biinute that they came to see me. This was all learned
from the United States government.

Would the pickers come to you if there was somebody in
their ranks that was agitating for a strike?
I asked them to do that and they promised me to do that,
and apparently there was none of that. Apparently this
method frightened agitators out. The agitators knew I
was in control because I had no problems of any kind.
So nobody reported to you an agitator because probably
the agitator was afraid -—

He was afraid to come in. Oh, I saw a couple of fellows
that I knew quite well, they were labor organizers, they
had organized other different branches of labor; I saw
a couple of fellows from Martines^ They came in there
^% they couldn't get a foothold because everybody was
happy. All the workers were happy and there was no
dissension. Tou see, when the workers are unhappy
then an organizer can come in and he can organize them
very easily. But if they were happy, they knew they
were getting a square deal, then this couldn't apply.

Baums I did notice on your work schedules that you did say

i[^

^ii-cii ob oi em bszimoiq xeiiS bas^ ij^^i^i cb o^ losn^ be^ati I i:
ai:id YXitnsiisqqA ,^o('^ to *?floa .. w ^. ac...^ ^X^i*^ ifc^^i--..^ oae

• bniii X0^ "^^ emeXdoiq oa b^ii X o ... c Xoi^noo nX sjbw

3W0XX9I '■ . ^ ^ ^e I ,rlO .flx s«oo oi .^, .._ _.. xi=*XXxK

XO[{i ,fii&sxni?.>iio iocIbX ei^w ^»n^ . Tiwp we«Jt X ^itihi

L»'i©ri;t f;x ets.iBO Y^eril ,v3kt»ni';tiii.M moi't awoXie't to dXquco b

ajDW YJ^cdyievt o^d ibXoftiool .« ^ai^, i^abiuoo XBiii iati

oa r.BV sisidi bajt \q ^ esU ilA *\qqBA

Xqquiiaa pia meiicw erii notiv ^d^8 i; ' .ncic ib

f

X&tii wi.ftii Y©^^^ t^Q^*^ di^w t©*^^ iX i^wd .YXXaA9 Y^*v

• ^Xqc'j: I'njoJwoo aXrii f. . ib stajui;-

\:£5a oXb uo\ i:<>iii eeXxjLoiiog ofiow ^vox xio eox;Jon bil» I

54

Baum: that somebody came in that you recognized, I think from
Martinez, as an agitator, and he was picked up right
away by one of your men and sent on his way.

Miller: That's right. I think his name was Roberts, if I'm

not mistaken* Ve became fast friends later on. He was
a painter and what you would call an organizer, I also
picked him up during the Crockett trouble sind took some
weapons away from him and many, many others in the
Crockett trouble, all by myself. This is another story,
of course, but a very interesting one, but this had no
connection with the Brentwood case.

Baum: So you had experience in this labor situation in other
aspects?

Miller t Oh, yes, we had a very tough problem over there in

Crockett because that was the birth of the CIO organiza-
tion and of course the CIO was making inroads into the
AFofL and of course there was resentment there. That
has all been breached, the sore has healed over, but
those were the early days where somebody would come
into your gravy train amd pick off the apples and take
some away from you. It was quite a serious breach
there, a statewide breach. It was a situation whereby

^c!

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iii'i i 8J3W £iauBfl aifi ilx:lr';t I .fd:.\ii ' " jielXiM

3jt:w hii .nf^ io^jkI cibnexil ^sj^I : ©W , ns jl *^ ^^ a In ion

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on b II aisT iiid ,yno ^aiieftTBjnl v;t9v jb ii/d ,9a7L'C0 lo

• ©afco 5ocw;fn£ifi eff;f d;riw noxJoeanoo
i?dJO iii iioii; v^ ie. lodfiX BXfl;^ ni ©ov bi,.rf yoy 08 iftujjsfi

nx oiaiivt jrvo asXiioi': dTiUC^f \i9V s iKii e .-=-*' ,rfO snsXXJtM
(tBitX .©tarii ^aesiinsB&i c^-^v steii* ecmoo "io box) JlolA

;fj'!/ ^'i- /o tfei

iGid n©dd XXjb aod

ov!B;t '"»r{i 'i'^o bay, ni.6ivt Y^^^'->i luo^ octnx

iov2id 3iioi*i93 e Qiiirp aiijw yi .uoy ©oil y .:oa

n^

Millars

Miller: they marched people in from all over the state on me

from both sides. In a show of strength, and where again
I without a gun and without a star said just simply,
"Drop those weapons, fellows; step down here, any one
of you, I'll take you.** Because I knew ju jitsu and I
knew how to dump 'em, I could have dumped them right
on their rear ends, and they knew it. And I gathered
the guns and they're still in this house right here.
I have all the hay hooks and all of the clubs, they're
ail labeled and they all can be seen. I solved that!
At that time Mr. Tyler, who represented the United
Press, said he'd never seen a man in his life, a law
enforcement officer, all alone do something Xik€» that*
He never saw in all his life anybody so brave. I said,
"I don't care, boys, if it means my life. I'm willing
to give it, but you're not going to hit somebody else
over the head, because this is America. Drop those
weapons!" And they did. They poured down like rain,
and I packed 'em up and put 'em in my car, and they're
still here at my home.

V(hen you were registering workers, X believe the state
employment service helped in registration?

Mllii5r4

Baum:

e$

SB! no e^iicta ecii T3V0 ILb moil ni siqc i1oiii« ijeri* iisXIlM

©no xn-"^ t^*i®^ nwob qe^a {cwoll-l . aori^ qoia"

^ti^ii i bsq uco I ,fa&' qmub bl wod weioC

bsieriiis^ I 5aA ,ii .4 b£L b xeai li^Ai up

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i bs;t. , ~ . -"dS iacii i/\

wxsl ii ,9111 sid al . isvcn b*9ri I

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,ox/i8 I .ovjGid Oii x^€)dx«JS Qtii exA Lis ai
:^^niii . II Xffl Bfi^^Bi Jl li ,axod ,&xko i^aob I"

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9i9ri liliB
Snoi^jBi^eigei ni boqlod aoivi^e inornxolque

56

Miller:

■»Vv;

Baiun:
Miller:

Baum:

Miller:

Baum:

Miller:

No, I'm the father, definitely the father of that plan,

and the state employment service was not in the field

as far as X know at that time. I don't believe there

was such an agency then. So far as I know I never saw

any. Later they took over.

In 1955 you were alone?

Yes, and later, perhaps 1938 or 1959, they took over,

and they made themselves a job. They did come in and

they did the same thing that I did only in quite a

different way. They weren't law officers. They were

only in here doing a job.

Getting the pickers together with a job.

That's right. They employed my complete practice —

with the exception, of course, that they didn't go as

far as I did. They just registered them and acted as

liaison between the pickers and the farmers.

When did you go out of the picture as the registering

agent, then? ^^ ^,.

I didn't have to do it any more after two or three years.

They took over more and more and I then went my own way

into the law enforcement part of it, going through

this in the same way as the prior years with the

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; .■ Ji- m>.£:Y TCit . ^ .,-; eri^ ni ait-^

57

Miller:

Bauia:
Miller:

Baum:

Miller

Baum:

Miller:

Baum:

Miller:

KiiUr
Baum:

Miller:

''i'H.r

'Q« very

u

'^a-ch y^nT thoi.s i;aai< s^
exception that I didn't have to register them any

longer. ^
Was this an assistance to you?
Ho. They reported to me and they followed the Miller
Plan — they call it the Brentwood Plan, bu^ they . .^
followed my plan.
So they cooperated with you? ^
They cooperated with me, yes.

Did you continue checking each man as he was registered
to make sure if he*d be a reliable worker?
That's right.

Even after they took over the registration?
Yes. I wanted to be in control of the situation so that
I would know who was there and who was happy and who
was unhappy and what type of people they had who had a
good record. That's all* This was all I cared about.
Did you have trouble in your committee of farmers get-
ting them to agree on a wage? This came up every year,
I expect, and was a little —

I — I had some skeptics. Yes, I had some skeptics
who thought this was something extracurricular, that
they'd never seen anything like that and didn't believe

re

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ji b/sri Offw bjRil x^^i^ eXaoeu lo ©ax^ ^- arim; 8«w

.^fucai beiiBO I -.-^ , .. ^^..- .-. -•:fBi<T .bioosi boo^

-^m\ 3Tf>imv 1 lo 8o;tiJijinBOo luoy nt elducii evjerf ijo^ bid tmvaS,

aolJ r; f)£ii r ,38Y ?i8 MiOB b^ri I — I :•!

58

Miller: it could be done, and each year those same skeptics
would say, "Well, he did it all right last year, but
I want to see him do it next year." I had some very
good friends who were very skeptical. I think this
was Just really a club over my head to be sure that
I would be in there again and keep the peace. I think
this was merely propaganda,

Baum: What were they skeptical about?

Miller: They just simply thought it was mythical that this
could be done this one year, and they couldn't see
how it could continue to be done*

Baum: To keep the peace, or to stick on one wage?

Miller: To keep the peace.

Baum: Did you have trouble in getting all the farmers to
agree on a wage and to keep it?

Miller Yes, there were some skeptics of course, those same
skeptics all the time wanted to continue to keep the
lower wage.

Baum: They wanted to cut wages a little if there was an
oversupply of labor?

Miller: That's right, and a couple of times I did have a couple
of farmers who dropped the wage, and a couple of times
I did have a couple of farmers who Increased the wage,

> )a«jw>>^vk

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,sv^w -jH^ bsci.^sioni Ofiv 8' "to ^loijoo a ov^rl bib I

55

Miller:

Baum!
Miller:

Baum:

Miller:

and both times I squas,h^4 it l^amediately by calling

the committee and I said, "Here, this man is doing

that. Tell him to stop it," And I used the farmers

to do that for me; I didn't have to go to the man at

all, never had to go to the man himself, never. "You

will stop this right now." And they had pledged me

they would and they did.

So the committee kept all the farmers lined —

The committee reported to me and they kept the farmers

in line*

How did the committee operate in setting the wage

before the season began? Did they have big squabbles

as to what the wage ehould be?

Not too much, not too much. We had a very heavy fight,

a close scare, because I was a young man suid, well, I^

was a white collar man and until I told them I knew

more about the business than they did — I told them

that I was a farmer as a kid and could show them the

picking and the business of growing farm products —

until they knew I was the boss it was a turbulent ^

time here for a few meetings. I said, "Listen, I*m

running the show, not you. You* re not telling me how

e^

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r
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c:'! ,a8;t8iJ" ,bij:^B I .&^nt:f xJ

60

Millers to run this show. I'm telling you. I»m telling you
now that I'm going to run this show. If you want to
cooperate, all right. Otherwise, don*t look to me to
break my neck to keep the labor peace here." And ,,
they recognized it, and they never have forgotten it,
either; to this day everybody recognizes that.
Baum: They expected labor trouble, didn't they? ^
Miller: Well, they must have. This I found out later. I was
-:r the most surprised fellow in all my life because it
came out in the LaPollette investigation, something
that I had never known and which I resented very much.
The farmers had laid in a supply of poison gas and
this came out in the investigation. You know it's .
illegal for anybody to put a weapon or money in a law
officer's hajids to keep the peace, because then you're
bribing him to knock somebody down, and these farmers
had laid in a heavy supply of gas, tear gas. The ,
LaFollette committee asked me if any money had been
supplied and I said, "Absolutely not a dime, it could-
n't be. This would be illegal. You can't put a gun
in a peace officer's hand and practically invite him
to shoot somebody down just so that you can harvest

oa

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^t.-icvTiid KJBO jjo\, ;fr.f<j OB isi,/^ nwob i^bod!iffi:.e *' '^ ' oc^

61

Mllert

•T*.

Baum:
Miller:

Baum:
Miller:

Mi*

Miller?

your crop peacefully. This is strictly illegal."

And this is one thing that I have resented over these

years. I know now who bought the gas. I didn't say

very much about it because they didn't ask me. The

LaFollette committee found out. I never even knew

who bought it or Vh<^re it was stored, but this came

as a distinct shock to me to learn this at the tail

end of the investigation.

One of your subordinates had this gas— a&ao-

No, no peace officer had it at all. The farmers had
^l^ ^im lariger -it^eis wer«^ y

The farmers had it in their own warehouses? '"''•»
You asked me a question and I answered it by saying,
"Yes." The farmers were frightened. They were
frightened sick and they knew in their own hearts
that this young snipe of a sheriff couldn't keep the
peace, and so they were prepared to keep it in tfibir
own way. This is what I found out later. But after '
I cured them of sucking eggs and kept curing them
over the ysars, then of course there was no need for
any of that any more. What they ever did with that I
don*t know. I never did ask and it was a question I

Id

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aitijBSfi nvo lieii^ ni won bnxs ifoia il

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I nolJaoL'p B ajt-w il f tb lev«n I .wooi^ i^*^ob

62

Miller: didn't want to get into. ut I

Baums Let's see. The Associated Farmers was organized in
1935. Xhey were all farmers, I think, not just the
apricot growers.

Millers Yes. Of course, this I think was a branch of the

Associated Farmers insofar as Brentwood was concerned;
the apricot farmers were involved, no other farmers
were involved. *- fit- - ,j^

Bauni Most of the apricot farmers were members of the Asso-
ciated Farmers. ^

Miller: That's right, the larger ones were, yes, the larger

ones were. They had small farmers on that committee,
too, so that the small farmer was taken care of.

Baumx And you chose the ^iswill farii^rs? ^^^

Miller: That's right.

Baum: And who chose — jr* '

Miller: The twopj, them together then pho^e the other flyt^ j^
merchants. So I had a cross section, the small farmer
and the big farmer and the merchants. This was, of
course, laughed at to begin with, and I had been
Miller: laughed at many times. Many people tell me I do

Ba\»: .»^ in a«iy u- . of Iphor

Sd

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need bM I bos ,ii;txw nigcKf o* ^b bod^sd ,©3xwoo

63

Millers things in the funniest way, but I get them done. After
all, that's all I was interested in, getting them done,
and it's the same way that I have operated many things
in my life. I don't attack anything orthodoxly. I
contend experience is the greatest teacher, experience
builds the beautiful pyramid on top of an education;
down here is only the foundation. And tinless you have
experience all the books in the world and all the edu-
cation in the world won't help you unless you merge
the experience onto the education that you have. And
I don't care what you do, if you don't know how to do
it you can't make a good life out of it.

Baum: It looks like you devoted at least a month of your
time, 13 hours a day, to the apricot --

Miller: I devoted a full month to a month and a half. I never
came back to the office, but I was in touch with them
by my radio and I could talk to them later on when I
got my two-way radio, all the time.

Baum: Did you have to do the same intensive kind of work with
any other crops?

Millers No, this was the only place.

Baum: The other crops didn't seem to be in any danger of labor

ee>

"Vho i'i{^ iljbj fjius bl70v/ Hiid ai aiiood yf<^ He eofl9J;t9qx&

e^idfii JJO\ saoinu ui y qlt^ri i*nuw bliow ©rii ni iiol#Ba

onA .i>^ n kjuy Jf^«^^ noxJfiOi/ba siio o;tiio ^ocdlTeqxe 9ri^

^'h oi ofi won^ ;f'ncfc jjo^ ti ,ob uo"^ i;?" ' * b I

— J^OOiltlf; fid* O^ t'i''"^^ liZliOA ^i ,6ttli

weiiil liiiw noupj rl sjrv I dud ,eoxT:1o ©i<;t oi 3ioi*d "- -
I nariv no I'^iBl n-ijiii oj iiljk^ bli/os I boii oxbAri ^n ^o

.T»iLij &fl;f ili& ,'v Xijt;-]^ ^ijw-ow* yju io^
i'j i w >l'icw lo onii 9vi3ne.tni sttfia «£i4 ob o* v*:^^ — ^iQ

.so Iq ^ino 9ff* a^w sirfi ,olt

tieliiM

:i9lIJ:M

1G('

lU

ni •• o^ ITS ?^ j'flbib aqcTo loiijo eflT

: ixii. ,'?a
:i9llxM

64

Baum: unrest?

Miller: No danger whatever. Apricots are a very volatile
crop. They have to be picked when they have to b«
picked; if they don*t they're lost, so if they aren't
picked the worker loses his wages and the farmer loses
his money.

Baum: You can't afford to lose any time at all. I guess
walnuts are a little bit slower.

Miller: I never had any trouble with walnuts, I never had any
trouble with pears ^ I never had any trouble with any
Other fruit but the apricots. You see, walnuts can
be gathered one day or the next, and so can hay, but
apricots, today they're ready, tomorrow they turn

.3

black. They have to come off. And the agitators
knew that. So the agitators are the ones who thought
they had these people by the nape of the neck, and I
proved to them that I had them all by the nape of
the neck. This was a very interesting thing to me.

Baum: Those farmers are a pretty independent lot. Did they
resent the fact that you had control of the situation?

Miller: Oh, yes, they did. I made good people out of them

and I cured them of sucking eg^s very, very important-
ly, and after it was all finished — when I was through

i^a

?^ tmua9.

QiiiBioy Yiev H Q1& sJooiiqA .. timlltU

,>C6nois sJtfi

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iud ,x^ri hjbo 0£ bfl£ ^Jxea eri* to x^^Ud 9d

cioijb;^ i5!i£ 9ij^ LnA ,11o smoo o* ^vwrf x®^^ ,}i'mld

Xsnrf Lia .lol ;tnebn8'-;dfaflx yi^sT :i :

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-inaiioqmL xtev ,Y.i8v c niiioua lo msrlJ beiuo I baa

ii:\ijcifi^ p.sw I nedw — bsriainil 11^ a^iw ^i so^Ijr bois ,yl

65

Miller: being sheriff — both sides at different tlaes came
to me with gifts. I still have some- Not of money
or anything but personal gifts like a pair of chaps
or something. Unknown to the other, they'd take me
over to San Francisco and give me a pair of chaps or
another buckle or something, just a keepsake, and I
accepted those graciously, of course -— after many
years. It was a long, long period before I knew that
certain farmers were [ w^rrowling] , **This guy is a kid,
you wait and see." Always the same. "He* 11 never
do it! He'll never do it! It never can be done.**
Yep. It wasn't universal, it was just a few. I knew
who they were, and I number them among my best friends
today. There isn't a one that I have any animosity
toward, workers or farmers. Today I have h6thing but

friendship among them.
Baum: How about your next election campaign, in 1938? Did

these growers support you?
Miller: I told them frankly, "You can stick your votes In

your left ear, gentlemen. I don't need them. I ve

got enough votes to be elected.** And I did. And

Va-U'> u .(zr3.vjk .< iti'i^ i irt. u c?

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;ti;(l -^^ni (lion ovjsri X xabol . .;o;r

•iflsri^ s.; ^: neiit

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9v I ..r.i^ been ;t*nob X .u ' , 1j>X tuoy

o

^

Miller:

•is

Mill-, r.

Baum:

Miller:
n

Baum:
Miller:

«ill«rt

nobody fooled me. I got elected by a bigger majority

the second time. This is a beautiful thing, when you

do your job. Because you can tell them what to do

with their votes, and brother, when you can do that,

why this is wonderful. A peace officer, this is

what he has to do. If he has to cater to them, if

^® ^as to get down on his knees to them, then he

can't do his job right, and this is what's wrong

about a sheriff's job. Some of them have to be

y

elected. I didn't have to be elected.

Perhaps that job should be appointive.

No, still if you make it appointive of course you'll

have sledge hammer tactics from whoever appoints you*

Then you're under a politician.

Oh, I had ay battles. I had my battles, statewide

tr-nv It ■ ...*t :• »■*

» and every other way. They tried to get me and it
didn't do 'em any good; long as I didn't break any

laws and long as I was honest and fair to everybody,

i r V i 'i

there was no way they could touch me. This was a
wonderful thing to me, I could just laugh at them,
sit there and laugh at them. Just like the oat

that had just licked the rat and was licking his

rt.

da

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iifi ^cxSoiX 8i^w bofi 9li=i ori:t beifoiX iawt b£.A iadi

tm

Miller: chops. I was in control at all times.

Bauat * Did any other regions or counties ask you about your
plan? Or was there interest in spreading this plan
to other parts of California?

Miller: I had a lot of reactions; different counties were
told about how I was doing it. There were a great
many people that came down and interviewed me on how
I did it. I never bothered about it much, I never
paid much attention to it. 1 was too busy to worry
about it. All I had in mind was getting a 30b done.

Baum: You stopped registering pickers in about 1940; why?

Miller: Because the state had taken over that job, the

federal government or the state, and they kept coming
in there more and more and more, and I thought as
long as they're doing it they just relieve me of
that much work. After all, it actually was not a
sheriff's duty to do all that.

Baum: It seems you had given a lot of extra service.

Miller: Yes, I gave that extra service because I wanted to
be in control of it, but I knew all the time that
this was extracurricular and it shouldn't be a part,
the extra work that I gave.

va

^SQfLii IIjb i& ioiiaao at «jew I .aqodo :i:IIlM
iijov Svod^ vox :iajj F.clinuoo io sitoi^ei idriio x^a blQ :bujb€

©T&w sal^nuoo ^neieTl ib ;sflOJL;rofiei lo ^oi b bmi I nelllM
cfi.fji :9\' s liob ajsw I .fOri Jur

wofi no »ai beweiiv ^^:?ni: bn^^ nvob sieuo ^^rf^ alqooq

ibven I ,rioi;:u ^ ^ .;. . ^isriiocf i^^v - . I .^i bib I

.oiiob dot ^ S"-^^. : _ .'W bnia nl bjtjfl I IIA .^1 iuoda
?'idw {O^i SiiOds flx cif»(oiq ^^jni* ' ■ ' ^qqoi> '■" :

^jdi ^(ioi .tjfcsn^ T9V0 nsjlfiit b>3ri o;>jsJ8 eri^ esuBOeH tisillM

lo 9ia 9veilf,i :t£wt y»ii* ^x 3ajtob £;T*v;sfi^ &£ anol

.tj:ii;> IIjs ob o;f YJtio e^'ftiiaiie
• QOXVTse Fiixo "ic ^ol e nsvij^ b^ri uo^ an!©: :ffiuBc[

o^ bo^Hi^w I bcujsoerf eotvi^a fiiix© i* il;t I ^asY :isII1m

d-:;;t sffiij aa^r II iud ,ii lo lotim )\i

,;Ji^g B Qd ;J'rtbIiiod8 .i^x bni' iBluoiiiuoB-i^txa Siaw alil^

68

Bauas Was there any more chance of labor unrest about 1940?
Miller: I had it under complete control at the time when I
let the state come in here and do the registering.

Millers i'^iat'i* ri^;at. AppAr^ntly 9oae grcup --I iyr*^* vrj«
•1 •••-»« ay It T>.ow but I ■-:T -— CO

:i trivia^ t s.

XT :.'-:.>'i.iiei ._ .. . _ ^ . . ._-..

<i woj ' and A*fig i(5 >& th* v

-- not
pi "' th3*83«I?«s, >i»cau»e the- ---.■^ no tr^tible!

oiiuer U;»i cItq-

•5^ t'^-.o^e Horkftrs

•^ it x% t.ii.

b^4l for th©
Hillers i dor,* ^ 1

1 aei^w 9m2^ 1^ Xoi^xioo odd lebou it t>BA X tioilJtM

i»^

KliUrs

THE LAFOLLETTE COMMITTEE HEARINGS, 1939

T- ! tftrt

Baumj The LaFollette committee hearings were in 1939, in
San Francisco.

Millers That's right. Apparently some group — I know the
name of it now but I can*t remember — complained
because they weren't in control of the situation and
they wanted to be in control of it, and apparently
they were striving to make some unrest. Of course.
Senator LaPollette in those days was taking the side
of the working man and I'm sure it was the working
group that was dissatisfied up at the top — not the
pickers themselves, because there was no trouble
there, but somebody who under the circumstances
could not come in here and organize those workers
because they were satisfied. This was as far as I
could understand it at that time.

"Brnxokt This was not particularly for your area but for the

state of California?

Miller: I don't know all that. I know that I was a central

on y« i It- I *K

r 18,

ea

ecei ,:>0Hi5 lit

ni , AT :

JOS aoii i,*^i ia si»i^ Tto loi - . v ,

Yi^iie':ii^qqjB jjhjb ^ii lo loi^aoo oi ed o# X*ft^

,681000 'iO .jsoinij ^ nlvxilB ©law xssii

ebia sc;s ^ni^Bi . . >. . ..^ J To;f«ntB

3,ni5iTOw 6rij sbw Ji buj8 »*! bn^ ; i-^iow erii lo

otii Soa — iioi drii Jb qu beilsi^Jr. .iiL ■ Jj^jd^ c

QldL'oii ofi 3jyw eiyH;^ ef:xJJBOo6 . "^ ^iolq

sieiiow ©eori;^ asirua^iio ba& ©isri ni ©boo ;fon biuoo
I p^B ib1 8jb 8j8w --xriT ^ ©auiioso'

• smi;* SsiiS iB Si t^ ^bnu blvoo

odi lol Sud jcsiij TijOY lo'^ ^"•^ '"' - rii^q v1 '" -■-'-' vrriT :

ViiimoliijB^ lo e^&Se
iB-zici^o i? Jp.fli won:: I .i^sci^ jomL ;t*floi> I iiBiiiH

70

Miller: figure in the investigation and the senator asked me
how I kept the labor peace herei^ Well, I related the
many incidents to him of how I did it, such as this
one: . 4t ^he time that X registered these people I
got their names, of course, and being a type of a
psychologist working on just certain things I know,
if the name was a German name X spoke German to them,
**Wie sind sie heute?" Anything in German. And sure
enough, they liked it. This got me very close to
the worker • 1 got under their skin immediately.
It was awfully easy to distinguish a Spanish name,
so I would speak Spsmish to the Spauiish worker* X
oould se« it by his dark face, his features, or by
his name that he was Spanish. I had used this same
policy when X was postmaster. People used to come
in to buy stamps during the depression years and I
would stand at the desk and greet them in their
native tongue, and they liked me, and they'd go many
miles to get another quarter to buy a book of stamps,
and of course when you* re postmaster in those days
your salary increased by the amount of sales you had
ajid also in depression years I wanted to be the only

Sheriff Miller *s testimony was given on December 18,
1939, in San Francisco. [WB]

OT

QUI t>ejLss ioif5n98 9rii bcm noiiB^iiPe'^-ni .it ©'rirp it :i8lIxM

. " bQialsi I ^Lio^ *.©i9ri eosea luujKi * ' TSii i v ri
;-ir(:t ai? xioJL'8 ,;ti bib I wcri
I 9lqo©q ©£9d^ bsi •.^'i 1 ^t^r

,wonji I zi-^Mi-A^ niB^'t&o ^c^ul no ^liiic olorioyeq

fiius iJiiA . - flx ;5jniri^x^'^ "^s^ijsi: sin bnJta 3i:W»«

oi eeoio ^^i ;tOT^ ftiriT ,ii baiLli , , tn©

.^lo^iiibeaTfGi : J. ^ ~=-':.u i^. ^ii. io;^ I ,^.-r^^., ,^^^

,9ciiE:fl liain. iu'^£lii^ib oi \z^ : il

1 .lo^Tow riaioEqL >^ riain^q^ ^ bli^ow I oe

>^a 'ic ,s9iJLi;Ji.3l aifi ^eajst liT^b aid y<^ ^i ' ''

61138 3Xrj^ b98i> bx:rl I .ffalxuBqS 3£w sd iahi offij^n ^if(

oiiioa o;t bsiij &Iqc©H .la^aije^aoq sjbw I nsrfw '^oiloq

1 bii& atBe\ aoiaaeiqsl) sili gi^l^JJfa gqux^cle x^d o;^ ni

Txsri^t rii uerii ,i©«ij^ bn^ ^asb si bluow

^^fi; <L cs b*Ysrf«^ -fJj^' « "^ vyi^ili x^fii btiB \9is-^tioi svx^an

3Y*^.b eBcn^ ni T*;tci:^ii!i80q 9T * ucy ujoc) lo biiB

brn uoy cicl/ic u inuottUB 9ii;t x<^ bsSButonx xibLb^ xl-o*^

^irio 9r{;t yd o^ fca^nxiw I BTBsy noieaeTqsb nx oaXje bruB
,: 1 1' dwaoeG no nsvxj^ GJkiW Yf-o»r'i»i«^'«J **"

71

Miller; post office in America that had an increase, and I
was, I think, the only post office in America, if
you'll look it up, in the early 1930 years that had
an increase in postal sales. And this is how I
attained it. I got close to the people*

So I said, "Senator, when the fellow looked like
he was a Spanish fellow, I spoke Spanish to hira,
*Cofflo estamos, caballero. ' And he liked me. And
if he was an Italian, of course I have several dia-
lects, and 1 might sing him a little song in Italian,
a short little ditty. He*d look at me, and he*d like
ffle. And if he was a Portuguese, I spoke Portuguese
to him. And he liked me*"

"Well," he said, "Sheriff, what did you do if
they came from Missouri?"

I said, "Senator, I gave them the donkey call,
[Giving donkey bray and wiggling hands on ears] and
they liked me*" [Laughing] X nailed that senator
like he was never nailed in his life before; every
move he made I had him nailed.

So then I brought along with me two suitcases;
one suitcase I had loaded with my clothes, and here

IT

I t»m^ ^sas^sioai njs b>,ri isrii soil em A al ©oil'^o ^aoq :tsII1M

I won si aliicf bn, . -j Isiaoq al ©sjBsioni xlb

.slqosq 9fl;f o3 esolc ^oj^ 1 .ix bsnljsi^a

,aiiri <::; :c-^.^ , .'■•••■'.'■->■': riair '^^ ^ 8/iW oii

biiA .©ill beiLil V ' ,ai€3ii^;cfjtjr . D»

-jsib X£T9v\ . iX*;tI ffj.; .ri li

,E i^iijhiJl fix sflOE eii^xJ Ttti ^nf- "r* '■ - "" '• . «8^o9X

©? il f)'i)ri bfjE »9ifl ;f£ aiooX b'ciH .Y^»^f^ xl liohe b

"•SJO f)9>ilX 9Xf bfi . iii 0^

It Ob uox bib ^.;{w ^llX-ioxlo" ,Jbi£8 eri " ,

jXiPO Ob srfi i:9fti »vxj^ I ^loiineo . I

bnxj [ai.^^s no sbn*iri ^ll:r iy tcT ^/e^inob ^IvlO]

\iev& jcTolsd sIxX zlii fli bftliir-ri /even sjtiw dri o>ilX

.L9Xii..n oiin i^ li I &hj^m arf eve.,.

^ rsri brig ^hsrioXo v,in ri;fi'; b»biioX bjL;f( I eajsotfii/B Sflo

72

•» V

Miller: in the lobby were some eighteen reporters and the
senator was up at the head table. I put these two
suitcases on the table and I took out of one sui tease »
"This, Senator, is my shirt. These are my trousers.
These are my shoes. This is my coat. And this is
my hat. I want you to see. Senator, there's no sbar
on that costume, and there's no gun. I didn't need
it."

"Why didn't you need it?" ^^' ^ ^'"*'*
"I had subsidized a shooting gallery and this
was evidence enough. I didn't have to pack a gun,
Senator." *^^* ^ ^

I put the suitcase and my clothes away and I
opened the other one. "This is my voice machine and
this is my camera." So I took a little footage of

senator LaFollette and the investigation, and 1 turned

, cut tif <^«*"
around — this was a very thought-out plan — ana I

took the press* '^'* •

"Sheriff, what are you taking the press for?"

"Senator, if they don't write the right story,

if they come out into this county I'll see to it that

I get them out, too*" And, whew! away they went to

<^T

owJ Qa^tii Suq I .sldj^i ^ di Sb qts &a\i loiJK/iee

:^3> "'(tli'S eiflo lo ^jjo ^ooi I biui elcfiiif erf^ no 2g3£^o^ IwB

Hi 8ia^ bt:A .ii?oo \;m aJt airfT .2eori& 1410 81b &a©riT

JQ99n i^ati i^ Di iiaoo iaiil no

^.i " JJC\ j'nr ■ -^''"

c:id4 fcfLB xtsll^-^ \_nii oodH x^ bssitbizdua bhii I"

I bixfi Y-B'^^ asricJoIo ^ ba« esBO^liie ©d^ ^uc I
bnfi iRiti:^ '^ '^^Icy xm al elriT" one lorf^o 0HO .

't jlivil ii )iOO^ I oci ^.a-^. RX ein^

I brun — ofclg ;ti/o-^rf.^cji^ ^ - - tdS -- bnuoi^

"Viol 8o0'iq 9fii ^^niat^a uoy siji ^adw ^'X'iii9ii2*'
,'Cio^c; iri^.ii ofi* sixTw i * nob xed:i 11 ,ioJBfl98"
^jsri;f Ji o;r &8a II* I ^^Jmioo airi^ oini ^uo eaoo v«ft:t 11

73

Millers the papers. And they photographed m^ shoes and every-
thing I had. I had the press licked, oh, beautifully.
I never licked anybody so beautifully as I licked that
press, all those red writers that were in there, see,
"Don't you dare come to this county or I'll see to it
that I take you across the line, too." » t*g^i^
ftOfi/ So, these were the ways that I cured them of c
sucking eggs and boy! it was beautiful! I enjoyed it
like I never enjoyed anything in my life. If I didn't
make a monkey out of that guy! I mean Senator Robert
LaPollette.

i One day I saw his in Washington, about five, ten
years later, and he says, "Oh, this is Sheriff John
Miller." He remembered me.
& ba}3^ said, "Senator, how do you remember me?"

He said, "I'll never forget you. You're the only
man I know of that licked the stuffings out of me."
Ajad he said, "Won't you please come in and I'll buy
you dinner." And we sat down and we chatted there
with thirteen other big high senators and we enjoyed
our meal together. I had made a good man out of
Senator LaFollette and I enjoyed doing it«. x% ^

^T

:Ji o;> sea il'i 10 ^^nuoo Eiri^ oi eeoo ;iox i'aoa"

li 5sY0i.^^» I iXuli.^ ;t t !^od has iiioua

;j*nbli - -_ ..ill \L. ..J. ^aiiiSxnjE, bey''^^9 i^vaa I eitil

. ... ''.iBliiH

YLid IX 'I bos fli •ifljoo '>3i^oiq wox i*floW" |i:lAa ©ff bxiA
oiisdi b^iSs^tiQ ov bofi nwob ct^a ow baA ***iesiDib uox

10 Juo rt.4,ir» boo^ ^ abum b/jri 1 .iBdie^.o^t iBf;* two
.il ^nicb bdYO^ns I bru:: 9j;>oXIo'ij3iI lolBO^ti

m

Miller: I also had a documented, written statement which
I demanded go in the record before I testified, and
X had my lawyer there and it was an awful long skir-
mish between them*

Baum: Yes, I read that.

Miller: Before they would allow me to get on with this testi-
mony there was this awful long skirmish. Finally he
gave up and he said, "Okay, we will do this. We will
X^t.^hij^ ^Q ia e.f ter you get through testifying."
, And I said, "Okay."

So under those circumstances I testified. And
I wasn't mad, I was just having the fun of my life.
I was using human psychology, the thing that I had
learned. F^er told me, when I was a kid, if I had
a bale of hay to roll and I had my hay hooks on it,
and I had it against the wall and it wouldn't roll,
"Don't break your back on it, Johnny. Take your
hay hooks out and put them on the other side of the
bale, and you'll find it'll rolleasily." And this
Iw what I was doing with the farmers, with the workers,
and with Senator LaPollette. I was rolling the bale
of hay from the side that I. wanted to roll it on.

i^T

-i;r8e;f sln,J ri^iw no ^eg o4 e« woIIa feXwow ^^f(* ©TO't©^ jisIIiM
»ri Xlli^ni% *H«i:anxaiB gnoX Xjj1w£ :;iff^ -—indi ^a^i^

" .^nx^T:i jssJ ris*^oirfcr ^»s oo^ is^l^ Hi og aiii^ *^X

"* .Xki^O"" ^btMB I feflA
bnA .beitx;ta©^ I eeoiUi^tsni/OTio asori^ labau oS
• eliX \^ lo nijl ^ nivi^jxi ^sw(, ^..w „ ^^. ., j •^-, . I

bfMi 1 ^'.di ^^tikiid fiiiJ ,\; cXorio^sq fUJii' ' ^niau wsw I
bi^ri X 11 ,bljl ii e^w I n&it.. ^ . Liloi leiii/i .h^fntjadX
,;ti nc 8>[ooif y^<^ Y^ bib>r{ X bcii XXci oi ^Aif to eXad jb
^XXci ^^nbXjjow ;fl Dnj& XXi:>w &i1i l&nli^^V ^i bjbd X bns
liiOX . lioi ,j1 nc w Tjio^ lipoid i'aoQ.**

9rl3 1o ebir '-fo arfJ no asdi ;Ji/q bnc ^uo esCooii '^/^rf
elr(;t bnA ''.\ilsmliQi 11' ii bail XX 'uo^ biv ,

9Xjs<J qlU ^niXXoi aiiw I •si^oXXo'iaJ lO^Bijaii dilw bna

75

Miller: not their side. It was as simple as that.

Baumj lou were subpoenaed before the LaFollette committee;
would you rather not have gone unless it had been
necessary, or were you glad to go and give your...?

Milleri I was glad to go, I enjoyed it very much.

Baums Some of the farmers resisted going.

Milleri I enjoyed it very much, because I was clean on the

thing and X knew that I was, and I knew that I had

taken on important people like LaFollette before and

beat their brains out, like Harry Bridges in Crockett

one time. [Laughing] He's a shrewd one too, plenty

shrewd, and brother, I knocked his brains in, too. I

thought, Well, if I can lick Harry Bridges I can lick

LaFollette. So this was really one of the most enjoy-
ni llei** *

able times of my life. I had the answers and the open
records. I documented everything; there was nothing
to hide. I had no skeletons in the closet.

Baum: I think Philip Bancroft was in that same hearing.

Miller: Yes, he was there too.

Baum: He wasn't in apricots.

Miller: No, he was a farmer and he was of course heading up the
Associated Farmers. But Philip Bancroft and I have

ev

JieJIlM

2l8lIJtM

.^Btii as dlqcls 'd& aav il .9t)ls tio{<J ion tidllxM

S\ , ,iiicx 9vis ^-"JS o^, I^, uo\ 919V io fX'ifiea^Oftn

ecii no njsslo sjbv I 92i*B0»a ^rlojjis x^sv ik b^xolnt I

biiri I ^Biiv -,^a;C I bn^ ,?.bw I i -di worn? I fcnjE glliff^

ofl£ eiolsd s^firllCieJ sill oXqosq la6;ticqffli no

^i92ioci0 fii B0:.biia yiije;. ... ,^iro Kiiiisid ix. scf

Y^nolq ,00^ snc bwrndp s a*eH [snldj^jjfij] .Mili sno

I .oc^ ,rii BJilBTd -^iii le^ooiol I (iMiJotof bas ,bw9ir(B

"XO'iaQ ct&offl sri^ lo -sno \ll&si a^jw eirf^ oS .eiielXoffiJ

noqo 9fi^ bot^ giewsnx^ odd b^d I .slil ^ lo atii Ida

^nXii^on aj5W si&rtt js'^'^^^^^X'^^^® be;^nemLOob I .Ebioo9T

.cJsacio ofli ni afio^olojia on b^ri I •sbixi oJ

.Bflli^-eri scLrf^ juiU' ni s^w ;lloijnB^ qiliil 3(niii'^ I

.00^ 9ie.;J ?: '.' ■' . ^-v :
.sJoox'iqB nx j'nsjBw 9ii
saiiroo lo sjbw nri bits I9an;s1 a axrw sri ,oli :i
9VBii I br.t iloioiij:^^ qxllri'l ^jl^SL .eisciija'i be^i^iooaaA

SlBJJi^tC

1»J.-L i.

:iiijj£d

f*it

n

Millers become very close friends, too, since that time. He
called me up not so long ago and congratulated me
again; he said, "I'm getting old, but,** he said, "the
most enjoyable day X ever spent in my life was in the

LaFollette committee when you were making a monkey

*";.t's ris:nt , i r- tirov ^'i-ji

out of LaFollette." [l»aughing] This is what he

said to me, last December a year ago, a year ago for

Christmas he called me up. Yep*

vj a^- ■ * , »*^ ?*11 ■

There's been no feeling that I know of out of

. . *'

this; it's all been smoothed over, everything that

; ^ti taat
happened*

Baums Did you use or need to use anybody to keep an eye on

the pickers; could you have complete confidence the

4 t© pajr mor« Oi !•«« t
pickers would come to you?

Miller: I had complete confidence in the pickers. I had no

spies, no spies of any kind. I didn't operate that

i'H lia© and 40 it ti^tt i,-'.)v-
way. I had absolute confidence that when they raised

their hand and pledged me that they would report to

me that they meant what they said, and we operated

on confidence with them. I'm very proud of the way

that they behaved. Ve saw them practically every

night downto%m. They knew who I was. I didn't know

dV

eh jkil seold \i»^ •sooad tiBlitH

9ffl b^iBiu^Bt^stoo .. <^« ^on cy ©o bsXXso

QvJ*^ ,&j * "^iucf fbl '^ ^jDiJia an ;ni£c^

\i&3Cnoifi J5 ^ni^ -^ .^.- uoy i*^..„ ^_.^. — _ _ ^.^

9ri ^jRriw al aifff tl^^i^ ] ".oit*9i lo iuo

lo*) OBJ« 1 , ,^ . #8kI ,«ffl o^ bias

lo ^uo d( I imU ^«il© j1 on neeti b*'

^Bili ^ ,i9VO beriioc :3 a*;ti ;8iri#

no r qse^f o* \boc lo e£U» 00^ MCI iouaS

9cii sOiTdbllnco e;t9iqinoo evsri yo^ biuoo jaieini;

oa biiff r .etsioiq srli nl 9onef)ilnoo »idIq«oo b&ti I sielllM
*cfl^ ... -'^0 ;t'r*'r' T .hni^l ^u. •- ...i.^e on ,3oxqc
bdsifiT Y-:i^ coriw itjsh^ sonsDllnoo s^uIoadA bjeii 1 .yaw

f
YJ3W eiict tu biioiq xi©'" »Hi ffii i o no

woirrf **n.bib I .ax-.w I oiiw w.^n^i y®^-^' .nwo^r

■%

Miller I who all of them were, but it didnU matter to me who
they were, just so long as they behaved,

Bauffls X suppose your nightly job was to put in an appearance
and cruise around. [Laughing]

Millers That's right. I milled around and then I cruised

around the orchards, two things I did. And this is

practically all that I did, except of course make

up my reports and be ready, in my office, at all hours

of the day, with a car in front of the office, to

take care of any possible trouble that might happen,

any reports of any problems. I had uo problems

n w^v- lay 300 to

whatever with the workers. I had quite a few problems
with the farmers who wanted to pay more or less than
what we*d set* Then I squashed it immediately, imme-
diately, through the committee. "So and so isn't
behaving. Get him in line and do it right now. Right
now. Otherwise, count me out. I'll go back to Mar-
tinez." Were they scared! They moved*

- , _ratic atnat. / Vr^il*.

als and he 1 *^v«r tciii h^

rr

oiiw dffl o^ 1 i*nbib H $u(S ,diew a»rit Jo ll» odv tielllh

[sixii^3iiJ3tI j .bnjjoia oeiiao bae

b98iiJi9 I n^ \;f brus bnjjo'XJK bf^IItm I .^ri^ii a'irxlT tielXlM

si 8lr{^ I>aA :bib I a^lni owu ,r-.^ i*ix ;^\iO o/li bauoiA

«iifO0 lo ;t »blb I *iiii IIb ^IlBol^Oinq

BiLOff II ^ ^soillo ^m ax j'^bjaei ^ qjj

oJ ^eollto eri* lo ^noil nx i^tio jb ri;txw ,'^i:,b »rii lo

,n9aq^ ^ slcfuoi^ sla is -o^ l

„...,ldo^q Oijf iisi I .„.. ..v;t. .V, ^.. ^ 3^10,, .. ^oa

aualdoiq tj aiiup biiri I .aisjiiov siU rlJiw luve^jsdw

-&^..a ,^Ir:^' : _.!.;x .X ^ciierK.pa 1 n©r{T .:t^- "*- v :iw

;f*flex OL bos oii*' . ,vieJi:xb

Jri^lH .wofi ;tri-ii ^i ob biue enxX ni mid iad .g^iVisdea

-TcK o^ 5iD«d 0^5 II* I .(Jll . rtuoo ^esiwiortiO .won

78

AREA COORDINATOR DURING WORLD WAR II ^^

Bauaj Xhen, when you stopped being sheriff, you left to go
i*< - - ■»
iirtd your dollar-a-year job.

Miller: Yes. I made a deal with the board of supervisors

that I would be area coordinator for this county and
represent this county on all laatters concerning win-
ning the war, and I mostly busied myself with getting
the things necessary to win the war. I mean, so many
people here didn't have enough food; it was my job to
see that they got enough food. And so many people
here that we didn't have any sewers for. My job was
to see that we got sewers. They were sleeping in
trailers and they were going to school in two and
fOur'i^irts; it was my joV to get schools here.
Couldn't fight the fires, had no fire houses, so it
was my job to get fire houses here.

And I was a Republican and I must say that I
went to — we had a fellow named Sheridan Downey who
was a Democratic senator, and I brought him my cred-
entials and he looked them over and I told him what

8V

II ' ■■ IJ5I0V OKIflUa HOTAHiv;>iUOU

o:^ OS itel uo\ ,'^!:ii9ria ^nisd l)eqqo^a ur^^ "^ '-• ,n»xlT ;^_—

£i02ivi9qi}8 10 faiiL .:r rii iv 1 1 .8©Y nelllH

b£iB xSmsoo sxiii lol lo^tenlbiooo ---'- '^'^ f. r.rr^., t ^sdi

V 08 ,afc9ffi I .iJBw edi aky oi ^^ ": lU

o* dot )^ afiv it ;boolL ri^fiijon© dv*/! ^'fli)i . eXqoeq

sXqooq ^oeua Oij baA .bool tii^ist.:. , ,. „_ i .t ^r(i <59a

asw do(. Y^' .10*1 aTQwes Yfi£ sveri ;f*fli)if> ev J^iiJ ^xoil

ni ;%riiqeeie YoriT •&- lori sw ^i^ri:: oi

brn: OM^ flx Xoodoa o;f B^io^ o-^-' ^ j^ffi bnis 8ieli/n^

• oifcti sIoofioB ;t&5^ c^ dot y.* »it;w ^1 ;a^lif{8 700!

. lif on bBf^ ,3^'?i'\ «^.nt id il ct'nfcijjoO

.fc>';. . -.^^-t..-;!) t^ \ i I .•<-^- \jj del; y/ ^"'

I j£fi;^ Yj^e ^t^.ijiB I bus n^olidx/qaH js 3£W I bnA

Oflw Y»^^'^^ aBbiisric; b©fflj?.n v. * jb 5j»ri c. — oi in«w

-fcfeio x^ii mJfcri ^H^^oid I ba^ ^•io;tJ8n0B oiSaiooa' ^ ' '

:t£dw ffiirf bio;t I bn^ lovo m^'^^ fcs^ooi 9ri bits aXisl^ne

79

Miller: I was doing, that I was getting a dollar a year and
devoting my energy to my country, that I loved, in
return for something I couldn't do when I was younger.

He said, ** Johnny, I'm awfully busy. Here is
Miss Gerling,"— her name was Miss Madelyn Gerling
— "my private secretary, and whenever you need
anything she has orders from me to give you priority.
You take her by the hand and you go to the various
departments, and whatever you need for your county
to win the war, you have my blessings. Don't bother
Be while the war's on if you can help it." So all
these various projects that I went to Washington
with, I got everything that I wanted for my people,
because I didn't wauit anything for myself.

But I had a habit, a peculiar habit, of bringing
things from California, little tokens, and putting
on a little California dinner. Never tried to win
their confidence by giving them bourbon or Scotch
or steak, but always bringing a duck or some venison
or some elk or some moose or some type of California
meat, carrying it on my back and bringing it over
there. I brought many, many hundreds of ay horse 41

?\

nJt ,bevoI i i&di , ^i^ru/oo yw o;^ \„/i. . !

,T9S*iuOY s-'^w I n»riw ot S^nhlisoo I anlrilBCBOG lol mij;fei
ai 919H .xsud ^Xiu'iv^e o'l ^Yn^nrioT." ,bif5S eH

XIjs o<5 ".#1 qX«xl njBO i/o\ ix jic a'ljsw erii^ sXx;iv mb

.IXse^ffi Tc^ ^i'l^t^fUR inpw cf'nblb I vauBOSd

SnxiiJxfq bfti. ,811^:4^^^ o.U^xX ,v.lmolxXsO moil aj^nlriit
fiiw c;^ b3kii i^vsVi .ism^Xb i^iiiioiiXisO QiiSil s no

nosxiiQV ©moe io >ot;fi s j^nxgniTd e^awX^ ^uJ ,ii v. b io
oirrTolxXis'J to sqy.;^ smoa lo se^ >iie eiaoa lo

1J5V0 cri s^xv^niid bi-LP ^o&d xj^ no i i ^nixzi^o ^S'^*m
©ctori Yflj lo sbsibflufi YfJjuai ,YnjK£J iri^uoid I

80

Mlllerj pictures, beautiful color pictures. I brought many,
nany redwood burl bowls, many, many small cases of
apricots or asparagus, and each person in Washington
always got a little bunch of apricots or a little I
sprig of asparagus or a picture of my horse for their
grandson. Or some little token. Since I didn't smoke
and they couldn*t get cigarettes, I was able always *'
to get a carton of cigarettes from my grocer once a
week, and I threw them under my bed so when I went
to Washington the cigarettes went with me. I was
able also to get a little liquor and the liquor went
with me; I didn't drink suid so the liquor went with
me. Each time I would bring something from California,
a typical California approach. I was strictly a
Republican and got all the help I ever expected in
my life from the Democrats, because they knew that
I had this job to do, and to do it honestly, for my
country. ' have v. . '^uia y.

I had many severe fights and I used strategy and
always won my fight, every time. I had a bitter
battle with Culbert Olson in Los Angeles one time,
when the government was sending foamite to fight oil

08

'i». . o XIjbjB6 ^lij^c ,\;aBCi ,eIwocf iiud boowbei xtum
noi:^x. IS t^ lais ic aiQoxiqjB

6: 'nfaib I 3onici ,ne:5ioj iili;ril oaoa to ,r 1;%

;tiidH^ X i9bn^ sorii weiiict I ban «^eew

^new loifpll 3ri;t boe loifpxl cl^^ll "' '" ^ eldji
fl^ i\^ *nsw lOLpfl oil^ oa bnjs jiniib ^*abH> I ;efi ri^iv

, iinc*Xi__ ^ it Sniiij,^ ciiX'i^ Jbiucw X ojnij riojia •&ai

jLi ^i*0£ijs SAW I .iiox^oiqqA ^IcnoliljsO IiiOjtq\^ «
ffi / leve I qlsrf srf;^ 11 ifl

Xfi? ic't ,Y.lja©nori di ob o^ hfus ,cb o^ cfoj; e^ili bisri I

bnf? \.a©^ai;>8 osrjj I biu^ e;}d>.xt ©^^ ■ — ^ ^*n I

leititicJ s bv^ri I .saii^ v^-tpvs ,;J'fr it ^a new sybwI*
, .vi::iJ ^fio seieaxi/ eoj nl noslJ itierfXi/lJ ri;fXw eX^^^J

81

Milleri fires, and they were storing it all down there with
this tremendous oil storage up here, and I wanted
half of that foamite here. I couldn't get it because
the votes were down there. So I made a statement. I
said^ "Governor," — there was a packed gallery of

i > to V

people — "Contra Costa County outships Los Angeles
and San Francisco and Oakland combined in tons of
water-borne freight."

"Can you prove that?**

"Yes, sir. I can use your navy statistics."

The people from Los Angeles gasped.

"And Contra Costa County has more vulnerable
inflammable explosive material than suiywhere else in
the United States."

'*Can you prove that?"

"Yes, sir. Governor, you want me to prove it?
Tl'iese are secret things that I get from the army and
navy in Washington. I have them here. Would you
like me to prove it?"

He turned to the navy and he turned to the army,

the general and the captain, and he said, "No, Sheriff.

fLna til :'

18

bii^fiuw I bciB fSiod q&j s: a:io4& I to auoba^mGti
eausOQd il i^nbluoo I .drsd e^loAO^ ^aii^ lo \£^

lo Yieli*^ t>92^o.3q - ^-^ !^ — " ,-ioiTi©voO" ^blBA

.befrsas nalejvnA so*! iec-j ; vx-^i^'vo sriT
9ld,«TeflIiJV 9^oflI asd xSauoO i^BoD «T[^noO bnA"

bjUE •^^ix- sili moil i©» I ii«;ii tj/^iuj ^^loea stjb eeoiiT

JifjIIiM

jjoY. bijjoW •sicxi iL

V f,n i .noij^xfia^W nl yrsfl

■7-

82

HiXJlert Xou don't have to produce those." y

I said, "I want one prerogative, Governor, that
tomorrow morning one half of that foamite comes to
Contra Costa County." rant

^ .J He said, "Just a minute. Sheriff, we can fly «
it to you any time you need it."

thv-irf "Yes, Governor, and we can fly it back to you
any time you need it. You store half here or I am
showing this document."

"You don't have to show it. It'll be flown in."
And the next morning we had our foamite powder
in Coatrft Costa County.
Baumt Tou were still sheriff? ti &lv, a

Miller: This was right at the beginning of the war, when I

was sheriff, and right after too, because I followed
right on. I had three QObs. I was county coordina-
tor, area coordinator, and sheriff, all without extra
pay, only a dollar a year until I finished my term as
sheriff.

I had another instance there where I wanted to
get a road because it was blocking the way in Rich-
mond, at Tenth and MacDonald, and I wanted to get a

sa

o^ eemoo oJiBueol ^Bri* aifl^ow woTxomoi

■^11 1180 WW ,11iT©£lo ^e^iinlfl jb ;raulb" ^bi

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1 luo bjfefi ©w T^alfliod ^xen riA

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.6 ^e;3 o;t be^njsw I bnij ,bIx;noU.OBM ,bnOin

siS

Miller t cut-off road to Standard Oil and those places where
they were building one ship in every seven in the
United States, right down there. I had an awful
fight in Washington with General [Ulysses S.] Grant
III, and finally he said to me, "Sheriff, there's a
personal reason why you want that cut-off road; is
there something there that you have a reason for

wanting this?**

, SU'*^ ' .r- .!.**«;; *'*.. '.i^^ iwtm% unless

"Yes, sir."

"Oh," he said, «I thought so."^

1 said, "I wsuit to tell you something.**

"Well?"

"I own a service station three blocks down the
road, and when this new road goes in it cuts off my
service station. I'll lose about a third of my bus-
iness. That is the reason, because I know this is
good for the winning of the war and the government. **

He said, "You mean to tell me that this will
cut off traffic from your service station?**

I said, "Yes, sir.**

**Project is granted!** Just like that was his
response.

l&

i^'vyriw asosiq eeori^ 5nB IxU Jb' ^^U o^ bjBOi llo-#ao itsIXiM

9fi;f xii nsvea xior^ al qiiia eno -^nlblUfti ei rlj

B a'siexi^ ,lH^efl8" ,9is OiJ bSBB sri xJ^J^-'^f^^'^L b«j8 ,111

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".lia ,eeY"

" .jixxiri^eu J #njBW3 I** ,Mj«a I

eiiS nwob aiioold ©siri^ noJt^^ia ooivisa *i nwo I"
^ Yio aiuo ^i rii 8«Oj^ b^oi van p.lii^ noriw bfljB ^b^so*!
-ai/d ^ 'to ijiiii;^ xi ;^irndj3 qucI II ♦ i .noiJr.^ ----------

ftx Biiii vcaA 1 asuBOsd , i 9fil Z2i: ;tBdt . 3fli

" .^fieiamovoa ©i^j foae ii?w jii^ to ^iixnalw sri^ lol 6oo^
J'' ?.i/i;t ^iGti^t 9ffl 11 9$ oi a^^tii f^uY" / '

aifi eriW ;^3rii e3(xl inula "!5e^fte^;a ai ;t09t®i'i"

84

Miller And I won case after case after case in Washington.
I remember specifically I fought for the church people.
The Italians had to have wine to win the war, and oer--
tain people had to have churchy and certain people lost

Ki--'*^ their church hy fire or something else and they could
not get priorities to get the lumber from the War Pro-
duction Board. X went to Washington and while there
made my case, in which 1 proved to them that unless
they had church they'd go back to Missouri or Okla-
homa and wouldn't build ships. And I won my case. X
got church after church for Vallejo and Richmond and
Martinez and all over this state built. They took the
steeples off, didn't have any extraneous stuff up
there, but we got a church for the people that had to
have church. This was a very peculiar thing too.
And I could go on for hours and relate. how during the
war I won case after case, the various psychological
ways of attacking the problem, and with common sense.

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-jlI^'J 10 i'itfoa<iiK o4 jio&d o;:. b^xefii rioiwilo d^

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bA£ bfioffifloxil bne o(;c>XIi^V lol noiuao leSliiri rioiijfio ^o^

qjj 11> ^ - ^'joonjB'iixe y^ 3V4 d ;^ 'pbib ^JJo eeXqesita
o;J Uijii J piiu^ 8u.^oeq ?driJ net iio'iuno ^ io^ 9w ;^ij

Oiij ;3ii.iijjb v/ori 9?x.Ie7 -jn^ t^7t}<jr' lot xxo o>- bXL'co I b/iA

i. Dx- ci( iiOYaq BL'OXitiV ©d;f ,98Ait) le^lja sEAiO notrf I tbw

• f'.;<i08 nc^i-ao cii 1 ,.r.jXdoiq •iri;> ^i>i3»0BitiB lo eY«w

85

POST-WAR ACTIVITIES

Baumi What did you do after the war?

Millers After the war I devoted my time to building up tours
of my posse, and sometimes it took me a year to
build a good one. For instance, we got an invitation
to Rio de Janiero for the Mardi Gras, so I'd take a
trip back and forth and worked out with the govern-
ment and the mayor of the city all the details, re-
garding the horses and so forth. I went to New Or-
leans, I went to Washington twice and took our posse
there and built up these parades. It took me months
upon months, —

Baum: Took the men and the horses?

Millers Yes, we took men and horses. It took me month after
laonth after month in all these places — Honolulu
and Calgary and Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Washington,
D.C., and New Orleans and Rio de Janiero — to build
these beautiful trips up. And this is how I devoted
my life for a number of years until 1954. Then I

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o^ i£i©Y fi sffl a' 0 0^ ;ti seffiii to

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— ,ari^no.i 0oqii
_ i feiu coin 9ri;t jlooT

le^tli^ ff^noM '3in 3I00J ^ od bna neii :2{ooi 0W ,a©Y JieXIlM

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» iioi-^ni ricjeW bni? ,oolx©K w,,.. , j'i e^aeB^bnis. x'Xii^ijsO bfUi

bXxud o;J — oiein^l o5 oifl br btiB ^*'J»(l

beiovol I woii ai -^id* fcnA .qu eQXi;^ luJl;^' Sc^odi

I nerlT .^e^X iUau &iaex lo -—f—n i^. 10I -'■'f —

85a

> 'A

Following photograph;

Juneau, Alaska, where Sheriffs
Posse leads the parade for
inauguration of new state:
Left to Right, former Sheriff
John A. Miller, Sheriff Walter
Young, Del Becker, Dick Crowe,
George Azevedo.

B^Q

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86

ir

y.

• •

I

;sja

b58

36

Miller:

i^

Baums
Miller:

Baum:

Miller:

opened my travel bureau and I devoted my energy to
my own two travel bureaus. I have one in Hichmond
and one here. And, of course, I still take the
posse here and there. Last year we went to Seattle
and won the first prize at Seattle, and each year
we go a different place.
You're also vice-mayor here in Martinez.
Well, [laughing] I didn't want to; they kind of
drafted me and I was surprised one day to learn that
I won the election by the top vote. This was the
biggest surprise of my life. And I enjoy it, of
course, and I keep active that way. I want to wear
out, I don't want to rust out.

Then, too, of course, I made a few sallies into
Africa hunting and I went into Wyoming on many big
game hunts and I show my pictures or do my shooting
stunts. I have taken some ninety-two motion pictures
that I can show; I can pick one out any time I want
and show it.
That you filmed?
I took ehem. I took many thousands feet in Africa,

df

oli^j^B'^ oi it new dw t^ex )c biiB ^oTed

:t ;^ inisl oc? Y"»^i) sno Ls^iiqiim qajw I baa eir. be;>ljcnt

3id Y^Ajia no ^fiJLnoY^/ oirri ;tnew I htm ^^ni^owii J8^x^l^
^n/:^oo e ^^^ oij to a9-i<;^t>iq Y^^ woua I I?n^ a^ryj-rf ^iffijtis

^n«w I i;iiii;J xru iLO ono 5loxn hj^o I ^woffa m^o t iJiiri^

^

r:

Miller:

Bauffl:

Miller:

and I shot publicly all over the world in the last
eight years.

Then this year you were on the committee for the
Martinez-Benicia Bridge celebration.
I was the coordinator of the two counties, I was the
secretary, and I was designated by the chairman, who
was busy on his election last year, to manage the
whole thing. Yes, I was the top man in the whole
show. We raised some $14,000 and we spent it fru-
gally and we had money left over, and we're still
distributing the surpluses, which is another very
unusual thing. I wanted very much to handle that
thing because I wanted to wind up my career with it;
I had handled so many similar ones down in Richmond,
I had been part of the San Francisco Bay Bridge cel-
ebration, and a part of the Golden Gate Exposition
and had been chairman down there, chairman for Rich-
mond at the Crockett Bridge, and I've had many ex-
periences over the years running parades and have
been leader of parades all over the world, so this
was a final fling that I had in mind, and we case

T8

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oriw ifLsanifiiio aii^ y<^ b«;f 3J2W I bae »^i

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X1GV ' ilolfiw ,c i :4nx^jjQXi^slb

*Brii sXijnBri oi rlouai \ 1 •gnlri^ XjBjjsjjnjj

^jfcnoflifiolS ni incb eono irjlticis \njsfiJ o« bslba^-ri bj&ri I

-rfoiH 10*1 nscrxiBcfo ,&i©rli nwoJb nfiRriljRrio nsscf bBjrf bnis

sv^.ii fan^ cisbja-iAiq ^ninnuT sueeY srii isvo aeoni
6iri,t oa ,bI'tov 9ri^ levo Xlfl 89f>i3i/jq Ic ;d

eiu.o 9w brija ,Dnim ni brri I ;fBri^ j^nlXl Xjtni' ■ v-

88

Millerj out very well in it. I got lots of nice help, lots
of nice people, everybody helped us wonderfully*

Baums 1*11 bet it's not going to be final.

Veil, I think that's about as auch as we can do
today.

Trans J LW
Typed: SH

88

aJoX ,qIof< eola to aioi iog I •Jti ai Hew jjo

cb aso 9w sa rioi i *L?ods e'^tjcri^ iiildi I ^il'&^*='

tiBilVfk

88

■-& ft

88a

u^dm

^i: m m^-^m

\

^ V: V X

"Tr*>«-;i.-

ORARY
MITTEE

EDMUND G. BROWN

VERNOR

. GEORGE MILLER. JR.

WATOR

LUTHER GIBSON
SATOR

. SAM GEDDES

INATOR

RANDOLPH COLLIER
^ATOR

. JOHN T KNOX

SEMSLYMAN

. JEROME WALD!E

6EMBLYMAN

I ROBERT L. LEGGETT

SEMBLYMAN

ANO COUNTY
IMITTEE

MONO E DUVALL
■.Chairman

ES C BROWN

L BOBITT

LOPA2

JSHALL A WEAVER

1TRA COSTA COUNTY
IMITTEE

•MAS J. COLL
.Chairman

ERT E GEMETTl

UDE CREERTY

N A MILLER

CFiETARY

NETH PROSSER

Nov,29. ,1962

Hrs.';7ilia Baum,

Head , Regional Cultural History

Em •486,

University of California

Berkeley

Dear Mrs. Baum

Xc

I sliall be delighted to assist you on
Wednesday December 5. It vjould seem that my home would be
much quieter, and if you \^ill meet me at my off ice, 925
Main, at say 3 P.M. I can dismiss for the day and go up
to the house, say from 3 to five or 6.

At 7.30 I vjill be required to attend an
important Council meeting, as Vice May or, so betvjeen 6 and
7,30 I should have time to grab a snack.

Every minute detail is clearly in my mind
so that I \i/ill be able to ans\'ver extemporailieously and
rapidly as fast as you pour the questions in.

Some people call it the Brent\"ood plan,otbers
call it the •♦Miller" plan. .Whatever it is I am the fathe'r of
it, and it seemed to have worked to the satisfaction of
everyone, and we hope you will like it. ]

.__-„,„._ ^ - ^jery-Sinc-eT.e-l^^-^f^^

2r_

_,:3!!;SR*C»»i

8^

PARTIAI. INDEX

ee

xau:ii J-

90

Agricultural labor: Brentwood, 1934, 1,2,23,24; [see
Brentwood Plan]; Crockett, 54,55; in relation to
Crops, 64; pickers, 1-4; organizers, l,2,45-47t
53,54

Associated Farmers of Contra Costa County, 62

Bancroft, Philip, 75,76

Brentwood Plan, 40-77s registering pickers, 42,55-57,
70,71; shooting gallery, 42-44,72; recording and
photographing events, 44,45,72; removing agitators,
45-47; farmers committee (the Diablo Valley Public
Relations Committee), 48-51,59-63

Bridges, Harry, 75

Buckley, Chris, 8,9

Cannery and Agricultural Workers Industrial Union, 3

Cocoanut oil refining, 13,14

Contra Costa County: Martinez-Benicia Bridge celebration,

87,88; politics, 17-24; Sheriff's Office, 26,27,

31-39 (also see Brentwood Plan); Honor Farm, 33;

Sheriff's Posse, 85; area coordinator. World War

II, 78-84

Doolittle, General, 25
Downey, Sheridan, 78,79

Eisenhower, Dwight D. , 26

Galvin, Jack, 16,17,19
Gerling, Madelyn, 79
Grant, Ulysses S., Ill, 83

Harrison, Ralph, 23

LaFollette, Robert, 45,69ff-75

LaFollette committee hearings, 1939, 69-77

Longo, Joe, 23

McLaughlin, John P. , 17

Miller, John A., personal biography, 5-20,27-30

Morrow, A.R. , 9

Olson, Culbert, 80-82

Reggiardo, Tony, 19

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Sharkey, Will R. , 17-19

Tyler, , 55

Veale, Richard R,, 1-3, 19, 21ff ,31,38
Wine industry, 7-10,12,17,18

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