Silver City, N. Mex. (pop. 7,000) was beginning to look like a frontier outpost. Townspeople carried guns, and a detachment of state police patrolled the streets keeping the peace. The enemy this time was a small group of moviemakers—some of whom are alleged to be Communists —filming a semi-documentary about miners. The picture, Salt of the Earth, is sponsored by the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers (ousted from the C.I.O. in 1950 for being Communist-dominated), and the cast is composed largely of Mexican-American miners and their families from the Silver City region (TIME, Feb. 23).
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