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0 C » x r* kV* V #%< v>v N Dïmofcracy Cannot Endure Un der Economic Systems Which Cause Hunger, Cold, Poor Housing and Unemployment to Millions. THE PEOPLE'S VOICE Economic Justice and Equality Is the Real Safeguard of De Lack of These Is a * mocracy. Challenge to the Intelligence and Sincerity of All. HELENA, MONTANA, MARCH 13, 1940 Vol. I—No. 15 Price Five Cents STATE HIGHWAY DEP BRANCHES OUT INTO y PRINTING BUSINESS 7T r M n » ■3 ® crq ps V! Subterfuge Used by the Highwa ment in the Purchase of New Process Print ing Equipment. Purchased As "Photosta tic Equipment." Its Use in Printing Is Vio lation of State Law. epart y While there is no requisition on file from the state highway department for the purchase of printing equipment and no voucher has been issued in payment of such equipment, the de partment now has and is using equipment for lithographic printing, which was purchased as "photostatic equipment" at great cost. Since the records of purchase are apparently de liberately vague on the part of the department, there is no rec ord substantiating the report, but it is said that the purchase of the type of equipment bought, ob-A ligates the department to purchase all ■ supplies in the future from the com pany selling this particular type of equipment. A further cloud is cast on the trans action by the fact that the purchase of the equipment was not made through the ordinary required chan nels of competitive bids. The entire business transaction insofar as rec ords are concerned, is hidden, but the fact remains that the printing, equip ment is in the highway department and in use. The reasons for the subterfuge em ployed by the highway department are clear There is state de partment that is not familiar with the requirements of the state law in re gard to printing, and that any printing done by the highway department or any other branch of the state govern ment will result in direct violation of Section 260 R. C. M. 1935, which reads as follows: "All printing for which the state of Montana Is chargeable in cluding reports of state boards, pam phlets, blanks, letterheads, envelopes and printed matter of EVERY DE SCRIPTION save and except certifi cates of appointments and election to office shall have the label of the branch of the International Typogra phical union of the city in which they are printed.' tliis provides the penalty to be im posed on any state official tor viola tion of the provisions of the section quoted above. The section following Up to the present, the matter of jurisdiction of some craft in the print ing trades has not been definitely settled in connection with the proc esses involved in the use of the equip ment purchased and now being used by the highway department, and the right to the use of any union label has been definitely denied by the printing trades council to one private concern in Helena using this process, and the same would, of course, be true in con nection with any other individual, con cern or public body. The highway department will prob ably advance the argument that it is deeply concerned in saving money for (he taxpayers of the state. This argu ment will stand some scrutiny In view of the fact that the equipment is ex pensive, that operators must be trained with consequent loss of time and waste of material and if and when competent operators of the proc ess are trained, they will be able to (Continued on Page Four) n TRESPASSING AT THE CAPITAL By A. I. HARRIS 8 .8 It is suggested that Admiral Byrd take time out from his South Pole exploration to do a little exploring for jobs for the unemployed in this 'coun try. Setting the 1941 Stage For Wagner Act Execution If Howard (Undertaker) Smith, dem-' ocratic tory, and his two republican pais on the NLRB investigating com mittee, Routzohn and Halleck, succeed in putting over their emasculatory amendments to the Wagner act, IT WILL BE PROOF THAT THE FIGHT BETWEEN THE APL AND THE CIO HAS BEEN WON BY THE NATION AL ASSOCIATION OP MANUFAC TURERS. About the only thing they did not change was the title of the act—and we cannot understand how they overlooked it. Danger of adoption of the Smith amendments by the present congress is rather remote. This is an election year, and politicians think first of be ing re-elected. The amendments will be opposed, for certainty, by the House labor committee, and we have word that the Senate committee on educa tion and labor will offer strenuous opposition, prove administration of the act may be passed during the present session. Why did the Smith committee (with Murdock and Healey, new deal demo crats, dissenting) go to such extremes in their recommendations? Surely not with the hope of putting them over at this time. The answer is that they are setting the stage for execution of the Wagner act in 1941—not an election year. Smith wanted $50.000 more in order to continue spreading the poison. Some amendments to im That explains why "Cotton Ed" Smith, who is serving as chairman of the Senate committee EUROPEAN WAR COST IS BORNE BY THE POOR By SCOTT NEARING (Federated Press) The poor will pay for the war in Europe wherever the rich are in They will pay in lowered wages, in higher living costs, in les gened pro vislon for health, education power. and social security, and in the loss of possible for the exploited masses to protest against oppression. French workers have lost in all of these directions. So drastic are the repression and censorship imposed by the decree government of Daladier that few details are available. The workweek has been extended, social security has been sacrificed, civil lib erties have all but disappeared, and those elements who have dared to challenge the government have been indicted and Jailed. Reports from Great Britain are more The January number of Retailed. Labour Research estimates that the wage cuts proposed by the employers will amount to about 25% of total wage payments and that the cost of food rose 15% between August and December 1939. These losses have been partly off set by wage increases in some indus tries — notably textiles, where the wage advances were great est—12 % % in textiles—they are in sufficient to meet the rise in living Meanwhile restrictions have But even costs. been imposed upon speech and as semblage. Thus far the French workers seem to have accepted the war burdens with comparatively little open resistance. Not so the British. Even so conserva tive a union leader as Ernest Bevin is quoted as declaring that the labor movement would fight efforts to lower the working and living conditions of British workers. The issue has not yet been definite ly joined, but Bevin is perhaps the most influential spokesman of the Trade Union Congress, hardly go so far in opposition to gov ernment policy unless his organiza tion were preparing to make a stand. While spokesmen of the British rul (Continued on Page Four) He would on agriculture, took a proverbial slap in the face when the La Follette Wheeler-Jones hill to reduce farm mortgage interest rates and scale down and refinance farm mortgages was referred to the Senate committee on hanking and currency. House it was referred to the House committee on agriculture. In the * * "Economy Bloc" in Need of Doctor Since it has become evident that war-time prosperity is an elusive phan tom, life for the so-called "economy bloc" in congress has become just one splitting headache after another. Banking on the hope of increased farm prices, the House "economy bloc" lopped some $107,000,000 off a farm budget already cut to the core, which contained no provisions for parity pay ments. But the war has brought no mate rial blessings to the American farmer. Prices are still 30 percent beiowi par Farm leaders have converged upon Washington and are literally storming the gates. The Senate com mittee on agriculture is struggling with the bill—and when the upper house gets through with it, it may have no resemblance to the measure as sent up by the lower house. It's hard to see how they can now avoid making an appropriation for parity payments to the tune of at least $175, 000.000. And demands for appropria tions for tenancy aid and the food stamp plan are increasing rather than diminishing. That is not all to this headache business. The House "economy bloc" is about to tackle the one billion dol lar WPA bill, reduced one-third be cause of expected "war prosperity." This comes at a time of mounting (Continued on Page Two) ity. Big Business. ANC Newspapers Are Tells Wages-Hours h WASHINGTON—(FP)—Newspapers are operated on the same basis as other big business enterprises and can lay no claim to being "service estab lishments," the American Newspaper Guild (CIO) declared in a memoran dum filed here with the wage-hours division. The memo, prepared by Attorney A. J. Isserman on behalf of the guild, was presented to Wage-hours Admin istrator Philip B. Fleming in opposi tion to a brief filed by the American Newspaper Publisher Association re questing exemption from the wage hours law. "The memo," the guild said, "was filed at this time in view of reports from Washington that many employer organizations are seeking to induce the new administrator, Philip B. Flem ing, to make new interpretations which would eliminate many cate gories of workers from the scope of the act, particularly newspaper white collar workers and all persons receiv ing average pay of $150 a month or more. "The situation is made worse by the threa? of amendments in congress. Rep. Graham Barden (D., N. C.) hav ing introduced some destructive (Continued on Page Two) NLRB DEFENSE OF ITSELF ATTACKED IN HOUSE HEARING to show that the national labor rela tions board had in some way been guilty of illegality in opposing amend ments to the national labor relations act marked the progress of the special House committee allegedly investigat ing the act and its administration by the board. A request for an additional $50,000 with • which to pursue the inquiry further, in the meantime, was granted without debate by the House. It is expected the committee will file a pre liminary report shortly. Edmund M. Toland, corporation counsel acting as attorney for the com mittee, headed by Rep. Howard Smith (D., Va,), put into the record numer ous documents and memoranda show ing board officials had been active in building up the board's case against amendments. NLRB Chairman J. Warren Madden wrote several college professors ask ing them to testify concerning the act or to file statements with the Senate education and labor committee. Benedict Wolf, former secretary of the board, wrote letters to various per sons asking them to testify In support of the act, it was revealed. Wolf's activities were conducted after he had left the employ of the board. Regional officials, one memo showied, (Continued pn Page Three) SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS NLRB POWER TO VOID CONTRACTS WASHINGTON.— (FP) — Holding that workers were entitled to bene fits obtained under the individual con tracts with their employers, the su preme court here upheld the NLRB and directed the National Licorice Co. Brooklyn, N. Y. to comply with an The court, in a decision written by Justice Stone and dissented from by Justices Black and Douglas, held that the NLRB was correct in declar ing the contracts in violation of the national labor relations act but said that the workers could still claim the rigts given them under the contracts. The NLRB's decision ordering the company to declare a contract with a company union void was upheld, the court holding it was within the power of the board to cancel contracts made in violation of the act. Stone's decision amended the order to state that individual employes re main free to assert "any legal rights they may have acquired under such contracts." 8 '8 Capitol Corridor Clatter 8 . .0 You just can't hear anything but politics around the state-house these days. Everyone seems to be figuring or trying to figure where he's going to be January 1. 1941, A. D, Boy. when this year is over, no paper or magazine had better start any guess ing games. With the practice all of these guys are getting they'll be able to outguess any editor that ever lived, I hear some other things while I'm prowling around too, and the more I bear about the way some of these babies can raise money the more I feel like kicking myself for getting into as dumb a game as the newspaper racket. Today I heard that the mayor up in Great Falls is putting the bee on the fellows that work for the city up there, They tell me he's raising a fund to finance himself for a race for the governor's job or the attorney gen feral's office. Also I heard that some these guys working tor the city are yelping about it, but since they (Continued on Page Four) SPARLING RESIGNS AS COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE Quits Post Because He Can not Support Ayres for Re election; Issues Statement on Reasons for Resigning. J. T. Sparling, a recognized progres sive, who was appointed as commis sioner of agriculture by Governor Ayers, and as head of one of the state departments has been in a posi tion where he could observe the "inner fe.' a % : V v £ J. T. SPARLING workings" of the present administra tion, last week resigned, and released the following statement of his reasons for doing so: STATEMENT I do not feel that I am justified in withholding from the public my true reason for resigning as Com missioner of Agriculture, Labor and Industry, a public office. Nearly three years of work un der, and observation of, the ad ministration of Gov. Roy E. Ayers has brought me to the conclusion that I cannot conscientiously sup port the governor for re-election. Custom and precedent in Montana directs that L; a caae I'ke this I resign forthwith. I have resigned effective at once, or as soon as my successor shall be appointed and qualified to assume full responsibility for the office. J. T. SPARLING. NORRIS FLAYS WASHINGTON.—(FP)— Echoes of J. Edgar Hoover's federal bureau of Investigation's high-handed activities in the dawn roundup of Spanish loyal ist sympathisers in Detroit and Mil waukee were heard here In the U. S. Senate. Sen. George W. Norris (Ind., Neb.) put into the Congressional Record an editorial from The New Republic charging the FBI with using illegal methods in the arrest of 16 persons. Norris brought the suoject up short ly before the Senate approved an ap propriation bill giving the FBI over He said the activities of the bureau should he looked into. In many newspapers, Norris con tinued, he had read statements con cerning the Detroit and Milwaukee raids indicating that the methods used "were, to say the least, rather abhor rent to one who believes in constitu tional liberty. "If these charges are only partially true It is a matter of taking the law int otheir own hands and punishing people who are not convicted of a crime, who are not charged with any malicious crime, who are not charged with anything which has attached to it any element of criminality." After Norris made his charges a io ca * newspaper charged Hoover was basking in the Miami sun in a $225 a week "cottage" on the pretense of conducting a roundup of criminals in Miami. that a large number of cases were being neglected by the bureau while Hoover's men gathered in Miami. The paper further charged Dies To Resume In March; Union Officials First Witm îsses" WASHINGTON.— (FP)—Officials of the United Electrical Radio & Machine Workers (CIO) will be the first wit nesses before the House committee allegedly investigating un-American activities when it resumes hearings late in March, it was announced here by Rep. Martin Dies (D„ Tex.), chair man of the committee, Dies made the announcement as he left for Miami, Fla., for an un-an nouiiced purpose. . He recently re turned to Washington after an ex tended stay in Orange, Tex. The UER&MW officials, it was said, will be given an opportunity to an swer charges made against them in the committee's last report to con gress. Two members of the commlt tee have already apologized on the House floor for the inclusion of the union's name in a list of 11 unions allegedly "tinged" with communism, Oregon Employer Group Plans Nation Wide Organization r SALEM, Ore.—(FP)—Labor in Ore gon, already hampered by the state's drastic anti-picket law, faces a new and powerful opponent in the Asso ciated Employers, a union of small businessmen to conduct labor nego tiations for its members. The state headquarters of the or ganization, which claims a member ship of 2,300 firms in more than a score of Oregon towns, Is located here. Daniel Hay, former director of the Motor Vehicle Assn, of Oregon and the Washington Truck Assn., is man ager. He plans extension into a nation wide organization to be called the American Federation of Employers and has tentatively scheduled the first national meeting for March 26, 27 and 28 in Spokane, Wash. Six purposes of the association as given in the articles of incorporation include the usual pleasantries about promotion of industrial peace; advo cacy of legislation fair to employers, employees and the public; and protec tion against coercion. This employer agency even says that one purpose is "to protect employes In their legal rights against employers, others and the general public," the reference to (Continued on Page Two) LABOR ACTS SEEM SAFE THIS SESSION growing here that the national labor relations act will escape the present session of congress unscathed. This belief rests principally on re fusal of Reps. Healey (D., Mass.) and Murdock (D.. Utah) to agree that the House committee allegedly investigat ing the national labor relations board and act has uncovered anything that would warrant submission of amend ments. A dissenting report by Healey and Murdock will throw the issue up to the House labor committee, a group which is, in the main, sympathetic to the problems of the board and In favor of the principles of the act. Another factor in the belief that the act will be unamended this year is the desire of all members of congress to congress business as rapidly as pos sible. There is talk of adjournment between May 15 and June 1 in order to allow members to prepare for the compaign year. Should the House agree to amend ments to the act, it is regarded as likely that the Senate will deliberate long and carefully before agreeing. Most of them feel that their best in terests require that the question not come to a vote. Whichever way a senator, or rep resentative, votes on amendments to the labor act puts him squarely in the AFL-CIO crossfire, an uncomfort able position at any time but especial ly so in an election year. Incidentally, the refusal House investigating committee to agree to amendment of the labor act has provided the capital with one of (Continued on Page Two) of the Chinese Industrial Co-operatives' Role Economic Strategy < By ROBERT W, BARNETT Institute of Pacific Relations Written for Federated Press There have been two main aspects to the economic strategy of the Sino Japanese war. On the one hand. Ja pan has progressively cut China off from the outside world by blockading China's coastal ports, closing the Yangtze and Pearl rivers, severing China's highway and threatening the rail connections with Indo-China. On the other hand, China has hast ened extension of her communications through the southeast to Indo-China, the southwest to Burma, and the northwest to the Soviet Union; and in the remote and relatively inacces sible west and southwest has begun to create a new industrial basis for continued resistance. Some heavy and large scale indus trial enterprises have been estab lished. Such enterprises are, of nec essity, concentrated and immobile and therefore liable to Japanese air at tack. They could not suffice to meet the needs of beleaguered China. To escape the vulnerability of fac tory concentrations and to disperse industrial capacity to regions where raw materials and demand already existed, the Chinese industrial Co-op erative movement was conceived. The Chinese Industrial Co-opera tives have the support of the Chinese government. Yet the movement should properly be viewed as one whose suc cess rests with the energy and in tegrity of common people rather than with the decisions of a few political or economic authorities. Blessed with a nucleus of imagina tive and enterprising leaders, both Chinese and foreign the movement has made rapid progress. In less than year and a half more than 1,300 co operative units have been established, comprising 25,000 members. China has been divided into five re gions and subdivided into 55 depots in which over 500 men and women (Continued on Page Four) Free ANOTHER PROOF OF THE GOVERNOR'S BUSINESS ACUMEN DISCLOSED Chief Executive Proves That He Is More Meticulous In "Getting the Money" for Himself More Than He Is Concerned With Ethical Consideration of Claims Made by Him On Taxpayers' Money. State warrants Nos. 175,203 and 179,022 totalling the of $80.30 issued to Governor Ayers last year disclose the fact that the chief executive of the state apparently does not re frain from stooping to subterfuge to chisel even petty sums for himself from the public treasury, and certainly displays his utter disregard of any ethical consideration in his attitude toward public funds when his own personal interests are in sum INSURANCE COS, GET BIG AAA WASHINGTON.— (FP) — Eight In surance companies, two banks, and one huge ranchowner got over .5% total benefit payments made by the agricultural adjustment administra tion for the year 1937, a report by the AAA to congress showed. The eight insurance companies were paid a total of $1,638,217 for co-op erating the administration's farm program while the Federal Land Bank of Omaha, the Federal Land Bank of St. Paul and the King Ranch in Texas were paid $360,201 for co-op erating in the program. The 11 enterprises, receiving pay ments in excess of $100,000, were paid a total of $1.898,421 out of total bene fit payments of $325,866,887, The average check received by the 3,760, 000 farmers participating in the pro gram was $75. Payments after 1937 were limited to $10,000 by an amendment to the act passed by congress. Payments for (Continued on Page Four) Chicago Advertising Men Launch Drive Against Consumers Of CHICAGO.— (FP)—Alarmed by the growth of the consumer movement, the Chicago Federated Advertising Club has organized a permanent bu reau of "buyer information." Consumer skepticism toward mis leading advertising claims was branded as "designed ultimately to destroy the American system of private enterprise and substitute a socialistic form of government" The club claims to have mobilized 400 Persons for an extensive campaign against "radical consumer groups." Walter E. Botthof, president of Stand ard Rate & Data Service Inc., was placed in charge of the administrative committee. Ample financial baching was indi cated by an ambitious program calling for publication of booklets and text books and lectures before consumers', womens', school and business organi zations. Co-operation of the cial press was taken for granted. Botthof hailed the anti-consumer drive as "the greatest contribution that can be made to strengthen and perpetuate the advertising business." At least some local consumer lead ers were happy about the advertising men's campaign. "In the first place," remarked Wil lard Grant, editor of Co-op News, "the boys will have to try to be honest enough that their self-praise won't con flict obviously with the facts. That's all to the good. Those who are hon est on principle will put the heat on the exaggerators to tone down. "In the second place, word of the consumer movements — among them the Rochdale consumers' co-operatives —will reach people wjio otherwise might not hear of Co-ops for years. Such people will listen to attacks on ideas of which they never have heard, then they will look up the original argument back of the idea. Any pol itician will tell you an attack is far better than no publicity." Policy of Land Banks To Keep Fanners On Land The Farm Credit Administration through the federal land banks and Federal Farm Mortgage Corporation is going to help farmers stay on the land, and In so doing expects to pro tect and not jeopardise the stake which farmers have in cooperative credit, A. G. Black, governor of the Farm Credit Administration, told the general agents of the 12 districts to day. "Some of our national farm loan associations have already suffered serious losses by selling real estate a loss or carrying it at a loss, and believe these local credit institutions owned and operated by farmers are in better position to tell what the real value of a farm is than someone com ing to the community from the bank for a day or so. The warrants were issued In pay ment of two claims made by the gov ernor to reimburse him for payment for a room at the Rainbow hotel in Great Falls for one month WHILE HE WAS IN THE HOSPITAL IN THAT CITY. The claim is made that "This bill Is for a hotel room at Great Falls while I was confined in a hos pital there. The room was used as a temporary office by the state officers coming to or called to Great Falls to consult and work with me." claimed by the governor that he had made arrangements with the hotel for a monthly rate and the claim is made on that basis. It is that Mrs. Ayers occupied this room, and since it is a fact beyond dispute, that when state officers are away from Helena on state business, the expense allowance paid them by the state Include provisions for hotel rooms when necessary, so these state officers IF they were called to Great Falls by the governor while he was confined to the hospital, were able to provide themselves with rooms, and it may be presumed that they certainly did so. Moreover, since the governor was confined to the hospital, what advan tage would a "temporary office" in the hotel be to him or to such state of ficers as he might have called in. The claims set forth that the room charges were $2.59 a day which must strike anyone as an odd rate for a hotel to make. Certainly it indicates very close "figuring" on the part of the governor, to make a bill for 31 days hotel room amount to a rate of $2.59 a day for a total of $80.30. The Voice challenges the governor to prove that this room was ever used for a "temporary office." (Continued on Page Four) It chal BUTTE L. N. P. L ELECTS OFFICERS At a largely attended meeting in Judge Lynch's courtroom on Friday March 1st Silver Bow unit of Labor's Non-Partisan League elected the fol lowing officers who will serve for the current year: President. Glen Zorn of Butte Miners Union No. 1; vice pres ident, Pat C. Sullivan of Plumbers & Steamtltters Union No. 41; and sec retary, Charles Christman of the Ma chinists union. Plans were laid for an Intensive campaign in Silver Bow county and in the other counties throughout the The League will co-operate other genuinely progressive state, with groups in the movement to elect can didates to the state legislature who will pledge themselves to the enact ment of legislation in the interests of the common people. It is also the aim of Labor's Non-Partisan League to work with other progressive groups in the selection and support of prog ressive candidates for all other state offices. The next meeting of the League will be on Friday, March 29. All members are urged to attend and all labor un ions and other progressive groups are requested to send delegates.— -R. C. Brown. Taxpayers Protest Paying Sheriff Back Mileage WOLF POINT. — (Special) — The Taxpayers association has filed a written protest with the hoard of coun ty commissioners of Roosevelt county against payment of the claim of Henry Lowe, sheriff, for $2,597.37 back mile The claim covers the period age. from August 1933 to January 1940 and represents the difference between the 7c rate of mileage and the 10c rate which a recent decision of Attorney General Freebourn said might be col lected by sheriffs. The taxpayers are protesting all parts of the claim prior to the present term of office of Mr. Lowe, claiming that each term of office is a unit in itself, and that an official has no more right to collect for services back of his present term of office than he would have to collect for the services of a predecessor, further based on the law that says that the salary or emolument of a county officer may not be increased or decreased within the term of office for which he was elected. Their protest is The commissioners tabled the claim until a later date.