Montana labor news., 1932-09-15

resulted in tremendous changes and unquestionably ul-
timately it will result in a different economic order to
replace the old one, which-everybody should be ready
to admits no longer adequate and suited to modern
methods of production and distribution. We quite thor
oughly agree with the International Steam Engineer in
its assertion that the old order is dying and the present
depression and the accompanying wave OF Unemployment
is but one of the groans of the dying order. There is no
use talking about restoring the old order, now that the
world is dead ripe for making radical changes. The big
problem is to determine what changes must be made if
civilization is to survive.
The first and most important need of all is that all men
and all women who are willing and able to work must be
provided with an opportunity to secure employment at
sufficient remuneration to provide a decent and COM
Portable livelihood for themselves and for those depend
ent on them. There are only two ways open to secure
this permanent relief from unemployment. One of these
ways is to shorten the time of labor per week sufficiently
to enable all who are entitled to be employed to get
their rightful share of the work that is available. The
other way is to increase the wages OF all workers to a
point that will assure them a sufficient purchasing pow
er to consume what is produced. These two aims are
expressed in the good old union maxim of shorter hours
of labor and higher wages
Unemployment may be entirely eliminated if efforts in
this direction are carried far enought. The only sensible
things for those in control and power in this country to
do is to cast about for a leadership that has the vision
and ability to cooperate with organized labor in its eff
fort to shorten hours of labor and increase wages to a
degree which is sufficient to eliminate unemployment
and to create a purchasing power sufficient to absorb the
increased output per man made possible by our improved
machinery.
Mere talk will do no good. Nothing but actual per-
Torrance in this direction will satisfy or appease the
great masses of our people. Pulling the old-time political
~claptrap of promising before election and failing to per
form after the election is going to be a dangerous form
of hypocrisy to practice in the near future because hun
cry and starving people will not continue to put up with
such nonsense permanently; and no amount of charity,
no matter how literally doled out nor how we'll inten-
toned, can stay the rising wrath that is getting more and
more ominous for every man thrown out of work and at
every slump in worthless stocks, to say nothing of the
~rumblings that take place every time a bank, a loan COM
pany, or any stock selling company goes bankrupt.
Truly the American people have been suffering long
and the amount of bunk, deceit, political hypocrisy and
outright lying and misrepresentation that has been prac
ticed by those entrusted with leadership and power is
something appalling. The patience of the American peo
pie with all the deliberate embarrassing that has been
handed them by politicians and their heelers has beer
one of the marvels of our remarkably patient people. The
proverbial patience of Job suffers by comparison with
the far greater patience exhibited by the American peo
pie in waiting for things to right themselves; but the
American people will not wait forever. We wish we die
not have to write in this manner, but the truth must be
told before it is too late for present-day leaders in Ameri
can government to take the necessary steps to get right
with their people.