The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1933-12-28
Tells Why
Continued from page u

l. Lincoln county men arrived home
late Tuesday night. Thursday was
Thanksgiving, holiday, and therefore
about the only time they had left was
one day. In that time they had to chose
a list of 100 men from 700 to 800 appli-
cants, allot them to the various projects,
get tools and equipment ready and have
the men at work by Friday, Dec. /.
We believe the public will agree With
US when we say good work was done
in accomplishing that very thing, all
within the space of practically one day.
Friday projects were under way in
Libby, Eureka, Troy and at the state
fish hatchery; also on a project south
of Libby, in the Fisher river district
Highway Demand Unexpected.
The Fisher river project came about
in this way. When the men who had
been at Malta reached Libby, they we're
met by representative of the state
highway commission and told that he
must have rs men for highway work in
the Fisher river district He said he
understood this was in addition to the
100 men allocated to Lincoln county.
Twenty men were hurriedly chosen
from people living in that section and
put to work, and report made to Helena
Later the committee was informed tl.at
Lincoln county could only have 100
men and that the highway work must
be given rs men and the fish hatchery
10 men. Thus it became necessary to lay
off enough men in the various localities
to reduce the number to the hundred
maximum This misunderstanding was
due to the sudden call of the highway
official for men and the rush to get all
men to work by December /.
Entire Program Upset.
All this time it was still expected
that the forestsservice would be author
lied to 60 ahead with its projects.
Finally, however, word came from
headquarters that plans had been
changed and that there would be no
money given to forest work With that
unexpected knocking out Of a big part
of the contemplated program, the re-
suit naturally was that some districts
were left without work projects in their
immediate vicinity Most of the projects
are small, boarding camps have not
been established and it was deemed UNI
wise to attempt to draw men away from
their homes to put them to work.
Work Thrown to East End.
Later, plans were somewhat revised
in Helena and the county was given
more men. In an attempt to correct as
much. as possible distribution Of labor,
these additional men were allotted al
most wholly to the Rexford and Trego
districts, this during the past week or
10 days. Also the county committee has
been authorized to place 20 women to
work Thirteen of these have been al
lotted to the Redord- Eureka Fortine
district, four to Troy and three to Libby
this also in an endeavor to help the
east end. In fact, throughout the entire
distribution OF relief funds for the past
year, the larger percentages have been
given to the ReMord- Eureka Fortine-
Trego and Troy districts because it was
realized there was less employment in
those sections.
There has been only one thought in
the mind of the committee and that was
to divide the work and money over the
county so as to take care of the relief
need to the best advantage With hun
dreds of men out of work and with
their families in need, this has been no