davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Montana labor news., 1934-12-06
LIBRARY NOTES

Probably the most familiar character
in American fiction is the cowboy
whether he be a ranting, tawdry piece
of construction or an actual picture of
the real cowboy, people will gladly read
of his adventures. East or West,
North or South, youth or adult needs
little urging to read a Western story.
Several new one have been purchased
at the Public Library, the most inter-
esting of these being "Ubet" written
BY John P. Barrows and illustrated with
very clever drawings by R. H. Hal a
well known Butte man whose pictures
of Butte and vicinity have received
very favorable criticism. "Ubet" a pro-
sperous stage station of the sos was
located about seventy miles northeast
of White Sulphur Springs. The slang
word ubet was used in those days as
to-day we use the expression OK and
how the town received its name should
make another interesting story for Mr.
Barrows to tell. This state Of r has
a most colorful history and many more
stories as good as this autobiography
of Mr.. Barrows can yet be written
about it. Other new Western stories
received are; Grey, Code of the West;
Coolidge, Horse Ketchum of Death
Valley; Bechdolt, Hearts of Hidden
Valley and Gates, Paintrock Canyon.
Montana labor news., 1934-12-06
LABOR DEMANDS BUSINESS SINCERITY
To College To Be A Soldier

In the recent decision of the Supreme Court, unfolding
the decision of the California Supreme Court, regarding com
pulsary military training in land grant colleges, the Govern
ment has decided that every boy, attending a State College
or University, holding a land grant must be a soldier. This
decision has a far reaching effect especially upon workers
who want to give their boys a college or university training.
Most of the students in our State Colleges are the sons and
daughters of workers and farmers. The prosperous send
their children to private colleges and universities outside the
State. These farmers and workers pay the bulk of the taxes,
directly and indirectly that support these institutions. They
support them in order that the burden Of higher education
may be lightened by all sharing the cost of education. These
workers and farmers send their sons to these institutions to
train them in the arts, crafts and sciences, not to train them
to be soldiers to use against their fathers in times of Labor
troubles and times of economic and social unrest. Now the
government tells us that we must make soldiers out of our
boys, send them to private schools or make them do without
an education.
What are the Workers and Farmers of Montana and the
rest of the country going to do about this decision? Are
we going to sit idly by and allow a government to create a
facst army of our sons to protect the investments of a greedy
capitalist system? Are we going to allow OUR government
to train OUR sons to collect the interest of our bankers from
foreign nations2 Are we going to allow OUR Government
to insist that our sons be trained. to kill, to butcher, to plumber
instead of training them in ways of peace and service to the
class from which they sprung? If we allow this to happen
we deserve another war that will wipe US from the face of
the earth.
The workers and farmers of Montana voted for Wheeler,
Murray, Monaghan and Ayers because they believed they had
the cause OF the common people at hearL here is one way
we can find out. Let us demand that they work to abolish
the law that makes military training compulsory in our State
Universities and Colleges. We have West Point and Anna
polls to send boys who want to follow the art of War. If we
want our sons to be soldiers and sailors let us send them
there. Let us keep our other schools free from the fanfare
and fake glory of war. Let us make them institutions that
build for the betterment of the world instead of its destruc-
ton. Let us make them schools that train men for the use
full arts and sciences instead of the foolish art Of killing.
The decision of the Supreme Court puts our government
in a class with Italy and Germany that seeks to make soldi-
es of all boys above the age Of nine. We pride ourselves
in that fact that our nation is on the side of construction but
this decision puts us on the side of those who find the great
er glory and pleasure in destruction.
Montana labor news., 1934-12-06
Gold Miners Are
Holding Firmly In
California Lock : =
General Motors Official Re s ed
AS Debating Company p les;
Aid Given. s.

Jackson, Calif.-Locked on y Gold
Trust" mines since the first ictober,
members of Mother Lode RS I'm
ion No. 48, of Jackson, are ing firm
ly and over 100 new n ers have
been added.
While the organization is protecting
properties by manning pumps, not a
production wheel has turned and not a
man has deserted the ranks Of the I'M
ion, it is stated, over 600 men being out.
1t was revealed that John Thomas
Smith, vice president and chief of
the legal counsel Of the General Mot
ors Company, dictates the policies of
the Amador mines. H. L. Kerwin,
of the Cancellation Service, u. S.
Department of Labor, is reported to
have gone over the heads of local
officials, direct to Smith, in an effort
to effect an adjustment.
In the meantime, figures released
through the San Francisco Stock Mar
ket, show the Argonaut Mining Com
pany, Ltd, to be in a flourishing condi-
ton. Their profits for the first nine
months of 1884 were $1.67 on each SIS
share, compared with 10 cents per share
net for the same period in 1888. Yet
this concern persistently refused to
pass on a small share Of increased earn
ings to the men who go into the bowels
Of the earth and bring up the gold for
their Golfers.
The San Francisco Labor Council has
voted $1,000 to aid the families Of the
locked-out miners, and other labor or
CARNATIONS are reported to be rallying
to their support.
Montana labor news., 1934-12-06
u. S. Chamber of Commerce. enounces NRA and
Proposed 3O-Hour Week Statute, Then Issues
Sugary Statements; President Green Replies.

Washington.-The publicity agents
Of the U. S. Chamber of Commerce
have been cluttering up the news serv-
ice and newspaper offices throughout
the country recently with many "hot
releases" And they've made page
one" with a bang on several occasions.
One recent release soundly denounc-
ed the MIRA, declared that it should
not be renewed upon expiration of the
present law, and that a substitute, con-
trolled by big business and with Sec
ton IA entirely eliminated, should be
enacted. Another release conveys the
Chambers definite stand against the
uniform 30-hour week, or any other
limitation Of hours by statutory met
hods." This was followed by one which
complimented the Federal Housing
Act, saying it will go far if success
full towards business recovery" Then
came the prize release of all. It fol-
lows
pledges Itself to Cooperate"
"The board of directors of the Cham
Der Of Commerce of the United States,
meeting here today, adopted the fol-
lowing resolution
"Since the last meeting Of this board
there is evidence of a growing determi-
nation by business, industry and agri-
culture to cooperate in every possible
manner to promote an Improvement in
recovery from our existing economic
condition.
"Utterances by the President encour-
age the belief that he is fully conscious
of this attitude and that he is receptive
of suggestions for the promotion Of the
common welfare.
Therefore, this Chamber pledges
itself to cooperate to the fullest with
all other organizations in an endea-
vor to reach a common agreement
upon a program which will be fair
and just to all and which will accel-
crate the efforts toward cover
Continued to Page p
Montana labor news., 1934-12-06
Building Unions
Refuse To Meet
With Each Other

WASHINGTON. OPP A widen
ing rather than a healing of the breach
between the two groups Of building
unions divided by jurisdictional war,
was evident as the Building Trades
Department convention called by Pres
ident William Green of the American
Federation of Labor began its sessions
in Washington.
Twelve of the unions, representing
the bulk of the old Building Trades
Department, refused to recognize
Green's convention. President M. J..
McDonough of the department, as their
spokesman, declared: 1.-THE twenty
eighth annual convention Of the Build
ing Trades Department has been held.
l have nothing to do with this one"
Seven building unions, including the
carpenters, bricklayers and electrical
workers, who were refused seats at the
San Francisco B. T. D. convention, and
the stationary engineers, marble pol
ishers, teamsters and bod carriers, at
tended the convention presided over by
Green on the seventh floor of the
A. F. of l. building. The other II
met November q in McDonough's Of
flee on the fifth floor.
Declaring that the convention he
had called was the only legal one,
Green explained that the one held in
San Francisco last September was not
recognized by the A. F. Of l., because
it refused to seat the big three
unions, which decided to reaffiliate to
the Building Trades Department last
June after remaining outside for sew
eral years.
Montana labor news., 1934-12-06
DRIFTS AND RAISES
(This column contributed by Butte
Miners Union No. u
SIGNS OF THE TIMES

The A. F. of l.. rank and file move
ment is an organization OF men, who,
like ourselves, have had a taste of the
new deal for labor. They are workers
who have been f~limflammed by our
national leaders long enough and are
now formulating new plans and tactics
for the future. They have formed a
nationwide organization of the most
militant and progressive Of rank and
file members of A. F. OF L. organiza-
tons for the purpose of changing our
present leadership from the hands OF
Green and his %bureaucrats to the rank
and file where it belongs. We might
remark here that the San Francisco
general strike which saved the long
shoremen from complete defeat, was
called over the heads of their top lead
ers by the rank and file of the various
crafts involved. They know, as we do,
that labor, collectively speaking, is a
sleeping giant and they want to wake
the giant up to a realization Of his dor
mant power, instead OF feeding us more
~chloroform as our present national
leaders do. They have established a
national journal, "The Rank and File
Federationist" which is the voice OF the
rank and file. This was sorely needed
as up till now we have had no nat
ional voice. We have learned from
il recent encounter with the great
snake what a handful of copper slaves
can do against a giant trust and its
government. 1t is evident that a new
strategy is needed. Our future strug-
giles must be broader and better sup
ported. We have learned that, under
the present phoney A. F. of l.. rules
it is impossible to call a general strike
or to get any outside support whatever,
There is altogether too much division
and the present leadership seems to
favor this as they are indifferent to
the fate of any one group out of the
whole.
An incident happened a few weeks
ago that makes this very clear. In
Greensburg, Pennsylvania, a strike oil
workers in the Wallworth Foundry was
broken and $50 workers blacklisted
This, under rank and file leadership
could be very easily remedied. AL
that would be necessary would be tc
call on all mechanics in the country
to refuse to use the products Of this
foundry until these $50 men were re-
instated. But Green and Company
don't think Of anything like that. These
blacklisted men don't exist as far a:
they are concerned. Suppose that in
stead Of Pennsylvania workers we, loo
ally, we're the goats; what backing
could we get from the A. F. of L. a:
is? These things among others are
being considered by the new rank anC
file committee.
The time is here for us to face the
cold facts and our time is short. w
must work fast. Just as long as we
pay dues, hold meetings and waste oui
time with trivial discussions on incon-
Continued to Page a
Montana labor news., 1934-12-06
Stivers Pupil Graduates as Finish
ed Killer; Trained To Shoot
From Back.

James Deskin, ace pupil of Colonel
Stivers, during the Butte strike finally
graduated into a lifetime position at
the State P%enitentary at Deer Lodge.
Deskin was sentenced for shooting
War-veteran Kelley in the back of the
neck with a shotgun. The method OF
killing was no doubt a result of the
training received behind the fence dur
ing the Butte mine strike, as the in
strument used in the Staying was the
type of weapon used by the gunner
during the strike.
The killing by Deskin presents an in
teresting problem as well as a sidelight
on the methods used by the Company
in handling labor disputes. Men are
brought into Butte, trained by COM
pany officials to kill. They are armed
with weapons and taught to shoot
they are taught to shoot, not at Grim
inals but innocent men at a per diem
wage. Killing becomes to them a means
of earning a living and making easy
money. While in training and at work
they are treated as kings. They are
wined and dined and made to feel as
if their profession of killing is an hon
orable crlling. They are lauded in the
daily press and by corporation attor-
neys and officials as honorable pro-
tectors of property. After they are
thus trained they are turned loose on
Society. They miss the easy money
and luxurious living and attention
heaped upon them by supposedly de-
cent citizens of the community in which
they were trained. In seeking a re-
turn to such a life they turn to the
tools that brought them this attention
and easy money, the gun. They use
it and kill, merely to bring easy money
to themselves. They are caught, tried
and sentenced and the State maintains
them for the rest Of their lives.
But what Of the men who trained
them, fed them, clothed them and paid
them good wages to do the very thing
for which they are serving a life sen
tence2 These men still hold their pos
ition of honor and trust in the COM
munity and state. They are members
Of the 5o-called best clubs, they serve
on important community committees,
they sit safely in their offices, draw
ing their fat salaries waiting for the
Montana labor news., 1934-12-06
Auto Settlement
Rises To Plague
Steel NegOtiators

WASHINGTON. -(FP)- Secretary
of Labor Frances Perkins refused to be
drawn out on reports that she has
favored proportional representation,
rather than the majority principle, in
current steel labor negotiations.
The steel companies have been re-
ported willing to recognize the Anal
gamated Association of Iron, Steel &
Tin Workers as representative Of its
members, if they are also permitted to
recognize minority company unions in
proportion to strength, as has been
done under President Roosevelts au-
tomobile settlement.
Once bitten in the auto case, how
ever, the American Federation of La
Dor is understood to be twice shy in
the steel case. 1t has been insisting on
recognition Of the majority union as
representative of all workers, in ac-
cordance with the principle laid down
by the National Labor Relations Board
in the case of the Houde company.
Questioned on the subject November
q, Miss Perkins declined to discuss her
attitude. Congress in its wisdom"
she said, had decreed that the National
Labor Relations Board should have ex-
elusive jurisdiction over questions aris-
ing under Section 7 (a) of the National
Industrial Recovery Act. But media
ton was a matter in which the Depart
ment of Labor regularly engaged, and
the settlement Of a strike or threatened
strike might include any element salts
factory to both sides.
"The application Of law is different
from voluntary agreements" Miss
Perkins stated, indicating that such an
agreement as the auto settlement might
we'll include elements not contemplated
in the law.
Montana labor news., 1934-12-06
Dept. Studies
American Workers
Standard OF Living

OPP The
American standard of living is like
the elephant discovered by a group Of
blind men. One felt its trunk and
thought it like a snake, another felt its
legs and thought it a tree, and so on,
Which is more American, for instance,
the slum tenement or the Negro share
cropper's shack, or the suburban mid
dle-class home with all modern con-
~veniences? It's all according to the
part Of the American elephant which
the blind men run into or are looking
for.
Now an attempt is being made by
the U. S. Department Of Labor to ap-
proach the question a little less blindly.
It has begun an investigation Of the ex-
penditures of families of employed
w-age-earners and lower-salaried work
ers in a number of representative cities.
The study will be started in 80 OF them
before June. 1t is already under way
in New York City, Rochester, N. Y,
Pittsburgh, Columbus, Ohio; Richmond,
Va; Memphis, New Orleans, and Man
chester, Dover, Berlin and Keene, N. H.
The immediate purpose of the inves-
tigation, says Secretary of Labor Per-
kins, is ito prove data needed to make
the cost-of-living index of the Bureau
Of Labor Statistics more truly repre-
sentative of the goods w%age-earners
buy.
Contrary to frequent misinterpre-
tations," she says, "the cost-of-living
index is not meant to show the cost OF
what is considered an acceptable or a
desirable level of living. Its function
is to show changes in the cost OF the
goods which typical w%age-eanrers buy"
Montana labor news., 1934-12-06
WASHINGTON BRIEFS

WASHINGTON. -(FP) - Federal
Relief Administrator Hopkins order
abolishing the Soc an hour minimum
wage on relief work is not Gust OF
right" according to President William
Green Of the A. F. of l.. The larg-
est decrease in employment in non-
manufacturing industries in October
was in brokerage houses. Were the
Wall street brokers trying to make re-
cruits for MacGuire's Fascist march on
Washington? is being asked. At
torney General Cummings denies STALL
ing on the Houde case, says it's up to
the National Labor Relations Board TO
draft a bill of complaint. Since No
vember 1888 the NRA has handled l01,-
IA labor complaints, and 1900 more
are pending in field offices; the buck
is being passed outward in a d%ecentra-
lized plan for dealing with them. .
Sumner Welles, American interviewer
in Cuban civil wars and now State De-
partment head of Latin American af-
fairs, doesn't like anti-war movements
pink pansies" is what he recently
called those who organize them. J..
Senator George W.. Norris has sur
prised some of his supporters by
counseling delay in unemployment in
surance and old age pension legislation.
81 am in favor in general of all these
things" he said, "but we can't expect
any to be successful while we are in
this terrible depression" Moscow
gold (the real a~rticle) is now coming
to this country in big shipments, but
there's not a kick in a carload from
the businessmen who are hoping to lay
their hands on it.
Montana labor news., 1934-12-06
F. of |. Thinks
Over Building
Wage Cut Proposal

WASHINGTON. OPP Secretary
of Interior Ickes' bid for reduction Of
building wage rates, in connection with
proposed government construction
plans, drew no very definite reaction
from Washington labor officials.
President William Green of the
American Federation of Labor said
that the proposal had not formally
been made, and that until it wa the
Federation would take no action. He
said, however, that he would be very
glad to consider the matter" if yearly
wages, with reduced hourly rates, were
guaranteed to be higher than those at
present earned.
Montana labor news., 1934-12-06
Government Bungling
Loses insult Case

CHICAGO. -(FP) - Photographed
with his pre-depression crafty smile.
Samuel Insult walked out Of the U. S
courthouse in Chicago a free man late
Saturday afternoon Nov. "a. A jury
that had lost nothing in the billion and
a half collapse of the dizzy insult stock
jugglings had found Sam and his 1t
c%odefendants not guilty of the swindl-
ing, cheating and financial highbinding
which the government had technically
established against them in a 8-week
trial before Judge James H.. Wilker-
son, a former insult attorney.
Technically the government had prov
ed guilt, as editorials even in the cap
~italist press broadly indicate, but psy-
chologically the government had made
a woeful flop of the case. Psycholo-
gically the defense was all there all the
time.
The press table was contemptuous
throughout of the cheap tear-squeezing
technic of Defense Counsel Floyd E.
Thompson and his aides, but the hard
boiled reporters had to confess that it
worked with the jury.
So did the somewhat moth-eaten
character witnesses the defense trotted
out in behalf of the insult prisoners at
the bar. Among these were He'll n
Maria Dawes, whose $90,000,000-dole
bank the cops were closing about that
time Joel Hunter, whose United Char
tiles insult used to feed with the pub
lies money; Cardinal Mundelein whom
an insult defendant had helped over
a financial hurdle, as the cardinal with
out any computations admitted on the
stand. Bishop Stewart, leading Pro-
~testant dignitary in the insult realm, in
whose hat young Sam used to drop
gratuities, as was also admitted on the
stand, etc.
But the prosecution did not know
how to handle these character witness
es and actually referred to the Mundel-
elm character beneficiary as a prostitute
in the figurative sense. The jury did
Mt like that, and the knowing reporters
smirked, while defense counsel sat back
complacent.
The defense also did its perfect best
to upset the magnificent technical proof
of the prosecution by being endlessly
technical itself, particularly on the
question of value, There was original
cost, market value, intrinsic value, real
value, ~liquidating value, book value, as
well as interminable disputes on how
each of these values was to be figured.
When the jury seemed to get a glim-
mer of what the government was driv-
ing at - that the defendants had sold
the public over a hundred million dol
lars of gold bricks, using the mails to
defraud the suckers in this way - then
the defense would put on a grand weep
ing and shifting scene, with either old
Sam or young Sam or Chief Counsel
Thompson himself in the star role.
Some federal and state indictments
charging other financial crookedness
against the insults and various of their
yesmen are still menacing but nobody
seems to worry much about them. In
sull is the fourth big financier in Chi
cago to be tried recently and escape
punishment. An insult henchman.
Marshall Samosell, was similarly &C
quilted. Ernest Stevens and John
Balm, convicted, were turned loose by
the state supreme court,
Montana labor news., 1934-12-06
THE INTELLIGENCE OF
BIG

Corrections OF current fallacies" by
Col. M. c. Rorty, president of the
American Management Association
The system isn't capitalistic and
hasn't failed.
Figures on corporation salaries and
distribution of wealth prove that eco
nomic salvation does not lie in redis-
tribution of wealth.
Wealth isn't unduly concentrated in
a few hands.
Montana labor news., 1934-12-06
STATEMENT OF THE WEEK.

81 don't see why everybody is so ex-
cited" said fat, sleek J. P. Morgan as
he got off the boat on his return from
a pleasure trip to Europe.
Montana labor news., 1934-12-06

Henry Ford has finally signed a
truce with the NRA.
1t took this "far-sighted leader" two
years to see that Roosevelt wasn't a
Bolshevik.
Montana labor news., 1934-12-06
Corporations Plan
Building Outays
Best Indication of Confidence in
Future, in Spite of Howling

New York.-Numerous companies are
planning or have recently undertaken
relatively important capital OUTLAWS on
new buildings and facilities, according
to the Standard Statistics Company.
This is accepted by organized labor
to be a definite trend toward renewed
confidence in the future, in spite Of
much bowling on the part of some
firms who dislike to see their employees
secure adequate compensation.
A list of companies which have I'M
dertaken since January |, 1884, or which
contemplate capital expenditures of
more than 81, 100000, includes the fol-
lowing:
Montana labor news., 1934-12-06

The American standard of
living must be maintained
in order that American in
stitutions may not be sub
ject to perils of discomfort.
Montana labor news., 1934-12-06

There can be no prosperity
without justly high wages.
Earnings of working people
are the basis and index of
progress in any community.