The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1934-06-07
Hibbing, MINI.

nesota, after it had captured con- I
rol of this town in the heart of.
the Mesaba range, long notorious
as the private domain of the iron
ore companies.
Now the Brain Trust sits in the
Mayors office and controls this
mining village of $4,000 inhabi-
tants. But now that it is in power
its efforts to figure out how to be
both a capitalists and workers
government all at the same time is
giving it a headache as big as
Roosevelt's.
It all started when the small
property owners here got a little |
tired of being kicked around by |
the two political parties. Foreign
born are in majority, Russians,
Poles, Swedes, Italians, Lithuan-
ians-almost every nationality is
represented. They were originally
imported by the companies to dig
the precious ore so essential to
American industry. These foreign
born workers are rather clannish.
They stick to themselves, have all
their own social life, clubs, church,
ministers, priests and their own
little political leaders. The only
thing these groups of different ma
tionalities found in common was
their religious beliefs and polite
ally they allied themselves in ia
vor of either Protestant or Catho-
lie candidates, with the iron ore
companies not caring boot which
one was elected to office.
The struggles between the two
parties, or rather the score of men
who controlled the parties, kept
the workers beautifully divided
None of the workers thought very
much of organizing politically
and economically it was out of the
question, for the companies haC
one of the most efficient spy sys
: TENS ever developed to keep labor
from organizing.
So the years went on with tn,
Protestant candidates or Catholic
candidates in power and dispens
ing patronage to their own cliques
u This see-sa'wing went unchallenge,
! as long as the iron ore companie
0 were able to give the people tn
:: usual four months work during tn
i year. But when the depression
Is came and the mines shut down
completely there were so many on
I of wrok and the limited relief ha
u to be distributed so thinly thu
= many miners went hungry and tn
5 small business men couldn't tax
- in enough to cover even their owe
y head. The companies insisted tn;
= they could not pay the 500 pt
- capita tax levied against ther
which brought in 80 per cent
!: the villages income, and the r
- ligious-political leaders reduced
nc to $40 and again last year to Sc
With Hibbing's income so dra
W tically reduced there was still lie
= for the unemployed who grew res
= less and threatening.
- Into this irritable atmosphe
90 came the revelation of an Q
or American custom. A school hou
Ia had been built with a great ia
an fare of virtuous oratory about t
ed educating of children. The bill +
&c the school was seven million d,
ies lars, with everybody but the I
he litical leaders feeling that it col
,p have been built for two millio
This was a little too much for t
workers starving on the iron ran,
But the eva. came along just
time to give them something to
and money to buy food and I
mounting anger was dissipated.
The two political organizatiC
maintained their tight cont
Those who were sick of the gr
and corruption did not dare Q
pose them by starting a rival pa
though every one seemed to w
one. If you were a worker 2
talked of opposition, you found
,ad difficult not only to get job,
oe- even relief, and if you were
business man, pressure was b
nm to bear on your customers in
u dozen different ways until y
IN wished you had never started
all mess around with politics.
eat History, however, says t
events produce their own gr
IAN men and sure enough history die
n fall short in this case. Two Ii
-, type operators working for
-ioI Hibbing Tribune, Arthur B. T
ilO norman and his brother Ben, g,
m firm labor union men, started 7
dering on the towns troubles. ]
you year they ran a labor candid
of They weren't fired because nett
the paper nor the politicians v
inc worried about it. They knew
ha{ what little there was of organ
80 labor would not risk its jobs
,Ov vote for the labor candidates;
nat the politicians, the newspaper
'keC the iron ore companies were ri
has When the votes had
No counted, Arthur and Ben met
he of sadly in the back room of
saloon where I sat subseque,
with them. Clarence Smith,
Cile year-old reporter On the Hibl
ans Tribune, dropped in.
cans "You know what's the m;
itOr with this town." said Claren
rant "The. people are afraid to \
against. the ruling parties"
rive 'oYou're darn tootin'," said