Montana labor news., 1935-03-14
PROJECT
is SHUT DOWN

Last Friday, March 8, the Local Re.
lief Administrators office was Motif.
ed that all work on relief projects in
Silver Bow County must be temper.
arily discontinued. The order effected
about three thousand men and womer
of Silver Bow County. According ts
the Montana Standard, MIR. Butlel
made the following statement;
DR.. Butler stated: 81 am in favor
Of an adequate works program FOL
Montana, and favor giving employ
ment to just as many people as pos.
sible. | am assured that federal Of
ficials concur with me in this point o.
view. 1t is with the greatest regre'
and over repeated protests on my par
that l am compelled to take this action
Acting upon advice received iron
Washington, l desire to appeal to The
people Of Montana to cooperate fully
with relief officials in accepting thl
regrettable conditions imposed by limit
ed funds. l believe it is the patriotic
duty Of every citizen Of Montana Il
accept the situation and cooperate
with the president of the United State.
in making the best OF an unfortunate
circumstance"
AT the suggestion Of members O
the Montana relief administration staff
all administrative employees and offic,
forces will share in the curtailment o
income for the month Of March.
1T is to be hoped" said DR.. Butler
that before the time Of the March bud
get hearing to determine Montana
budget for April, the situation may b,
such both at Washington and at Hell
ena that an application from Montan;
for an adequate amount of fund
may receive favorable consideration a
Washington"
Undoubtedly the Montana Official
and the local Officials regret to SCI
this stop Of work but they are power
less in the matter as no funds are a
present available to carry on the work
The real reason for the shut down 0
the work is the failure of the passag
of the four billion eight hundred mil
lion dollar Relief Bill that was in
troduced in Congress several week
ago.
President Roosevelt and the Admin
istration are determined to have thei
way about paying the $50 a month o
the Relief Project and McCarran an
other Liberal Senators are just as de
termined to have the prevailing rat
of wages paid. The struggle betwee.
these two elements has tied up thi
Bill and the eight hundred million dol
lar relief appropriation attached on t
it. This eight hundred million dollar
is to be distributed to the various State
for relief work and direct relief.
seems that by shutting down all EN-
ployment and throwing these humat
chattels out of work that those in pow
er hope to get enough pressure benin
their plan to kill the McCarran Amend
ment. In other words it is not a mat
ter Of how much the people suffer o
whether they are thrown out Of wor
or whether they are living or not;
is only a question Of whether some
one can have his own way. Labor j
merely asking that it be given a liv
ing wage; the prevailing rate Of pa.
in the community. Should this fit
dollar a month schedule go through
and it seems likely that it will, it wi
have the tendency to reduce the stand
ard of wages and living Throughout
the whole industrial structure of tn
United States.
AT a meeting Of the F. E. R. A
workers held at the High School Audi
forum last Sunday, the following re
solution was sent to Helena,
RESOLUTION
We, 600 FERA workers in a meetin
called by the FERA Workers Pro
tective Union at the Butte High SchoC
on Sunday, March 10, 1885, demand
That the Montana Relief Com
mission and the Silver Bow Count
Relief Administration immediatel
reopen all FERA work projects i
Silver Bow County and
That 62H cents be established a
the minimum hourly rate on a
FERA projects in Silver Bow Coun
ty with union rates maintained 70
all classifications of work that hav
heretofore received more than 621
cents and
We further go on record as challeng
ing the statement of DR.. Butler tina
passive acceptance of the proposed re
duction OF relief standards - of a pro
gram of systematic starvation - con
s~titutes a patriotic duty" or will i
any way serve any necessary or con
structive purpose and
Instead Of submitting to a cut in GU
relief budgets, we shall vigorously an
actively struggle to the end that thes
budgets shall be raised to conform t
a standard of living befitting America
workers."