Montana labor news., 1935-10-03
Peck Conditions;
A Reply to the Mon
tana tandar

The Montana Standard in its issue of
October first carried an article with a
Fort Peck date line in which Major
IT. B. Larkin, chief OF the army engi-
neering corps, gives an alleged impair
tial investigation Of labor conditions at
Fort Peck. This investigation" ac-
cording to the Major, covered several
hundred cases and to quote from the
Standard "in no single instance did the
special agents find that an injustice had
been done a worker" The injustices,
the deaths, the tragedies and the in
injuries have been so glaring that it has
become a national scandal and no
white-wash by any committee is going
to be able to clear the slate.
Commissioner Ed O'Byrne went into
the Fort Peck area and interviewed the
workers there about labor conditions
and violations of the labor laws of the
state of Montana and he found enough
"injustices' to fill a volume. The State
Federation of Labor has been insistent
about congressional investigation of the
horrible conditions that goes on in Fort
Peck. No attempt by the Montana
Standard or any other capitalist paper
or any committee is going to be able
to cover up the shameful practices that
have been perpetuated since this Gov
eminent project has been started. The
insincereity and obvious prejudice Of
Major Larkin's investigation is indi-
Gated in the statement that not one
single instance out of 449 cases was an
injustice done. Just think this over,
that in nearly five hundred specific
cases Of violation that not one should
have any justification. The union
headquarters here has evidence that a
worker made a complaint to an insp-
ector concerning the conditions of I'M
employment in his department. This
worker was discharged for his meddle-
someness. Some of the Silver Bow
County unions have affidavits in their
possession showing that Montana men
were discharged in order that men from
Missouri and other states could work
there.
1t is a notorius fact that hard labor
conditions prevail among the truck
drivers at Fort Peck. If a steam shovel
or a power shovel breaks down, these
truck drivers must remain on the job
but get locked, that is, they don't get
paid during the time that the steam
shovel or power shovel is not in opera
ton. Does Larkin know that this is an
injustice 7" According to the article
in the Standard also Larkin said there
was adequate first-aid. The unions are
in possession of records wherein a
first-aid expert was sent from a
neighboring city to Butte to the Fort
Peck project and was compelled to re-
main in the first-aid department
tw~enty-four hours a day because there
weren't enough to do this work. Major
Larkin makes reference to complaints.
The reason why the workers do not
make complaints to the inspectors is
because the workers are afraid to do
so. They feel that the inspectors are
under control of the military, Of which
Major Larkin is the head, and that
these inspectors are merely stool pig
cons for the contractors. Naturally the
workers are not going to make COM
plants and lose their jobs. One of the
best known and finest liberal magazi-
mes, in the United States, namely the
Nation, carries an article in the Sep
TENDER II issue concerning Fort Peck
and it is herewith published in full.