Montana labor news., 1935-01-24
Methods of Studying
Montana S Financial
Status
BY Albert BIumenthal.


present Legislature it was proposed
that $4,000 be appropriated at once
for study of the financial condition
of the government of the state oil
Montana. It was further specified
that this amount be expended within
approximately one month so that two
weeks would yet remain of the present
Legislative assembly for action upon
the information collected What is
the significance of this proposition for
our commonwealth?
If we are ever to have government
which comes close to giving everyone
a square deal that government must
be based upon facts Regardless OF
how intelligent and socially we
are, We cannot consistently direct a
government in the interests of all OF
the people unless we are in possession
of all of the pertinent available facts
This statement seems obvious enough
but its implications are not Jery deeply
realized or the people of Montana
would be clamoring for a penetrating
survey of the financial condition of
their state. The leaders talk a great
deal about Montanas deplorable fl
nancial condition and they submit a
confusing array of remedies for the
situation. Some of these are so broad
in scope that they cannot safely be
ventured before we have more facts on
hand. And the broader the scope OF
proposed legislation the more helpless
is the average voter in attempting to
understand it, Legislators and other
propagandists for such legislation of
course pretend to have adequate facts
and by eloquence and psychological
trickery they often fool US. But the
truth remains that there is not enough
synthesized knowledge about Montana
upon which safely to base some OF the
proposed legislation (e. G. wholesale
county consolidation
The proposal of an all-around study
of the financial status of the govern
ment Of Montana will be welcomed by
all intelligent citizens. But can such a
study be made satisfactorily in thirty
rays? Being a social scientist who has
had considerable experience with So
> cial research I may be expected tc
comment upon this question with
strong conviction.
To spend $4,000 at efficient re-
search in 80 days will be hard to dc
but it may be better to pass legislation
on basis of rushed research than to
, pass it without even an attempt at
, careful examination OF the situation
At the same expense a far better and
more useful report can be turned out
by smaller number OF persons work
ing over a longer period because il
takes much time to digest and organize
so complex a mass of evidence. And
it is extremely important to have the
facts organized in simple readable
fashion since the average legislator has
far more details to appraise than he
can possibly study out for himself.
This leads one to the conclusion that
expenditure of the initial appropriation
Of $4,000 would only open the eyes
of intelligent Legislators to the need
for making an additional appropriation
to continue the research. They would
see that the superficial hodge-podge Of
findings of the 30-day research plunge
would provide no more than a pre-
liminary report 1t would serve as a
path-finding survey on a basis OF
which to map out the activities of a
small committee of trained research
specialists who would continue the
study for the next two years. Social
research is costly but to pass impor-
tant legislation without adequate re-
search is even more costly.
Any well-informed person will be
suspicious Of the proposal to base far
reaching notifications Of our state and
county government upon a 30-day COM
prehensive study. OF course, much OF
the desired information is readily avail
able from persons who are specialists
on various phases of our government
But for $4,000 it is positively impos-
sible to make an adequate study in
thirty days of so vast an enterprise as
the government Of Montana. Anyone
who would be willing to base the sug-
gested radical governmental changes
upon such study is either ignorant
of the complexity of the situation,
careless, or a sponsor of special in
terests. Indeed, if the proposed study
is to serve the purposes of special in
terests it need not be thorough The
device Of a social investigation for pur-
poses of publicity rather than for pur-
poses of thorough study of facts, is
well-known TO newspaper men and re-
formers. Powerful special interests
which know and can influence the kind
of facts that will be brought out may
have their plan of new legislation al
ready formulated before the purported
investigation is started. They can carry
on a supposedly impartial investigation
in order to give cloak of respectable
ity to a biased selection of facts. The
newspapers of the state can be cleverly
flooded with these facts as they are
unearthed. And on a basis of them
even the most intelligent citizens can
be lead into voting against their own
good and against the general public
For no mans logical conclusions are
more accurate than the data from
which he derives them.
Let us hope that the people OF Mon
tana will not be too hasty about max
ing radical changes in our non-to-per-
feet government. The person who
hastens is likely to stumble-and the
same is true Of an impatient common
wealth.