Montana labor news., 1935-04-25
LEGISLATIVE
EMlNISCENCES
Continued from Page d

ate Resolutions and Memorials, par
ticularly House Resolution No. 5 which
called upon Congress for the enact
ment Of the Lundeen Social Security
Bill. This Resolution was signed by
the Governor and Secretary Of State
and sent to u Representatives in
Congress.
There were some Senate Bills which
engaged a lot of our attention also, no
tably S. B. No. IS which was better
known as the full value Policy Bill
provided for the payment Of the full
face value OF all fire insurance policies
in cases OF total destruction. This Bill
passed and is now a part of the law.
Also S. B. No. p which provides for
the insurance of all State building and
their contents, as we'll as that of all
the political subdivisions thereof,
against damage by fire, tornado, etc,
by the State itself l.. e a State is set
up, into which all Reinsurance pre-
miums on State, County, Municipal and
School District property shall be paid
according as they become due. The
Insurance on this type OF property to
be carried by the State. These two
Bills were bitterly fought by the In
surance Lobby while they were in
committee and just as bitterly fought
on the floor in both Senate and House.
They were both passed and signed by
the Governor. This means that even
tually all of the money that has been
paid for fire protection On State,
County, City and School District
building in the past, much of which left
the State, never to return, will, under
the provisions Of this law remain in
the State. 1t also provides that when
this Fund grows to $1,000,000.O0 that
free Insurance will be provided until
the fund has dropped to $700,O0000,
when premiums will again be collected
as they fall due until the fund has
again climbed to $l,000,000.0O, and
so on.
As an example OF how fire insurance
money has been going out of the State,
it is only necessary to quote from State
statistics In the past nine years, the
State of Montana has paid fire Insur-
ance premiums on its buildings and
their contents in excess of $290,000.00
and during the same period OF time has
collected for fire losses slightly more
than $4,000.
Another Senate Bill that interested
us very much was S, B. No. 20, the
Senate Highway Patrol Bill. This was
the mildest OF all the Patrol Bills in
troduced. 1t contained specific pro-
visions that the Patrol Force could not
be concentrated in any one county,
that it could not be used in any way in
connection with strikes or Labor dis
putes, that its members could not make
arrests for anything except traffic VIC
lations unless called upon to do so by
a peace officer, the latter rule applies
to any citizen. The Bill looked inno-
cent enough, and is, l believe, as in
nocent as it looks. But there was al
ways the danger, lurking in the back
ground that a reactionary Legislature
of the future might easily amend it and
make it vicious, and make the Patrol
a Cossack force similar to that in other
States. Consequently, we opposed it,
and when it came up for consideration
in the House on the sixty-third day, we
started a filibuster that we were I'M
able to sustain because of Il dwindl-
ing numbers. Many OF u friends had
either gone or were about to go home.
Many others wanted to get away soon,
and many OF those who had voted
solidly with us all through the session
were pledged to their constituents to
support a Highway Patrol Bill and
eight OF nine Of these told us they
would have to desert us on this meas
ure, especially if it came to a Roll Call.
This was the situation in which we
found ourselves at the noon recess on
the sixty-third day. Burns Of Ana
conda had made the motion that
started the filibuster, and our friends
the enemy-were all hot and bothered,
they did not realize our potential
weakness, so they started to look
around for a trade. H. B, No. IA had
been buried for several days in the
Senate and apparently could not be
revived, they knew we were deeply
interested in this Bill, in fact we had
voiced our resentment at the action
of the Senate when the Bill was killed.
The Bill had always been able to get
a majority in the Senate but it had to
have a two-thirds majority to put it
over. Consequently, this was the offer
made to Burns, if he would withdraw
his objection to consideration Of the
Patrol Bill they would guarantee the
passage of H. B. No. IA in the Senate.
Burns figured he was getting some
thing for nothing and consented. He
knew that we couldn't hold out much
longer, so when the House %reconvened
he withdrew his objection and the Bill
came up for consideration. We OPP
posed it and voted against it, but it
went over easily,
Almost all other Bills emanating
from the Senate were juvenile in char
acter and Of little Importance except to
small groups of people.
Much has been said pro and con as
to the actions and results obtained from
the recent session of the Legislature,
Some people believe we did a wonder
full job, others believe we accom-
pfshed nothing OF practical value.
Others again, take a more detached,
abstract view of the entire setup and
say that in the circumstances, we prob
ably did the best we could. The writ
er's opinion agrees mainly with this
latter opinion, because | am not at all
satisfied with the results obtained, but
49, ea4;ef;ad +bo+ ,ra co,,1d not ba,,a