Montana labor news., 1935-01-10
REVIEW
OF The YEAR 1884
BY HOWARD Y. WILLIAMS.

A political audit Of 1884 indicates
that our country has made some pro-
gress, while the world as a whole has
slipped backward during the year.
Looking first on the dark side of the
ledger for the United States, we see
that we have entered the sixth year OF
the depression with business activity
almost at its extreme depth, with in
come tax returns indicating that wealth
is increasingly flowing into the hands
of the few rather than into the pockets
of the many.
At least ten millions are still unem-
ployed. Millions more are on part
time work. Drought has impoverished
whole areas. The CWA was largely
discontinued and discouraged thous-
ands. The sales tax was imposed in
some twenty-five states and further
impoverished the poor. Continued
non-enforcement of the Ia clause OF
the NRA hurt labor. The disclosure
of the Fascist plot by General Smedley
Butler, the vicious methods used to de-
feat Upton Sinclair, the organization
of the Liberty League, the freeing OF
the insults, and the decisions of the
Supreme Court refusing to exempt
students in Immigrant colleges from
compulsory military training on re-
ligious grounds, all point to dangerous
tendencies that might lead to Dictator
ship.
Overbalancing this dark picture we
find 0 n the favorable side of the ledger
that the country is moving steadily to-
ward a more progressive viewpoint. In
the November election the voters re-
pudiated the conservative Republican
party for the second time. Such old
guard leaders as Senator Fess, Reed,
Hatfield, and Congressman Britten
were retired. Progressives like Sena-
tors Holt and Schwellenbach were
elected. The Middle West ~epitomized
this trend to the left when the new
Progressive Party captured Wisconsin,
the Minnesota Farmer Labor party
was successful running on a radical
public ownership platform, the Farmer
Labor party of Iowa was launched and
made a good beginning, and Farmer
Labor Political Federations were or
gained in Montana, North Dakota,
South Dakota and Kansas for the pur-
pose OF organizing Farmer Labor
parties in those states for the 1886
campaign.
The tremendous vote secured by Up
ton Sinclair in California was a victory
in defeat. The militant and united
spirit OF the workers as displayed in the
truck drivers strike in Minneapolis,
the general strike in San Francisco, the
textile strike, the strike of the Penn
sylvania coal miners, as we'll as the
strikes Of the Newspaper Guild give
real hope for the future. The success
of the Roosevelt program in the Ten
nessee Valley Authority, the i%ncreas-
ing emphasis on slum clearance and
public housing projects, the regulation
of the stock exchange, the air-mail
graft exposure, all indicate progress.
Public ownership gains over the ma
ton are most encouraging and the
Presidents leadership has been an i'm
portant factor. The munitions i%nvesti-
cation has larger consequences for
world peace than almost any other
event. The adoption by Nebraska of
a one house legislature; the unfolding
by the Supreme Court of the Mime
sofa moratorium law; the expose of
the Red Cross; the appointment of a
woman, Judge Florence Allen, to the
Federal bench; the drive for the sold
iers' bonus the increase Of progressive
ism and organization among farmers ;
and the remarkable vote of the minis
tiers of the nation for the cooperative
commonwealth lead one to believe that
we can avoid war and Fascism in
America.
From the World viewpoint, the year
1884 closes with very somber trends.
The assassination of King Alexander