Montana labor news., 1935-05-23

tries to less developed regions.
Imperialism started in the Far East when the
British East India Company, a gang Of racket
GERS much like our own u. S. Steel Company,
forced the opium trade on China, stole Hong
kong, the most valuable island in the world.
and made the Chinese pay the costs Of the war.
"The record Of the United States is no better.
| was in the crowd that seized the lsthmus of
Panama. We could have bought it, but the Col
ombian legislators wanted personal shakedowns
of $500 each before they'd sell their c%ountry's
land. That's a bigger bride than is paid legisla-
tors in Pennsylvania SO Theodore Roosevelt said,
Wen just take it, l was one of those sent
down to do the grabbing"
He also excoriated Hearst. whom he declared
was principally responsible for the war against
Spain.
"The slogan BY which thousands were lured
to fight in Cuba was, Remember the Maine, the
battleship presumably blown up by the Span
iards. But now the iingos want to forget the
Maine. For when some years later it was lift
ed from the bottom of Havana Harbor, it was
discovered that the steel plates had been blown
outward, not inward.
Clearly his demonstrates that an internal ex-
plosion sank the Maine. We are now convinced
that this was caused by the smokeless brown
powder, about which much less was known then
than now, becoming overheated in the glare of
the hot Cuban sun.
Had the explosion been caused by a Spanish
planted mine, the plates would have caved in.
But this fact was hushed up by the u. S. Navy,
which refused to permit photographs of the re-
surrected Maine, and then lowed it to $500 feet
of water and sank it where the whole truth can
never be learned.
"The Maine never had any business in Cuban
waters, no more than our navy has any business
now fooling around off the cost of Japan. But
when it was accidentally destroyed, the Span
iards were blamed, and the sinking of the Maine
became the pretext for grabbing Cuba for the
benefit of American Sugar Planters.
"The hypocrites in Washington claimed the
war was to liberate Cuba, but we know the tyr
amy there today is as bad as it ever was"
Before his scheduled talk, General Butler in
a dinner table interview expressed his keen dis
appointment in Roosevelt and the New Deal and
his opposition to Fascism. He related the story
that he had told the Dickstein Congressional in
vestigation committee about how he had been
asked to lead a Facist army in America, and how
he had rejected the offer. He charged that the
Dickstein COMMITTEES had gotten cold feet and
had refused to trace the Wall street connections
of the Fascist group.
81 hate Fascism as much as l hate war, =" he
said.
He feared that Father Coughlin represented
dangerous Fascist tendencies, though his pro
gram could not as yet be accurately described
as Fascist.
Concerning Huey Long 81 agree that the nat
ional wealth must be redistributed. But Long,
| think, is too much the opportunist. His pro-
gram is very vague and doesn't go nearly far
enough"
The general accused Roosevelt of being anti
labor and of trying to suppress the Nye Com
mittee's investigation of P. Morgan's connec-
ton with the munitions racket.
Three times in the past few weeks Roosevelt
has gone to bat for Morgan in trying to hamper
the Nye Investigations.
81 made sixty speeches for Roosevelt in 1882,
but I'm sorry I did. In Andy Melons alumni
am town, New Kensington, Penna, I made four
talks for Roosevelt. Today I'm ashamed to face
those workers.
81 don't mind saying I am frankly and wholly
on the side of labor. A lot of public officials
have the idea that in a strike a pane of glass is
worth more than a workers life.
For myself, I am absolutely opposed to the
use of the National Guard or any army equip
ment in strikes"
Last week General Butler, with Francis ].
German, first vice-president Of the United Tex
tile Workers, testified for the Connery bill
to ban the National Guard in labor disputes.
The general is not a Socialist, at least not yet.
he says. 81 have believed that capitalism could
be controlled to give the workers a fair break.
But | confess my faith in capitalism is steadily
growing weaker"
The. above statements made by General But
Ter, bears out the opinion entertained of him by
the editor of The Union Leader.
We believe him to be one of the most fearless
men in the United States. AS a soldier, leading
the armed collection agency, the u. s.. Marines,
we denounced him and his tactics. That we
were right in our stand at that time is proven
by his own statement as printed above.