Montana labor news., 1936-09-03


tress of agriculture which merely
asks the Washington administration
to simplify its present program.
Its plank on relief is worth quot
ing right here:
'The economic distress that has so
deeply affected u people during
the recent years has made neces-
sary unprecedented activity of our
federal government to the end that
this distress is aleviated. Common
justice to the recipients of this re-
lief demands these measures should
be administered without partisan
ship and on equitable basis.
"a Republican legislature sitting
in regular and special sessions
adopted relief legislation approved
by the national administration. Al
all times, the chief executive Of
Kansas has co-operated fully with
the various agencies of the fedora.
government.
I'VE pledge to the people of Kan.
sas a continuation of a policy o.
complete cooperation with all fed
eral relief agencies to the end tha'
such relief shall be strictly non.
partisan"
Another clause-the final sen.
tence-pledges the party to an "ade.
quate maintenance and financing O.
our public school system"
Mr.. Landon on Septmber I
opened his campaign for reelection
at Abilene, Kans. Senator Arthur
Capper's paper, the Topeka Daily
Capital, quotes him as saying OF
that occasion:
Constitutional limitations pre-
vent Kansas as a state from taking
a direct part in relieving distress
among the unemployed. Kansas
counties, however, have been au
thorized by special laws during thii
emergency to match available fed
eral emergency relief (Which they
did not do) and to administer tht
relief as required by the federal re-
lief administrator. Kansas has al
ways received her quota Of fedora
funds promptly because of the eff
ficient work of local and state relic
authorities and because all fedora
requirements have been met"
The public schools present tn,
saddest of all spectacles in Kansa
today. Landon economies havl
been accomplished at the expense o
the children of the state; they ar,
the real victims of a "do-nothing
administration. Today the publi
school system is a travesty; the ait
which the state extends to it is les
than that which is extended BY
any other state in the Union.
Kansas still clings to the little rec
school house, and that little rec
school house is falling to pieces,
dilapidated wreck. Other states
Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsyl
vania, West Virginia, New York
New Jersey, Massachusetts,, and tn,
rest-have their enlarged schoo
houses, rural graded schools stu
ated in the center of areas served b.
school buses, and taking rank will
the best of the schools of municipal
tiles. On all of the plains and hill
of rural Kansas no such school is Il
be found, and not one of its mag
nificant concrete highways, Oh
which $4,000, 900 of Federal anc
state money has been spent in tn,
last IL months, carries a school bus
There are no school buses in Kan
sas.
Other states, such as Illinois
Pennsylvania and other progressiv
states, have a minimum salary Law
for school teachers, and providing
that no school teacher shall be pail
less than a minimum of 500
month or thereabouts. Kansas ha
no such law, and its average salar,
for a school teacher in its rura
schools is $37.79 a month. That i
the average; there are school teach
ers in Kansas who are paid $25
month, and Montgomery county, tn
home county Of Alfred M. Landor
is n of them where the minimum
is $25 a month. Furthermore
there are teachers in Kansas VIII