Montana labor news., 1936-07-30
CONGRESSMAN MONAGHAN
MAKES VIGOROUS
PROTEST
Workers Condemn Administra-
ton for Permitting War De-
partment to Brutalize Men Be-
longing to Unions.
bon Peck. Mont.

Fort Peck, Mont.
Ex-Farmers are rapidly being made
into class conscious industrial work.
ers by the capitalist policies Of the gov
eminent on the Fort Peck Dam. There
are over 10000 men working on the
dam now, and many OF them are ex-
farmers or farm youth. The latter are
particularly numerous among the
1000 single men in the barracks. Here
the food is bad, bedbugs abound, and
double decker cots wobble at the slig-
htest movement. Three shifts in each
clubhouse, so sleep is difficult. Worst
of all, it is compulsory if you want to
hold the job and jobs are scarce as
hens teeth.
Lots OF these farmers have probably
lived under worse conditions before,
but they mostly made the mistake OF
thinking it was their fault. Here on
the Fort Peck Dam they see bad con
ditions which are obviously due to graf
ting and incompetence by the officials,
and especially to the capitalist attitude
Of the administration Of the dam.
For instance, the government is
making huge profits charging $35 a
month for board and room, with doub-
lie decker cots and about the same kit
chen staff as in the winter. Men who
were getting S. on relief want to know
why it is costing them $35 to live
when the government is on the re-
ceiving end. Worst Of all, it is COM
pulsory. Now, the funny thing is, all
of these men had bad conditions be-
fore, which were compulsory under
the capitalist system. But they thought
all they had to do was to work harder
and earn more. Now they can watch
it as a system in which higher pay goes
to the man with pull. They see it is a
system, and being all together, they
feel their power. Men who are maxi
ing three or four times as much as
they ever earned before are becoming
militant II because they see they pro-
duce that much and a lot more. (It's
going to be a good dam, even though
lots Of times somebody has to show
the foreman how They frequently
have a chance to look at the mansions
in which the officials live, and they
watch the men with pull moving into
better paid jobs, while the men who dc
the work are paid as labor"
They are feeling their power, being
all together, and they are turning the
state upside down to force the gov
eminent to let them live where they
please. They had a parade around the
town, and SO they are beginning to get
plenty of publicity. But as soon as
they held meetings the police began
to intimidate and the stool pigeons
ran around in circles. At the meet
ings, courageously attended by a small
nucleus which gradually builds itself
up into hundreds, police circulate, taxi
ing the numbers or sporting" those
who speak. These are police hired dir
ectly by the government Of what is sup
posed to be a free country, under an
administration which is at least sup
pose to be permitting organization. The
War Department has been told again
and again and still the intimidation
goes on. It has finally been taken up
with the President by Murray and
Monaghan, but still it goes on. Men
who hand out circulars are arrested,
The man who first suggested the par
ade at a meeting was Swallowed, had
his name and number taken, and was
fired two days later "Inefficiency.'
Funny thing they didn't find it out be-
fore. These things are proved by af-
fidavits which will be laid before the
LaFollette committee.
Do you wonder the ex-farmers are
becoming class conscious?
Farmers Union locals, individuals, and
labor unions are asked to write E. R.
Kinder, Sec. Farmers Union Room II,
Selvidge Babcock Bldg, Billings, Mont.
asking him to print material in the
state Farmers Union paper which he
received June 9th. The union needs
every support it can get. Farmers I'M
ion locals and individuals should write
Murray and Monaghan protesting con
ditions at Fork Peck. Petitions are
being started in many places. They
are being sent to President Roosevelt.
Start one.
HAVEN PERKINS,
Glasgow, Montana,
Federal Union 20192 A. F. Of L.
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