Montana labor news., 1936-09-24
SELECT CANDIDATES
FOR NOVEMBER ELECTION
Cooperative Council
Defends Proposed
License Ordinance

UNWIND
License Ordinance
The following article was submit
ted by the Labor Employer Coop
erative Council and is published at
the request of the Transfers and
Clerks unions.
A recent article in the Labor
News, published September 10, 1886
under the following head: MINERS
IOBJECT TO CREATION OF FOOD
COMBINE" is misleading in that the
heading does not properly state
what the Miners Union Committee
is Directing to. If, as stated, they are
opposed to the creation of a mono
poly which would control the dis
tribution of food products in Butte,
then the Miners Union Committee
would have the unanimous support
Of every man, woman and child liv-
ing in this community in opposing
the initiation of any legislation
which would create such a condi-
ton.
However, when one reads the arti-
Gle, he discovers that the objection
is to an ordinance sponsored by the
Butte Labor-Employer Co-opera-
tive Council. The purpose of this
ordinance, and its only purpose, is
to regulate and license peddlers who
go from house to house selling com
modities, articles and produce on a
commission basis, or as employees
of outside organizations which pay
no taxes or are subject to no regu-
lation by constituted authorities.
We take it for granted that every
thinking citizen would approve the
idea that any person who does bus
mess in Butte should have to pay the
regular taxes and license fees which
his competition is asked and, indeed
compelled to pay. And that is all
that this ordinance, to which the
Miners Union Committee objects,
is intended to do: Simply force fair,
competitive conditions on those who
do business in this locality.
It is conceded by any one who
knows anything about marketing
conditions, that this City is one of
the best, if not the best, market in
the Northwest, population consider
ed. This being true, it has become
a vital necessity that something BE-
done to protect this market for the
people who pay the taxes which
maintain the schools, the police de-
partment, the health department
and in fact, all other activities SO es-
%sential to the welfare of the people
of this community.
Certainly a person or a company
who comes into Butte selling pho
tographs or does other work of that
character in competition with our
local studios or developing agencies,
should have to pay the same license
fees and, if possible, the same tax
es as the local merchant with whom
they are in competition.
This is just as true of the peddler
who goes from house to house with
an armful of rugs or several rolls
of linoleum, or any other article or
commodity coming in competition
with a local merchant whose living
depends in part on the sale of such
articles or commodities. This should
also be true of the person who ped
dies shirts or neckties, or suits, or
furs, Or hose, or watches, or an in
Vulnerable category of articles ped
died promiscously around the streets
with no guarantee as to their. quail
Iity, no backing as to their replace
ment if they are worthless, and pra-
5 tically no local expenditure on the
t part of the huckster or vendor.
We say, and we say without fear
of contradiction, that every COM
! munity of any size in this country
! is endeavoring to find some means
: of protecting their merchants from
this unregulated, unlicensed and I'M
fair competition. This proposed or
dinance is copied word for word
, from an ordinance now in affect in
/, Great Falls, also in Helena. In
fact, every city in Montana of any
size has found this peddling NUS
ance a problem which can only be
regulated by municipal legislation.
Insofar as building up a mono
! poly in food products is concerned,
that is an absurdity, particularly
here. Butte possesses 3 sources of
, supply for produce, first, the prod
; uce jobbers such as the Ryan Fruit
Company, Barnes Fruit Company,
Butte Fruit and Produce Company,
Mellor Produce and Paper Comp
= any, and Sweet Brothers, 1ncorpor-
ated; second, the "Triway Broker
: age Company, Ltd, who supply the
e chain grocery stores with the major
part Of their produce, and third, the
Farmers Union Trading Company
S who market the farmers produce in
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