Montana labor news., 1936-01-09
JUDGING THE FUTURE
FROM THE PAST

WASHINGTON.-(FP) ~ War, I'M
employment and the Supreme Court are
directors behind the scenes as the cur
tain rolls up for another annual show
on the Washington stage.
The year 1885 began with an open
season for hunters of the dove Of
peace; it ended in open warfare. Am-
erica demonstrated its isolation by
leading in world war preparations, with
a record war budget Of more than a
billion and a big navy program.
Munitioneers were probed sensation
ally by a Senate committee. But their
business has continued to boom. Their
dividend prospects are excellent in 1886.
Anticipating the Fascist rape Of Eth
iopia, Congress resolved in advance to
look the other way. It passed a neu-
trality bill against sending weapons to
either side. When the League of Ma
tions decided on police measures against
the rapist, Uncle Sam showed his chiv-
airy by evidencing some Discrimination
to trip up the cops and by cracking
down on war exports.
The year ended with some of the
League cops quarreling over their share
of the graft, and with effective sane
tons still unapplied to Mussolini. Labor
demands for collective action for peace
increased meanwhile, as European
workers saw the hypocrisy Of their
rulers evidenced in the Hoare-Laval
proposal for the division Of Ethiopia.
Congress in 1886 finds definition of its
attitude to the war about the first order
of business, with many amendments to
the neutrality act to consider.
T. T.
The number of American jobless was
%variously estimated between 10 and IS
million in 1884. Another year of re
covery' in 1885 made little dent in the
totals. Production and profits increas-
ed, but employers managed to get more
work done with fewer workers. Latest
figures of the American Federation Of
Labor in 1885 showed ll,650,000 un-
employed.
Early in the year four billion dol
lars were voted for a work-relief pro-
gram which was to end federal direct
relief. Some 3H million from the re-
lief rolls were reported to be employed
on the work projects as 1885 ended.
Millions OF so-called unemployables
found themselves dropped from federal
relief and left to the buck-passing
mercies OF state and local authorities.
The effect Of the program on private
employment appeared to be negligible,
with Dept. of Labor job figures actual
ly declining when last heard from.
Having thus disposed OF the present
unemployed, Congress at last got
around to giving thought to social in
surance for the future jobless. Trailing
decades behind nearly every other civil
lied country in the world, the United
States placed the social security act on
the books in 1885. The detail Of placing
it into effect with an appropriation was
neglected, however. Congress and the
states will have much to say and do
about social insurance in 1886 before
it becomes a reality.
= =
Nine old men in a dingy little cham
Der Of the Capitol proved that age does
not have to be fed monkey glands to
be able to raise hell. The Supreme
Courts sick chicken decision was the
biggest domestic sensation Of the year,
outrating even the Dillinger hunt. 1t
knocked NRA for a loop, and George
L. Berry was still trying to pick up the
pieces as the year ended.
Installed now in a magnificent new
temple, the same nine judges are get
ting more than their share of the ven
Grafton that is due to old age. They
and their constitution have been adopt
ed as a year-around Santa Claus by the
American Liberty League, the Repub-
lican party and the Natl Assn. Of Man
ufacturers.
These nine men have it in their power
to undo nearly everything that Con-
gress did in 1885, and particularly, it
seems, the measures that most affect
labor and the farmers. Besides wiring
ing the neck of the Blue Eagle, the
Supreme Court threw onto the scrap
heap a railroad pension law and a farm
mortgage moratorium act Congress
then up and passed similar measures
again, which the Court will again pass