The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1937-08-19

been Senator Hugo L. Black of Ala
bama. and Representative John e.
Rankin of Mississippi.
Not Surprising
Which might not be surprising.
Alabama being regarded mostly as
a very conservative state. econom-
ically and socially. except that SEN
ator Black has been the nemesis OF
the princes Of privilege right from
the day the Roosevelt adninistra-
ton came into power in 1888. 1t
was Black who fought SO vigorously
for the death sentence in the public
utility holding company bill, and
who obtained rather a reputation
as snooper during the seizure Of
private kilograms episode.
Mr.. Rankin has held firmly in an
anti-privately owned utility position
several laps ahead of Senator
George W. Norris of Nebraska and
a few more ahead of President
Roosevelt all the way through the
New Deal administration SO far,
Both have had some very disturb
ing communications from back
home. They have found that many
of their influential supporters were
far from enthusiastic about the
New Deal. They have discovered
that attacking the Morgans and the
big northern utilities was one thing,
but that forcing little manufacturers
down In their home states to pay
higher wages and grant shorter
hours was something else again.
Senator Ellison D. Smith Cotton
Ed of South Carolina voiced the
opinion of a great many southern
ers when he intimated that the
administration, in regulating wages
and hours, was attempting to de-
prive the South of the natural adj
vantages that God had given 1t,
and that the mental attitude OF
the New Deal would seem to re-
quire them to hold God to strict
accountability for such unfairness!
The South figures that it has GER
tain economic advantage in cheap
err living costs. and it proposes to
hold on to theml
Puzzles Labor Men
Just why President Roosevelt re-
ferred newspaper men the other
day to the British trades unions act
as something worthy of study is
puzzling some of his labor advis-
ers no end. Most of the clearest
thinkers among them want no part
Of it. Some phases of ii they regard
as unnecessary in this country. 9th
err phases they think would be ut
terly unacceptable to employers.
The Scandinavian plan appeals
much more to the particular group
in question, including Edward +.
McGrady. The assistant secretary
of labor is fond of pointing out to
friends that you don't hear anything
about strikes in Norway and
Sweden.
So far as the British plan is con-
cerned, in practical working condi-
tons the industry against which a
strike is leveled shuts down until
the strike is settled. No attempt Is
made by employers to put scabs
to work, or for that matter to OPP
crate at all. Just the reverse, Of
course, of what has to happen wher
there is a general strike. and what
did happen in England when gen
eral strike was tried.
The present British law forbids 9
general strike, but, as the young
labor experts here point out, thai
sort OF prohibition is unnecessary
here for the simple reason thai
there is no possibility of a genera
strike. No labor leader of impor
lance favors the idea. Practically
every one of them would refuse tc
cooperate.
The feature of the Scandinavian
labor policy that appeals most Il
some OF these young labor expert:
| is that it provides for collective bar
gaining by industries, and on coun
try-wide basis. Applied to the re
cent motor strikes, 1t would have
worked in this way. The motor EN-
ployees would have served notice
on 1.-THE manufacturers that the,
wanted. this, or that. They would
have insisted on dealing with al
the manufacturers at once, and con
Guiding one bargain for pay. hour:
and working conditions for all.
Thus there would have been nj
differentials out of which some thinl
one motor company has Sigh
advantage over others in its labo
costs and general efficiency.
Expect Ii to Help
Just how those advocating thi
plan would have handled Henri,
Ford in the recent situation is al
unanswered question.
Labor leaders think that the wage
and hours bill, especially after it ha
been modified a few times, whicl
they confidently expect, is going t
prove a great help with certain
type OF employer in labor toubles
The kind of thing that make
the labor leaders very low in min
indeed is what happened, to cite
recent case, on the Fall River line