Montana labor news., 1937-03-04
LAB0R'5 ATTITUDE
TOWARD PROPOSED
SOCIAL SECURITY
Continued from Page q

been Dullt INTO lne INDUSTRIAL Hdtloli
of the world at the hands of labor
that those in authority will govern
their action upon this fact and not
merely throw a chance of only a
miserable existence at the worker,
but will guage the needs of the
laborer and give them something
more than an excuse.
James Graham, President of the
Montana Federation of Labor, took
an active part in the hearing last
Saturday evening and with the en-
dorsement of Montana labor leaders
proposed many amendments to the
bill that has been introduced in the
legislature. Many strong objections
to the minimum and maximum bene-
fits embodied in the act were voiced.
Graham suggested that a sliding
scale" be added to the act which
would provide more for men with
dependents. He also protested to a
system that would tax the pay en-
velopes of the workers for admins
tration of the act.
The maximum amount that can be
paid under the present draft of the
Montana Social Security Act that
has been introduced has been set at
SIS per week with a minimum of 81.
This, according to the best authori-
ties is not enough to care for even
the smallest p~ittance for a laboring
mar who must feed, clothe and
house himself and family. Graham
suggested that since the Federal law
will not allow a sufficient amount
to be paid that the maximum and
minimum for a single mar should be
$12 and $40 and be graduated up
ward to give men with dependents
more.
1t was voiced at the meeting that
81 per week is nothing more than a
pauper's wage and unless the amount
paid could be set at much more than
this, that the benefits to be paid to
laboring men would not, in any way,
be acceptable or fair.
Another Objectionable feature was
the section dealing with payments
for part time labor. The present law
would pay benefits only upon the
scale fixed by the last tenure of en-
ployment, regardless how small this
amount may be. This was objected
to, and with proper reasons, that
many people are forced to accept
part time employment for short
periods Of time and that in the case
of seasonal occupations, the benefits
would be too small to even pay for
food providing nothing for fuel,
clothing OF lodging. In every sense
of the word it would be a pauper's
wage.
Labor wants the duration of bene-
fits to be at least twenty weeks or
five months. At certain times of the
year when workers are faced with
seasonal employment and a slump
in the labor market, it would be a
poor employment insurance system
that would not tide the worker over
to a period when an equitable time
in the labor market could be real
lied. Labor must always fight that
system that would put its members
in the pauper class.
For reasons unknown, the usual
corporation lobby was absent at the
meeting. Usually, in all measures
affecting labor, the impressive lobby
is there with bullying brief cases try
ing to impeach the demands of labor,
trying to discredit any proposed plan
as being "unsound" or poorly
drawn up" or unreasonable and un-
fair to organizations that are stag
gering under such excessive taxes
Labor has been fighting for gen.
erations to have a fair and honest
existence. Real leaders, backed by
constructive thought, would moi
place a system before any governing
body that would tend to wreck thei1
own chances for a liveable existence
Instead, they demand their share OF
the profits of production, which il
granted, would really give the cor.
porate organization a genuine social
right of existence and would pro-
vide an honorable living for those
who use their hands to earn a living
According to labor, this should be
the American Way"
1t does not matter to labor what
is said about the profit system,
whether it is Inherently good or
whether it is inherently bad" and
these two thoughts embody the ex-
tremes of social thinking. 1t is con-
cerned in the preservation of its
people, the great middle class out of
which all sound accomplishment, ac-
cording to the laws of nature, must
spring. If a recognition of this fact
is not realized by endeavoring to
provide the necessaries of life, liber-
ty and the pursuit of happiness, then
all skills, ambition will rest on the
ashes of a great industrial civiliza-
ton whose death was caused by the
greed of those who built the slums
and the financial dynasties side by
side to fall upon n another and
crumble into ashes and ruins.