Montana labor news., 1937-09-16
Salvation By Starvation

Since the middle Of June, 1886, 900 persons
have been stricken from the WPA rolls. To
the question: What's become Of these people?
there are sundry answers. Some claim they
have been absorbed in industry. If so, pros
perity has at last turned the corner. HolO-
e0er, a more definite and less assuring anSl0er
is giUen By statistics collected in some Of the
larger cities of the country. In New York
City, for instance, out of the $4,000 WPA
workers dismissed between June 30 and Au-
gust 10, 1854 applied for home relief. Out
of this number, 14,623 were Immediately
placed on the relief rolls, 1859 were rejected,
while 5,102 cases were still pending.
The Illinois State Relief Commission re-
ports an increase in the relief roll between
June and August Of 1928, whereas the sea
sonal increase should be between 1000 and
$4,000 cases. In Cleveland and Columbus,
Ohio, rs per cent Of the laid-of WPA work
ers have applied for home relief. In Toledo
the proportion was 81 per cent and in Indian
apolis so per cent.
Granted that under the new dispensation
the richest country on earth has made con
siderable progress in the sterilization Of pow
erty, a better way should be found than
merely sweeping the national rubbish under
the state and municipal beds. So far, how
ever, only two states have made a serious
effort to reduce unemployment by disfran-
chising unemployed persons 0 n the ground
Of being public charges. But while swelling
the non-voting population of our penal insti-
buttons, almshouses, insane asylums and
Washington, D. c., by adding to the unen-
ployed may reduce the cost Of elections, it
is no guarantee that it will p~erceptibly raise
the intellectual level Of the electorate, so all
essential for the preservation of democratic
institutions. Moreover, if we start disfran-
chising persons charged with living off the
public without rendering service in return,
how long will it be before some unkind dis
tinction in and out of Congress will demand
that benefciaries Of u high tariff policy,
government subsidies and unearned incomes
in general be disfranchised also?
No, this will never do. So instead Of de-
priving the unemployed Of votes or sweeping
them under the bed, why not let them starve.
Starvation is natures Oldest method of re-
moving surplus creatures and what this great
and intelligent country is mostly suffering
from is an appalling surplus Of labor, that is,
the kind Of people who do nothing but feed,
clothe and shelter themselves by the expendi-
ture Of energy applied to the free gifts Of
nature and above that, create a surplus for
the support Of persons astute enough to live
by the labor Of others.
There is nc doubt that if these would-be
normal classes were given access to the raw
material and tools Of production, they could
easily support themselves and their families.
An effort in this direction was made by Harry
Hopkins in the honeymoon Of the New Deal.
Upton Sinclair and the EPIC movement Of
California advocated a similar method. But
as the expenditure Of the wherewiths Of life
for no better purpose than their use by their
creators is a clear infringement on produc-
ton for profits, these efforts were easily dis
carded or squelched.
1t might be urged-in fact it has been urged
in circles close to Moscow-that adopting the
starvation route as the permanent solution
of the unemployment problem would serious
ly increase the already appalling surplus Of
farm products. There may be something to
that contention. However, events of the past
seven years have amply demonstrated that
the American mind is more tolerant to the
restriction and destruction of farm products,
at public expense, than. permitting willing
and able-bodied workers to make a living by
their own efforts.