Montana labor news., 1937-04-08
NJ D. GRAHAM
VISITS IN BUTTE
CONTINUED from Page y

they had assisted in passing in days
gone by, namely, the bond issue OF
1880, used in a building program for
state institutions, and also for the
millage levy for state schools.
Notwithstanding that the State of
Montana passed the constitutional
amendment providing for 8 hours
of labor, the Legislature refused to
enact a measure providing penalties
and otherwise making the constitu-
tional amendment effective. At this
point of his address, the president
characterized the Senate as the most
hostile to labor measures of any Sen
ate in the history of Montana.
The Teachers Union, who sought
and secured the passage of the teach
ers' retirement measure, were high
ly praised by Mr.. Graham, especial
ly Miss Leary and Miss Golubin who
acted as lobbyists in the Legislature
for their organization.
In referring to the s~ilicosis mea-
sure which is so vital to the Miners
organization, Mr.. Graham said he
suggested toward the beginning of
the session that a commission be ap-
pointed to study this problem and
to make recommendations and to
present their findings to the session
of 1899 so that men suffering from
this disease may be adequately com
pensated without being discrimin-
ated against. The difficulty con-
fronting the passage of such a mea-
sure at this time is that should sill
COSTS be included in the compensa-
ton law and be compensated for, the
mining companies may discharge
workers who have any evidence of
the disease in order to eliminate
these people from the compensation
provisions.
1t was at this point of his address
that Mr.. Graham suggested that the
only way to get rid of the pernicious
Plan No. 2 of Montana's Compensa-
ton Law would be to have it sub
mitted to the people of the state as
a referendum measure. The FEEDER
alton Of Labor has tried for years
to get this obnoxious feature of the
compensation law eliminated
through legislative action but owing
to the opposition of the insurance
interests and corporate pressure have
been unable to do so. A tremendous
amount of money was spent by the
combined industrial and financial
interests Of the state to defeat the
8 hour constitutional amendment, re-
marked Mr.. Graham. He estimated
that at least $4,000 had been spent
to encompass its defeat. He then
stated that the unions should be pre-
pared to spend at least $4,000 for
educational work to inform the peo-
pie concerning the need of voting
for the abolition of Plan No. 2 by a
referendum.
One difficulty that the unions must
be prepared to face and which has
somewhat altered the complexion of
the state of Montana is that prac-
tically $4,000 people have come into
this state, most of them from the
southern part of the country, Vir-
ginia and Carolina, and who have
| brought with them ideas and a psy-
chology out of tune with the workers
here. This influx of people resulted
from the building of the Fort Peck
dam. Graham mentioned in refer
ence to these folks that they are not
as well informed in economies as our
people; that their standard of living
is lower and in a%ssimilating these
folks into the higher social levels of
Montana, the unions must be pre-
pared to carry on an educational
campaign.
Mr.. Graham then referred to the
practice of the Supreme Court Of
the United States following decisions
already made by the state supreme
courts. He was referring to the re-
cent action of the United States SUI
preme Court in its minimum wage
decision Of the state of Washington.
The president said that the action
of the court was not a reversal. The
Supreme Court of the country usual
ly follows decisions of the state SUI
preme courts. If their decisions are
favorable on the case, the national
court generally follows. If it is an
favorable, similar action is taken. In
regard to the Washington minimum
wage law the Washington state court
had declared the Washington mini
mum wage law constitutional, hence
the United States court was only
confirming what had already beer
done by the Washington state court
County, Montana, to-wit: