The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1938-01-06

wages and hours legislation bill
sometime this winter or spring, and
in form in keeping with the Roose-
welt. detectives. But at the moment
it is very difficult to see how this
is going to be done.
The difficulties are not technical
actually the new bill would start
out with an enormous advantage so
far as parliamentary procedure is
concerned. But the trouble is to
find some formula for government
control of wages and hours, or rath-
er government banning of too small
wages and too long hours, on which
enough members of the house could
agree to obtain a majority.
The majority which was apparent
for the bill just few weeks back.
and which forced the bill out of the
rules committee pigeonhole, was fic-
titious. It was q simple log-rolling
proposition, under which a num-
Der of enthusiastic farm relief adj
vocates traded their signatures to
the discharge petition, plus the
promise of their votes, in order to
prevent bloc movement of the
Northern wages and hours advo-
Gates against their farm bill
Just before the coalition was
made it appeared that both bills
were doomed. The Southern men,
hers, through their strength on the
rules committee, had been able to
pigeonhofe the Wage-flour bill at
the preceding regular session. This
was the surprise of the legislative
year, but what really fooled every
one was that this strength persist
ed. So it looked as though the bill
would stay pigeonholed.
Weakess of the farm bill forced
the coalition, and then it looked
as though both bills were sure of
passage, though neither was strong
enough to stand alone.
There's the Rub
With that strange episode now
history, the new picture is: How
can the men who want a wages and
hours bill agree on something
strong enough to stand alone?
No compromise so far has been
reached on any of the important
difficulties. For example, who
is to administer the law. William
Green and his friends in the Amer
lean Federation of Labor do not trust
the idea of d board. They fear that
President Roosevelt would appoint
another group as friendly to c. I. O.
as they think the national labor re-
lations board is. Neither the A. r.
Of L. nor the c. I. O. is enthusiastic
about entrusting administration to
the Department of Labor.
But there enters another compli-
cation. Secretary of Labor Frances
Perkins is distinctly unpopular on
Capitol Hill There are quite
few members of the house who
would not vote for any bill, on final
passage, which gave Secretary
Perkins this added power Partic-
ularly bitter in this group are a few
Southerners who still resent an I'M
fortunate remark the secretary
made in her first year in office, to
the broad general effect that a big
ger market for shoes could be built
up for Northern factories if so many
people in the South would stop 60
ing barefoot
But for eleven months, or until
the congressional election of 1898,
this wage-hour bill will continue to
have tremendous technical advan-
tage. II has passed the senate.
That passage holds until the pres
ent congress dies. Nothing changes
between sessions. So it is not a
question ever Of beating filibus-
ter. II is merely question of writ
ing bill which 2l8 members of the
house and 40 senators would rather
vote for than against.
The Case of Jimmie"
There has been a lot OF joshing
about President Roosevelt . iiHp
up his elder SON to take his place.
my Little Boy Jimmie %as the
President introduced him back in
1882 from The rear platform of his
campaign train, has steadily been
moving into the public eye ever
since. In that campaign Jimmy was
used as the mouthpiece for
great many things which Papa"
did not want to say at the time. For
example, he predicted the speedi-
ness with which beer would return
if his father should be elected.
Then it was James who en-
tangled his father with James M.
Curley, then mayor of Boston and
one of Jimmie's very good custom
ars in the insurance business. II
looked for several years as though
this alliance Of Curley and young
Roosevelt were going to march
down through the years. 1t ap-
peared as though Curley would step
from the governors chair, when he
got tired of that Office, into the
and that James would be-
come governor Of the Bay state.
This idea Of James Roosevelt's
for governor of Massachu-
'etts still persists. 1t would be a
ogical stepping stone. Friends in