Montana labor news., 1938-09-29
OPEN FORUM


lnltlatlVe measure mo. ii are SOIHe
jokers which the voters and the
workers of Butte should be familiar
with when they vote On the measure
November 9th.
The proposed bond issue of $3,000,-
900 will enable the state to obtain
$500, 900 in federal money for high
way construction. Money to pay
off the $4,000, 900 bond issue will be
obtained from the scent gasoline
tax.
The joker in this proposition is
that of the &c. 300, 900 so obtained
only $248,0 900 will be spent in High
way District No. 8, representing Sill
yer Bow, Deer Lodge, Beaverhead
and Madison counties. $248,0 900 rep
resents the State Highway Commits
sion's allotment of 1865 per cent of
federal and state money for work
in this district.
The commissions argument for
this midget allotment of money is
that our highways are completed.
Yet in the four counties of District
No. 8 there is not one highway which
can be compared with the Missoula-
Drummond highway for either
straightness or width. The Butte
Anaconda highway has the heaviest
travel of any highway in the state
and should have a four lane high
way to handle the traffic. In place
of a four lane highway they give us
a as mile speed limit and tell us to
drive carefully.
Another thing: practically all the
roads in this section were construct
ed without the help of the State
Highway Commission because the
commission had no money to work
with in the early days. The Ana
conda-Butte highway was built as
a joint project by Silver Bow and
Deer Lodge counties with federal
aid. The Butte-Elk Park road, the
Nine Mile road, the Butte-Melrose
road were built with county and
federal funds and the State High
way Commission paid nc part of the
expense.
Now we are to receive no new
or improved roads because we went
ahead and built roads locally while
the rest of the state waited for the
State Highway Commission to raise
funds.
Another thing: This highway dis
trict contributes annually close to
100000 to the state treasury through
the Scent gasoline tax. AS the 49,
100000 debenture issue will be re-
tired from this gas tax revenue our
annual contribution of 100000 will
return us for road building $109,500
which is the 1865 per cent of the
$3,000,000 allotted to this district by
the State Highway Commission.
This may be good business for
Prairie Center but it is not good
business for the working people of
Butte, Anaconda, Dillon and the
surrounding farming sections.
We need roads badly in this terri
tory as a trip to Wisdom or Virginia
City will show any fair-minded per-
son. We certainly need the employ
ment that road building gives to
organized labor. We need the out
side money that good highways
bring into the state. But at the
present time it seems that the only
way we can get those things is to
defeat Initiative Measure No. Al.
Other reasons why the state high
way debenture issue should be de-
feated are that recently the law has
been changed allowing contractors
to bring in semi-skilled and skilled
labor from other states. At the
present time there are many men
not residents in this state working
for contractors on the state highways
in Montana. Nearly every state in
the west protects the residents OF
that state, and they are given pref
erence on all highway, county and
city work.
We had the experience last winter
of one of our men going to Boulder
Dam and who could have got a job
there, but was not allowed to take
that job because he was not a resi-
dent of Boulder City for IL months.
The way the law is at the present
time, the only men that they have
to call is unskilled labor, and the
number of unskilled labor working
for contractors now is a very small
proportion of the men employed on
any contract. So | believe this
measure should be defeated until
Silver Bow county gets its proper
ton of the money and that the work
ers in the state of Montana should
have preference on all highway
work.
If this measure is defeated, it can
be taken up in the next Legislature
and a law passed to protect Montana
workers in this state.
Signed: P. j. Connors, Bushes:
Agent, Transfers.