Montana labor news., 1939-05-18

of the startling facts are as follows:
Each year more than $4,000
women in the United States die from
causes connected with childbirth,
leaving at least $4,000 motherless
children.
More than $4,000 infants are
still born and more than $4,000 in
fants die during the first month Of
life.
Gan uncounted number are in
jured in health, and children r
handicapped in growth and develop
ment as a result of conditions asso-
ciated with maternity"
Mother Bloor then went on to
state that "The report gives the
cause of the terrible death rate of
mothers and children in the United
States, namely, lack of scientific
care lack of nourishment-which
all boils down to lack If social Sc
curity."
When we compare the status of
women in our country under a CAPT
talist system, who are now suffering
from the effects of another economic
crisis, with its poverty, unemplOy-
ment, insecurity and sickness for
millions of men, women and chill
dren-tO the status of women in the
Soviet Union under a Socialist sys-
tenn, we cannot help but become
aware of the Overwhelming superior
ity of Socialism for providing for
human needs and equality.
In the Soviet Union the funda-
mental law of that land, its consti-
tuition, declares the following:
Women in the Union of Socialist
Soviet Republics are accorded equal
rights with men in all spheres Of
economic, state, cultural, social and
political life.
1.-THE possibility of exercising these
rights of women is ensured by af-
fording women equally with men
the right to work, payment for work,
rest, and leisure, social insurance
and education, and by state protec-
ton of the interests of mother and
child, maternity leave with pay, and
the provision of a wide network Of
maternity homes, nurseries and
kindergartens."
Here we car see that written into
the fundamental law of a great So
cialist country, covering one-sixth of
the earth's surface are the guaran-
tees of freedom, equality and Sc
curity that mothers have yearned
for for ages.
Compare that to the conditions
that confront mothers in W
country and you will realize how
far removed we are from providing
the mothers of our nation with their
real needs.
1t is some of these that the Ma
tional Health Act is intended to pro-
vide. And, when the congressman
from our district opposes such ele-
mentary legislation, which is so
necessary here in Butte, is it any
wonder that a person becomes i'm
patient with such backward
hypocrisy?
Spanish Mothers Fight Fascism
A Mothers Day talk would be
amiss if a few words were not said
of the heroism of the mothers of
Spain. The women of Spain fought
for two and a half years together
with their loved ones to drive the
German and Italian fascists out of
their country. In the words of the
leader of the Spanish women-La
Pasionaria-a mother of six children
land here l quote AGAIN., Mothers
do not weep for the thousands of
fallen sons. They are proud of the
fact that they bore heroes. They
themselves r prepared to sacrifice
their lives for freedoms cause,
guided by only one aspiration: FAS-
CISM MUST BE DEFEATED"
Today, with the help of the Ger
man Nazis, the Italian troops, the
English and French Tories and even
American reactionaries, the Spanish
fascists control the Spanish govern
ment and are slaughtering thousands
of anti-fascist men and women, and
throwing innumerable others into
concentration camps. Thousands of
refugees of the modern Spanish in
QUESTION have fled Spain, and are
seeking homes in the democratic
countries. Thousands are stranded
in France. Many socially-minded
people in the United States are
adopting some of she refugee Span
ish children. Mrs. Franklin Roose-
welt recently adopted n such child.
Harold L. Ickes, Secretary of In
terror, is the honorary chairman of
the Spanish Refugee Relief cam
paign.
The Spanish people have not given
up the fight against fascism in spite
of the terror of Franco and the court