Montana labor news., 1939-01-26
ACCOMPLISHMENTS or
Sen. JAMES MURRAY

Sen. anne Il. Murray mas earned
much praise for his work in the 18th
Congress. Although serving his
first full term in the Senate, Muir
ray is recognized by his colleagues
as a leader of the iberal-progressive
group which has borne the brunt OF
the fight to enact into law President
Roosevelt's program for economic
rehabilitation and social reform.
Because of his familiarity with the
problems of Labor, Senator Murray
has been placed on two important
labor committees-the Committee on
Education and Labor and the Special
Senate Committee on Unemploy-
ment and Relief. The work of the
latter committee was to conduct an
investigation into the underlying
causes of unemployment and indus
trial stagnation and to receive sug-
g%estions from business and labor
leaders to bring about a closer CO.
operation between industry and
government. Murray's brilliant
examination Of witnesses appearing
before the committee led to the
establishing of a fact which received
widespread press comment, i. e., that
no one was able to offer a plan
adequate to meet the Unemployment
situation as a whole and that the
witnesses showed a striking lack of
constructive ideas as to how the
problem Of unemployment should be
met.
AS ranking member of the Com
mittee on Education and Labor,
Senator Murray has performed
signal service to laboring men and
women and has sponsored and sup
ported such important legislative
measures as the Fair Labor Stand
ards Act, the Wage-Hour Act, the
Walsh-Healey Bill and the appro-
priation for the Senate Civil Liber-
ties (LaFollette) Committee. He
was the author Of the resolution
known as the Tom Mooney bill
which memorialized the Governor of
California to grant Mooney a full
and complete pardon. He was one
of the leaders in amending the
Wage-Hour Law to include adequate
provisions for the adjustment of
child labor and won much praise
for his efforts from the National
Child Labor Bureau and other state
and national child welfare societies
pledged to rid the American
economy Of the blight of child
labor.
Senator Murray has gone on
record for the enactment of legisla-
ton designed to relieve widespread
conditions of unemployment and
economic distress. He has been
particularly active in his support of
the Works Progress and the Public
Works programs. During the de-
bate on the passage of the 1888 Re-
lief and Public Works Act, Murray
was n of the leaders of the admin
istration forces in the Senate which,
after a prolonged and bitter fight,
finally defeated the hamstringing
attacks of the r~eactionaries who
sought to limit the scope of the bill
by hampering its administration. His
speech in behalf of the bill (Cong.
Rec. May %, 1889 was an effective
answer to those opposed to its
passage and an important factor in
securing final approval by the
Senate.
Senator Murray's untiring work
for the conservation of Montana's
water resources is as national in
point of view as it is local since it
is based on the firm belief that
prosperity cannot be achieved
in this country unless agriculture is
restored to a high level of produc-
ton with a sound margin of profit
to farmers and livestock men. One
of the first and most necessary steps
in such a program of rehabilitation
is the storing of run-off waters in
the Western states to irrigate
drought-stricken areas and to pre-
vent flood disasters. One of Sena-
tor Murray's outstanding contribu-
tons to this program of water con-
was his securing approval
of the Buffalo Rapids project near
Glendive, Montana. When all other