Montana labor news., 1939-05-04
Of Economic
Problems Essential 10
Happiness Of People
Text of Radio Address Given by
Charles Davis, President of Silver
Bow Trades and Labor Council
on May Day.

on May Day.
May Day is labor's traditional
festival and is one of the few truly
international holidays now in exist
ence. A notable factor in the OBJ
servance is a wide range of political
affiliations among the participants
indicating a fundamental solidarity
in the ranks of labor, in spite of
differences that frequently show on
the surface.
From time immemorial the work.
er has been regarded by many
interests as a commodity. Even
now, economists of the old order
continue to accept the formula. That
is not our psychology. We have
advanced far indeed from the theses
that labor is a commodity, and we
have no less a person than President
Roosevelt sponsoring the theory
which places Labor and Labor's
rights where it rightfully belongs.
We know that all our institutions
in social life came into existence
because of economic forces; that the
resources of nature were given to
all mankind and that every laboring
man wherever he may be is en-
titled to a living from the bounty
of nature which God gave to him
a decent living and a suitable family
wage.
The present ocial-economic status
of the United States is not of imme-
diate development. It is the result
of centuries of evolutionary growth.
Our experience p~redicated upon
centuries of world experience, some
of which was wrought in far and
alien lands. We are inheritors, for
good or i'll, of the traditions of the
past. Thus it is certain that social
and economic reforms will in the
end reconstruct our political ma
chinery. That machinery can and
will be better adopted to working
out the happiness of our people.
If our generation is to be saved
from far worse conditions than now
prevail, we must go s%trenuously
about the job of rehabilitating man
kind and Of developing an intelli-
gent program for the forward march
of our people. A solution to the
problems which confront us is not
impossible when one considers the
intellectual forces which have been
unleashed in the new world of
thought. There are many obstacles
to be overcome and then we must
proceed constructively to build a
ocial-economic structure fitted to
the times and the conditions of our
country.
The origin of May Day is indis-
bound up with the struggle
for the shorter work day. One of
the strongest arguments in favor of
reduction of work hours is that the
work-period continuously has been
reduced for more than a century. In
the earlier days of economic scarcity
mems hours were from sunrise to
but they were only the hours
when he worked out of doors; after
darkness had fallen men still had
to do, and by the light of the
hearth, there were handiworks such
as harness or shoemaking and re-
pairing, rail splitting and cabinet
work. The hours of toll might be
more than Is per day.
After 1900 when the merchants
we're becoming wholesalers and
master craftsmen so bitterly
10 compete with each other that the
landicrafts approached sweatshop
conditions the wage earners rebelled
At the low pay and long hours.
The managers of cotton and wool
factories and iron FORCES where 1914
hours of work was required in sum-
ner and IL in winter found that
heir employees resented the length
If the day.
By the 1840's the movement for
he 10 hour day was in full swing.
President Van Buren, decreed the 10
hour day for all employed at gov
ernment work. The organization of
what is considered as the first trade
of the world, the Mechanics
Union of Philadelphia preceding by
.wo years the one formed by work
RS in England, can be definitely
lscribed to a strike of building trade
workers in Philadelphia in 1927 for
he 10 hour day.
More than by legislation the
opinion and union aggression
Continued on Page 81