Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1940-09-14

Du}S lAO4lt u EADQQtGl anu puts III 4
vault, the lead that will be used TO print
these remarks has been remelted and
recaSt many times and may function
in a storage battery before it comes to
its final task Of being the effective in
gredient of the paint for someone S
house, where the labor cost of its ap-
plication is much greater than that of
! its initial production. Gold and silver
need no selling effort, but for most Of
/ these other mineral substances the
profitable marketing and use of them
/ calls for quite as high degree Of skill
as their production.
Is Not Adventure
Therefore modern mineral industry
of the West, though of more romantic
appeal than most other forms of bust
ness, IS yet essentially business rather
than adventure, and to thrive must
have the conditions necessary for bust
ness prosperity. Unfortunately, we are
living in a period when the general
policy toward business seems to be to
subject 1t to increasing regulations and
control that, however defenSible as to
basic motives, practically operates TO
hamper seriously the development. of
business enterprise This trend began
in my youth with the muck raking' of
big business and has steadily continued.
You all know the story of the farmer
who wishing to make it possible for his
two cats to get in and out of his barn
cut a small hole in the door for the
kitten and a big hole for the old cat.
1t is amusing that he could not see that
the hole for the big one would also
serve the little one but there are many
people who apparently cannot see that
measures intended to throttle big bust |
ness will even more effectively suffo- |
cate small business. A big business can |
!, 1nr tn iv,fn For ac
anv one can, the actual meaning of |
the two-or three-hundred numbered |
paragraphs of the regulations issued
under some federal law, its force of ac-
countants to keep its books in the sew
eral different ways made necessary by
the multiplicity of reports it is required
to file, and enough administrative Of
ficers SO that they can spend much OF
their time attending hearings and con-
ferenceS. But in its initial stages a
little business is typically a one-man
business, the time spent on such things
must be taken from the supervision of
and operating details for
which "a hours IN the day Is hardly
and there is a dearth of cash
from which TO pay travelling expenses
and fees for legal advice.
Sweat Shop Regulations
No one will attempt to deny that big
business has sometimes in the past en-
gagged in practices which were contrary j
TO the general good, but the way to
that is to make the correction
IN the relatively few instances in which
It is necessary rather than doing the ;
equivalent of building a wall because !
One person walks across the lawn in
stead of using the path. Take the case
If the law (wage-hour act) you have
5een discussing. Because garment man
Ifacturers who paid fair wages for
work periods of reasonable length {
found it impossible to compete with |
others who paid starvation wages for {
ong hours in sweat shops we now have
general law which says that a miner {
n some remote gulch where there Is
nothing to do except work, eat and
leep cannot put in more than 40 hours
nut of a week of 1913 hours at work
lnleSs he is paid time and half for '
overtime beyond the 40 hours. If a q
miner is not only willing, but anxious q
O work seven shifts a week in order !
0 increase the ratio between his week
V earnings and the cost of his board {
nd lodging it ought to be his privilege
S a free American citizen to do so.
Basic Concepts False
The basic concepts which underlie =
luch of this recent legislation are, in :
~ humble opinion, totally false. There
nothing socially undesirable in we'll =
onducted- big businesses land they are :
sually we'll conducted or they would :
ever have become big) while the eco y
omics which they make possible are 9
!