davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1940-04-17
British Profiteers
Gain From Lessons
OF Last War
BY SCOTT NEARING
Federated Press)

One of the fondest dreams of the
British ruling class during the war of
1914 was expressed in the slogan.
Business as Usual! No event of minor
importance, even though it assumed
the proportions of world war, was
to interfere with the primary task of
the British rulers: piling up profits.
The War of 1914 beat the British
profiteers. So high were the shipping
losses during the submarine blockade,
SO insistent were munition demands
from the front, so desperate was the
credit shortage, and so great was the
danger of starvation in the British
Isles that economic reserves were mo-
bilized for victory Profiteering-fo
once-took second place. The result
was heavy loss of British markets
in Latin America, Asia, in the Brit
ish dominions and colonies, and even
in neighboring countries like Spain.
Britain's imperial rivals were quick
to take advantage of the empires pre-
occupation whit the war. The Japa-
nese and American business classes,
relatively free from war demands, oc-
cupied the lost markets in China, In
dia, Latin America and Australia.
After the armistice was signed in
1918 it took the British a full decade
to recover the trade they had lost in
CONTINUED on Page TWO)
The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1940-04-17
SALES JUMP 554%
STREAmLINED
COOP STORE

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-(FP)--Stream
lined and moved to main street, the
first complete Coop self-service food
store in the metropolitan area of Bos.
ton increased it's sales 554q6 in three
months.
Six months ago when sales in their
small cooperative store on side
street averaged $340 a week, the
board of directors of the Central Con
sumers Cooperative of Cambridge, of
Which Mrs. Sprague Coolidge is pres
ident, decided to organize an ade-
lquate store. After consultation with
the Consumer Distribution Corp,
founded by the late Edward A. Filene,
the Cambridge membership agreed to
get 140 new members and raise $4,000
NEW capital, to be matched by loan
form G. D. G..
On December 20, 1889, the new store
Opened at It'll Massachusetts Ave.
First weeks sales were $1,000, and
business has increased steadily ever
since For the week ending March
%, receipts were $2,396.
The store is % feet by So feet. No
window displays are used. The build
ing is brilliantly lighted so that the
store, attractively painted in cream
with a dark green trim, is itself dis
play.
The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1940-04-17

| NGTON.-(FR)-A After lis
tening to the testimony given by
Charles H. Mylander of the American
Bankers Association in opposition to
the Farm Debt Adjustment bill, Chair.
man Marvin S. Jones of the house
committee on agriculture declared
| that this was the first time he had
found the Farm Bureau the Grange,
and the American Bankers Associa-
ton lying in the same bed"
Rep. Walter M. Pierce, former gov
ernor of Oregon, had earlier said that
the Grange and Bureau leaders fight
ing this bill were innocent tools of
the banking and insurance interests"
and stated that the insurance and
banking interests were resisting the
of farm loan policy in
order to protect "a fertile field" for
investment of their funds.
Rep. Pierce told R. E. Short of the
Farm Bureau, "You and Brother Ia
Der are just kicking up tempest in
a teapot over this innocent bill. I
have sat as a president of one of
these farm loan associations, and |
know there is no semblance of CO.
Operative about this system. Don't
let them fool you about that"
The Wheeler-Jones Debt Adjust
ment Bill, over which this fight is
being waged, is bill that would lib
eralize the farm credit structure by
scaling down over-capitalized farm
debt in line with farm productive
value, by fixing maximum interest
rate Of go, by lifting the requirement
of a 5Go stock investment as a pre-
requisite to a farm loan, and by en-
aiding foreclosed farmers whose farms
have been lost during the depression
years to repurchase their farms from
the land banks.
The fight on this bill has centered
upon two principal contentious of the
Opposition: % that the bill would re-
move the cooperative" feaures of
the Lank Bank System, and ~ that
the bill would "centralize" farm credit
policy in Washington.
The cooperative" feature of the
The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1940-04-17
Lewis THREATENS
COALITION OF
LIBERALS

Recommendations the
democratic party dominates a candi-
date and adopts platform acceptable
to labor, he will urge national con-
vention of negro, labor, old age, youth
and farm groups to formulate a lib
eral platform, CLIO Pres. John l..
Lewis warned in a speech at Monon-
gah, w. Va.
Speaking at Miners day celebra-
ton, Lewis again blasted the new
deal for it's failure to tackle the prob
lem of unemployment and declared
that America is not going to enter
the European war"
Politicians here were cautious in
their comment The president, asked
about the Lewis speech at his press
conference, said he did not see why
he should comment on it any more
than he has commented on similar
stories appearing in the newspapers
these days.
Lewis recalled his remarks at the
Columbus convention of the United
Mine Workers (CIO) and embellished
them. He also recalled his invitation
to the American Youth Congress to
form working alliance with Labor's
Non-Partisan League and said such an
arrangement had been made
In the near future, Lewis added, he
is going to speak to the National Ne
gro Congress here and to the con-
,ronfio,, 90 tJ,o rouvnc1,d oJd - no -,
sion plan group in st. Louis.
He will tell the National Negro Con-
gress that sit is shame and an out
rage that the eight million negroes
are prevented from voting in eight
southern states because of the poll
taxes and that millions of whites are
likewise denied representation" Lewis
said. They will be invited to join
Labor's Non-Partisan League.
The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1940-04-17
TRE,SPASSINC AT THE CAPITAL
BY A. l. HARRIS

presented program for Increased
mass purchasing power upon which
such a demand would necessarily have
to be based. And Big Business is not
going to invest it's money where divi
dends will not accrue just to give hun
CRY workers jobs. 1t isn't built that
way.
Furthermore and this is most
important!-the trend of American
industry, studies disclose, is to pro-
duce requisite goods at controlled
prices and reduced payrolls rather
than great quantities Of goods at
competitive prices and enlarged
payrolls. The big boys may talk
about competition being the life of
trade, but they neither believe in it
nor practice it.
The above was very convincingly
shown in the hearing before the Tenn
porary National Economic monopoly
Committee. The committee is now
taking testimony of the effect of tech
biological advances on employment.
~ 6lOuP VI uOuSC AlDCi dlo dloO ID iiloh
ing studies on the same subject.
The bureau of labor statistics has
some very Illuminating albeit alarm
ing, figures on the extent Of displace-
ment of workers by machinery They
show that during the past 10 years
at least one worker out of every six
in industry has been permanently dis
placed by the machine. Railroad
labor is one of the hardest hit, 81
men now doing the work that 100
men did in 1929, while in the coal
industry So men now do the work that
100 men did 10 years ago. OF rela-
lively recent occurrence was displace-
ment of $4,000 workers in the steel
industry by strip mills, which soon
will displace another $4,000 workers.
BY every legitimate analysis Of in
dustrial trends in American industry,
we must assume that Big Business
CONTINUED on Page Two)
The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1940-04-17
cooperative and
Observation-Disclosures
To Meet in South

NEW YORK. - OPP - Educators
churchmen, labor, civic and co-opera-
tive leaders will meet at Atlanta May
S-11 and at Nashville May IT'S for
south-wide conferences on adult edu.
cation and co-operatives, the Cooper
alive League Of the u. S. A. an
nounced.
The Second Annual Southeastern
Conference on Adult Education & Co.
operation will convene at the Pied
mont Hotel, Atlanta, to discuss pro-
gram of cooperative and adult edu-
cation devoted to the ideal of "edu-
eating people to help themselves"
Representatives from 10 southern
states are expected to attend.
Among the speakers will be Director
Will Alexander of the Farm Security
Administration, James Creese of the
American Assn for Adult Education,
and Assistant Secretary Wallace ].
Campbell of the Cooperative League.
A regional conference on consumer
education will be held on the campus
of George Peabody College for Teach
ers, Nashville. While most of the
conference will be devoted to educa-
tional problems, persons in affiliated
fields are invited to attend. A special
dinner meeting will be addressed by
Donald Montgomery, consumers coun-
sci of the AAA.
The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1940-04-17
ADEQUATE RELIEF
DRIVE GROWS
IN CONGRESS

NGTON.-(FPX-I Increased
appropriations for relief was the OBJ
ject of drive begun here as the
house appropriations subcommittee
began hearings on the 1941 relief esti-
mates.
Rep. Jerry Voorhis touched off the
congressional end of the movement
with bill to appropriate an addi-
tional $86,000,000 to maintain WPA
rolls at 100000 for the remainder of
this fiscal year, until June 80.
F. G. Harrington, WPA commission
er, issued a statement saying WPA
rolls would be cut by 1852 in April.
Beyond that, Harrington said, the
WPA has no plans. Previously Har-
rington said the relief appropriation
of last year would force the WPA to
bring the rolls down to about 1,300,-
900 by the end of June.
The CLIO, in statement, declared
that only by increasing the WPA ap-
preparation for the next three months
and directing the WPA to spend its
available funds in such a way as to
prevent the layoffs could congress pre-
vent drastic reductions.
Working against the tide was Rep.
Clifton A. Woodrum 3D., Va.), chief
foe of adequate WPA appropriations.
.Woodrum, who heads the house ap-
preparations subcommittee as well as
a special committee to investigate the
WPA, let it be known that the "in-
vestigation" would be resumed unless
his figure was adopted.
Indicative of the pressure being ex-
erted on behalf of increased WPA ap-
preparations, Rep. John ]. Cochran
d., Mo- introduced a bill to appro-
pirate an additional s38,000,000 which,
he said, would keep 100000 people
on WPA until the end of the year.
Rep. O'Connor 3D., Mont.) told the
house that WPA quotas in his state
had been reduced 12,025 and that such
reduction would work untold hard
ships" Rep. Rabaut 3D., Mich.) filed
a petition in the house to discharge
the appropriations committee from
further consideration of his bill to ex-
empt from the 18-month layoff pro-
vision workers with families and over
As years old.
President Roosevelt declined to
comment on his plans, saying merely
that he would try to keep the appro
priations subcommittee informed with
the latest figures.
The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1940-04-17
POSTAL CLERKS
and CARRIERS
TO MEET In BUTTE

More than 300 Montana postal en-
ployes are expected to gather in Butte
June and when the Montana units
of the National Federation of Post
Office Clerks and the National Asso-
citation of Letter Carriers hold a joint
two-day convention, it is announced
by Butte members in charge of ar
rangements for the conclave.
The convention sessions will be aug
mented by state meetings of the aux
which also will be held during June
s and 8.
Arrangements for the meeting al
ready have been started by a joint
arrangement committee In Butte rep
resenting both organization. Those in
charge of the plans include John
Lynch, Thomas Foley, John Jackson,
Ray Arrigoni and John Gilmore, rep
resenting the post office clerks, and
AL Burke, James Duncan, Robert
Sheridan and Tim Barrett, represent
ing the mail carriers.
Registration will open about 10
o'clock Saturday morning, June s, ac-
cording to tentative arrangements an
nounced yesterday by the committee,
with delegates and auxiliary members
registering at the Butte federal build
ing. The first convention sessions
will be held in the federal building
from II to 1890 o'clock that morn
ing.
Following luncheon for the dele
gates, joint session will be held on
Saturday afternoon when a speaker
representing the national post office
department at Washington, D. c., will
be asked to deliver the principal con-
vention address.
A banquet will be held for the dele
gates at Meaderville on Saturday eve
ming, and the final convention ses-
sions, at which officers will be elected
and other business accomplished, will
be held on Sunday.
Ben Sparks of Rushville, Indiana,
of the board of trustees of
the Mutual Benefit Association has
been assigned to represent that branch
Of the N. A. L. c. at the coming con-
vention.
The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1940-04-17
Capitol Corridor
Chatter

AS far as news is concerned, the
state house wasn't any too hot today.
Honestly, this politics stuff gets me
body cussing out this family journal,
or else trying to figure out who is
going to get elected to what. But to-
day I did get on to something that
promises to brighten the future little
bit.
Before I tell you about this, I've
got to let you in on a secret that a
guy told me; anyhow, I guess it's a
secret. This bird claimed to know
just how this budget balancing is
done, with or without the help of a
lot of bottles. This gimmick is a
shark on figures and he tells me that
Jail that has to be done to balance
the budget is to hold up lot of bills
at the end of some month and not
pay them. Of course that's what
lot of us do all the time. We always
have dough in our pockets on the
first of the month before the wolves
get hold of us. | didn't think that
/ was ever balancing my budget when
l was doing it. | always figured it
as an instinct for self preservation.
Maybe that's why the governor does
it too, if he does. And when a guy
has to do it with the size figures that
they have on the state books, no
wonder that he has to qualify for the
three bottle degree. Maybe that bozo
didn't know what he was talking
about anyhow. I'll bet If I had three
bottles, I could balance any kind of
a budget. Just bring it around, that's
ALL
What / was really going to tell you
was about the chance for real bust
ness deal which'll make me solid with
the AABF (Amalgamated Association
of Bar Flies). I'll bet if I put this
over, I'll give the governor a race for
the presidency of the AABF, and If
he beats me, III be able to help him
balance the budget like nobody's bus
mess, anyhow.
There's a guy down at the liquor
warehouse that sells accident insur-
ance on the side, they tell me, and
every guy that buys a policy from
him gets quart of blue ruin for
premium along with the policy. OF
course, / guess he sells to some folks
that are not balancing budgets, so he
must have quite stock on hand
Just as soon as / heard this, my
first thought, as always, were of the
AABF and the thirsty souls, my fellow
Continued on Page Four)
The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1940-04-17
SOUTHERN EMPLOYERS
LOSE WAGE-HOUR FIGHT

NEW ORLEANS.-(F P)- Southern
industry lost an important round of
its fight against the wage-hour law
when on April the federal circuit
court of appeals upheld the constitu-
tionality of the 80 " C hourly minimum
in the textile industry.
A group of southern textile mills
aided by the Southern Cotton Manu-
facturers Organization had sought an
injunction against the minimum estab-
|lished by the wage-hour administration
after lengthy hearings in Atlanta last
summer.
The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1940-04-17
LABOR SHOWS
ITS REnGTH
I'm PRIMARIES
In Poll Tax States the Com
mon People Are Entirely
Disregarded by the Politi-
clans; Reactionaries Only
Need Small Percent of Votes
To Be Elected.
By HENRY ION

WASHINGTON (FP) - Returns
of the Illinois and Nebraska prima.
ries, held April 8, have bolstered enor.
mously the strength of labor forces
| in the capitol.
Politicians with an ear to the
ground for the coming fall elections
heard the rumblings which resulted
in the defeat of Senator Burke 3D.,
Neb) and the denomination of Rep.
Frank Fries 3D., ILL.
Burke, a bitter foe of labor and the
new deal, was showed under by his
opponent while Fires, staunch friend
of labor, got better than three to
one vote in the primary.
1t doesn't take much more than that
to convince the congressman that a
vote against the national labor rela-
lions act is akin to political suicide.
1t may not be the general rule but
not one of them wants to be the ex-
ception.
Burke came to the senate as a new
dealer. He proclaimed himself fit
partner for Sen. George w. Norris
Qnd., Neb) and a friend of labor.
1t was not long after he came that
he began to turn. Last year he spon-
sored the Natl. Assn. of Manufacture
ers amendment to the act and ranked
out thousands of pieces of literature
against the act, the lists and address,
ing supplied by the various chambers
of commerce.
During the campaign this year
Burke went back to his old song and
dance, claiming he had worked close
ly with labor leaders in trying to
amend the labor act. The people of
Nebraska thought otherwise, however,
and Burke is now political dead
duck
In the case of Rep. Fries, the re-
verse is true. Fries comes from Car
ILL.,, where he was a coal miner
and a business man. He was first
elected in 1886 and reelected in 1888.
A new dealer but not a particular
ly outstanding one, Fries was some
what obscured by the other liberals
in the house who came along with
the Roosevelt landslide, Maury Nav
erick of Texas, JerrE VoorhSs of Cali
fornia, Vito Marcantdmio of New York.
This year, because of his staunch
support of labor in the wage-hour fight
and the labor board fight, labor went
to bat for him in the primaries. The
results were entirely satisfactory.
If Fries sticks to labor he can go
If he deserts he can join
Burke Fries knows it and the other
members of congress are beginning to
realize it.
But while all members of congress
pretty well what happened
here are those from the south who
feel it doesn't make much difference
IN their cases. They are the people
rom the poll tax states.
Rep. Cox 3D., Ga.), for example, has
been one Of the loudest-mouthed, big
oted foes of labor seen around these
parts for long time. He was elected
by 40 of the adult population of his
district, getting, in 1888, 5,137 votes
,ut of the 1859 adults according
CONTINUED on Page Four
The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1940-04-17
MRS. ROOSEVELT
AIDS Fight FOR
FIRED TEACHERS

HAYWOOD, nl.-(FP)-Mrs. Flea
to the Proviso Defense Fund, estab-
lished by the West Suburban Teach
ers Union to support two teachers
fired last year for union activity.
The haywood teachers, both mem
bers of the American Federation of
Teachers (AFL), are Miss Mary
Wheeler and Ralph Marshall Mrs.
Roosevelt is a member of the Ameri-
can Newspaper Guild (CIO).
Thanks to the vigorous fight made
by the teachers union, the haywood
board of education rehired Miss
Wheeler and agreed to reinstate Mar
shall in September.
The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1940-04-17

1interested in and believe in Mr.. Ka-
than's sincerity of purpose in his pro-
mise, If elected, to abolish political
corruption in Montana"
An interesting occurrence is reported
by the club. Four men, representing
strong organizations in one of the
western counties of the state drove
over two hundred miles one day to
satisfy themselves that another prog
ressive, whose name had been men,
toned without his AUTHORIZATION as a
possible candidate for governor, would
not enter the field against Kathan.
They felt that If these two men should
both be in the field there would re-
suit nothing but confusion. Inasmuch,
as they were able to meet the man
who had been mentioned as a posi-
Kathan and received his assurance
that he was working for Kathan, the
men pronounced the 200 mile trip well
worth while for their own peace of
mind. Needless to add that these mill
tant men are definitely enlisted with
all of their personal influence under
the Kathan banner
Mr. Kathan reports to the Voice
that he is meeting with most friend
ly and encouraging reception in every
community In which he visits.
Through his service in the state 1egis-
lature, he has personal acquaintances
in all parts of the state and he finds
himself welcomed wherever he goes.
In the farming communities where
they know of his work in the grain
marketing co-operatives, he needs no
introduction. AS he tersely puts it:
1.-THE little. fellows out behind the sage
brushes; they know me"
The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1940-04-17

Edsel Ford told the monopoly com
mittee that the machine aids the
worker-sshe doesn't have to work SO
hard now" He could have SAID,
"Many workers haven't any work to
do now"
What Big Business Has
In store for America
Studies here disprove completely the
claim of republicans that If we return
tha COP to power next November
release Of "pent-up business energy
will result in investment OF private
canital in industrial plant expansion
on so large a scale as to absorb un-
employment and bring about prosper
itv These studies indicate that 1t
might be well for the American people
to nonder a few facts rather serious
" before turning this land over 10
the economic royalists to do with as
they see fit.
During the past year, American IN
dustry operated at considerably less
than 60 percent of plant capacity
Despite this, according to the Natlon-
al Industrial Conference Board the
index of industrial production was
Greater than it was in 1929, considered
the peak year of American prosperity,
although in 1929 there were only y
600 900 persons out of work (consld-
cred normaD, whereas the past year
the number was estimated in the VI
cinity Of 100000. This is ascrloeo
to increased labor-saving devices and
an increase in the number OF the ma
TONS employables.
Since Industrial production would
have to be increased tremendously
before industrialists would even feel
need for expanding present plant ca
pacity, where is the demand for such
Increased production going to come
from? Neither Big Business nor It's
political mouthpiece, the republican
party, it is pointed out, has as yet