The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1941-04-23
DITHERY
OTTER
BY LEVERNE HAMILTON

AT about o'clock, pm on April
VIM. ]. Otter, delivered himself OF
radio speech in which he worked
himself into a considerable Other
over national defense, labor troubles
and subversive activities of labor
| leaders.
| Dithery Otter is an excellent ex-
ample of the jittery type of politician
who can easily work himself into a
creamy lather over agitation, real or
fancied, of labor leaders but as easily
! ignores the very real problems of the
public welfare which are squarely be-
fore his nose, If those problems are
caused by the greed of corporate in
terest. For example, he bemoans the
fact that according to Ditter) "over
forty million man-hours of labor were
lost last year because of strikes" and
If one may drew a reasonable infer
ence from his jittery differing, he
would provide concentration camps
for strikers, confusion, for labor UNI
ions and a special brand of purga-
tory for labor leaders.
While Otter works himself into a
creamy lather over the loss of forty
million man-hours a year because OF
strikes he entirely ignores the fact
that since 1888 eighty million man.
hours were lost EVERY DAY by rea-
son of the fact that corporate en-
ployers could not extract profit from
the employment of the ten to fifteen
million able bodied men who have
been fruitlessly seeking employment
during that time. Multiply this eighty
million man-hours by $780, the approx
mate number of work days per year,
and the result by eight, the number
of years that we have had an unem-
ployed army of ten million, and you
get the staggering total of ONE HUN
DRIED SIXTY-SIX BILLION, FOUR
HUNDRED MILLION man-hours of
work, lost BECAUSE THE CAPITAL
IST-PROFIT SYSTEM, under which
American industry operates, denied
these ten million the right to work.
Now HERE are some statistics for
Otter to work himself into lather
over II he were not so extremely
busy just at present in worrying over
the tottering thrones of some Euro
pean monarchs and the probable fate
of the benevolent capitalist economic
system which makes such losses pos
sible, but we haven't heard Otter do
ing very much differing over the. loss
of that one hundred sixty-six Bill
LION man-hours lost because of the
faults of our economic system and |
the fact that employers could not Sc
cure a profit in excess of the wage |
which would have to be paid these
workers.
Now that the shadow of possible
employers and politicians of the Otter
.ype have the excuse of national pre-
)aredness with which to propaganda
he public and they are using it to
such an extent that every strike or
abor dispute even a strike in ladies
,irdle factory, becomes strike
against national defense.
Such propaganda is of course in
ended to prepare the public for an
lttack upon labor organizations and
make possible the enactment of legis-
alton outlawing strikes and muzzling
abor unions while at the same time
,lacing the stigma of subversive ac-
ivity upon effective labor leaders
t q proper degree of war hysteria
an be created by the war mongers
hey hope to enact legislation restrict
ng labor's right to strike and ham,
the operation Of collective
argaining.
Suggestions are made that politi- {
ians of the Dithery type should be /
nuzzled to curb their gatherings, but
his, even il 1t were possible, is not /
he proper solution. We are still lv- 4
ng in the United States of America
nder a constitution which guaran- t
ees to everyone the right to freedom /
I speech, even to the extent of max /
ng an unmitigated ass of himself If s
o so desires, as many of these blath- j
rers often do. The proper method of !,