Montana labor news., 1947-02-20

~ w ~
ton elected and controlled senators
nd congressman. and the attorney
eneral's office, which still has the
ncient Texan 'slavocratic' idea that
workers. are chattels without the
lights of human beings or parity citl-
ems in the courts.
There are seven thousand miners.
Mill, smeltermen, pumpmen. electrl-
.ians in Montana. an equal number III
IDAHO. many in Washington state. who
" representatives, have brought
hese suits. Judge Erickson and /.
heir attorneys. are asked so many
questions by telephone and otherwise
lbout the powers of congress to I'M
oair or curtail the already vested
lights of the plaintiffs that l am fore
ed. though reluctantly, to discuss in
he press lawsuits which are pending
which ! appear as counsel.
Until President Roosevelt unpacked
tho Supreme Court, where for 90
years the leaning had been strongly
ito the right, for any n to criticize
the decisions of that august ribunal
was equal to treason in the editorials
the then paid. now owned, daily
papers Of this country.
Now that a plain act of congress
providing for a 40-hour week for all
engaged in interstate commerce or
goods to 20 into such COM
merce has been construed by the Z. S.
Supreme Court so as to prevent the
from '~'chiseling' on the work
men except on peril of payment for
such overtime chiseling. penalties,
costs. attorneys fees, the horror of
the masters finds expressions in stu
bid, though loud. hysterical screams
against the court. against unions who
have ~counseled their members of their
legal rights, against men who have
dared assert their rights in court, and
though lawyers "a defend the vilest
criminals without being themselves
criticised in the press, yet quite I'M
friendly words are written against us
who bring these suits to aid the men
to get into pocket the monies the
courts affirm are due to the overtime
workers.
Poor doting old Frances Perkins
shrieks for the Associated Press THE
Supreme Court is crazy Pappy o.
Daniels, senator from Texas, the
sweetest yodler outside the Tyrol,
croons congress must abolish these
suits. Eastland, Rankin. Wherry an
nounce that congress should destroy
the power Of all United States courts
TO pass on these cases, lie. to abolish
largely all the power of the trial and
appellate courts of the United States.
Texas Tom. the attorney general,
saws the Supreme Court should re-
call its decision Of last June in the
Mount Clements Pottery Workers
case. When before was any lawyer sc
bold Tor stupid as to demand that the
Supreme Court Of the United States
or Of any state for that matter, recall
its mandate six months after its is
'fO
suance and after motion for re-hear
ing presented, considered, denied?
However, the Mount Clements cast
vas not the first expression OF the U
S. Supreme Court against "chiseling'
on the workers. Tom Clark, from Gao
tus Jack Gamers state, where NJ
one can make a milk bottle withou
consent of New York bankers, woult
have to get the Supreme Court to re
call its mandate in the first portable
portal suit March u, 1914.
Tennessee Coal & Iron Co. V. RAJ
mund Local No. 121, 321 U. S. 500.
Some of the dearest of my southern
kinsmen hold Toms views. My grand
father lived 80 years after Lees SUI
render, unconverted to Lincoln's Pro
clamation of Emancipation
The large employers of labor hay
had perfect notice since the Tennes
see Coal & Iron case that the law wa
against their chiseling on the me
and what the consequences should b
in court
The NLRB has secured injunction
against them for chiseling repeated,
One Of these was by Judge r. Levi
! Brown, Walling v. Anaconda c.
Montana) &C Fed. Supp. 912. TIL
!, bureau has notified them in many il
stances. They paid no heed. They ca
ed nothing for law observance as
! test of "Americanism." Until the
r purse is endangered, their press wa
! silent.
l Background Of 40-Hour Law
G But even now the public remains
5 darkness about the origin Of the 4
hour week law. All remember the on
; burst Of the corporation press again'
! Mr.. Roosevelt's brain Trust;
e group of impartial economists aske
I to assemble the figures and find o,
d how many hours work per day on a
average was required to insure
e high standard Of living in the natio
:, After years of patient assembling
e figures and analysis the c~onclusic
was that 80 or less hours OF work p,
t week would get the result safely
y there were fair distribution Of Il
e product to the men who toll.
To meet this theorem Of ~scientis
r (half way only, the congress Unite
e the work week in certain occupation
n to forty hours. This part OF the la
I was for humanitarian purposes. The
I was another well known social &c
9 nomic political purpose. Two cen,u
: les of experience under the capital
tic system had taught that low wage
( i.e., lack Of buying power In the ma
t SEES to buy back what they produc
q leads first to surplus stocks OF me
chants, then surplus products on Il
K farms and in factories. then to unel