Montana labor news., 1950-11-02
By JAMES A. SUFFRlDGE
Secretary-Treasurer Retail Clerks
International Association-AFL

This IS the overriding question
What does the forthcoming election
mean 10 you a. a trade -unionlst
Perhaps the answer lies IN these
questions DO you want a powerful
rcactionary money bloc 10 control
Congress. and ii you do are YOU
prepared to lace another man-made
depression, But before you answer
let Us review some facts that may
be helpful in coming to a mature
decision
To completely understand tn,
workers stake in the November
election, let us go back to the de
pres sion ars-starting with th'
Black Tuesday on Wall Street Oct
-. 1920. when an o,er-nilatcd. pa
prr profit economy collapsed-an'
hrne ourselves up 10 date
For something ike a decade
p,ipr to 1929. Congress VAS control
! led. our economy was dictated anC
national thinking va, shaped by th'
Wall Street group" When the buh
bic burst in 1920, this clique was Sc
strong and our national attitude wa'
50 warped by i, that even iierhcr
Hoover could not WOO Congress II
10 cnacting the most elemental o
social legislation 10 alleviate III
pcplcS suffering Thus. when thing
went to pot. wages and Jobs melted
In the iour years between "
and 1888 wages were slashcd twenty
twn per cent. This oi course. re
| durcd buying power and ntcn>iiie'
the depression even more. beeaus
labor vas not sufficiently organize
| ,u resist, employers and buslnes
men decided to meet the challenge o
declining buylng not by cutting prl
| ccs but by cutting wages not D
cutting dividends, but by cuttin
pgurolls. Even as joblessncss scare
toward IS million in the early 50
most Americans still hesitated t
"A, ouiloud that business ought I
do something about it 10 hay
advanced a view that business wa
largely responsible ior the dehacl
would have been hcresy, and III
mere mention that govcrnmen
should take a hand IN things wa
H. hcioul the altar ot rugged in
diyidualsm' which, By this tint
rcactionary propagandis,s had sue
cccdcd in raising to the level OF
national fetish. Anything less tha
independent action was scorne'
Collective action was an admissio
oi inicriority. And the average An
erican was insul,ed at the iaintci
suggestion that he should join
labor union TO improve his earnu
power.
Those u us who lived through Il
DAYS OF the depression knnw tn
hunger Is 10 rcspector OF persons !
matter how Or what their politic
idcology may be- An empty belly
lust as annuyingly empty @ dl
possessed landowner as II is to
unemployed store checker \ hon
without heat is just as miserable
town as IN the country
We remember too ,hJ, the pityil
nail, oi hungry children drove 4
most law abiding parents 70 Grimm
lengths t. satisfy their babies kna'
ing hunger Soup kitchens and brc'
lines are no happy thought, cith'
but they we're with Us III the SOS.
Those who are too young too r
member these hardships must be T
minded that America has not alwa
been the milk and honey that it
4 toda, that millions went hung
cold and jobles, for months on ei
in the carly sos and that power
: and priyation reduces man to amin
= instincts in his effort to survive.
= In those days there were platitud
I aplcnty Prosperity IS Just arou
E the corner" was iayurite. Yet m
continued 10 shore UP the holes
+ their shoe solcs with cardboard
= they might have 4 hall hour OF I
+ fcct while plodding through sn
and rain III vain search ior a Jol
hs arly kind oi a job * chicken in I
y cry pot and, two cars in ey'
:" garage we're campaign vaporin
: They became national Jokes.
People cannot eat promises
u live by platitudcs Ry late 1888 tn
= was no doubt that something had
y be done ii conditions closely a
'u to revolution were TO be avoid
" But mind you, by this time. tn
was new regime in the WI
~ House and Congress. The purv
''' ors Of rugged indiydualism
q been turned out by the popular '
- Quickly the Federal governn
nu invented GCUR, followed by G
ny which evolved into WPA II
We made work" programs at least
+ the starving Then the disciples
!" laisses iaire were laid low by
D. Blue Eagle OF the MIRA They y
o. buried by the Wagner Act W