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Show THE SEARCHLIGHT The Legislature No tears were shed when the bickering twenty-fifth Legislature came to the end of the trail on Sunday, March 14th—three days late. Its constructive acts were pitifully few. Aside from routine appropriations they were limited to three measures; passage of HB 1. SJR 4, and a bill to increase the pay of school teachers. House Bill No. 1 forbade the Executive from putting legislators on the State payroll. It was a long step forward in the direction of promoting the independence of the Legislature. ‘he Senate Joint Resolution provided for a joint budget committee to scrutinize State expenditures. It is to operate continuously and report to the next Legislature and the people the actual financial condition of the State. Its authority is such as may put an effective brake on irresponsible administration by the Kixecutive. It should be of lasting benefit to the State. Ihe Senate, which tried to carry the ball on reorganizing the reorganization, twiddled its thumbs until the session was half gone. Then it tried to shift the blame for its own failure on the House and the Executive. Tt accused His Exeellency of lobbying against the Senate measures. While there was much truth in its accusations, the Senate was not alert to the situation while time remained to act successfully. The House resolved itself into a division of Clyde Edmonds Milk White chicken business, allied with a few super-tricky Republicans. They were in the saddle from the outset. They invoked the sacred name of AGRICULTURE to cover their nefarious schemes and to spearhead their assault on labor unions. The Edmonds-Backman-Stephenson combine in control of the House was composed of the following: A few educators, the clique who play politics under the name of Farm Bureau, the Deseret News and affiliated predatory corporations, the Industrial Relations Council, Gus P. Backman and the phenson the Chamber of Commerce, Stanley J. Steand the political corruptionists who used alias of BUILD UTAH, and that new star in political skulduggery, Milk White Edmonds. Labor had announced in advance of the session that it would seek no major enactments. It preferred to avoid controversial projects until after the war. And it was just as well, for Clyde Edmonds and his buddies held the whip hand. Mr. Edmonds gave the unions thing his hens laid except the eggs. every- Clyde Sabin of Carbon sponsored a bill to increase compensation payments in industrial accident cases from $16 to $20 a week, but the bill was promptly smothered by the Milk White Edmonds combine, aided by F. S. Mulock, New England thrift handed interests. fame, and kindred of fore- A meritorious bill fathered in the Senate by Senator Bailey proposed to levy a payroll tax of 1% on employees eligible to share in unemployment insurance. The bill was designed to build up a reserve in order that the period of unemployment compensation might be extended from 20 to 26 weeks. The measure was intended to cushion the possible effects of a period of unemployment following the end of the war. Lynn general tended §S. Richards, sponsor in “friend” the of Senate to cripple collective labor of was the measures in- bargaining. The Sen- ator acted as special executioner of the unemployment insurance bill. He is claimed to have asserted that he would not attend committee hearings on the bill because he had no intention of letting it out of the sifting committee. Richards was wanton and unrelenting in to pass legislation injurious to labor. his efforts Organized labor was caught unawares by the Kdmonds - Backman -‘Stephenson - Deseret News alliance. Few preparations were made to defend labor laws already on the books from the depredations of the anti-union crew. Labor believed that all groups were agreed that labor legislation should be left intact and that no unnecessary contests should be waged for the duration. Labor’s political fences were in neglect and disrepair. It trusted its opponents to play fair during the emergency. But it awoke with a bang when too late—that it discovered—almost its enemies had no seruples (Continued on page 7) and |