The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, January 28, 1918, Page 4

¥ 14 B il 1 L et The Remarkable Story of a Whole State Dominated by A Billion Dollar Hill in Montana Politics a Little Mining District ‘in Butte—Sixth in the Historical Series - This is a part of the famous mining district of Butte. the famous political scandals that astonished the whole countr story that people eVerywhere should read. BY E. B. FUSSELL - ACK of the city of Butte, Montana, thexje is a hill, only a few miles long, rounded, stuck full of derricks like a pin cushion is stuck full of pins. It is only a small part of the state compared with the millions of acres of farms north, south, east and west, but for 30 years thi_s_ hill has controlled the politics of Montana. In the early days of Montana, a half century ago, miners found silver around the edges of the hill. Tt seemed a great treasure, but the silver soon “pinched out.” Then in place of the white metal the miners found millions upon millions of tons of red metal—copper. For 30 years now the copper has been worked by great corporations controlled by eastern capitalists. The coffers of the Rocke- fellers, the Morgans and many other fa.mjlies are filled with the wealth of Montana. And while they have been exploiting the state they have considered it necessary to control the political machinery of the state. Never once has it wholly slipped out of their grasp. g E In 1889, when a constitution was drawn up for Montana so that it could become a state, there were not many farmers within its borders. There were a few cattle and sheep operators, working on a big .scale and generally standing in with the mine owners. The mine owners controlled the consti- tutional convention, and succeeded in writing into Montana’s constitution a provision that stands to the present day, virtually exempting mining prop- erty from taxation. This provision is that mines and 'mining claims shall be assessed only at the price at which they were secured from the govern- ment, $5 per acre for quartz claims and $2.50 per acre for placer claims. While the constitution re- quires farming property to be assessed at its full value, the only tax required of the mine owners, aside from the strictly nominal tax upon their claims, is a tax upon the net proceeds of the mines. Natur-, ally this throws an immense and wunfair burden of taxation upon the farmers of the state. It is fix- ing one rule for the mines and another for the farmers. - The farmers would be willing to accept the same proposition that the mines now have— to be taxed upon the value of their products each year instead of upon the value of their plant, but during 28 years of statehood they have been unable to get any relief. - : ; A How the copper kings who own these mines and exploit the rich mineral wealth of the state have sought to dominate Montana and its politics; how they have occasionally fallen out with one another and given the people a chance; how their being in politics caused THE CLARK-DALY FIGHT— HOW IT STARTED There is an old saying that when thieves fall out, honest folk get their dues. The writer would not like to infer that the men who have controlled the state of Montana have been thieves. People can look up the facts and form their own conclusions as to that. Suppose we change the saying to go like this: “When the millionaires fall out, the peo- ple get a fighting chance.” For the facts are that in the state of Montana to date there has been no great people’s movement as in other states. What- ever progress has been made in Montana has been due to fights between the different big mining in- terests, when one group has sought to wrest con- trol of the state from another group. The first of the great fights in Montana was the Clark-Daly feud. W. A. Clark and Marcus Daly, both big copper magnates, were relatives. They got into a controversy over some water rights that both claimed in 1888, before statehood, and like all L This is the Montana chapter in the Leader’s history of the fight of the people and of . the farmers ‘‘for justice and democracy’’ in the states where the Nonpartisan league is or- ganizing. This serial, which already has covered the states of North and South- Dakota, Minnesota and Wiscon- sin, and which will cover nearly a dozen other states, can be started with any issue of the Leader—each week’s chapter is complete in itself. Next week you will get the story of Wash- ington, and then will follow the stories of Idaho-and Colorado. Mr. Fussell, Leader staff man, is gathering material for these articles on the ground—from the men who went through the people’s fights against privilege during the _last 30 years. v _ PAGE TOUR _ strong enough to prevent Clark’s election. y—these and other interesting facts are told in the accompanying account. It is a fascinating family quarrels, it grew into the bitterest kind of a squabble. . Clark was a candidate for delegate to congress in 1888 on the Democratic ticket, Montana being largely Democratic. Daly opposed him and by swinging what votes he controlled to the Repub- licans beat him. Then the fight was on in earnest. After statehood, Clark determined to be elected United States senator at any cost. Daly determined to see that Clark was not elected senator, and mgney was no object. 2 : A CAMPAIGN WHERE MONEY WAS NO OBJECT So bitter was the fight between the Clark and Daly factions that the first state legislature divided, ‘one faction “bolting” in both house and senate re- sulting in setting up two complete legislatures. They failed to elect any senators. The next legis- lature also was Democratic, but Daly forces were Then the Republicans came in for a time. In one way and another Daly succeeded in preventing Clark’s election at session after session, though in ' the meantime Thomas Carter, who represented the rail- roads in Montana as Alex McKenzie did in North Dakota, succeeded in being elected and also looked after the interests of the copper barons at Wash- ington, D. C. Then came the legislature of 1899. It was the wildest Montana ever had seen. “Expense no ob- ject” was the motto of both the Clark and Daly forces. Wine was as free as water and money as _ free as air. But while Daly was spending most of his attention among the Democratic legislators in attempting to prevent Clark’s election, Clark stepped out and negotiated with the Republicans. ' He be- came the original Montana “nonpartisan,” and when the ballot was taken he received all but four of the Republican votes and was declared elected. : ! How did he get the votes? Data that was filed at Washington, D. C., at the instigation of Daly, who was not through fighting yet, showed how. . In the report of the investigation that followed, pub- lished by th_p United States government, is a list of 37 Montana legislators, named as having received sums ranging from $4000 to $50,000 apiece for their votes for Clark. Legislator after legislator is listed with his “price” after his name, Only one man're- 3 -~