The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, January 28, 1918, Page 5

Q'Y e ) b s " of Montana regarded the matter of _its investigation. RIS, AR U The struggle of the people of Montana against the copper and water power kings will interest you, no matter what state you live in. Montana’s politics have been corrupted in the past to a degree that is scarcely believable. The account of the famous bribery cases reads almost like a dime novel. ceived as little as $4000, only one as *ruch as $50,000. The prevailing market quotation i,r most of the legislators ranged from $10,000 to $15,000. But i;_must have been a good deal like the trading on the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce. One day there would be a “bull” market and prices would go up to $20,000, $30,000 or more, and on another day the “bears” would be in control and would force prices down. ' ONLY ONE PUNISHED FOR WHOLESALE BRIBERY There are very few copies of this report of the government investigation in existence today. The record is too damning. They have been bought up, one by one, at almost any price, and destroyed. In this list of 37 legislators, there are men still prominent in Montana politics today. Montana and the nation were shocked by this exposure of cor- ruption. : Protest against Clark’s election was carried to Washington by Daly. At the same time a grand jury investigation was started in Mon- tana. Legislators were called as wit- nesses and asked how they happened to get their money. One man said $10,000 was thrown over the transom of his room. Another man “explained” his $10,000 by saying he got it on sell- ing some stock in a mine in Canada. Another said he had won his money, $5,000, on a horse race. They asked him the name of the horse he had bet on, and he said he didn’'t remember it, But as a result of the entire grand jury investigation only one man was punished, John B. Wellcome, an at- torney who acted as a go-between. He was disbarred. To show how lightly the politicians bribery the story of Attorney General C. B. Nolan may be told. Nolan, who was prosecuting Wellcome, said that he had been approached by a Dr. Tracy and offered $100,000 if he would stop the prosecution. Instead of re- senting this offer, Nolan’s testimony shows that a few days later he tele- phoned Dr. Tracy and offered Tracy some wild ducks. Tracy, Nolan -said, renewed his offer of $100,000 and Nolan told him to “put up or shut up.” Tracy replied that Nolan could get money by coming to Tracy’s office, They asked Nolan what happened next.” Nolan said nothing more hap- pened—that he had put his “head in the lion’s mouth,” to use his own words, as far as he dared. Nolan now is the law partner of United States Senator T. J. Walsh. TRICK ALSO FAILS TO GIVE CLARK SEAT But while the Montana politicians regarded the purchase and sale of legislators, at so much per vote, as a good deal of a joke, the Clark election .was a little too raw for the United States senate to stomach. When they found that Clark was likely to be unseated, his backers-hada bright idea. It was necessary to have the governor with them to carry it out. They were not sure of the support ‘of Governor R. B. Smith, so a legal case was ‘ar- ranged in which Governor Smith, a lawyer, was re- tained as counsel. This case took him out of the state to California and as soon as he passed out of the state border Lieutenant Governor A. E, Spriggs became acting gotvernor. Immediately Clark resigned the senatorship. And in the next moment Acting Governor Spriggs ap- pointed Clark to fill the vacancy that had been caused by Clark’s own ‘resignation. In this way it was hoped to avoid the consequences of the briberys It was thought that the-legal technicality of Clark being “appoi}lted” would cause the senate to drop But this, too, was a little: too crude.. The senate: refused to seat Clark and his wholesale purchase of legislators had been in vain. It ‘is worth noting, by the way, that Spriggs, lieutenant governor in 1899, who took part in: this juggling, is stiil on the state payroll en the com- pensation commission and is rated as the most " ganized a strong union in Butte. “against Special Privilege. trusted representative of the copper interests in the statehouse. But this was the last of the Clark-Daly fight. Be- fore the next legislature Daly died; his business and political associates made peace with Clark and the 1901 legislature elected him to the TUnited States senate. Meantime the Amalgamated Copper company had been incorporated. The Daly copper holdings formed the nucleus. First capitalized at $20,000,- 000, the capitalization was gradually increased, step by step, adding a few more mining claims and a great deal more water, until finally a capitalization of $157,000,000 has been reached. FARMERS BECOME FACTOR IN POLITICS The Clark-Daly fight had hardly been settled when Montana was treated to a new fight. F. Augustus Heinze, a youhg mining engineer, who had come to Montana in 1896, had succeeded in getting The entrance of a copper mine tunnel at Butte. The story of how tke mining and water power interests have exploited Montana and corrupted its politics constitutes one of the most remarkable and shameful ' chapters in American political history. hold of some property adjoining the Amalgamated. The Amalgamated claimed that Heinze was stealing their ore in his underground workings. Millions were involved in the decisions of the courts and both sides saw that they must control the courts. It was another case of the millionaires falling out and the people getting their innings. The ex- posure of the bribery in the Clark-Daly fight showed the nation the corruption of Montana politics; the Heinze-Amalgamated fight gave the people of Montana a chance to “cash in” on their knowledge. In the years that had passed since statehood, farmers had ‘come to Montana. By this time they were scattered all over the state in considerable numbers. But they were still. out of touch with each other and largely unorganized. They tried to get together in the People’s party, but were only partially successful. ‘Working men. had also come to Montana, prin- cipally to Butte, in large numbers. They had or- With the Amal- gamated and Heinze both fighting for possession of the courts, both sides turned to the organized working men for support. Both sides, in 1900, promised the working men eight-hour day mine laws if they got their votes. But Heinze stole a march on the Amalgamated politicians. In advance of the election he made an arrangement with Clark, who was at this time still at outs with Daly and his crowd, by which the Heinze and Clark mines _installed the eight-hour day on:their own account, | 1t gave them enough support to carry the election. . The working men had won a substantial victory PAGE FIVE The people already have won a measure of independence. But the fight is still on along with Heinze, though the farmers, who were not organized, had got nothing. HEINZE SELLS OUT TO THE AMALGAMATED It would take too long to tell all the details of the fight that followed. Success for either Heinze or the Amalgamated depended upon their control of the state government and the judges. For a time Heinze won. He had two judges at Butte, Judges - Harney and Clancy, both dead now, who would issue any kind of an injunction Heinze wanted. Heinze had succeeded in electing J. K. Toole as governor, But the Amalgamated had plenty of judges of their own outside of Butte. A so-called “fair trial” law was passed by which either side to a lawsuit could demand that an outside judge be called in to try a case. Gradually the political power of the Amalgamated outside of Butte began to wear the Heinze forces down. In 1902 the Amalgamated was able to beat Governor Toole in his own county, Lewis and Clark, when delegates were elected to the Democratic state convention. By this show of power and by going “on strike” to the extent of closing down all their mines for several months they were able to force Toole to call a special session of the legislature to do their bidding in regard to the fair trial law. When this action had been taken the Amalgamated adopted Toole, formerly a Heinze man, as their own governor and .renominated him in 1904 without a dissenting vote. With »this leverage from outside the Amal- gamated was able to beat Heinze's judges in Butte, and at last Heinze was forced to sell out to the Amalga- " mated for ten and one-haif millions of dollars. The Amalgamated capitalists were well satisfied with their victory. “Heinze stole plenty of ore from us, but we stole just as much from him,” one of them said, after the deal had been concluded. But what satisfied them most was that they were given a free hand for the future. MONTANA 18 READY TO THROW OFF YOKE Since the Heinze fight there has been no doubt as to who owns Mon- tana. The copper magnates have never since made the mistake of quarreling among themselves. Instead, the Amalgamated interests, now oper- ating under the name of the Anaconda Copper Mining company, brought in more capitalists to help exploit the state. Rocke- feller money already was invested in the Amalga- mated. The Rockefeller railroad, the Chicago, Mil- waukee & St. Paul, next was invited into the state. The Rockefellers and the Amalgamated together financed the Montana Power company, which has grabbed the best water power sites in the state al- ready and is after the rest, hoping to get the Shields bill passed by the present congress. These inter- . ests have financed the great Boston & Montana smelter at Great Falls; have secured a virtual monopoly on lumber in western Montana and ap- parently have set no limit on their ambitions. They are in the saddle and they have a firm seat. But is Montana really “corrupt and contented”? Are they willing to remain forever the vassals of the Anaconda Copper Mining company? No one who knows the state would say so, There is ‘plenty of proof to the contrary. ‘Montana is a great state; Butte hill is scarcely a pin point on the map. North, south, east and west of Butte hill, - especially during the past twelve years, thousands of farmers have poured in, liberty loving sons of Sweden and Norway, many of them, men unwilling to bow the knee to the copper barons. They have broken the soil and planted on millions of acres . wheat“and barley and oats, sugar beets; apples, flax and rye. PEOPLE MAKE PROGRESS WITH THE REFERENDUM More than a dozen years ago, while the Heinze- Amalgamated fight was still on, both sides were ¢ b (Continued on page 21)