The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, July 8, 1918, Page 11

Corporation Control Sup- - phies Tainted News to the _ People of a Great State— Fear the Farmer Vote and Strive to Keep It Split O ONE who has associated for several years with the editorial staffs of the three Butte news- papers and other Montana so- called news purveyors, the vitriolic attacks upon the Non- partisan league which are so frequent are not at all strange. The editorial' writers on these papers are not responsible except that they must write" discrediting editorials or lose their jobs. They have good jobs, too—running up into the thousands per year—simply because they will write what they are told to write. - Charles Moses Cohen, erstwhile lackey and slave of Senator W. A. Clark, wields the pen for the Butte Miner, although J. Larry Dobell’s name ap- pears as the editor. An insight into the workings of this little system will show that Dobell spends a_great portion of his time in conference with the legal advisers of Senator Clark. He then advises with Cohen. Cohen writes an editorial, submits it to Dobell, who in turn submits it to the legal de- partment. = The latter looks it over carefully, and many times the editorial must be rewritten, as it is not vicious enough and does not assail the labor- ing classes with as much venom as is desired. - Cohen is most profuse. has stated, has been to wield a political pen, sway- ing the opinion of"the people at his will. Never before in his poor young Yiddish life has *he had . the opportunity to display his prowess to such good advantage as in attacking the enemies of big business. He is in his glory, and as he sits at his desk he wears a self-satisfied smile. And why not, for is he not writing vitriolic and scurrilous edi- torials against the Nonpartisan league, and by so doing is he not making his job more secure? EDUCATION OF THE FARMER IS DANGEROUS “For a number of years,” said Cohen one day after he had written a particularly scathing criti- cism of the Nonpartisan league, “we have been able to swing the people of Montana to our way of thinking, no matter what it was. Things have changed a great deal in these years, though. Now- adays the people are more educated—they read more, - and are becoming more acquainted with matters which it has always been policy to keep from them. ; “Take the farmer, for instance.. At one time here in Montana he was scarcely civilized, and he is little better than that at this time. Now he is beginning to make certain demands. He wants a say in the politics of the country. “This is dangerous. This can not be. IT MUST NOT BE. What does the farmer know about pol- itics? * Absolutely nothing, and what is more, HE MUST KNOW NOTHING.” In speaking of “other interests” it must be borne in mind that Senater W. A. Clark owns the Butte | 'The Montana Picnics I You won’t read-anything in the state | newspapers about. the monster picnics =} that will be held this: month in Mon- “tana: Defy the crooked editors and - get out in gigantic numbers! Seven '} counties will ‘unite in a meeting July | 13 at Gavens Grove, eight miles north- - west of Bozeman. Missoula county ~will: celebrate July 15; Yellowstone - county, July 17; Wibaux county, July 8. These speakers are expected: President A. C. Townley, Governor | Lynn J. Frazier of North Dakota, Con- gresswoman Jeanette Rankin, -Doctor: : ead, United States Di ‘At- s 9 - 'Phe Coppertolored Pres an adjunct. Miner. He owns many copper mines in Butte and vicinity. - He owns the street car system of the city and he also owns the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake railroad. There is a standing order in the office of the Butte Miner that any article concerning railroads or street car companies writ- ten by the reporters must be submitted to the big editor for approval before it is set up. - LIES ABOUT HONEST UNION MEN — It is not at all strange, therefore, that such editorials appear in papers like the Butte Miner and Anaconda Standard. An editor must write what he is told to or lose his job. Furthermore, he must not allow certain articles to -appear in I THE VAMPIRE BAT l His one ambition, as he . HYornaly Under tremendous handicaps the American farmer has gone forward to victory. Success in the war depended on food supply, and the producers of the West have overcome every obstacle and are on the .point - of harvesting a stupendous yield of wheat. . Many of them have gone deeply into debt to plant " their -acreage. Cheap money was not to be had, and congress refused to pass the Baer bill ‘which would have made the task much easier. There is - no doubt much more food would have been possible - if the inadequate system of farm finance had been . improved. High interest is: a bloodsucking -2+ " vampire that may force the farm- g ing business -into collapse. 2% th‘ese-'papters_ or he will lose his job. This,fact is well illustrated by an incident which . occurred. in " the -office. of the Anaconda Standard in Septem- ber, 1917. At this time-'Bfitte ‘was in the throes of a great - industrial upheaval. - The Metal Mine Workers had ‘vg',uc_ceeded:_;i “practically - stopping the production high cost _of living. They demanded do it strong. All repo; e editorial sanctums "How to Read the News T HAS become almost a fashion in the last decade for a man or com- pany that has developed a large business to maintain a newspaper as In Montana, Idaho and Arizona many of the chief news- papers are owned outright by the great mining companies and no se- cret is made of it. The others are held pretty well in hand by the eco- nomic pressure of merchants who exist commercially only through the good will of the mining companies, and behave quite as consistently in the accepted manner as though they were owned directly by the monopolists. because the Anaconda Copper company, the Phelps-Dodge corporation and the American Smelting & Refining company, three of the largest aggregations of cap- ital, by monopoly of a natural resource, have managed to dominate the political and social life of the three states with singular thoroughness. control exists everywhere.—From “How.to Read the News.” ey dggired a; living wage commen- nies refused to treat with the men. once went out to the papers to s of Montana I mention these states Similar sent out, and wonderful tales which gained in | horror each day were published, with the insin- = | uation that the I. W. W. were at the bottom of the | strike. Within a few days these insinuations be- came declarations and were continued for weeks with added vehemence and pusilanimous fuss- budgeting. In September, the Helena Independent, which likewise is in the clutches of the interests, brought out a special edition devoted exclusively to alleged depredations and stating positively that the Metal Mine Workers were I. W. W. camouflaged.. This special edition of the Independent was sent to Butte by the thousands on a special train one Sat- urday night. Residents of the city arose in the morning to find a copy of the venomous paper at their door, placed there during the night. But for the fact that the sixth floor of the Hen- nessy building in Butte, which is the western head- quarters of the copper trust, failed to notify their henchmen on the Anaconda Standard that this was part of a plan, all might have been well. At any rate, a reporter on the Standard, feeling that he had been “scooped” on this piece of news, attempted to discredit the Independent. In a few terse sen- tences he branded the edition as mostly lies. His story appeared in the Monday morning issue of the Standard. HIRED AND FIRED BY THE TRUST When Charles C. Copenkarve, city editor of the =/ Standard for a number of years and an employe on the paper for 27 years, appeared at his desk" the next morning he was told to take two weeks’ ray and get out quick. Likewise Charles Stevens, the reporter who wrote the article and who had been connected, with the paper for seven years, was given the same medicine. The managing editor of the Standard, who was supposed to have the hiring and firing of the employes, was in California on a vacation, yet these men were discharged im- mediately at the behest of some one else. The officials of the copper trust, realizing that ’j the short story was discrediting the discreditors, '@ had ordered the men discharged at once. i3 The Butte Daily Post, while not overzealous in _ [}’ attacking the Nonpartisan league, says very little ;% concerning it. Editor Durstan is a large landowner i --in the vicinity of Bozeman, Mont. Up to a few ¢ years ago he was managing editor of the Anaconda Standard. Durstan penned an editorial which was displeasing to the copper trust and he was forth- with dismissed from the Standard. He took over * the Post, but his power was curtailed, as one of the i ~big guns of the Anaconda Copper company stepped in and purchased the controlling interest-in the paper. ) : a5 i : The Great Falls' Tribune is owned by William M. Bole. Bole is very chummy with the copper people, who have a huge smelter in Great Falls. | Recently Harry Mitchell, for years managing editor of - the Tribune, wrote an editorial favoring the Nonpartisan league.. Almost immediately there- after Mitchell’s resignation was announced. He: is now running for congress. 1 The Bozeman Daily Chronicle is edited by James P. Bole, brother of William Bole. William Bole owns a_controlling interest in the Chronicle, con- sequently the two papers are unfavorable to'the Nonpartisan league. A Practically every weekly and daily newspaper : Montana which is fighting the League is either a debtor to the copper trust or is owned outright by them, organized under the head of big busines et Mr. Cohen says the farmer has the nerve:to TR R e e