The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1892-10-28
COMPARE THE RECORDS.

a portion of the republican press Of
the state. for lack of better material, have
made the ilimsy charge against Hon. Il.
f.. Collins. democratic candidate for
governor, that he is opposed TO organized
labor. The grounds upon which this
high sounding accusation is p~redlcatcd
are Il that he holds the position of vice
president Of the Great Falls Il Canada
railway. -, that the First National bank
Of Great Falls of which he is an officer. ,
had trouble with the Carpenters union.
and 81 that he is Il director Of the Great
Falls Water company. This is the extent
of the allegations so far AS we have been
able to see.
1t is only fair to say that Mr.. Collins
must plead guilty to the charge of being
connected with these several institutions.
lie is also connected with various other
like public enterprises in his home city
of Great Falls. No citizen of that pro
gressive town has been more public
spirited or has more cheerfully contrib
buted to any cause or enterprise calcu-
lated to advance the welfare of Great
Falls. lie has been at the front of every
such movement in Great Falls since the
day he made it his nome. Can as much
be said of Mr.. Richards: What has he
ever done to advance the interests of
Butte-to open up her mines, or in any
manner aid in developing the
of that great camp: SO far as our
knowledge goes. absolutely nothing. lie
is not that character of citizen.
Now as to the charges that have been
made. and We will take them in order:
!. The Great Falls ~ Canada railway.
This is a narrow guage railroad and it
was first projected five or six years ago.
The objective point Of the road in this
state at that time was Fort Benton. and
Mr.. Collins with other citizens of Great
Falls interested himself in having the
latter city made the terminal point. In
this he was successful and as A result he
was honored by the company in being
made a director and vice president. He
has no pecuniary interest in the road
and simply holds stock enough to be an
officer. The headquarters of the COM
pany are in Lethbridge, Alberta, and
Mr.. Collins has no more to do with the
management of the ordinary business of
the company than any other citizen of
Montana. Mr.. G. w. Cannon. of Helena,
is a director of the Montana Central
railway and it would be just as proper to
hold him responsible for the acts, good
or bad, of that corporation as to
charge the doings of the Great Falls
a. Canada management to Mr.. Collins.
The arduous labors of these gentlemen,
in each case, consists in meeting with
the stockholders once a year to elect a
board of directors in accordance with
the wishes of the management. Whether
or not the Great Falls & Canada railroad
was at fault in bringing some of their
mechanics from Lethbridge to repair a
bridge across the Teton which the
floods had washed away it is not neces-
sary to discuss; the simple fact is that
Mr.. Collins had nothing whatever to do
with it and knew nothing of it until ref
erence to the same was made in the
public prints.
.. The First National bank affair.
During the past year the First National
bank and Townsite company of Great
Falls constructed, jointly, a stone bust
ness block in this city at a cost of $780,
coo. The building committee consisted !