The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-03-31
TOLD IN BOSTON.

Herald to say:
Why should the silver state of Montana
complain of her lot? According to the
last census she had more wealth per cap
ita than any other state except one, and
her annual output of wealth exceeds that
of any other state. And now comes the
report of the assayer for last year show
ing that Montana produced in that year
s22 $50. 1922 worth of silver; of gold. A.S27.-
0i0: of copper. s21. ia. $50: of lead. SOD, 1853
The total metal yield aggregated in
money value si9. 0S3 261. Add to this about
sl2 100000 for the range cattle shipments,
about 81. 500. 900 for wool and sheep, about
a million for coal mined. and then esti-
mate the value of the farm products of
the rich valleys, and there is reached a
surprising total of actual wealth produced
in single year by population of only
200 900 souls. No other state in the Union
can compare with this record. And yet
Montana complains of being crushed be-
meath the heel of the goldbugsl
Every word uttered by the Herald re-
specting the prosperous conditions that
prevail in Montana is true. We can be-
lieve that our Boston contemporary
had been misled. and that the figures
it quotes are news in it's office; the sta
tistics themselves are in evidence that
the distance which separates Montana
from decadence or from distressing con-
ditions is worldwide. The states wool
industry has suffered from causes with
which the Boston Herald is acquainted;
It is familiar also with the legislation
that has hit hard the silver properties
in Montana. Nevertheless, the Herald
is right when 1t says that. in point of
production, account being taken of
comparative wealth and population, no
state can match Montana.
This is not shop talk. The testimony of
every commercial traveller is that Mon
tana furnishes by far the best field in
this country. The admission of the job
hing houses in Chicago, Kansas City,
Minnesota and the East is that their
safest trade with smallest percentage
of loss since 1890 has been in Montana;
the Boston Herald can easily confirm
this assertion, or upset ii If 1t is not
broadly true. 1t will interest our Bos-
ton contemporary to hear that, out
here. wages have not declined frac-
ton during these recent years of indus
trial stress. Employment has been lib
orally furnished; the standard of living
is generous; with rare exceptions real
estate investments have easily held
their own; the banks are solid; the
failures in trade circles have been re-
markably few.
One agency toward sustained pros
porous conditions is the copper indus
try; the figures quoted by the Herald
show how significant a factor copper
production has come to be. That in
dustry is so handled in Montana as to
give assurance of it's permanent con-
tribution to the upbuilding of the COM
monwealth. Not to speak in dis
courtesy. but because a Boston news
paper brings the subject up, we remind
the Herald that dishonest manipulation
involving the Boston end of properties
near the city of Butte is the single in
stance of bad results and of harm to
the good repute of copper mining in
Montana.
Not in discussion of the silver ques-
ton. but briefly as to the Boston Her
AIDS question: In that a leading in
Oh TINS Sldlt IL MOh-
tana may be accused of selfishness;
this state is in favor of the restoration
of silver to its full function in the cur
rency. That silver mining languishes
here is admitted; any way you care to
figure 1t, Montana cannot profitably
produce silver at an average of less
than 20 cents, at the lowest. But there
is broader view. and the citizens of
Montana take IT. Depressed conditions
prevail i'm the East. The idle men are
a mighty army. Industry lags. Farm
ers get next to nothing for what their
farms produce. The mortgage indebt-
edness on homes increases. II all of the
eastern states are in the condition in
which some Of them are shown by OFF,
cial statistics to be. the average of saw
ings is reduced. Capital stays tied up
in the total of unprecedented millions.
Day after day business men OF Montana
returning from the East, say to their
neighbors: You people don't know a
thing about hard times. II you want to
know what distress means make a trip
to the East" our people wonder that
the East refuses to let times be good
The enemies of silver have been
proven to be poor prophets. they are
confused respecting the causes Of hard
times; they are not agreed as TO the
remedy. Probably the Boston Herald
will admit that the industrial and
business outlook is not brighter to-day
than IL was in 1894 or 1895. AS long
ago as 1898. the prediction was that.
promptly upon repeal i'm the extra ses-
sion Of congress, prosperity would re-
turn; the Boston Herald thought So
IL said so. Well. prosperity didn't
come. Why didn't IL? The politicians
tell US that tariff tinkering is the root
OF the trouble; the Boston Herald does
not believe a word Of il. Those New
England writers Of text books on
political economy and hack contribu-