The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1903-06-16
COLONEL GORDON ON MONTANA
NEWSPAPER SITUATION.
BIG DAILIES MERE SHAMS
Editorial Pages Studied Affront to
Their Readers-organs Of De-
bauchery and Corruption.

4 Daily Yellowstone Journal: The fact
that The Billings Gazette and the
Billings Times have been forced to
make public joint appeal to the peo
pie OF that community for protection
against the inroads OF the larger news.
papers of the state into the legitimate
4 field of these two local papers, natu.
people Ct any OF the smaller towns in
rally prompts the enquiry why the
the state possessing local papers
should care to patronize the big
dailies of the state to the possible
detriment OF their local press. On the
| basis of actual merit-with one or
two possible exceptions-there is not
a big daily in the state that comes
| within miles Of being what intelligent
people are schooled to call news
paper. They give all the news-to
| be sure-after fashion and this
feature is the sole and only excuse
that any of them have for crowding
into the outside fields. In the locali-
ties adjacent to the large centers,
where prompt service may be given,
| it is quite natural that business men
should patronize the big daily in or
der that they may know what is go
ing on in the outside world, for the To-
cal paper cannot be expected to cover
the worlds news as completely as
the city paper, but when this is said,
every argu1ne ent has been exhausted
that might demonstrate why the peo-
pie of the outside towns should take
the Montana city dailies. AS mentors
OF the people, as reputable and hon
est moulders of public opinion, they
are-with the one or two exceptions
noted-the rankest frauds that ever
soiled white paper This is not
pleasant thing to say of ones brothers
of the craft, and mark you, it is not
said because of any swelling presump-
ton that there is a newspaper publish
ed in Miles City that is pattern Tor
them all, for no one better than the
writer appreciates how immeasureably
below the standard he has in mind his
own paper falls, but withal 1T has
one merit that is conspicuously lack
ing in all of the big papers OF the
state, and alas! some of the small ones,
that it wears no ones collar, is SUBJ
ject to no check or pull and belongs
to the men who publish and edit it.
Take for example the Helena Rec
ord and Independent; the Butte Miner
and Inter Mountain; the Anaconda
Standard; the Great Falls Tribune
and Leader. These are the big news
papers of the state by virtue OF their
locations in the centers of popula-
ton. Not one of them dare give you
an honest expression of editorial opin-
ion on any subject pertaining to the
affairs of the state. Some will give
you the Clark view of it and some
the Amalgamated, and then there are
two papers that can hardly be called
"big," but which nevertheless keep
the mud stirred up pretty well in the
puddle. and these-the Helena Press
and the Butte Reveille-wil give you
the Heinze view of it. While many
steps have been taken in that dlrec-
tion in the past, the people OF Mon |
tana have not yet delegated the cor
and the millionaires to do
their thinking tor them and because |
they have not, the editorial pages OF
the papers mentioned are, most OF the |
time, a studied affront to a majority
of their readers. 1t is not claimed that
have not the right to lead
their readers by counsel that may be
more or less specious. This is the le-
gitimate function of the political news
paper and if we'll performed is worthy
Of high praise, but unfortunately for
Montana, it's politics is and has been
for years in the keeping of one or the
other of the great mining corporations
whose interests are wholly selfish
and incredibly grasping. With the
great wealth at their command they
have not only repeatedly debauched
the political honor of the state, but
have been able to control it's promi-