The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1913-01-02
ROMNEY FIRES SHOT
At BOARD
EDITOR OF WESTERN NEWS DE.
FIEs COMMISSIONERS OF
RAvALLI COUNTY,.

Hamilton, Jan. 1.-(Special .)-The
current number of the Western News,
owned and edited by Miles Romney,
contains an answer to the suits for
$4,000 each filed by o. c. Cooper,
John S. Treece and N. j. Tillman,
against Mr.. Romney for alleged libel
for the publication in that paper of an
account of the action Of the county
commissioners in letting the county
printing contract to the Hamilton Pub
fishing company. The answer, headed
1.-THE Bluff Called follows:
"Cornered by a 100000 bond proving
conclusively that they have been guilty
Of misfeasance in office, smarting un-
der the criticism of the taxpayers of
the county and goaded on by sorehead
lawyers, O. G. Cooper, John S. Treece
and N. J. Tillman, members of the
board of commissioners of Ravalli
county, yesterday filed Individual suits
for libel against the publisher of The
Western News in the sum of $40, 900
each-a total of $4,000. O'Hara, Ed
wards & Madden, assisted by H. C.
Packer, are named as counsel for the
plaintiffs.
I'm taking this action the commits
stoners did the very thing this paper
desired, provided it is able to get these
cases to trial and thus establish by
legal testimony in open court the facts
upon which it's articles have been
based. The Western News hereby
serves notice, and has so instructed it's
attorneys, Baker & Kurtz, that it will
exert every possible effort and waive
every technicality in order to bring
these suits to an early and expeditions
trial.
THE suits of the commissioners are
bluffs-b!uffs Of the shallowest kind,
bluffs made for the purpose Of fooling
the public into believing that they have
been misrepresented and in this way
save a little of their official self-re-
spect. Libel suits are, in 80 cases
out of every 100, colossal bluffs, filed
for the purpose of misleading the pub
lie and then dismissed when every
technicality to prevent a trial has been
exhausted. These libel suits are not
one whit different.
Meantime, the Western News will
continue to enlighten its readers as to
official acts of the commissioners
which 1t believes are not in the inter-
est of the taxpayers. 1t realizes that
n of the chief functions of a w
paper is, so far as lies within it's pow
er. to advance the public welfare, and
this frequently involves exposure of
questionable transactions of the peo-
pies business. The Western News
for years has been the only Hamilton
newspaper hat has sounded notes of
warning when the peoples interests
have been endangered, and though the
burden Of fighting alone has at times
been heavy n almost discouraging,
1t has always been coupled with the
satisfaction hat m from duty
fearlessly and conscientiously per-
formed,
The Western News has been a thorn
sore and deep in the sides of all the
men behind these libel suits and, hav-
ing failed to intimidate it, they now
seek to muzzle it by putting it out of
business. The issue involved in the
trial of these cases is whether the COM
missioners shall be permitted to trans
act business without regard to the pub
lie Interest," or whether the Western
News shall be denied the freedom of
criticising recreant public officials.
This paper has printed nothing
which it cannot support with facts and
records-nothing which it is o glad
to have an opportunity to prove. The
secrecy surrounding the letting of the
county printing contract, the graft
contained therein as evidenced by the
offer of this paper to do it for half the
stipulated prices, the desire Of the conn
missioners to continue the contract
with the Hamilton Publishing com
pany-all the published statements
complained of--are self-evident facts.
And there are many damaging chap
tiers yet unWritten-chapters which
will be unfolded as time goes by.
The Western News sends greetings
to he many friends who have en-
Outraged it by letters and calls and
assures them that his paper will
Waver not an nch and falter not a
moment in the fight for what it be-
lieves to be the peoples interests"