The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1917-08-25
az col. SAM GORDON.
Veteran Montana Editor.

The declaration recently made by
the Honorable Jeanette Rankin in a
recent interview in the Washington
Times, that the Anaconda Copper
company owned the state of Mon
tana. the state government and the
state press. was--in so far as it re-
ferred to the newspapers-a reckless
statement that seems to have followed
the other two charges more as a mat
ter of rhetoric than of fact. The
young woman was talking to an au-
dience out-ranking the capacity of
many auditoriums-as she well knew
and was talking for a purpose. which
is now becoming apparent. Aside
from the few living in Montana who
might reasonably and intelligently
take issue with her in defense of the
newspapers of the state. were many
thousands all over the country to
whom her interview would come as a
bit OF spice. because of her unique
position in our public life. To such,
the interview presented this congress-
woman Of ours as q. possible Joan of
Arc. ready and willing and even
anxious to take up tho cause of the
people against this Shiny monster who
owns the state through the control
of the state government and the
press" An allegation OF this kind
against n notorious representative of
big Business carries conviction with
it to the average reader and in the
minds Of many thousands whom the
truth may never reach. the news
papers of Montana are punched as
lot of monographs. playing only the
! records distributed by the Anaconda
| management. Nothing could be more
| misleading than this statement of Miss
| Rankins. No one knows better than
| she that during the last campaign
| there were numberle.ss papers in this
state that flouted the Anaconda and
all it's wiles and persnasions and stood
| vaiantly and loyalty for the candidacy
most Objectionable to the Anaconda:
| the candidacy of Miss Jeanette RAN
| kin, and it is a poor recognition of this
! service--that was absolutely unre-
| munerative-tO bunch these papers
| with others more or less favorable to
! the Anaconda interests. OF these lat
| ter even, it can scarcely be said that
they are owned" by the big corpora
| ton.
There is an undeniahlc community of
| interest in rMg. business. and ,NarN
little politics. When men begin to get
along in the world they form eonnec-
tons that lead them to band together
for the protection of their interests
against the assaults of the more radi-
cal element and though not outwardly
changing in political allegiance they
do change in individual cases, when
alone with their God and their lead
pencil, in the booth at the polls. In
the case of the governor last fall,
many hundreds of prosperous and
prospecting republicans. and some pro-
gressives, voted for Stewart because
Edwards was TOO RADICAL Stewart
was the Anaconda candidate. but that
didn't make these voters wearers of
the copper collar. So it is sometimes
with newspapers. Generous patrons in
q business way. the year round, can
often persuade the editor to use the
soft pedal on some certain issue.
These men working for their own in
tercsts--which happen at the time to
; run current with those of the Ana =
conda-ask favors that they think
they have a right to ask of the local
newspaper. but that does not argue
either ownership or control OF the
newspaper
Where the Anaconda makes good
and lays the foundation for this kind
of service is in it's having no politics.
: It seeks and generally secures candi-
dates for all important offices in each
, party in the primary and 1t is in the
influencing Of newspapers for the sup
port of copper" candidates in this
campaign that the newspaper is
l IL. A. =,
the nomination OF n candidate of its
, own party who will still-if elected
; be a henchman of the company. In
, every community in the state the Ana .
conda outfit has men Of force and
. position. to stand for it. on occasion
as candidates for the Legislature and
II is singuIarly successful in net re-.
suits.
1t Is in the legislature that the big
corporation shines. getting most every
thing that 1t wants and choking Off
everything that it doesn't want and II
-. IS only on the presumption that the
newspapers join hands in boosting
Anaconda candidates that any allega-
; ton of general support or allegiance
can be based. but 1t is the bipartisan
ship of the big concern that is chiefly
TeSpOHSlbits lbT itS SutCeSS III
iating the affairs OF this state and
not it's ownership or control of the
newspapers. Last winter it looked rs
| il we had 'cm licked. \ count OF
noses in the Legislature showed incor-
Z testibly that the people were in a posi-
tion to twist the Anaconda's tail and
, something in that line was essayea
but the tail was slippery and could not
be twisted and before the session was
half over the machine was running rs
! smoothly as ever. There were some
jolts. Some members took positions
THAT they may not have been able t.,
explain satisfactorily to their constit-
uents. but the usual results were OBJ
tanned.
That the Anaconda Mining company
has a good grip on the state machine
is not to be denied. but that it gets
1t through the venality OF the press is
a statement that is not warranted by
the conditions. In certain localities
whose daily existence depends on the