The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1923-01-26

taOuIe' ~ gives our readers an Idea
Of how it is done.
Helena.-Special correspondence 49,
The widely heralded defeat of the
Dixon forces in the first test of
Strength in the state senate did not
come as a surprise to those actually
in the know" in Helena. It was fore
cast several days earlier when the re-
dictionary Senator Heren was ma lie
chairman Of the committee on commit
tees and given authority to name the
members of the committee.
Just how the reactionaries again
came into the control of the state
senate is a story that has not yet been
told, but everyone here recognizes it
as fact. The progressive Republicans
were in control of the party caucus.
Thirty-eight Republicans went into
caucus; "a of them are known as pro-
gressives. How they permitted the
reactiOnary minority, composed of Is
men, to steal the caucus and organize
the senate will probably always re-
min mystery. All we know is that
it happened.
Taxation Committee Packed.
The story of the test-of-strength
vote is briefly as follows: The com
mittee on committees, headed by Sen
atOr Heren, recommended names for
all Of the senate committees. The
recommendations were eminently sat
isfactory to all parties concerned,
with the one exception of the commit
tee on taxation; that committee was
packed to the guards with reaction
aries.
The committee on taxation, of
course, is the most important in the
senate during the present session. All
legislation of interest to the great
mining companies viii go through its
hands. So, when the report of the
committee on committees came be-
fore the senate, the Dixon Republi-
cans, headed by Pauline of Flathead,
made an effort to segregate the re-
concentrations for the committee on
taxation from the rest of the report,
so that a separate vote might be tax
en- on that one committee. The mo-
ton was defeated by vote of 25 to
27, with two senators not voting.
And so, on that "test of strength"
the Dixon forces were defeated by a
margin Of two votes. Only three De
mocrats voted with the administra-
ton forces, while ID Republicans
jumped to the opposition.
HOW IT is DONE
Perhaps if the progressive voters
Of the state knew more about how
the game Of politics is played, they
would understand how the copper COM
panies, apparently routed at the cleo
ton, now come back into full control
of the senate. AS soon as the cleo
ton was over scouts were sent into
every county to get acquainted with
the successful candidates. They find
out to whom he owes money; whether
he has any particular hobby, wheth-
er or not he is a dry land he is in
clover if he is mott; whether he en-
joys cards; whether he has any other
convention, if uncomfortable, vices.
That information goes to the company
Hobbies as soon as the session opens.
WORK ON WATSON.
AS an illustration of how it works
out here, Burton Watson Of Missoula
was told that he would be the logic
al candidate for congress two years
hence, that is-ahem-if his party did
not lose confidence in him in the mean
time. There was no attempt to make
deal; it was just an effort to en-
courage the germ of ambition, and to
keep one progressive Democrat sena-
tor regular" In that instance the eff
for was unsuccessful. Watson voted
against the machine in the "test vote
But in how many other instances the
lobbyists were successful no one
knows.
From what has been said do not in
fer that the fight for fair taxation
has been lost. The administration
forces are not idle, and the renegade
progressives are already beginning t.
hear from the folks back home. How
much Of the tax program viii be en-
acted depends entirely upon how bel
ligerent the betrayed constituents be
come.
LOBBY IN THE PLACER
The battle here is not being Tough
in the capitol. The leaders are not thu
representatives elected by the people
Every move is directed from lobb!
headquarters in the Placer hotel, witt
its direct wire to the Hennessy build
ing. Senators and representatives ar
merely the pawns on the board
Mon &c ..ooJ I,,-.,foo o,.o oo,-Y.x7iy,tr IN thi