The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1924-05-28
WHAT is WRONG WITH MONTANA?

IL ) a peculiarly human trait Tor Qn1erent people to look ar
the same thing in a different light. There are those who contend
there is nothing wrong with Montana; who shut their eyes
to existing conditions, hoping for the best, and who believe
that any public discussion of the subject would put the state in
an unfavorable light in other sections from which settlers might
otherwise have been attracted.
There are those, again, who believe that nothing mundane
can be perfect, but who also believe that every effort that is
made toward Improvement, even though unsuccessful, is an effort
In the right direction and a sort of virtue which brings its own
reward. These are the sort of people who see the young folk
OF the valley grow to maturity here and, after completing their
education in the grade schools, high school, and possibly Montana
State college, drift away to other places and to other states where
opportunities for profitable employment are greatest, and where
more amusements, entertainment and other diversions are avail
able at more reasonable cost. These people sincerely wish there
were enough varied industries in Gallatin valley to give all these
young people, boys and girls, profitable employment in the lines
of endeavor for which they are best fitted, tempermentaHy
and because of their high school or college training; and they
would also like to see the institution of more and better enter
tainment features for the young people in the event they could
be induced, by commercial opportunities, to stay at home.
Again, these forwordlooking and vicaIy-conscientio citi
zens depore the annual exodus of proficient workmen, tradesmen
and artisans, as well as retired merchants, ranchers and others,
who have succeeded in their line and who feel the urge of a war.
mer cline to round out the autumn of their days; and these chi-
zens are constantly looking for a solution of the problem of how
to keep them at home, in the community where they accumulated
either their experience or their wealth, or both.
; Assuming that there is something wrong with Montana
and it is also intended that this discussion include the entire
northwestern section OF the United States from a short distance
west of the Twin cities, almost to Seattle-and that that some
thing is susceptible of Improvement, or at least a slight change
for the better, the Home Industrial Plan, now being advocated
III AOACAAdi oO OhoCNhCAC oCSm " O1lCI Tic ulOSt IdCLSd
solution, and an actual, permanent cure for the pain in the
Northwest to which a special writer in a recent issue of the
Saturday Evening Post called pertinent attention, even if he did
not succeed in offering a practical remedy.
For the purpose of calling the attention of the people of
Bozeman and the Galatn valley to the subject, for home and
public discussion, in the hope that the germ of the idea may
take solid root and eventually blossom forth in flower and fruit.
The Courier is glad to be able to publish the gBt of a letter of
explanation recently sent by a Bohemian citizen to one of the
most influential and publcspirited financiers in public life in
the United States, whereby it is hoped to enlist his odvice, if not
actua0Vh his Oractical helm in CARRYING tho milan slowly bt cura1v
forward to fruition.
The letter, in part, follows:
Leaving the crowded cities of Baltimore, Md, New York
City, and Minneapolis, Mimi, for the free, open spaces, and less
populous Rocky mountain sections of Montana, we were impressed
very strongly with what appeared to be a most vital inconsistency
in the economic life of the nation, i. e, that cities with nothing
exceptional to commend them-certainly nothing that other COM
munities did not possess, and in larger quantity and more super
lative degree-were damned with people, all scramblng over
each other pel nell in an effort to out-do the other in a money
mad race for both business and pleasures, while the beautiful
serene and naturebessed pl4ns. mountain, river, creek and lake
dotted sections of the middle northwest, with every advantage
of climate, temperature and natural resources, were crying fl
settlers and, at the same time, striving desperately to keep. a
home those comparatively few retired and fairly wealthy citizens
who, disposing of their business, ranch or mine interests, or what
not HE themselves and their money, to other chimes, taking
with them of course, not only their wealth-drawn, like life
blood, from the rural communicable also the asset of thei
brains, experience and industrial inititive.
"This one-sided condition of our urban versus suburban
population, like the question of the supply and demand in farm
labor, has grown to such tremendous proportions that the YER
poverty and de-population of our now sparsely settled agriculture
regions is sure to reflect upon, if not seriously iniure in time, tn
prosperity of our most populous centers.
Broadly speaking, it has occurred to US that the most dis
astrous economic falacy of our times is the deplorabe conditio
of rich agricultural regions, with moderate homebuying power
having to ship their raw products to eastern or west-coast manu-
featuring markets, and then ship back the finished articles fo
their own use, paying the freight both ways, as well as payn
brokers and all the other middlemen along the line, both way
an economically unjust tribute in the way of handling charge
Having seriously, and from a humanitarian standpoint
studied the question in all its various aspects, we have arrive
at the conclusion that the solution of the problem, which has no
grown to such proportions that it seems likely to engulf US