The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-05-10
BY WILLIAM F. dunno.


THE speed with which Senator Bur
1 ton X. Wheeler of Montana has
flashed across the political armament
has been equaled only once in Amer
lean history-by William jennings
Bryan.
Like Wheeler, Bryan's meteoric rise
was the result of political crisis af-
fecting millions of the workers and
farmers of the United States; he was
the personification of the resentment
and revolt caused by an industrial and
financial crisis and like Wheeler, Bry-
an was and is middle class in thought
and action.
This is not to say that Wheeler does
not speak for thousands of exploited
farmers and workers in Montana, but
it does mean that he does SO because
Of their political backwardness and for
lack Of more revolutionary leadership.
To understand the social forces that
have brought this wealthy young law
yer into the public eye with rapidity
that is almost without parallel in
American politics, to understand why
he is able to throw so much discredit
upon the governmental machinery and
still retain his responsibility, to I'M
derstand why he and Walsh, both
from Montana-the private property
of Anaconda Mining Company-have
led investigations into corruption with
out raising any other than convention
al issues Of good government" and
honesty in Office" is to understand
the cause and mechanism Of the wide
spread revolt that is gaining Roadway
in America.
The Background.
In Montana, one of the richest states
in the union, where the Standard Oil
Company thru its subsidiaries, the
Montana Power Company and the Ana
conda Mining Company, has had a free
hand for years, people fall into two
lassifications-tho who are for
and those who are against" the com
pany'-the company being the A. c..
M, owning mines, railways, banks,
forests, water-power and newspapers.
Until the farmers revolt which be-
gan in 1918, the power of the company
had never been seriously challenged.
After the defeat of Augustus Heinze
in 1907 and the rise of the Amalgamat-
ed-later the Anaconda Copper Min
ing pany-competition in the cop
per industry was practically wiped out
in Montana with the Clark properties
remaining the only Independent pro-
ducers-independent in the sense that
Clark had to depend for his power
transportation and water upon the A.
C. M.
The entire Montana labor movement
up until 1917 was controlled by the
company with the labor officials open
ly and shamelessly supporting the
Icompany's political and industrial pro-
gram. If the middle class elements
which supported the company were
corrupt, the labor officialdom was a
thousand times more so and it was
natural that the leadership of the scat
tered insurgent movement should fall
into the hands of lawyers whose per-
sonal injury practice brought them in
to conflict with the company.
Albright Company Control.
There was, however, revolt in
Butte in 1911 and a socialist admins
tration was elected in that city only
to be thrown out of office in 1914,
when the militia was brought in dur
ing strike and general upheaval in
the miners union caused largely by
the corruption of the union officialdom.
From then until 1917-up to the time
of the great strike of the miners and
metal tradesmen-the company had its
own way in the mines, IN .ne 1egisla-
ture and in the courts.
Wheeler is a personal injury lawyer
and very successful one. He was al
so counsel for a number of the more
progressive unions and inevitably in
CURED the enmity, if not of the COM
pany itself, at least of the legal and
political staff which handled its af-
fairs.
Some idea of the power of the Ana
conda Mining Company in Butte, and
turnout the state can be gained from
a. consideration of the fact that in
Silver Bow county-where Butte, the
largest metal mining camp in the
world, is located-not one single de-
cision has ever been rendered against
the company in a personal injury case
mo court has ever decided against
the company in all of the thousands
of cases of loss of life and limb that
have occurred in the mines. 1t was the
custom Of the company up to few
years to pay monthly retainer to
every lawyer in Silver Bow county the
moment he passed the bar examina-
tion-if he would accept it and most
Of them did. Those who did not and
who ventured to oppose the company
in the courts acquired reputation for
radicalism automatically and without
any inquiry being made into their po-
litical and economic beliefs.
The War Period.
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