The Bismarck tribune., 1925-11-11
PROSPERITY
WAVE REACHES
MONTANA CITY
Copper Mines and Shelters
Are Working Three Shifts
Il Day at Present
POTATO is KING THERE
Butte to Stage Spud Show
With Object of Keeping
States Potatoes at Home

Especial to the Tribune By Geo. d.
Butte. Nov. 9. -Prosperity's wave
has reached Butte. Many of the
"for rent signs have disappeared
smeltcrs and miners are working
three shifts Il day. When the copper
market is up, Butte is up. 1t has
population Of some 10000 and. when
copper is up, a payroll Of $4,000 a
day. In the days of Mary Mclean.
Butte was defined as "whiskey'
town entirely surrounded by ready
| money. There Is not as much ready
money now, and good whiskey is con
spicuous by it's absence. yet Butte
still maintains it's grotcsquc original
ity. 1t is a mans town. More than
6;i per cent of the population is male.
| The leading evening newspaper. "Thc
Post snappy sheet, has no society
, column. There has been no demand
| from the Pink Tea" brigade or the
"aftcrnoon bridgers" for such de-
partment. Now this is not an insin-
uation that 'poker" is the only diver
sion in this mans town. for it "ain t.
! Bridge runs poker Il close second.
People Work Underground
There are few cities in the world Of
10000 where so few people are seen
on the streets. A big majority Of
the population goes down below at
| dawn and it is dark at this time of
the year before they arc "hoistcd" to
the city's level. That solves the traf-
fic problem in Butte. A traffic cop
has a real comfortabIf job days, but
at night-well. that is different
story
While corn is worrying Bismarck,
! the potato is king in Butte. Butte
! town be anything else? Hence, the
| "The Butte Miner" paper once
edited by j. NJ. Quinn, an old Tribune
writer, features Butte's potato show
on page one, column one. A shortage
: of spuds in Butte is a real catastro-
| phe and the first annual commercial
potato show will be held here Nov.
1924. Its object is to keep Montana
potatoes at home.
A real potato shortage exists in
Montana. In many places prices
have more than doubled in less than
a week. Pick up telephone direc-
tory in Butte and go through the
"M's" and "O's" and it dawns upon
, one why a "spud show" in Butte is
a live, vital thing.
To Many Potatoes Shipped Out
| Montana is tired of sending her
fine spuds outside the state to sat
isfy foreign "spud" eaters and if this
! show succeeds, it will be hard to coax
a Montana murphy" over the boun-
Diary line.
More than 100 carloads of Montana
| potatoes have gone out of the state
and now many carloads must be i'm
ported if Montana appetites are to be
appeased.
/ Judging from the number of tall
men in Butte, and there are some re-
markable types in this interesting
mining town, Montana "spuds' are
rich in the essentials that go into
brain and brawn--nowhere can there
be found more cordial, hearty and
outstanding bunch of boosters and
"stickers."
This is the spirit that has made
the West; that laughs at the vicissi-
tudes. Indemitable force is here and
while Butte may not be beautiful,
from civic standpoint. it is most
interesting study and asks odds from
none. Of those cities more favored by
scenic grandeur. There is another
| hIuu AuS 'PiAhs
Of the West"
| Another Bismarcker who has join
ed the "Butte Boosters" is A. p.
Peake, formerly of Valley City, and
once adjutant general of North Da-
kota. He is in the mining game
here.
State Is Democratic
Political sentiment in Montana is
Democratic. The state seems incur
ably so. There is Democratic gov
ernor. one near-Democratic senator,
! Wheeler, now Progressive. and Sena-
tor Walsh. Democrat of unquestion-
able allegiance. Many politicians
think Wheeler's sun set when he went
political JOY riding with the late
Bob" La Toilette. Diagnosticians
here see his finish when he comes up
for reelection.
| Butte's locality is more prosperous
than since the war and is not bother
ing much about politics. There are
evidences, however, that the wet
issue might interest Montana, ma
tionally speaking. in 1928.