The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1926-09-03
Says Bruce Kremer and
Copper Press Supported
Wheeler in Year 1922

I
Editor of The Producers News,
PlentywoOd, Mont.
L Dear Sir:
Permit me to offer some statements
of fact which seem called for in the
course of the debate between Mr..
Hamilton and Mr.. McElroy. l have
not time to cover all the subjects dis
cussed, but hope I can throw some
light on the main points.
Did the copper press support Wheel
er against Riddiclk in the 1922 cam
paign, and was such support harmful
to Wheeler or helpful? To begin
with, what is the copper press?" It
consists chiefly of the Anaconda
Standard, owned by the Anaconda
company outright, and the Butte
Miner, owned by w. A. Clark at that
time, now by his family. Subordinate
to these are a number cf 6ailies which
in politics follow the former faithful
ly, such as the Billings Gazette, Mis-
soulian, Livingston Enterprise, Hell
ena Independent and so on. We all
know these papers and what they
stand for; they serve the mining,
banking and commercial interests
against the farmers and workers.
Clark had had his quarrels with the
A. G. M, but his paper almost out
did the Standard in 1920 in denounc-
ing Bolshevism, Townleyism and all
the other horrid isms that the Farm
er-Labor combination OF that year
suggested to the frothing editors.
Neither these editors nor their boss
es were quite foolish enough to think
that they could discredit Wheeler by
praising him-that was one folly they
did not commit. And the subordinate
copper press followed the lead thus
set them, rivaling each other in the
violence of their language.
In 1922 there was first a primary,
according to my memory, at which,
] if the mining interests had been hos
tile to Wheeler, they could and would
have done either or both of two things
oppose him for the nomination, and
put up strong candidate against
him. They did neither. In the gen.
eral election the copper dailies were
distinctly favorable to Wheeler. In
1920 the Standard had abused him
with the vilest epithets that its edi-
tor could devise, but in 1922 it was
mum-in the editorial column. It had
gone so far in denunciatiOn two years
before, and it was so directly the
mouthpiece of the Anaconda, that it
would have made of itself and it's
owner a laughing stock indeed, had
it changed face openly. But in it's
news columns, where the real desires
of the publisher are always to be
found, there were only fair reports Of
| Wheeler. To cap all, at the height Of
the campaign, the Standard printed a
two-column cut of B. K. Wheeler ON
its front page. Where did it get this
cut, if not from Wheeler's campaign
management or from a photograph
furnished by him?
/ Turn now to the conduct of the
Miner in the same campaign It's ed
itor actually ate his words of tWo
years before. He suffered and slOb-
bered much at the outset. Without
attempting to quote from a great
number Of the editorials it is enough
to say that Wheeler's badness of 1920
was attributed to his former associ-
ates, the farmers and workers organ
izatiOns, and his virtues of 1922 were
first hoped for, then family discern
ed, then embraced as facts. I'm an
early speech in northern Montana
Wheeler urged his hearers to elect a
democratic legislature, while Dixon
was campaigning for adherents to his
mine taxation scheme, the ogre of the
A. G. Nd Finally the Miners editor
came OF the conclusion, after reason
ing it out in a piOus though public
fashion. that Wheeler was a good,
safe man and ought to be elected. He
was.
Mr.. Hamilton should not forget
that, apart from the company papers,
speeches for Wheeler. Kremer was
and is a director of the Metals Bank
and Trust company. Was this praise
also intended to injure Wheelers
chances
These are the facts. which a search
of the files of the two newspapers
mentioned will support at every point.
Mr.. Hamilton may hug the delusiOn
that the Miner praised Wheeler, and
the Standard printed his picture, all
with the Machiavellian purpose of de-
feating him at the election Let us
adopt that remarkable theory, and ask
this question: What was Wheeler do
ing about it? He is a pretty smart
politician himself. and if this praise
from conservative quarters was hurt
ing him, why did he not repudiate ii
/
sues he supported in 1920? In ether
words, why did he not attack the in
visible government of the Anaconda
as he did in 1920? The fact is that
he did not do so.
Mr.. McElroy's assertion that nc
man ever went to the Senate without
the consent of the Anaconda, neither
Walsh nor any other, is absolutely
true. Mr.. Hamilton is mixed in his
dates when he says that Walsh was
elected when Wheeler sat in the legis-
lature. In 1910 Walsh was seeking
election by the legislature elected that
fall (under the old system), and one
of those legislators was Wheeler. In
that year Walsh was defeated being
then anti-Anaconda, just as Dixon
was always defeated when ne was
anti-Anaconda, and always a winner
when supported by the company. In
1910 Copper Collar" Harry Myers
was elected to the senate.
In 1912 Walsh was elected by a leg
lslature under the senatorial prefer