The producers news., 1927-04-01
Wheeler's Ingratitude to
Men And Organizations
That Made Him, Exposed

reds of people out of Montana, the
Bulletin had to cease publication as
a daily and make its appearance only
once a week. 1t was in hard circum-
stances. The Anaconda Company
wanted to put it out of existence.
Wheeler needed it no longer. The
politicians in Butte, whom it had rails
ed to high places, did not want to
have their deals scrutinized and given
to the public by fearless editor who
spoke to the people of Butte every
week through the medium of a paper
not controlled by the Sixth Floor. In
1928 Dunn returned, after an absence
of several months, and made heroic
efforts to save the paper. He found
that the politicians did not want to
go out of their way to help him. He
found that Wheeler, now secure for
six years in the high office of United
States Senator, was unrespOnsive.
The machinery of the Bulletin was
sold at public auction for approx
mately $4,000. Wheeler could have
deducted this sum from the fee he
received in Sheridan County and have
nearly $4,000 to spare. He would
never have got the Sheridan county
case or the large fee if he had not
been "sOld" to the progressives of
Northeastern Montana by the Bulle-
tin. Yet he let the Bulletin plant be
sold and the paper die. He heaved
sigh of relief as he felt that there
would be no paper in Butte to dis
turb the peace he had made with the
big company on the Hill.
His Trip to Russia.
After his election in 1922, the first
notable act of Wheeler, to attract
state wide attention, was his visit to
Soviet Russia. Whether the expenses
of this visit came out of the capa-
cious pockets of the junior senator
or we're paid by some agency inter
ested in getting the truth about Rus
sia before the American people has
always been a moot question but it
does not concern the readers of these
articles. In all fairness it must be
said that his opportunity was limited
because of the fact that his know
ledge of the most elementary canons
of economic law or social science
was very limited
He returned in the summer of 1923
and came to Butte in June. He gave
three interviews to three Butte news
papers, the Butte Miner, the Anacon-
da Standard and the Butte Bulletin.
The Butte Bulletin, then edited by
w. F. Dunn, ran this headline:
WHEELER SAYS SOVIETS
DOING GREAT WORK.
In support of that headline the
following appeared:
"Asked whether he found Rus
sian labor 'enslaved,' as Samuel
GOmpers had been informed, Sena-
tor Wheeler laughed.
" 'Enslaved! Why, the industrial
workers run industry in Russia,
they control the government. It is
funny to hear them called slaves"
''The Russian people are
not discOntented with their govern
ment.'
The Butte Miners headline that
! day was as follows:
/ SENATOR WHEELER, BACK
FROM RUSSIA, SAYS RED
RULE COLOSSAL FAILURE
The Anaconda Standard ran this
headline:
''MAN WOULD BE BETTER
OFF IN JAIL IN U. S. THAN
AT LIBERTY IN RUSSIA.
SEN. WHEELER'S COMMENT''
The interviews were in accord with
the headlines. The Butte Miner story
ran in part
" Communism has been a failure
is Russia and the leaders of the
government are moving away from
it. Capitalism is returning
to the land; in fact. the Soviet
leaders are offering inducements
to capitalists. In five years
l predict that the capitaIistic sys-
tenn will be completely restored.
The MARKHAM cOmmunistic
theory has been completely aban-
dOned.' :"
The labor people of Butte anxious
ly waited for an authoritative state
ment from the Senator repudiatino.
the Miner and Standard interviews
and confirming that given by the
Bulletin. Also the community at large
was interested in the very notable
contradictions involved in the two in
terviews, and it also awaited some
statement from Wheeler to clear UP
what he had actually said. They are