Montana labor news., 1935-08-29
Inception Of Butte
Helena Motor Freight

the mother OF invention. ms is a
proven fact in regard to the necessity
and creation OF the Butte-H Helena Mo
tor Freight.
In explanation OF this paragraph this
motor freight line now running from
Butte to Helena and return was born
in opposition to greed, political cor
ruption, out Of state monopolies, and
as a result of the direst necessity, which
has been the reason OF its persistent
existence and career as wild and Wig
orous as any steer that ever roamed
the plains Of Texas.
To relate in detail the entire his
tory Of this freight truck line would
consume elaborate space, so necessity
requires us to curtail and give the out
standing facts on this subject which
we consider obligatory to the public of
Montana from an economical, political
and a lobor standpoint.
Believe it or not, a few years ago,
politics in Montana had reached its
lowest ebb. C~apitalistic foreign inter-
ests or the carpet baggers of Wall
street, owned, operated and controlled
u state officers and our supreme
court, to the prejudice and detriment
OF Montana people.
Chiefly the office Of the Montana
Railway and Public Service Commission
was dominated by these out OF state
concerns. The Northern Pacific Ry.
had placed one Of their former divi-
sion superintendents on that board; who
with his colleagues, represented the
railroads and not the people Of Mon
tana. They were a railroad commission
in deed and action as well as in name.
Their powers were broad and far re-
aching regarding the transportation in
dustry, and which they openly abused
in the interest of Wall street concerns.
However, under these conditions as
above related, the Butte-Helena Motor
Freight began its existence. Up to.
that time, the Great Northern Railway
was the only method Of transporta-
ton from Butte to Helena.
The unsatisfactory service of this
railroad and its conduct, presents one
OF the blacklist pages Of history in this
part OF the West. According to re-
cords Of various state boards, disre-
gard OF the public, inefficient service,
~discourteous actions of its officials, in
justices to its employees, hostilities to
organized labor, and disregard of any
state or federal law that applied to it,
if it saw fit to disobey them, led to
the beginning OF this independent truck
line, which is the Butte Helena Motor
Freight.
This truck line began as the Butte
Helena Motor Freight, later the Mer-
chants Mutual Freight, then the Dis
tributors Auto Freight and again The
Butte Helena Motor Freight, which
name it now bears.
AS herein related the service of the
Great Northern Railway was so unsat-
isfactory, that the shippers between
Butte and Helena, organized a mutual
partnership freight line, to get away
from the tyranny OF this railroad, by
shipping their own wares. They were
then harassed by the lackies and stool
pigeons OF the Great Northern with all
their gangster tactics.
The Great Northern brought about
unjustified arrests Of the motor freight
drivers, filed injunctions, which they
never brought to an issue, and opposed
successfully, several times before the
corporation owned Railroad Commits
sion, the owners of the mutual truck
line to get a legal permit to haul freight.
1t is material to relate at this time,
that the attacked parties of the for
mer Distributors Auto Freight have re-
Gently filed damage suits against the
Great Northern Railway, a corporation
of Minnesota, for the spurious litigation
which the railroad waged against them,
unsuccessfully in the Montana courts,
but for the sole purpose Of hindering
and haressing the motor freight bus
mess between Butte and Helena.
During the time OF all the unwarran-
ted attack against the mutual freight
line, which we here relate, by the Great
Northern is the corporation owned
railroad commission previous to jan
uary /, 1885, a decision was handed
down by the Montana Supreme Court,
written by that progressive Justice,
Angstman, now attorney for the pre-
sent progressive railroad commission,
which gave the mutual line, as it was
constituted, the right to operate. This
helped to kill the super authority of
domineering railroads and gave Mon
tana citizens their constitutional rights.
Finally, with the New Deal, came a
railroad commission, the majority of
which believe in justice. The last cleo
ted was Jerry O'Connell, whom organ
lied labor endorsed and supported for
the office he now holds.
Again Mr.. Wiles, one of the part
ners of the Mutual Freight Line or
the Distributors Auto Freight, petition
ed for a legal permit to haul freight
from Butte to Helena and return. Not
as a mutual line, but as a common car
rier. Again, the ancient enemy, the
Great Northern Railway opposed, but
unsuccessfully this time as the permit
was granted by the only real Montana
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i Compliments of +
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