Montana labor news., 1936-10-29
Should An Innocent
Man Be Crudiied
Continued from Page y

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the flat, where the said safe was
dynamited. | have often wondered
if they had found any money in the
safe, if they would have turned said
money over to the organization. Per-
sonally knowing a goodly number of
these men, l have formed my own
conclusions as to what would have
become of any money they might
have found, but at this time will let
you draw your own conclusions.
Had this mob remained in control
of the right element in this organiza-
ton the history of the Western Fed
Grafton of Miners would have been
entirely different, and no doubt
would today be a flourishing organ
ization, and the miners of Butte
would not have been in an morgan
lied state for a period of about twen-
ty long years. Now who do you think
profited by this condition? Surely not
miners of Butte. Don't you really
think that someone with a real
grievance was responsible for the
whole thing? Remember the West
ern Federation of Miners was a
thorn in the side of the mining OPP
orators of the west for years, and
the operators tried everything in
their power to disrupt the organiza-
ton, even going so far as to try and
send some of its officials to the peni-
Tertiary, on perjured testimony.
Do you really think this hall
should have been destroyed? The
majority of the miners did not think
so. That hall was a monument to one
of the greatest bodies of right think
ing men that ever settled any place
in the West, THE PIONEER MIN
ERS OF BUTTE. Your dad and my
dad and thousands of other dads.
They were very proud of that hall,
and justly SO, as it was the home of
one of the greatest organizations in
the West until control of the organ
~ization was given to people who
would wreck anything, if thereby
they could derive a personal profit
But do you really think it was nee
essary to destroy the hall and with
it the organization, in order to purge
the organization of the grafters that
had taken control of it? I for one
do not think you do, as the miners
of Butte, on account of being UNI
organized, had to accept many a
condition that they could not have
been coerced into accepting had
they been organized.
There is always a part of any or
%ganization that is not wholly in ac-
cord with the officials duly elected
by their organization. Do you think
that a number of dissatisfied men,
bers of the present organization OF
miners would have the right (be-
cause the affairs of the union were
not conducted just as they thought
they should be conducted) to go to
one of the nearby mines and secure
without any protest from the own
ers) enough powder to go down and
wreck the Miners Union Hall? Ger
tainly you do not think they would
have the right, and if they made the
attempt to do SO you would naturally
expect the sheriff, with his deputies,
duly supported by the city police
force, to do everything in their pow
er to prevent such a catastrophe, and
not sit idly by and let a thing like
this occur.
l am not ~criticizing Sheriff Dris-
coll or Mayor Duncan, as anyone not
knowing the real facts of the case
might have acted the same as they
acted. But what I do criticize is the
fact that they r trying to throw
the blame for this calamity on a