The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1940-03-27

for this department should be brief
some degree at least, effectively.
8 WANTED; MUCKRAKERSi
: Forty years ago when Lincoln Stef
! fens walked into the executive office
of Gov. Myron Herrick at Columbus
Ohio, and audaciously asked, who's
! lyour boss?" that dignified gentlemen
: ordered Steffens from the room But
} Steffens never was easy. His rapier
questions penetrated the Herrick
armor and forced the admission that
George B. Cox, the proprietor of Dead
: Mans Corner Saloon and fuhrer OF
7 the Cincinnati underworld was the
most powerful republican boss in the
Buckeye state.
Ida Tarbell was the nemesis of John
Rockefeller and startled the nation by
graphically disclosing the business
of Standard Oil.
Turn Steffens or a Tarbell loose
in Montana today with inkpot and
quill and a political revolution would
be at hand There is enough incom-
lpetance, graft and chicanery in Mon
tana's political set-up here and now to
make ringworm on the garish moon!
Odors muskatic and pungent have
spread from the capital at Helena to
fill the voters with suspicion and re-
sentiment. The Peoples Voice has its
job cut out for long time ahead.
Four weeks ago seven governors
from oil producing state went to Wash
ington to protest against the Cole bill,
a petroleum conservation measure.
One of the seven was Montana's chief
executive who upon his return was
quoted as saying, Estates can work
out their own conservation best if left
alone"
Yes, like the present state admin
istration has worked out the conserva-
ton of range grass, for instance! 1t
| is all so simple to a guy born with
chaps, spurs and Stetson. Just create
a commission, pack it with fellows
schooled in the art of fetch and carry
and tell them to go to it. They can't
lose. A tin-horn gambler can win nine
times out of ten if allowed to make
Jail the rules of the game. "Conser-
walton" in the range law has become
"a synonym for selfishness, greed |
and plumber!
This is an appalling dis-service to
the state. 1t has given rise to the |
gripping presumption that oil, gas,
timber land and mineral and other
state-owned natural resources may be
administered with the same reckless
disregard of the public interest. The
general assembly which convenes in
January 1941 should devote much of
its time to scrutinous investigation.
Muckrakers are needed to blaze the
It. ANDERSON,
Hogeland, Mont
Dear Editor:
Now that several troubled Ameri-
cans have expressed opinions on the
situation, perhaps some +
to the personal opinions already set
forth.
Mr.. Larsen posed that quaint ques- ;
lion SO beloved of the capitalist press,
because on the surface so ridiculous: +
Would little country like Finland o
nave planned to attack the huge Soviet +
Jnion?". A very inclusive reply is q
his incisive statement of Mr. D. N. q
oritt, British member of parliament Il
Who has made important studies of
he international situation, ut is of n
course highly significant that Finland #
hould be put forward in the present i,
campaign with such in n
istence as a thoroly democratic state. II
Finland is a country where 4
nentary democracy, reactionary and If
indeed fascist minority, with long II
ecord of bitter hostility to the USSR, VI
xercise the whole reality of power =,
yer a courageous and intelligent ma n,
0rity; and in foreign relations, under
facade of independence, that same n
uling minority accepts the position of Ii
client state, colony, almost a ST
Military outpost, of Great Britain :" 4,
Since the signing of peace between I'm
lie Soviet Union and Finland, the to
apitalist press has openely admitted
hat the Soviet Union has long tb
aimed, that Finland had been as or
gned the role of jumping off
'ound" in that area whenever a gen nc
al war against the Soviets had been Q
allied. Herein, then, must lie our On
sep, heartfelt sympathy for the fine Of
lnnish people: that because of their
,opraphic situation they were des-
ned to become the bloody pawns of
e imperialists.
From the daily press, too, we CLEAN
at evidently Great Britain had de- ID
red to keep the Red army occupied IL
Finland while she consolidated her
rces in the Near East for all attack ID
the Caucasian oilfields of the So
ct territory, as we'll as to prevent
ssible Red aid to Germany. If we MA
e to take the Associated Press seri- vic
sly, then, it would mean justifica- RI
N of the Soviet claim that the Fin ino
III army (under pressure from Lon !
NJ had actually provoked hostilities in
'ough border incidentsi the
The peace has demonstrated, among tbi
Ter things, that the Scandinavian oue
ople were unwilling to permit their Ri
ids to be converted into slaughter 7
uses for the greater glory of Great in
ltaln. II Is tline-hohored game Oh nat
British lion to coerce other, vea
aller nations TO battle for her, when IN