Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1940-01-13

Helenas reference to the swank
Anaconda TO satirize this prominent
institution. classed as lin fact, social
capitol building"
Quoting again from Reasons Why
Helena Should Be the Permanent Cap
ital''-.Tt (Anaconda) Is peculiarly
barren of educational facilities Of the
higher class and social advantages d.
The ability OF many Of her (Helena'sl
citizens, and their prominence and ac-
tivity in public affairs renders her an
influential factor In the legislation and
administration of the state"
'aThe Horrors Of Anaconda"
Commenting under the heading
The Horrors Of Anaconda" the satire
says:
Just turn to the other picture. In
contrast with Helena with her elegance
and ease. her manifold graces and re-
finements, the supreme niceties and
brilliancieS of her drawing rooms, what
do we find in Anaconda A rude, rough
Smelter town, rooted in vileneSs and
vulgar1ty; town nine -tenthS Of whose
| population tolls the year around at
manual labor: big, strong, coarse
workingmen, who could not tell q ger
man from q wheelbarrow; with so err
roneoUs a conception OF the proprieties
that. so far from exhibiting a sense of
modification and chagrin, they seem
to take a sort of conscious pride in
going to and from their work in soiled
overallS and with huge dinner buckets.
THE Helena capital committee has
no desire to speak diSreSpectfully Of
Montana's working classes. The con-
StitutiOnal convention of 1889 saw fit
to give them the right to vote. Helena
will not dispute the wisdom of the
constitutional convention. It's work is
done and further argument Is useless.
But we submit to the candor, the hon
esty, the intelligence, the patriotism of
the workingmen themselves :. wheth-
er they will vote to locate the capital
of Montana in a town where their own
class so Overwhelmingly predominateS.
They surely must perceive the peril
Of such procedure.
According to all history and all
tradition and all experience, legislative
bodies must be removed from contact
with the common people =. the law
makers must. while they are in
session at least, be surrounded con-
stantly by people who can feed them on
culture and champagne. In Montana !
this desideratum is found, and found |
only, in the city Of Helena-Helena, |
the refined, the fascinating, the faS-
tidiOus, the magnificent
the workingmen of Montana, |
we repeat, admit the Unreasonable !
superiority OF Helena over Anaconda, I
with nothing but her mobs of clod- I
hoppers; good enough people, some of |
them, perhaps, in their own way, but
without title to their names, or a
four in-hand to their barns, or a
femme de chambre to their wives, or
a nursery maid to their children, or a
cask of wine to their cellars, or a
skeleton to their closets, or saddest and
most pttiable Of all, a dress suit TO their
backs"
HeIena's SILK Stockings
Besides quoting again the original
Helena brochure-"there are none of
the facilities for trade, for comfort
able living, and for amusement and
social diversion which a capital should
afford. The place (Anaconda) is, in
fact, only a village, inhabited by the
workingmen in the great copper -smelt-
ing plant, and by such tradesmen and
mechanics as live by supplying their
wants"
Comment under the title put in
Figures" says:
In 1893 the consumption of
silk stockings in Helena was 34730
pairs, 3.87 pairs per capita, or TIA sep
arate stockings per legita, a substan-
,ial increase over the consumption of
1892, despite the financial depression s
indeed, the panic seems not to have s
injured this branch of trade in Helena
n the slightest. Helena's silk stockings,
Ike her payroll, go on forever. J
I'm Anaconda the merchants do not ]
wen carry silk stockings in stock. In [
Helena the percentage of claw-ham-
ner coats to the total male population {
S 1852; IN Anaconda, 1888. In Hell q
ma 81 persons out Of every 100 say
trousers and 'waiStcoatS'; in Anaconda /
80 out of every 100 say pants and /
vests In Helena people universally '
all one of their swell social events 7
function; the people Of Anaconda Q
ariably call it fake" r
The pamphlet spends considerable q
pace satirizing Helena's references to n
er financial prestige. A short quota b
ion is sufficient: I'VE hesitate to use C
0 coarse and vulgar an expression, but q
ne fact is that Helena has always
the entire state of Mon +
ana; and 1t is Helena's duty and II
rivilege to oversee all that is going Il
n, to pass upon all business trans f
cttonS, and to receive fair and ade- L
uate rakeoff therefrom. In Helena's G
atechism, whatsoever money has been I
lade that was made" "
HeEena's Mobility of Soul" Il
The original Helena argument paint a
/ Marcus DAILY, the founder and pa p
ON saint OF Anaconda, as a greedy, p
eSpotic Midas Comment in satire 81
lade him boor risen from the mines, e
lingling on q common plane with his d
0rkingmen; and a would-be modern ca
lexander the Great; it charged him al
it'll responsibility for every crisis and VI
catastrophe of the 10Th century, and II
irlds up: IF Helena has not painted
-arcus Days character as black as it &
serves to be, let the fault be at
ibuted to Helena's proverbial tender ci
ass of heart and nobility of soul" CT
The pamphlet closes with q recapit- w
@ ffrsa eyfxyfnr IN ocoua aUafurf Ana