The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1944-04-28


pany in it's accounting proce
citizens held a spirited mass
meeting on Sunday afternoon,
April 23, in the Butte Miners
Union hall. The large union
hall, where once the copper
barons wined and dined, In
what was the Silver Bow club,
but is now the property of the
men who toll, was completely
filled by the time the rally got
under way.
The audience represented a wide
cross section of the population of the
mining city, with workers, small busl-
ness men and professional people
scattered throughout, and few Mon
tana Power representatives in attend
ance, too.
Mason Chairman
William Mason, president of Butte
Miners Union No. l, which sponsored
the meeting. was the chairman of the
gathering. Bringing the rally to or
der Mason explained the purpose OF
the meeting, which was to give the
people of Butte report on the hear
ings thus far, and true picture OF
the facts, instead of the false propa-
ganda, spread forth in the columns
of the Anaconda controlled Montana
noilu Post the
two dailies published here. President
Mason pointed out that there is no
freedom of the press in Butte, as he
related that the Butte Miners union
had attempted to place advertisements
in both Butte papers, concerning the
mass meeting on the power issue; the
advertising was refused by the propa-
ganda bureau of the Anaconda-Mon-
tana Power interests, and was not
printed. 1t is obvious that the Mon
tana Power has so much to hide, that
it dare not let the people know the
facts. After this preliminary explain
alton, Mason then introduced the
speaker of the day, Jerry ]. O'Connell,
state CLIO political action director.
Financial SkuIlduggery
O'Connell explained the purpose OF
the hearings that were now being con-
Quoted in Butte; what they could &C.
complish; what benefits would come
to the electric consumers now ex-
cessively charged by the Montana
Power, to the preferred stockholders
nd fn the
utility corporation itself. The audi
ence laughed and applauded uproari-
ously as the former congressman rldl-
culed the performance of Con Kelly,
ACM company director, while he was
on the stand; he exposed Kelley's |
evasiveness on the witness stand, and
his embarrassment as the Federal
Power Commission attorneys laid bare
the financial skullduggery connected
with the incorporation of the Montana
Power company.
The crowd was actually shocked,
when it learned the Illegal manipu-
Iations resorted to, to initiate the cost
of plant of the utility, upon which
fictitious and written-up figures, the
electric bills of the Montana Power
customers are now paying practically
twice as much as they ought to be,
if this hearing is successful.
Describing the transactions involv-
ing the Thompson Falls power site,
O'Connell pointed out that John d.
Ryan, himself a director of the Mil
waukee railroad, bought the Thomp-
son Falls site from the railroad for
$45O,0O0; then formed his own Thomp-
son Falls power corporation, to which
he sold the power site for $950,000;
then sold, the very next day, to the
Montana Power company, of which he
was the directing genius and largest
single stockholder, this $450,000 power
site for $5,O00,000 of the common
stock of the Montana Power. The
CLIO political director showed with
evidence that Ryan had bought the
Great Falls Water Power and Town
site company from James ]. Hill, the
empire builder so-called, for his notes
in the amount of $1,50O,O0O. Ryan
next sold one-half of this interest, or
S750000 to the Butte Electric Power
which he was actually run
ming at the time for $2500,0O0 in cash
and securities, and then in 1913 when
he Butte Electric was sold to the
Montana Power, Ryan then sold the
second half interest in the Great Falls
properties, worth as he paid for it, in
notes, $750,000 to the Montana Power
for the amazing, incredible
figure of $22,500,000, or a write-up of {
s21, 900 in one transaction. O'Con- s
lell exposed another fictitious and {
alse write-up of 100000, when the
Butte Electric Power was sold to the {
newly created Montana Power, for I
which four shares of stock at 500 {
,er value each of the new company |
vas given for one share of the same
,ar value of the old company, or $500 c
or $100, which naturally inflated the q
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