The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1944-03-10
OUT IN THE OPEN
By J. G.. S.


During the past week paper the independent
Record has prominence to the report of the meet
ing of the Monanans Inc devoted to postwar planning OF
the four principal speakers Peterson president
of Monanan Inc and Dan Kelly the Anaconda Copper
them in general terms purporng to advocate postwar
to prevent unemployment and to develop the states
water mineral and industrial resources Who attended that
meeting not set out of the reports 1t well
known however, that the Montanans Inc the baby of the
C. M. Co., the Montana Power Company and to lesser
tent of the major railroad lines operating in Montana
The people of Montana generally convinced that the
facing period of development and these resou
tons of the Montanans Inc apparently designed to fool
the people believing that that organization the
and development of industrial life and the substan
a expansion of the water In his
book Montana High Wide and Handsome, the author Joe
Howard makes the point that the Anaconda Copper Min
ing Company Montana Company the ntroduc-
ton of industries which would compete with the mining
company for Monana and with the Montana Pow
Company for the power of the state is undesra
be He further makes the point, which is we'll known that
the Montana Power Company engaged in life and death
struggle to maintain its ownership and control of the Missouri
river against the people of the state The expansion of
rgaton and the development of public is the principal
threat to this exclusive ownership
In the light of the editorial appearing February of
this in the Helena IndependenRecord which owned
outright by the Anaconda Copper Company it would appear
of Montanans Inc passing the resolutions above referred
to must be questioned That editorial is headed Bureau
dragging of the red herring of federal bureaucracy the
trail of the real issue According to the Bureau of Recama
on there than 100000 of land in Montana
suitable for irrigation which not now irrigated and which
proftably could be put under water
under in Washington to rrgate Montana land and
Montana waters for for other states We have
had quite bit of with irrigation projects in Mon
ana We have provided water for fifth class grazing lands
and wondered why the paid We could
water in limited of high grade land to grain
but we've already tried flood prairie.
of upwards of than $3.50 know that zzle
before starts What kind of would be needed pay
for that land and support the farmer and his family in the
meanme?'
Montanans generally believe, the Bureau of Rec
lamaton that the first cost of project necessarily the
determining factor whether the land should be put
water If that not the would not have the
Buffalo Rapids project in eastern Montana the Tongue River
dam southeastern Montana and host of other worthwhile
irrigation projects According this editorial is the posi-
ton Of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company expressed
through it's newspaper in Helena that the period irrigation
Montana and that at most there is but
very small amount high grade land in limited areas suitable
development There hardly Chamber of Commerce
the state of Montana club that take anyone
out to fine land in the particular community which could and
should be put under irrigation, and protaby This edi
ora ought to wake civic minded people all the state of
Montana the position Of the Montana Copper Mining
Company and of the Montana Power Company.
The editorial then to reveal the real position of
The two companies on power development and quote The
situation applies power development We
than need, in time The very foundation of
expanded industrial life in Montana is
the of the state If there thing
which Montana rich beyond most states is in its water
and who has the interests of his
heart must be dedicated to tremendous expansion of
The writer of the editorial making
hat statement wasn't interested in the welfare of Montana
in what is good and desirable for its people He
ped in writing this editorial by exactly the people who
back Of Montanans Inc To suggest that the company
responsible for the statement in the editorial the first days
February could be sincere in passing resolutions avorng
Industrial and development in the last days of February
the creduity of anyone
There is not community in Montana that doesn't dream
day of industrial expansion. Montanans point
wealth of materials water and
strategic position halfway between the west coast and the
middle west The Anaconda Copper Companys dominant
position the state pointed in the book
high, Wide and Handsome is due largely to the that
occupies almost exclusively the field major employer 1t
oesn want other industries to into the state the
uions of the Montanans, Inc to the contrary.
This editorial is bold frank statement of exactly that
POSITION for goes say "Out of this drum fire grows
old story about Now is the time make
ustrial state. Grand. We wish it could be- Montanas
peciaty always has been products Mining livestock
nd farming industries. If
here have ship them long distances market
Fourl