The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1946-06-28
BY HOMER SIMOuS

By HOMER SIMOUS
i Poor old B. K Wheeler; somebody
smearing him again Well, | remem
Der when he was being really smeared
but that is quite a number of year.
ago. In 1920, as candidate for cover
nor in 1922 when he first ran fo
senator and in 1924, as candidate
for vice president he WAS smeared
and howl In those days, when he hat
the support of liberals land some ex
IRENE leftists as welD Wheeler was
! labeled red" "bolshevik" and any
other ugly name that came into the
minds of his political enemies. In fact
he was not permitted to speak on be
half of his candidacy for governor, il
some of the conservative" communi
ties of the state. so bitter was the
feeling against him by the self-stylet
better element"
However, in his campaign for sec
ond term in the senate, he had as
his opponent ex-Gov Joseph M. Dix
on, who was even more thoroughly
hated by the powers that be" thar
Wheeler had ever been, and while
the company apparently took little
part in the campaign, they and Wheel
er's other old-line smearers put theiI
pots and brushes away.
Remember the 1888 "Hoss Trading?
Wheeler lucky dog that he is, had
as his opponent for third term
George M. Bourquin, retired federal
Judge, than whom the Republicans
could hardly have named poorer
candidate. Thoroughly hated by a
large proportion of the Montana bar
land especially by the present COVER
nor) and disliked by the corporations,
Bourquin didn't have ghost of a
chance to be elected No smearing in
that campaign, at least for Wheeler.
Comes now Wheeler's quest for a
fourth term in the senate. and the
wheel of fortune again turned in his
favor, and dropped the persimmons
smack-dab into his basket The Repub-
licans nominated an able young law
yer as the senator's opponent, but he
was called to the service of his coun-
try before he had chance to make
a campaign, with the result that it
was a walk-away for Wheeler. Again,
no smears for Wheeler.
But Wheeler himself had in the
meantime, learned the uses of smear
tactics in politics and had used them
prior to 1910.
In 1887, Wheeler using Roosevelts
plan for recognizing the United
States supreme court as an excuse,
broke with the president, went out
and did little practice at the smear
game himself by charging Roosevelt
with trying to pack" the supreme
court, already packed with lame ducks,
corporation lawyers and 18th century
minds.
How About Bk's Pal "Thorky"?
Jerry O'Connell who represented
the First Congressional District in
congress at that time refused to break
away from the New Deal policies of
F.DR. and moreover, supported the
defenders of the Spanish republic
against Franco and his fascist and
nazi allies. These actions on O'Con-
nell's part so angered Wheeler that
when Jerry came up for reelection
in 1888, Blk. supplied himself with
a nice big smear pot and strong,
coarse brush with which to apply its
contents, and with his man Friday
bailey Stortz) made personal tour
of the district smearing O'Connell
with the charge that he was mere
rubber stamp" that he was crazy,
etc. Wheeler's efforts resulted in
O'Connell's defeat and the election of
DR.. Jacob Thorkelson, who made
record in congress that brought shame
to all decent thinking Montanans;
filling the Congressional Record from
day to day with anti-semetic and pro-
Hitler stuff of the most offensive kind.
O'Connell was again nominated for
congress in 1910, but Wheeler influ-
ence was sufficient to defeat him and
elect Jeanette Rankin, who proved
to be the only member of congress
who voted to have the United States
turn tail and run away after Pearl
Harbor.
In 1912. when Sen. James E. Muir
ray came up for reelection, Wheeler
discarded his old, well worn smear
pot and the strong, coarse brush he
had used so successfully in previous
campaigns and equipped himself with
a new and larger smear container, to
which he added a powerful spray gun
for use in smearing Murray. The man,
of all men, in whose interest this
smear campaign was to be conducted
was Wellington d. Rankin Some of
the depths to which Wheeler sank in
the Shiny campaign conducted against
Murray are amazing, but amongst the
lowest perhaps, was the writing of
some letters, one of which was direct
ed to the publisher of leading Dem
ocratic newspaper, bitterly upbraiding
him for supporting Murray in the col
umns of his paper, and classifying
Murray with numbskulls, nincom-
poops, dunderheads, etc. AS result
of that letter. | noticed considerable
in the papers support of
Another Stellar Performance BY Our
"NobIe" Democrat in 1914
The campaign for the governorship