The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1956-01-13
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
BY GRETCHEN G. BILLINGS

country are wondering, just like the
dozens and dozens of people who
have come into the VOICE office and
called US over the phone, just what is
going on here in Helena, where the
Railroad & Public Service Commits
sion filed a request that the State
Supreme Court cite Arnold Olsen for
contempt of court, because of a TV
broadcast in Butte.
You probably figure as everyone
does that i is a move to try and
squelch the Attorney General AMI
put him behind the Shall.
And maybe that is all that really
needs to be said, however, it ism t
all that is being said.
This for sure is just the beginning
of battle royal till after election.
The Supreme Court could file its
own contempt citation if they wanted
to stop public discussion of this mat
ter, and it is kinda persumptuous of
the RR&PS Commission to think they
had to tell them. If the Court felt
the pressures were getting so great
as to make it impossible for them to
keep their eyes on the material in
front of them they could haul anyone
in they wanted to.
And if there has been "contepmt"
in this case it started long ago. Let
us go back into history and see where
it might have been done before.
Olsen filed suit in district court
about Nov. 3, 1853. The original suit
on unreasonable rates" was side
tracked until the Supreme Court
ruled he had a right in the case. Jus
tice Angstman wrote the decision
that said he did. Then the question
of the rate increase could be, and
was, before the district court. About
October, 1866 it reached the Supreme
Court.
Between the time the case was
filed in 1858 and the present request
for a contempt citation of the Al
torney General we might ask our
selves: Why weren't contempt re-
quests filed at the time the following
incidents happened?
1. When a series of gas rate in
crease protest meetings were held
around the state at which the At
torney General was asked to speak?
2. When Jack Corette, president Of
Montana Power Company, appeared
over a statewide radio network con
demning the Attorney Generals ac-
ton?
3. When the Montana Power Com
pany published in all Montana news
papers in March, 1854 the ad entitled
The Story of Arnold Olsen's House.?
For that matter on the basis of
'easons put forth by the RR&PS
Commission a contempt proceeding
night be filed against Governor Aron-
on for his 'inflammatory" speech
riven recently before the Wool Grow
RS convention on the oil case before !
he Supreme Court.
That would be, of course, if you Y
hink free discussion of these things
hould be throttled.
Which | don't. t
Some interesting sidelights have
ONE out of the great interest shown t
l the move taken by the RR&PS v
t
Immediately upon hearing about j
lie appeal filed by Middleton, Smith
nd Young we went to the Capitol and t
'oked over the material. 1t included O
verbatim supposedly copy of Oh o
EMS speech, and because our reac- il
ons were the same as so many other S
eople we asked, "What did Olsen b
Ly?" h
So we went to his office and asked f.
n a copy of the speech to bring over Il
ere and masticate. E
Guess what? n
There was no written script used h
the TV broadcast. Of
Someone had monitored the speech W
aiken recording) and gone to the al
,pense and trouble of having it pl
absorbed back word for word and
1t in the Memo of Authority filed M
tn the Clerk of the Supreme Court, 1!
L. II. IL O. L. s4a4. | E.