University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers Graduate School 1971 Montana Free Press newspaper chain 1928-1929 Barbara Jane Mittal The University of Montana Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Mittal, Barbara Jane, "Montana Free Press newspaper chain 1928-1929" (1971). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 5030. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/5030 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE MONTANA FREE PRESS NEWSPAPER CHAIN, 1928-1929 by BARBARA JA N E M ITTAL B.A. University.of Montana, .1963 Presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA 1971 Approved by: Chairm an, Board of fe^aminers UMI Number: EP40494 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI Dissartstten FubfeMtig UMI EP40494 Published by ProQuest LLC (2014). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code ProQuest < C ~ ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 4 8 1 0 6 - 1346 6- 16- 7! TABLE OF C O N T E N T S Page LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ....................... iii Chapter I. INTRODUCTION .............................. 1 II. THE MONTANA COPPER KINGS ACQUIRE A PRESS ....... 4 III. WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK JR. ................ 14 IV . THE FREE PRESS C H A IN ................... 26 The Daily Northwest of Missoula ....................... 27 The Montana Free Press of B u tte....................... 41 The Billings Free Press ............................................................. 51 V. SENATOR CLARK'S ESTATE IS S O L D ...................................................................53 VI. THE 1928 PRIMARY ELECTION ................................................................................ 61 VII. THE 1928 CAMPAIGN AND ELECTION: A STUDY OF EDITORIAL VIEWPOINTS . ............................................................................ 69 V III. COVERAGE OF THE 21ST LEGISLATURE: JANUARY-MARCH, 1929 ............................ 83 IX . CLARK SELLS OUT .......................... 92 APPENDIX ....................... 98 BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................... 145 ii LIST O F ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page V. William Andrews Clark Jr. .................. 13 2. The Daily Northwest Building Today ................. 24 3. The Daily Northwest Page One ................. 25 4. The Montana Free Press Building Today .............. 39 5. The Montana Free Press Page One ................. 40 6. The Billings Free Press Building Today ............. 50 iii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION More than 30 newspapers reflecting diverse politics, nationalities, labor groups and special interests were published in Butte, Montapa, between 1890 and 1935. Most failed financially without accomplishing their goals* The mining camp attracted representatives of many nationalities and ethnic groups, and life there generated other interest groups* Many turned to the press for a spokesman* Dozens of Montana weeklies were established, many in towns that no longer exist. Transplanted Easterners on isolated Montana homesteads wanted reading material, and adventuresome journalists with a pocketful of type were among the pioneers. Local weeklies chronicled the area’s events and reprinted the classics* Legal advertising brought a profit to the newspapers. As each homesteader "proved up" on his land, he was required to advertise in the local newspaper* As long as there were homesteads and good times, the newspapers and communities flourished; however, drought from 1917 through the early 1920s forced the farmers from insuffi­ cient 320-acre tracts. People, towns and newspapers disappeared. In Butte, where mining supported the economy and mining magnates wanted political voices, newspapers succeeded as part of industrial complexes* Besides the mines, industrialists owned smelters, lumber, land, banks, mercantiles, wire mills and city utilities. 1 2 William Andrews Clark, Marcus Daly and Fc Augustus Heinze understood the power of the press and established newspapers to help achieve their industrial and political ambitions. During the Clark-Daly political struggles, each acquired newspapers throughout the state. Many country editors realized more profit by selling to one of the copper kings than by sticking to their trade. Consequently, most Montana county seats had their Clark and Daly papers. When Daly died, Heinze was forced to sell his mining interests to the Anaconda Company. Clark retired, selling a major portion of his holdings to the Company, and many state newspapers eventually fell under one-industry ownership. Included were nine of the state's major dailies. Until late 1928, the Associated Press was the only wire service in M ontana, and its A naco n d a-affiliated members were able to control much of the news that left the state. Several newspapers protested Anaconda control of the press, but all were short-lived in a battle against newspapers backed by Standard Oil capital. In 1928, William Andrews Clark Jr., son of the copper king, revived the struggle with the "copper press." He claimed he would spend all the money neces­ sary to restore a free press in Montana. With daily newspapers in Missoula, Butte, and Billings, Clark staged a valiant effort to accomplish his goals. Although his intentions apparently were sincere, his dedication waned as it had in many other ventures. His desire to free the state from a controlled press weakened under his enormous monetary loss. Time has obscured Clark's bold efforts. Two complete files of the Missoula Daily Northwest remain--one at the Missoula, Montana Missoulian and one 3 at the Montana Historical Society Library, Helena. One complete file of the Montana Free Press of Butte—now also on microfilm— is in the state library. A few copies of the Free Press are in the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library at the University of California at Los Angeles—and the Great Falls Public Library. No copies of the Billings Free Press have been found. The editor, Archie Clark, kept no copies or clippings. It was not published long enough to be recorded in Gregory's Union List of Newspapers. Many former employes of the Clark papers have died, but others, scattered throughout the country, remember well the year when the Anaconda papers had competition in Butte, Missoula and Billings. This thesis records the events and circumstances of William Andrews Clark Jr.'s editorial battle with the "copper press." CHAPTER II THE MONTANA COPPER KINGS ACQUIRE A PRESS By the mid-1870s, only a decade after Montana Territory was established during a gold boom, the region’s placer deposits dwindled and prosperous mining 1 camps became ghost towns. The territory appeared to be languishing, but ore veins goaded metallurgists to dig further., Development of hard-rock mining thrust Montana fro m a gold rush to a silver and copper boom, and it became one of the ... 2 nation s most opulent mini ng areas. Men with engineering knowledge and capital to invest in mining became millionaires as Montana was reborn economically. From the silver era through the subsequent copper development in Butte, William Andrews Clark and Marcus Daly vied for power and wealth. C la rk, who had arrived in Butte first, was a b le, shrewd and industrious. He had begun as a gold miner and mule skinner in Montana in 1863, and he emerged as a millionaire through investments in the mercantile business, mining and banking. ^ James McClellan Hamilton, From Wilderness to Statehoods A History of Monta na (Portland, Ore .; Binfords & Mort, 1957), pp. 264-265. 2 Newton Carl Abbott, Montana in the Making (Billings, Mont.s The Gazette Printing Co., 1954), p. 475. o °Hamilton, op. cit., pp. 270-271. 4 He amassed a fortune by 1890 but had further ambitions for personal prestige and power through politics.^ Walker Brothers, a Salt Lake City firm that operated mines in Utah, received a shipment of rich silver ore from Butte and in 1876 sent Irish-born Ma reus Daly, a practical miner, to examine the area and establish a claim« Daly, who expertly managed the Walker Brothers' Butte interests, bought the Anaconda mine for himself in 1881. By selling a three-quarter interest to George Hearst, James B. Haggin and Lloyd Tevis of C alifo rn ia, he obtained enough capital to 5 begin establishing an empire in Montana» In 1889 F. Augustus Heinze, 20, a graduate of the Columbia School of Mines, arrived in Butte and was hired as an underground surveyor by the Boston and Montano Consolidated Copper and Silver Mining Company founded by Albert So Bigelow of Boston„ Heinze rapidly learned where Butte's mineral deposits lay and bought small mining properties until he soon was competing with the older