Harmon’s Histories: K. Ross Toole warned of corporate greed, exploitation

By Jim Harmon

Today, I’m wrapping up a two-part series on K. Ross Toole. If you didn’t read last week’s column, it might be helpful to review it before enjoying part two, today.

Ross Toole was deeply concerned about corporate greed vs. “the will of the people to protect the land they love.”

He said, “Surrounded by vast natural wealth, we almost always fell short of cashing in. Somehow, the real wealth always flowed outward.”

It was his brutal portrayal of Eastern industrialists meddling with Montana and its future that became his legacy. One of his specific targets was the Anaconda Company.

Most folks are familiar with Copper Kings Marcus Daly and William Clark. But there was another Copper King - Frederick "Fritz" Augustus Heinze.

He was a smooth operator and unmatched orator. Some saw him as a hero for standing up to the Amalgamated Copper Company (ACC). Others thought he was a devious character who, in the end, sold his Butte interests to Amalgamated for $12 million.

Heinze would call the ACC his enemy, “fierce, bitter and implacable,” and tell the mine workers “If they crush me today, they will crush you tomorrow. They will force you to live in Standard Oil houses, while you live - and they will bury you in Standard Oil coffins when you die.” It would seem he was the working man’s friend. But, as I said, he was a smooth operator.

Heinze didn’t buy legislators; he bought judges, specifically Butte’s Edward W. Harney and William Clancy.

That accomplished, he filed a claim on a tiny piece of land right in the middle of ACC’s holdings, citing the “Apex Law.” That mining law said, “if a vein of ore apexes (breaks ground) on your surface claim, you can follow that claim wherever it goes.”

He hired crews to work 24 hrs a day, stealing the Amalgamated Copper Company blind.

When the ACC filed suit, the case was heard by none other than the bought-and-paid-for Judge Clancy.

University of Montana students would break into laughter as Dr. Toole described Judge Clancy. “He had a beard and it was said you could always tell what he had for breakfast, because most of it was plastered on his beard." Being Irish, he often drank too much and often fell asleep during trials. If he was startled awake he would always say, "I find for Mr. Heinze."

Given Montana’s long history of economic domination by outside interests, Dr. Toole challenged his students: Who will shape Montana’s future? “Will we do it to and for ourselves? Or will it be done for us by outsiders, to and for themselves and to our detriment? That has been the case for 150 years, we ought to stop it.”

He suggested, “Gather together a group of people about as follows: the Governor, the State Land Board, the Public Service Commission, the Director of State Planning and Economic Development, the Board of Natural Resources and Conservation, Environmental Quality Council, the legislators, the mayors, and the county commissioners.”

Tell the group: “Ladies and gentlemen, it is getting late, very late. We want to grow but we never never again want to be raped or exploited. You will act and act now, so that in (the future) no young man or young woman will leave this state because it cannot provide him or her with a job.”

“And no person at all will leave the state because it has dirty and stinking water and treeless and grass-less land. You are not to act for yourselves or for now. You are to act for others and the future.”

“And if you will not do this, one by one and then dozens by dozens, we will remove you. And we will put people in your places who know, as you do not, where the winds are tending.”

But, Toole reminded his students, “Politicians very rarely lead; they follow. And there is almost always a lag between what people want and what politicians think you want.”

“Demand your representatives in Montana and in Washington confront corporate power, and work across the aisle, and do it before it’s too late.”

As Toole pointed out in the beginning of his lectures, “There are new winds blowing, both good and evil, and there is a stirring across this land. There is still a chance (though I think it may be our last one) and I think that you had better try and try terribly hard.”

I left Montana, my home state, in 1965, and did not return until 1983. Broadcasting wages were low, as were opportunities for advancement.

Dr. Toole knew something had to change. Montana’s per-capita income in 1950 was about 8% above the national average. By 1968, said Toole, we had fallen 14% below the national average, and in 1980 we were about 21% below the national average.

Today, per-capita income data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis shows Montana 27th among the 50 states, at $65,075 in 2024. In neighboring Wyoming, that number is $85,945; in North Dakota, it’s $70,966.

Now, the people of Montana must assess where we stand in 2025.

Are we challenging corporate power? Is our state still being “raped or exploited?” Are we reaching across the political aisle?

Let me know what you think.