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Newspaper The Butte Daily Bulletin (Butte, Mont.) 1918-1921

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About The Butte Daily Bulletin (Butte, Mont.) 1918-1921

The emergence of the Butte Daily Bulletin can be linked to the turbulent events in Butte during the summer and autumn of 1917: the Speculator Mine fire killing 168 miners; the organizing activities of the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) throughout the Pacific Northwest and the brutal murder of IWW organizer Frank Little in Butte; and the formation of the Montana Council of Defense, which was organized to rout out individuals guilty of sedition and espionage and which supported by the Anaconda Company as part of its “captive press” to silence labor unions and those opposed to participation in World War I.  In December 1917, the Butte Daily Bulletin hit the streets as a reaction to these developments.

A group of progressive politicians, including Burton K. Wheeler (U.S. Attorney in Butte and future U.S. Senator from Montana) and James A. Murray (independent mine owner and uncle of James E. Murray, future U.S. Senator from Montana) joined forces with William F. Dunne, an electrical worker and union militant and R. Bruce Smith, president of the Butte Typographical Union, to publish the eight-page, seven-column weekly newspaper that grew out of the Strike Bulletin, published irregularly beginning in June 1917.  The newspaper became a daily in August 1918.  The motto of the Bulletin appeared in bold letters on the masthead:

During the 1918 election campaign, the Silver Bow County Council of Defense used newsprint shortages declared by the U.S. War Industries Board to challenge the Bulletin’s effort to become a daily newspaper, and on August 12 the Montana Council of Defense issued a ban on new dailies.  The Bulletin’s editor, William F. Dunne, responded with an editorial attacking the Council of Defense for “their star-chambered sessions and putrid tactics” and wrote that the members “have grown lean and gray, or fat and bald in the service of big business.”  The Bulletin defied the Council’s order and continued to publish. On September 13, at the behest of the Council, Major Omar Bradley and his soldiers raided the Bulletin’s office, and two days later Dunne and manager Smith were arrested on sedition charges.  Though they were convicted in Helena District Court, the Montana Supreme Court overturned Dunne and Smith’s convictions in May 1920.  Serving as the official organ of the Montana State Federation of Labor, the National Trades Council of Butte, the Silver Bow Trades and Labor Assembly, and the State Metal Trades Council, the Bulletin struggled on, like the Butte miners’ union, until May 31, 1921, when it ceased publication.

“We Preach the Class Struggle in the Interests of the Workers as a Class.”  The Butte Daily Bulletin reported on local, regional, national, and international labor news (including the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia), as well as covering sports and including classified ads.  The newspaper threw its support behind the Non-Partisan ticket in Montana elections in 1918.  The Bulletin condemned the high cost of living in Butte and local political corruption.  Governor Sam Stewart once proclaimed:  “I defy anyone to produce a more radical or revolutionary sheet in the United States…Why it is allowed to circulate through the mails is more than I can understand.”

Provided By: Montana Historical Society; Helena, MT

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Butte Daily Bulletin (Butte, Mont.) 1918-1921

Names

  • Montana State Federation of Labor
  • Metal Trades Council of Butte (Mont.)
  • Silver Bow Trades and Labor Assembly (Mont.)
  • State Metal Trades Council (Mont.)
  • Montana World War Veterans, Inc

Dates of Publication

  • 1918-1921

Created / Published

  • Butte, Mont. : Bulletin Pub., 1918-1921.

Headings

  • -  Working class--United States--Newspapers
  • -  Working class--Montana--Newspapers
  • -  Labor--Montana--Newspapers
  • -  Labor
  • -  Working class
  • -  Montana
  • -  United States
  • -  United States--Montana--Silver Bow--Butte

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Daily (except Sun.)
  • -  Vol. 1, no. 1 (Aug. 20, 1918)-v. 3, no. 244 (June 1, 1921).
  • -  "Independent."
  • -  Motto: "We preach the class struggle in the interests of the workers as a class."
  • -  Suspended: Aug. 22-24, 1918, and Sept. 14, 1918.
  • -  Available on microfilm from Micro Photo Division, Bell and Howell.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Official organ of: Montana State Federation of Labor, National Trades Council of Butte, Silver Bow Trades and Labor Assembly, State Metal Trades Council, Feb. 25, 1920-June 1, 1921; Montana World War Veterans, Inc., Nov. 22, 1920-June 1, 1921.
  • -  Butte bulletin (DLC)sn 83045051 (OCoLC)9669611

Medium

  • 3 volumes : illustrations ; 56 cm

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper
  • HD8051 .B88

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn83045085

OCLC Number

  • 9696223

ISSN Number

  • 2372-2916

Preceding Titles

Succeeding Titles

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Availability

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

The Butte Daily Bulletin Butte, Mont. -1921. (Butte, MT), Jan. 1 1918. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn83045085/.

APA citation style:

(1918, January 1) The Butte Daily Bulletin Butte, Mont. -1921. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn83045085/.

MLA citation style:

The Butte Daily Bulletin Butte, Mont. -1921. (Butte, MT) 1 Jan. 1918. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, aj.sunback.homes/item/sn83045085/.