Montana Council of Defense records, 1916-1921.

              Montana ffiumter iianufafluma ABBmmtxm
OFriCE OF THE SECRETARY
KALI SPELL, MONTANA
June 27th, 1917.
Gov. S. V. Stewart,
Helena, Mont.
My dear Sir:-
Your valued conimunicaticn of the 25th received, and you have
relieved my mind entirely for I was a little disturbed f/hen
it was reported to me by "Billy Blacky William Black that
the tvra sheriffs and t?>ro prosecuting attorneys of Flathead
and Lincoln Counties were much peeved and were starting an in¬
vestigation to ascertain who had.made unreliable reports to
you in regard to conditions in this section. 01 course, I was
not worried over the"reporting feature" i'or everything that
was reported was the absolute truth and was reported much mild¬
er than actual conditions, and it was not a "one man affair"
either for the business men in general here were more or less
alarmed over conditions and felt that an emergency existed and
that you should know abait it, and although the County and
City officials were willing enough, in fact, very anxious to
do their duty, that is, ready to carry out their official dut¬
ies, they seemed to feel that actual crim.es had to be committed
before any arrests could be made, and I agree with them that
they are alysolutely right and yet some of us felt that we could
consistently prepare to ward off any impending danger, and if
the County, and City officials required some criminal act before
they could step in, and as the business man felt that some
barrier shoudd be put up in advance, it seemed that there was
^only one alternative, this being the troops, and although I have
no knowledge whatever of how the troops were ordered to our
section, I think I can voice the sentiments of the vast major- ,
ity when I say the troops have saved the situation, and I am
not in the least casting any reflection on the present County
and City force.  Every day I hear business men make the remark
that their minds are m^uch relieved when they know that the troops
are in our vicinity.
The report froin Troy, viz: that a "reign of terror" was in sight,
and a later report th.at this was unreliable infoi-m&tion, I know
nothing about, except ?/hat I read in the newspapers,  I see by
a late copy of the Libby Ti les that they are making quite a sen¬
sational story out of this, fehat some one in that section was
rankly exceeding their authority when they allowed said unrelia¬
ble reports to be circulated, and the Mayor of Troy especially
was-very much disturbed and there camiout an announcement a few
days ago that the parties who circulated the information in
regard to conditions there should be dealt with, and at least
curbed, however, this section is a little beyond our imjnediate
vicinitj', I thought I would only mention it in passing.