Abstract
Butte Montana, located in the south-west quarter of the state, is and always has been a company town. Butte is situated on what has been called the “richest hill on earth.” The mining rights to this fabulous hill belong to the Anaconda Copper Company. By 1892 the Anaconda Company had become the world's largest producer of copper (a status it enjoyed well into the twentieth century) achieving an output of 100 million pounds. By 1978 “the company” proudly claimed that over 20 billion pounds of copper had been mined from the “richest hill on earth.”
In the past Anaconda has employed approximately one-third of Buttes work force, paid 58% of the county property tax and annually pumped millions of dollars into the local business community. While it is clear that Anaconda and Butte are inextricably wed, since the early 1970's the residents of Butte have come to resent their nearly 100 year marriage of convenience to the copper giant. At present the major area of contention between “the company” and the citizens of Butte found themselves confronting the following predicament: What personal property and fiduciary rights can an ordinary citizen expect to maintain in the face of the needs and requirements of advancing industrial progress?
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A. R. Gini is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Loyola University of Chicago. His major fields are: Philosophical Anthropology, Contemporary Ethical Problems and Business Ethics. His most important publications are: ‘Aggressivity: A Critical Overview’, IPQ(Spring, 1978), ‘Combat: Maladjustment for Survival’, Though Quarterly Review(Spring, 1981), and Philosophical Issues in Human Rights,(Werhane, Gini, Ozar) Random House (Fall, 1985).
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Gini, A.R. “A ‘Butte’ of a hole in Montana”. J Bus Ethics 5, 79–83 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02116148
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02116148