The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1883-08-29
A SwINDLING

Under the above caption the Int
Mountain of last evening says:
"Our captious neighber, tn
MINER, thinks Commissioner Rea
has no exercise of discretion in r.
moving his display of ores from Den
ver, no matter whether they are seel
by a single visitor or not"
There Is nothing, we hold, that cal
be urged against the position of tn
MINER if the law authorizing the ap
pointment of a Commissioner i
worth the paper it is written upon
That our readers may determine thi
matter themselves we publish the Law
in full.
H. J. r. Making an appropriation
for the Denver Exposition.
Be it Resolved by the Legislative as
sembIy of the Territory Of Mon
tGnd:
That there be aad is hereby ap.
propriated cut of any money in the
Territorial treasury, not otherwise
appropriated, the sum of five hun.
dred ($5OO) dollars to be expended by
the Governor of this Territory in Sc.
curing for Montana q proper
representation and exhibit at the
forthcoming National, Mining and
Industrial Exposition Association of
Denver, Colorado, to be held at Den
yer in the state of Colorado, during
the year 1888, aud the territorial aud
itor is hereby authorized and re-
quired to draw his warrant or war
rants upon the territorial treasury for
any sum, not to exceed five hundred
dollars upon the order Or requisition
of the Governor of this Territory.
This seems to be plain enough. If
Mr.. Reed has any discretion in the
matter he could have gone to Louis
vile or Cincinnati or any other
place with Montana exhibits in the
first place. But he has none. If it
is as stated that the Denver EXPOSE
ton is "played out" that no one
visits it, and that it is
"a fraudulent business" the matter
resolves itself into a question of pol
icy, not of law, whether it were bet
ter for the Commissioner to remain
there for the period assigned for the
Exposition or to return and cover
back into the Territorial treasury the
unexpended balance in his hands, if
he has such balance. II the whole
matter including the appointment of
the commissioner, had been brought
about simply by the efforts Of private
individuals, their wishes would be
law in the case. But the Territory
is concerned in this matter and
while we believe a majority of the
members Of the last legislature would
not object to the exhibition being ia
ken to any desirable point still we
hold that the precedent would be a
very bad one and would lead to flu
ture embarrassments if the commits
sioner be permitted to remove the ex-
hibits anywhere and at any time &C
cording to his own sweet will.
AS to the exposition being a
''swindling concern" the Inter
Mountain is probably a proper judge.
There was just as much known as to
the objects and purposes Of the or
ganizers of the exposition n year
ago as there is to day. 1t was charged
then that it was a real estate specu-
lation and gotten up in the interest
of a few men there to boom certain
outside landed property. The Inter
Mountain had representative on the
ground. and if he did not get down
to the true inwardness of the whole
matter he is duller than he is gener-
ally supposed to be. Still, however,
the Inter Mountain devoted a great
deal of space in its columns to boom
this "swindling concern" and one !
of its staff was appointed Commits
to take valuable specimens of
minerals to this :'swind-
ling concern" and the Territory ap-
propriated money to pay that Com
for his time and trouble |
attending the "swindling con-
cern," and all this was done when it
was known by the initiated a year
ago that the exposition was a"swind-
ling concern"
AS usual, the Inter Mountain cam
not discuss a matter when it is at
variance with the MINER without in
in unwarranted charges
against or ascribing unworthy mo-
lives to this journal as the cause of
its opposition. Immediately follow
ing the excerpt we have introduced
above appears the following:j
It (the M1NER) is gangrened with
ealousy that this very capable and
deserving individual (Mr. Reed
have been selected by the
to represent the mineral
wealth of this Territory abroad, and
s willing to sacrifice our one staple
industry in order that the object of
Is senscless hate may be stultified
nd Inundated.
To say that the writer of the above
3 an ass of the very first water is
it very mild. To say that
Re wilfully and maliciously lies is
the ase in its proper light.
bur very tender-footed neighbor may
bject to the use of this language but
: the writer of the above possessed
ne Instincts of gentleman he would
now that charges of this kind
gainst a public Journal can admit of 1
o other answer They are not de- j
HE McCUTCHEON AFFAIR. ,
We have been nlaced in nOssassion \