The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1883-10-24
DOL. FIGHT.

COL. SANDERS FIGHT.
1t is not q Democratic funeral, no
do Democrats desire to take a han,
in the Republican squabble which
now going on In that party's distric
convention at Helena, but if there i
a man in the Territory to whom tn
Republican party of Montana is un
der obligations and to whom the Re
p%ublicans of Lewis and Clarke coun
ty especially owe a just dent OF graft.
tude, that man is Col. w. F. Sanders
He has been the head and front of thu
patty. has led its forlorn hope when
it had no show of success, has sacri'
feed himself when he knew he
couldn't touch the side nor DO tom Of
an election, has been its organizer, ad.
vocate and adviser, its life and its
brains, and through his indomitable
will, persistence and courage, he pre-
served its Pickering life, nourished it
into health and activity, and finally
brought it up to its present respecta-
bic, 1t not powerful proportions. .
And now what do we see? Three
of the four Lewis anG Clarke county
delegates arrayed solidly against
him and casting their votes for a
Choteau county man. They can't
doubt his ability to represent them
in the constitutional convention.
They can't doubt his fidelity to his
party. They know he stands head
and shoulders in point If brains
above any other member of the party
in the Territory. They know his
fealty has been tested, and that he
has proved to lie the saving bulwark
of their political organization here.
Then what is the true inwardness OF
this contest? What is the real mean
ing of this obstinate fight against
him? Why this and moth
ing less-it is a mortal strug-
gle for the leadership of the
Republican party in Montana.
Upon the one side are arrayed Colo
mel Sanders and his friends; upon
the other are some of the new but re-
cent importations of latter-day Re
publicans. These importatioDs wish
to inaugurate a new regime, with a
new boss-one who is supposed to
hold close relations with the great
source of political power at Washing
ton, and whose spoken Sesame
will open wide the doors to the fat
places within the Territory. But the
old "war horse" is in the way. He
must be forced to cast off his battle
stained trappings, and be turned
loose to Craze upon the waste places
in the Republican pastures. The
tried, true and trusted old
must lay down his
must be shorn of his
power and must be Inundated
before his devoted followers, before
the new regime al be established
and the new "boss'' be installed.
Hence this desperate fight, this death
struggle at Helena.
OF course another reason is given
why the gallant Colonel should be
deposed. 1t is said he is the paid at
of the Northern Pacific, and
that if he were elected to the Consti-
tutional Convention he would, by
some hocus pocus, or weird power he
supposed to possess over others, in
Iect into the Constitution provisions
to the interests of that thor
'ughfare, unknown to the other
orty-four members of the Conven-
ion. This is the ostensi-
lie reason given for the
shown him. What super
alive nonsense! Can any one show
he consistency OF a party who re-
uses to nominate as delegate to the
Constitutional Convention a paid At
orney Of a railroad company and
Who at the same time confe1s the
anne nomination upon a paid United
states Marshal, a paid Territorial
Treasurer, anda paid Superintendent
f Public Instruction? Or can they
xplain why a paid Governor OF the
territory should be sent as a delegate
o a district convention to worK
gainst this paid attorney and IN ia
or of the head and front of a great
transportation monopoly? +.
When all this is satisfactorily ex-
'lained the old-time w~ar-scarrea Re- {
'ublicans of Montana may take stock j
q the assertion that Col. Sanders is {
pposed at Helena because he is the {
paid attorney of the Northern Pa t
ific Railroad Company" Until all
his is made sufficiently clear they
7ill hold that the fight against him
J made for the leadership of the par /
Y, pure and simple. AS we said at {
be outset it is not a Democratic {
but Democrats, as well as {
republicans, lean kindly toward q
ld-timers, and dislike to e one of
hem "downed" by | ilgrim upstairs. j
[e1,ce the interest they take in the c
ght now going on to destroy Col. i
anders. =,
THE FUSION MATTER. t