The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1883-10-17
A REFORM TO BE

Eastern newspaper condemn the sys-
tenn of Territorial governments pur.
sued by the United States, and a still
more unusual one to see a Republi-
can newspaper condemn it. The
Territories have been so long regard
ed by the mass of Eastern people as a
field occupied almost exclusively by a
trough, adventurous class of men,
possessed of little or no intelligence,
education or refinement, whose occu-
pations consist of mining in a rude
way; of farming on an insignificant
scale; of attending their flocks and
herds; Of hunting the wild beasts of
the forests or the wilder savages of
the plains, and whose instincts lead
and keep them beyond the pale of
civilization, that it is really refreshing;
and withal a hopeful sign that the
true condition of the Territories is
being realized and the energy, the
enterprise and the intelligence of
their inhabitants are being compre-
hended abroad to see a leading and
influential Republican journal es-
Pouse the cause Of the Territories and
claim for them better treatment at
the hands of the Government and the
administration.
Under the caption which heads
this article the Minneapolis Tribune
OF a recent date takes up the subject
of Territorial government and han
dies it SO fairly and intelligently that
we cheerfully give place to its more
salient features. There is nothing
new or original in the lire of reason
ing pursued in the article. The ar
| guments it contains have been tier
ated and reiterated by the
Territorial press for years. But
what is really new, and as surpris-
ing as new, is that it appears in a
journal published among a people
who doubtless are not a whit more
liberal in their views concerning the
relations which should exist between
the Territories and the Government
than are their Eastern brethren.
The editor of the Tribune was one of
the Willard party that passed through
the Territory. The article in ques-
ton may haze been inspired by what
he saw and learned during his West
ern tour. If SO another credit may
be placed to the account Of the North
ern Pacific.
The Tribune starts out with the as
sertion that: "The system of Terri
torial government was never intend
ed to be a permanency, and in its
very nature it is anomalous, unre
publican and transitional" and adds: ,
But it is to be assumed that we
have nearly reached the limit of the
time within which it will be wise to
maintain asystem of outlying provin-
ces whose people have nothing to say
in the government of the republic,
and, in the ultimate analysis, very
little to say in their own local gov
ernments. The effect is not good of
thus keeping large communities of
intelligent American citizens in u
perpetual state of tutelage and ire
sponsibility. Now that every por-
ton of the American continent is
traversed from east to west by lines
of railway which utterly abolish that
former isolation, which was the Oh
stacle to settlement. and the standing
excu e tor the territorial system,
there is no reason why within the
next ten years that portion of our
domain which is still under terrific
rial governmentshouid not be divided
into alimited number of States which
shall be great geographically, and
which shall contain from the outset
a reasonable numerous population.
And here follows a statement of
facts with which we are all familiar.
They have been repeated by the Ter
ritorial press until their repetition
has become monotonous. They have
been noticed by the extreme Eastern
press only to be ,idiculed and laughed
at. The administration has turned a
deaf a to our pleading, and persists
in saddling upon us broken-down in
competents whose only passport to
their positions are their fealty
to their party evidenced by
their voting early and often
when such services were required of
them. Hence we say it is like dis
covering an oasis in a desert, or a
spring in a thirsty land to witness a
Republican journal, published in a
State full OF needy, hungry politi-
clans who are casting wistful, long
ing eyes westward, and awaiting
their turn to be fed in this land of
milk of honey at the public expense,
espouse the cause of these ''pasture
grounds for pets of the powers that
be
Meanwhile, there is one reform
that should not be postponed for q
day. The practice of making
~ AVAA0IhAA6 AV11AtOAACo q 0OlV Va
pasture ground to which may be sent
the br~oken-dOwn war horses of other
the ambitious
young politicians of older commune
ties, and the competent or incompe-
tent favorites of passing administra-
tions, should be reformed out of x
instantly and forever. That
practice has never had q single ex-
cuse for being. The utmost that the
general good could require would be
that the Federal authority should
the right to ap-
point Territorial officials from
among the citizens of the several
states whenever the proper material {
for satisfactory officials could not be
found in the population of the terri s
tories themselves. But the rule has j
been, and stills, utterly to ignore the j
people who have laced the dangers of
life and laid the foundations
Of civilization and society in the ter
while strangers from remote {
sections have been sent to discharge I
judicial and executive functions for {