Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1886-12-29
BAGGERs In TERRIFIC.
RES.

As far az ability and an apparently hen
est endeavor to gather facts, and draw just
conclusions are concerned. the Chicago
Herald will take rank among what, in this
far West, are termed first-class Eastern
newspapers. They all appear to know
what is going on about them. and to many
whom distance lends enchantment to the
view, they loom up as great lights in the
newspaper world, beside which. in the esti.
nation Of some Of our Western critics,
the struggling, but generally level. headed
journals in the Territories pale Into i~nsignif-
canoe. Yet, with all their supposed knowl-
edge OF facts, these same Eastern prints
know as little about the West and Western
people as they know about heaven, as the
following, which we clip from the journal
above named abundantly shows:
"Too much stress is laid upon the theory
that Federal o~fficeholders in the West
should be residents of the Territories to
which they may be appointed. One or two
national conventions have declared them
selves on this point, and no appointment ola
Territorial official who may be an outsider
is now made without drawing the
protests OF all the immigrants on the
ground al well as the indignant criticism of
all party organ-grinders who are opposed
to the Administration.
: As q matter of fact, the great majority
OF the residents of the Territories who are
capable Of holding Office are almost as con-
spicuous as c~arpet-baggers as any of the
men who are named for office. Dakota
now claims a population of 100000. In
1880 it had a population of 1876 200.
Here then are 100000 people who are car
pct baggers themselves, many OF them mers
adventures, who may and may not be
citizens OF the Territory when the next
census shall be taken.
The idea OF appointing residents to Ter
ritorial Offices originated with some OF the
residents themselves who, having played
out az politicians in the states went out
west to begin over again. Dakota is full
of these office-hunting pioneers. They are
on the ground and they are the people who
are trying to have the Territory divided,
and who always groan when an office. is
given to an outsider who is not much more
OF an outsider than they are. It is jus4as
well to bear these facts in mind"
While the writer OF the above may have
had Dakota in his mind he referred to all
the Territories and in his article endeav.
ored to impress the minds of his readers
with the idea that the residents of the
capable of holding office, are
carpet.baggers. No greater injustice could
be done to the pioneers of the West. To
assume they are an uneducated, ignorant |
OF men is TO assume WHAT is not borne
out by the history of the settlement of any |
State or Territory in the Union. New
countries are not settled by drones or
The men who broke the trails,
braved the dangers surrounding them on |
every hand, and laid the foundation of a
vast empire in these western Territories
we're composed of the most intelligent as
veil as the most adventurous and cour-
ageous spirits of the East and the South. |
They were cast in no common mould.
The man. who years ago broke away
rom the comforts and the luxuries of his
native heath and, in the face of untold
hardships and privations, carved out d
home upon the plains or in the wilderness
the West, is made of different metal
than the one who shuddered at the dangers
the undertaking and remained amid the
'lesll-pots" of his Egypt. And the same
spirit which prompted him to do and to
lare, from which others recoiled. now
.hafes under the political serfdom imposed
upon him by the Federal Government.
After years OF hardship and toll in devel-
oping the resources OF a great country and
building up hamlets, villages, towns and
cities, with churches and schools and the
higher educational institutions where tho
tepee OF the savage once stood, these men
Of the West feel they are entitled to the
right of self-government, and if that be
lenied them, that at least their rulers
be selected from their midst. The
lesire is not an unreasonable one, and does
not, as the Herald says, originate with
OF the residents themselves who, hav-
ng played out as politicians in the States,
vent into the West to begin over again."
It is the wish Of the people. As far as Mon
Jana is concerned We have none of that
of politicians; described by the Chica-
% journal, among us, except a few of those
'ent here by the appointing powers at
Washington. Carpet-baggers do not fence
md plough our lands, o open and de-
'elop our mines. They grow in the east
md haunt Washington and are ready at a
moments notice to come out West and
the farmers and the steckmen and
he miners who have created an empire OF
'ealth where but a few years ago the beasts
I the forests and the more savage Indians
I the plains held undisputed sway.