Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1886-11-03
HUMORS OF THE CAMPAIGN.

HUMORS OF THE CAMPAIGN.
After the election is over and Mr.. Toole's
majority is as~certained the thinking men of
both parties will look back over the field
the Republicans have lost and smile at the
thin, gauzy, sickly arguments Sanders and
his henchmen employed during the cam
paign. And then they will wonder how it
came about that the people took any stock
in what was said by the war horse and
his l%ieutenants and smile again.
In no campaign during the history OF the
Republican party in Montana has it had
such dearth and poverty of reasons why
the people should vote for it's candidate
for Congress. Nothing could be said against
Mr.. Toole. His public record and private
character were unassailable and hence no
contest, deserving the name, was or could
be made against him. And now appears
the more prominent humors OF the cam
paign. As nothing could be said against
Mr.. Toole personally or against his record
as a public servant and as it was absolute
ly necessary that something--some charge
should be laid at somebody's
door in order to beat him,
Cleveland, Manning and Sparks were rung
in. OF course, it was seen and known that
the missing links OF the chain which con-
nected Mr.. Toole's responsibility with the
opinions OF those gentlemen upon certain
questions were as numerous as those un-
J:oooro~ol 1;p1xo nv ov%inn fn fnrfifv the
Darwinian theory that nan sprang from a
bug. But the tunes which were played
upon these three strings OF the Republican
fiddle were as amusing as they were various
and absurd.
Sparks was the principal string. 1t was
strung tight and the tune pitched high, The
old gentleman-who, by the way, is an hon
est, w~e'l-meaning. but bluff officials only
a subordinate in the Interior Department.
His rulings may be, and sometimes are,
overruled by the head Of the department,
whose decisions in turn may be and some
time are set aside by the courts.
When Sparks was appointed TO the office
he now fills he found upon the statute
books certain laws, rules and regulations
governing the cutting OF timber upon the
public domain left there by a Republican
administration. As a conscientious officer,
mindful of his oath to discharge faithfully
the duties of his position he set about to
enforce the law. In doing this he struck
Col. Sanders big railroad corporation and
a howl vas raised and the responsibility
for the blow was laid upon the shoulders
of Mr.. Toole. just how it could be placed
there the Republican orators and press
have failed to show satisfactorily. They
held that Sparks. being a Democrat, and
Toole being OF the same political faith,
the latter vas by a reasoning peculiarly
responsible for Sparks action.
Here can be found the basis of the hugest
joke or series of jokes ever
perpetrated upon the Democratic party or
upon a Democratic candidate.
Again, two years ago President Cleveland
wrote a letter to a committee OF gentlemen
in which he took the ground, taken by all
his Republican predecessors, that the III
terests OF the country would be the better
if there we're not quite SO many
SUduudIu SlltCI Tia COaAVAs ~ ANis
Toole, who made an eloquent and exhaus-
tive speech in the National House OF Repre-
sentatives last winter in favor OF the free
and unlimited coinage OF silver, is held re-
sponsible for the opinion OF President
Cleveland as expressed two years ago.
This is also strikingly absurd and amusing.
And then again, Mr.. Manning, without
expressing an opinion either way, has fol
in the footsteps OF his Republican
predecessors, and shown a disposition to
discriminate against the white metal.
Here was another opening in which Mon
tana Republicans could get a howl and
they filled it full of music from the Man.
ming string. And Mr.. Toole, who had dis
an unfaltering interest ill the adj
Of the silver mining develop
ments of the country was made by the Re
publican press and speakers the scapegoat
Manning's mistake. This was ludicrous
as well as ridiculous.
And still furthermore, it has been tier
ated and reiterated that all the mines and
mills and smelters would be closed down
and the shivering families OF the poor
ranchers would be compelled to flee the
country because Sparks wouldn't let any
one cut timber on the public domain. And
yet we all kept cutting it, and our mills and
smelters were kept running and our ranch
ers continued to prosper on their FARMS,
and everybody had all the wood he wanted.
And still again it was stated that silver
bad received it's observation-disclosures respon-
s,ble-and it's price would continue to 60
down, down, down, until every silver mill
in the country would be closed and silver
miners and their families sent starving
from their happy homes. 1t was a hard
old picture to draw, but something had to
be done to stay the current OF public opin-
ion in favor OF Toole, and SO the picture OF
the closed mills and smelters and fleeing
and children was held up to a hor-
rifed public. Yet the mines and the mills
and the smelters continue to run right
along as usual; the miners have work and
their families are well provided for and sill
yer is rapidly climbing back to it's old fig
ures. It's funny, isn't it. People will look
back and laugh when they think over the
absurd reasons given by Sanders and his
henchmen why Mr.. Toole should not have
been elected.
Democrats. look well to your tickets.
The enemy will resort to every subterfuge
to rob you OF your vote.