The Livingston enterprise. [volume] (Livingston, Mont.) 1883-1914, 1889-09-21
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g giving instruction to the committee ol
1 the house, by the terms of which the
S committee. would be peremptorily com
4 manded to accede to the proposed
f amendment. Mr.. Springer Of Illinois
? and the late lamented Mr.. Cox, nobly
and ably supported this resolution and
aided in its perfection by some necessary
amendments. The vote on this resolu-
tlon was taken on the 15tl. Of February,
and that vote thus taken constituted the
supreme test on the question as to
whether the territories should be ad-
Eltted into the union or their admission
postponed until another congress should
assemble. Ii the resolution carried the
admission bill was sure to become law;
If it was lost the admission bill was prac~
tlcally killed by the failure of the reso
luton; hence the vote recorded on the res
olution disclosed the attitude OF the re-
spective parties on the question OF our
admission into the union. You would
naturally expect from the claim OF the
democratic party of Montana to the
credit, that the resolution was actually
supported by at least majority Of tho
democrats in the house, but startling to
relate such is not the fact. One hum
dred and forty eight votes were cast in
favor OF the resolution, and 1O2 votes
were cast against it. One hundred and
twenty seven republicans voted in favor
| OF the resolution and 20 democrats and
l independent voted with them, making
the l4S votes. One hundred and one
democrats voted against the resolution
and one so-called independent joined on
that side, thus making the lO2 votes
marshaled together by the opposition.
thus we see that only twenty democrats
supported admission while 1O1 democrats
actually opposed it by their votes, and
to the credit of the republicans be it
sad, not one single republican voto
was cast on that momentous day against
the admission of Montana. In the face
OF these figures do not the democratic
leaders OF Montana display bald headed
and monumental gall in claiming for
their party the credit Of having admit
ted Montana into the union. But aston
lshlng as it may seem they do not only
claim credit for admitting Montana, but
they actually proceeded farther and say
IN their platform that they condemn the
action of the republicans OF Montana in
opposing admission. Now what are the
facts with reference to that claim. Dur
ing the days preceding the final test on
the question Of admission, was tho
only Montanian in Washington to my
knowledge. l talked freely with MI.
Ioole concerning the admission ques-
ton, and he we'll knows that I at least
professed to him disposition to cooper
ate with him in securing the desired
end. AS to the sincerity of my profess
slons | appeal to the recorded votes. It
was my privilege, and it was to me
agreeable as well to consult with our re-
publican friends, first in the senate and
then in the house Of representatives,
and to urge upon them the justice of ad-
mitting Montana with the two Dakotas
and Washington territory into the union.
While Mr.. Toole was laboring with his
democratic brethren in behalf of tho
cause, l was spending the time in pre-
sentlng our claim to the republican
members of the house and senate. Now,
''by their fruit ye shall know them," and
mark the result. After laboring for
over two months with the democrats in
tie house OF representatives Mr.. Toole
only secured twenty democrats to stand
by him on the admission question; while
lOl of the members Of his party OF the
house actually voted against him on that
measure. On the other hand the result
OF my labor was that every senator on
the republican side voted for the bill.
One hundred and twenty seven repub-
charge sf1ti FEq >sd.the house of represen-
the democratic platform that leading re-
publicans of Montana opposed admission
is absolutely and totally false.
The speaker then proceeded to con-
slider the democratic claim to support
because the republicans had passed a
registration law, and made IN effective
appeal to the voters to sustain IN honest
ballot and fair count. He also dealt
at length with the democratic claim to-
great credit for having kept Montana
out of debt, showing the fact to be that
in the early days of our territorial his
tory democratic members OF the le9isla-
ture voted themselves and the servants
of the territory extra compensation foB
over period of seven years, aGgregatin&
over two hundred thousand dollars taken
from the public treasury by system OF
legalized robbery and running the terri
tory in debt over $4,000. This mon
strous practice OF voting OF extra com.
pensation was called to the attention OF
the legislature by Gov. Potts, but the
democratic party refused to repeal the
law and then it was that Gov. Potts ap-
pealed to Gen. Garfield and that gentle
man. then a member Of the house of rep
resentatives, secured the passage Of the
law which prohibited the legislature Of
Montana from further continuance Of
it's iniquitous system Of public plunder.
1t was by virtue of this law passed by
republican congress that the financial
affairs of Montana were set on the high
road to prosperity. Thereafter the re-
publican membership of the legislature
began to increase from year to year, and
with the veto power in tho hands Of a re-
publican governor the surplus in the
treasury Of Montana accumulated.