The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1889-10-16
THE FRANCHISE DISGRACE.

from the shock that fOlloWeu the out
rage perpetrated by h ~canvassing
board of Silver Bow county. That
high-handed proceeding has brought u
young states fair name into disrepute.
associsting all its election machinery
with fnfamy and disgrace. the stain of
which will not soon be wiped out. The
ill-fortune entailed on Montana by the
action of the c%anvassing board in Sill
yer q county il of incOmparably
greater account to the people of Mon
lana than all the senators and all the
legislatures. republican or democratic,
that are ~ honor or to disgrace this
commonwealth in two decades.
II there Ia any proposition in law
Nd often and no fully tested that every
intelligent American citizen knows it's
meaning. that is the proposition which
cOntroverts the position taken by Mr..
Jack and his associate Mr.lIall.of Butte,
who In everywhere recognized rs merely
the caudal appendage to h board.
an easy-going man of innocent man
ners whose final vote was confidently
predicted from the beginning by the
clever rascals who put him in his place.
We say that. AZ a legal proposition.
every intelligent citizen has been taught
to hold n doctrine exactly the reverse of
that to which Mr.. Jack yielded assent.
This question has been tested in per
haps five hundred counties Of the
American union, and the decision has
always been the same. Long estab-
lished precedent was followed by Judge
Knowles himself when on the bench,
vat that upaptlan,npn for Inntiva.S that
are q credit neither to his professional
honor nor his decent repute IA a citi-
zen, urged laymen to n coursew which he
knows to be foully dishonest If. in
deed. he ever possessed the legal attain
ments hat fit any man to sit i'm judg-
men on his fellows.
Let us bear always in mind the
grounds on which one man has dared
to reverse the deliberate judgment of
the people recorded mt the polls. 4
voting precinct was established i'm a re-
mote region where Dir. Jack, himself a
republican, was assured that the vote
should he largely with his party. The
registration at this place was conducted
by republicans who expected to capture
the precinct. When the returns. laden
with disappointment to republicans.
came down old IIOmestake hill. prOmi-
nent republicans uttered imprecatiOns
not tit to print and loudly cursed the
fact that they had established "a pre-
cinct which had been promised to them.
but which had betrayed them. so
much for the politics in the affair. If
this is wrong, let Mr.. Jack call these
declarations in question.
10 tba acbni.uliS;aS In, tho .,aao
let these facts be kept in mind. The
polling place was a ten from which,
when the night air became too chilling,
the officers removed to "a neighboring
house. 4 clerk failed to fill the re-
turns. asking the Judges tn perform the
service, as he was "A laboring man not
skilled i'm the use Of "A pen. \ noisy
crowd of men Influenced by drink were
about the place under the leadership Of
q drunken deputy sheriff. whose pres
ence became so offensive and 80 annoy
ing that the door was closed to the end
that the count might proceed decently
honestly and i'm order. In h same
manner doors were closed in Missoula
county, i'm Lewis and Clark county, in
Butte aud in the city of Anaconda. tn.
exigency of the hour absolutely de
manding that this he done. under tn,
shelter of that higher law which de
tends all men against legal frivolities
when IA duty is To he performed.
Assuming that the course pursued b.
Iir. Jack is right, we must also assume
that Montana departs from precedent
established i'm every other state Of thu
Union. and that W. are hereafter tn re
gard returning boards as courts Of law
competent to weigh testimony, To pass
on the value of evidence. to go behind
returns, to overthrow hundreds of bal
lots according to one mans politica
caprice or to suit all the nefarious plans
of the conspirators who control thai
one mans will. Under this i~nterpreta
ton, suffrage i'm Montana is All inglor
ious farce.
II is not satisfactory to h public t.
lie told that the Butte returning boar
believed il best. in view of any incon
sistencies. tn allow the matter of the
tunnel precinct to go to d courts. II