The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1890-05-26
Under ordinary circumstances this

Under ordinary circumstances this
newspaper would be willing to leave
without special comment the decision
lately rendered by the supreme court OF
Montana in the Lloyd-Sullivan case.
All the conditions involved in the con-
test are known to the public. How
ever much opinions may vary, the de-
cision of the court is the last resort both
for respondent and appellant and the
lie Jacto possession of the office of
sheriff in Silver Bow county stands In
accordance with the exact letter of the
courts decree.
II may be said that the judgment
lately rendered in Helena is but a pass
ing incident, since there is a higher law
to which final appeal must be taken
and its decision will not come until the
will of the sovereign people has been
recorded and announced. We say this
i'm no spirit of d~isrespect toward the
bench; 1t is a truth recognized, we
doubt not, as fully by the court itselfa
by any other three citizens of Montana.
Under ordinary circumstances, there
fore, we repeat that the STANDARD
would have been entirely willing to let
the matter stand without ad-
ded comment. II has in fact
been content thus far to
lay before its readers the text of the
decision, leaving each man, umaided
and unbiased, to draw his W conclu-
sions. We are aware, however, that
within two days there have been sent
forth to west-side readers newspaper
utterances presuming to represent
democratic sentiment, in which the
decency of the court has been assailed
and the common honesty of the chief
justice has been attacked i'm maudlin
drivel. The STANDARD is not willing
10 preserve silence i'm the presence of
this irresponsible sort of comment
which gratuitously harms the demo-
cratic cause-a cause that is respecta-
bile ut least-and which puts the party
in a wrong light in all its relations to
the contest. Let 1t be understood that
the STANDARD repudiates the argu-
ment of Judge Blake and disagrees with
the findings of the court. IL certainly
does this and it can give cogent reasons
for SO doing. The opinion handed
down last week appears to us TO be
neither just nor frank, because II does
not review any one of the distinctive
points argued when the appeal was
heard, yet these are the very points
on which the calm judgment of an ex.
allied court was awaited by thousands
of citizens who. deploring the unhappy
situation in which we find ourselves,
desired first of all and above all that
exact justice be meted ont and that the
right prevail. AT the same time, speak.
ing for its intelligent constituency. the
STANDARD declares that, while il will
p~ersistently oppose the ~fallacies ad-
vanced by Judge Blake II will never
post his name as a synonym for fraud,
IL will insist that he is unfairly par.
tisan but il will not presume to brand
him az a rascal or to assail him with
billingsgate.
since the whole question is thus re-
opened, II becomes necessary tn state
the situation just as IL presented itself
before the supreme court. To this end
the STANDARD prints this morning a
full summary of the brief which was
offered In court In behalf of Mr.. Sulli-
van. This brief has never before been
printed In any Montana newspaper,
ven SO much as in outline. IL shows
what direction the argument took and
what the real issue was. Two Ques-
tons were argued before the supreme
court. They concerned the qusliiica.
tions of certain voters. IL appeared
that 1866 votes cast for sullivan and q
votes cast for Lloyd, at the tunnel pre-.
cinct, were disputed on behalf of Lloyd
on two grounds: First. because the de
c~laratiOn of intention to become citi.
ems had not been made by these per
IONS i'm the court room or i'm the clerks
office: second, because il was alleged
that many of these voters had not first
taken ar oath to support the constitu-
ton Of the United States. IL was never
set up in behalf of Lloyd that any one
Of these votes recorded for Sullivan
was intended by the voter to be cast for
Lloyd. No fraud Of that sort was al
legged; the question turned on an inter
probation Of federal law under the two
heads just named. As far as the dem.
ocratic claim is concerned, the STAND.
ARD cannot hope TO present the cast as
clearly as 1t is presented I'm the brief
summarized this morning. To that
lucid analysis of the case IL must refer
the reader. The disappointing feature
in Judge Blake's opinion is that IL has
not a word TO say in discussion or in
final disposition of either of the two
vital features Of the case. On the other
hand, other issues in the case, quite ir-
relevant TO the questions al issue. were
reviewed at length in the Judges opin-