The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1891-11-21
SATURDAY. NOVEMBER y, 1891.
STATE SYEALING INDUSTRY.

: I II 1 = % ~ nav '
One of the industries of these latter
days which has been pcrsistently cult
waited and which has thriycd and pros
pcrcd without the enactment of a high
protective tariff, is state stealing. IN
ike tinplatc manufacturing il was a sue
cess from the start and bounded from Its
infancy in 1876 to the full stature u
yigor of manhood in 1889, when Montana
was carried of bodily from its rightful
owners. We all know how Chandler,
sherman ct al, as accredited agents Of
the republican party, stole louisiana,
Florida and South Carolina and put
HAYES in Tilden's chair III tue white
house. It is meet and proper in these
lays Of hurrying events, 10 call attention
occasionally to these facts that the PEG
ule may keep fresh in their morn
the men and the means employed by a
p%olitical party to perpetuate its power.
If the theft of the presidency in 1876
we're the only instance in which the re-
publican party had perverted the will OF
the people, as expressed al the ballot-boN
it could and probably would be par
doned. the act being ascribed to one OF
those outbreaks of partisan malignity
which time would modify or altogether
Iispel But subsequent events show that
die republican party is not at all scrupu-
ious az to means it employs to gain and
retain political power. Speaker Reeds
outrageous gag rules and his decisions
under them stand as witnesses of this
fact. Some of the most ilagrant out
RACES perpetrated against a free ballot
we're seen in the last house when men
who came as accredited mcmbers.of that
body. backed by maiOrties ranging from
1850 to 13.l53 were unseated within tive
minutes and their seats given to men
who had no other claim to them than
being republicans. Nine seats were
stolen from duly elected democrats and
nine more would have been taken if they
mad been needed to gain Il good working
republican majority. Mr., Reed stopped
when ne had increased the majority
from five to twenty-three.
Connecticut affords another instance
VI pervcrsion of the will of the people by
arbitrary exercise of political power.
Last year Gov. Morris. a democrat, re-
ceived a clear majority over all opposi-
lion. But the republicans who had
control Of the state capital building. re-
fused to surrender it. The old governor,
Bulkely. who did not receive asingle vote,
WAS permitted to hold over and his
party sustained the usurpation. Honest
republicans hang their heads in shame
over the acts of their party in Connecti-
cut. The unseating of Governor Boyd
IN Nebraska is another most humiliat-
ing spectacle for fair-minded republicans
TO contemplate. Thayer, a man for
whom no one voted. is at the head of the
state government. his only credentials
being his republicanism.
The governorship Of New Hampshire
Nhb SlplcH Ill a ulticltht way Inv
choice was thrown into the legislature,
which on its face was democratic, but
the republicans had chosen a number OF
members not yet authorized by the law
and. having seated them. elected Tuttle,
the republican candidate. The theft of
Montana and its sanction by d republi-
can senate is still fresh in the minds of
our people. The practice of state and
office stealing has, it thus appears. be-
come the settled policy of the leaders
of the republican party. The
legitimate outcome Of all this will be
seen in the utter perversion Of the will
Of the people and the government by
them exist only in the name.