The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-04-05
THE QUESTION.


mon. They want clean streets, we'll
paved. They want good sidewalks
They want a good police force. They
want good sewer, water and lighting
systems. They want good, just and
equable laws, we'll administered. They
want all these things without unpeces-
sary friction, at the lowest possible cost
That is all they do want, and their wants
are not unreasonable or impracticable.
There is no difference of opinion among
them as to what they want. Neither
the dust-throwing of chronic office seek
ers nor the selfish appeals of sordid pol
i~ticians can deceive them as to what
they want, or swerve them from their
purpose to get what they want by an
ppeal to the ballot box.
On questions of state and national
government they may widely differ. AS
to what they want as a community, as a
municipality, there is but one opinion.
Where everybody wants the same thing
why not acknowledge it and go for it?
This is the situation that confronts
the voters of Helena to-day, and that is
to be settled at the polls tomorrow.
There is not an honest man in the town,
democrat or republican, who will say
that the last two, three, or half dozen
administrations have reen what they
ought to have been. 1t is idle to blame
this or that party, to find fault with
this or that man. Something is the
matter. We have had costly, extrava-
CANT. wasteful administration of III
city government. Even that wouldn't
be SO bad if we had something to show
for u money, but we haven't. 1t has
dropped into bottomless streets, through
the chinks of rotten sidewalks, or gone
to pay for the undolng of public work
conceived in stupidity and executed in
corruption.
That is all there is about it.
Now what are We going to do about it?
Make II. H. Kleinschmidt mayor and
William Sims marshal?
Well, yes, if you want the old order
Of things of ten or a dozen years ago.
No, emphatically no, if you want to make
a serious, determined effort to get the
city out of a rut and to put it's affairs
on a business basis.
Good citizens irrespective OF party saw
these things, recognized the failings of
previous administrations, and deplored
them, long before either of the party
conventions assembled. They got to-
gether and talked them over-not with
the intention OF forming a new party to
supersede the old organizations, but
rather with a view to calling attention
to evils of government that had attained
a rank growth and needed immediate
checking. The much-abused Citizens
movement accomplished it's purpose tc
the extent of bringing before the people
in a clear light the worst of our munich.
pal evils and, more than that, in i'm.
pressing on the voters the Importance
of a strong and true hand and a clear
head at the rudder. That this un.
bought, unbiased and unprecedented sen
timent turned SO overwhelmingly an,
unerringly to John Il. Murphy as thu
right man to ill the mayors chair il
this emergency, was indeed fortunate
Mr.. Murphy was not a dreamer or al
idealist in politics, he was not a vision,
airy who saw no useful purpose in polit
ical organizations. He was a plain
straightforward business man who be
lieved in applying business principles t.
public as we'll as private affairs;
ruggedly honest mana man with tn,
nerve and backbone to carry out hi
convictions. Withal Mr., Murphy was
BhAb "a " u
democratic principles. but broad enoup
to be more than q partisan.
Mr.. Murphy's nomination by tn
democratic convention, therefore, mean
far more than a party fight. 1t mean
a contest between the two old orpani
cations, to be sure, but on the side &
one was a strong, healthy, invigoratin
public sentiment demanding hiphe
standards of municipal governmen
while the other manipulated by sci
seeking politicians, disappearing i,
own rank and file, stood for nothing a
cept party and the spoils of office for Il
benefit of that party.
We cannot permit ourselves to dou'
OF the result for one moment. We ha
too much confidence IN the intellipept
the sagacity, the business sense of t.
people of Helena, to suppose when tn
can secure the services of a busine
man SO thorough and able, a man