The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1892-07-30
A SMART POLITICIAN.

? Oh6'h oiu uTedutn VI tho iAou' hohioo
H. Carter, the latest named chairman Of
the republican national committee. Ii
the Washington correspondent of the
} New York World is to be believed Mr..
Carter is not only a very smart politician
but he has proven himself to be a very
unreliable representative Of Montana's
interests. AS a rule politicians are not
altogether reliable, for they hold that
everything is fair in politics as it is in
love and war. Politicians Ego in to win"
as the phrase runs and it is not supposed
they stand on the order of their going.
II it be necessary to sacrifice a friend
here; to cripple another there and to
build up an enemy between the two
they do it with the GOODNESS and skill of
the surgeon who would cut off "A gan
grened leg to save his patients life.
In the light of Mr.. Carter's SUCCESS it
may be conceded he is a ''smart poll
t%ician" We will say he is a smart poll
tician a very smart one. What does it
signify! Does it follow that Mr.. Carter
will carry Montana for Mr.. Harrison and
that Mr.. Carter should succeed Col.
Sanders in the United States senate?
That is just what Mr.. Carter is working
for. No one supposes he is working
alone for glory. If he fail in this state
and can elect Harrison the portfolio of
the secretary Of the interior will await
him. Mr.. Carter is ambitious and to
gain an entrance into the United States
senate and to succeed himself a number
of terms by those wiles known to 'smart
politicians is a far richer prize than a
term in a cabinet position in which he
would be buried for four years
and be forgotten, like all predecessors,
within six months after he left it.
Yes, Mr.. Carter is a candidate for Col.
Sanders stolen seat in the United States
senate, and as such he now appears be-
fore the people of Montana. Is he the
man the people of this state wants? Let
us see. The Worlds Washington special
referred to gives Mr.. Garter an excellent
''send off, as "A politician. 1t gives his
age. nativity and occupation up to date.
All this il pretty well known to Mon.
t%anians, but there are some things the
World speaks about not so we'll known
to them. 1t tells how Tom Reed dis
covered Carriers political shrewdness
and in street parlance "dug him up"
from his obscurity as a simple congress
man from the new and sparsely state of
Montana. But We will let the World
mar tell it his own way, giving the bitter
with the sweet:
They were together morning, noon
and night. The burly speaker rarely |
decided upon a question of policy, or up
on an important detail OF any sort, with
out consulting Carter. 1t was ow the
Reeds friendship for Cater and ne
prominence that it gave him that Al
was chosen secretary OF the nationa
republican congressional committee.
Carriers headquarters were there
after in the speakers private
room. and the private campaigns of a
hundred republican members were
planned and engineered from that poi i
Carter's shrewdness and executive
ability we're manifested to a high degree
IN these affairs,and even the tidal wave
that swept over the country in the fall
of 1880 could not entirely obliterate the
evidences OF his excellent work.
The erroneous statement has peer
made that Carter is an ardent silver ad-
vOcate. On the contrary, he is strongly
opposed to the free coinage of the white
metal, his position on that question be-
ing almost unique. He enjoys the dis
t~inction of being the first representative
OF a silver state in congress to vote
against free coinage. When SpeakerIteed
organized the committees of the Fifty
first congress he made Carter a member
OF the committee on coinage. weights
and measures, after having obtained
from him a positive pledge that he would
oppose Il free coinage bill. Carter re
deemed the pledge in spite of the pres
sure brought to bear upon him by the
leading people of his state when remon-
strated with as to his course. He re-
piled:
"Therc will be tremendous reaction
against free silver one of these days and
the people of my state will thank me for
the course ! have pursued. There is a
great deal OF humbug about free silver,
and | believe that the best interests, |
even OF "A state like Montana, are to be
served by the opposition of her represen.
tatives in congress to any proposition
looking to free coinage"
1t is to this agreement with Speaker
Reed and to his subsequent action when
the decisive vote was taken upon the
silver coinage bill in the fifty first con
gress, together with the utterances as
cribed to him the TRIBUNE would call
attention. 1t is upon these the TRIBUNE
bases it's opinion that Mr.. Carter has
himself to be a very unreliable
representative of Montana's interests.
And what he has been he may again
prove to be il opportunity present itself.
AS a pronounced candidate for the
United States senate from this state his
fitness for the position must be measured
L., L.. ,..o,l az, IN |