The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1892-03-26
\ Large and Enthusiastic Attend
ance Of Democrats at .Ari0n
Hall.
Judge Clements of Helena Makes Il
Powerful Speech Upon the
Tariff and Silver.
McSsrs. Gilligan OF Butte and Donovan
of This City Follow in Stir
ring Remarks.

-ArlOn nan was nlled To It's full seating
capacity Saturdi y eve by earnest and en-
thusiastic democrats to listen to that
able %cxpounder of democratic principles.
Judge Clements of Helena. Other treats,
however, were in store for them in the
very able speeches made by the Hon. j.
Gilligan of Butte and James Donovan of
Great Falls.
Chairman Dyas, in calling the assem-
bly, to order, stated that the first order
Of business was the reception of the
report ON primary meetings, where
upon Secretary Samuel McMurran pre-
scented the report of the committee, the
essence of which is published elsewhere
in the TRIBUNE. On motion. the report
was adopted.
Judge Clements of Helena was intro
duced by the chairman and Immediately
engaged the attention of his auditors.
The judge did not claim to be an orator
and would not attempt to embellish his
remarks with the flowers Of rhetoric, but
he would speak % matters of fact and of
public policy in plain language, choosing
to appeal to the reason Of men by plain
statements Of in~controvertiblc premises,
than to their sentiments by stiltcd Ian
guage.
The Judge referred to the time in Iowa
where he was raised-when the republi-
san party appropriated to itself all the
virtues existing in political organizations
49, $500 49,. -.-ira - I, NO
the rag tails and bob tails of creation.
He was happy to say that the last two
~gubernatorial elections in that state had
disabused the minds of republicans of
their assumption and that the demo
cratic party in Iowa was now on top and
was there to stay.
The recent elections in Iowa. and in
Kansas and in other formerly great re
publican strongholds, prove that the
people have been investigating the poll
cies of the two great political parties;
that the industrial wa in which they
have been and are still engaged, have
aroused all classes to a closer and deep
err study of these issues upon which party
lines are drawn: that campaigns have
been campaigns of education in which
the principles %cspoused by the demo-
cratic party have triumphantly prevailed.
Iowa. which used to give its 10000 to
10000 republican majority, is now demo
: cratic and Kansas which has always
/, been regarded as a sure republican
state. is now in the hands
of an opposing party. The time was
when tire crackers and brass bands cut a
large figure in gaining republican major
!, tiles. That day has passed. People
/, study and think deeply now, because the
problem of earning ones daily bread has
become, in these times of high tariff and
corporate greed. a most seriOu one with
the laboring masses. Practical politics.
not sentimental politics, is what engages
; the mind of laboring men.
The speaker then gave an illustration
} Of the workings of the tariff: A capital
! ist builds a house which costs 100000.
I He hires carpenters and bricklayers at.
! say. 50 per day. Each gets his pay every
$ night and each takes his - bill and buys
the tea, coffee, clothing, etc, which his
! family must have, but his five dollars
> buy only $500 worth Of stuff, while the
/ balance Sl.35- goes into the Golfers OF
[ trusts and manufacturers fostered and
r protected by "A high tariff. The capital
ist who pays out his SloV!oo" Tor inc
! erection of the building loses nothing.
L flt HAS Ills llilN I i1NuiS w NV '' 80
money and will make more money out OF
If in rent, etc. The men who built II
have paid out over - per cent of their
: hard earnings to protected industries.
While the democratic party has not
4 had control of the legislative and eXecu-
5 tive branches of the government at the
! same time during the past third OF a
century It has been lighting for lis prln,
II ciples and though not always successful
if is on the high road to glorious vac
tory. II is rcvolutioniling sentiment on
:, the silver question. The people want
more money and the democratic party Is
irving to give it to them by free silver
coinage. The speaker here showed the
= benefits a greater volume Of currency
:, would give the people. Suppose that We
|, had say SIG per capita in the United
, States. New England and the eastern
states are b%opdholding and money loan
p ing states. They hold mortgages on
a property all over the west. Say the vol
! ume of u currency is reduced one halt
. and that the man who formerly had two
= dolla rs had but one. OF course the prlrc
of labor and the price of thu ncccssarlre
of life would be scaled down. The man :
one dollar would buy as much as his t"o
\ dollars did before. That is all riEht
But what about the men who had mort
rages upon their homes! Would tins
3 one dollar go as far TO pay of the mort
C cages as two would: Not much, HE
great eastern money powers wanted I"
o keep down the volume of money, ihcE
wanted to make money dear. That Is
i the reason they opposed free coinage
y for free coinage would give the debtor
X CLASSES a greater debt-paying capacity
and that is just what the creditor class
did IT want them to have.
The speaker dwelt AT some length upon
this subject and clearly showed the am
mus of the conflict going on between Inc
, creditor or money %loaning class upon the
one side and the debtor r laboring
classes upon the other. One wanted &c
make money dear. the other wanted &c
mike it cheap so they could get enough
,c of it to pay their debts and live.
This conflict this daily grind OF the
e poor~-was thus strikingly ILLUSTRATED
H.. - ,,;tb S1l0 annh wpulU Sl|