The Ravalli Republican. [volume] (Stevensville, Mont.) 1894-1899, 1894-10-03

| III olle opening I'ldlllA Ol tNelI pat
form, expressed their cordial ap
proya] OF the administration Of Gro
yer Cleveland. and their confidence
| in his judgment.' It was another in
stance Of the pot calling the kettle
black"
,Alr. Smith, after further and quite
able. talk on the silver question, tool,
| up several other planks in the popu
list platform, notably the govern.
mcnt control Of telegraph, telephone
and railroads. He stccred clear OF
the wild initiative and referendum
and also Of the sub-trcasury- ware.
house receipts scheme, the graduated
income tax, the election bv direct
vote Of the people, the tariff question
from the populist standpoint, and
| 4 good many, other wild schemes in
corporatcd in the national populist
platform. No doubt the: gentleman
did not care to touch upon the moro
OF less visionary ideas Of the party
he claims to represent, but whose
fallacies in their entirety he himself
| would not care to swallow nor at
tempt to shove down other peoples
throats. lie never once referred tt
the wild monetary bills introduced
| by populiSt members in the last scs-
sion, nor the declaration Of the ma,
tional platform about the ultimate
retirement Of both gold and silver
and the substitution Of fiat paper
money. Mr. Smith wants to float
into congress on the free coinage
wave which every careful observer
Of events can see is coming, and he is
too good a lawyer to jeopardize his
case before a jury of the voters OF
Montana to introduce testimony that
will make for the opposition.
Mr.. Smith touched the question Of
government control of railroads very
carefully and very gingcrly. lie an
ticipated the great objection to this
schemc-the danger OF its becoming
4 great administration machinc-by
saying that the popuIists proposed
that the railroad men, being of course
federal officials, should be put under
the civil service law, under which a
man could vote against the admnis-
tration if lie wished without fear of
losing his job. The ral}ucy of this
reason was shown during the first ad-
ministration OF Mr.. Clcveland-mcn
under the civil service rule felt the
swing Of "Adlai's AK upon a trumpcd
up charge of "otfcnsvc partisansllip, !"
Mr.. Smith said that under pOpulistic
rule all the government railroad men
would hold their jobs '.Ior life, or dur
Ing good behavior" Every railroad man
in the country knows how easy it is
for high officials to get rid Of a man
obnoxious to them. BE lie never so
careful, there is not month passes
over an engineer, conductor or brake
mans head in which some complaint t
Of neglect Of duty cannot be made to
stick before a tribunal bent on "ir-
ing" BIN. This "civil service" gloss
Of AR. Smiths looks very pretty at
first glance, but its polish would
soon wear off in this age OF .'practi-
cal politics." and the deIuded railroad
man who fancicd the wing Of ''ciyil
service would shield him did he
dare vote against a popuIist admins
tration, would soon find his occupa-
tion gone. And our readers need not
90 further than the present populist
control Of the state government Of
Colorado to satisfy themselves that
populists in power arc as human and
reVcngcfuI as ordinary mortaIs who
never attempt the angel act.
Concluding the regular talk, Mr.
Smith spoke Of his opponents in the
congressional race. He said that Mr.
COrbctt was nice young gentleman,
Il good fellow. lie had known IIa.
COrbctt when he was d little fellow.
back in Kentucky, running around
harcaootcd and with only one galluS
Yes, Hal was Il nice boy, but wasn't
in it this time, and he knows it.
Ills other opponent, and the one
whom his real fight was WITH Mr..
Hartman. the republican candidate.
was also Il splendid gentleman, ''ln-
deed" said Mr.. Smith, IF had the
making over OF Charley Hartman |
wouldn't change him in the slightest
particular. But Mr.. Hartman is not
Il true silver man" TO prove this
he brought up the amendment which
Mr.. Hartman introduced for the free
coinage Of silver at the ratio OF lG to
!, but providing that customs duties
should be paid in gold. Now. this
amendment was a scheme Of the true
friends OF silver in the house Three