The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-04-21
Butte Department.

worldly possessions? And IL yes, how
much? Shall they be required to take
| with them their children, who from
propinquity or heredity may reasonably
| De expected to be tainted with the con-
tagion OF sound money? II we are OF
the opinion that their goods of right
belong to us. shall we secure them by
, treaty confiscation or shall our road
agents hover along the thronged high
ways by which egress from the model
commonwealth is sought. OF course.
those who would take away A per
cent. OF another's property by statute
need not scruple to take away the other
81 per cent. with a shotgun or blud-
geon. The earliest thing to do is to
formulate a confession of economic
faith by which all Montana thinking
shall be squared. This Is very import
ant. And then there should be a
common hangman to burn dissenting
heretical literature. What shall be
done with those who, Notwithstanding
the excess of caloric which we pro-
duce,. are insubordinate and refuse to
leave the state at our command. ought
there not to be an extraordinary SEES
sion of the Legislature convened at once
to provide for offenses of this charac-
ter which we may reasonably antici-
pate?
There is another matter to be ap-
pretended. People who do not under
stand the science or vital consequence
of this great cause of cheap money, nor
the correct meaning of plain English
words, viii speak of this action of ours
as being bigotry, intolerance, AFRO
gance, insolence or impudence; but our
new local dictionary will be our refuge
and we will know all reformers have
been thus maligned. 1t may be that
our thumb screws will fail, in which
event, as a dernier resort, we can trust
our orators to complete the Job. dis
cover a field for wide usefulness as a
substitute for a rack or the stocks, in
Sewell Davis rhetorical accomplish
ments in this behalf. If the patience
of the chamber of commerce and other
chambers hold out, and newspapers
and orators yield him sufficient en-
enlargement, l see no reason to doubt
that he may win as much renown and
be as successful as Torquemada with
his faggots and his fiery jail; but even
here we must be careful, for, alas.
rhetoric hath bubbles as the water
has. There Is a worse aspect of the
case. The state is now honeycombed
with financial heresies. My mail is
laden with epistles avowing beliefs on
the part of the writers that gold is the
best metal for coined money that all
dollars should be worth a hundred cents
everywhere; that all dollars should be
of equal value; that there is no eff
cheney in fiat money; that dilution, en-
ervation or adulteration Of the coinage
or clipping coins are no remedies for |
present evils, and these letters are /
signed by writers in their own prop |
er handwriting, and are unquestionably |
proof in criminal court |
against the writer's Delegations wait |
on me from time to time from mining |
and elsewhere to express |
their approval of these economic here |
sizes, until / am forced to conclude that |
a majority of our substantial citizens |
have also forsaken the worship of the |
true God. and erected to themselves a |
golden image and. according to your |
secretary, ought to have a letter box |
In hell. In the dearth of necessary fin |
anclal aid. cannot we utilize their |
worldly possessions now until the prop |
er time, when we can rally under the |
old flag and ask for an appropriation ?"