The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-01-19
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TWELVE PAGES.
Afraid of the Facts.

7 T would suit the Helena Independent
well if the Standard would omit all
reference to the bribery practises of
which the agents of W. A. Clark stand
accused before the legislature of Mon
tana.
Experience of recent weeks, in this
respect, has been remarkable Long
before the time for the meeting of the
legislature, the talk about w. A. Clark S
determination to buy the senatorship
was louder almost under the caves of
the Helena Independent than at any
other place in the state. In the streets
and the resorts of Helena the chatter
about the proposed purchase was the
was so widespread that it furnished a
perfectly legitimate theme for news
paper comment. This talk of a pur-
chase spread from Helena all over the
state. When the Standard lifted up its
voice in a warning way, the organs
that are defending Clark now mildly
protested: to their notion it was
quite out of place to attempt to check
the tide Off you please-suspected
bribery.
In the same way it transpired that
not one of the steps taken toward an
inquiry into the charges Of bribery was
advocated by the supporters of w. A.
Clark; on the contrary, these sup
porters fought the proposition even for
an inquiry. Spite of this opposition,
legislative investigation was ordered
we need not say how shocked the COM
munity was when the facts We're laid
before the Legislature. The facts, we
say; for they are the facts-the sworn
statements of men whom this state re-
spects, who gave their testimony and
then corded UP in the presence of the
members of the two houses the money
that was given to them to bride them.
These facts stand; not even the con-
illusions of a grand jury can change
them. They are facts that were
brought out by committee which,
under the appointment of the legisa-
ture, acted in a judicial capacity. 1t
is for the grand jury to decide whether
these facts shall constitute the basis
for an indictment and whether the tes-
timony brought out by a legislative
inquiry shall be followed with the
prosecution of the accused
For the rest, it can be said that there
is no mistaking public opinion in Mon
tana respecting those who wanted
nothing said, in the first place, about
the inslnuations of bribery, who op-
posed the inquiry when it was advo-
Gated before the two houses. who, since
the report to the Legislature, have spent
their breath in the effort to raise a
prejudice against the witnesses and in
favor of the accused and who affect to
be extremely sensitive as to the out
spoken expressions of those who, hay
ing no doubt in the world as to w. A,
CIark's wholesale bribery operations
are not going to permit themselves to
be silenced by the say-so of Mr.. Clark s
newspaper organs or the threats of his
corridor heelers. Is it the duty of a
newspaper to be silent respecting
charges of bribery backed by the sworn
testimony of several members of the
legislature, with the thirty thousand
dollars of bribery produced in proof?
In this matter public opinion through
out the state was as much disturbed as
the members of the legislature were.
How much was the Legislature dis
turbed? That is a question easily
answered. The Helena Independent
knows as well as 1t knows that to-
day is Thursday that, prior to the ex-
posure, the boast everywhere made by
the most confidential men in the Clark