Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-04-20
WITHHOLDING JUDGMENT.

by withholding judgment as to men and
measures until all the facts were known.
Hasty conclusions have done more to
thwart justice, rob men of their reputa-
tons, and convert the machinery of civil
1zation into an instrument of oppression,
than all other causes combined. It is far
easier to condemn a man in advance of a
hearing before a duly organized and ac-
credited tribunal, than to correct the
wrongs that may be thereby heaped upon
him. Thousands of men have been
crushed to earth, and gone down to the
restful shadows of the tomb in despair,
suffering from the heritage of injustice
which a hastily formed public Judgment
inflicted upon them.
1t has been the policy of the Inter
Mountain to advise a suspension of pub
lie judgment when the good name and
regulations of mel are in ISSUE, until the
whole truth, and nothing but the truth
Invested of it's embellishments of hate
was made clear in the forum to which the
analysis of character belongs.
This paper would apply that rule to the
case of Mr.. Quay of Pennsylvania. For
many years the ex-senator has been a
controlling force in the politics of the
keystone state. His ability as a leader
has for years made him the target of his
political enemies. He has been running
the gauntlets of hate and envy and jeal-
ousy since the day his capacity for Lead
ership in the arena of politics was proven
beyond a doubt. Every effort has been
made by enemies, both within and with
out the party to which he belongs, to
break down the powerful influence he had
acquired. Party associates sought to un-
dermine him, that they might aspire to
the leadership which could not be openly
torn from his grasp, while political op-
ponents realized the hopelessness of their
contest in Pennsylvania with Senator
Quay in command of the republican
forces of that state.
At last, Mr.. Quay finds himself in the
pUSilioI VI d utItdleu dSplIdHl W the
senate, and at the same time a defendant
before the bar of justice. Accused of the
crime of conspiracy to defraud the state,
he pleads not guilty to the Indictment,
and the facts in the cause are yet to be
determined by the rigid inquiry of the
court. By every rule of honest citizen
shin he is entitled to a SlSnansion of pub-
lie judgment until the whole truth shall
have been brought out and intelligently
applied. His standing in the community,
in the senate, in the nation-his influence
as a citizen at home and alphabetically
plead for a suspension of public Judgment
until the truth is known. Yet his enemies
find in the embarrassments that surround
him their long sought opportunity for at
tack. Like v%ultures lowering over a
wounded lion, they gloat over the situa-
ton in which the trend of events has
placed this whilom leader of the people.
Mr.. Quay may or may not be guilty of
the charges made. Men prominent in the
affairs of the country have in times past
fallen from their high estate, for the
genius of leadership may pave the way to
ruin. 1t was always thus in the history
of the world. Such may be the fate of
Mr.. Quay. On the other hand, men have
been ruined through the conspiracy of
their enemies. Possibly this is the sword
of Damocles that hangs over the head of
the noted Pennsylvania. Again, the in
quiry of the court may place Mr.. Quay
before the world clothed with the honor
and integrity Of an honest man.
The case is by no means ended-the ex-
senator remains uncrushed to date. His
enemies may be COMPOUNDED in the out
come, after all. If so, what is to be lone
with the columns of abuse and slime that
now adorn the democratic press? The
man who is so swift to condemn another
on hearsay evidence usually lives in a
glass house. and throws stones at a fear
full risk to his own peace of mind. His
arm would be paralyzed were he to think