The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-04-26
PRETTY CHILLY WEATHER
The Administration Responsible
for the Backward Spring.
A REFORM Is DEMANDED
Rufe Angevine's Tussle With 275-
Pound Prisoner-Epidemic of Colds
Tom Carter Is Coming and May
Fix Things All Right

mometers to the wall. Western Mon
tana has a reputation to sustain in the
matter of climate and, if the admin
istra ton persists in foisting this Klon-
dixie spell of weather upon this section
of the country, the people are deter
mined to assert their rights and de-
clare it to be spring, despite the ar
bitrary use of the power of the repub-
lican party. 1t was bad enough to ship
maggoty beef to our soldiers; it was
worse than that to send the rough rid
ers back home without giving them an
opportunity to show the stuff that they
were made of: but it is more than the
enlightened community can stand to
have this sort of spring weather fOieted
upon them by an administration that
claims to have the interests Of the
country at heart. Had the city cleo
ton been held this week, Mayor Web
ster, popular as he is, would not have
received % votes, running as he did
on a platform that Endorsed the Nc
klnley administration. Did not the re-
publican city convention promise to
insure the continued prosperity Of the
community in return for support at
the polls? What has been the result?
The support was granted-by a small
margin, it is true-but the party has
not fulfilled its promise. 1t is known
that there is cOnsidera BILE GOODNESS
growing out Of the differences of op.n-
ion among the leading republicans in
regard to municipal appointments, but
it was not supposed that this chill illness
was sufficient TO cause a continuation
of winter until the first of May. There
should be popular uprising against
any party that will prove so grossly
false to it's pledges. Public sentiment
IS entitled to some consideration and
it is certainly the first duty of Mayor
Webster, after the expression Of con-
tinued confidence that he received at
the polls, to accede to the popular de-
mand for warmer weather and give
Missoula a little, spring. There is talk
OF a mass meeting to enter formal pro-
test against the abuse Of power by the
mayor and his officers, and. unless this
evil is corrected soon, there will be
something drop.
The people have had all the winter
that they want and will not be sat
isfied with the one or two days Of
sunshine that the mayor has given
them this week. They want warm
nights. Just because the mayor has
a cinch on the situation, with a re-
publican majority in the council, he
should not be so severe as to continue
any further this chill that pervades the
entire west end.
Your Uncle Rufe Aneevine did not
complain of cold weather Monday aft
ernoOn. 1t would have suited him bet
ter if the mercury had stood about %
degrees lower than it did. He worked
~ ir, hal ~, l.
efforts to get a refractory prisoner to
the county jail. The prisoner weighed
about 215 pounds and when he decid-
ed to resist the progress Of the arrest
ing and arrested toward the jail he
simply settled back, and the chief of
police and an impromptu assistant had
to put their shoulders under him and
push all together. There was nothing
about the appearance Of Uncle Rufe
when the prisoner was finally landed
at the Jail to indicate that it was cool
weather He perspired like a farm
hand in hay time. But he won out
and is now trained down to good
weight for the race for the Pin stakes,
in which he is still selling favorite.
The sturdy burgomeister Ed sohil-
ling, is among those who have decided
that it is useless to monkey with the
thermometer any longer. He marched
proudly along Higgins avenue Mon
day afternoon with q bundle of young
shade trees over his shoulder, and took
the trees across the river to his home,
where he had an Arbor day all by
himself. His action is worthy of en-
ulation. Possibly if the administration
sees that it cannot coerce the public
into a continued observance Of winter,
it will relent and send along some
weather that corresponds with the cal
endar.
There is one feature of the present
spell of weather that the public can
not ignore or that cannot be disra-
garded by any stretch CT the magma
ton That is the epidemic of January
colds that is now prevalent Dan Ross
shed his OVercOat and tried to force
spring. He now talks in a deep bass
key and his principal Diet is quinine
with the usual accompaniment of
brown liquor Frank Ingalls, thought
that he could make it seem like sum
mer if he looked at some of his last
seasons landscape photographs. He
took off his coat when he saw the sun
shining in the pictures. and now he
wears a piece of pork rind instead Of
collar. while he has entirely discard
ed solid fCCd as a part of his diet
Roy G. Butler, the well known Butte
travelling man, undertook to aid the
Bitter Rioters in th=ir effort to force
spring. and he came down from Hamil
ton Monday. after spending five days
in the doctors care, with a strip If red
flannel around his neck in lieu of the
customary brilliant neCkWear that
drummers now affect. There are scores
of similar instances. all of which show
that it is hard work to buck against
the administration.