Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-02-06
THE STATES GOOD NAME.

To preserve the good name of the state
is the concern of every loyal citizen, and
whenever that good name has beer i'm
paired, honor, as we'll as self interest, de-
mands an investigation that will remove
the stain from the fair fame of the com
monwealth. The democratic party, dom
inant in the affairs of this state, has
brought discredit upon Montana abroad
and advertised it as a rotten borough to
the world. Without discussing the mer-
it's Of this faction or that, the solemn
fact remains that ell over these United
States the good name of Montana is be-
ing dragged through the mire. 1t is not
worth while threshing over old straw as
to why this is so. 1t is enough to know
that it is true, and that the first duty of
good citizenship is to check the tide of
evil that will grow out of it.
The ''paramoun issue" before the de-
mocracy of this state at the present time
is to- redeem the good name Of the COM
and that political organlza-
tion owes to itself and to the people an
earnest effort in thai direction. No one
ran read the following from the Houston
Daily Post, which is but a sample OF the
advertising that is freely accorded the
state of Montana, without feeling hat an
irreparable injury is being done this state:
The charge made by a senator in tho
Montana Legislature to the effect that
every member who voted for the success
ful candidate for United States senator
had been bought is something to produce
shame in the breast of every honest nan
and to inspire universal contempt both
for the senatorial corruptionist and the
creatures who were bought like cattle at
so much per head. If the national senate
would deny the Montana senator a seat
in the body, it would be taking a long
step toward relieving itself of the odlum
that has attached to it for many years
past on account of the ~well-known fact
that a considerable portion Of it's men,
is composed of men who have OBJ
tanned their elections in a similar way.
Paragraphs like the foregoing are being
published in all sections of the country,
and to say that Montana is injured by
such talk is to express it mildly. The
or falsity of the publication has
to do with it's effect, while such
statements go unchallenged before the
constituencies Of prominent journals in
very state in the union. Nothing that a
Montana paper can say will remove the
impressions that are created by such
charges. It is only in a broader and
wider field Of national effort hat the gen.
aral public can be reached. |
1t is therefore clearly the duty of the
democracy of this state to carry out the
pledges made by the anti-Clark men on
the floor Of the joint assembly and lay
their charges of bribery before the SEN
ate Of the United States. AS the result
of a movement in that direction, Montana
will either pass through the crucible of an
investigation unscathed, and the odium
heaped upon her by the press of the coun-
try will fall harmlessly by the wayside,
or, on the other hand, this state will show
an honest disposition to correct the evils
attributed to her, and stand redeemed be-
fore the world. Whatever the results of a
senatorial investigation, be they favorable
to one faction of the democracy or to the
other, the state will profit therefrom, in
asmuch as it will place the people of this
commonwealth in the proper light before
the world.
STATUS OF THE CANAL BILL.