The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-01-08
DULL AND UNEVENTFUL
ALI the Senatorial Factions Are
Standing Pat.
SYMPTOMS OF BRIBERY
They Are as Easily Discerned as Those
of Yellow Fever-Gossip of the
Senate and House-A Whack
at the Road Law.
Special Dispatch to the Standard.


Helena, Jan. In the senatorial
fight the day has been dull and un-
eventful. Many of the members have
gone home to spend Sunday. All the
absentees are expected back by Mon
day morning at the latest, as no one is
willing to run the risk of railroad acci-
dents or snow storms preventing their
arrival in time to vote Tuesday noon.
The vote taken on that day will not be
in joint assembly. Each branch of the
legislature under the law will vote
separately. The law provides that if
no senator is elected on that vote there
after. the two branches shall meet daily
at noon and vote in joint assembly.
All factions are still standing pat and
no changes are reported
The Clark people and the Clark or
gans feel very much aggrieved and
alarmed over the incessant reports that
Clark is resorting to bribery. AS if
w. A. Clark, of all men in the world,
was too honorable and conscientious
to buy votes Necessarily it is not al
ways easy to accumulate sufficient le-
gal evidence to convict a man of brib-
cry. But it is as easy as rolling off a
log to tell a man who has been bribed.
Invariably the bribed man overacts his
part When man who has been non
committal, or on the other side of a
given proposition, suddenly blossoms
out as an earnest and Jealous advocate
of it, there is prima facie evidence that
he has reached his new conclusion by
other than purely mental processes.
The bribed man Immediately begins in
public ito deprecate bribery and to ar
que that 'all this talk of bribery is an
insult to the legislature and Injuries the
good name of the state" He does that
to allay suspicion. Sometimes also he
begins to accuse the other side of brib-
cry. He gives himself away, TOO, by
his oversenstiveness on the subject.
He declares he would like to see the
man who would dare accuse him of
having been bought. In a hundred
ways he overdoes the thing and so ex-
poses the secret he. is so exceedingly
anxious to guard.
The symptoms of bribery are as clear,
sharp and well-defined as those of yell
low fever, No expert is required to dis
tinguish them. They are recognized
by any man of ordinary intelligence
If murder will out, even more so will
bribery. You read 1t in the bribed
mans eyes, in his features, in his talk
There is a certain indefinable sinking
air about him, of which he can no more
rid himself than he can change his cast
of countenance. He is a criminal
probably for the first time in his life
and he knows that he is a criminal:
and that knowledge. even if he hasn't
any fine moral sensibilities. makes him
exceedingly nervous. In the case of a
hardened criminal, one crime more or
less makes no difference; he can still
retain his ordinary composure. But
hardened criminals are not elected to
the Legislature. AS rule men of good
repute are chosen. When they get there
such of them as are weak are liable to
find themselves sorely tempted. Five
or ten thousand dollars cash is a fear
ful temptation to any poor man, and
fifteen or twenty thousand dollars will
tempt almost any man, rich or poor.
1t is to be expected that some men will
fall. To the credit of human nature
and to public and private morality let
it be said that there are other men
whom no amount of money can swerve
from what they believe to be right
From purely mercenary standpoint, if
from no other, these men will find them
selves better off five years hence than
those who make big winnings this VIM
ter. Honesty is the best policy and
Take the republicans who voted for
Clark in the session of 1S93-and see
where are they now financially.
The lobby that Mr.. Clark has work.
ing for him is a theme of unfavorable
In addition to his son he has
two or three good men from Butte and
one or two from Bozeman or elsewhere,
besides several excellent citizens of
Helena-and several others who are not
so excellent-who have espoused his
cause. AS to the other gentlemen who