Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-06-23
SIXTEEN TO ONE.

dependent tina the Inter Mountain is try
ing to persuade the democrats to aban-
don silver. In the language of another.
such a statement ''Would be ridiculous If
It were not so cussedly absurd AS a
matter Of fact. this paper has labored
with untiring zeal to prevent the demo-
cratic press of this state from being UNI
true to their professions Of binetallic 10y
atty in 1896. It endeavored to dissuade
them from reversing the policy of CO.
operation which was deemed essential
to the success of the free coinage move
ment in the late presidential campaign,
but without avail. 1t stood faithfully by
the recommendations of the national sill
YER leaders as to the political course
which the respective organizations
should pursue in 1898. in order to lay the
foundations for the success of free COIN
age in 1900. but its efforts were fruitless
as against the united democratic press of
this state.
1t is a part of the political history of
1OIluid lIldl lliC TX ~ich1lt0iN. S14StS
handed and alone among the professedly
silver papers of the state, stood by the
policy of cooperation on the part of the
silver organizations which had been
agreed to in 1896 as the proper course Of
procedure. and which was unanimously
recommended for the future by the ma
tional silver leaders in 1898. Not a demo-
cratic paper in the great silver state Of
Montana had the loyalty, the courage,
the conscience, the manhood, to stand by
a policy in 1898 which they unqualifedly
approved of and defended III 1896.
The national silver leaders. without ex-
ception. recognized the tremendous poll
teal beverage which cooperation gave
to the free coinage cause in 1896. and one
and all gave public expression to the hope
that such a policy would be continued un-
til victory finally crowned the efforts Of
the silver forces. 1t was not the Inter
Mountain that 'persuaded' the demo-
cratic press of this state to abandon the
policy of cooperation, without which I'LL
innate success was deemed an impossi-
ardIy system Of branding as traitors to
the cause all who would not profess 10y
atty to the doctrinal vagaries of the
democratic party.
~
The policy of cooperation, so gladly
welcomed by the democracy in 1896, wher
it was about to slough off its detachable
mortal coil under the prismatic pangs o
Clevelandism, was trodden under foot il
1898 because its tomach out-generalet
its heart and appetite took the place 0
pride.
The Butte Miner, which supported CO
operation in 1896, led the fight against i
in 1898, despite party precedent and til
advice of the national silver leaders, il
order to elect it's proprietor to the senat
of the United States. 1t refused to asso
ciate politically with silver republicans
who believed in the heresy of protection
in order to elect what it now gleefull,
Al ~ ~ " - a. ~ IA
senate. TIC a personal end, regardless o
the future of the silver issue, all it's ener
gies were directed.
The Anaconda Standard took a boil
stand in favor of maintaining the polio,
of 1896, declaiming with the courage O
an apple woman at a revival meeting, un
til it's gastric juices also got their spec,
up and went to chasing imaginary ri
around the confines of their well deyel
Oped abdominal world. After capturin
the Butte primaries, by a plan of proceed
ure that stopped the circulation of bloc
through its political conscience, tn
Standard had what prospectors in a NOR
legitimate field call a "hunch." 1t &C
quired the premonition that destiny wa
working a double shift in order to plac
the selection of a United States senate
in its hands. So without further ado-th
next morning after the primaries-th
Standard Executed a phenomenal switc
and came out cold-bloodedly against tn
policy of cooperation on the part of tn
silver organizations in this state.
All the other democratic papers in tn
state, including the Helena Independent