Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-10-23
TWO men OF MONTANA
SENATOR CLARK AND HIS ENEMY,
MARCUS DAILY.
Each Manages TO Have Some Fun
With the Gther-Ciark Is Build
ing n Mansion In the City
Of Washington.

Washington Correspondence of Detroit Free Press
one of Washington's most interesting
landmarks is about to vanish with the
destruction Of Stewart castle, which has
been bought by Senator Clark. of Mon
tana. Upon its site Will be erected a pal
atlal residence or a granite fiat-house-no-
body seems TO known which
When Senator Stewart built this man
sion. which stands facing Dupont circle. 1t
was considered q very magnificent struc-
ture, though certainly nothing in the archi-
tectural way could be uglier. In those
0ays-twenty-ttve years ago-all that part
OF Washington was u wilderness of vacant
lots, with here and there q sprinkling OF
negro shanties, and people said that the
Nevada millionaire must be crazy TO seecs
SO Ineligible site. To-day. of course. it is
IN the very center OF the most fashionable
district, and the senator has made about
I,Uv per cent on his investment.
Stewart has made and lost several for
tunes, ana those days, when he built mis-
r Oily, as the people commonly called it,
We're the period of his greatest prosperity.
Just think OF it his wife has been heard
to say, with sigh, we had three million
dollars then Fortunately. however. The
CT that sum now, though he lost nearly all
of his money dozen years ago. Silver
mines are apt to be precariOus invest
mentS.
Great Time.
During the epoch of low-ebb in his for
tunes Stewart leased the castle TO the Chi
nese legation. and it was there that the
minister from the mikado kingdom gave
the famous ball which was destined to go
on record as notable episode in Wash
inSton history Being hospitable man,
and new to the ways of American cap
ltal. he threw wide his doors and welcomed
everybody. \ well dressed and hungry mob
swarmed in and, biding its time. made a
noUnced. The guests formed solid pha-
lanX six deep around the tables, and stayed
there. What the waters managed TO Sc
cure was grabbed from them before they
could deliver it: plates were thrown under
the tables as fast as emptied. and many
gents took away quart bottle of cham
veritable orgie.. and, despairing at length
of getting rid in any other way Of these
harpies who came to pollute the feast, the
host resorted to the ingenious eXpedient of
ordering his servants 10 scatter red pepper
in the supper room. This drove them out
\ Neritable Croesus.
Senator ". \. Clark. who has bought
Stewart castle IS an enormously rich
man. People say that he is worth sixty
million. and that his income is something
like $lO,ctJO00 Il year. Copper is the source
of his wealth, and he owns one OF the rich
est mines Of that metal in existence one
story told about him relates to a hole in
the ground that he bought few years ago
for N.ND and out of which lie has since
taken SS0,o1e 0tr. IN these days copper is
stuff to bank on; gold is well enough. but
1t remains at a constant value. whereas
copper Is rising steadily. Electricity has
made multitude of new uses Tor copper.
and whenever that fluid finds fresh en-
plOyment, more copper is demanded. The
cost Of copper is to-day 4 great factor in
the struggle between steam and electric
transportation. Indeed, experts express
doubt as to whether there is enough copper
accessible in the world TO meet the future
demands of the population of the planet
They Own the State.
W. y. Clark is a very remarkable per-
sorage. dividing as he does with Marcus
Daily the control of the state of Montana
II is not merely political control, for these
two men may be said almost to own the
state. a division of which into two states
actually seems likely 10 result from the
personal quarrel between them. But of
this more anon. Lords of Montana are
Clark and Daly-feUdal barons. to all in
tents and purposeS-and the war they wage
against each other is inceSsant and reient-
less. Both men of prodigious wealth. bitter
copper kings contend with each other as
to which of them shall run the state
Nearly all the newspapers of Montana are
either owned or subsidized by them. In
every large town each of them has q
paper. while in smaller CenterS of popula-
ton the chances are even whether the
Clark and DAILY are both Democrats. and
party questions cut no tigure in Montana,
save insofar as they may represent issues
in the quarrel between these two men.
Every time big tight comes on they rush
out and buy or start few more news
papers. and the clamor OF print Is uPlitted
into Il tumult of VOCiferatiOn. For years
they have struggled for the control of the
state legislature. and the winner has sent
whomever he chose to the senate of the
United States. DAILY has not cared to be
n Clark he
honor. and so got himself elected few
months ago. However, he is by no means
sure of retaining his seat. for DAILY charges
bribery. and is going to bring before the
upper house an immense mass of evidence
purporting to show that his rival secured
the honor by wholesale corruption.
4 Tough Town.
Clark lives in Butte, city of 10000 in
habitants, and reputed to be the toughest
place on earth. 1t is a typical mining
town, run on the wide open" system. and
swarrnS with gamblers and other diSreput-
of the sights, and visitors are always taken
to inspect it, the most remar kable thing
about 1t being its lawn. This lawn is the
only patch Of green grass in Butte or its
neighborhood. and is kept up at a great eA-
penSe For such is the poisonous effect of
the fumes of sulphur and arsenic poured
out from the copper smelling works that
all vegetation thereabouts Is killed. and II
is impossible to grow roses even in green
houses. on the same account, no cat
lives in Butte.
Marcus DAILY lives in ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
mining town twenty-seven miles from
Butte Indeed. these two places are the
greatest copper camps in the world. DAILY
was very anxious that Anaconda should be
the capital of the stats-that was while il
was as vet 4 territory seeking admission
to the Union-and he strove nightly to
that end. But Clark. of course. had an
other idea in view. and the fight between
them over this question waxed to a very
acme of bitterness. Out there all the cen
ters of population are boom towns, and to
he made the capital would have been an
immense advantage to any of them Mean
while. the territory could not become a
state until it had Il recognized seat Of
government. and the dispute delayed the
metamOrphosis.
Clark Won Out.
Clark would have preferred to make
Butte the capital, but the character of the
.nr,.,l ~ 81 nntnrinns as tn rarler. This