Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-05-15
NO FUSION.

A press dispatch is authority for the
statement that Hon. Lee Mantle of this
state has submitted to an interview in
the Washington Post, in, which he says:
In the west there will be no more al
lance Of silver republicans with demo-
Gratis. The help that was given by the
silver republicans in past campaigns will
not be forthcoming and all talk Of fusion
in the future is idle. The democrats well
coined the silver republicans as allies in
close states. but in states where they Sc
cured the ascendaroy repudiated them in
the most contemptuous manner. The
men who received this treatment are not
likely to put themselves in position to ex-
p~erience it again, ard whatever the demo-
Gratis hopettp accomplish in states like
Montana and Utah they will have to
achieve without the aid Of any other
party. .
If MI. Mantle has expressed himself in
accordance with the foregoing views he
certainly has echoed the sentiments of
every silver republican in the state Of
Montana. In 1896 the silver republicans
and populists made it possible for the
democratic party to carry this state. Tn
der the reign of Grover Cleveland the old
bourbon organization had practically
gone to pieces and the democratic party
in Montana was not as large as the pro-
verbal corporal's guard. The nominal
tion Of Bryan gave it an opportunity to
rehabiiitate itself on the plea that it was
loyal to silver, the mining Of which was
a great factor in our local industrial life,
n,1 ,ba e;Irav rnr,,h1;oar q nh y,opaflictSl
accepted its Invitation to Cooperate po-
litically in behalf Of the paramount in
terests Of this great ore producing state-
Through this cooperation the demo-
cracy secured control Of state affairs, and
throwing off its pretended friendship for
the white metal assumed a political AFRO
gance that was disgusting in the extreme.
Intoxicated with a local victory it could
not have won without the cooperation
of silver men in other political ,organi-
cations, every instinct of political graft
tude was forgotten and the reign Of an
organized appetite for the spoils of office
was introduced.
Two years later came the crucial test of
democracy's friendship for silver. The
time was come when the foundations
We're to be laid for the great battle for
blmetallism that was to take Place in 1900.
Laughing the future to scorn, ard looking
upon the past as a joke upon the people
who entrusted it with power. the demo-
cracy Of this state repudiated the advice
of the national silver leaders, rejected the
policy of fusion. and made a grandstard
play for another temporary lease of noli-
tlcal power in local affairs. The results
are known. With cash and coercion. with
brass bands and bulldozing, with all that
traitors and treachery could accomplish
to dIslntegrate the fighting forces of tn.
opposition, the democracy scored a vic
tory which has given to the state of Mon
tana a reputation for political leprosy
that will eng to her skirts through the
long years yet TO come.
The political organization that has
made the name of our fair state a by
word of contempt where it should be mem
TONED with respect, cannot nope to re-
gain the confidence of the men who once
believed in the honesty of it's professions
when II stood sponsor for the Industrial
interests of this great commonwealth.
The silver republicans and populists of
the state of Montana will heartily ap-
prove the words Of Senator Mantle when
he said that whatever the democrats NAV
hoIe to accomplish in the future they
must bring about without the aid of any
other party.