Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-07-27
IS Mr.. CLARK 4 PROTEcTION/STs

tain. with all due respect for the demo-
cratic senator-elect, files an objection
to the claim that he is a protectionist,
our morning contemporary Immediately
goes off into one of its conniption fits.
The Inter Mountain did not. even by inn
plication. express the hope that Senator
Clark would not get his seat, as the Miner
this morning alleges. 1t merely insisted
that he should be seated as a democrat
and not as a republican-as a free trader,
not as a protectionist. Only that and
nothing more. ~ 81
Instead of taking pride in Mr.. Clark's
long record as a democrat, as a man who
ran for congress in 1888 on an a~nti-brotecA
ton platform, and who sought senatorial
honors at the hands of his party six
years ago on the record then made as an
protection. the Miner raves and storms
and froths at the mouth over the awful
accusation that Mr.. Clark was ever any
thing else but a consistent protectionist!
No one who has listened to the many elo-
quent and effective speeches made by Mr..
Clark in this state during presidential
campaigns, and when he was himself a
candidate before the people, need be re-
minded of the fact that the democratic
Of free trade had no ADLER expo
nent on the rostrum han he. 1t is by no
means ancient history when Mr.. Clark,
and other influential leaders of the demo-
cratic party in this state, made their BIZ
ennial crusades against protection and
in favor of 7-cent wool. And among the
accredited opponents of the democratic
faith. no newspaper fought the alleged
heresy Of protection with greater stead
fastness. with more zeal, and perhaps
with more effect, than the Butte Miner
then, as now, the personal organ of Mr..
Clark.
These facts are cited not in criticism Of
the senator-elect, or the ably edited
newspaper which he controls, but merely
in evidence of the general statement
made in these columns that Mr.. Clark is
a democrat and not a republican. Mr..
Cleveland was elected on an anti-protec-
ton platform in 1884, and his record on
h question was such that in 1883 he
was renominated for president by ac-
clamation-a procedure heretofore I'm
heard Of in the national conventions OF
the democratic party. His free trade
record was so pleasing to the democrats
Of Montana that in their congressional
convention held in this city in 1SSS-rtAe
convention that nominated Mr.. Clark
the following resolution was adopted; Y
That we endorse the administration Of
President Cleveland as one of which not
only democrats, but citizens without dis
t%inction of party, may well be proud.
So deeply impressed was Mr.. Clark
with the necessity of keeping the free
trade party in power that in his speech
of acceptance as the democratic nominee
for congressional delegate he said:
We are everywhere recognized as a
democratic territory and it is probably
only by means of keeping that position
that we have any chance of being recog-
nized and admitted into the Union. Let
the democratic party be defeated and we
stand no chance of getting into the Union
for years to come.
The defeat of the democratic party that
year, followed a few months later by the
admission Of Montana into statehood,
showed that Mr.. Clark was more reliable
as a democrat than as a prophet. Now,
the Miner this morning comes out with
the declaration that "the gentleman re-
ferred to has been an advocate Of protec-
ton to the wool and mining industries
right along" The Inter Mountain is
willing to admit that Mr.. Clark has of
late, in a general way, claimed to be a
protectionist, but as a consistent demo-
crat he will adhere to the doctrines of
his party whenever that question is in
issue before the people.
1t was as a consistent, unyielding dem
ocrat, with a record of fidelity to the
principles of his party. that he stood as
a candidate for the United States senate
before a democratic assembly lasEwintsr.
In the opinion of the Inter Mo1ntainsit
was his record as a prominent advocate
of the doctrines of the free trade demec-
racy that strengthened his candidacy
before that body. Many democratic
members believed that his faithfulness
to the anti-protection principles Of that
party. through the long years of the past.
! deserved recognition at their hands and
they accordingly voted for him for the