Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-06-24
"TAKE BACK your L

in this city-a scene that will form a
pretty little picture in the gallery of
Montana events. The reason it took
church, was because his excellency. Gov
ernor Robert b. Smith, who is a Ken
tuckian by birth, happened to be found
there by Mr.. Boyce, president of the
Western Federation Of Miners, and Mr..
James Maher, secretary and treasurer of
that organization. The mission OF the
latter gentlemen was to return to the
governor IS which he had contributed to
the fund that was being raised for the
assistance of the families of the men who
are now imprisoned at Wardner.
The contribution was returned with the
explanation that the friends of the Occur
d'Alene sufferers could not, under the
circumstances, accept assistance from his
hands. 1t seems that his excellency de
the statement that they did not care to
enter into a discussion of the matter at
that time, and with a courteous ''good
evening"" the gentlemen Of the commit
tee retired, leaving the chief executive
to his own reflections and to take such
steps as his Kentucky predictions might
suggest in the premises, and which his
immediate surroundings might justify.
Involving so distinguished a parsonage
as the governor of the state of Montana,
and men of nigh standing and reputation
in labor circles, the incident will in all
likelihood be widely discussed through
out the country. It will revive public
interest in the events leading up to it,
for thereon must rest the approval or
d%isapproval Of the course pursued by the
labor leaders in this matter.
~
The democratic press, in defense of their
g~ubernatorial protege, for whose official
course they have stood sponsor, will
doubtless fly to the rescue of his excel
lency with vigorous criticisms of the ac-
ton taken by the laboring men in this
affair. They will insist that the humili
alton visited Upon the governor was UNI
justifiable, and that the rebuke to his
generosity was wholly uncalled for. Blu
the public will pass judgment upon the
collateral facts, and reach the unavoid-
able conclusion that the committee die
the proper thing.
1t is a matter of history that the fed.
eral troops stationed in the Coeul
d'Alenes, under Governor Steunenberg'
plea for martial law, were granted per.
mission to enter the state of Montan.
and seize men suspected Of crime ant
take them out of the state in violation o
law. No preliminary examination wa!
accorded these men, nc extradition pa
pers issued, no state warrants prepared
The question of their guilt or innocenc,
was not considered. To be found saun,
tering along the line of the Northern Pa
ciic railway in Missoula county, was t.
be arrested forthwith as d suspect, place,
in a box car and shipped to Idaho with
out any further f%ormality. To make sur,
III liz III liz lIlloICIl Z DEL
and carried off without an opportunit,
to be heard-right under the eye of tn
democratic governor of this state. Thes
facts are u%ndeniable.
When the labor unions uttered a pro
test, Governor Smith sought to placat
them by numerous explanations tina
failed to explain, and these We're finall,
supplemented by a contribution of S. t
the fund that is being raised for the ben
eft of the families of the imprisone
miners at Wardner. Whatever indiscre
tons may from time to time be laid a
the door of the labor leaders they ar
seldom, if ever, guilty of kissing tn
hand that smites them. While the wron
perpetrated in Missoula county remain
unrighted. while Governor Smith ar
r,auds the invasion of the military au
thorities into this state in search of sus
poets, and makes no effort to correct tn
breaches Of civil law which took men OF
Of this state without a hearing, it woul
be impossible for the friends of the me
at Wardner to accept financial favo,
from his hands.
No right-minded a be he rich {
poor-of high or low estate-whether I'll