Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-08-24
THE QUESTION or LOYALTY.

When a democratic newspaper reaches
a point where it can unblushingly assert
that the sentiment against winning an
American victory in the Philippines is 50
strong throughout the country that the
government can with difficulty recruit its
army and volunteers, 1t is entitled to be
classed-rtot with those journals tina
may honestly disagree with the admin
istration as to methods Of conducting the
war-bu with those which invite the
criticisms properly visited upon the cop
perhead.
1t is a matter of regret, rather thar of
surprise, that the Anaconda Standard
this morning lends it's editorial columns
to the d~iscleditable and disloyal ins,rua-
ton that this great republic finds Itself
embarrassed, in its efforts to induce men
to defend its flag in the Philippines, a n
that this apathy is induced by the general
belief that the government is wrong in
waging the war, and therefore ought to
be permitted to go down to defeat before
the Mausers of its savage foes! state
ments of this character, emanating from
the recognized leader OF the democratic
press of the state, may find an echo in
the hearts of the thoughtless and the in
sincere, but no man who is loyal to the
country that giveshimra habitation and a
hoDe-Who reveres the flag that stands
for the rights and liberties that make his
the monstrous Misrepresentation that
public sentiment is Indifferent to the fate
of American interests in the South, Pa
cific.
| Unmindful of the fact that the govern
ment is exercising great care and cir
cumspection N the election of men who
can best withstand climatic conditions in
the Philippines, and that thousands of
men who might have passed an examina-
ton for admission to the service when the
war broke out with Spain, are not ac-
cepted for duty under the present enlist
ment, the Standard assumes that the
government has been striving in the
most laborious way to fill ten regiments"
Though more than two-thirds of the re-
quisite number nave enlisted, despite the
rigid examination required, the Standard
sees in the situations a lack of enthusiasm
on the part of the people, growing out of
a feeling of opposition to the war. 1t un-
justly draws a comparison between the
enthusiasm that marked the initiation of
the Spanish-American war with the re-
c~ruiting of the army engaged in field duty
in the Philippines, and says:
Thu reason for this extraordinary
change may be the proper subject Of in
quiry. 1t is to be hoped that those ad-
ministratlon supporters whose delight 1t
is to shout or apologize for everything it
does, having been able to extend the
range of their vision beyond the flicker
ing atmosphere Of their own partisan
enthusiasm far enough to observe the
fact that there is no enthusiasm any
| where else, may now begin an investiga-
| ton to ascertain the reason why. With
| ordinary intelligence and energy in the
work, it will not take them long to dis
| cover that the two wars involve totally
principles, ana that even the
seven million voters who gave their Suf-
frages to William Mckinley make a
| broad distinction, when 1t comes to en-
listing, at least, between a war for free
dom in Cuba and a war against freedom
in the Philippines.
In the foregoing the Standard makes
the idiotic and unjust assumption that
the war in the Philippines is a wal
against freedom, and that William Nc
Kinley is responsible for it! 1t takes the
unpatriotic position that a conflict INTO