The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-12-05

wv by the Montana legislature
last winter under circum-
stances which are well known here
yesterday took the oath Of office in the
customary form and assumed his seat.
Petitions in protest against his being
accepted as a member Of the United
States senate were then presented, ask
ing that the charges Of bribery on the
part of Mr.. Clark enumerated in the
protests be investigated by a commit
tee of the senate at an early date
These protesting petitions were Of
course referred to the committee on
privileges and elections.
It would be difficult indeed to con-
ceive o more terrible arraignment than
that which is expressed in the protests
from Montana. Cases of bribery in be-
half of Mr.. Clark are enumerated one
by one until a man of honest mind
must stand aghast at the appalling
revelation. That the charges are no idle,
random, iIl-advised charges may we'll
be concluded from the fact that to
these protests and charges are affixed
the names of men than whom no more
reputable are to be found within the
confines of the state. One petition is
signed by a large number of the men,
bers of the 1egislature-men who saw
the disreputable proceedings of last
winter from their inception and who
enter this emphatic protest against the
contamination of the crime. These
names include citizens who are most
prominent in the state, who are re-
islature who did their duty. but as citi-
zens of integrity and worth. The other
protest is signed by men of equal or
greater prominence and of equally high
standing in the state, men who have
been entrusted by the voters Of the
state with positions Of honor and re-
sponsibility. These men are r. B.
Smith, governor of the state; H. C..
Stiff, speaker of the house of represen-
tatives; r. w Poindexter. state auditor;
T. E. Collins, state treasurer; A. j..
Campbell, congressman, and Charles S.
Hartman, former congressman.
The protests sent from Montana are
in the hands of the United States SEN
ate. They are published in the Stand
ard this morning as they were filed. 1t
must be admitted by all that the pro-
tests are strong. Such strong protests,
enforced by the signatures of reputable
men, will surely receive careful attan-
ton at the hands of the senate commit
tee. The charge that men of such
standing as the men who have signed
the protests would become members of
u criminal conspiracy is too idle even to
receive consideration at the hands Of
the people of Montana.
Naturally those who have signed
these protests have already become the
subjects of censure on the part of those
whose consistent course from the start
has been to conceal the truth, or at
least, SO far as possible, prevent wide
publicity of the truth. 1t would seem
from n perusal OF editorials in the
Standards Butte contemporaries that
the term "Daly man is becoming a
synonym for all men who have the
honesty and the courage to express
their disapproVal of bribery and their
opposition TO the practice of selling
Montaras seat in the senate to the
highest bidder. No sooner does man
take a stand against the outrage which
was enacted in Helena last winter than
the newspapers which uniformly have
c0ndoned that crime call him DAILY
man" no matter what the previous
proclivites Of such man may have
been, or what his political faith. A
man may all his life have been bitterly
opposed to the political views of Mr..
DAILY, he may be a gold republican, he
may have supported Helena for the
capital of the state, as did Whiteside,
Clark of Madison county, Governor
Smith, Speaker Stiff and many others
who have signed the protests, but if he
ventures to express the opinion that
bribery is a crime and that the man
guilty OF il is a criminal and should
aeYer be permitted to serve the state in