The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-01-11
A RINGING DENUNC|AT|ON
OF BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION
Senator Whitesides Scathng Arrangement of Clarks AL
dacious Attempt to Buy Senatorship by Debauchng
the Legislature Of Montana and Making It a Car
rion Pen.
Special Dispatch to the Standard.

Special Dispatch to the Standard.
Helena, Jan. 10.-Folowing is the
speech of Senator Whiteside: Mr..
President and Gentlemen of the Joint
Assembly: l desire to ask your indul-
gence for a short time upon a question
of privilege. The resolution which was
introduced yesterday for the appoint
ment of a joint committee upon investi-
cation was introduced at my request,
and so that you may understand the
necessity for such action 1 will state to
you as clearly and as briefly as l may
my reasons for that request; and in or
der that you may more fully under
stand my position and my motives in
the matter, 1 will preface my state
ment by briefly reciting a few of the
events in our recent political history as
a state.
Unlucky must have been the star
which first saw the birth of this young
commonwealth, for hardly had Mon
tana laid aside her territorial swad-
ding clothes and put on the robes of
statehood before she was called upon to
face the scandal of precinct 81 with it's
resultant quarrels and unseemly squab-
bles, which resulted in a divided legis-
lature and the election of two United
States senators, upon whose right to
have represented US there will always
rest a shadow; and from that day until
the present time that evil star of desti
ny must still have followed us, for be-
fore the stain of this disgrace faded
from the public mind, it was followed
by the second legislative assembly in
which the same unseemly quarrel was
continued, and that body remained un-
organized for the p days of the session,
and following this came the third legis-
lative assembly, the corruption and bri
berry of which brought the blush of
shame to the cheek of every honest cit
izen of the state. The result was the
parceling of the state institutions,
vacant seat in the United States senate
and a world fair commission and eX-
hiblt so corrupt that it was a stencil in
the nostrils of all decent people.
The Growing Era.
But the browning era of bribery and
corruption was yet to come, for COM
pared with the corruption of the CAPT
tai contest that which had gone before
paled into nsignificance-even minis
ters of the church got their portion,
and the seed sown at that time will
bear evil fruit long after you and I
have been forgotten. One crop of that
fruit. although unripe, has already been
gathered-a capitol commission so cor
rupt that it was removed from office,
and the brand of dishonor placed upon
their work. If this corruption was con-
fined to one party, or if there was one
party in the state that was free from it,
the remedy would be plain and speedy.
1t would be in the hands of the people
themselves. But these methods per-
wade all parties, and in the fourth leg
islative assembly, a republican body,
this same method prevailed, and the
senatorial contest of 1895 is remembered
by broken pledges and dishonored bank
checks.
Coming down to the present time, we
find a condition of affairs that should
put to shame the lowest criminal in
Deer Lodge. Men of apparent respect
ability and good standing in this COM
munity are trafficking the honor of men,
bers of this body as they would buy
and sell cattle and sheep. They have
gone into this senatorial contest as they
would enter into government con-
tract to furnish horses-just so out and
buy so many and quit. And the lead
ing men in this community, those who
should frown upon these practices and
| express the Indignation of an outraged
public, the leading men in business, in
| the newspapers. in the pulpit, what are
! they doing? They wink at it or they
turn the head and pass upon the other
| side. They can not afford to lose the
| friendship of men who have so much in
| tluence and money.
Two years ago, when / was struggling
! to unearth the corruption in the cap