Daily inter mountain., 1899-11-24

it invariably quotes from their columns
| to give them the benefit of their own
statements as to the position they may
! have assumed. This is done to avoid mis-
representation through any inadvertence
| in the Interpretation of their ideas. 1t is
| noticeable, however, that the Anaconda
Standard carefully avoids this system
when closely pressed. with the apparent
purpose of trying to place its opponent
| in a wrong light before its readers.
A fragrant example of this sort Of jour-
| nalism appears in it's columns this morn-
| ing Last evening. the Inter Mountain
quoted from the editorial columns of the
! Standard Of January 9th to show that
| President Mckinley and that paper took
substantially the same grounds as to the
regulation of the relative values of silver
and gold through the worlds exchanges.
and as to the irrelevancy of the ratio as
a vital factor in the proper use of the
If the Standard mistakes then is the
president likewise in error. The Inter
Mountain is of the opinion that both are
wrong, in holding that the ratio is not a
vital factor in the proper use of silver and
that it should be fixed by the worlds
exchanges.
Nothing could be more definite and
clear than the foregoing statement of this
paper. as to it's opinion on the question
Tn, ho a,I ;,,er
in its rejoinder. says:
The Standard feels complimented in
deed, that the Inter Mountain should
undertake to defend President Mckinley
by showing that he is substantially in
accord with the Standard. At the same
time we are surprised. For months past
the Inter Mountain in its enthusiasm for
silver charged us with abandoning it be-
cause of a statement concerning the ra ito.
and every time it thought of our assumed
apostacy 1t grew more indignant. Only a
few weeks ago it insisted that the Ques-
ton ought to be debated between itself
and the Standard. Now forsooth it actu-
ally seeks to defend the president of the
United States by declaring that his posi-
ton on bimetallism is substantially the
same as that of the Standard
Comment upon the style Of journalism
that leads to such deliberate, cold
blooded misrepresentation ton as the fore
going is unnecessary. 1t speaks for itself.
as an absolute and wilful distortion of tht,
opinions of this paper on a question Of
great public concern. If the Standard
can AFFORD that sort Of Journalism as the
leading exponent Of Montana democracy,
the Inter Mountain is quite willing TO
permit it to acquire the reputation it i'm
plies.
As our readers know the Inter Noun
tain has defended the war policy Of he
president, and the splendid fruitage os
his wise administration of public affairs,
recognizing the prosperity that has come
to the people since he was entrusted with
the rens of government. But this paper
has never approved any course of pro-
cedure that seemed to promise the per-
manent displacement of silver whether
it came in the nature of an open opposi-
ton at the hands Of men prominent in the
councils of the republican party. or in the
more insidious and subtle form of demo-
cratic treachery to the cause of free
coinage.
In this connection it is we'll to note still
another misrepresentation in the<Stand-
ards rejoinder. In referring to the Inter
Mountain it says:
For months it has been proclaiming to
| the world. so far as it's circula tion enables
| it to reach the world, that silver was the
| paramount issue
The Inter Mountain has done no such
thing. For months it has insisted that
| silver ought to be the paramount ISSUE as
! it was in 1896. and it has upbraided the
democracy for having treacherously re-
tired it to the rear. 1t has shown by
conclusive evidence that all the great
demand for another paramount issue for
| 1900, and that the Standard itself, in it's
declaration that relative values are fixed
by the worlds exchanges, has raised an
impossible barrier to free coinage, and
thereby contributed the wealth of it's
influence to the destruction of the cause.
1t follows, therefore. that while silver
ought to be the paramount issue, in ac-
cordance with the pledges of 1896, it falls
far short of that honorable position to-
day. by reason of democratic activity in
crowding it to the rear. Having forced d
silver into the background. to effect a
union between the eastern and western
| wings of the party. the democrats have