Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-02-26
7NE STANDARDS BAcx TRACK.


Tue STANDARDS BACK TRACK
After having advertised Montana as a
rotten borough from Dan to Bersheoa'
and giving the citizens Of this state a
black eye from which they will be slow
to recover, the Anaconda Standard finds
it necessary this morning to attempt a
defense against the influences set in mo-
ton by ITS own reckless conduct. For
weeks past it has reproduced in it's col
umns without protest all the vile slop
which it's press bureau could collate from
the throughout the country,
provided that the accumulation of filth
and SANDER about our state contained
somewhere among it's odors a reflection
upon Senator Clark. The diatribe of no
newspaper against the honesty and in
public was too rank to appear in its
columns, if it was leavened by some
uncomplimentary allusion to Mr.. Clark.
As the Standard was the first to cast it's
pOiSO1iOuS 10 AADSO u1C "1ICA . SUoA~
dron, and set in motion it's odoriferous
possibilities. no
Eye of newt and toe Of frog
became too picturesque for it's inf1amed
appetite for SANDER. 1t mattered not
how much our fair state was DETAINED
if the defamer specified that among it's
~disreputable inhabitants there existed
one w. A. Clark.
But, in the parlance of the street. it
would seem that our contemporary had
taken a tumble to itself" at last. This
morning it takes issue with the Balti-
more News, which boils down all that
has been said about this state and its
people, in the inquiry as to whether
''there is any conscience at all in Mon
tana?" In the nature of things, the
Standard could not afford to let this
question go unanswered, for to do SO
would be to raise the presumption
throughout the United States and Eu-
rope that it was doing business itself
without a conscience, Inc was there
fore mot removed from the common herd
Hence, it answers the Baltimore News in
the following original. inoisive and Wig
orous style:
There are good men in Montana and
there are bad. The same moral condi.
tions prevail here as prevail generally
elsewhere in this country. AS a rule
good men are elected to Office.
For the truth of the statement thai
there are both good and bad men in Mon.
tana, one has only to examine the files
of the Standard for the respective lists
1t knows who they are, and has had ne
hesitancy in pointing them out. TIL
angel Gabriel will never show more &C,
tivity in separating the sheep from thu
goats than has the Standard. Therefore
the Baltimore News will at once see tina
there is some conscience on tap in Mon
tana and that the Anaconda STANDARD
knows just where to put its thumb on it
1t should be further noted that eth.
same moral conditions prevail here a
prevail generally elsewhere in this coun
try" If democratic legislatures sell GU
to senatorial aspirants and corporations
If millions are used to elect democratic
tickets, If congressman and governor
and other high officials prostitute thei
honor n besmirch the escutcheon o
the state, do not the same conditions pre-
vail elsewhere? What could be NOR
plain than this? =
LAS a rule" adds the Standard, "goo
men are elected to Office" The only ex
ceptions to this rule are pointed out b
that corporation newspaper 1865 days /
the year. They consist wholly of me
who are elected to office through circum
stances over which that organ has n
control. 1t is certainly a step in the RICH
direction for the Standard to defend tn
conscience of Montana, even, If It has tn
regulation of it. During the legislativ
session last winter it would not hay
acknowledged that "as a rule good me
are elected to Office" or that the sam
conditions prevail here as prevail else
where. There are grounds for the hor
that the Standard may become a full
fiedged Montana newspaper after awhrl
The democratic convention will be hel
July 4th. so the party san say to Brya
80 l.