Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-01-10
PFO5iWC BOTH FACTIONS.

Anaconda Standard. The suggestion
that the senate committee should not
only investigate Mr.. Clark thoroughly
but should also probe into the political
party, nearly throws our Warm Springs
contemporary into Mysteries. 1t is per-
fectly willing that unlimited latitude
should be given the prosecution in the
presentnent of it's case, but would cir
cumscribe the efforts of the defense to
make a showing as to the political situ-
alton in this state. This spirit of unfair
ness is characteristic of the Standard.
and the political faction which it repre-
sents. but is not shared by the people of
Montana.
AS an independent on-looker. the Inter
Mountain applauded the action of the
senate committee in giving to witnesses
a wider scope than the rules Of an ordi-
! nary court would permit. for it will give
to each side Of the controversy a better
opportunity to tell what it knows about
the other side. And this is just what
the people Of Montana want. Having
been thoroughly advertised from Dan to
Bersheba as a rotten borough. the only
real benefit that can possibly be ex-
tracted from the miserable conditions
which a democratic feud Of long stand
ing has inflicted upon the commonwealth,
is for the senate committee to make it's
work of investigation a thorough one in
both directions.
The special plea of immunity from in
v~estigation. put forth by the Anaconda
wing Of the democracy. should nave no
weight with the committee. It was
largely through the m~anipulations OF
that faction that the democratic legisla-
ture. which is now on trial before the
American public, became a possibility,
and it is pertinent to make inquiry into
its political methods. While the COM
mittee is very properly and very wisely
going as far as threads Of evidence can
be followed, to ascertain if a member Of
the senate has been dishonesty elected,
it's authority to probe into methods by
which the legislature behind that cleo
ton was brought into being, cannot be
questioned. 1t has a right to investi-
gate the plant as we'll as the product,
if it chooses to do so in search for the
truth.
Justice to Montana as a state will
doubtless suggest to the committee the
propriety of making the investigation in
all directions as thorough as the cir
cumstances will allow. With anxiety to
evade such an investigation manifested
by the Standard, as the official organ Of
the Anaconda faction Of the democratic
party, the incentive to make it is empha-
sized. AS politics run, no one can blame
the Standard for insisting that the in
v~estigation should begin and leave Off
with Senator Clark. Were its own politi-
cal methods properly exposed in the
ribuna of the senate, the American peo-
pie would have charity rather than
contempt for the long suffering citizens
of Montana. who have been ground down
between the upper and neither millstones
of a factional democratic fight. More
over. such an exposition would prove a
profitable lesson to the future of Ameri-
can politics.
The systematic training of irresponsible
hoboes, illegally admitted to citizenship.
to count the circles on the top of the bal
lots, in order to mark a cross in the ono
over he straight democratic ticket.
which they are powerless to read or iden-
tify In IN other way. might afford some
interesting suggestions to congress along
legislative lines. To have the votes of
intelligent taxpayers killed by such
methods is a phase in political economy
that appeals with great emphasis to the
people of Montana. Then, again, the in
tolerant system hat prevails wherever
the democracy has the power to exercise
it, of dictatorship in conventions, presents
a situation that merits an Investigation.
The coercion of employees. forcing them
to vote as directed, under penalty
of being robbed Of an opportunity
to earn their bread, is still another
feature that is subversive of good
government. To these crimes have been
added the colonization Of wards, the
packing of %caucuses and primaries by
gangs of men going from one precinct to
another. the casting of illegal votes, and