Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-09-25
PROPERTY RIGHTS AND DE-
MOCRACY.

lioSISSS duu prosperity VI Inc SAdte.
Such is the bitterness of feeling among
the free trade democratic factions now
struggling for supremacy that, not sat
isfied with assailing each other in the
political field, they are attacking vast
business interests with a ferocity which
can only have the effect of discouraging
the investment of capital. and is plainly
intended to bring about the withdrawal
of capital already invested and which, in
giving employment to many thousands
of men and creating a demand for min
ing supplies and a market for farm pAd-
ucts, is the immediate cause of nine
tenths of the prosperity which now
makes Montana the best state in the
Union.
That the democracy has sought to carry
elections in this state by methods sub
versive of every principle of personal
rights and political liberty is true. That
the reasonable way to present these
abuses is to put the republican party
in power, thus restoring respect for the
At" ssANA SSAStAhA AL AN ~ Va
wholesome republican policies in national
affairs, is not to be gainsaid. The his
tory of democracy in Montana is that
of a power to which the rule of the car
of all the Russias. the sultan of Turkey
or the ahkoond of Swat has been a mild,
fatherly and benevolent supervision in
comparison. Nc American state between
the oceans has been or is now threat
ened by so despotic an influence as that
which in Montana makes every citizen
| born under the flag tremble for his
dearest heritage. The u%surpation and
abuse of power, the preparation of
shameless election frauos, colonization,
repeating. perjury. corruption, blacklist
ing. the coercion of laboring men whose
natural impulse is to do right, the boss
ing Of political conventions as witnessed
only last week, the formation of un-
holy alliances regardless of political
principle, the manipulation of public men
like ju~mping-jacks, who decline nominal
ions one minute only to accept them
the next-these are but a part of the
category of political outrages committed
effort to control the machinery of poll
tics. Except in the matter of bloodshed.
Kentucky is a paradise of law and order
compared to Montana, and laws as in
famous as the Goebel law and as sub
versive of human rights may be ex-
pected to appear on the statute books
unless the people rise up In their might
and, with the weapons which the con-
stitution Of the fathers Of the republic
gave them, condemn and destroy the
party which has it's foot upon their necks
and stands ready to choke the political
breath from their bodies. The admins
tration Of Governor Smith and the party
which is responsible therefor, and all
the train Of evils which followed in it's
wake must be repudiated that the good
name of Montana may be redeemed and
the state take it's place among those
commemorative of the Union where the
church, the school house and the flag are
the honored emblems of civilization, and
good government.
But while the state is threatened with
more democratic misrule, the Inter
Mountain does not hesitate to say that
it's greatest menace today is the DELHI
crate attack of the democratic press upon
invested capital, growing out of political
and corporate rivafries, and the whole
sale abuse of men who have come here
to invest their money in the development
of our mineral resources-an attack in
tended to make the laboring men of Mon
| ana believe that the men who pay them
wages in exchange for labor are their
worst enemies, seeking to abridge their
privileges, destroy their free agency ana
rob them of their rights under the con-
stitution and the law. Every laboring
man, every business man, every profess
sional man owes it to himself, his family
and the state to extend the right hand
of welcome and good-fellowship to every
man Of means who, in response to Mon
tana's invitation, has come out here to
open up the country, give employment to
LABOR ana earn a pfOll on MS capital,
so long as he asks only the equal pro-
lection Of the law and accords every man
his rights. Who cares whether such a
capitalist made his money in Standard
Oil stock or New York Ice trust stock, or
Cotton Bale trust stock, or any other
stock if he buys property in Montana
with it and spends it among our people?
Who objects if he makes 10 per cent divi-
dendS to repay him for the risks he takes
SO long as the other 80 per cent is dis
tributed for labor, for coal, for timber
; for freight, for taxes? Who keeps up
the rush of business if not our home and
outside capitalists? What would Mon
; tana amount to without Them wha