Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-03-24
A DANGEROUS EXPERIMENT.

A DANGEROUS EXPERIMENT.
In a rambling. incoherent attempt to
brace up the crumbling fortunes of the
Butte democracy, this morning the Ana
conda Standard refers to the alderlmanic
nominees of the republican party as
follows:
So far as the Standard is aware the
republican candidates are honest men.
But. judging by the past. is it safe to
trust any republican? Have they not
become so addicted to the bride habit
that it has become chronic with them?
Unable to pick out a flaw in the per-
sona integrity of the gentlemen refer
red to. the official organ of a wing Of
the democracy which spent $40, 900 in the
first state campaign, $500, 900 in the CAPT.
tai campaign, $4,000 in the campaign
of 1898, and $25, 900 to look up evidence
as to the character of other democrats
with whom it is now cohabiting in the
municipal contest, can we'll express the
fear that nobody can be trusted when
it's bag Of Doodle is officially Embossed!
1t is true, republicans have been known
to go wrong-Geiger, for instance, who
confessed to the acceptance of a bride
of 81, 100 to vote for the Standards cor
poration bill-but when such men are
shown to be guilty of the offences charg-
ed they are promptly r%epudiated, just as
Geiger was when refused a seat in the
councils of the state committee.
But in raising the question of repub-
lican weaknesses in hat direction, as
a feature of the municipal campaign, the
Standard must not overlook the fact that
the illegal use of money for political pur-
poses originated with the democracy
which it has the honor to represent. The
democratic party is responsible for ev-
cry political scandal of that type in the
history of Montana. If a legislator was
bribed to vote for a senatorial candidate,
or for a corporation bill, who furnished
the money? A democrat. If a witness
was bribed to commit perjury in the SEN
atorial investigation, who bribed him
A democrat. If the political history OF
the state has been embellished with the
burglary of private rooms and the open
ing of private letters-with conspicuous
violations of the state n federal laws
to accomplish political ends-who is re-
sponsible for it? A democrat. If cleo
lions have been carried by coercion and
Doodle, and all the concomitants of pc
litical corruption which the ingenuity
of man can devise, who is r~esponsible'
Alas, the truth must be told-democrats
In the face of all this, the Standar
doubts whether any republican can b.
trusted in official station. In deplorint
the possibility that the aldermanic can
didates, whom it comedies to be honest
so far as it's information goes, may fal
by the wayside if elected, the STANDARD
is compelled to point to the political in
fluences with which it is now c%o-operat
ing in the city campaign to find a temp
ter. 1t does not have to go outside it
own party to find what it deems to b
the past, present and future danger t.
the integrity of republican ofice-hold
ers. And yet, it is supporting an alder
manic ticket, one-half of which repre-
sents that very influence, in order to Sc
cure it's support for the other half of tn
aldermanic ticket, which represents it
own interests.
The Standard would prevent the cleo
ton of republican aldermen, because c
the fear that they might possibly fall I'm
der the influence of the Clark wing of tn
democracy. though confessedly homes
men. yet it is supporting to the best of il
ability four democratic candidates fe
the city unc who represent that win
of the democratic party and who will r.
quire the exercise of no influence
make them adhere to it's interests. Aftt
having charged the Clark wing with a
the crimes in the political calandar, i,
Guiding the control Of the ~republica
party through corrupt means, the stant