Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-06-08
DEMOcRAcY'S NEW DiSG3SCE.

The democratic primaries last even
ing were more ~disgraceful. if possible,
than those which characterized the fac
tiona contest of 1898. There was a flag
ran disregard of the laws governing
primary meetings, and political decency
was thrown to the winds. The contest
between the DAILY men and the Clark
men was fiercely waged all along the
line, n BLOOD ran so high that a good
many MISUNDERSTANDING as to the
fundamental principles of the demo-
cratic party had to be umpire1 by the
police. In some instances revolvers
We're drawn, and in a number OF others
blood was drawn. though tisco'ored
optics are chiefly in evidence that the
arguments referred to were well sus-
tanned. The demand for raw beef. to
remove the coloring which several party
worker wore in their eye after the exer-
cises, must have been a heavy drain on
the live stock industry.
The usual democratic practice OF
herding men from one precinct 20 an
other. and voting them under different
names. was resorted to, and any man
who attempted to prevent outrages of
this character was promptly '.squelch-
ed" In a large number of precincts the
efforts of the democrats to shake off the
tenacious grip of the DAILY men would
nave been successful but for the syste-
matte repeating that was done. The
better class Of democrats, l~awsabiding
citizens, protested in vain against indie
cencies of this type, even when their
personal sympathies We're in favor of the
DAILY ticket, but the heelers in command
of the I'M We're out for victory and
stood not upon the order of achieving it.
They were prepared to override law and
order, and resort to force whenever !:
was deemed necessary to accomplish
their ends. Any organized attempt or
the part of law-abiding citizens to hay,
the primaries conducted properly would
have resulted doubtless in bloodshed ant
riot.
Enough took place in the way o.
knock-downs, and the like, to convince
non-participants that the democrati,
row was a good thing to keep away from
when the DAILY men were organized 70
the purpose of permitting no such wor'
as fail to appear in their lexicon
There are many reasons for believing
that the Clark democrats would a
reciprocated the methods of the Dial
ho5 fhav ham ohio to onn1yN thor
successfully. But the hill democrac
swarmed down upon them like a nigh
hawk on a Jun bug and gobbled ther
up. The Clark men could do nothin
some of them were shortly in the condi
ton of the queen of Denmark, whe
Hamlet accused her of protesting to
much. .
The contest yesterday would not ha,
been without it's humorous features d
not the matter in it's entirety appeal
the serious consideration of the peopl
When the city of Butte is placed at Il
mercy, as it were, of an organized gal
of heelers, who violate the law with a
solute impunity and override every RI
of good citizenship and public decen
in an effort to control political affairs,
ds time for every good citizen to i
quire where these conditions are goi
to end. The question of the merits
the Clark-Daly fight sinks into insi
nificance in the face of the methods e]
ployed. The political interests of neitf
of the principals in this Ugh are of SUI
Gent Importance to the people of Il
city to justify the gross and indece
. habits into which the democratic heelt
have fallen in the way Of planning Vi
Ations of the law in order to ACHE