Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-03-03
NO DEFENSE REQUIRED.

Tn an effort to lure the Inter Noun
tain away from such painfui topics as
the autobiography of one A. ].
tho Anaconda Standard attacks the po-
s;tiou taken by Mr.. Lee Mantle on the
political issues Of the day. 1t IS 'he III"
doubted intention of an editorial pas,'
which sis recognized as a model through
ont the country" to defect the liter
Mountains gaze from the shattered re-
mains Of the senatorial prosecution 10
the more cheerful vision presented by
the political issues of the day! 1t makes
very little difference to the Standard as
tn the direction which newspaper dis
cussion may take, provided it k Its
departure from the sepulchre OIL lts
blasted hopes at Washington. /
Hence. our contemporary, which mas
never revoked it's declaration OF the 9th
of January, 1899, that the ratio of values
between silver and gold is fixed by the
worlds exchanges, accuses Mr. Mantle
of being untrue to the silver cause. For
tunatsly, Mr.. Mantle needs no defense
from any source, as to his clearly ex-
pressed views On every issue OF import
ance to the country. Much less does he
require protection from the feeble formu-
lations of a political weather-cotk like
the Standard, which functions on any
-...A ooa~,c hast oaanfaH ~ the
needs of the passing hour. MI. Mantle
ALWAYS has been a consistent bimetallist,-
ard has never committed himself to the
idea advanced by the Standard that the
free coinage ratio is irrelevant to the
restoration of silver and that such mat
tiers must be delegated to the commercial
regulations of the worlds exchanges!
But Mr.. Mantle, in common with IS
per cent Of the silver republicans
throughout the United States Today,
recognizes the undeniable fact that
free coinage has been relegated to
the background, and that other questions
of national concern must determine the
issue of the presidential campaign. 1t
formerly lay within the power of the
democratic party to organize its forces
with a view of keeping alive the free
coinage sentiment of 1896, as 1T had
pledged itself to do; but it shirked this
duty in the hope Of arnalgamating it's
discordant elements for a united on
slaught ON the republican party in the
present year. To effect this end. every
influential factor in the democratic
party, from Mr.. Bryan down to the Ana
conda Standard, has exerted itself to the
utmost to crowd other issues promi-
nently to the front.
AS the result of this, silver has been
forced to the foot of the ladder and is
seldom referred to as an issue in demo
cratic circles outside the silver producing
states. With the subordination of thai
question by the democracy itself, mani
Tested as conspicuously as the circum'
stances would allow in the political tao
tics of 1898, added to the prosperit,
which has come to the country undel
fGpuDIlCdu Iulc, IHC LIE oiioS doCS
ton finds itself indefinitely postponed t.
make room for other issues. Democrats
assaults upon the policy of the nation Il
it's defense of the honor and dignity o
the flag, and the embargo which tina
party would place upon the extension @
our upon the high seas, hay
created issues Involving the patriotism
of the people, and which call for unite
action ON the part of those who believ
in the greatness of our possibilities an
the grandeur of the institutions we Low
so we'll.
Political incompetency, leavened wit
reasonable designs against the futur
welfare Of the nation, led to the unIoin
of the democracy in 1898. The contr,
OF r passed into the hands
those opposed to the free Inc unlimite
coinage of silver and gold, and wei
Bryan elected on the pledges Of 1896 /
would be poWerless to change the final
cial order of things during his term
Office. Thus the interests of the count1
turn upon other issues in the com.r