Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-02-28
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY %, 1900.
THE DEMOCRATIC PAR1y ON TRIAL.

THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY ON TRIAL.
1t is frequently remarked anent the
senatorial investigation that Mr.. w. A.
Clark is the only man on trial. This is
urged as an argument in favor of max
ing that gentleman the sole and only
target in this celebrated case. Techni-
cally this may be true, as he is the ONE
person distinctively in issue insofar as
the seat in the senate chamber is con-
cerned. But in a broader and more far
reaching sense the political party to
which Mr.. Clark belongs is or trial. It
has been clearly demonstrated during
the investigation that the defendant is
merely a physical expression of prevail
ing political conditions in Montana.
From the days when the democratic
leaders vented such palpable political
frauds as Wooley's Ranch and Wilder's
Landing, and made a. Especially of stufinag
the ballot-box as the necessities of the
case seemed to require, up to the present
time, all manner of devices have been re-
sorted to i'm their efforts to attain politi-
cal power. Money has been literally ex-
pended whenever and wherever it could
be made effective, and nome OF the able
and distinguished leaders of the old-time
democracy seem to have been adverse to
the use of filthy lucre for political pur-
poses. In the days of the Big -Four,
when harmony prevailed among the
leaders. sufficient money was thrown into
the political cauldron to pay from So to
SO for every vote which the democratic
ticket received.
Though personal differences finally led
to an estrangament of prominent demo-
Gratis, and the creation of we'll defined
political factions within the democratic
party, the old-time methods continued.
Money flowed like water from the Golfers
Of the democracy in every campaign, and
the arrogance of wealth led to other ex-
tremes in political action, such as the
coercion of employees. the colonization Of
wards. the packing Of primaries, and
other outrages against the state. While
some of these political efforts expended
their force in a large measure in the in
ternecine strife of the democracy itself,
they We're none the less destructive to
the moral fibre of the people and sub
versive of good government in Montana.
Mem who We're not committed to the
interests of either faction of the demo-
cratic party, n who looked upon such
political practices with horror and in
digrlation, Were powerless to check them.
Experience had taught them their ina
bility to successfully compete with UNI
limited wealth, in an effort to introduce
an era of political honesty in Montana.
Grievous wrongs have been patiently
borne.
Had no one prominent in the personal
feud, which led up to the division in the
democratic ranks, aspired to the fruits
of a democratic victory, the political
methods employed by that party would
have continued indefinitely without a
protest from bourbon sources. The war;
ring elements would have warred, and
"N Si" "ouAu nave SlldIlcO, dI1O the
kickers would have kicked, but like Ten
nyson's brook, the Doodle campaigns
would have gone ON forever. It was the
senatorial candidacy OF Mr.. Clark that
lifted the lid from Pandora's chest of
evils. and exposed the stenches of the
democracy to the world.
The senatorial investigation placed the
democratic party Of Montana on trial.
when 1t selected one OF it's most prorni-
nent leaders for a central figure. The
testimony given has been an exposure Of
political practices on the part of both
wings OF the democracy unparalleled in
the history of our republic. Prominent
men In each faction stand before the
world tattooed with pictures of political
depravity which will require years Of
sack-cloth and ashes to efface.
Not only has the testimony brought
out a confirmation of the ALLEGATIONS or
political corruption charged against the
democratic party for years, and most
persistently denied. but it has shown the
Joint responsibility of the two wings of
that Organization for the unhappy con.