Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-03-08
FUSION AND THE STANDARD.

FUSION AND THE STANDARD.
In the belief that the public has a short
memory, n that it can distort the his
tory Of past events with impunity, the
Anaconda Standard this morning again
misrepresents the question Of fusion in
1898. In referring to the situation that
year u contemporary c~onclusively
demonstrates the fact hat were it to
submit to an autopsy its ~gall-bladder
would be much sought after as an unique
specimen of over-growth. In an effort
to placate the silver republicans of this
state, preliminary to a movement on the
of ~Sourdough, to dump them over into
the bourbon hopper at SO much per
dump, the Standard seeks to defect the
public mind from the facts of the case
and make it appear that cooperation
was denied in 1898 on account of the I'M
trustworthiness Of Senator Mantle. It
says:
The fact has been brought out at the
Clark hearing that Marcus Daily was in
favor of fusion and inclined to support
Mr.. Mantle. So he was at nrst. But
the fact soon appeared that a fusion
upon Mantle as senator was out of the
question. He had rendered no service
to the silver cause emitting him to such
a mark of favor. When Teller and
out Of the st. Louis convention, scoffed
at and jeered by the thousands there
assembled, MI. Mantle remained in his
seat, thu helping to convey the inn
preston that the bolt was of but small
proportions, and hat Mr.. Hartman did
not fairly voice the sentiments Of Mon
tana.
The foregoing excerpt. is interesting
from many points of view. 1t is a con-
cession that Mr.. DAILY held the key to the
situation, and that it lay within his
power to order the democracy to con
tinue the policy of cooperation, on the
one hand, or forbid the bans on the
other. 1t further comedies that Mr..
Daily, whom it pictured a short time ago
as taking no part in Montana politics
and feeling no interest in the stirring
political events of 1898, as being in favor
of fusion .at first"
This admission could hardly be evaded,
inasmuch as Mr.. DAILY publicly announce
ed his views in favor of cooperation,
and seconded the official declarations of
the chairmen of the three recognized
silver organizations to that n d. The
Standard, as Mr.. Days organ, immedi-
ately entered upon a vigorous campaign
in favor of fusion in this state. 1t err
dOrSad the STA tementc ne tho n,+;o,,I
chairmen of the democratic, silver repub-
lican and populist parties-then approx
ed by William Jennings Bryan-that the
only way to conserve the true interests
of the silver cause, and keep the issue
prominently before the public, was to
maintain the policy of cooperation in
augurated in the campaign of 1896. .
Mr.. DAILY and the Standard stuck to
the fusion text with religious zeal up to
a certain point in the campaign of 1898.
The Standard was a fusion sheet up to
the date of the Butte primaries, at which
more democratic votes We're cast in some
of the wards than there were citizens
all told, and in which men were herded
n uiosCo ~ SdIllC, VOtlllS ITSC III one
precinct and then in another, their num-
bers being augmented by ,hoboes shipped
in from Anaconda and criminally voted
at the polls. There could be but one re-
suit to a political system of that type.
The Anaconda democracy carried the
day, or rather the night, over the Clark
democracy.
With the delegation of Silver Bow
county in it's grasp, together with
strength similarly acquired in other
counties, the Standard at once reached
the conclusion that it's wing Of the party
could control the affairs OF the democ-
racy in this state. Within twelve
hours, that d~electable, high-minded, re-
liable organ of unreliable pledges and
dishonest politics, changed front on the
fusion question and came out in opposi-
ton to that policy. Originally, it beliey-
Cd that only through the cooperation of
7he threa silver, parties could the sena-
torial aspirations Of Mr.. Clark be headed
off. and it was the desire to beat that
gentleman which caused it to esponsa
the fusion idea in line with the recon.
mendations Of h national chairmen re-