Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-10-30
of her entertaining character sketches

Colonel Custer started off with a pre-
diction, that the democratic presidential
candidate would meet a defeat on Nov.
8 from which he would never recover.
He also charged him with being politi
cally dishonest, and gave some very
pointed reasons 80 it. He
said Bryan would have the people be-
lieve that the great basic principles OF
this government are being undermined,
and he is trying to make VI that
President Mckinley is doing his best to
set up an empire in the place of the
republic. He recalled the events which
lad up to the war with Spain and the
glorious achievements which resulted.
He spoke of the military record of w.
j. Bryan. and called attention to the
scenes in Washington when the peace
negotiations With Spain were being con-
sidered. and the part played by Bryan
in urging enough democratic senators
to vote with the republicans to insure
Its ratification. Colonel Custer charged
BrEan with playing false in this matter.
ana although he gay his assistance to
the ratification of the peace pact. he
had been trying simply to find a para
mount issue for this campaign; but he
knows very well that the signing of the
treaty transferred to the United States,
upon the payment of $50. 600, 900. the pur-
chase price. all the Philippine Islands
winch are now as sacred territory as
any other part of the United States, for
Which the blood of thousands of
patriotic soldiers have beer shed.
The acquisition of the Philippine ISL
ands had come about just as regular
as the purchase of louisiana, which
was brought about by Thomas jefferson.
whom the democrats of the present time
revere: but the speaker thought tina
party had gone back on it's traditions
n its former principles by declaring
Mckinley an imperialist. when Jeffer-
son was just the same kind of an i'm
perlallst himself. He did not ask the
population residing within the Louis
lana purchase if they wanted to come
under the protection of the flag; they
were governed without their consent.
But Jefferson believed the republic
should expand, and the brightest page
in the history of the democratic party
was the fifty years it was in power,
from 1903 to 1853. an annexation period,
in which 2.19S.o00 square miles was
added to our domain at a cost of only
$40. 900. 00O.'
Someone in the back part of the hall
AAo" hAoSi ulu Sou pay lOE
the Philippines?"
HI esponse was, 1920, 900, 900. and I'M
der a republican administration, and
recommended by William Jennings
Bryan
Col. Custer declared that any man
who advocates the hauling down of the
flag from any territory wher it has
been once planted. is not fit to become
president of the United States. He said
1t would been just as logical to
have hauled down the flag in 1876, when
the cousin of the speaker. Gen. George
A. Custer. and his men were massacred
on the Little Big Horn river: it would
nave been just as logical to lave turned
the county over to those treacherous
redskins, % years after Jefferson had
purchased the very land upon which
that memorable battle occurred, from
France. as it would be to haul down
the flag in the Philippines and turn that
country over to the Filipinos.
The question of irrigation was brought
up. which. Col. Custer informed the audi
ence, the republican party of the
nation was pledged to promote. He
thought the best advertisement the peo-
pie who reside here could give this state
was to cast their electoral vote for Will
lam Mckinley on next Tuesday. By do
ing so it would give capital the assur-
nnce of safe investment mere. Labor
would be employed in the construction
of great irrigation canals and reservoirs,
10, 00G. 0Ni acres of arid lands in the state
would be reclaimed, and millions of peo-
pie in the crowded parts of the country
would find this their abiding place.
Col. Custer gave some attention to the
tariff, but closed with a discussion Of
the trusts, in which he exploded many
of Bryan's pet arguments in regard to
this great question. He created a round
OF laughter and applause when he told
how Bryan n the democratic orators
have laid the responsibility Of the origin
of trusts to the republican party. and
In the heat of their TRADE had invited
Dick Croker into the fold, with the ice
trust to cool them off.
John Sherman, who has lately passed
to the other side, and who was a loyal
republican. has the distinction of beins
the author of the first and only anti.
trust law passed by congress-. When
the democrats We're in power they didn't
do anything of the kind. President Nc.
Kinley, before the close of the last con.
gress, recommended the passage of q
bill authorizing al amendment to the
constitution for the purpose of regulat.
Ing trusts. The bill required a two.
thirds vote to pass, and it failed becaus,
not enough democrats would vote n
favor of it-11S democrats voted agains'
1t and 147 republicans for 1t. All of thes,
transactions are a matter of record, an
can be found in Vol. SO, part7. page $50
of the Congressional Record.
Then, when the bill came up." tn,