Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-04-20

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courts and make good the allegations
made. If the evidence before the senate
committee was as far reaching and con-
elusive as the Standard maintains, why
to justice those guilty of offending it's
delicate and highly educated sense of JUS
tice and fair play? With Governor Smith
under it's thumb, like a crippled flea in a
crushed shell, the Standard need have no
fear that executive clemency will inter-
vene to rob justice of it's dues when any
republican m of the legislature is
found guilty of high crimes and misde-
meanors against the law. Mercy is re-
served alone for the p~enitentiary mugs
whose political status is unquestioned.
The way is clear, therefore. for the Stand
ard to inaugurate a crusade of reform by
instituting criminal proceedings against
the republican legislators who are cover
ed by it's blanket charges of bribery. Let
no guilty man escape!
If it's charges against any one OF them
be true, let them be pushed to the limit
and let the republican party bear the
odium which attaches to the sixth legis-
lative assembly, just in proportion to it's
deserts. So far, however, with all the
vague suspicious afloat-with all t he
!! shrugs of shoulders, the winnings of the
other eye and the significant holdings of
heads-it appears that but one republican
member stands practically self-confessed
before the world as the recipient of a
bride. That man is Geiger. He acknowl-
edged under oath on the witness stand
that he accepted a bride of 81, 100 from the
promoters of house bill 1872 to vote for that
measure. AS the Anaconda Standard
could doubtless place it's hand on the man
who tossed that roll of bills over the tram
som of Geiger's bedroom, no criminal pro-
~ceedings will be instituted against the
recipient of that bride.
Geiger has been denied a seat in the
councils of the republican party, and If
!; there are others deserving of a like fate
the penalty will be promptly prescribed.
-
From a political standpoint every re-
publican legislator who voted for a DEM
ocratic candidate for senatorial honors
provoked the censure of his party, re-
Though they held the balance of power
and saw fit to choose between candidates
of an opposite political faith, voting for
Clark on the grounds that his in~cumbency
would best conserve the interests of the
state, their excuse is not q tenable one
from a political point of view, however
honestly it may have been made. The
responsibility rested primarily with the
democratic party in the joint assembly,
though the casting of a ballot for either
Clark or Conrad by a member of the
constitute a crime against the peace
and dignity of the state. It would have
been good politics-and good politics
means good citizenship in their ultimate
effects-if the republican members of the
legislature had maintained the deadlock
if possible to the end. But the fact h a
they did not do so, does not necessarily
imply that they received a cash consid-
Grafton for their votes.
If they did so, however, as the Stand
ard alleges, the courts are open to their
,icby,,o rt opI tho javc a "a q NJ MIA RI
mete out justice to the fullest extent. 1t
is the duty of those who profess to know
that a crime has been committed, and
who can place their fingers OF the guilty
parties, to institute proceedings i'll the
name of the state against the %ylolators
of the law. To fail to do so is a confess
sion that the charges are %unfoundeG and
that a wanton attempt is being made to
blacken the character of men for the sake
of a little cheap political prestige.
The Standard has made sweeping
charges against the democratic lcgisla-
ture, picturing it as a veritable notified
of corruption, in order to ruin tht politi-
cal prospects of Mr.. lark. Now, to re-
coup it's own political standing in q party
that has been blackened and damned by
it's diatribes. it would share the RESPONSE
bility with the republican party, because
it gave a few scattering votes to the can
didacy of the object Of it's hate! But one
honorable course is left open to the
Standard. It must prosecute the repub-
lican members of the legislature to the
limit, in v~erification of the charges made,
or it must confess itself a chatterine