The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1901-12-24
THEY PROMISE FAIR.

lmSelf
THEY PROMISE FAIR.
Last Sundays Great Falls Tribune
! contains a Christmas greeting to the
people of Montana from their repre-
| senatives in the upper house of con-
| gress, comment on which affords par
| ticular pleasure to The Gazette.
This newspaper did all within its
power to defeat the party of which
! the two are members and consequent
ly it's opposition extended to them in
SO far as it applied to all democrats,
and did so because of conscientious
regard for what it considered to be
the best interests of the state and ma
ton. 1t had no personal feeling in
the matter, being solely actuated by
a desire to serve the people, as it then
believed and still believes that the
| principles advocated by the party of
which they are members are not cal
| culated to best advance the welfare,
prosperity and happiness of the ma
ton. By their decision at the polls
the people of the state showed that
they did not subscribe to the belief
of The Gazette and the party for
which it stands, but entertained con-
trary opinions.
While still believing as it then be-
lieved, The Gazette, however, does
not intend that that belief shall warp
it's judgment to the extent of making
it blindly prejudiced or causing it to
wilfully withhold credit where credit
is due. By honestly commencing the
work of its political opponents when
| that commentator is merited, it need
not surrender cle iota of it's loyalty to
the party which it has been ever a
consistent and devoted adherent or
lay itself open to the charge of waver-
ing in it's allegiance to that party.
In the greeting of Messrs. Gibson and
! pressions of loyal Montanans, men
who while they may owe their sue
cess to one party, are broad minded
and patriotic enough to realize that
they were elected to serve all the
people and that they are senators,
not of the democratic party, but of
the state. By the assurances they
give in their greetings, they pledge
themselves not to permit party diff
f]erences to stand in the way of any
matter in which they can render SER
vice to the state. In fact the promises
they make are such as to render it
difficult to understand that they are
not republicans. They stand with the
western senators of that party on
about every question and PROPOSE
ton that finds favor with the major
ity. To read the list of questions
given by Senator Clark in which the
west is particularly interested and
which have the support of the admin
istration and the western representa-
tives and which he declares he him
self will earnestly support makes
one think twice and ponder whether,
after all, Mr.. Clark is not a pretty
good republican himself.
Mot far behind in this respect is
Senator Gibson. His expressions in
regard to the tariff are such as one
would expect to hear from a repub-
lican committed to the policy Of reci-
procity. Certainly they are not those
of a free trade democrat, such as he
announced himself to be when he ar.
; rived at Washington and was inter.
viewed. The u~tterances he makes in
respect to the changed conditions
show that he was not a careless read.
err of President McKinley's last
speech, but that he read it carefully
thoroughly and not without good re.
suits to himself and his constituency
He is committed to protection for
!, wool and the other raw products OF
the west which the manufacturer OF
} the east is DESTROYS of placing on the
, free list. While free trade as an alb
stract proposition may appeal to him
| strongly, applied in the concrete in
l all it's bearings, he is outspoken in
his opposition. He honestly admits
l that to place wool on the list of arti
cles imported and on which no tariff
. or at best only a nominal duty is
imposed would be working a great
: wrong to the people of Montana anG
J. he intimates strongly that when the
7 49, g. I:-. ~ ---- Ls-a-~J
on record his vote will be found ir
: the column recording the negative
vote on the proposal to make WOO
non-dutiable.
t The senator, although he modestly
says he knows but little about the