Daily Kennebec journal., 1902-04-19

has won for himself gilt-and-tinse,
sort of notoriety. Few men would care
to appear amongst eastern people as
of Clark's methods, morals
or motives; one who reveres the ac-
cepted standards of honor and integrity
is strongly tempted to use the plain,
blunt word "scoundrel." But "scoun-
drer' is very final sort of word; IL
leaves little to be said in qualification.
CIark's apparent scoundrelism. while IL
is not to be justified or defended. does
need explanation to render 1t lnteli-
gibIe to those folk whose ideas of de-
cency are fixed. Western ideals are
rather more fluid-made of the same
good old Anglo-Saxon stuff, to be sure
but not vet hardened in the form ol the
new molds. A society is responsive lor
it's sinners no less than for It's SAINTS
Roth owe their existence to and are to
be explained by, it's institutions. me
east has produced its Croker, its Platt,
it's Quay, and knows how to under-
stand them. They are largely puZ"e
to western minds; western FOLK can
them unmitigated rascals and let II go
at that. But that is an unlntellseht
and unjust judgement. BY the same
token "scoundrel'' is too sweeping a
word for a man like Clark. he Is a
dangerous man, not to be trusted out
| of sight; but his badness is of that
rude. ungoverned strength, not of
weakness He is not degenerate-not
one who kills from mere lust for
slaughter. that his senses may be ap-
peased by the sight and scent of blood
| If such men kill it is because the killed
stands in their way and imperils their
attainment of coveted ends. That ism
degeneracy. Degeneracy implies fall
| but one cannot fall from a place he
never occupied. Clark, like Croker, is
on the way up from barbarism-a
strong, virile but primal sort of man.,
a red -blooded fighter, potentially use
| full man. once he has learned some of
| the things civilization has to teach.
The best of our ancestors were Clarks
and Crokers in the days of the Norman
conquest.
Clark found gold at Butte, and set
| about getting hold of it. 1t was easy
enough-he had only to dig. The
trouble was that he found too much.
No one, not even himself, knows the
bigncss Of his fortune; it would need
steam power to move it, if it were piled
together in thousand dollar bills. 1t
came to him very suddenly; he found
!. himself possessed of incalculable power
before he knew anything about it's use.
| 1t is while he is discovering the ways
of properly using it that he is danger
ous-a blind giant; a man with a
giants strength and a child's sense OF
moral responsibility. Small wonder
that he leaves a good deal of wreckage
along his trail.
, Considering the way in which it came
to him, it is natural that he regards
money as the greatest power in the
world. Strictly speaking, his wealth is
not the product Of labor, or industry, OIL
thrift or any of those old-fashioned
ways to fortune. There was the gold
: a few of the lower lobes of the brain
which men share with the apes, suf-
feed to enable him to get a lot of it to-
gether; he had only to persist in dig
ging and picking up. When he came tC
: consider the matter, there was nothing
in his experience that inspired him
t with respect for those lowly virtues
which have enabled other men to gain
by slow. patient toll and trial the END
4 to him the great thing, the only thing
With no better faith he set out to make
. his way in society and in politics.
! Money will do anything" that is
Clark's creed-a very simple creed
, which he shares with no small part of
the human family He learned it al
t Butte. Social and political economy, as
administered in the Montana mining
, town, is not complex or profound
T science. Croker is a wiser man than
Clark, inasmuch as he has learned
, something from his relations with the
, more intricate life of a great and var
led society. Clark missed those ad-
, vantages while his faith was forming.
Croker knows the uses of money, as an
aid to accomplishment; but brain is his
more reliable means. Clark knows
comparatively little of how to make
brain serviceable. In Montana politics.
brain is not of much account; money
is easier to use and understand-good,
, hard, yellow money, that can be laid
down on the table and counted, and
that plays few of those elusive tricks
which makes one distrustful of brain.
, 1t was money, and money alone, that
, had made Butte and Clark together.
{ he couldn't help regarding it kindly.
Money talks" is hoary old dictum.
Clark taught his to talk-gave it a
, thorough training in the dialect of
Montana politics; when it had acquired
, proficiency. he took it out with him to
, see the world. 1t does not appear that
he has regretted the alliance; instead.
the years have strengthened his faith
In it. Get there is the ruling motive
of his life: almost the only motive.
Every question of the manner of
arriving has been kept in the
background. Butte represents him:
1t is material presentment of
his largest ideals; it's insanity
shadows forth his own. 1t is no wick
eder than the general run of American
towns. east or west; in the statistics of
vice it would compare very well with
Boston. population considered. It's
weakness is in it's mad desire for in
slant accomplishment. Clark's own
dominant passion has given it that inn
pulse.
That mood pertains particularly to
the mining region. Compare Clark with
any one of those men who have gone to