The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1903-12-04
WAYSIDE TALES AND COMMENT.

Na
If all courts of justice acted as
promptly and manifested the same
commendable desire to see the laws
quickly and certainly enforced as the
Justices court at Lewistown . there
would probably be less complaint on
the score of delays and escape OF Grim
mails. A recent visitor from the Fer
gus county capital gave an illustration
of the expedition with which the
squire of that ambitious little city re-
CARDS his duty to the public. A man
was arrested for battering another.
Although it vas past the hour of mid
night, the Justice left his warm bed
and convened court for the trial OF
the offender. He found the fellow
guilty and fined him $40 and the usual
o-rnamentation of costs. Then his
honor returned to his home and quietly
resumed his interrupted SAUNDERS.
Notwithstanding the amity and con
cord that exist between them as ma
tions, occasionally when an American
and Englishman meet they forget the
relations that bind Washington and
London and permit the eagle to scream
and the lion to roar An instance OF
this kind occurred a few days ago at
one of the hotels. The recent Alaskan
boundary decision was the rock on
which they split. While the Briton
was not unusually severe in his COM
ments on Alverstone, still he accused
him of showing too great a desire to
conciliate the Americans, something
he deprecated with true British spirit.
why" he declared, eff a war should
ever come between England and the
United States wo would simply wipe
you off the face of the earth" what,
again?" was the quiet rejoinder OF
the American, as he f1icked the ashes
from his cigar. The incident was
closed. -r w.5
Even if the beef trust has cut the
prices of range cattle until to raise
and ship them threatens to become a
| costly diversion to the cattlemen OF
| the west, the stockgrowers of the
northern part of the state continue
to be as unfriendly toward the enter
prising "rustler" as ever. -Four of the
largest outfits operating in the sec
issues in this respect and offer a re-
ward of $2,OOO-$50O each-for the ar
rest and conviction of any person
stealing of killing cattle. It is very
evident that the soulless rich are more
and more determined to repress the
ambitious and hustling poor man who
is DESTROYS of making a start in the
world.
A word that in it's proper sense indi-
Gates an act beneficial in it's results
and c~ommendable in it's APPLICATION has
been caused to assume a significance
wholly variant to it's original meaning.
The abused word is graft" and in
it's physical sense is employed by
horticulturalists to denote an artificial
method of propagation by which the
trunk, or sometimes the root OF a tree
is made to support a branch of another
of a different species. The applicable;
ity of the word to denote the man
who has attached himself to a politi.
cal party for the purpose of stealing
from the public was at once recognized
by those always in search of peculiar
ly pat and appropriate forms of ex-
preston and many of those who now
see it in print may be said to be ig'
norant of it's derivation or other mean
ing than that accorded 1t in its popu.
lar use. Some orchardists so strongly
object to it's present employment as
a term indicative of ~disreputabillty
that they are appealing to the news
papers to discontinue it's use in thai
direction and substitute some other
equally significant word in it's place