Montana news. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1904-191?, 1906-10-18


be the conservators of the divine" right
of property.
Representative Government.
Representative government was in
vented as means to an end, and the
end was special privileges Without spe-
cial privileges no corporation, or trust,
or political machine, could control the
resources of nature or the destinies of
man.
In Montana the clamor for direct leg
islation became SO potent that even the
divinely appointed parasites saw the be-
ginning of the end. To offset this pub.
lie clamor a few tinhorn attorneys and
a few political lackeys got their heads
together and gave birth to House Bill
No. 2s6, with the evident intention of
sitting the cry for reform. The people
were told that with the aid of this in
strument they had the power of govern
ing themselves. II is a lie. This bill
confers no such power upoR the people.
II is "direct insult" to their intelli-
gence. Section ] says in part as follows;
"The people shall reserve to themselves
power to propose laws. and to enact or
reject the same at the polls, except as
to laws relating to appropriations of
money, and except as to laws for the
of constitutional amend
ments, and except as TO local or spe-
cial laws enumerated in Article V. Sec
tion 20, of this constitution"
No Initiation on Money Matters.
The life blood of the nation is
money speaking from commercial
standpoint. Money is the instrument
by which all values are measured.
Wealth is produced by labor. Without
labor nothing would have any value. and
money is the measurement of values.
Now. if the people had the right to in
itiate laws involving monetary con
modern capitalism would
tumble to its knees as did Dagon of old.
That is a power that the people must
not have, whines our representative tN
lawmaker.
II the people had such power. who
knows but the people would be foolish
enough to make an appropriation for a
state smelter. or the purchase of the
mines. or build a rail
road of their own. "Noy. nay, Pauline"
that will never do. Why, man alive,
such a power given to the common peo-
pie would make Billy Clark, Turn Coat
Iieinze, and Copper lined Rocky look
like skidoo whispering "twenty-three."
What is the use Of any law that can
not carry an appropriation of money
with it, Such a law would be useless;
and the ninth legislative assembly
knew il. when House Bill 2s6 blew into
life. That clause alone makes the bill
, farce-a delusion and a snare.
Can't Amend Constitution.
House Bill 2s6 won't allow you to
amend the constitution. What a sacred
hing is the constitution! II took cen.
turies of bloodshed and millions of mar.
tyrs to produce constitution. And
now IL cannot be changed by the people.
II is only the privileged classes" who
IAN change IL. "0h. justice. thou hast
led to british beastsl" In every age
md cline and country the theologians
old us that we could not speak free
thought or evolve a new idea; but we
nave broken through the mandates of
he theologians. We thought we had
paved the way TO freedom when we ac-
,omplished this But, alas. little did we
he ninth legislative assembly of Mon
ana.
The people cannot amend the consti
.utionl II we cannot amend the consti
ution or enact laws providing for the
appropriations Of money, what can we
lo' Yes. we can vote against the bill.
md we can elect men who will give us
he power to govern ourselves. But will
We do itH All, there's the rub.
People Must Keep Hands OFF.
Every law is founded, under our sys-
.cm Of government, upon the constitu-
ion. Before the constitution was
adopted II had TO be submitted to the
people for approval. In fact. it was
,reated by the people, and yet that lot
II dunderheads in the ninth legislative
assembly say that we cannot remodel
he thing we ourselve. created" The
'essos is plain. II the people were
.rsst.a the power 10 s-ssd the 'sss6'