Montana news., 1906-01-31
OLD PARTY MACHINES AND HOW THEY
OPERATE
BY ONE WHO HELPED TO OPERATE


Tor ten times as mucn. Inc rhnchef,
the lumberman, nor the contractor
would hire me unless they made a
profit out of my labor. Now q system
that permits them to rob me, under
the cloak of employment, out Of a GER
tain amount Of my labor, is econom-
ically dishonest. Then how could ex-
pect to be honest in my selection of a
masteri Why doesn't the preacher
who produces nothing, the lawer who
produces nothing, the bondholder who
produces nothing-why don't they try
their hand at shoveling sawdust, pitch
ing mud or hoeing weedsi The system
is dishonest, and why shouldn't they 7
Who says that I should, when l could
make ten times as much ward-heel-
ing' in the bad landsi "What fools
these mortals bel"
The Triple Alliance had money. The
wealthiest men in the state were in
on the deal. The bad lands Of Puget
are located in the 9th precinct of the
lst ward About election time the
most of the lumberjacks are in town
and they are half the population in the
Puget Sound country. The night be-
fore election, "Big Humphrey" and a
few of us went into the 9th precinct.
One of us posed as gold standard
man, and as matter Of course got
into an argument. The floaters took
sides The gold standard floaters were
invited to follow our gold standard
heeler round the neighborhood. When
number of them were secured, they
were taken to the notorious Mint
saloon and fed on whisky and patriot
ism until they passed off into dream
land This policy was pursued all
night until hundreds of American kings
were "layed out" in the arms of King
Alcohol When the polls were opened
next morning the advocates of "sound
money! were "not dead, but drunk,
be god
The lads who refused to have ga
crown of thorns'' upon their brow,
went to the ballot box and deposited a
little marked ballot in exchange for
"two eartwheels' of Free Silver.
The ballots were marked by Big Hum.
phrey and his gang by means of the
endless chain system of voting. There
was nothing to it-washington went
for the "three-ringed-cireus." A few
favorable laws were passed, but the
people got tired of reform, and the
state was now gone back to it's first
love-the @. o. p.
The people never ruled Washington,
and never will, until they fire every
political parasite into Puget Sound and
run their own political machine in their
own interests. No politician will ever
be honest until the incentive to dis
honesty is removed. II was Pope who
said in his Essay on Man "An honest
man is the noblest work of God" But
the noblest work of man will be an
honest politician, and that can only
be accomplished when there can be nc
profits in politics. When the human
race will realize that il can be hap
pier when things are produced for use
and necessity, instead Of for profit and
waste, then will the ward-heeler cease
to be, and the voice of the politician
will be heard no more in the land.
While the present system Of capital
ism will obtain, you cannot do ava,
with the politician, because he belongs
to the system. Neither can you down
him under the present system because
like Banquo's ghost, he will not down
He does not make himself-economi
conditions make him. The people cal
change the conditions, the politician
cant.
The question is, will the peopl
change the conditional Not until tn
conditions force them-then they will
The great mass Of the people are tn
cendants Of slaves and they hav
not got over the legacy Of inheritanc
yet. The politician is naturally free
man. IL he can't be boss, he, a
least, is looking for an easy master
and who would blame him. Even tn
ward-heeler is a man. He hates slay
cry, and consequently prefers knaver,
There never yet was a man VIII
wouldn't be criminal freeman |
preference to an honest slave. So
say to the innocent, simple "man wit
the hoe" who is proud Of his SLAYER,
that for me and my house "give me
ward-heeler' liberty or give m
death" Max.
ITO be continued.)