Montana news. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1904-191?, 1907-08-29
Southern Idaho.

On the l4th of August, / was dated
for Silver City. The Payette meeting
had been successful. i had a rest of
one night in Nampa, and on the 14th
took Dewey's train for Murphy where
the Silver City stage meets the rail
road
Dewey is one Of the grand moguls
among the Idaho capitalists. His IA
ther was one of the early, ignorant
and inscriptions pioneers whose "en-
terprise" opened up Idaho. Karl
Marx has well shown that the "suc-
cess" of those that develop a eoun-
try alphabetically is simply the sue
cess of the robber, the plunderer, the
murderer, the man who tramples the
rights of others under foot, who climbs
to prominence on the rights of the la
Dor he exploits. 1t would not have
been possible to depict Dewey and
his career more accurately than has
been done in the description by the
famous economist of the robber cap
| italist.
The elder Dewey built hotel at
Nampa in form of an imposing pub
lie building. All his life he schemel
to make Nampa the capitol of Idaho,
and the hotel was built in such man
ner that it might be used as capitol
building.
The old man has departed from the
activity of the living, and the son is
attempting in a very weak way to
live up to the reputation of the faith
er. He is the brilliant genius that
said Meyer, Haywood and Pettibone
ought to be put naked in a pen with
three boa constructors. The Dewey
railroad that meanders from Emmett
to Nampa is fright. 1t is a private
enterprise imposing upon the public.
1t goes and comes according to Its
own sweet will and beautifully obliv
ious to all time and accommo lation.
Old broken down engines are bought
to do the work, and the lives of the
railroad crew and of the public are
endangered to swell Dewey's profits.
The engine died on US three times on
the sixteen mile trip up to Murphy,
the last time within half a mile of
the station, and we waited three-quar-
tiers of an hour, anxious to begin the
long stage ride to Silver City, till
enough energy could be evolved to
haul us the rest of the way.
The twenty-five miles Of staging is
over probably the worst and steepest
stage route in the west. 1t takes seven
hours to make the climb. The horses
are obliged to walk most of the way.
Six of them pull ths big concord
coach, and even the seat with the
driver did not serve to amelioratc
much of the tedium of the journey.
Silver was reached at eleven o'clock
at night, so there was no chance for a
meeting that night.
Socialism is on the ebb in this camp,
as is the case in so many of the west
ern federation camps. The miners all
seem afraid to touch the subject, and
there is no real socialist life or vital.
ity in the unions or the union men.
Several middle-class men that l had
been referred to as good socialists dii
not make themselves known at all; did
nothing to help the meeting-I sup.
pose were hiding in the shadows of
somewhere enjoying the intellectual
delights of imagining they were so.
cialists. Such milk-hearted partisan.
ship is disgusting. If people haven It
any backbone, any nerve or any STAN.
ina let them not disgrace the social
list movement by pretending to be of
it. The socialist impulse that is sweep.
ing the world is composed not Of mice,
but of men, strong enough, brave
enough, and intelligent enough 10 pos
sess a conviction and battle for it.
The next night a street meeting was
held. John Bcnbow was the chief sup
port Of the attempt we were making
a give little socialist education. Ho
stayed down over night from the mine
in which he was working, lost his
shift, made all the preparations for
the meeting, and assisted at IL with
books, collections and subs Moreover
he assisted most generously in a.
nancial way and paid the fare on the
stage 60 Dolamar.
This comradc stands practically
alone in this community. His attempt