Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-06-26
STUPIDITY

SE
There are many different brands Of
stupidity, but the most hopeless Of all
Is that which questions any kind Of q
statement without due knowledge Of
! the facts. s5
Prop rly, perhaps. this tendency
I might be better described as ignor-
) ance, and 1t certainly would be were
I it not for the fact that some really
intelligent men are guilty Of 1t, which
perforce, necessitates a different char
acterization. y
There are number Of people in
Fargo who deliberately tag themselves
with this most hopeless type Of stup-
ity, because they affirm in ignorance,
assert in the absence Of facts, deny
! without knowledge. and, most heidous
of all. condemn without proof.
1t is Incredible to this class in stu
pidity that two North Dakota farmers
could by any chance become possess
ed a great big magnificent mining
property, reaching the conclusion by
inference, and in no other way, that
il 1t were one-half as rich as it has
been represented to be, that others,
perhaps two South Dakota farmers,
would have gobbled 1t up.
And herein that stupidity is intensi-
fed to a degree that something more
than the language one Ifs permitted to
use in print is required to properly
characterize it. Really, you know, 1t
1 would be all that is claimed for It
had some one else gobbled 1t up! But
what right did two North .Dakotans
have to go and grab It on? And
there you are f',5,:, n. n
5sa When the fellow who was locked up
in Jail down in Texas sent, for, his
lawyer and explained what the trou-
bic was, the attorney told him he
1 couldn't be jailed for that. '''sBut
here ! am, was the reply aFIistofy
does not record what the legal light
then said, but 1t was doubtless to the
effect that the man was mistaken
about being IN jail at all. 81 y
We relate this little incident ~ way
Of illustration only, and because 1t
fits the situation in Fargo SO per-
fectly. People who have never even
been in the state OF Montana declare
most positively that we haven't got
any such property as we claim. Ok
There are Others who insist that il
there was such a property in exist
ence It's ownership would be else
where, in some mysterious way over
looking the fact that money from
North Dakota Is Just as potent as
money from any other state; in other
words, standing pat on the pnoposi.
ton that 1t is impossible for two
Il North Dakotans to buy the. right
thing at the right time, because il it
had been right, some one else would
have gobbled 1t up
As an absolute matter OF fact, this
prisopeTIy was gODDled up, and gObhled
up by experienced mining men at
that; but it very often happens that
the keenest and i shrewdest bunch
& ever came get the worst OF it. This
was exactly what did happen, with
the result that two North Dakota
farmers gobbled the gobblers, and
did " because the gobblers had over
reached themselves .8
Now, these two farmers were sub
sequentIy gobbled themselves, but ii
was Dame Nature that turned the
y trick on them. She decreed d crop
failure in the Red River valley. She
decreed a second crop failure in the
Red River valley. and then to make
matters worse. she eliberately de-
creed third crop failure III the Red
River valley.
BETTER W