TO ADVERTISE THE CITY.
PROPOSITION SUBMITTED TO AND
ACCEPTED BY THE HELENA
BOARD OF TRADE.
\ii Important Matter Acted l.pon
which Will Meet With Hearty
and General Approval.
Business car of the Northwest Magazine.
Principal Office, St. Paul, Minn.
Helena, June 22, 18*7.
A. J. Davidson, Baq.. President Hoard of
Trade. Helena, Mont.
Dear Sir: —We beg leave to call the
attention of the Board of Trade to a project
which we trust will enlist its attention and
moral support. Jt is proposed to devote
the September number of the Northwest
Magazine to Helena and the surrounding
mining]camps and Territory. The number
will contain forty-eight pages and will be
fully illustrated with from thirty to forty
new illustrations]; will contain a series of
general articles from the pen of Mr. E. \ .
Smalley and will endeavor to set out and
make known to the outside world those
special features that are so largely con
tributing to Helena's splendid growth and
development. We shall endeavor to give
the number an historical tinge, thereby
showing what has been accomplished here
in a single generation. 3 he illustrations
will cover a new general view of the city,
several street scenes, pictures of promi
nent public buildings, business blocks,
private ^residences and portraits of repre
sentative citizens and mining scenes at
Marysville, Wickes and Rimini. We shall
try to make it the most artistic number
ever issued from our office.
Coming on the 1st of September, at a
time when the various branch lines of rail
roads now under construction will be com
pleted, and at a time when in a measure
the attention of the country will be turned
this way, it seems to us the most befitting
time for a jubilee number. The cir
culation of the Northwest Magazine is 26,
000 copies monthly, of which number the
major portiou circulates east ot the Mis
souri river. 5V e ask ol the Board ol 3 rade
as a body no financial assistance or no
large order for copies, a course sometimes
pursued by publications of doubtful merit
and circulation.
Should our work seem sitisfatory to you
after our publication has been placed in
your hands you can thon decide the ques
tion of ordering copses.
All we ask is U>r moral support and en
dorsement of tbc Board of Trade as a body
and the individual support of its members
in the carrying out of a project that we
know' will tie benelicial to Helena.
Trusting that your honorable body may
see fit to give our request favorable con
sideration, we remain,
Yours respectfully,
THE NORTHWEST MAGAZINE.
Her II. P. Harboi u, Business Manager.
Helena, M. T., June 23, 18*7.
II. I'. BARBOUR, Esq., Business Manager of the
Northwest Magazine:
Sir: —Your communication of the 22d
inst. to the President ot the Helena Board
of Trade, in which you propose to devote
the September number (48 pages) of your
popular Northwest Magazine to Helena and
the surrounding mining camps, illustrated,
so as to cover a general view of the city,
with street scenes, pictures ol prominent
public buildings, business blocks, private
residences and portraits of representative
citizens, having been referred to the execu
tive committee of the Board, I have been
instructed to report to you that your prop
osition meets with the hearty approval of
the Helena Board of Trade through the
official action of the executive committee,
which desire to express to you their ap
preciation of the project submitted and
their approbation of the artistic and valua
ble contents of the illustrated number of
the Northwest for June 1887.
The Board, thefore, commends your work
to our citizens as one that will no doubt
prove greatly beneficial to the improvement
and growth of Helena as a vigorous, pro
gressive city, and one also that will re
dound to the advancement of the indi
vidual and business firms that will pat
ronize your September number and sup
port your proposition.
Respectfully yours,
R. C. WALKER, Secretary Board of Trade.
SMELTING AT MINNEAPOLIS.
A New Market lor Montana Orcs--
Works Now Under Construction.
At the time ot the formation of the
Hotter Mining, Smelting & Refining Co. at
Minneapolis the Herald mentioned the
inauguration of the new enterprise and ex
plained the details of the Rotter process of
smelting, which, it is claiiued, will play a
revolutionary part in simplilying and
cheapening the reduction of the precious
metal ores. Mr. Thomas G. Merrill, of
* Helena, is the president of this company
and with him are associated some of the
wealthiest men in Minneapolis. , Lately
a new company called the Minneapolis
Smelting Syndicate, has been formed at
that place with a large capital, for the pur
pose of putting up an extensive smelting
plant there for the treatment of ores from
all parts of the country. In this syndicate
are such men as Messrs. A. J. Boardman,
W. S. King, R. B. Laugdon, John S. Pills
bury. Emerson Cole, E. J. Davenport
and Mr. Cheever, who are among
the most prominent citizens of
the place and represent unlimited
millions of capital. From the Rotter Com
pany they have secured the right to use
their process, on payment of a stipulated
royalty, and the works will be built on
this system and under the direct supervis
ion of Mr. Rotter, the inventor of the pro
cess. The proposed works are now under
construction, and will be finished and in
operation by September 1st. They will
give the Rotter process a practical test that
will forever establish its use and efficiency.
Under this system it is claimed that re
fractory ores can be treated for about one
fourth of the present cost. When com
pleted Minneapolis will be able to offer the
greatest inducement to ore producers to
have their ores treated in that city, and
the works will give to Montana a new
market for her ores, nearer and more satis
factory than any now available.
A New Company.
Articles of incorporation were to-day
filed with the Territorial Secretary of the
St. Louis Mining and Milling Company of
Montana, composed of leading capitalists
of St. Louis, Mo., and William Mayger,
one of Montana's earliest pioneers.
The capital stock of the company is
placed at $5,000,000, and is organized to
work the St. Louis lode, being the adjoining
claim to the Drum Lummon on the south
and one of the most promising pieces of
property on Cruse Mountain. The incor
porators are M. J. Hartnett, Charles T.
Remme and Wm. Mayger.
The best guarantee of success the man
agement could give its stockholders is the
entrusting its entire charge with Mr. May
ger, who, it is well known, has been thor
ough identified with the mining interests
in the vicinity of the company's new pui
chase
THE VICTORIAN JUBILEE.
The papers are now full of the details
of the great jubilee going on in England
and wherever loyal Englishmen are dis
persed all over the globe, over the com
pletion of fifty years reign of Queen
Victoria. It is an event that is rare and
worthy of commemoration. It has only
occurred three times before in all the
long history ot English royal lines.
For Queen Victoria personally we
and every American have sincere and
high respect for her womanly virtues,
and especially for her friendship at a
time when we had few friends among
royal personages and even among the
nobility and commercial classes of Eng
land. So far as England is concerned
the fifty years of Victoria's reign
has been a prosperous one. The
country has grown in more than
population and wealth. As a constitu
tional monarch Victoria has been a
model one. In her name the English
people have more and more become their
own rulers. We believe that it has been
a good thing for England that even her
nominal ruler has been a queen rather
than a king and also that her reign has
been so long.
It is not possible that auv king could
have done as well, and still harder for
any future king, after so long a period
of popular and responsible government.
It is a perversion of the occasion to
praise everything English and laud the
English government as the greatest, best
and most powerful in the world.
England's government of Ireland and
of India are not deserving of commen
dation. But the fault is not chargeble
to the Queen.
Within the past few years England's
power on the continent and among the
nations of the world has greatly declined
and unfortunately for a general and
hearty celebration of jubilee year, the
present responsible government of Eng
land is one of the weakest io her Ion,"
history, it has shown itseil insensible
to the great interests of the country at
home and abroad. At a time when it
requires union and energy at home in
order to face and deal with dangers
abroad, the people are becoming more
radically divided than ever before.
There is but one possible way for Eng
land to regain and retain the rank of a
first-class power, and that is by making
the people of all the divisions of the
kingdom more united and prosperous.
We hope Victoria will vet live long
enough to see some measure of justice
done to Ireland. It would be the richest
jewel that she could leave to her suc
cessor. _
Not long since Gen. Rosser acquired con
siderable notoriety by a fierce onslaught
upon (Jen. Sheridan, denouncing him for
his alleged wanton cruelties in the Shen
andoah valley. Gen. Rosser, in St. Raul,
talks quite differently. He says he has no
hatred of northern soldiers and only ob
jects to Sheridan for his needless cruelty.
To his interviewers he goes much further
into general politics and says that the
Democratic party at the north is not at all
what the South likes. He says it contains
all the worst elements, all the nihilism,
anarchism, socialism, whiskey ism and every
other ism, while the Republican party con
tains all the liest elements, all the business
and energy of the country. He says the
new South wants business and is going to
have it and is going with the party that
pretects business and home industries. He
thinks John Sherman would carry Virginia
and North Carolina and have a large vote
all over the South. There is an article in
July Harper, jrst received, that emphasises
this same idea that the new South has
gone to work in earnest on business princi
ples, studying economy, developing home
industries and making money. The result
will be just what it has been at the North.
The South has all the resources of wealth
and when developed by the same energy,
skill and persistency as they have been at
the North the prosperity that will follow
will soon transform the entire section. The
old free trade doctrines were suited only
to the condition of the South under slave
labor, which could only raise the raw pro
ducts of the soil and send them abroad for
manufacture. The time has come when
these preducts will mostly be worked up
where they are produced with ten times
the profit. It will not be many years be
fore large portions of the South will be
more eager for protection than any part of
New England or Renusylvania.
The Herald's report about the district
clerk matter is termed by the Democratic
paper il au attack on Judge McConnell."
A statement of alleged facts in the news
department can hardly amount to that.
Not only from Democratic sources is the
Herald convinced of Democratic disap
pointment and displeasure at the reject
ing of Mr. Marshall, but also of the
chagrin and mortification of other Demo
crats growing out of similar treatment of
Mr. Martin, after that gentleman had been
promised the office, as stated. The ap
pointment of Mr. Keerl, who already had
a snug berth under the government, was a
surprise to Democrats, but Surveyor Gen
eral Green, who is credited with bringing
that about, is elated, as the occurrence
gives him the chance of again asserting his
independence by calling another clerk
from the States to his employ
ment. The hub-bub in the Demo
cratic camp is considerable, and it don't
need the Herald to tell it. The perfidy
of the organ, we think, exasperates the j
party as much as the alleged deceit of
Judge McConnell.
Dakota has two hundred and fifty j
newspapers, one thousand postoffice?, five
thousand teachers, one million dollars in
vested in churches and one hundred thou
sand Republicans !
The affluent leisure of Hugh McQuaid
threatens to be disturbed by an engage
ment to spell one of Helena's editors whom
Democrats declare must have a rest
THE INDEMNITY LANDS.
As expected the land grant roads have
made answer to the call of the Secreary
of the Interior to show cause why the
land in the indemnity limits should not
be thrown open to settlement with some
show of merit in their objection. The
government has been aud still is in fault
by its failure to survey the lands so that
these selections could be made and losses
ascertained. The fault is not in the In- ;
terior Department but in Congress in
failing to provide for the survey of the
public lands. This refusal has been in
tentional and not simply a matter of
oversight and neglect, There is a gen
eral desire among the people of the old
States and their representaves
to keep the railroads from get
ting possession of the lands that they
claim to have earned, and besides this
an ill-defined sentiment that if the lands
are surveyed they will be fraudulently
acquired by cattle syndicates. There is
a great deal of sectional jealousy mixed
up with ignorance and misrepresenta
tion in the matter. There is jealousy
not only in the South but in the East
and over a large part of the West also
over the growth of the new Northwest
and an apparent desire to retard its
settlement and developement. The loss
of sectional influence and fear of politi
cal consequences inspire much of this re
fusal to provide for the survey of lands.
While Sparks has come in for most of
the cursing and complaint, his
action is but the reflection of the
same spirit that prevails in Con
gress. The very purpose for which
land grants were made to railroads, was
to secure the settlement and improve
ment of lands Jtliat before were worth
less and inaccessible. Now the main
desire seems to be to prevent the settle
ment for which the price lias been paid.
The spirit is as mean as it is short
sighted. Those who suffer most are the
constituents of these very opposing con
gressmen. They are coming west to
secure lands, and find no lands to be
had and every obstacle thrown in the
way of their acquiring land. The same
law exists now under which all the
western States were settled and titles
are acquired now in the same
way and just as honestly as ever
before in sections where the land was
ten times as valuable. Still in the pres
ent case, and so far as Montana is con
cerned, we approve the action of the
Secretary. There seems no good reason
for keeping back the lands in the in
demnity limity from settlement. There
are lands enough to more than make
good the losses within the grant, and we
see no reason why the railroads should
have the first pick of the indemnity
lands. We think settler- should have
the first consideration, and our general
public interests require that no obstacle
should be put in the way of any who
want to acquire title to lands and im
prove them._
Every new connection that we gain by
rail or wire to any part of the world is a
matter of congratulation, and though we
now have very little connection with British
northwest or the Canadian Pacific, it will
not always be so. Telegraphic connection
with the Canadian I'acific, just opened,
gives us another connection with the en
tire world east, west, north and south, and
should other connections for any season
fail us temporarily, we have this one to
fall back upon for general news. It gives us
also some benefit of competition, the re
sults of which we shall certainly feel aud
be beuetitted by. As the Manitoba road
advances the northern line will come into
more prominent service and give us daily
tidings of the advance. As the precursor
of a northern connection by rail with the
Canadian Racitic we are by no means as
sanguine. If the people of Manitoba will
not be allowed to build south to connect
with the Northern Ratifie branch at the
line, we may be sore that no branch to con
nect with Montana will be allowed. How
ever, this condition of things will not al
ways continue, and some time there will be
a great northern line reaching to Athabaska,
the Yukon and Hudson's Bay. and stretch
ing southward by way of Helena to Mexico
and the Isthmus.
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While at White Sulphur Springs re
cently the most absorbing topic of conver
sation was the development of a rich mine
in the Castle Mountains, about fifteen miles
distant. At a depth of eighty feet there
was an eight foot vein of lead matter that
would average $50 per ton. The lead i6
evidently a strong and rich one in its pres
ent stage of development and may prove,
as was confidently asserted, a second Drum
Lnmon or Granite Mountain. Shonld it
prove even half as rich as reported it will
soon pay for the construction of a railroad,
and that is what the people of the Springs
want most just now.
It is told of Associate Justice Field, of
California, that he recently applied in San
Francisco for a round trip ticket to Port
land, and that the agent in handing him
the ticket also handed him a pen to sign
his name, as the custom is, and the Judge
refused to do so, saying there was no law
that required it. The agent then asked
the name, and finding whom he had to
deal with, insisted no further. What is
law for Judge Field is law for every other
citizen.
Some people will open their eyes wide to
hear that a Chinaman, Yau Rho Lee, has
carried off the highest honors at Yale
College. It is not, however, the first case,
but it is generally true that young China
men placed in competion with oar best
scholars easily hold their own, and it points
to a fact that the time is coming, when
China adopts western ideas and habits, that
she will become a power in the world.
The Bar of Helena backed Dan Marshall
for clerk. But the lawyers don't seem to
count any more than the rest of the folks.
THE COLLEGE OF MONTANA.
We are in receipt of the fourth an
nual catalogue of the College of Mon
tana, in Deer Lodge. The catalogue is
beautifully printed at the New North
west office, and contains ex cellent cuts
of the college buildings. A careful pe
rusal of the contents will satisfy any one
that we have here an institution that we
may be proud of and that we ought
to patronize and liberally sustain. With
President McMillan and others of the
officers and teachers our people are too
well acquainted to need any introduc
tion or recommendation. A great work
has already been accomplished, and we
have here an institution on a solid foun
dation that deserves the name of college.
The list of students for the year in vari
ous departments numbers about a hun
dred. The course of study and the dis
cipline is first-class, and many who send
their children to the States pay more
and get less return than if they would
patronize a home institution.
There is a normal and scientific course
arranged, in addition to the ordinary
English and classical courses.
Special attention, with many facilities
which have been supplied by generous
patrons, is given to assaying of minerals,
and students in music and art have the
best of care and training.
The prosperity of such an institution
is the subject of rejoicing to all who ap
preciate higher education under the best
of moral influences. A worthier object
of patronage and endowment from our
own prosperous citizens does not exist in
Montana._____
Since Cleveland's flag episode, which
wounded the feelings of the North and his
sudden revocation, which equally disgust
ed the South, there has been a sensible de
cline in the Cleveland boom for a renomi
nation. The mention of Hill and Sparks
as a possible combination, if seriously in
tended, does not strike us as a strong one
for the Democrats or a formidable one for
♦ he Republicans. Hill is a small politician
of the Spoilsman variety, and though
Sparks has some notoriety as a fraud sharp
and general obstructionist to the develop
t ment of the Northwest, we do not believe
that the men who use and applaud him
would care to advance him to any more
prominent position. A few weeks ago we
regarded Cleveland s nomination certain ;
nc*w it is out of the case, and we may be
sure if Hill gets the nomination he will
get little aid from Cleveland. If New
York must have the candidate, probably
Hill is the stronger, but we neither think
he will be the nominee or that he could by
any possibility be elected. If a Northern
man is nominated for Rresident by the
Democrats, the South is clearly entitled to
the second place.
Both France and Russia have clearly
and flatly refused approval of the treaty
between England and Turkey in reference
to the occupation of Egypt. In the case of
Russia it is said that Turkey has been
notified that the attempt to enforce the
treaty will be regarded as a cams belli.
Here is a gage of battle thrown down to
England right in the midst of the jubilee
celebration. It places England in an ex
ceedingly awkward and humiliating posi
tion. There was a time when England
would not have brooked this veto upon
her plans and purposes. But England,
under Salisbury, is merk as a kitten and
seems content to be snubbed and reduced
from her rank of a first class power, in
order to protect her landlords and prevent
Ireland from gaining a measure of self
control that would make her prosperous
and an element of strength to the British
empire. __
There has been much loose talk about
the necessity for an extra session of Con
gress to dispose of the accumulating sur
plus in the treasury on the theory that the
interests of the country will snfier • by so
much money being withdrawn from circu
lation. Careful investigation shows that
there is more money in circulation by
many millions than ever before, and the
danger is purely imaginery from this
The Washington Republic is a severe critic
of the administration and especially of the
Postmaster General, but it was scarcely
legitimate warfare to point the caricature
that it presents as a portrait of Col. Vilas.
It hasn't even an accidental likeness to
that gentleman. A propos, it is mentioned
that the thrifty Colonel has increased his
fortune by a quarter of a million during
the past two years by investments in iron
mines in Northern Wisconsin.
In the case of Maxwell, the murderer of
Preller, the Supreme Court of Missouri has
dismissed his appeal and confirmed the
j judgment of the court in which he was
; convicted and sentenced to be hung. An
attempt will be made to take the case to
; the Supreme Court of the United States.
Public patience seems often taxed beyond
endurance in such cases, where there is not
a doubt of guilt, and the result is beyond
doubt an encouragement of extra judicial
forms of trial and summary execution.
In the death of ex-Rresident Mark Hop
kins, of Williams College, the country has
lost one of the best men it ever produced.
For thirty-six years he was the head, heart
and soul of the institution and hundreds
of the foremost men of the country, in
every walk of life, owe to him a debt of
gratitude that they are proud to acknowl
edge, as was President Garfield. As a
testimonial to his memory it is proposed to
raise an endowment fund of $150,000 for
the college, and there ought not to be any
difficutly in raising even a million for snch
a purpose.
The recent Apache outbreak is reported
ended. We snrely hope the report is true,
for the possibilities of mischief from snch
sources are vivid in the memory of the
people of Arizona.
Gen. Greene : His only human weak
ness, Jndge, is a quiet game of freeze-out.
DESERT LANDS.
The new instructions of Commissioner
Sparks upon the subject of the entry of
derert lands brings to our consciousness
more forcibly than ever before that it is
a vain boast that we live in a land
where the law is king. It is the theory
of our government that Congress alone
has power to make laws and that courts
are established to interpret those laws.
But this is only theory, the fact is that
the law good for nothing and that execu
tive officers can so administer them as to
defeat entirely the purpose for which
laws are enacted.
The desert character of a country has
popularly, and we believe, legally been
determined by the fact whether there is
sufficient average rain fall to allow the
successful growth of agricultural crops.
Judged by this test and confirmed by
long experience and observation, Mon
tana has all been properly declared to be
desert land. There are possibly local
exceptions, and there may be exceptional
seasons when there is rain fall enough
to mature a scant crop, but the general
faet is that we have no agricultural land
which can be cultivated with any cer
tainty of bringing a crop to
maturity without irrigation. The
fact that a natural stream of
water runs along the side of or through
a piece of land does not alter this fact.
The effects of the running water are not
perceptible six feet away from the mar
gin of the streams, and even that narrow
rim of land, for other good reasons, is
not capable of being plowed and culti
vated. Where irrigation, is necessary
for successfnl agriculture and the con
struction of artificial ditches is necessary
for irrigation, it is desert land within the
letter aud spirit of the law and no other
sensible and reasonable construction is
possible.
It would he just as sensible for Mr.
Sparks to hold that where there is water
underneath the land that can be secured
by digging or boring wells, it shall not
be considered desert land.
We do not know whether it is Mr. j
Sparks ignorance on the subject, or '
whether he is [obstinately determined j
that no one shall get a title to any land ;
if he can prevent it, but certainly his '
last order is out of all bounds of reason i
and an immediate appeal should be j
taken to the Secretary of the Interior,
and if that fails, to the courts. It is a
matter of vital concern to the people of
Montana. We are entering upon an era
of the construction of large irrigating
canals and the agricultural development
and general settlement of our Territory
depends greatly upon the liberal and
rational interpretation of this desert land
law.
We think this is a matter that justi
fies the active interposition of our Gov
ernor to set Mr. Sparks right if per
chance he is honestly mistaken. Ac
cording to this order of the Commis
sioner if the hundredth part of a quar
ter section of land touches water, or if
it has a living spring that will irrigate a
square rod of the whole tract and render
that unfit for cultivation, then the land
cannot be acquired under the desert act.
Now we will submit to any reasonable
man in the world that this was never
the intent or meaning of the law. But
wherever there is not sufficient rainfall
for successful agriculture and the con
struction of irrigating ditches is neces
sary, whether long or short, whether the
source of water thus brought on or over
the land be on or off the land, near or
remote, it is desert land in the fullest
sense and title can be had under the
desert act, without any perversion of
facts, fal-e representation or hard swear
ing.
The law was intended to encourage
the construction of water ditches. These
desert lands are not given away, as the
swamp lands have been, to secure their
drainage, but are charged for in cash
$1.25 per acre, as high as was ever
charged for the best lands in the Missis
sippi valley. It only gives the cultiva
tor of land the greater inducement to
construct water ditches, for it can be
done for a section at little more cost than
for a single quarter section.
The Commissioner's interpretation
would cut off every individual or com
pany from getting to water on his own
land, and thus controlling his supply. It
virtually nullifies the whole law, a law
that is fairer and more profitable to the
government than any of the land laws,
and one that is most beneficial to the
public interests in every way.
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It would be a public calamity should
the report prove true that the Supreme
Court of Illinois had set aside the verdict
in the case of the anarchists and given
them a new trial. There ought to be some
thing more than a trivial technicality to
justify such a decision. The people of
Chicago have borne themselves with un
exampled patience in this matter, in the
face of a crime so aggravating that sum
mary vengeance would have been gener
ally applauded. With all the weary
months of delay that have afforded the
utmost opportunity to bring to light any
substantial defense or mitigating circum
stance in the case of any one of the con
demned anarchists, nothing of the kind
has appeared, and the verdict of the jury
should be carried out.
The celebration of the battle of Bunker
Hill, June 19th, was a notable affair this
year, signalized by a visit of the soldiers
of Robert E. Lae encampment of Rich
mond as guests of John A. Andrew Post of
the Grand Army of the Republic. The
fraternization was complete and unre
served. Even snch a stalwart Republican
as Senator Hoar could make a speech at
the banquet that the Virginians applauded
to the echo. That bloody chasm is closing
up fast.
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New Northwest : The war was a great
reality. It was for the preservation or de
struction of this Union. The Union arms
triumphed, and there are few to-day who
fought for or espoused the secession canse but
see and know and say that the decision of
battle was for the best. The Union was
preserved, and the captured standards ol
war became the property of the Union
Brave men fought under them for the
canse of which they were the emblems,
and with the failure of the cause they
became the legitimate property of the
victor. Their return could accomplish no
good results. The late seceding States
that have again raised the Stars and Stripes
as their emblem of government and loyal
ty, could have no use for them. Iho Union
flag does not permit a divided allegiance.
The military organizations to which they
once belonged have long since dissolved.
The men who carried them have professed
a new allegiance. Why should they be
taken from the custody of the Union and
distributed where, if they do anything,
they will revive a spirit of allegiance that
now belongs ODly to the Stars and Stripes ?
They were captured in honorable warfare.
They were deposited with and belong to
this Nation, and no Congress should, as no
officer has a right to, yield them up. Presi
dent Cleveland, who never served under
the Union colors to maintaintain their
supremacy, and put a substitute in the
place he should have filled, may not have
or regard the sentiment of those who did,
or those thoroughly in sympathy with
them, but he has found an expression of
indignation at this last aff r ont he has
sought to put upon Union soldiers that lie
will remember.
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The gatherer of the Associated Press
dispatches got off wide of the mark in
announcing that the recent meeting of
present and past Grand Masters of Masons
in Chicago was for the purpose of forming 1
; a Supreme Grand Council. Some few may
have desired such a result, but it was ,
never regarded as practical, possible or
even desirable by those who know most of
j the situation. Every State and Territory,
save Alaska, has now now an independent
j Grand Lodge, and this arrangement will
continue beyond all question and give the
most satisfaction. We doubt if there is a
1 Grand Lodge in the country that would
vote to surrender its severeignty, and cer- i
tainly there would by no power in those
that might form such a general Grand
Lodge to compel the adherence of others. j
! It was thought by those who suggested
this Chicago meeting that it might pro
mote more unity of action on some mat- ;
ters on which there is now diversity of
opinion and action. The convention was
not generally favored or attended and ac
I complished nothing.
The fact that five Navajo Indians killed
a white man does not imply that there is
to be a general war by the whole tribe, i
The Navajos number al'out 10,000. They
are comparatively well advanced in civili- ,
j zatiou aud possess considerable property, j
The Navajos are related to the Apaches,
and have at times been hostile, which per- ,
haps gives some cause for present anxiety,
but there are more and stronger reasons to
think that there will be no general trouble, .
and we have no doubt the murderers will
be given up on demand, or will become
fugitives from the tribe and outlaws. We
Indian wars. They are I
want no more Indian wars, they are |
costly, losiDg allairs in e\ery instance, and
we believe they can all be avoided.
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Surveyor General Greene, having
lost his chief clerk in the appointment of
Mr. Keerl to the clerkship of the district
court, is said to have telegraphed to Ala
bama ofi'ering the vacant position to one
of his Southern friends. The Surveyor
General does not change in the conviction
that he is under no obligation to the Mon
tana Democracy for his office and he reso
lutely stands by his determination to give
the preference for places under him to
friends from his own section of the coun
try. If the General was a Republican the
Herald might feel disposed to object, but
being a Democrat we cannot see our way
clear to interfere in his choice. Gen. Greene
is a man of his own mind and don't care a
continental for the Democrats who call
him a carpet-bagger.
The visit of the Civil Service Commis
sioners to the Northwest can have no other
object or effect than to give those gentle
men a junketing t>ur at the expense of
the government, one of the commission
ers, then in office, came here about two
years ago and held an examination. Sev
tral young gentlemen were examined and
passed creditably, but we have not learned
that any one of them has received an ap
pointment. We are glad to have any
representatives of the administration widen
their views by a visit to Montana ; .but so
far as the ostensible purpose of their trip
is concerned it is little more than a
mockery.
If Secretary Lamar is really desirous of
a seat on the Supreme Bench, we have
little doult that he can secure it. He is 61
years old, aud at one time was reported to
be in feeble health. But since then he has
married, and the presumption is that he
has recovered. Cleveland's term will soon
be ont, and the future is uncertain. No
donbt Lamar would like to chage his pres
ent position for a longer termed office. Oar
chief regret over the change would be the
loss to the Interior Department. Lamar
has proved a valuable check on Sparks,
aud we should have fears that a new in
cumbent would give the great fraud sharp
a looser reim _
The mouth of Big Muddy has been
passed by the track layers on the Manitoba
road, and all the hands are now working at
their best in these long days to push the
end of the track farther into Montana.
Poplar creek will be the next pdint reached.
The rains and high water may cause some
delay in the matter of patting in bridges,
but the season affords good opportunity to
show how the ronte should be selected and
the grades and bridges constructed to avoid
danger and damage from the high water
in the future.
The courtesy of the use of the Herald
columns were yesterday tendered to and
accepted by Jndge McConnell as a medium
for the publication of a card through which
to present the reasons governing his action
i*: the clerkship matter. The Judge pre
ferred this method of fully stating
his side of the case in preference to
that of an interview, as being more
likely to secure an exact report
of his words, and yesterday evening we
announced the card for appearance in to
day's issue. This morning His Honor iu
formed the Herald representative who
called upon him that he had changed his
mind, and that while he had prepared the
card with the intention of giving
his version of the matter, he |had
concluded upon further reflection to with
hold it. The Herald has endeavored to
act altogether fairly in the premises, and
we desire it to be understood
that no obstacle of ours has been thrown
in the way of the Judge's statement, as he
himself will admit. His first impulse
was probably the be3t one, and his after
thought will he apt as much to surprise
the public as the final action adopted in
the clerk appointment. We can only sur
mise that the squib in this morning's paper
may have had something to do in altering
the purpose of Ilia Honor and deterring him
from appearance in print. Knowing some
what by hearsay of the incisiveness of the
Judge in argument and his cleverness as a
writer, we were calculating that his article
would present him to advantage and much
to his credit. We trust the Judge may
still see his way clear to an explanation
from his standpoint of the controversy.
The Herald holds open the inviting hos
pitality of its columns.
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The pestiferous little alien, who takes
advantage of the absence of his employer
to toady to position and humiliate and de
grade his party, whimpers at The Herai.h
because Democrats are permitted the hear
ing they fail to command in the Indepen
dent. The Herald refuses to discriminate
against citizens when principle is involved
and grievances are to be redressed. Politics
cuts but little figure and is the least to lie
considered when a community Is stirred by
events like those of recent occurrence. At
such times The Herald can at least
sympathize with Democrats, though our
contemporary may not, and furnish to
neighbors politically at variance an aveni e
of public expression. In the clerk con
troversy the Independent is arrayed again it
its party, against its proprietor, against tie
Bar of Helena, and in slurring the candi
date and justifying his rejection, it gravely
reflects upon them all. The Judge may
have acted from the best of motives and
may have acted right, (and in the, exercise
of an indejiendent choice we may finally
be convinced he did quite the proper
thing,) but in view of all thecirci instances
the Independent could least and last afford
to say the half of that. The tenure of
judgeships is sometimes as precarious as
that of editorships. The prejudice against
carpet-baggers, whether on the bench or iu
the sanctum, is confined to no party ; it is as
strongly defined in Montana as elsewhere,
and if it is once fairly aroused the conse
quences may be surmised and arrangements
should be timely to prepare for them.
The credit of the State of Connecticut
stands enviably high. Last week for a
| j oan 0 f 0 ne million at 3j per cent, seven
millions were tendered, and the Ætna life
insurance took one-half of the amount at
j 3j premium. It was not a long loan either.
It comes due in ten years, and is payable
sooner at the will of the treasurer. The
fact is that our country is getting so full
of money that the holders do not know
what to do with it. We believe a govern
ment loan could be negotiated easily at 2J,
possibly at 2 per cent, to pay off all the
outstanding debt, and the effort sorely
ought to be made. If Montana were ad
mitted as a State at the next session of
Congress, no doubt all the money we
needed to build an insane asylum, and all
I other public buildings, could be had at !
I per cent. _
There are desperate attempts being
made to save Jake Sharp from the verdict
! of conviction that surely awaits him. It is
represented that he is dying and that a
! verdict of any kind will sureiy precipitate
I his death. There are other and better rea
| sons than this that probably iuduced his
! attorneys to keep him from testifying.
! They knew well that he could not testify
fully and truthfully without convicting
It would be an unprecedented
proceeding for a judge to withdraw a ca?e
y,i in * H P if
I fr om the jury for fear that the verdict
might kii! the accused. We know of no
law or precedent that would justify such
action by a j udge. Fiat justicia, runt on -
ium.
Many' of our people will be interested
in the result of the trial of Simmons, the
manager of the Del Monte hotel, who is
believed to have set fire to the building
At last accounts the State's evidence was
closed, and the attorneys lor Simmons de
c B ne d to produce any evidence or make
any plea to the jury. It is believed there
is some plan by which they expect to dear
their client.
It looks as if the interstate commission
had a pretty clear case for action in the
charges for wheat transportation from
Walla Walla to Portland. Thirty cents per
hundred would be a heavy charge from
Walla Walla to Liverpool.
Before the promise of appointment was
broken, the agreement was exacted that
Mr. Marshall should voluntarily relinquish
the court clerkship next spring in favor oi
Judge McConnell's sou. So The Herald
is informed.
There are strong threateniDgs of Demo
cratic interference with Judge McConnells
confirmation.___
Cleveland's presidential traiu has
flagged and side-tracked.
Another Carpet-Bagger Provided lor.
Washington, June 29.—The President
to-day appointed Francis F. Patterson, oi
Salem, N. C., Register of the Land Office» 1
Lewiston, Idaho, viee Patrick inston
resigned.