Fergus County Democrat. [volume], February 07, 1905, Image 4

About Fergus County Democrat. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1904-1919

Image provided by: Montana Historical Society; Helena, MT

                
FERGUS COUNTY DEMOCRAT.
STOUT & KELLY, Publishers.
Subscription, per Year.............S2.50
LEWISTOWN, MONT., Feb. 7.
Published Weekly.
STOCKMEN SHOULD ORGANIZE.
This is a day of organization. Great
things are being accomplished no
longer by individual effort, but by the
combined efforts of several men. Or
ganization was first perfected in this
country by the wealthy interests in
the manufacturing centers, who saw
the oncoming tide—or labor organiza
tions—and who desired to be ready to
meet it. Laborers in the city were
the next to get together for their mu
tual protection, and it is now an even
matter as to who are the better or
ganized, the employers or the em
ployes.
Organization thus far has been con
fined to the cities and towns, where
men can be easily congregated and
where there is always one man or a
half dozen men who are willing to de
vote their time to the organization.
The necessity for organization has
been gradually borne to the mind of
the rancher and stockman, hut in a
comparatively few cases have they
taken advantage of their right to as
sociate themselves together for the
protection and advancement of their
interests. There are national organi
zations, hut they cannot accomplish
many tangible benefits for the local
communities.
There is today no class of men who
are more in need of a thorough organ
ization than the stockmen. The Na
tional Livestock association, which
recently met in Denver, did almost
nothing toward alleviating t lie op
pressions which the stockmen, espe
cially of the west, are compelled to
sutler, simply because the local com
munities had not organized and sent
delegates there to express the wants
and desires of the individual cattle
man or woolgrower. Had every com
munity of the importance of Fergus
county sent a delegate to that con
vention, and had that delegate been a
representative stockgrower, such as
the man who went from this county,
there would have been no split in the
convention and something of great
benefit might have been accomplished
at a time when the situation is most
critical and when something must be
done for the stockmen of the. west.
There is not a more prosperous!
stock-growing community in the west]
than is found here in Fergus county,
and nowhere can a more intelligent,
wide awake, progressive set of stock
growers be found. But they are over
looking an opportunity to better their
condition by not organizing. Fergus
county is large enough and there are
in it enough stockgrowers to form an
association which will compel recog
nition from the stale and even the
national association. The encroach
ments of the railroads and packers,
stealthy and insidious for years, are
now open and defiant, and the .stock
men can do nothing but take up the
gauntlet thus cast at their feet. They
cannot do it as individuals, but, prop
erly organized, a fight can be made
and won.
Therefore, let not the stockmen of
this great county be derelict in tak
ing action for the protection of them
selves and their fellows. For years
B. C. "White of Ubet. lias urged an or
ganization. Since his visit to the
meeting of the National Livestock as
sociation in Denver he is more than
ever impressed with the absolute ne
cessity of a local organization. It
will enable the stockmen to exchange
views on local conditions and will also
enable them to have a voice in the
national movement.
WILL BE "SAFELY GUARDED."
Considerably over one-half of the
present legislative term has passed
and yet none of the reforms which the
republicans so profusely promiseddur
ing the last campaign have been en
acted by the members of that party,
which is in a majority in 11 le Ninth
legislative assembly.
For over a week past both houses
have been engaged in discussing and
voting upon divers and sundry initia
tive and referendum bills. Little of
good lias been accomplished, but tlie
votes have given the people of the
various counties an opportunity to
get a line on their respective repre
sentatives. It is with the utmost re
gret that the people of Fergus county
have read of the altogether inconsist
ent action of two of our representa
tives, Representative Wiedeman and
Senator Waite, in this most import
ant matter. It was hoped by demo
crats and republicans alike that they
would forget their extreme partisan
ship long enougii to aid in securing
the passage of a sane, sensible, prac
ticable initiative and referendum act.
In the campaign last fall they repeat
edly declared their intention of doing
what is in their power toward having
favorable action taken on the matter:
but they are not keeping their prom
ises.
Two initiative and referendum bills
were introduced in the respective
houses. The bills introduced by Sen
ator Ralston and Representative Lan
nin closely followed the provisions of
the Oregon act, which has been proven
a success in every particular. The
bills introduced by Senator Ronlan
and Representative Leiper, republi
cans, were new and untried in many
essentials and as full of defects as a
flour sifter is of holes. The republi
can measures are so "safely guarded
that if either of them is passed the
people will never put it to use be
cause of its "safety guards." The
votes on the senate bills were taken
last Tuesday and the Oregon bill was
defeated by a strict party vote, Sena
tor Waite, of course, voting with the
other republican members to kill the
bill which meant something to the
people, and in favor of the bill which
will, if passed at all. mean little or
nothing to t hem.
The next day the house took up the
two bills pending there. The Oregon
bill was brought up for its final pas
sage and requires a two-thirds vote,
inasmuch as it proposes the .submis
sion of a constitutional amendment.
A number of republicans, among them
being Chairman Hedges of this county,
voted in favor of the bill and the
measure came within one vote of pass
ing, Representative Wiedeman of Fer
gus voting against it. Had he voted
for instead of against the bill it would
have received t he necessary two-thirds
majority and Montana would have
been that much nearer to an initia
tive and referendum amendment to
her constitution.
Altogether, the outlook is discour
aging for an initiative and referen
dum amendment being submitted at
this term of the legislature. And
even if the republican measure does
pass, little benefit can be obtained
from it. This session of the legisla
ture is convicting the republican
party leaders of tlie charges preferred
during the recent campaign by the
democrats. They have proven by
their actions that they are not at
heart in favor of such reforms as the
initiative and referendum, and that
planks favoring such reforms which
were found in the Billings platform
were placed there solely as vote-catch
ers. I t is hardly possible that Carter,
Waite and the other leaders will ever
again succeed so well in their efforts
to defeat the wishes of the rank and
file of their party.
Lewistown has a Y. M. C. A. of
which all should be justly proud. But
a little over two months ago a few
young men who were animated by a
desire to help their fellowmen com
menced the agitation for such an or
ganization in this city. Others came
to their assistance and the organiza
tion was formed. Today there are al
most 15o active and associate mem
bers: a gymnasium, readingandamuse
ment rooms have been arranged and
dozens of men and boys of the city are
taking advantage of the opportunity
for mental and physical development.
George Zang, the secretary, thorough
ly understands his work and makes it
pleasant for any one who visits tho
rooms. It is a long stride toward a
better Lewistown. Long may it live
and flourish.
There is not a town in the state
which is growing more consistently
than Lewistown. New people are
coming to the city every week and a
large majority of them are workers,
the sort of people that a town needs.
The coming year promises to be one
of the busiest and most prosperous in
our history. Put your shoulder to the
wheel and help to pusli our municipal
craft along.
If "uneasy lies the head that wears
a crown," the head of the czar of Rus
sia is certainly doing a ragtime stunt
on the imperial pillow these trouble
some days. With the Japs pounding
the tar out of his army in the far east
and the revolutionists raising particu
lar Cain on the inside, was there ever
an emperor of a mighty nation in a
worse fix?
The Great Falls Tribune predicts
that Senator Waite will be the repub
lican candidate for governor in 11)08.
Well, if tlie republicans are going to
put up a man we would much prefer
to see the honor given to a Fergus
county man than any one else. But
our friend Waite is a rather shrewd
man at tlie political game and will
probably object to grabbing up the
gold brick that was handed to Billie
Lindsay of Dawson last
The Ninth legislative assembly, up
to date, has elected Thomas Henry
Carter, the corporations' best Mon
tana friend, to the United States sen
ate and voted down a good initiative
and referendum bill, tlie worst enemy
of the corporation. That's republi
canism personified.
Be careful how you slap your friend
on tlie shoulder. The familiarity is
likely to be resented these days.
If you have a tale of woe, have it
amputated. You lose friends by wag
ging it around.
Is lie dead, or does lie but sleep? We
mean the tiger.
odd mnlihnimi, I
In tbe reign of Queen Mary a man
was pilloried in London for selling
pots of strawberries, "the which the
pot was half full, but filled with
fern.'' 1'oor old Cheapside has doubt
less seen many similar frauds. At
the same period persons were of
ten pilloried for selling bad fish, and
the fish itself was hung around their
necks. The public was thus allowed
to avenge itself. A butcher who had
vended diseased meat was made to
ride around London, "his face toward
the horse's tail, with half a lamb be
fore and another behind and veal and
calf bones before him on a pole, raw."
His own meat, no doubt, and therefore
not too savory. A similar punishment
of riding round London in a cart was
given to a certain person who had sold
his wife to a butcher. Let us hope
that this sale was purely matrimonial.
Simple Living.
It is not tbe aggregation of wealth
which makes people happy, but the
contentment found in tbe ways of a
simple living. While luxuries increase,
often thoughtlessly encouraged, tho ne
cessities of fife are lost sight of. It
is an important problem to solve what
to do to lmlii home building, though it
takes no great calculation to find out
the fact that 100 families in small
homes of a thousand or two thousand
dollars each are great consumers and
producers of business and trade than
one or two families with all their serv
ants in a $100,000 mansion. Thorns,
thistles and wild carrots will disap
pear from tho fields and waste city
lots if the idle land is utilized for
garden or farm homes.—Hartford
Times.
IvIndlineNs .Visions: Birds.
I have seen a little chipping sparrow
make a business of feeding some half
fledged robins. She watched for her
opportunity, and whenever both par
ent robins were away from the nest
she rushed in with her morsel. The
robins resented her ofticiousness and
hustled her out of the tree whenever
they caught her there. I have heard
of a wren that fed a brood of young
robins in a similar way and of a male
bluebird that fed some young birds
that were In a nest near its own.—John
Burroughs in Outing.
Hla Mintage.
She—They say that a little learning
Is a dangerous thing. He—Yes, I guess
it Is. I found it so once. I stopped in
vestigating when I found out bow
much property my first wife's father
was supposed to own without going
ahead and making inquiries as to hia
debts. But I'll never get taken in that
way again.
Ilia Expectations Won.
Stern Parent—So you want to marry
my daughter, eh? Well, have you any
expectations? Young Man—Yes, I ex
pect you will decline to give your con
sent, and we shall elope. Stem Par
ent—Take her. my son, with my bless
ing; my daughter requires the firm rule
of a character like yours.
JAMS AND JELLIES.
tke
How They First "Got Anions:
Commonalty" In Scotland.
In Galt's "Annals of the Parish"
the Rev. Mieali Balwhiilder quaintly
chronicles the events of his district in
Scotland about the year 1700. In the
course of these records he says:
"I should not in my notations forget
to mark a new luxury that got among
the commonalty at this time. By the
opening of new roads anil by our
young men sailing to the West Indies
heaps of sugar were brought home,
while many among the cabbages in
their yards had planted groset and ber
ry bushes, which two things happen
ing together, the fashion to make jam
and jelly, which hitherto had been only
known in the kitchens of the gentry,
came to be introduced into the vil
lage.
"All this, however, was not without
a plausible pretext, for it was found
that jelly was an excellent medicine
for a sore throat and jam a remedy
as good ns London candy for a cough
or a cold or a shortness of breath. In
the berry time there was no end to
the borrowing of her brass pan, which
occasioned a great fasherie to Mrs.
Balwhidder."
Land Attorney
Real Estate
Notary Public
and Insurance
Main St., Opposite Lehman's Store.
Lewistown, - - Montana.
TOM PRATT
Horseshoeing and
General Blacksmithing
ALL WORK GUARANTEED
Jack Rice will be glad to meet his old
friends at tlfis shop.
Shop located on TlffrdAvenue
Opposite Depot.
Montana Hardware Co.
'■ Rustlers For Trade
Until further notice the Montana Hardware Company gives
customers the benefit of the exceptionally low price on nails of
$3.00, 8 D common base, for cash. Cash will work wonders
in the Montana Hardware Co.'s Store. Let us figure with you.
Telephone
52
Montana Hardware Co.
The....
Art Music
....Store
B. F. PETERSON. Prop.
EVERYTHING
KNOWN
IN MUSIC
AT
Reasonable Prices
Art M usic S tore
New? Wright Block
TELEPHONE 133
LeWistotfn
Coal
Company
We have reopened our
new mine and now
have the
Best Coal
In Fergus County,
clear of any bone or
dirt. We absolutely
guarantee the qual
ity.
Office at Scales, rear of Delzell's
Drug Store.
Telephone No. 147
CENTRAL
MEAT MARKET
Wholesale and Retail
Beef, Mutton, Pork,
Veal, oysters and Fish.
Poultry and Vegetables
ABEL BROS.
UNMATCMABLE GROCERY
VALUES AT
Porter's
SPECIAL GASH ARGAINS
FOR THE NEXT 14 DAYS
We ask you to compare prices and quality. We
want your business. These values should get it.
Red Alaska Salmon, m am
per can................................................... § C
10 pound pail Spiced a% gm
Herring............................................$1.25
2 pound bricks Codfish
eaeli..................................................
Large fine Lake Superior White fish
per pound.............................................
10 pound pails Large Family atm m mm •m
Mackerel.. ......................................^ f * £ O
Large Naval Oranges JU _
per dozen................................................
Best quality Fanby Lemons _
per dozen...............................................
9 pound sack Yankee Rolled Oats
each..................................... ..........
Pettijolin's Breakfast Food m mm
per package................................................ § ^
25 bars Lighthouse Soap atmm
for................................................. $I.U C/
These Prices last until February 21st.
Power Morcnnlile Company
Fresh Fish From Salt Water
yi/E are receiving daily, besides oysters, clams,
" lobsters, etc., and all the delicious tidbits that
the epicure likes to tickle his palate with we are
preparing to his order whenever lie likes to drop
in for a meal to delight his dainty appetite. Ev
erything that is good and toothsome that our mar
kets can afford is served in an appetizing manner
at the SILVER MOON CAFE.
G. E. HIRSCIi & SON, Props.
Main Street Lewistown, Montana
Culver <Sr Culver
Photographers
Sel'l Kodaks, Amateur
Supplies, Etc.
Milliners
Up to Date Lme of Fash
ionable Wear
Fifth Avenue and Washington St n