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About The Montanian (Choteau, Mont.) 1890-1901 | View This Issue
The Montanian (Choteau, Mont.), 27 Nov. 1891, located at <http://montananewspapers.org/lccn/sn85053033/1891-11-27/ed-1/seq-2/>, image provided by MONTANA NEWSPAPERS, Montana Historical Society, Helena, Montana.
T H E M O N T A N I A N . PubK*h*d Ev*ry Friday Eyaning at Choteau, Choteau Co., Montana, rrac j r 1 ' - — - ■ ~ S. M. CORSON, Editor. TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. BY MAIL—POSTAGE PREPAID. One copy, one y e a r (Iu A d v a n c e ) ................... $ 3 00. Six Months. ...... ;; ................ iso- Three Mouth*... ................ * ***• Single Copies.... .............. Advertising Bate* on Application, 10 . FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1891. NEWSPAPER LAW. A poidmaater is required to give offioisl notice 'returning a paper Goes not satisfy the law) when a subscriber doos not take h i' paper from the office, and to ? tute the reason'* for its being taken, and a uofileot to do so n take» the pos>- maiitor responsible to the publisher for the payment. . . .. Any person who lakes a paper from the post* office, whether directed in hie uameor in that of another, or whe ther be haa eubecribed o r not, is responsible for the pay. If a person orders bis paper discontinued, he must pay «11 arrearages, or the publisher may continue to send it until payment is made, and collect the whole amount waethcr it be taken from the offico or not. There oun be no legal discontinuance until the payment is made. If the subscribe, orders nis paper to be stop* ped at a certain time, and the publisher con tinues io send it, the subscriber is bound to pay for it if he takes it out of the office- The law proceeds upon the ground that a man m u st pay for what ho uses. The courts have decided that refusing to take newspapers aud periodicals from the postoffice i.s prima facie evidence of intentional fraud. How many people are aware of the fact that just 102 years ago, Thursday, November 26,1789, the first Thanksgiving proclamation was issued by George Washing ton, then president of the United States. D espite Fort Benton’s retro gressions and the formation of Cascade county which embraced some of Choteau county’s most populous settlements, our popula tion has increased since 1880 55.01 per cent. Not a town or settlement outside of the county seat, but what has increased in wealth and population during the past ten years. This may not be to the advantage of Fort Benton, but it goes toward showing that Cho teau county has been wrested from the Indian and the influence of the old fur companies which so long dominated. Not only have the Indians become a very small factor in Choteau county, but the old trading posts are fast disap pearing and soon they will only live in the memory of our oldest, inhabitant aud the dark pages of history. S ecretary F oster has pledged the republican party to the free and unlimited coinage of the silver product of the United States just as soon as the par ity of silver with gold can be maintained in all the commercial countries doing business with the United States. To that end the government lias sent men to F a rope a nr! it is confidentially hoped that legislative agreement will be had this winter on the subject. In order to make silver good money there must be no \ variations in the values between it and gold. Their relative val ues must be fixed and it will take international legislation to fix them. This talk about coin ing silver the same as gold is all bosh so long as silver has no fixed value and every school boy knows it. T he census of 1890 shows some queer figures in regard to Choteau county. In 1880 Choteau county had a population of 3.058; Fort Benton, the couuty seat, then con tained 1,618 souls, leaving to the outside settlements 1,440, or less than one-half. In 1887 Cascade county was formed, taking by far the most densely populated dis trict there was in the county, and thus still further reducing the population outside of Benton. In 1890 the population of the county had increased to 4,741 despite the formation of Cascade, while Fort Benton had decreased to 624, or nearly 1,000 in the preceeding ten years. In 1880 Fort Benton con tained over one-half the popula tion of the entiie county, includ ing those i f the greater portion of what is now Cascade county. In 1890 what was left of Choteau county after the creation of Cas cade contained 6£ times the pop illation of Fort Benton, or 4.117 souls to 624 In 1980 Fort Benton was Choteau county, in 1890 she was less than one-sixth. What relation will she bear in 1892-3. W H A T W E SH O U L D DO TO B E SAVED. That there is no such thing as perfection in man or anything that man does, is an axiom. If there was, some few at least. would en joy perfect happiness and be at rest. There would be no further need of striving to attain anything more, nor efforts to maiaintan that which had already been secured. There would be no retrogression nor progress; nothing save perfect rest--the millenium. in fact. As we have not yet attained that consumation so devoutedly wished for there can be no such thing as remaing just where we are to-day. In this busy world of strife for supremacy we must either move on with the proces sion or get off the walk, ihere to wallow with the fellows in the mire, sinking deeper and deeper, and finally to disappear altogeth er. So it is with the individual; and so it is with towns and cities. In both a constant batile must be waged but, as in everything else, it should be remembered that no permanent good can come of forc ing another to the wall when that other has an equal right to enter into legitimate competition. The individual who lacks energy and spirit will always lack a com petency, and the collection of in dividuals who lack in enterprise and push will never build up a thriving city or town. Thrift, of necessity, pushes sloth aside and passes onward leaving the latter to sink out of sight in his own filth. So the spiritless man who owns property in a thrifty town must get down and out of the way of his more enterprising neighbor. Sometimes failure to seize old Father Time • by the forelock in matters of this kind comes from a sense of security in the good things of this world rather than from a lack of spirit—from a nearer ap proach lo that perfection which is rest from toil and strife than from want of ability to get up and hus tie. Such, we take it, is the. con dition of the people of this town. Nature has done much for our town and country and the people of Choteau have never felt them selves called upon to make any united effort to secure additional advantages for either themselves, their country or their town. They were doing well enough and so were content to let Nature take her course. But things are about to change. Nature has done as much for other spots in Western Choteau county as she has for the town of Choteau. Other people than ours are coming in among us and are about to put their shoul ders to the wheel along with Na ture. The question then is: Shall we, the citizens of Choteau, sit idly by, depending upon Nature alone to keep us in our position, or shall we join the procession? Shall we by our own inactivity lose what we have here and thus go backward and downward, or shall we bestir ourselves and move onward and upward? These are important questions and ones that brook no delay. They must be decided at once, whether for weal or woe.Oertainly none will de ny that we have need of something to keep us in the progressive swim which has overtaken the country, and that so far we are not in it to any great extent. That beiug the case **What shall we do to be saved” from the under tow which will eventually carry us out to sea, a sea sick and drowning landlubber? is the ab sorbing question. In casting about for means wherewith to help ourselves Irom the impending doom we can plainly see that we have no lack of material resources. It is the demand for this material that we lack, though in somethings there is a crying demand for the product of our soil for home consumption. This is especially true of flour. It has been estimated that Choteau county, west of the principal me ridian, consumes annually 2,000,- 000 pounds of flour, costing con sumers from three and a half to four cents per pound, or in round numbers from $7’»,000 to $80,000 lier year for breadstuffs. This is a big drain on a purely agricultu ral and pastoral country and we firmly believe that none other could stand the strain that ours does in the matter of flour and pork. While it has been -atisfac- torFy demonstrated that wheat, barley and oats can be grown here, we import all our flour and bacon. Is this as it should be? We can raise more and as good wheat to the acre here than can be raised in Minnesota or Dakota, yet not a pound of flour is produ ced here. Our soil excells iu the production of barley and oats— good feed for bogs, yet every pound of our bacon and lard is imported. These things „militate against us. In these industries we have a chance to do something for ourselves and if we would suc ceed we must seize them. It we do not, others will and then good bye to Choteau. Now, for actual work in the premises. To get any good from these lessons something must be done, and the sooner the better. A move should be made at once toward securing a flouring mill at this place. But a flouring mill will not be built so long as our farmers do not raise wheat, that’s a sure thing. Well, that is true enough, but if our tarmers will guarantee to seed from 2,500 to 3,000 acres of land to wheat eailv next spring, a good roller mill can be secured for Choteau. Let the farmers, each one, give a bond to seed what acreage they can con veniently. Then let the miller give bond to pay the market price for the wheat or lo grind it for tol[ as may be agreed upon. By this means each one is bound to do the proper thing by the other. Oho teau saves to her people irom $70,- 000 to $80,000 and creates a new in dustry for town and county besides, keeping in the procession. There are other things which can and should bo done to advance the interests of Choteau and surround ing country, but in this we have one that requires no investment of capital by our people yet insures the largest returns. Shall we join nands and go in? A s ti» a F l o u r i n g m ill. [Great Falls Industrial.] We see that Choteau is red hot after a flouring mill, and it seems that there is some pros pect of an institution of that kind being erected in that sec tion of the country. There is no doubt as to the paying qualities ef a flouring mill in that section, as it is one of the best wheat growing sections in the state. The people of that part of the state would save much money by sub scribing towards a project of that kind, and the fact of the location of such an establishment would give the wheat raising industry a stim ulus which would doubtless put many thousand acres of land un der cultivation. The people of Choteau are nothing, if not ener getic and enterprising, and if it is losrible to build a flouring mill in he above town they will certainly lave it. F u s* A L E . Good claim on the Dry Fork. 100 tons of hay in stack, ami about 100 lead of stock cattle. Good sheds, cor- ralls and plenty of water. Good dwel- in g boue. Also farm machinery and teams. To be sold cheap for cash. En quire a t this office. Oct23tf M lLUtiL C 0W - F O B »A L U ! Will also buy or sell beef or stock cattle, or will handle cattle on commis sion. Address, W. R. RALSTON, Nor27tf Choteau, Mont.
