Distinctly Montana Magazine

63 w w w. d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m After that, Clark's unscrupulous ambition definitely "so sweet- ened corruption that in Montana it no longer has an offensive smell." In those days, senators were chosen by the state legisla- ture. When a Senate seat opened in 1899, Clark's vote-buying was blatant. His son Charles al- legedly quipped, "We will either put the old man in the Senate or the poorhouse." When a witness came forward to testify that he was given a $30,000 payoff, evidence of bribery was dis- missed as "incon- clusive" by a Hel- ena-based grand jury of Clark sup- porters. Indeed, Twain rightly said, "No one has helped to send him to the Senate who did not know that his proper place was the peniten- tiary." When Clark traipsed into the U.S. Capitol in March 1899, Montana's other senator, Daly's ally Thomas Carter, convinced his colleagues to launch an investigation. In April 1900, the Sen- ate Committee on Privileges and Elections unanimously recom- mended that the Senate refuse to seat Clark. Clark resigned before he could be ousted, delivering a fiery, tear-filled speech painting himself a hero trying to save Montana from the clutches of Marcus Daly and Amalgamated. No doubt this self-serving diatribe fed Twain's remark that Clark was a "shame to the American nation." That fall, with Daly on his deathbed (he died November 12, 1900), Clark got enough supporters elected to the legislature to win his long-sought Senate seat. He served a single term before retiring in 1907. His shenanigans contributed significantly to the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment, allowing direct elec- tion of senators, ratified in 1913. Although Twain's motives remain speculative, when he scathed Clark, it was deserved. Perhaps he echoed the senti- ments of Rogers and Daly, but he did so in a uniquely delicious way that readers have marveled about for over a century. YELLOWSTONE TIPIS NOMINATE US WIN $1000 FOR YOUR CHANCE TO of B E S T M O N TA N A A S V O T E D B Y R E A D E R S O F 2023 W I N N E R ! (406) 224-8450 YellowstoneTipis.com 50 Jardine Road Gardiner, Montana W.A. Clark bribing the Montana Legislature was caricatured in Marcus Daly's Anaconda Standard, October 28, 1900. G A R D I N E R , M O N TA N A 4 0 6 - 8 4 8 - 7 7 7 7 w w w. y e l l o w s t o n e r a f t . c o m W e have been taking families and friends through the Yellowstone River's exhilarating whitewater rapids since 1978. We were the first raft company to take trips down this wild Montana river, and for over 40 years, we have been your first choice. CELEBRATING 45 YEARS! NOMINATE US WIN $1000 FOR YOUR CHANCE TO of B E S T M O N TA N A A S V O T E D B Y R E A D E R S O F 2023 W I N N E R !

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