Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1869-05-01
Who Is the Carpet-Bagger

the one to designate our candidate. The
term carpet.baggcr, as all know, was in
vented to describe a class Of persons which
had sprung up as one Of the thousand Of
dcmoralizing results Of the late war. The
term was first applied to persons living in
the North. who having successfully avoid
ell all personal risk during the late national
struggle. rushed into the Southern States
as soon as. the danger was over. carpct-bag
in hand. to appropriate the spoils of a vie
tory purchased with the blood Of other
men. In this sense, sclfshncss, ingrati-
tudc and personal cowardicc were the elc-
mcnts necessary to constitute the character
The term has since acquired a broader APP
plication. and may be used to describe all
Of those patriots who desire to represent an
un~iN;ng constituency in Congress or else
where. So far from the period Of resi-
dencc being an essential element in the
description Of a true c~arpct-bagscr. those
Northern men who swarmcd to the South
in search of Office after the close of the late
war. are justly regarded as disintcrcstcd
patriots when compared to those Southern
crS who seek the patronage and position of
the dominant party, as the price Of be-
~traying and despoiling their lifelong neigh
bors aud associates.
The true carpct.baggcr is II who is so
consumed with the desire for office that he
Dies not hesitate To sacrifice whatever stands
between himself and his ambition, from his
country and party to the last soldier OF the
late Union army. The first to abandon a
sinking cause. and the first to run from tho
presence Of danger, he is also the first to
return from his hiding.placc in the mo-
mcnt ofvictory and is the most obscquious
and loudcst to shout the triumph and
sound the glory Of those he denounced and
abandoned in the hour of need, and the
first to claim the spells he did not help to
win.
We advocate the election of t;ov. Moore
as the nominee of the Democratic party,
and, therefore. the representative Of those
principles upon which VIC believe the Gov.
crnmcnt should be administered, and VIC
would have preferred that the canvass might
have been confined to the discussion Of
those principles; but as II contemporary
seems to think that it, chief strength lies
in the special and superior merits of its
candidate. We do not feel at liberty to pass
the point in silence. Mr.. Garficllc's or
gan could not, in our judgment, have made
a more unfortunate application Of this very
expressive term. Let a candid public hear
the facts and he the judge: 1t is true that
Gov. Moore came to the Territory with q
Federal commission in his pocket; the
same is true of Mr.. Gar6cldc, as it istruc Of
many of our best citizens. 1t is also true
that after a residence Of less than two
years, Gov. Moore has been placed in nom.
%ination by the Democracy Of the Territory
for Delegate to Congress Mr.. Gar6cldc
was also the candidate Of the same party
for the same position, when he was nearly
if not quite as new in his residence as Gov.
Moore is at the present time. The partic-
ulars in which the parallel differ arc noto-
rious. Mr.. Garfcldc forced his own nom.
%ination in 1861. sacrificing his party to his
personal ambition; Gov. Moore, without
solicitation upon his part, has been selected
as the leader who is to insure us victory.
Who W nearest to q carpct-baggcr in
this? Gov. Moore it is true has changed
his party; the same is true Of Gar6eldc.
Both gentlemen were Democrats at the
commencement Of the rebellion in 1860,
Those dark days Of the Republic about
which Mr.. Garfeldc spouts so pathctically
80 feelingly and 80 c~loqucntly, were spent
by him upon a foreign soil in a community
not exactly wrapped up in the star span
gled banner, for the purpose, as he tear.
fully stated in his late Vancouver speech,
Of toiling for the money wherewith to pay
Judge Lancaster the 800 and interes,
which he borrowed to help him in the can.
vnss Of 1861, when he was running 70,
Delegate on the rebel side, a. Watson would
express it, and other debts. And when he
returned to the bosom Of his country al
last, he tarried not long among tho husks
and swine, but called at once to banquet
upon the fattcd calf: We are left to con.
lecture whether his penitence and prodigal
return were really brought on by patriotism
and a change Of heart towards his country
or by the cravings of hunger and worm.
upon an empty stomach. The remaining