Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1874-05-16
Mashinatoa STANDARD.
Odf Agsnts.
OLYMPIA. SATURDAY IoRyISC. xAY Ie, 1874.
WHO ARE THE PHILANTHRoPIsTs9


We have our own opinion on the sub
ject, but it may not he that Of others.
Come, let US reason together. We will
take facts, those solid, finty powders,
30 safe and convenient for founda-
ton, and rear from them structure sup
ported by the strong pillars Of Truth
and Justice. We will look at the sub
ject from . practical point of view, re-
jecting theories that have but little to
commend them except gilt-edged piety
or pharisaical cant. Who, then, shall
We select from the varied professions
and trades, the business vocations of
life, Is the representative individual who
conduces in the highest degree to the
advancement of the community in which
he moves. Is it the lawyer? He will
take fee on either side of any question,
and make as strong plea if his client
is wrong as in the right. Is it the doc
tor? He doses you, and kill or cure,
charges it in his bill. Is it the preach
er? He is so intent on issuing poll
cies against fire in the world to come,
that he appears oblivious of danger in
the present. Is it the capitalist, who
invests his money to secure cent. per
cent. returns, although he grinds the
noses of the poor to make the largest
possible yield? Is it the Spectator,
who leaves you to fight your own bat
ties soon as cloud dims the prospects
of your favored enterprises? Is it the
tradesman, who keeps his ledger bal
anced to dime, and exacts the last far
thing from hard-pressed creditors? Is
it the humble mechanic, who earns O
pittance from his daily labor barely suf-
6cient to pay his debts and keep the
wolf from his door?
1t is plain that we must look farther
than this, to find the individual who, in
his everyday walk through life, fills the
true measure of public benefactor. Who
is it that when panics ensue, when alarm
fills the popular mind, is leaned upon as
the rod of Aaron? Who leads the for
lorn hope and surmounts difficulties for
which the public thank but themselves,
ignoring his humble instrumentality,
soon as the danger is past? Who but
the publisher of the called country"
newspaper, can claim these laurels,
which wither soon as won? He sits
in his dingy Office, amid the implements
of his trade, shut out from the pure dir
of heaven, engaged in his overcoming,
never-ending task Of dishing up intel
lectual hash for the insatiate nav of an
exacting public. Days, months and
years pass numbered, and his respite or
vacation comes not. If day, or sin
gle hour, is lost, it must be made up by
crowding into the remainder of the week
the few moments that were permitted to
glide past without the usual accompani-
ment of labor. The click of the type has
become so familiar to his ear that when
it ceases his nerves are unstrung by the
unaccustomed solitude, and he is beset
by vague apprehensions of losing step
on the remorseless treadmill to which
he is chained.
His duties are legion. Like the
knights in the days of chivalry, he must
be on the alert to champion every cause
founded on right, or affecting the inter-
ests Of the people he represents. He is
expected to measure lances with every
buffoon who enters the lists, although it
may serve no better purpose than to
afford q gladiatorial display for the di-
version Of his readers. He is required
to carry any load that party conventions
place upon his shoulders, and to bolster
up the waning fortunes of broken-down
politicians. He must freely advertise
church fairs, charity concerts, society
conventions and kindred humbugs, with
out even the poor satisfaction of know
ing that his labors are appreciated. He
must note the erection of every wood
shed or pig-sty, or he is devoid of enter
prise and perhaps lazy. He must puff
everybody and everything, or suffer the
imputation of meanness, especially from
those who never patronise him to the
value Of farthing, but sponge all favors
and like Oliver Twist continually hold
out their spoons for more.
The idea generally entertained by the
public of journalism, is quite as erroni-
GUS as that formed by the novice of the
fairy-land behind the footlights. The
privileges enjoyed by the press are re-