Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1874-08-01

d uiSSidiStu SOlulef, thaJ one IL. u.
Strive, assumed to be the present See
rotary of this Territory in 1853 enlisted
in the army, in New York, for the
term of five years, and that in the fol-
lowing year. being then stationed at
Benicia, California, he deserted from
the service. Whether our honorable
Secretary is the person referred to, or
not, is a matter of no public conse
quence whatever, and we see no OBJ
ject in dragging it before the public,
but for the qualification of q very low
order of partisan malice. Admitting
Secretary Strive to be the dcserter al
luded to-, what of it? At the time of
his enlistment, over 81 years ago, he
might have been Is years of age; GER
tainly not over that age; he had but
recently arrived in the country I'M
acquainted alike with our military
system and civil customs, it is not
remarkable that he should have sought
military service under the Republican
idea that perfect equality was main
tanned i'll this country and that ability
and merit were the only tests for pro-
motion. Nor is it strange that a gem
tleman with al University education and
cultivated tastes should take the risks
of desertion as the only alternative to
the dogs life of Il common soldier in
barracks, reduced to the mental service
ola hospital attendant, especially in the
case of an un~naturalized foreigner join
ing the service under the inspiration of
military ambition and devotion to Re-
publican liberty. But that was over
twenty years ago, during all of which
time Mr.. Strive has maintained, in ev-
cry community in which he has lived,
the character of an honorable and
trustworthy citizen; has achieved dis
t~inction and competence in the prac-
tice of his profession; and has held sew
eral honorable public positions, the du-
ties of which he has discharged with
signal ability and acknowledged fidelity,
and few men command in a higher de-
gree the confidence and respect of their
fellows. Is not twenty years of Il use
full and irrcproachablo life sufficient to
atone for a single indiscretion of youth
and want of knowledge, punishable by
law but involving no malice OF wrong
to any human being, and actuated only
by the impulse for freedom which in
duces the slave to break the bonds by
which he is held under the law.-SeatHr
Dispatch.
We add our cordial endorsement to
the above, as a simple act of justice to
Mr.. Strive. The public will bear us
out in the assertion that, politically, his
course has been widely separated from
our own and our personal relations have
not always been the most a%micable, but
when an attempt is made to blast a rep
utation founded on many years of use
fulness a I'd Lonorahlceffort by the eta
ton of a single youthful indiscretion,
we trust that we shall never he found
so devoid Of the common impulses of
humanity as not to raise our voice
against such a manifest injustice. We
believe the charge to be inspired solely
by malice. and thisis the opinion Of the
whole community, except the few who
have been its instigators.
MAIL RouTEs.--The following addi-
tional mail routes have been established
in this Territory:
From st. Helen's ria Pekin, to East
Fork of Lewis River.
From Oakland to Lightsville.
From Elhi to Boise Creek.
From Montesano to Hempshill's Riv-
er.
From Saundersville, ria Newaukum
Prairie and Silver Creek, to klikitat
Prairie.
From Olympia, ria Mud Bay and Ka-
milchie, to Elma.
From Steilacoom to Forestville.
From Vancouver, rn Foulke Plain,
to Washougal.
From Spokane Falls to Glen Eden.
From Tacoma to Clark's Greek
Bridge.
MEAN.-The editor of the Statesman
abuses our friends and then cuts off III
exchange copy of his paper, so that his
SANDERS may gain currency unanswered.
The meanness of such q transaction is
too apparent to require comment.
SEA New York paper intimates
that MIR. Beecher's little irregularities
have had something to do with the ap-
pearance of the comet. That story may
do for the latitude of Brooklyn, but it
can't come ii over sensible people.
~ Is it not to be expected that many
of the worlds people, when they consider
the nice distinction drawn between pre-
cept and practice by the amorous Beech