Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1874-10-31
A CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY.

A CASE OF MISTAKEN. IDENTITY.
Our imported neighbor of the Courier
reads us homily on party fealty, which,
emanating rs it does from a political
turn-coat, who has no better object to
serve in the present campaign than to
earn few dollars from the oficehold-
ere corruption fund, may fairly DO re-
garded as the acme Of presumption. He
evidently regards advice as one Of the
things which it is "better to give than
to receive" and is lavish of his suggest
ion as to how the Democratic party may
be run according to "usage." While
we do not propose to consult the wishes
of our political opponents on these
points, we are willing to discuss the
subject, if for no other purpose than to
show our friend precisely where the
party he champions stands in regard to
similar matters of party discipline.
Freely we admit that usage in the
Democratic ranks is not what it was
when that party wasin power, and could
maintain its discipline by the means in
which our opponents SO soon became
adopts. 1t has been long "out in the
cold" long enough to satisfy any rea-
sonable being that its supporters are
controlled by a conscientious sense of
duty. That duty, just now, appears to
be to hurl from power the corrupt men
who have controlled the destinies of the
nation. To do this without the aid of
corruption funds" and the appliances
possessed by those inside the ring, re-
quires union of oil honest men, with
out strict regard to previous party af-
filiations, united for this great common
object. Precisely as the patriots shoul-
dered their guns to save the Govern
ment from destruction, good men now
buckle on the armor, to wrest it from
vandal hands. Now, as then, we can
not afford to dispute about triAes, or to
waste our strength in a senseless wran-
gle over old issues, while the new are
ever present and awaiting decisive &C.
ton. MIR. Sharpstein was nominated
by the Vancouver Convention with the
full knowledge that he had declared
himself an Independent, but it was we'll
understood that that action in no wise
lessened his hostility towards the adher-
ents of the Administration or the vile
doses they were forcing down the
thloats of the people. The Convention
having accepted him, our duty was
plain, and the rank and file of the party,
We rejoice to know, are far more devoted
to principle than party names or party
usage. Democrats. by long continued
association, by keeping their cherished
creed constantly in view, by even the
lessons of defeat, have learned to be far
more philosophical than their lavish and
extravagant opponents.
But let us see how the structures of
the Courier apply to its own party. It
justifies boiling by practice as we'll rs by
precept. It placed on its county ticket
two Of the arch-traitors to its organiza-
ton as prerequisite for a union of the
diverse elements which its miserable and
short-sighted policy, together with the
corrupt influences which pervaded its
very being, had brought into existence
and threatened its life. It virtually ad-
,nitted, by the act, that its destiny was
pinned to the seat of the breeches of
two renegade aspirants, of mediocre
ability, for . couple Of small county Of
ces. It accepted the situation, and
humbled itself into the dust that these
little-big men might raise them up.
Has tho Democratic party, while hold
ing the reins Of power manifested such
utter imbecility? Can the writer of the
Courier article, who has had so much
experience in political matters, cite a
parallel instance outside of the present
Administration party? Is it not truly
humiliating that the party representing
the nation should bow down and lick
the dust from the feet of such men as
Messrs. Phillips and Billings?
Don't talk, Mr.. Courier, of abandon
ment Of party. Don't attempt to expose
what may seem incongruous to you,
while you have q grinning skeleton in
your own closet.
A STEP IN THE RIGHT D1REcT1oN.-We
observe that the Independent Conven-
tion. recently held at Vancouver