New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-09-15
THE NEW STATES
XXXVI.
THE FAR NORTHWEST.
DEMOCRACY DOOMED IN WASHINGTON.

rrRox AslafFcoREEsPoNDKNT or THE TRlBUNR,}
co,vricAt; 1859. By,hs Hev- York Tribune.
Olympia, w. T., September o.
A. IN the Dakotas as in Montana so in the new
CO. ~ Washington, the Democracy enters into
~. contest for State supremacy with discredit-
III vast and hopeless future Eastern people
- of,en heard 70 wonder why il is so nearly
.u,noss;ble for the Democracy TO obtain foot
IA in the Western States. The reason lies IN
.hs inherent character of the party not less than
IN the specifc acts of kind offensive to the West
Al which it has been guilty. Its general tone and
character have rendered it Objectionable 10 peo-
nile upon whom the burden has fallen of creating
great things out Of little or nothing If there is
any one policy more thoroughly Democratic than
another, il is the policy OF demanding that every
one shall take care of himself. This policy lay,
take it, at the bottom of the party's early States
rights theories 1t certainly lies at the bottom of
those Congressional policies by which it always
seeks TO prevent Federal legislation intended TO
build up and assist new and struggling sections
Of the country The DalSotaS, Montana and
Washington are all of them going to come into
the Union as Republican States They will elect
Republican Congressman and Republican Legis-
latures, which will in turn elect Republican
United States Senator'S The only one Of these
States in which the Democracy hopes to make any
thing like a substantial fight is Montana, and
their strength there is simply the tail-end OF an
old-time Democratic party built up in the early
days OF the Territory when il was settled by Mis-
sourians. As I explained some time ago, its
strength in Montana has diminished in regularly
Increasing ratio every year since the Northern
Pacific Railroad came into Montana, until to-day it
is the party Of the minority, though the margin
between the paPtieS is cOnrPdedly small
The people of the country ought TO understand
the philosophy of the Democracy'S failure in the
West, It's position here is the logical result of
substantial and easily recognized causes Let me
illustrate. few weeks ago a committee Of the
United States Senate composed of Senator Stewart,
OF Nevada Senator Plumb, of Kansas; and Sena-
tor Reagan, of Texas, came all through the arid
West and the Northern Pacific into this
State, clear through to the coast They were in
vestgatng subject concerning which / have
written you freely-that of National irrigation, the
construction through this entire arid belt of great
canals and reservoirs intended TO supply the farmer
hereafter to settle upon the millions Of acres Of
public land now lying idle and tenantless, from
which the Government now derives no revenue,
bat which are claimed by the Western people and
by Major Powell, Of the Geological Survey, to be
capable Of magnificent production, with the water
necessary to make the crops grow. The Senate
instructed its committee 10 inquire into this mat
er and to see for itself what the possibilities
we're, whether or not the claims Of the people
we're true what the cost Of such great waterworlls
would probably be, and whether it would be the
part OF wisdom for the Federal Government TO in
terest itself in the matter. At various points
along the course taken by the committee the
Senators made addresses 10 the people, and in every
one OF these addresses Ma Reagan took occasion
proper for the general Government TO 90 into adj
ventures Of this kind that they were in their nj
ture affairs Of the State, and that each State
ought 70 provide for its own interests. If there
typical Democrat he is Senator Reagan, |
and hJ words upon the subject of National iTiga-
ton furnish a clear explanation Of the reasons
Why the West distrusts the Democratic party.
The people here do not insist that the Government
shall undertake 10 irrigdte the arid belt. They
only ask that the subject shall be fairly and fully
considered But they know that the Democracy
,nters upon the consideration of it and Of all
Dther helpful policies with strong and inherent
prejudice against them. In % word, il is not "A
helpful party, and they, being a poor people en-
gagged in mighty struggle with a new country, 1
which, however full of magnificent opportunities, /.
however rich in raw materials, nevertheless re-
auires of them the most herculean labors for its T
help They know that the future will justify all !
their applications for help They know they can |
pay co. yes 500, per cent interest all the help
they get, but the time when they must be helped, |
if at all is to-day, and they know that the |
Democratic party stands between them and all .
helpful enterprises on the part Of the Government
That is the reason why they have no use for the
Democracy.
You have heard time and again that the people
of the West were opposed to a protective tariff.
Every election upon that issue has, Of course,
afforded clear demonstration to the contrary,
but nevertheless the Free-traders keep up the
cry that the West is farming country, that it
wants cheap goods, that it feels the protective
tariff to be merely an Eastern conspiracy by which
the manufacturers Of New-England and the Mid
de States enriched at the expense Of the con-
suming Western country. This story you will
find in almost every issue of almost every free
.rade journal in America. There never was a
iaiser claim. If the Mills bill and the Senate
substitute bill that before the last Congress,
Il they and they only were before the people of
the West as alternatives, an election upon them
would be carried by the Senate substitute bill
fifty to one. No intelligent man come out
here and study this question and arrive at any
other conclusion. A Democratic delegate
has represen ted this Territory in the
Congress at Washington for two full terms
and until the election of 1883. lie was elected
in each instance upon a proposition dealing with
the Northern Pacific Railroad The people of ,
Washington felt that they hal numerous griev- I
Ances against this corporation. l dare say they (
had 1t is magnificent corporation 1t runs I
wonderful railroad trains over a wonderful line :
At affords the Northwest a railroad service tnat =
iuliy dustifes the Of the word excellent BUT '
u Is oold-bloOded corporation. and il aims TO /
extract al the money it can from the people II I
h'ehds to realize from its land grant every penny
OIL the lnealenlable fortune there is in it, For 4
several years the railroad has been IN politics =