Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1890-10-03
A CALL TO DEMOCRATS.
The First Duty Of the Party is to Re-
sist the Encroachments Of Federal
Power.

The Democracy advances to fight
anew the battle against centralism and
corruption to which it was first led by
Thomas Jefferson in the nation and by
George Clinton iii the State of New
York.
The equilibrium of our whole politi-
cal system is in danger OF being over
thrown and despotic and corrupt
centralism established. The whole
value of the arrangement by which our
world is kept in its place in the solar
systeinis the balance between the on.
posing forces. 1t would matter little
to us which one of these forces should
be allowed to prevail. If the centrif-
ugal tendency should dominate our
planet would shoot madly into
the realms. of endless space, far
away from the sources of heat and
Lille, until every living thing upon its
surface would perish. If the centrip-
etal tendency should prevail, the earth
would rush with inconceivable velocity
toward the sun, until it would be en-
quilted i'll the burning mass. So it is
with the adjustment of powers between
the State and Federal Government :;
dlsunion and Capitalization are equally
fatal TO good government. Disunion
would generate the centralism of mill
tary despotism in the separate States ;
centralism attempted ON areas and
populations so vast would break the
parts asunder, and fill our continent
as it has filled every other, with rival
nations.
Our wise ancestors devised the only
system possible to avoid these opposite
evils. They formed a Federal Govern
ment to manage our foreign relations,
to maintain peace and unity between
the States, and to administer a few ex-
ceptional functions of common in
terest; and they left the great residuary
mass of governmental powers to the
States.
The creed OF the Democratic party
is comprised in two ideas: First, to
limit as much as possible all govern
mental power, enlarging always and
everywhere the domain of individual
judgment and action secondly to throw
back the governmental powers neces-
sary to be exercised as much as possible
upon the States and the localities, ap-
preaching in every case the individuals
to be affected.
These ideas dominate over the Dem.
ocratic party, and find in it their best
representatives. The opposite ideas,
to meddle with everything properly
belonging to the individual, and to CEN
tralize all governmental powers, ex-
press the tendencies OF the Republican
party.
Under this inspiration the Federal
Government is rapidly seizing upon all
the powers of human society. It has
assumed to regulate the suffrage, and
threatens to take the control of all
elections.
L oppose centralism because it is in
compatible with civil liberty.
Ioppose centralism because it creates
an irresponsible power, and an irrespon-
sible power is always corrupt. A gov
ernment ruling all the affairs of indi-
viduals and localities, from the At
lantic to the Pacific, from the great
lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, would be
the most incompetent for what it
would undertake, the most oppressive,
the most irresponsible, and the most
corrupt government of which history
affords an example.-Samuel Iilden.