Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1896-03-27
LOOK TO THE SENATEl

nlshed to subScrlDers AT 81 Auulcss NcSlstCl
Office, Middlebury, VT:
During the latter days of the Wing party a
iavorite cry OF Horace Greedy used to be
Look to the Senate" So say we today.
Then, as now, it was the palladium of liberty
in our national legislation. 1t was the bull
wark of defense against political abuses and
wrongs 1t was the breakwater that held
back the tides of injustice and iniquity. Tho
denunciations that are rained upon the heads
of the silver members of the United States
senate are the best certificate of the protund-
ity of their convictions and their courageous
determination to maintain them to the end.
A press in bondage taunts them with the fact
that their work will come to nothing, because
of a hostile house of representatives and an
immovably stubborn President, as if they were
to desert their post of duty when present sue
cess is out of the question for them. The
new rule in ethics is to read, then, that sincere
conviction is to be abandoned, and conscience
is to be ignored, and the supreme desire for
Justice and right is to 90 for nothing, and re-
sistance of even a mighty evil is not to be put
FORTH unless under a previous guarantee OF
success. Nothing parallels the holiness OF
such denunciation but its blind ignorance.
For their resolute and patriotic stand on be-
half of the great body Of the people OF the
country these senators are openly charged by
a subservient and hircling press with conceiy-
inc all sorts of evil designs and cherishing all
shades of selfish motives Accusations OF
treason. epihets that only outcasts could de-
serve. ridicule that is riotous in its malicious
impatience. all known and conceivable phrases
of scornful contempt. the fierce howls and
hootings of baflled conspiracy, and every in
vented utterance Of hatred and malice. are
poured out in steady shower from these
newspaper walls Of wrath upon the devoted
heads of the men in the senate who are So
fortunate as To- constitute it, patriotic majority
ON the question Of the free coinage of silver
and the rescue from the ,cr,itude OF universal
poverty. But for the Spartan bravery of these
unAincbinr senators. il is no eNaggcratun to
saw that the real cause of the country would
be lost cause and all would soon he over.
The immortal three hundred who held the
pass at Thermopvlu displayed courage in no
greater measure than does thi, small body Of
senator's in resisting the inhuman plans laid
by the organized greed and heartleNsness OF
the civilized world. Well may the cry re-
sound throughout the land-"look to the
Senate in this time OF peril Tor the
common hope. We are to-day, all of us, in
the very thick OF danger We are confronted
by plutocracy that covets the absolute own
ership not only OF all we have but OF all we
are. We are beset on all sides by the two
great political parties that appeal for our
votes only to betray us. The public press adj
dresses us but to ridcule and taunt and abuse.
Not voice can we utter from any side that
will command the attention of ravenous
power clothed with authority. But one re-
source remains for an impoverished, bewilder-
ed, and baiiled people in this time OF their
unreleved apprehension and dismay, and that
is the senate 1t seems like special dispen-
saton of Divine Providence that this bare
handful of devoted men should have been
saved out Of the corupting mass of the politi-
cal elements as the nobly brave remnant on
whose steadfast action the life itself OF the
country hangs in fateful suspense.
The vote on the free coinage substitute for
the bond bill constitutes the gage of battle
to the money power that seeks our servitude
as an entire people. a battle that is TO be
fought to final victory for one side or the
other. There can be no compromise with any
Of the forms Of robbery. Either the bandit or
the victim must 90 under. The organized
power we contend with is no less bandit and
robber because it fights subtv and silently, adj
vances upon us with the secret arts Of the