The islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1891-1899, 1896-07-09
THE VAIL OF MIR. GOULD.

Upon what meat doth this, our Caesar,
feed that he has grown so great?'
The communications of Mr.. J. A.
Gould and Mr.. G.. L. Carter, published
in THE ISLANDER last week, in reply
to our moderate and courteous criti-
cism the previous week of the petition
feature of the Blair-Thacker legislative
contest, were obviously of such
character as to call for somewhat ex-
plicit expression of our opinion i'll this
issue. The communication of Mr.. Car
ter is temperate in its tone and requires
little space for reply. 1t is true that
when the petition in the interest of Mr..
Blair was presented to the business
manager of this paper in his office he
said that he would heartily support him
in the event ofhis nomination, but Mr..
Carter is mistaken if he understood the
the manager to even negatively counte-
nance the circulation of the petition.
AS to his reference to alleged insults
offered Us by supporters of "the other
side of this controversy" we might be
able to make more intelligent comment
if he had been more explicit in his al
lusions. 1t signifies little, however,
whether or not these illusions have
any foundation in fact, for the subject
is foreign to this controversy in any
event Our term of service in the news
paper business has been sufficiently
long and varied to have taught us bet
ter sense than to seriously resent every
little criticism or angry comment,
whether or not it was "wilIfully,
knowingly and purposely" intended
as an 'insult."
Now as to Mr.. Gould and his mani
festo We much regret that his lengthy
communication so far exceeded the
bounds of ordinary courtesy and COM
mon fairness as to give him no just
claim to courteous reply, but for all
that we shall endeavor to treat him
with rather more consideration than
the insolence and arrogance of his let
ter merit.
After quoting what he seems to re-
gard as the most Objectionable portion
of the editorial in question, in which
the Blair petition was criticized as
''impolitic, unwise and unfair" the
two candidates having amicabIy agreed
merely to announce their candidacy
in this paper and await the action of
the convention, Mr. Gould says: GAS
you were aware that the writer was one
OF Mr.. Blair's friends who originated
this petition it would have been more
honorable and less cowardiy to have
mentioned my name" We did not
regard the publication of any names in
that connection as at all necessary, and
as a matter of fact we had no idea that
the chairman of the county central
committee would be so proud of his
connection with the matter as to be
DESTROYS of advertising to the Republi-
cans of the county his fragrant disre-
gard of official propriety. We are per-
fectly willing to leave our readers to
judge as to the merits of his charge of
cowardice. We fear neither man nor
the devil in any controversy involving
any question ofjustice to any citizen,
without regard to race, color, nation
ality, religion or politics. Mr.. Gould
knows we'll enough that we have made
no attack upon the right of petition,
which is one one of the most frequent
ly abused of the many great privileges
of American citizenship, and he knows
also that there are no proper points of
comparison between the Blair petition
and the McGraw and Albertson Seat
tie petitions to which he refers. Gov
ernor McGraw and Senator Squire, it
is safe to say, have not entered into an
express agreement to leave their can
didacy to the legislature without TAX
ing any advantage of each other by
seeking to obtain the endorsement of
their home county. IF they had there
would be some similarity in the two
cases, and both petitions, instead OF
one, would be ''impolitic, unwise and
affair." for two wrongs do not make
right.
Personally we are not one whit more
friendly to Mr.. Thaeker than we are
to Dir. Blair, and they know it. They
started in to make an honorable con.
test for an honorable Office aud all
would have been peace and good will
between them if their friends had let
them alone. The petition which we