The islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1891-1899, 1897-01-21
Or is deprived of its just remunera.

You are here to make and amend tho
laws. The people look to you for re-
lief. They have elected you with the
hope and belief that You will be able
to remove some of the difficulties nm
der which they are laboring. This is.
well understood by all, and your pres
ence here is an implied acceptance of q
most important trust committed to your
charge.
Section of article 8 of our state
constitution provides that the governor
shall communicate at every session
by message to the legislature the con-
dltiOn of the affairs of the state and
recommend such measures as he shall
deem expedient for their action
In pursuance of the duty thus i'm
posed, | am led, first, earnestly to
warn you against the dangers of fac
tlonal controversy. When once this
has been aroused earnest endeavor and
high patriotic resolve perish in the
fierce heat engendered by the struggle
for place. That you are thus to be
tested is plain to ALL In addition to
the patent fact that differences of opin-
ion exist among you is the further and,
at this critical juncture, deplorable
fact, that an election is shortly to be
held here which shall place in the SEN
ate of the United States citizen of
this state for the ensuing six years.
For this coveted position each faction
has its candidate or candidates, for
whose success some of the factions may
be ready to imperil the future existence
of the political compact by means of
which their election was secured, and
which, if rightly guided and honestly
managed, will finally and securely
lodge in the hands of the great, plain
people of this state those rights, pow
ers and privileges with which as
American citizens they are inalienably
endowed. If, by mischance, disruption
and disintegration of hitherto allied
forces shall at this time ensue and the
ardent hope which has arisen in the
hearts of earnest men that there had
been formed an organization devoted
solely to the advancement of pure poll
tics and just rules of political action,
only to be destroyed by the strife of
politicians eager for preferment-if
this shall be the result, do not hest
tate here and now to place the blame
for the vile surrender of a great trust
upon the heads of ofice-seekers and
their friends. If the hope of the peo-
pie is thus to perish, greed for Office
will end it and the quarrels of faction
lists, each more eager for spoil than for
the success of great cause, will prove
the men before me unfit for the grave
and weighty responsibilities of free
government.
APPEAL TO PATRIOTISM.
Men of Washington, adjure you by
the love you bear the sacred cause of
human liberty, let not these dismal
forebodings become the true history of
wretched past. Repel them; repel
any insinuation upon your honor as
men and your fidelity to the cause of
humanity. That temptation will arise,
must indeed come from the rivalries of
candidates, is clear to all. We are
here not as the agents of this or that
man or this or that political faction,
but rather as the representatives of a
people united in their demand for relief
and earnestly DESTROYS of obtaining it
in the only way it can be obtained, by
consistent, unselfish and harmonious
political action He who prevents
this is stumbling block in the path
way of reform.
These are the conditions: The great
plain people, the average business man,
the farmer, the mechanic and the pro-
fessional man, are to unite against the
organized aggression of the privileged
few, or they are to become the helpless
servants of poorly concealed plutoc-
racy. Men of varied interests and Of
no interest are to stand together, or,
divided, they are to fall prey to the
oncoming forces of despotism. If they
are to stand together they must agree,
and they can only agree by means of
mutual concessions and Cancellation.
The future is in your hands; you can
make it what you will. But if you fail
to agree, if by lack of agreement you
render the success of the peoples cause
impossible, do not forget that men of
this state will call you to account as
unworthy and incapable servants and
deprive you of future stewardship.
A vast opportunity is before us. We
are to prove ourselves worthy the trust
imposed upon us; we are to show our
ability to construct new policies as we'll
as destroy the old.
THE RULING POWER.
It should and must be remembered
that law, to be respected and obeyed,
must follow and not precede public
opinion. In fact, just law is first the
product of that instructive apprehension
of Justice which finds universal lOdg-
ment in the heart of man. It must
primarily exist in the heart; after
ward, its being placed upon the statute
is the mere formal ratification of what
had previously existed. Lacking this
essential requisite, enactments of the
legislative authority will prove but
temporary expedients. Public opinion
in all civilized countries is the power
Behind the throne, greater than the
throne itself. And public opinion is
the product of that general concensus
of prevailing thought which must
come, and does come, not from the
| minds even of the educated and we'll
informed, but rather from the general
average Judgment Of society, emhrac-
| ing all classes and conditions OF men;
and because of the fact that In this