Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1897-06-04
Wa5hin9ton Standard
O:HMs'Ii. WASH.
FRIDAY EVENING, JUNE /. 1897.
Just Suppose for a Moment.

SupI."-c William Jennings Bryan
had lrrn elected President "i the
United States; suppose that trade con-
diti"u> following his election had been
exactly II they m" reported from day
t. day 10y Dunn and Br:nl~trcr,: sup
lr,>c the same bank failures had oc-
CURED in Chicago, It. Paul and else
where a are now occurring every day;
suppose wages had been reduced on
the same number OF railroad systems
suppose the cut in wages had occurred
in Lynn and other manufacturing CEN
tiers; suppose everything had happened
exactly as it has since McKinley's
election, would not these unhappy
events hc attributed to Hryan's cleo
ton? Would not Il grand howl and
strntorious az We told you so" he going
up all over the country? Would not
the country he convinced that it had
made mistake in choosing the Dem
ocratic candidate?
The only answer We can find to the
above queries, which are floating on
the sea of current comment, almost
rcconcilcs the most devout Democrat
to the defeat last November; for the
conditions were then abnormal and
the main issue untried by the pro-
longed practical test of recommendation,
which will in the end leave no doubt
of the cause of depression in business
and disaster to labor which has
brought the industrial masses to the
verge of ruin. Three years more, al
though it may litter the road with the
mangled corses of devotees who have
been crushed by the wheels of jugger-
naut, will certainly open up the way
to salvation by calling into play the
higher instinct Of self-preservation.
In 1900 the people will be prepared to
stand by the Chicago platform and
William J. Bryan, or any other Moses
who uses that pillar of cloud and fire
to lead them from the wilderness.
The grasping disposition of the
moneyed power, as has been exempli-
fled in the venality of legislatures and
the subserviency of courts, to say
nothing of the selfshness and unrelia-
bility of executives, will inevitably pro-
duce feeling that will sweep all such
hindrances to the free expression of
the popular will like cobwebs from the
dark corners of our governmental fab
ric. There will be no such word as
fail when the masses are thoroughly
aroused. 1t will indeed be the voice
of the Most High speaking through
his chosen people, and the conditions
presented will be as the wind to the
shorn lamb, altogether practical and
easy of control.
How long could the moneyed power
stand, unsupported by the muscle and
Drawn? The people always have had
the control of government in their
own hands in theory, and have only
failed to use it from an imperfect I'M
derstanding of the causes of disaster,
by divided cOunsels, and an acceptance
of what they have regarded as choice
of evils, when threats of retaliation by
use of the whip. which capital holds
have been so freely made on the eve of
election. When it is shown that the
promises of prosperity which the gold
power professed to have within its
keeping were only intended to deceive,
and that labor was thereby led to inn
molate itself as q sacrifice to the golden
god, then reason will bind the warning
hosts in bands of steel to meet COM
mon foe.
When it is clearly shown that the
election of any man will bring pros
perity, by establishing conditions that
will render its return possible, there
will be no division among those who
have the veal of the country and all
her people at heart.
Effect will follow cause as certainly
as matter obeys the laws of gravita.
ton. Results will follow conditions
just as surely as a procession of the
equinoxes changes the storms of win
ter into the balmy sunshine ofsummer.
All that is needed is that the people
be thoroughly aroused to the necessity
for united action. Sometimes it re-
quires heroic remedy to eradicate
a deeply-seated disease. 1t may kill
or cure, but the prospect of deliverance
jutifes the risk. That is about the
condition of our suffering country to-
day, and if we must pass through the
dread ordeal, it is perhaps as we'll that
the patient be prepared for trial of
the alternative.
10. o. F.-The Nineteenth Annual
session of the Grand Lodge I. o. o. F.
was held in Seattle, this week. The
following officers were elected for the
ensuing year: Wallace Mount, of
Spokane, G. NJ; w. U. Ward, of Sno-
homish, D. G. NJ; J. H. Davis, of Ia
coma, G. W.; Jerry Fortain, of Sc
attic (re-elected) G. Sec, and Geo. w.
Hall. of Seattle (re-electedl G. Treas.