The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-11-27
SENATOR HoAR,s ATTITUDE.

The New York Sun of Sunday says
editorially:
The Hon. George Frisbie Hoar is man
of great intellectual possessions and pre-
possessions and of temperament essen
TALLY poetical. Occasionally his rhetoric is
not approved by his votes. Sometimes he
is holder in peroration than in action.
This is characteristic of fluid characters
So is a periodical obstinacy more often the
mark of inirmity than of firmness of pur-
pose. Undoubtedly. Mr.. Hoar believes
himself to be like Teneriffe or Atlas I'M
removed. but at times he wabbles.
He wabbles, as the New England eX-
pansionists are showing with ungodly
glee. Dec 81, 1895, Mr.. Hoar went to Ply
mouth Rock and Puddle Dock and deliv-
cred an grafton in honor of the two hum
bred and seventy-fifth anniversary of the
landing of the Pilgrims. Mr.. Webster and
many other famous orators have been
heard in Plymouth Mr.. Hoar spoke in a
manner worthy of the place and of his
predecessors at it's festivals. Near the
end of his speech he described the western
march of empire, and foretold the day
when that empire would stretch across
the Pacific:
1.-The sons of the Pilgrim have crossed
the Mississippi and possess the shores of
the Pacific. The tree our fathers set COW
cred at first little space by the seaside.
1t has planted its banyan branches in the
ground. 1t has spread along the lakes.
1t has girdled the gulf. 1t has SPAWNED
the Mississippi. 1t has covered the prai-
RE and the plain. The sweep of its lofty
arches rises over the Rocky mountains
and the Cascades and the Nevadas. Its
hardy growth shelters the frozen region
of the northwest. Its boughs hang over
the Pacific, and In time-in good time-it
will send its roots beneath the waves and
receive under its vast canopy the islands
of the sea-
The good time came a good deal sooner
than Mr.. Hoar expected when the pro-
phetic afflatus descended upon him in Ply
seer. Only in fear and trembling did he
vote for the annexation of Hawaii. When
the Pilgrim tree sent its roots under the
waves to the Philippines he wrung his
hands at the vast canopy. He warned
away the islands of the sea. He protest
ed that the retention of the Philippines
would be the beginning of the end of the
republic.
He is still in the gall of bitterness and
the bond of iniquity, but we have hopes
of his repentance. A fine old gentleman
who is sure that his country is going to
be ruined if it doesn't follow his advice,
doesn't go to Europe and divert himself
as the Worcester senator did last sum-
mer. Moreover, while he may not believe
in expansion at present, he does thor
oughly believe in all his speeches Now
that his memory has been refreshed and
he recalls the far-sighted words he spoke
at Plymouth, he should cease to kick
gracefully receive the prophets mantle
The republican party is an eXpansionist
party. Mr.. Hoar conceives himself to be
a republican of republicans. His political
instincts are gregarious. He has no bent
for isolation. We hope to see the senator
shaking hands cordially with the prophet
Those who know Senator Hoar best
do not consider him vacillating man
| Since taking his firm position as an
opponent of expansion he has set him
self against the rank and file of that
party with which he has had a lifelong
connection and has not yielded hairs
breadth in spite of the strong tempta-
ton to do so. AS the Sun points out
Senator Hoar voted for annexation of
Hawaii He will doubtless vote for the
| ratification of the treaty with Ger
| many and England by which Tutuila
will come into the nations possession
1t is not so much that Senator Hoa1
is averse to the growth of the Pacific
"banyan tree" He opposes the extern
sion of American sovereignty to the
Philippines because the act will in
volve war of which he conscientious
ly disapproves. For this conscientious
opposition The Spy and many other re-
publican organs honor him, even
though they may not share his views.