Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1899-04-27

anu tHe cdIlLO1 at washington or when
threatening to dissolve the Union over
the admission of imperial Missouri in
to the fair and radiant sisterhood of
states. The reckless editors who make
the serious charge ought to be ashamed
Of themselves. Since the devil tempted
the Saviour no such nerve has been ex-
| hibited in this world as that of the Fa-
Der pushers who are now commencing
to the lips Of Massachusetts the bitter
| cup which she has so frequently, so
eourageously and so cheerfully COM
mended to the lips of others. would
suggest that they be arrested for violat-
ing the statute against cruelty to dumb
animals but for the fact that Massa-
chusetts is not dumb, whatever else she
may be. 1t may be that they could be
prosecuted under the statute against
sacrilege unless Pagan Bob Ingersoll
has had all statutes of that sort repeal
ed.
Base Insinnations.
Perhaps the statute prohibiting GRIM
inal libel would catch them, as that
statute is very broad in its provisions,
and surely it must be wicked libel
for anybody to insinuate that Massa-
chusetts is not the salt of the earth, a
light set upon hill, the chief among ten
thousand and altogether lovely, the ex-
emplar of every virtue, the repository Of
all that is good, the sehoolmistress to
instruct MS all in patriotism. art, sci
ence, diet and manners. the model which
we should all ardently admire and slay-
ishly initiate. But il the assaulters
upon the old Bay State should he prose
cuted under any statute several distin-
guished culprits would appear at the
bar, notable among them the editors of
the Brooklyn Eagle and the New York
Press, but, most notable of all, my friend
and esteemed contemporary, Hon. Be
riah Wilkins, proprietor and editor in
chief of the Washington Post.
In recent editorial, after comment
ing on ''the bad odor' in which fan
other regiment of Massachusetts sol
diers returned home, The Post says:
But who can wonder at such occurrences if
due account be made of the spirit that has so
frequently and so painfully been maintained
still grand in many chapters Of her history
since the short and splendidly successful war
of 1858 began According to the Boston Globe,
President McKinley's Philippine policy was
hissed and Aguinaldo's name, as well as his
manifestoes, was enthusiastically appiauded
at the fremont Temple meeting of the anti
expansionists one evening last week. A stream
does not rise higher than its source. When
reputable, influential citizens of Boston meet
in fremont Temple 10 hiss the president-for
that is what the incident amounted tots it
strange that Massachusetts soldiers disgrace
their uniform
In 1861, when President Lincoln issued the
first call for troops, the militia regiments of
Massachusetts, were ready for duty and were
hurried to Washington with marvellous dis
patch. In 1893, when the president called for
troops, Governor Wolcott objected to sending
the organized militia out of the state. But on
sober second thought the governor decided not
10 make record of palpabie disloyaity, and
the militia regiments after slow and tedious
wedding out of incapables were sent to the
government camps. The contest between John
A Andrew and Roger Woleott in these tests of
patriotism was wider than the gap between
1861 and 1895
But that bad break. mended as well as it
could be, did not end IL merely began the
consistent, persistent course which has griev-
cd the millions of Americans who love the Bay
State for the glorious deetls she wrought in es-
tablishing our independence, IN laying The
foundations and erecting the structure of the
republic and in defending the ind1ssolability
OF the union of states All through the war or
until after the Spanish squadron under Ger
vera had been destroyed Massachusetts was in
a panic that threatened complete collapse.
1t cost more to patrol her coast and man the
guns that guarded her harhors han it would
have cost the government if she had been per
mitted to keep her quota of troops at home on
condition that she would look out for herself.
And finally, when the fighting was over the
trouble broke out with intensified virulence.
1t has not been "a feast of reason and flow
Of soul, :" but a succession Of tornadoes, wild,
shrieking blasts, in which decent and manly
criticism has been almost entirely lacking.
This kissing of the president and glorifcation
of Aguinaldo, mingled with mutinous conduct
of soldiers, supplement in the most consistent
way record that did not need such re-en-
foreement to insure its eternal execration.
The Brooklyn Eagle snust have been think
ing of that meeting in %remont Temple when,
speaking of ''our friends the antiexpansion-
lists, " it said 'They have compared Aguinaldo
to Washington, and rather unfayorably to
Washington They have spoken of the Philip
pine Insurgents, who kill prisoners, maltreat
women and mutilate priests, Us worthy sue
cessors of the men of Lexington, Concord and
Est tn. Brute:
Now, The Post being an independent
paper and Br er Wilkins being an in
dependent editor, they may be permitted
to lambaste Republican Massachusetts,
for the general good and may consign
Ler to eternal execration" and no
man be authorized to say them nay, but
when Republican Massachusetts reads
the following excerpt from the New
York Press, thick and thin Republican
paper following the example of Julius
Caesar as he was making his exit from
this mundane sphere, she will wrap her
mantle about her and exclaim. 'sEt tn,
Brute'' which, being freely translated,
means, "Thou art brutei' The Press
says:
1t viii probably not greatly hurt President
Mckinley to have been hissed in the 'anti-im-
perialist' meeting in fremont Temple, Bos-
ton, the other night, nor will il greatly help
Aguinaldo To have been cheered We mas Inc
pretty sure tnat General Otis will not be con-
sidered 4ss brutal as Weyler' by the world at
large, though he Was by the fremont Tenn
plars. And we may be absolutely certain that
the coldness Of disapproval with which mem
tion of Admiral Dewey's name was received
will not communicate itself to the nation.
But, although these curious manifestations are
of no great concern to any one else. their effect
may be to the Boston sianti-imperialists, who
are in some sense the successors of the Boston
abolitionists.
If some wiseacre up in Republican
Massachusetts had inflicted the forego-
ing editorial castigations upon some
Democratic state down south or upon
some wild and woolly Populistic state
out west, where the people have little
enough sense as to kick and howl when
they are robbed, they would have been
taken and accepted as things happening
naturally in the course of human events,
but to have them written about Massa-
chusetts by ungodly editors outside of
New England is enough to cause all the
Goldfish consumers and bean eaters from
Passamaquoddy bay TO the town of
Stateline to leave off 'ssee. ing the I'M
attainabIe' and to take to hard swear
ing. Of course it would not be plain.
straightforward cussing such as we do
out west. It would be in choice Bos-
tonese, but it would be cussing all the
same
Kissing the President.
The bare idea of Republican presi-
dent being hisspd in Republican Massa-
chusetts is something TOO terrible for
the human mind to contemplate
a.,