Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1899-05-05
Falthless Friendships.

IL f-t'' II'i -. N'tlll> - lt.tNt
forgotten that il asked the STANDARD,
a short time ago. Ia state when. where.
how and under what circumstances
the Republican party advocated rctir-
HcV g.! the yf,ci.iIrh~. or il may ic
that urIr answer WAS >nconrlE>ivr that
Ike the little hoy who Nhi-tl'd in
school. has nothing to say and l. ready
to let it 60 ut that.
1t is not surprising, however, that in
lodging the issue, it has sought 10 di-
vert attention from it 10y institutlng
an invidiou> comparison between this
paper and the Wa!la Walla Statesman,
as opponents OF Democracy. 1t pats
the latter approylngly on the back for
covert attack upon Mr.. Bryan, and
his following, who the Statesman says
are willing to conccdc that "there
may be some way to create value by
legislation" and who maintain that
the many are generally wiser than the
few, or as our Walla Walla ncighbor
puts it, that oman in his collective ca
pacity is endowed with wisdom, but rs
an individual is without power to work
out his own redemption"
1t seems to lis that the logic OF
events has quite plainly demonstrated
what virtue there is in legislation
which affects the currency by doub-
ling the debts incurred under silver
unit and instituting and supplanting
it by the gold standard which absorbs
twice the amount of property in effect
ing Il payment If that is what is
meant by establishing value by legis-
lition," it is palpable to all who have
had to pay long deferred debts that
there would be some virtue in an act
OF Congress which might compel credi-
tors to measure property values by the
same standard under which the money
to acquire it had been secured.
That mankind in collective ca
pacity" is endowed with wisdom is
equally true, and that constitutes the
basis of all party organization. and
any individual who seeks to "work out
his own redemption" alone and unas-
sisted, would soon find his method OF
shooting arrows at the sun vain and
delusive employment and entirely bar
rem of results. He might feel that he
was bending the bow but he would
seldom if ever hear the twang OF a
well-directed missile. 1t is the first
duty of a true partisan to bow to the
will of the majority of his party, ex-
pressed in due form and under the
rules which, by common consent, gov
ern all political conventions, under our
form of government. The views which
the Statesman now puts forth as simon
pure Democracy were represented by
only 123.424 in the popular vote for
President, cast for Palmer, while Mr..
Bryan was sustained by a vote of g.
5O2,925-over fifty times as many
nearly half of the popular vote OF
about thirteen millions. Palmer was
not represented by single vote in the
electoral college, while Mr.. Bryan had
176 in that body.
These figures make it seem barely
possible that the Stdtesn,dn's "indlvid-
ual" opinion may be somewhat at
fault, when it comes TO defining just
what shall constitute true Democracy.
There is, at least, some cause for
doubt of its accuracy when such a
stalwart opponent of anything Demo
cratic as the Pr. steps forth to brand
it is the true article.
So much for the Statesman's posi-
ton, which the good Pr. so cordially
endorses. Its object might be attained
of creating dissention and strife if it
led to a clash between those men in
the party who stand squarely on the
national platform and those who,
from one cause or another, stand out
for a modification of party doctrine
through the primary, county, State
and national platforms. But men
possessing due regard for party usage
and fealty will be slow to become
jumping-jacks st the will OF the en-
envy, and we freely accord to Col. Par
ker the right to differ with the party
rules within party lines, if it can be
done without giving material aid to
the common foe.
The statement of the Pr. that the
Democracy has fallen into the hands
of the Populists is simply untrue.
That large number of that party
have joined the Democratic party,
from the necessity OF having to work
with national party to make reforms
on which they fully agree effective, is
true; but that the party has been in
any degree absorbed by the Populist
organization is as untrue as that the
Republican party is not controlled by
machine methods.
The assertion that the Democratic
party's fortunes to-day are at lower
ebb than at any time since 1865, is
simply another notion of the dogmatic
manner "our friend the enemy" has
of waging warfare. The assertion that
there is not now a single Democratic
Governor north Of Mason and Dixon's
line is intended to convey the impres.