The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-05-09
Noforiods VICTIMS
OF MegaIomanid.
From the New York Sun.

mnR. MooRFIELD STOREY, who
lM0 practices law and Mugwump-
llWll cry In Boston, has had another
uOu violent attack of letter-writ-
ing. The Spanish war and the disturb
ances in the Philippines have given
him many unhappy days and made the
Boston newspaper compositors familiar
with his handwriting. He is one of
that small, but interesting, class OF
sufferers who cannot have an opinion
without deeming 1t vital to the world
and publishing II as eagerly as If II
were a sure cure for consumption. He
feels that he was born to warn, to dis
comfort and to command. Mr.. Lowell
said that Victor Hugo could not change
his shirt without issuing a bulletin'sto
inform the world of the fact. Mr..
Storey and his brother watchmen have
to keep guard over the country, and
every few hours you hear them shout
ing, "All's i'll" Thus, Mr.. Storey, hav-
ing filled all the anti-imnerialist or
gans with his groans, now shrieks at
the imperialist Boston Herald that 1T
is by the acts of the administration,
not by it's professions. that it must be
judged, and by these it will be judged
at the bar of history as Philip ii. has
been judged" After this excursion to
Spain Mr.. Storey tells Secretary Long
that he has forfeited respect and con-
fldence "by his defence of a policy
which has disgraced our country and
dishonored our flag"
o
Mr.. Storeys opinions are precious TO
himself, but there is no demand for
them outside of the anti-imperialist
retreats; and it is merely as q speci-
men that we have to examine him.
Why is it that men like him, like At
kinson, like Professor ]. Laurence
Laughlin, of the Chicago university,
have such a strange pleasure in insult
ing the administration and their coun-
try and countrymen? They are men
of education in certain respects. They
have had the opportunity to associate
with persons of good breeding. They
have had the means of training and
broadening their minds and of mti-
eating their manners. Yet they fall
Accusing like very drabs when they
talk about the administration. They
seem to have lost the power to compre-
hend or even to recognize facts as far
as the Philippines are concerned. When
they come to talk Of those islands they
cease to be lawyers or professors or
solid men of Boston. They do not dis
cuss, they sCreech With what pain
must studious young men In Chicago
and Boston see these pillars of the
university and business and the bar
transformed by their own conjurations
into company of posture makers,
comforting themselves to their own evi-
dent pain and the disgust or laughter
of the spectators! What ails Storey
and Atkinson and Laughln and their
brand?
Simply megalomania. The big head,
to be simpler. They have got into the
habit, one as a civil service and gener-
al reformer, one as a statistician, econ
omist and cook, one as an economist
and a currency reformer, of issuing
their opinions at frequent intervals.
They have appointed or elected them
selves as directors and superintendent
of public opinion. When public opin-
ion does not agree with them some
thing very serious is the matter with
it, They demonstrate with it by means
meetings. 1t continues obstinate. They
grow tiercer and fiercer as it shows no
sign Of changing. At last they become
wild with anger. They discharge
superlatives. Mr.. Mckinley becomes
as Mr.. George S. Boutwell,, Of the Anti
Imperialist league, said of Andrew
johnson, the enemy of his race, his
country and his God He is a tyrant
usurper, an oppressor, a Philip H.
Nero. The American flag in the
Philippines is a symbol of tyranny and
savagery. Mr.. John Davis Long, the
most popular citizen of Massachusetts
forfeits respect and confidence by IA.
Voring a policy which his state sup
ports, but which Mr.. Moorfleld Storey
and a few other political solitaries oo-
| ject to. And so on: and the more
hopeless the opposition becomes, the
more flaming is the language of thc
solitaries. What internal scoundrels
and idiots those eleven obstinate jurors
must be.
Intellectual arrogance, resting on NJ
| visible intellectual superiority; a con
scious or unconscious feeling that "tht
| masses" are ignorant fellows, Will
whom it is an honor to disagree; tn,
| habit of giving pragmatical advice ant
! directions to the lower classes" ;
| sentimental worship of the blessing
Of peace that is really founded in grea
| part on an eXaggeration of the matera
/ losses caused by war and forgets IL
! hardy virtues and the exaltation o
| patriotism that it brings; these ar,
| among the causes of the prodigiou
| case of megalomania which aflict
| Storey and the rest of the Knights o
/ the Gold Whistle. AS men incapabl
| or being elected to office they choos
| themselves to boss an ungrateful people
! and they are surnriSed and naIned he