Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1900-07-20
WHY PESTER GRANNY HoAR.

For n matter of some weeks the
newspapers that do not take kindly to
destiny and loot as a shaping force in
National life. have been vexing the
Hon. George Frisbie Hoar. the official
eulogist of Hon. Emilio Aguinaldo.
with charges of Inconsistency. In this
they have been ably assisted and In
spired by Mr.. Erving Winslow. of the
Anti-Imperialist League. till Boston
Common has rung with the adjectives
of onset. Hon. Frisbie Hoar has an
nounced that he proposes to support
Mr.. Mckinley, Imperialism and all, and
that is the trouble.
Now there is no reason apparent why
the senior Senator from Massa chusetts
should not be allowed to go his way
in peace In this matter. He has told
some plain truths, trenchently enough,
of Our Splendid Scheme OF Empire and
Heroic Strenuousness. Having done
that he has about come up to the
measure OF the possible good he can
do in the premises. He can not unsay
what he has said, nor say what will
ncutraliZe II; because he spoke in the
Senate his untrammelled views, where
as. in the campaign. he will speak as
the mere partisan, the man who places
party above country.
Hon. George Frisbie Hoar as a Dem
ocrat would have been an impossible
ity. The points Of antagonism would
have been too many. of harmony too
few. 1t Is altogether impossible that
the man who can go back to the buried
bitterness of thirty-five years ago to
find epithets for half of his country
men should add strength to the Dem
ocratic party. Had Hon. George Fris-
bic Hoar carried his AntiImperiallsm
out of the Republican party with him
he could not have made of himself
Democrat. At best he could have boen
nothing but a decadent mugwump
moving swiftly to the pitlless limbo
of the statesman out of a job That
is an estate that has quieted many a
stouter heart than beats in the bosom
of Mr. Hoar.
Hoar Is right from the point of view
of the man who aims at practical re-
suits. He says he can accomplish more
in fight against Imperialism by main
tanning his regularity and standing in
the Republican party than by quitting
it. Who shall say that such Is not the
case? Experience has shown abund-
antly that a resolute Senator who op-
poses his own party can aid the OPP
position more than any one member of
the opposition. Certainly an Anti-Im-
perialist Republican Senator ought to
be able to do more than an Anti-Im-
perialist dead duck. If Mr.. Hoar Is
sincere in his opposition to Imperial
ism. 1t is not strange that no should
prefer the Senate to the political gull
lotine. which latter VIGOROUSLY i'm
pairs the usefulness of statesmen. real
and alleged.
Doubtless, also. Hon. George Frisbie
Hoar had in his minds eye the fate
of sundry Democratic statesmen who
cut loose from their party in 1896 and
struck out boldly for glory and i'm
mortality via the mugwump route.
Admittedly. the example Is not an in
spring one. There is nothing quite so
pitiable and powerless as the partyless
statesman dangling by the flag end Of
term of office. and enjoying the i'll
will OF former party associates and the
suspicion and contempt of his new
made allies. Democrats can very we'll
afford to be consistent and let the Re-
publicans keep Hon. George FrisbIe
Hoar. The obligation will not all be
on one side by any means