Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1900-06-22
A Duty of Patriotism

A Duty Of Patriotism.
At last the y. Y. World, tie most
persistent golIbug Democratic paper
IN the country. declares that the talk
ot nominating an Indcpcndtnt Hl,>:
dental ticket thI, year should and
Will end in talk Il declare, that
thcr, l. 40 occasion for such Il ticket.
-Four years ago the monetary question
Wa live, active, salient issue; this
year it is out Of politics, because the
money question j. settled for 1T least
four years 10y an Interchangeable Eepub-
lcan Senate.
While this may b. true, and there is
undoubtedly a disposition to meet our
orring brethren on honorable grounds
for reunion oil forces, it must not be
expected that the seven million Of
faithful Democrats have abandoned
the great tenet which then united
them in support OF an eternal princi-
pie, at the demand OF the 1872 $40 gold
ties who supported Palmer and Buck
ncr in revolt against the regular Or
ganizatiOn. Nor does the plea that
those figures do not represent the
whole strength of the revolt, help the
matter. 1t is doubtless true, as the
World contends, that "Most OF the
Democrats whose opposition to free
silver was strong enough to prevent
them from supporting Bryan, voted
directly for Mckinley" but that
only adds to the turpitudc of an act
that has been execrated from the day
that Benedict Arnold betrayed the
gallant band of American patriots into
the hands of a relentless foe.
But the impending issues OF imper-
ialism, militarism and monopoly over
shadow all over considerations, at
present. These are changes from the
fundamental ideas OF free government,
SO radical and diverse as to strike at
the basic principle and threaten the
very existence of the republic. That,
at least, is what the World declares is
influencing the gold Democrats to re.
turn to party allegiance. So be it.
1t must be admitted that there is
grave cause for alarm in the bare fact
that any great proportion of our peo-
pie may he induced to condone acts of
the administration that are plainly in
conflict with all preconceived ideas of
free government. Had anybody pre-
dicted, on the centennial year of our
national existence-that scarcely more
than quarter of century would
elapse before our people would be
gravely considering the question of
colonial expansion, the maintenance
OF large armies as natural sequence,
and the substitution of autocratic and
imperialistic powers for the plain con-
stitutional duties of the President-he
would have been considered bereft of
reason. Still SO gradual and insidious
has been this corruption of public sem
timent, that we are on the very verge
of the precipice of revolution from
constitutional government to a despot.
ism. Alasl
"Can such things be
And overcome us like a summer cloud,
without our special wonder"
Under such circumstances, there
should be no bubble. Let our erring
brethren return, although it may have
been their aid which rendered possible
the conditions they now deplore as
deeply as those who stood by the Cos
pei ship. They have found from ex-
perience that it is not safe to trust the
enemy and rely upon his magnanimity
after he has attained the vantage
ground. They have, indeed, learned
the wisdom of the injunction that it is
better to
Bear those ills we have
Than to ny to Others we know not Of"
and it is probable that the lesson may
not be lost as guide for the future.