Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1900-04-20
Dewey as a Party Factor.

Dewey as a Party Factor.
1t would be interesting lust now to
inquire Of Mr.. Dewey how lie recon-
Giles his present position in politics
with his ut;cranceS regarding the can
dldarv Of Mr. Mckinley, during the IA
NOUS interview on board the flagship
OLYMPIA, when the President was
toasted, and he declared, with the en-
phasis OF reitcration, GOOD health to
Mckinley; hope he will be our next
President, | really do hope Mr.. Nc
kinlev will he our next President?
Then, when asked whether or not he
was Democrat, he replied by asking
whether it was at all probable that he
would be one, born and reared as he
had been in Vermont. Grant is the
only public man in our history who
attained the presidency by evasivc
methods, and his administration was
not the pronounced success which
would Justify repetition of the ex-
pertinent.
In the published interviews of Mr..
Dewey, within the past month, it has
been shown that when asked regarding
his political beliefs, he has answered,
in substance, first that he was not
ready yet to declare them; then, that
he would run on either ticket for the
Presidency, and, finally, that if he was
not picked up by the Republicans or
nominated by the Democrats. he would
run on an independent ticket. 1t is
evident that Mr.. Dewey fails to grasp
the first qualification for partisan, or
the primary personal requisites to en-
able any man to sway its influence or
enforce its discipline.
1t being conceded that parties are a
necessary adjunct for popular govern
ment, to crystalize and direct popular
sentiment upon questions of public
policy, it follows that its organization
must have enough of recognized au-
thority to demand some concessions
from individual judgment and to re-
quire pledges of acquiescence of all in
the ultimatum it puts forth by plat
form and candidates. No man can
consistently claim to be a Democrat
who has arrived at the decline of life
and never been actuated sufficiently
by the principles he now processes to
have put forth his hand for their sue
cess, during the many heated contests
OF forty years of citizenship. No man
is much of partisan who assumes to
run on the ticket of either, or any
party, that may choose him for cam
didate. No man is a true Democrat
who, at any time, has hoped "to see
President Mckinley reelected No
man has any claim on the party who
accepts Grover Cleveland as his patron
saint, or who affiliates with and hobs
up responsive to the strings pulled by
gold-Democrats, who in 1896 conspired
for defeat of the party by putting up
a straw-ticket and voting for McKin-
ley. How is anybody to know whether
this is not as cunningly contrived a
scheme to accomplish the same object
by indirection-if their votes fail to
secure the requisite majority in the
electoral college for McKinley's sue
cess to throw the contest into the
House of Representatives, where ma
jority of the States possess Republican
delegationsf
Oh, no; the Democrats, or Mr.. Bry-
an, need not fear that no-party man
can rule convention of patriots who
would rather 60 down to inevitable de-
feat than swerve line from the prin-
ciples endorsed by a larger popular
vote than was ever before cast for the
party's candidate.
The presumption of the gold Dem
ocrats," who are boosting Dewey, is
the most phenomenal incident in
American politics. But we live in an
age of surprises, in arrogance and
swagger.