Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1900-08-31
PARTY DECADENCE.
HOW THE MIGHTY IN PRINCIPLE
HAVE FALLEN.
An Arraisnment of the Republican Party by
One Of Its Founders. Ex Gov. Sidney Edser-
ton. OF Ohio. One Of the Fourteen Survivors
OF the First Republican Convention in 1856.
Sacramento (Cal.) Bee

O"s VI us TouhoerS, Cx uoV. Sldney cdSer-
ton. Of Ohio. One Of the Fourteen Survivors
Of the First Republican Convention in 1856.
Sacramento (CaI) Bee
TO THE EDITOR OF THE BEE-Sir:
am a stranger in your city; have late
ly arrived from England. have be-
come citizen of this great Republic
and propose to remain here definitely,
and as hope and expect to cast my
first American vote this coming cleo
ton, l desire little information re-
garding the two great parties. l am
inclined toward the Republican party.
l have made the acquaintance of a
very intelligent friend, who has been a
all his life, but he sadly
informs me "that the Republican
party is rocked in the cradle of the
Gold Bugs, and sucked at the breast
Of the Trusts" Now if this be true,
shall certainly not cast my first vote
for the Republican party. As 1 judge
your paper to be honest and candid,
will ask you to en!ighten me on this
point, and oblige, yours sincerely, a
new subscriber.
GLADDIN HAZLITT.
Sacramento, July 10Th.
If the Republican party organiza-
ton of the present day were what it
used to be, the Bees task would be
more simple. But, unfortunately.
while the original Republican princi-
pies remain true, the Republican
party organization has deserted them,
and the ticket recently nominated at
Philadelphia does not represent the
ideas and aims that brought the Re-
publican party into existence.
Originally the Republican party WAS
one "of great moral ideas," of which
justice and equal rights to all men
was one of the chief. One OF its main
objects was to prevent the extension Of
slavery, and this purpose rested upon
the fundamental ideas of justice and
among men, the love of lib
erty and the placing of the man above
the dollar. The party advocated a
system of tariff protection to Ameri-
can industry, not as means of build.
ing up trusts and favoring private
monopolies at the expense of the peo-
pie, but for the protection of American
labor against injurious foreign compe-
tition. The principle is still good, but
now the trusts and monopolies are
looking to the Republican party Or
ganization to support their exactions
and expressions by means of high
duties on imports. In other words,
the protective tariff has been wrested
from its original purpose, and far
more than for the protecting of Amer
ican labor it is now used as a means
of enriching trusts at the expense of
the people.
In its glorious opposition to the ex-
tension of slavery, the Republican
party carried to successful close a
great civil war against slave States in
rebellion, anil did not hesitate in its
struggle for the preservation OF the
Union to create a national debt oi
large proportions. The Republican
party of the present day is creating
and perpetuating national debt in
its program of expansion and imperi-
alism, and for the purpose of giving to
a national bank monopoly basis fol
paper money circulation.
The old Republican party was q
party of the people, of patriotism and
loyalty to the constitution; the pres
ent Republican party, though it still
includes many of it's old members who
are loath to leave it, has been led
astray by leaders false to its early
aims and principles, who nre servile to
aggregated capital in all its forms and
Indifferent or inimical to popular
rights and the spirit of liberty as EN-
bodied in the Declaration Of Independ
ence. 1t is too true that the party
which was Lincoln's is now crooked
in the cradle OF the Gold Bugs and
sucked at the breast of the Trusts"
We could not better illustrate the
change that has come over the Repub
lican party than by reference to let
ter written in June last by Sidne!
Edgerton, Ex-Governor of Ohio, who il
one of the fourteen survivors of tn
delegates to the first National Repub
lican Convention of 1856, which
founded the Republican party ant
nominated Fremont for President
This letter was written in response t.
an invitation from Senator Marl
Hanna. of Ohio, to attend the Repub
lican National Convention at Phila
delphia. 1t is far too long to be re
published here, but may be found il
full at page 7,777 of the Congregational
Record, under date of July 9Th last
appended to a speech delivered b!
Congressman Lentz, of Ohio. W.
cannot refrain, however, from giving
few extracts, which are worthy OF tn
widest attention, coming as they d.
from one OF the most distinguishes
old-line Republicans in the United
States, who mourns for the decay int
which the party has fallen. These ar
but parts of blistering arraignment