The Colfax gazette. [volume] (Colfax, Wash.) 1893-1932, 1902-10-24
THBY ARB ANSWERED
II Have No Fear of Party Dis.
loyalty" Says Gov. Mcbride.
THE Chief Glory of the Republican
Party is That it Lives Up to
Its Professions"

Governor Henry Mcbride, the great
leader OF the republican party in the
state OF Washington, addressed an i'm
mense audience that crowded the comfy
court room to its very doors last Fri
day evening. The reception given Gov
ernOr Mcbride when he entered that vast
assembly and when he arose to epeak
was one OF the most enthusiastic ever
rendered public man by a Whitman
county audience. That magnificent
crowd OF citizens arose, it seemed. al
most by magic, and cheered the govern
! or with eXuberant enthusiasm until their
resOunding echoes reached far down the
streets. The cheering lasted for several
minutes, but when the governor raised
bis hand and began to speak, silence.
like unto that of the desert, held posses
sion OF the listeners and they drank in
every word that fell from his lips. Time
and time again was the speaker inter
rupted by the audience that had to vent
their appreciation of what he said by
| enthusiastic demonstrations,
Quietly, but with great force and
| frankness, GOvernOr Mcbride spoke.
One by one the alleged arguments of
| those who are against the railway COM
mission policy of the republican party.
| began to disappear under the wonderful
force and argument presented by the
! governor IN favor of the commission
| policy. Those parties who were present
! with the thought in view that the gov
ernOr would demand to know how legis-
| iatlve candidates stood upon certain
questions were disappointed. Promi-
nent democrats, and a handful of dis
| gruntled republicans, sat near the front
where they could hear every word the
governor said, expecting every minute
that he would deliver what thev are
| pleased to term curtain lecture"-but
no such lecture was forthcoming. Their
| faces heightened; their jaws dropped;
wrinkles crowded thick and fast upon
their brows, and the picture their
| pbysognomy best represented is that
appearing in some patent medicine ad-
vertisements labled Before Taking"
and AFTER Taking"
During the course OF Governors Nc
Brides address, he spoke of the duty of
| legislators. Those who have been most
prominent in this county in the work of
| trying to make break in republican
ranks by their seductive, lying state
ments that the republicans we're not
| form upon which they were nominated
were eager with expectation; they ex-
| pected every moment that the governor
would say something to confirm their
! statements. How bitter was their dis
| appointment can best be Judged by the
| fact that their faces turned all colOrs of
| the rainbow in rapid succession at last
yielding to the deathly palor of a man
whose every hope has vanished. Instead
OF the governor demanding to know. as
they thought he would, he proved to all
that he was perfectly satisfied. Raising
bis band in emphesis the governor said:
81 have no fear of party dlsloyalty on
the part OF the republican nominees.
One of the chief glories of the republican
party is that it lives up to it's profess
slOns. It,fearlessly faces every problem
presented, decides what is the right
thing to do, and then speaks out. And
when 1t speaks 1T means exactly what it
says. Its platforms become crystalized
into statutory terms. This has been it's
characteristic from the time of the i'm
mortal Lincoln down to the time of the
sturdy Roosevelt. And this unbroken
record OF pledges inspires the people with
confidence that any promise made by
Then it was that the atmosphere be-
came too humid for the comfort of the
COmmOner gang. They unbuttoned
their vests, wiped their perspiring brows,
while lengthening frowns settled down
and their interest in the governor was
gone. Previous to the above quotation
the governor had said:
sit is urged in some quarters that the
nj Of lot
binding upon members of the legislature
for the reason that they do not receive
their nominations at the hands of such
conventions. This is political heresy.
Members of the legislature are state Of
ticers; they legislate for the state at
large. A political party, through the
medium OF a state convention, has q
right, and it is it's duty, to make it's DO
sition known upon all questions affect
ing the people of the state as a whole
In TACT, state convention is the only
medium through which a political party
can enunciate the principles that are to
guide it-can outline the policy it in
tends to pursue IN matters relating to
the state.
''Do members of congress receive their
nominations at the hands of national
COnNeuJlOHh1 NO! anu yet Wnen the
republican party, through a national
convention, speaks, no republican con-
gresham refuses to listen to it's voice.
Why? Because although elected by
state or district, he is not state or dis
trict, but federal official, and cheerfullv
recognizes the right of his party through
the medium OF national conventions to
| say what shall be done in matters re-
| lating to federal affairs. SO member
of the legislature, while elected by coun-
| ty or district, is not a county or dis
| trict, but state official and he should
! look to his state platform for a defini-
tion OF his party faith, the same as a
member of congress looks to the ma
! tional platform. Any other doctrine
would be subversive of party organiza-
tion and would lead to party disaster"
! Continuing, Governor Mcbride spoke
| of the origin of such rumors and said
| that it was interesting to trace the
! source of such things and that ''THE
I TRACING OF THIS RUMOR TO ITS SOURCE Is
ITS OWN BEST REPUTATION"
! "But every now and then a lobbyist
/ bobs up and in the language of the
street gamin, asks: What are you 60
ing to do about it if member of the
| legislature after election refuses to stand
| on che platform? Personally could do
nothing about it. Such base betrayal
of trust would mean no more to me than