New-York tribune., 1910-02-18
THE LAST OF A RACE.

The Rev. Dr. William Everett, who
died in Quincy. Mass. on Wednesday,
IVES a pedagogue and theologian rather
than a politician, and his activity III
politics as a New England Mugwump,
anti-imperialist and Democratic Repre-
sentative In Congress emphasized the
dogmatic and disciplinary side of his
character. He had in him good nedl
of the spirit of the ancient New Eng
land theocracy. which believed that wis
dom, secular as well as sacred. de
scended through it TO the commonaitF
and that its guidance in all the affairs
of life ought to be gratefully accepted
by the rest of the community. He was
ideally qualified, therefore, II play
part of isolation and protest, inevitably
aligning himself with the minority
against the majority, disagreeing with
the powers that be in the minority and
gradually contracting his political fell
lowship to the limits of microscopic
subdivision of his own.
Thus as a Democrat Representative
he quickly found himself out o. touch
with his associates in state and ma
tional politics. He was an extremist IN
all things. and therefore in his low tariff
views Cobdenite pure and simple. He
consequently had no sympathy with
William L. Wilson and the other leaders
in the House of Representatives who pre-
pared the Wilson bill of 1894. aiming TO
reduce tariff duties by moderate per-
centages. He could not be a "hOrizon-
taISt' Nor could he concur with the
average Democratic representative from
Massachusetts who looked VIII enthu-
siasm on the removal of duties from
articles which Massachusetts needed as
raw materials but was totally indifferent
to the reduction of rates on the staple
articles of Bay State manufacture.
Though an original Cleveland Repub-
lican. he refused denomination in 1894
on the ground that he could not satisfy
his conscience and at the same time
act in harmony with the Cleveland Will
son Democracy.
DR.. Everett lacked any active faith il
the democratic principle. He mistrusted
equally the Republican majority and the
controlling faction in the Democratic
minority He showed by his political
affiliations belief in the wisdom of the
few and the incompetency of tho many.
Yet in his zeal for anti-imperialiSm he
went TO the length Of advocating self
government for the undiscipIined Fill
pinos, an experiment the logical result
of which, according to lis own theories
of politics, would have been the speedy
compression of the "ft though sew',
equal to governing in the archipelago
into a political organization relatively
as impotent. though perhaps relatively
as lOquaciOus. as the anti-imperialistlc
party in the United States.
The Quincy educator was an un-
worldly scholar adrift in politics He
and men of his type made yagaries like
Mugwumpism and anti-imper'alism pos
sible. They were eccentrics filled with
the undemOcratic idea that the best re-
suits in politics could be obtained only
by the separation Of the intelligent few
from the masses of both parties. They
are happily figures of the past; for i'll
our day reasonable men of their type
can find personalities and influences
in each party creditable enough to serve
as rallying point DR.. Everett was an
ideal Mugwump-one Of the last and
most radical of that puzzling and often
irrational race