King County Democrats Begged for Mercy on the Lake Washington Canal

The Democratic battle cry in Washington this year will be 'Down with King county!' The state convention at Olympia, so far as it has progressed, has been characterized by a studied effort to insult and assail King county, and the only point of difference between the King county Democrats and their opponents in the convention seems to have been as to how far the insult should go.

The Lake Washington canal is a political issue because a few personal enemies of Senator Allen have made it so. Because Senator Allen regarded King county as a portion of the state of Washington and believed it to be his duty to represent its interests in common with those of the other counties in the state, he was assailed by those who are constantly making manifest their enmity to this city and county. The people of King county rallied to the support of Mr. Allen, and the result was that a delegation was sent to the Republican state convention instructed to favor a resolution approving the course of Senator Allen in supporting the Lake Washington canal. This delegation manfully carried out its instructions and the Republican party of the state placed itself on record as favoring all the improvements which would be of benefit to the state and its people, the Lake Washington canal included.

The Democrats of King county sent to their state convention a delegation similarly instructed. This delegation disobeyed its instructions. It made a cowardly surrender before the battle had begun. It agreed to a so-called compromise, which, as every member of the delegation knew, would be distorted by Seattle's enemies into a denunciation of the canal project. Having surrendered thus far, the delegation from King county should not have been surprised when a disposition was manifested to go further and denounce in set terms a project which for forty years has been dear to the hearts of the people of King county.

A fight was precipitated in the convention. Pierce county Democrats and their allies, not content with the surrender of King, insisted upon further insulting King county and humiliating its representatives. Thereupon the King county delegation did what no King county delegation had ever before done in a state convention—it abjectly begged for mercy. Instead of making a courageous fight for the principle at stake, its orators pleaded that the convention should not further show its contempt for them and its hatred for their county. Their appeal was barely heeded, and the convention refused by only a few votes to pass a resolution which was nothing less than a denunciation of King county and its people. If the King county delegation had fought manfully for something it might at least have retired with honor. It chose to beg, and it got nothing. The resolution adopted will be regarded by every enemy of King county as a denunciation of the cherished project of its people, and every member of the King county delegation knows this. They begged for a tattered rag, when they should have fought like men around their standard.

The spirit which animates the convention is apparent. It is a spirit of hostility to Seattle and King county. The voters of King county will give their answer in November. Time was when the people of King county stood together as one man for their rights and their interests, and, if the Post-Intelligencer judges aright, the old spirit is not dead.