and the fires of human freedom are kept alive in the hearts of the common people, 'the plain people,' as Abraham Lincoln called them" (April 2, 1884). And "the most potent of all forces is democracy in its fighting mood" (December 20, 1905). Popular self-government was worth all its effort, however strenuous. It was the only security for freedom. Mr. Scott regarded as an urgent national need the great isthmian canal. Its unifying influence, he foresaw, would stimulate growth of the national spirit. He began writing on "The Darien Canal" in 1867. His discussions of the Panama and the Nicaragua and other routes were frequent. He believed that this waterway would consolidate the country and eradicate local narrowness even further than railroads have done. It would uplift America's world influence and upbuild America's sea power. The opportunity grasped by President Roosevelt for making this waterway American he commended as a grand stroke of statesmanship.
RIVAL DOCTRINES OF HAMILTON AND JEFFERSON
When the young Editor entered the post-bellum controversy, the leading Democratic organ in Portland was the Herald, whose editor in 1866 was Beriah Brown.[1] This veteran of journalism undertook to discipline the "boy editor." But the "boy" proved himself more than a match for the "veteran." Their disputes brought out a subject on which Mr. Scott wrote with growing power the Jeffersonian origin of secession. Editor Brown, after the style of good Democrats, exalted the memory of Jefferson. Editor Scott dug up history to show Jefferson the architect of state sovereignty and rebellion; hostile to constitution and nationality; assertive of "Federal League"; author of Kentucky resolutions; sympathizer with the Whisky Insurrection and Shay's Rebellion; distrustful of courts and judiciary; covertly hostile to Washington. All this the young Editor suported with such array of reading as to spread wide his reputation. One of his terse and direct remarks (November 1, 1869) was the following: "It is now an accepted national and historical fact that the doctrines promulgated by Jefferson
- ↑ Beriah Brown came to Portland from San Francisco. He spent his later life at Puget Sound.
