The Canary That Swallowed the Cat

In the beginning, the Washington Post upheld the standards of the Democratic Party and conservatism. (In 1877, of course, this was no contradiction.) Stilson Hutchins, who named his son for Robert E. Lee, thought that Washington needed a Democratic paper, and he had enough money to get one started. The Post declared itself opposed to “socialism, communism and rowdyism, idlerism and loaferism.” The Molly Maguires were denounced as “communists.” An editorial of 1879 treated the Indian question with that grouchy indignation which is so characteristic of conservative writing: “The War Department should take charge of the Indians and teach them the stern lesson that he who will not work shall not eat.” The

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Mitchell S. Ross

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In the beginning, the Washington Post upheld the standards of the Democratic Party and conservatism. (In 1877, of course, this was no contradiction.) Stilson Hutchins, who named his son for Robert E. Lee, thought that Washington needed a Democratic paper, and he had enough money to get one started. The Post declared itself opposed to “socialism, communism and rowdyism, idlerism and loaferism.” The Molly Maguires were denounced as “communists.” An editorial of 1879 treated the Indian question with that grouchy indignation which is so characteristic of conservative writing: “The War Department should take charge of the Indians and teach them the stern lesson that he who will not work shall not eat.” The