St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1890-11-13
A POLITICAL CRISIS.


The political Ovcrturn of last week
IS comparable to nothing in the his
tory of the country but the democrat
ization of the wing party, resulting
in its final downfall and the success
sion to it of the republican party.
In 1910 the issue of protection revi-
vihed the wing organization and
brought it temporarily into power,
but it had lived its life, done its
work and the rally was only tempo
rary. For many years the sentiment
of loyalty held the party together
but it had lost its power of Crap
ping with great questions and the
triumphs of 1910 and ~ were its
last. New issues had arisen on
which the wings were divided and
new party became necessary to crys-
tallize the forces of the hour around
those issues.
In 1888 the republican party
seemed to have gathered to itself its
old time strength but it is no use to
attempt to wink out of sight the
great dominant fact that its course
since its return to power has not
commended itself to the people. The
president has not shown the quail
ties of leadership. He weakly
allowed himself to recognize the
claims made upon his administration
by Quay, because of the services of
that arrogant boss to the party in
the campaign. Other lesser para
sites fastened themselves upon the
administration, until it has come to
be felt that the party bosses rather
than the statesmen are at the helm
Loyal republicans, confident of the
ultimate triumph of the better ele-
ments in the party could condone
this and hope for better things, but
they could not disguise the fact The
people as a whole saw the fact and
would not cOndOne.
The question that remains to be
answered IS this: Has the republican
party within itself strength and
vitality enough to recover from the
heavy blow it has received; to grasp
once more with firmness, patriotism
and craftsmanship the great issues
of the hour: and to assume again a
leadership that shall rally around
the standard as III days gone by the
best elements of American citizen
ship? If it can do this, it may live
and renew its youth; if not, the vic
tory of 1883 will have been its last
The conclusion is unavoidable from
. the established facts of political his
tory that the chances are against
such a recovery and in favor of the
organization within few years of a
party that shall carry on the work
of positive craftsmanship begun by
the federalists, continued by the
wings and brought to glorious
climax by the republicans i'll the
gigantic struggle between freedom
and slavery. The lifetime of a polit-
ical party of positive. ideas seems to
be not longer than that of a genera
ton. With the passing away of one
generation of men, new ideas come
to the front, new issues demand set
Element and it is difficult so diverse
are the opinions of men, for a party
of positive ideas to readily adapt
itself to these shifting foundations
and still maintain its following. The
democratic party has been from the
beginning the party of negation and
obstruction, the natural resort of the
different elements of opposition to
the positive party of the time being
Hence its frequent returns to power
and its long life under one name. 1t
acts as a check or makeweight
When the positive craftsmanship of
the federalists, the wings or the
republicans has gone little faster
than the mass of the people approved
enough voters have swung into line
with the democracy to head off far
ther movement in that direction
The republican party was born of
the struggle with slavery and of the
issues therein involved 1t has done