The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1891-09-24
Third Parties.

pic. lClC 10 ~ HIiCLSh IA" ~ ~
vent these organizations; there is no
such law to prevent those who de-
sire to do so, to become members OF
these different organizations; but the
unwritten law of personal response
bility in the practical affairs of
government prevents these parties
from becoming factor in politics
only as they may individually aid one
or the other of the leading political
parties in securing control OF the
government, and in that case these
third parties might as we'll have vo-
ted directly for the candidate of the
party they practically aided. People
have also come to understand that
designing men who have been disap-
pointed in securing or retaining pla-
ces in the great parties are always
at the birth of these organizations.
The time has been when men
could be led into these new organi-
cations with the hope that, like the
Republican party, new parties could
be sprung into power, but this theory
has died out of the minds of all ex-
cept the most thoughtless Since the
organization of the government there
has been two elements or civilizations
whose political beliefs have been an
tagonistic They were at the first
Known as Federalists and anti-Fed
eralists. The one believed in a
strong central government and the
other in the Sovereignty of the states.
The slavery question and the tar
if question caused a change in the
names of these parties and these
questions caused some Cnange IN the
material which made up these ele
ments. These contending parties, at
length, became known as the Demo
cratic party and the Wing party.
The central line which marked the
division of the Federal and the anti
Federal parties became more marked
as the slavery and tariff questions
assumed prominence, until the Wing
party went to pieces over the rock of
slavery, when the old Federal ele
ment again coming to the front in
the shape of the Republican party
carried the country and the anti
Federalists went into rebellion
against the government. The anti
Federalist element in 1890, then
known as the Democratic party,
adopted free trade as part of its
principles, while the Wings and af-
forwards the Republicans held on to
the originally universal principle of
protection
Thus the Republican and Demo
cratic parties are as squarely divided
on the issue which divided the old
Federal ard anti-Federal parties,
and which gave them these names,
as these parties were, and in addition
to this, they are divided squarely on
the tariff question, and several minor
questions which grow out of them,
So long as this is true the organiza-
ton of a third party that can ever
dictate an ELECTORAL vote is impossi.
BILE. Take the Prohibition party as
an example. From what was said
in its behalf, many believed that it
would rapidly spring into promi-
nence, but the fact that from 1884 to
1888, it only gained o8,o87 votes,
while the combined gain Of the two
old parties was I,2I9,o64 shows that
it can never become party that will
command the attention of the Amer
lean people. The same is true of
the Greenback party and must be
true of the Farmers Alliance party.
The only way to be represented in
the management of the affairs of
government, unless by false pre-
lenses, is to vote with one of the old
parties. One or the other of these
parties will control the affairs of the
government. The principles of one
or the other will be enforced The
voters of the country are its sover-
eigns and no voter can measure up
to his responsibilities as sovereign
by refusing to vote, nor can he abb
solve himself from such responsible