St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1892-08-13
THE PHILOSOPHY OF PARTIES.
Do the Times Demand a New One in
the United States
(IS Two PApERs-No. l.)

i IN Two PAPERs-No.l.
i 1t has been said bysone OF America:
great sons, Eternal vigilance is the
/ price of Liberty"
! Did ii appear to him, that even al
THAT early day, his countrymen were
abating the vigilance which character
| lied the fathers? Did he see that ever
then the people were ceasing to think
and hence to act for themselves on po
liticaI questions and were leaving the
/ labor of thinking to 'sThe leaders of oul
party J" following blindly where those
leaders might lead2 Did he see the
irrespective fulfillment of the condi
tional prophecy of "The Father of His
4 Country, in tsThe Farewell Address,
that if our Ship of State were eyel
wrecked, sparty" would be the rock
upon which She would go down?
/ Washington did not mean that part
les were not a necessary part OF all po
litical or societary organizations; but
he did mean that by blind adherence
to party, men would lose sight Of prin.
ciples; the tendency of which would
be an unquestioning faith, the 'ipsat
4 diaifn of men, instead of studying to
understand working for measures the
consequent forging to the front OF sell
/ fish and unscrupulous men as party
/ leaders the consequent consultations
of selfish ends instead of the general
welfare legislation for the few instead
of the many concentration OF wealth
lin the hands of the few, enslavemenf
/ OF the many and, finally, the downfall
of the Republic, by a gradual but sure
subversion, of the principles OF a gov
ernment, by, for, and of the people"
/ If he did not mean all this, what did
he mean? And if all the conditions
have not been fulfilled, even to the last
tittle-the subyersion of the principles
and practices of true popular govern
ment-then the complaints OF the
| millions, and the admission Of our plu-
tocratic leaders themselves, are nothing
but the vacuous babblings of genera
tion of bedlamites.
Nav, verify, but the conditions have
all been fulfilled, and nothing but the
hollow form OF our once happy politl-
cal fabric remains, awaiting only the
application of force to change even the
| form.
But will this be done2 Is it not
probable that The People have been
aroused in time, not only to restore
the substance to the form, but to adj
lust our Constitution and laws to the
advanced requirements of humanity SO
as to properly round up the 18th and
open the Goth century Of the "Christ-
ian Era ?'-
I believe that they are thus aroused.
And / have confidence in their moral
and mental force and their restored
homogeneity and nationality, together
with a sense of fraternity, that has per-
haps never been but once before paral-
leIIed in the history Of the laboring
and middle classes of any people; a
sense of fraternity rendered all the more
intense, because the people see that
the terrible gulf that has separated
them, was originally made and has been
persistently kept open. by party leaders
for personal and selfish ends; and that
these leaders right now are using every
unfair means to prevent union OF the
people for the redress OF their awful
grievances or, as Senator Morgan, OF
Alabama, expressed it, in the last ses-
sion of the Senate, "The terrible dis
tress of the people, And Yet atothat
time Senator Morgan, like Oates,
George, Walthall, Boatner, blanchard,
Mills, Reagan, Culbertson, Garlic,
Hampden, Gibson, Eustis, ct i'd ontfae
qe1lus. all admitted their utter inability
to mitigate these terrible" distresses.
Yes, they have one remedy, forsooth,
their Reform tariff, which has been
administered to the people ad aaaseon.
It makes no difference to the great
body polite, whether this admitted in
ability to successfully prescribe for the
public maIady is constitutional Or viii
full. Whether they are. by natural or
acquired endowment, incapable of per-
ceiving and applying the proper reme-
dies or whether they have entered into
combinations with the plutocracy-
for a share of the spoils-to enslaye the
people; it makes no difference, ! re-
peat, from what source their inability
arises the fact of that inability, is one
of the most prominent features of pres
ent political conditions in the United
States.
But in this connection there is some
thing else, to-wit: judging by the see
saving in attempted legislation for
popular benefit between the two cham
bers of Congress and the votes of such
champions (sic) of Equal rights to all
and special favors to none" as the
gentlemen named above, several milii-
ons of American citizens, have conclud-
ed that this inability is not the result
of defects of mind or education, but is
directly chargeable to conspiracy
against the rights and liberties of the
great working and middle classes.
Are these millions right in their
conclusions? Did that One, who was
wiser than man, err when He said BY
their fruits ye shall know them?" Are
not the millions claiming that great
wrongs have been and are being perpe-
trated against them and their posteri-
ty? Have not our enemies been forced
to admit it? Are not the millions de-
nanding redress? Has not DR.. Demo-
crat admitted the seriousness of the
complaint, and has he not said .ePa-
tienee, my sick friend, until I can
compound you a dose of a homeopathic
cf sE7,,o f.,s 10 crt,s ,.-ifb heroic