St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-04-13
JEFFERsoN,s BIRTHDAY,

All over this nation there will be
| Democrats assembled together tonight
to do honor to the memory of the great
| Democrat whose good fortune it was to
live at the birth of the nation and to be
where he could impress upon it the vital
principles of Democracy. Not that he
was the first Democrat; not the first of
men to define those principles of gov
eminent which insure to the Individual
! the largest measure of freedom, and to
the government the least degree of
| interference with and restriction of
that liberty; for he was but one in a
| long procession which began away back
in Juteland and took form in the witan-
| agencies Of the Angles, but because he
stood at the font at the christening of
the nation and baptised the infant in
the waters of Democracy.
There is something signifcantin this
revival of interest among Democrats in
the observation of the birthday of JET
FERSON, which has been so noticeable
within the last few years. 1t means a
revival of the spirit of Democracy; not
of the organization which bears that
name SO much as of the basic principle
which underlies the party. Ever since
the Democratic party was driven, by its
opposition to Federalism and its devo-
ton to the rights of the states as SOW
| ereignS IN all powers not granted to cor
greSS, to take the wrong side of great
moral question. and went into its long
retirement, there has been no general
testing of measures, either state or ma
tiOnal, by their relations to Democratic
principles. They have been opposed as
impolitic or unWise. but rarely as being
undemOcratic.
The result is that generation has come
into political activity unfamiliar with
! the radical distinction between Democ-
racV and its opposing organic ltiOns, and
| not aware that measures are to be tested
by fundamental principle instead of by
mere present impressions of their policy
or impolicy. They have heard of Jeffer-
sonianism and Jaeksonianism. of course,
and but little of what the former stood
for. Inevitably men have become con-
fused, and we find men nominally Dem
| ocrats supporting paternal measures
and men nominally Republicans oppos-
ing them. The Democratic party has
lost thousands of its members to the
Populist party, which would not have
been possible had they been grounded
in the basal principles of their party.
This condition has been vastly aided bv
the enormous accessions to orr citizenry
since the close of the war, of men co m
| ing to US from countries where pater-
nalism is dominant, and whose educa-
ton is in the rightfulness of govern
| mental care of and interference in the
affairs of the citizen.
But it is evident that this is all chang
inc, and that rapidly. These meetings in
| honor of JEFFERSON are one indication:
h5 transition Of men in their partisan
! relations is another; the frequency with
which objections are raised to this or
that measure as paternalistic is another.
In the senate of the United States there
was seen what, under any other condi-
| ton than this, would be Impossible:
Republican senators opposing the anti
| option bill with Arguments breathing
! tie spirit of Democracy, and Democrats