St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-01-18
AVOID THAT ROCK.

at the gathering oil TUESDAY IL Is plain
that 1t is not too early to point out one
rock lying near our course and which
must be avoided. 1t is already clear that
the Populists do not purpose to repeat
their mistake Of nominating Mr.. Don
nelly as their candidate for governor,
and it seems to have dawned upon that
gentleman at last that he is regarded by
the voters of the state as man worth
hearing but not worth voting for. Had
Mr.. DonnellY received the votes OF the
crowds who came out to listen to his
jeremiads and laugh at his gibes in the
last campaign he would today be gov
ernor of this state. The Populists will
nominate Mr.. Owen, who, as the candi-
date of the Alliance in 1890, running on
platform whose lines converged with
those of the Democracy, received vote
which, in comparison with that given
Mr.. Donnelly, must be regarded as re-
markable.
In view Of this. some of our Demo-
Gratis. mainly from the districts infected
with PopuliSm, are suggesting the adj
visibility of Democratic nomination
or Endorsement of Mr.. Owen. Against
this the GLOBE wishes this early TO
enter an emphatic protest. Ii it is only
the defeat of the Republicans that the
party wishes to achieve. that might be
accomplished this year by the course
suggested. Mr.. Nelson. who is slated
for the nomination on the Republican
ticket, can hardly hold, as against Mr..
Owen supported by the Democrats, all
the votes which in 1899 went to Mr..
Owen, and in 1892 returned to Mr.. Mel
son. The fate of the state elevator act;
the manner in which the passage of the
country elevator act was secured; its
failure to produce the results promised,
and the farcical manner in which the
farmers were treated in their effort to
have the terminal elevators regulated,
make very heavy load for Mr.. Nelson
to carry, and which would so handicap
him that MIR. owen would undoubt eddy
be elected.
But the Democratic party cannot af-
ford to secure the defeat of the Repub-
liean party by the sacrifice of its prin-
cIples that would be INVOLVED in the in
dorsement or nomination of Mr.. Owen.
w
fine Democratic party on the question Of
the tariff and probably in advance of its
present position on that question. and
while his views on the silver question
arc shared by large numbers of Demo-
Gratis, he would be placed on platf orm
which would entirely ignore the tariff
question, while it would be redolent
with those pa.ernalistic schemes which
the PopulistS advocate, ana which are
but logical step in advance of the pa
ternaliStic policy of the Republican
party on the tariff.
Democracy is as fundamentally OPP
posed to the paternalism OF PopuliSm as
it is to the paterAalism of protection.
Knowing no classes, it opposes with
equal firmnesS legislation proposed in
favor of the farmers as class and that
proposed in favor of the manufacturers
as class. II would bar the hand of
government from the pockets of its
citiZenry to take from their earnings to
be given to any class Of that citlzenry.
1t takes in the whole people in its gaze.
recognizes among them no distinction
or divisions, and holds among them an
impartial hand. 1t would no more per-
nit in the guise of taxation, direct or
indirect. the use of the power of the
government to give unearned profit to
the laborer, the artisan or the farmer
than it would to the owners of shops
and mills and factories.
Its most serious and far-reaching
mission now is to set itself to stem the
current which has been running so
swiftly in this country during the last
quarter of century toward socialism.
1t has successfully checked one stream
of that current which has been carrying
profit from the pockets of the people to
the manufacturers, and it must now set
itself to stem that other stream which
aims to produce a similar result for
those who are floating on the craft of
Populism. Its mission is not only to
teach the Democracy, but to practice it.
1t must teach it not only by precept but
by example. Democrats must resist this
vicious and demoralizing tendency, even
if in opposing it it finds certain defeat.
1t must go into this conflict as the old
First Minnesota threw itself against the
charge of Pickett's brigade at Gettys-
burg, feeling that whatever sacrifices it
might occasion it is demanded by the
best interests and the safety of the
country.
Defeats in good cause make victories
possible, and victories in a bad cause
make defeat inevitable. Parties are
but aggregations of men. and the char
acters of parties are built as the char
acters of men are. The strong meu in
any community, those who have the
confidence of their fellows, are not the
shifty yotaries of expediency. but the
men who. when tempted to gain an I'M
mediate advantage by sacrifice of prin-
ciple, cast the temptation from them
with scorn. 1t would be better, far. for
the Democratic party of this state to face
adecade of certain defeats than to win
dubious victory from their opponents
by the means suggested.
These reasons should control the &C
ton of our party even il they were not
reinforced by many experiences.
Yielding to a seeming, but unreal ext
gency, and to opportunities from in
fiuential sources, the experiment was
iuouO III 1uO tiPoi6h VI 1919 VI llluOrS
ing some of the Populist presidential
electors. The result indicated the
judgment Of those who thought the sac
rifice involved was greater than any
possible gain. In many counties of the
state the anxiety OF men to be salaried
by the public has led to a fusion with
the Populists whose only result has
been, aside from the election of few
men to petty offices, the disruption of
the party organization, the discourage
ment of our people, and the we'll
earned contempt of those to whom sur
render has been made. This early in
the year the GLOBE wishes to urge upon
the Democrats OF the state the avoidance
of all entangling alliances with their op-
ponents whether they be the skim-milk
Socialists Of Republicanism or the full