The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-10-08
THE TRUE CAUSE OF DEMOCRATIC
FAILURE.

FAILURE.
The Richmond Item thinks that "the
strongest argument against further Demo-
cratic control of public affairs is the stub
born fact that the Democratic party has
not the business capacity to manage such
a big concern" Perhaps this statement is
subject to some qualification. 1t is true
that the Democratic party has demon
ness to administer the government. but we
incline to the opinion that its failure is due
more to another cause than, strictly speak
ing, to its lack of business capacity. While
1t Is undoubtedly true that the Republican
party contains the bulk of the business in
telligence and a decided majority of the
live business men Of the country. there are
enough bright business men in the Demo-
cratic party to fill all the important Offices
in the government and to administer pub
lie affairs with a reasonable degree of sue
cess If they were not handicapped by other
causes. Some of Mr.. Cleveland's Cabinet
officers have been successful in private
business and rot lacking in executive abil-
ity. Secretaries Whitney. Manning and
all successful business men, and there are
two or three bright men in his present
Cabinet. Many of his appointees to office
have been men of fair business capacity,
o,I - -;~rxx lor r.-l -1l H. L.
party il he had been as anxious to appoint
its best men as he was to reward party
workers and his personal friends. There
are some able men on the Democratic side
in both branches of Congress-. and a fair
proportion who possess an average amount
Of capacity for public affairs.
Probably a better reason for the failure
of the Democratic party to administer the
government successfully than its inability
to furnish the requisite number of fairly
capable men is the fact that the ruling
and its dominant spirit is not in sympathy
with American ideas. When the Democrat
ic party is not looking backward 1t is look
ing abroad. If it moves at all it does not
keep step with American interests, but
marches to foreign music. 1t is controlled
by its Bourbon element, and by the very
law of it's being it cannot have any SYM
pathy with the principles and methods that
have made the country progressive and
prosperous. The Democratic party lives in
the South, while the true home of Amer
lean progress is in the North. AT heart it
is an un-American party-not deliberately
or consciously anti-American, but stupidity
un-American. Being a slave to political ira
ditions and anchored to obsolete ideas, it
away from the principles that prevailed
when it was the recognized nlouthpiece and
machine of the old slave power. In one
breath it denounces the policy that has
made the country prosperous and great,
and in the next it expresses doubt of the
stability of the Republic. In his speech to
his London banqueters Chairman Wilson
said: "Our protectionists nave been build
ing defenses to keep you and other nations
from competing with us in our home mar
ket. The tariff Performers are breaking
down these defenses." Then, as if fearing
that this declaration of hostility to Amer
lean interests would not be sufficiently
gratifying to his audience. he informed
them that Americans have discovered that
ssof oil b,,v,oo oovarprapts a frao roxar,
ment is the most complex and difficult,
and. judging from the worlds experience,
the most uncertain and shorr-lived." The
man who uttered these unpatriotic words
is a leader of the Democratic party, trained
in the school of Southern statesmen, and
the foremost champion of its policy of
hostility to American interests.
1t is a maxim of statutory construction
that all laws should be construed accord
ing to their obvious spirit and intent. So
should a government be administered. 1t
is impossible for any government to be sue
c~essfully administered by a party not in
sympathy with its spirit. Whether such
lack of sympathy be due to disloyal mo-
tives. to a blind adherence to obsolete ira
ditions. to a stupid incapacity to appreciate
changed conditions or to a willing accept
ance of reactionary and unpatriotic ideas,
the result is the same. This. probably.
more than a lack Of business capacity, is
the true secret of the inability of the DEM
ocratic party to administer the govern
ment successfully. As now organized, it is
essentially an un-American party.
BYyUM,S WEAk EXCUSE.
At length Representative Bynum has felt