Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-09-24
AS TO TRUE DEMOCRACY.

Washington Post
A great many gentlemen just now are
rushing into the newspapers with long
and more or less intelligent announce
ments to the effect that they cannot fol-
low the Chicago convention because 1t
does not represent true democracy Some
of these gentlemen are offlceholders I'M
der the present administration. Others
of them have in the past enjoyed emolu-
ment and place by favor of the democrat
lie party. The rest of them have sought
political promotion, but have failed to re-
ceive 1t. They all agree. however, in de-
claring that the delegates who assembled
at Chicago last July and nominated Bry-
an and Sewall did not speak for the real
democratic party, and are therefore not
entitled to the respect and confidence of
the democratic individual.
The Post is looking on at the show as
from a high and cloudless pinnacle. 1t
is true that we entertain and have wit
messed our preference for the gold stand
ard. We are Independent in all things,
but never neutral where the public honor
and the public welfare are concerned.
Still, the merely partisan aspects of the
contest are to us matters of supreme in
difference. We are amused at or dis
guSted by them, as the case may be. 1t
amuseS us to hear the organs and orators
of either side talking tommyrot. 1t dis
gusts US to hear them talking viciously
and falsely. But this argument which
has sprung up touching the true consti-
tuition of the democratic party and the
true authority for pronouneing upon the
validity of party declarations begins to
interest us very deeply Here we have
a few department officials rising up and
in voice made loud by the Indulgence
of the press, declaring that the Chicago
convention did not represent the demo-
cratic party. Here we see few official
eastaways, a few disappointed aspirants,
and handful of assorted cuckoos. get
ting together in a convention of their own
contrivance, and announcing that they
themselves are the democratic party, all
others being wicked and impudent i'm
positors The visible number of these
gentlemen is in the neighborhood of 500,
and they claim a buckram following
numbering anywhere from two to sew
enteen millions. The fact remains, how
ever, that the Chicago convention was
called by the duly constituted representa-
tives of the democratic organization.
We know, also, that 1t was overwhelm-
ingly in favor of the candidate and the
platform there proclaimed We know,
further, that every state and county or
ganization in the country has up to this
moment Endorsed the action Of the ma
tional convention. We know that New
York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massa-
chusetts--supposed strongholds of the
anti-slver sentiment-will ratify the
nomination of Bryan. I'VE see even such
great lights as HILL in New York, and
Harrity, in Pennsylvania, not only dis
regarded as leaders, but practically in
formed that the democratic procession is
going ahead with them or without them,
just as they may prefer. We find, in
fact, that the organized democracy in
every state and county is making haste
to accept and to indorse the action of
the national convention in Chicago.
What are we to conclude from this?
Four years ago Mr. Cleveland wrote to
the editor of the Atlanta Constitution,
oongratulating him upon the acceptance
of the results of the Chicago convention
of 1S92-results which the Constitution
had striven with all it's might to prevent
and declaring that the true test of dem
ocratic worth and virtue was submission
to the regularly ascertained and properly
declared will ~ The majority. If this rule
was good f.cr Mr.. Cleveland and his fol-
lowers then, is 1t not good now? And
what is the majority within the demo-
cratic party-iS 1t represented by the CHI
cago convention, Endorsed by every state
and county organization in the whole
country, or is it represented by Mr.. By
mum, Mr. Caffrey, Mr.. Bourke Cochran,
Mr. Villas and Mr. Don Dickinson? The
proposition of these gentlemen now using
the newspapers to bolt in Is as impudent
as it is ridiculous. They speak only for
themselves. The Chicago convention
speaks for five or six million of voters.
If we lived in England, where so many Of
our wealthy fellow citizens would like to
live, the Cleveland adminstr9 ton would
have to retire after such a popular dem
onstration as we have had. 1t would
have had to retire, in fact, Immediately
after the election of 1894. But we don't
live in England--or under English rule,
thank heaven!--and so we have now The
spectacle of administration officials de-
nouncing without reproof the party to
which they owe their places and their sal
aries, while other administration officials
who stand by their party Loyalty are Wis
tied with disapprobation and menaced
with dismissal.
The question still remains, though: |
What is the democratic party-the great |
mass of democratic voters, speaking |
through the party organizations in every
quarter of the land, or the 500 or 600 dis
contented ones speaking through them
selves alone?