The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-06-14
The Disintegration OF Parties.
To the Editor of the Press:

Mr.. Wanamaker has had the bo1dness,
or the courage, to suggest that there is a
demand for new party. There is moth
ing new in the suggestion. Even the
great and good Republican, Conkling,
mad Tar less regard for his party and faith
IN lts continued prosperity after his retire.
ment from the Senate, and failure of re-
election, than before Opinions of this
klnd are apt to take their coloring from
Individual standpoints and Individual
ampltlons. The disintegration of great
party IS slow process. Quite as slow as
tne building up of a new party whose
dominance can only be secured through
some great national emergency or the
fusion OF lesser parties. Such emergen-
cies are rare, and effective fusion of small
parties of divergent interests and aims is
Tar less probable. The Democratic party
presents a remarkable example of party
vitality. 1t cannot be whipped out of
signt, and, stranger still, internal dissen-
tlons and wholesale assertions from its
ranks, from time to time, fail to disin-
tegfate 1T. 1t still clings to its name and
traditions, about all that is left of it.
There are two things, it seems quite I'M
| essential to persistent party life; the first
Is party integrity and the next an appar-
ent reason for. existing as a popular Or
ganlzat1on. This reason lies deeper than
principle or popular favor. 1t lies in the
ability OF its personnel, its bosses and
Office holders, and as these are always in
evidence, always holding the reins of
power, either in state or nation, the over
throw OF either party is far easier to
prophesy than to bring about. Party is,
primarily, an organization, not of and
for the people, but of and for those who
are In 1t for honor and profit Its
strength lies in its practical business
methods and, far from being a cause of
surprise, 1t IS purely natural conse-
time, become SO i1nbued with the party
spirit as to ignore all sentiment, the sem
timent OF integrity. principle, or patrio-
t1sm, which is supposed to attach itself to
| official position. 1t is quite enough for
| the average candidate that position con-
fers honor; that q candidate is supposed
| to honor the office is consideration
which seldom troubles the aspirant or the
public. The strict party rule that po1iti-
cal rewards shall be given only for party
service, such rs it may be, has so changed
| all this that comparisons between the
ONCE and the man are rapidly becoming
| less and less in favor of the incumbent
/
| matter. which impels candidates to do
their own canvassing by personal so1icita-
ton, or public advertising. AS for the
"propriety of the latter it is doubtless
a question in the mind of the average
citizen OF average views whether there
eyer comes q proper time'' for this sort
OF preliminary work. M
How much honest inquiry may be made
as to party integrity without injury to
party? Does party weakness, if it is
weak, lie in corrupt party practises, and
do corrupt, or selfish, partisan methods
afford sufficient reasons, in themselves,
for demanding change of party? An
OF Topeka, very significantly says: Mr..
Wanamaker has been in politics enough
to know that all political parties make
the public good secondary to party ad-
vantage" This is frank admission of
a fundamental fact on which public
safety and security must depend, and, for
this reason, it must be wholesome one
for the party and the people. To admit
that the object for which an organization
is formed is secondary to the organiza-
ton, itself, is to admit a wrong principle
of action. Or to claim that church and any
other organizations is superior to the
cause it represents. That this is inimical
to republican form of government, to
permanent organization, and to all true
progress, is self evident. When things
are going wrong, when the wrong is sd
open and fragrant that it is impossible of
concealment, thus making the thing
matter of public comment, if not of pub
lie ridicule, is it not a time for honest
confession, and can improvement be be-
gun in any more direct and manful way?
There is always this objection raised to
party improvement; that however honest
liberal and public spirited party may
be in the beginning, it soon degenerates.
This is no doubt true from the very
nature and profession of politics, but the
virtue of the thing lies in the change, the
occasional substitution of new timber and
new UNDERMINING to be replaced, again,
in it's turn Contrary to the accept ed
party idea, long party service is neither a
benefit to party or the public. 1t is sim
ply an outgrowth of. the close partisan
idea which, IN time, must react on its
promoters
Aside from. the party doctrine of carry
ing the partisan idea to it's greatest limit
and extreme; aside from the question of
corrupt practises, both parties appear to
have got into a position where trucking
to the money power of the country is their
only hope of salvation. Official position
has, with few exceptions, become too
big thing for the official, or rather, the
man is not big enough for the office. The
party, as constituted, with its bosses
managers and office holders, while it may
move along serenely in ordinary times, is
scarcely equal to great national emergen-
cies. Its only remaining policy, at such
times, is to throw up its hands and call
loudly for help at the sacrifice of dignity
and strength, if not of party identity
Emergencies, which in the days of our
great statesmen (God save the mark);
would have been overcome by diplomatic
and statesmanlike methods without grea t
sacrifice are now overcome by selling out
to the highest bidder This weakness of
sthe body politic' is wholly due to the
narrow and selfish doctrine of making all
other interests subserve party interest
1t has drawn a class of men into office
and position as reward for party service,
without due regard to their ability as
public servants. What is true in detail is
true as a whole. What is universally true
in local matters is true in national
sense. Men who have kept ''the run of
politics. for the past thirty or forty years
cannot fail to have seen that the standard
of political preferment has been consid
erably lowered. There have been plenty
of men in the past, in both great parties. |