The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-01-08


served in cOmmemOration of Jackson's
victory over Packingham at New Or
leans, a month after articles of peace
had been signed by our ENJOYS, has
come to be observed by Democrats as
commemorative of the Democracy of
Jackson. with whom they are wont to
associate Jefferson as an equal. To-
night around many banquet boards
Democrats will gather to drink from
the public life of the sturdy if irascibIe
old hero fresh inspiration in the prin-
ciples Of their historic party. 1t is a
curious transformation this of Jack
son. the soldier, quick to anger and
fierce in it, headstrong, dictatoriaI.
personal governor. instead Of an exec
utive head, coolly ignoring the co-ordi-
nate branches when they differed with
him, into an ideal Democrat of the
model Of Jefferson. He has undergone
that TRANSPORTATION which eliminates
the merely human attributes and leaves
only the heroic, which time brings to
those who have been eminent.
No one who has fanliliarized himself
at all with the current history of the
years preceding Jackson's elevation to
the presidency can find in them or
among the public men anything to indi-
cate that the two hostile ideas of gov
eminent and its functions were sharply
defined. The lines drawn by Jefferson
and Hamilton had become almost en-
tIrely obscured. So nebulous were
their hostile conceptions of government
that political parties had we'll nigh
merged into one, with merely personal
factions to divide them, a condition in
dlcated by the EZRA Of good feeling of
Monroe's administration. Jackson in
the senate voting for protective tar
Ills was a conspicuous instance of this
observation of Democracy. Even when
the lines of division began later to run
on questions of the rightful use of con-
Sressional power, a division following
Jackson's elevation to the presidency.
We find the Jackson faction of the Re
pubHcans, as Democrats were called
faEoring the use Of the taxing power to
foster industrial enterprises, with the
Calhoun element denying that power as
unconstitutional
But the latent Democracy in Jackson
developed rapidly during his incum-
bency, partly due to the educational
influences Of the office, with it's daily
illustrations Of the sociaIistic tendency
in the efforts of individuals to use the
government for their private adyan-
tage; but more largely due. we suspect
TO his association with that great
Democrat, who is but now slowly
emerging from the undeserved odi11m
cast upon him, his secretary, vice pres
Ident and successor, Van Buren,. IF is
due to this development that we find
jackson laying down principles of tax
alton in his farewell address that are
fundamentally Democratic, however
much they may contradict his own
prior record. We find him warning his
cOuntrymen against the constant ef-
forts to induce the government to go
beyond the limits Of its taxing DOW
er, by powerful interests, continua1Iv
at work to procure heavy duties on
commerce and to swell the revenues
beyond the real necessities of the pub
lie service" These interests had then
succeeded in procuring a tariff of du-
ties bearing most oppressiveIy upon
the agricultural and laboring classes of
society, producing a revenue that could
not be usefully employed within the
range of the powers conferred upon
congress, and, in order to fasten upon
the people this unjust and UNEQUAL svs-
tenn Of taxation, eXtravagant schemes
Of internal improvement were got I'D in
various quarters to squander the money
and purchase support"
One can almost imagine Jackson
writing today a farewell address to
the Fifty-fourth congress and the coun-
try. SO aptly do his warnings apply to
present conditions. Whatever criticism
may be justly made of the Democracy
of Jackson prior to his second term. il
was unimpeachable then and after. 1t
was the true Democrat that spoke in
his farewell address, and the Democ-
racy of 1892 but repeated his words
VIXEN 1t denounced the use of the tax