The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-06-08

Next Wednesday Democratic state
convention will assemble to nominate.
candidates for several state offices and
to adopt the issues upon which the
rarity will conduct the campaign. The
result at the POLLS will be materially
affected by what the convention may
Go, both in the matter of selecting can
didates, especially the one for gov
error, and by what it may present as
the leading issue. The party is not
without the light of the lamp of eXpe-
rience to guide it now On the verge
of action it is fitting that what that
light reveals be considered.
When and undar what circumstances
was the state party the stronger and
gaining strength? 1t was not until the
national party was the advocate of
great cause with bass in morals that
the state party had more than the most
perfunctory of existences 1t. was only
after 1883 that it ceased to be on the
defensive and assumed the offensive.
1t offered a definite policy. and asked
support of it because lit was right III
the campaign of 1890 with a leader
who stood for the principles of the
the party came nearer victory than it
has come before or since.
With the treacherous betrayal Of that
cause by venal representative came
disbursement and diSorganization
| That and the panic gave the opportu-
nists of the party their day; men who
wanted success for it's own sake and
not for the principles of government
that might be given trial in practice.
The discouraged mass listened to them.
A party that knows not Democracy,
whose principles antagonize it, offered
alliance. Democrats made jettiSon
of principle to gain an ally.
They accepted socialistic doc
times because it promised victory.
They ignored grave matters Of state to
fieht a battle on national lines. Can
they look back on the outcome and say
that the results justified the abandon
inert CT Democratic principles? Does
not their experience teach them that
the state party was never so strong,
never so vigorous, as when it stood for
Democracy under Democratic leader
ship? Did fusion Pay?
In the last campaign man was Sc
iected for the candidate for governor
who, on the stump, declared that he
was as much a Republican as ever
Thousands of Democrats voted for him
in spite Of the repulSion Of that declara-
ton More thousands Of Republicans
voted for him because Of the fiagrant
reputation of the man whom the ma
chine had fosted on the party. There
was practically complete fusion. Since
1855 the Republicans had been a mi
ncrity party. Could the opposition be
unified, it would be victorious. This
was the plausible reasoning. What was
the result? Aside from the unpopular
head of the ticket the Republican ma
jority was about 25 900. The Republic
an candidate for governor was lo,Ooo
votes behind his lieutenant governor,
and the fusion candidate for governor
received some $4,000 more votes than
his second. The sacrifice was unavail-
Ing.
Is it not time to reform the lines, to
resume Democracy, to abjure entan>
Cling alliances, to take up, on. the ma
tional field, issues on which victories
were won, and oppose to the state So
cialism of the Republicans the indi-
vidualism of Democracy? We may not
win Offices this year by doing it, but we
will avoid the hurt of futile coalitions
made merely to get offices, not the
least hurt of which is the enduring de-
moralization that follows. If the Dem
ocrats who assemble next week take
counsel of experience, that is what they
will do, and in doing it they will lay
the foundations for future growth and