Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1898-07-14
A New Era.

These are troublOus times for poll
ticians built along the lines of twenty
five years ago. The roar of Dewey's
guns in Manila harbor was the death
knell of sectional strife and hatred
which had divided the country for over
a quarter of a century. and which had
been effective in making party lines
| hard and fast. Politicians of this
| class had never dreamed that the par
ty machine in the hands of trium-
plant administration could be over
thrown by any power within the party
| organization. Il never occurred to
them that party principles. an abiding
! faith in which on the part of the rank
and file make party organization pos
sible. and a party machine effective,
would prove stronger than the machine
alone. Cleveland, Carlisle, Whitney,
Waterson, Villas and others were daZ-
ed when they found themselves help
less and their machine dashed to
pieces by the rank and file of the par
ty they had attempted to betray. OBJ
livious to the fac: that the day of
miracles is over, they are still engaged
in abortive attempts to raise Grover
Cleveland from the dead.
Sectional hate no longer permits
these people to use the Democratic or
ganization to forward their schemes
of private gain or personal aggrandize-
ment. To their surprise they find they
have no following and no influence in
the party they once thought they
owned. Their leadership has been
i permanently discredited, and other
men have been entrusted by the party
to accomplish the work they refused
to do. They hope to defeat the Dem
ocratic party, and through that defeat
to regain their old-time ascendency in
the party's councils. They expect the
present war to divert attention from
domestic concerns and to put out of
sight all questions affecting the gov
ernment's control by the plutocracy.
They hope in the general turmoil that
Silver, Tariff, National Banks, and the
Usurpation of the Federal Judiciary,
will be lost sight of.
Their hopes are doomed TO disap-
pointment. The war may draw atten-
ton from home affairs for time; the
Democratic party will continue to re-
fuse to hamper the administration in
the conduct of the war in any way; but
when the war is over the pressure that
brought the financial question to the
front in 1896 will force it to the front
again. There will be no bitter Sec
tIonal hatred, such as was engendered
by the civil war, to obscure the issues
of peace. So long as the piutocratic
financial policy Expresses the people,
so long will that policy be an issue in
our politics, though the money power
should double on its track never so
much. The more it endeavors to con-
ceal itself behind the smoke of battle,
the more certain and speedy will be
the day of reckoning.
Suppose the recalcitrants of 1896
should control the next Democratic
national convention; suppose they
should strike from the Chicago plat
form all that gave it life; suppose they
should succeed in making the hands
go back on the dial plate-whom could
they elect? How many Democrats
would follow them? Suppose these
men should adopt the Chicago plat
form, who would have confidence in
their good faith? Any attempt to
put in the lead the band of traitors who
followed Cleveland in betraying the
party should be resisted; no one will
follow their leadership. The worst
thing that could happen to the party
| would be victory under such leader
ship. There is. however, no danger
of this. Victory under such circum-
stances is impossible. Impossible,
even if the Republican party, their
natural ally, should assist them. In
freeing itself from them the Democrat
ic party frees itself from plutocratic
control.
tlY nnd nrr,rr NnH1nnn -