The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1899-10-31

ARE POLITICAL PARTIES UN.
NECESSARILY

Mayor Samuel N. Jones, of Toledo.
whose picturesque and successful cam
paign in that city has been often de
scribed and who is a candidate for
governor of Ohio, writes an article en-
titled, The Needlessness of Political
PARTIES" to prove that the salvation
OF u country rests with the indepen.
dent voter. 1t will be remembered
that the Golden Rule mayor" was
elected as an independent candidate
and that his nomination for governor,
filed a few days ago, has been made
by petition-the petition containing
the Scriptural measure of 80, 900 names
where only Is, 900 were required.
Mayor Jones, who writes in The Inde
pendent, argues that political parties
are not only unnecessary, but PERM
cious:
"Oae important essential to the ca
tablishment Of free government under
our system is the absolute destruction
OF party machines, and there is one
way to accomplish this that is easily
within the reach of workingmen OF this
country, and that is through entirely
independent political action.
zine great political parties in this
country have been without a moral
issue for the last quarter of a century.
They do not differ in their moral
purposes. One is as bad as the other,
and both are against the best interests
of the greatest humber. They are
greedy for spoils and plumber. They
do not care for social conditions. They
do not seek to improve society. They
foster nothing SO much as place getting.
There is a constant evasion of real
issues in the platforms and in the reso.
buttons Of public assemblages. No
mention is made Of the appalling o
dition OF distress which exists among
the masses in our cities. Not a word
is said about the throngs OF unem-
ployed men and women, who are tramp
log the w~ell-beaten road of beggarry
and crime. Everywhere in the public
u~tterances of party leaders we hear a
soothing and pleasant optimism that 10
wholly uusup ported by the facts Ct
our every day life 1890.
the only way to prevent bossism
is to cultivate the spirit of indepen-
in every voter. As long as men
say My party, right or wrong poll
tIcs will be controlled by bosses. Even
the small Socialist Party which exists
in q few cities is as much troubled by
bossism as any other, because it lays
more emphasis On adherence to party
than on devotion to principle The in
dependent vote is the fac sor that is al
ways feared by the selfish business
man and the politician; it is through
independent action in our politics that
we are to make progress. Very little
can be done done by changing parties,
or organizing new ones, until the COM
mon conception of life is elevated.
So long as the party idea dominates
us, and our chief endeavor is to got
our men in and other men out, every
eleltion will be a source OF disappoiEt-
ment. AS for an independent party,
the history of the nation is crowded
thick with such attempts. About for
ty such organizations have sprung into
being, with a result Of almost invari
able failure. We must conceive of
poll les as the science of doing good
through government, and then ma
chine politics will become as extinct az
chattel slavery. When men AVE 30
divorced themselves from party tctl-
ty tia they are ready to ally them
selves at any time in free efsociations,
for the pur o )se of supporting a prInci
pIe, Just as the soldiers of a volunte r
army enlist for campaign, and on igs
p N cI1sinn are mustered out and so