The sun., 1900-12-21
THAT OLD TIME DEMOCRACY

Ex-President Cleveland's diagnosis of
his party's condition is in harmony with
the precedents of it's history. 1t is either
non-progressive in its conservatism, or
revolutionary in its radicalism. AS we
recall the position of that party in the
days of its glory, its strength and pride
were all expressed in that word, "conser-
vative." 1t believed that under its CON
troll the United States has reached the
ultimate heights of a civilization in
which civil and religious liberty We're
recognized in and promoted and pro-
tected by the law, and that the future of
the human family depended upon the
maintenance of the conditions then exist
ing. Every thing that opposed the De
mocracy, or proposed change, was at
once condemned with the appellation of
''radicalism" The radicals" were the
bug bears of politics and religion. Out
of that conservatism the party has been
provoked or enticed by its defeats. Its
perate effort to catch on to some new
and stable idea. lii that effort it has
necessarily been in oposition to the Re
publican party, and its choice of issues
confined to what that party had either
| rejected as impracticable, or as worn
out by long use. In the matter of finance
it has approved and opposed the same
theories. 1t opposed the Republican
| financing of the Civil War and after
ward approved that theory in its green
back campaign. 1t opposed National
| banks, and advocated the State bank
theory and in nturnrepudiated these for free
coinage of silver. In the matter of Civil
Service it originated the spoils to the vic
tor theory and applied it through every
Democratic administration until the
revenue it has yacillated from free
power had APPARENTLY gone permanently
out of its hands. Then it advocated
| Civil Service reform. In the matter of
| trade to tariff to revenue and back again
so repeatedly that, it apparently has no
opinion upon that subject except to be in
opposition to the Republican party. 1t
was opposed to the income tax during the
Civil War, and advocated it, and enact
ed it into law, in the Wilson revenue
law. 1t was an expansion party as
long as there appeared to be new terri
| ,aI, n 4
dropped that theory to oppose the Re
publican party in the acquisition of Porto
Rico and the Philippines.
From ultra conservatism along the
road we have indicated, the Democratic
party has been gathering to itself all the
elements of unreasonable radicalsm that
have been developed in this country, and
is to-day rent in twain by a division be-
tween conservatism and radicalism that
cannot be bridged-there is no old time
Democratic principle that is at once long
enough, strong enough or elastic enough
to bind the two dominant elements of the
party together.
| turning from Tie hereSles OF Its radl-
calism toward its old time, and time
repudiated conservatism, it finds the
whole middle ground occupied by the
Republican party, forcing upon the
thoughtful members of the Democracy
the alternative Of advocating Repub-
lican theories and principles as
Democrats, or dropping the name to
become Republicans. This is why Mr..
Cleveland talks about "old time Demo
cratic principles" but avoids telling us
what he means by that phrase.