The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-06-05
Congress. and It's Work.


The first session of the Fifty-sixth Con
; gress closes just as the national mind /
! getting keyed up to its quadrennial stat
of hystesia over the Presidential election
The one event is so closely allied TO tn
other, at least chrono.ogically. that Noes
sarily there is an impingcmert of relations
What effect. then. will the proceeding
of Congress have upon the national mine
that will soon be eager for light on thu
great questions that divide the two politi
cal organizations which for more thar
thirty years have been fighting for TIL
in opposition advanced its line SO close t
| the entertainments of the party in powel
that with one supreme effort-one bold
spirited charge, the enemy can be routed
| and his works captured?
! In q word, is the Democratic party. a:
! the vigor OF its representatives in Con.
gress. better prepared to enter the cam
| paign today than 1t would hav. been Il
there had been no Democrat in ethel
| House or Senate? To put this pertinent
| question in another form, what account OF
their stewardship can the Democratic
\ leaders give to the national Democracy
/ when the party militant takes the field
| this summer under the direction of its
| vigorous, jealous, and skilled field mar
| shall. William Jennings Bryan?
That the Republicans have piled tactical
| political blunder upon tactical political
| blunder during the six months session Of
Congress is admitted in the confidence of
private conversation even by their lead
| ers. But that these blunders have not
been taken advantage of by the Demo-
Gratis in Congress is also the subject OF
graduation among the Republican leaders.
True It is that there have been partisan
debates in both branches of Congress in
plenty. True it is that in their oratory
and their votes the Democrats have
shown that the issues between De-
mocracy and Republicanism are the
same issues that from the beginning
have divided the parties and which are
contained in the one great issue of spe-
cial privileges as opposed to equal oppor-
tunities. But can it be claimed that the
Democrats have clearly demonstrated to
that large element OF Independent voters
who hold the balance of power between
the parties that this old issue in a new
form is what divides Democracy from
Republiranism in the doubt. the hesi-,
fancy. the uncertainty which the nation
feels In the presence of its tremendous
new responsibilities as a world power in
the fullest and freest meaning of that
term, If the oratory and the votes of
ing the past six months have accom-
plished this much. then the party can
hope to marshal its full strength in the
field this summer and autumn and call
to its aid new allies without the DANGER
Gus necessity Of enticing recruits and
holding old followers in line by Offering
superior inducements after the battle has
opened
Senator Teller of Colorado. one O. the
founders of the Republican party. stated
the case stccinctly last Friday on the floor
Of the Senate, thus: II want to say that
II the crooked work of the Republican party
In power could only be made known and
shown up to the people, We could upset
this Administration in an hour" There is
\ frank. unadorned statement of fact in
this assertion. There is also in i. an in
dictment Of inefiiciency against the leader
ship Of the Democracy in Congress. In
deed. there is a ring OF pathos in the
bold utterance. 1t signifies that
there Is doubt that the country can be
brought to a realization at the proper time
Of the necessity for a change in the AZ
of the Government and that
II this proves to be true the fault mainly
will lie at the door of the Democratic
household. There has been no organized
effort among the Democrats in Congress to
utilize 10 the fullest possible advantage
the mistakes made by the Republicans-in.
deed. We are far within the bounds of cor
rect statement when-we say that there has |
been no close and cautious cooperation. no |
vigflant. determined. and resourceful lead |
ership. no cohesive bond of direct purpose |
On the Democratic side of either branch |
Of Congress. Whose fault this is 1t Is
neither our province nor our wish to say.
The facts speak for themselves. and can
not be blinked out Of existence by the
short sighted for the delectation of the
blind nor denied by the inefficient for tn.
OF the FOOLS
We venture to assert that out of the
single question OF the administration of our
1ew insular possessions there could har.
,een evolved by Randall. Carlisle,
Bland. Morrison. a Mills, Bayard, Or
l German. II you please-campaign ma
erial OF sufficient clearness and compre-
,ensiveness to have swept the Republican
,arty from power. In the Philippines there
las been erected a hermaphroditic govern
nent that is neither republican nor imperial,
neither nsh nor fowl. but an abortive thing
hat suits the purposes of the special in
erests upon which the Republican man.
gers rely for success at the polls in No
rember. In Porto Rico there has been set
lp an imperial government, which makes