The Washington weekly post., 1900-11-27
Reforming the "HIrea Men. .

Reforming the Hired Men,"
THE Chicago Chronicle, which played In
the Republican back yard in isss. and re-
luetantly eonscrted with the various con-
tingents OF the Bryan aggregation IN this
years campaign. is engaged in a great
work II is trying 10 reorganize the DEM
oeratic party, evidently thinking that the
occasion demands Dispatch The instru-
raent on which the Chronicle chiefly relies
in its heroic endeavor is the bull whip.
Flagellation ls its method Of ratiocination
Naturally that style Of argument pro-
vokes resentment When the managers
OF the combine-the gentlemen who have
been at the fore through two great, but
disastrous eampaigns-feel the lash they
venture protest and are not always
careful to use courteous terms. But the
Chronicle knows how to squelch insubordi-
nation 1t speaks of those managers as
some Of the hired men who have been
employed about the various Democratic
headquarters.- II says they profess great
| surprise that anybody not PopulIst or
Socialist should presume to intimate
that the present management of the Dem
ocratic party can be improved upon" The
Chronicle, not content with calling the
official brethren hired men," goes on to
speak Of them as "the servants of the
house" 1t says that the people who have
been hired to work at Democratic head
quarters Of late have not been Demo
Gratis, nor have they represented Demo-
Gratis; that they have embraced all the
'isms" from Populism to anarchism; that
they have come from the far West and
from the far South; that they have had
as associates from the North and East
a few Socialists and ether dreamers and
schemers, but 1t asserts as literally true
| that Northern Democrats and Northern
Democratic ideas have had no place in
the headquarters of a party which, it
claims, finds three-fourths of its voters
in the Northern States.
We are not prepared to say that the
Chronicle has not managed TO get q good
deal of truth into its Indictment. That
depends much on what is Democratic II
that which the party puts into it's quad-
rennial declaration of faith and policy is
Democratic, the Chronicle is in error
But If the minority in the Chicago con-
vention Of 1896 represented true Democ-
racy. and the majority stood for and pro-
claimed heresy, the Chronicle is right.
Would It be Democratic for the minority
to rule?
That the Democracy of the North and
East shall take control of the party is the
demand of the Chronicle, and those hired
men sneer at it" Now, it is true that the
bulk of the Democratic vote Is in the
North and East: but where are the Dem
ocratic States in those sections? Where
do you find Democratic Presidential elect
ors Senators, Representatives in Congress.
and State officials? What is the use of
Democratic votes that do not elect any
body? And what reason is there TO be-
lieve that Northern scarifcation of the
South and the few far Western States
that vote with the South will strengthen
the party anywhere? But the most
pungent parts of the Chronicles essay re-
illfi4A W pC HOllCCu WHAT II Sdy
to the Western brethren:
'What is called Democracy in the far West is
in point OF fact discredited and mongrel Repub-
Icansm 1t is ever at war with progress. It is
ignorant and immoral in It's financial theories It
is paternalstie 20 the last degree. 1t is committed
to all the economic errors Of Republicanlsm and TO
many others besides. II is violent in its methods
II is sectiOnalistie. II despises genuine Democ-
racy"
And here is it's glowing tribute to the
solid, ever-reliable South:
what is called Democracy in the South is
merely aggregation of white men Intent upon
anothing in particular except keep black men out
Of local and State Offices. Everything else gives
way to that. There is no interest of the national
Democracy, matter how precious, which it will
not lightly sacrifice to gain the one vital point of
white supremacy in LEGAL government. around
/ which 1t is organized"
| Would II not be better to let time get In
! its work for few years-say till 1902-be-
! fore pushing any plan of reorganization?
And would not milder methods be more
efficaclous than the bull whip?