The Washington times., 1901-09-12
Government by Party.


Government by Party
Prof. Goldwin Smith seems to think
that government by parties is a failure
He cannot see the logic or the wisdom
of the people of a country lining up III
two great political organizations. soild-
ly pitted against each other upon ques-
tions of national policy. In this ne Is
referring more especially to conditions
in England. but the idea applies equally
to our own country wherein the people
have generally been divided in much
the same way.
A man ike Prof. Smith. who is CON
stantly looking for the highest ldeais'
might very easily reach the CONCLUSION
tLat government by means OF party or
ganizatiops is so full OF defects as TO
merit unqualified condemnation. still,
he fails to point out where any better
method has yet appeared. He suggests
that in Germany, France. and ltaly
| parties have been completely lmpotent,
and it has been mainly because they
| have been so numerous in each country
| that no party has possessed the
requisite power to formulate and carry
| out a national policy.
In Great Britain and the United
| States there have been rather excep-
! tional reasons for the party DIVISIONS
| referred 10. Both Governments are
largely representative in character
Therefore. the party which represents
a ma ajority of the people can supstah-
TALLY shape the course Of the Govern
| ment From this comes the very nat
ural desire of the electors to form po-
litical organizations strong enough TO
| accomplish something. To TINS emu
| minor differences have been Ignored,
and the voters have aligned themselves
| according to their views upon What
| they have deemed to be the most I'M
portant issues with which the country
| has found it necessary to deal. TnlS
has been comparatively easy for the
reason that generally some one great
question of overshadowing Importance
has loomed up on the political horizon
Sometimes there have been more thail
one, but close analyses will show that
they have usually been allied in princi-
pie.
II with the adoption of the Federal
Constitution the American people hao
broken up into a half dozen factions
and had remained so divided, the Re
public would have had no clearly de-
fined national policy to this day upor
the questions that were uppermost II
the public mind The whole scheme OF
government was a new one. and mos
, of the problems to be solved We're als'
/ s 1T tah q
as Jefferson and Hamilton and Madison
and Adams, naturally grouped them
| selves into two bodies, and the masse:
of the people instinctively did the same
, | To saw that tie result has satisfied tn
/, highest aspirations of the political phi
, ! losopher would be going entirely to-
far. but to assert that the outcome ha
not been measurably successful woui'
, be narrow and unreasonable.
Absolute perfection in government
has never yet been attained. and prob
ably never will be: but it certainly
, hard to see how government by factlon
a is preferable to government by parties
:, The former makes the government of
!, country along well-defined and pre-de
termined lines of policy impossible
g When the factions get together in legis
= lative assemblies the situation is almos
a chaotic. and what takes place in
) law-making way is usually the outcom
of the most unnatural combinations an
O absurd compromises. This may do /
: a measure where the Government is
s monarchy. with considerable powe
&c lodged in the Crown. or where the po
io icy of the Government is weil-estat
Al lished in a general way and the diffei
"a ences are chiefly upon minor point
" But in the United States everythin
a connected with our national polity ha
ia related to matters that may be terme
= formative The country was CROWN
Y rapidly. new States were being admit
ted, industrial development was takin
# place on a gigantic scale, the Govern
: ment was complex in its nature, an
Y the problems presented were beyond Il
% reach of any party so weak as to I
: merely factional in character.