Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1902-10-02
THE POLITICAL PENDULUM

History, in politics, repeats itself with
becoming regularity, and unless all signs
fail, the country is OH the eve OF the
greatest swing of that pendulum since
1850. In that year such attention had
been drawn to the evils of slavery that
the democratic party long controlled
by slave holding oligarchy-- that it
split into three wings and permitted the
ELECTION of Lincoln, the candidate OF the
minority party.
In the past forty years new oigarchy
has obtained supreme control OF the
party of Lincoln, and today menaces the
STABILITY OF the nation, whose people they
are permitted by pernicious laws of their
own making to fleece at will. Occasion
ally now, as in the SOS, statesman
sounds a note of warning to his party,
but is silenced, as was Congressman
. .Babcock, a lrelegated by the powerful
~oligarchy to back seat.
To the political student. the repub.
: lican state platforms of Iowa and Idaho
stand for more than mere campaign talk.
They reveal the fact that the great mid
, die West and Pacific Slope have tired Of
rsupporting policy that, while enrich
ing few captains of industry" on the
Atlantic coast robs everybody else. The
swing of the pendulum may not be full
this year, but, if not, and the present
policies of the republican party endure.
the force of the rebound in 1904 will
etagger the gang that thinks it owns the
earth and the fullness thereof, as badly
as the old slaveholding crowd were stun
ned by the result in 1860.
In this state, too, the g. O. p. scarcely
knows "where it is at" In its state
convention it eulogized and renominated
the men for congress who are noted for
opposing the administration in its chief
measure, although throwing few wordy
boquets at President Roosevelt in the
same platform that pats the insurgent
congressman on the back. 1t is no Won
der then, that, the thinking republican
is disposed to wonder which branch of
the party he belongs to-if the party
belonged to him he would be tempted to
give it away.
In Chehalis county the pendulum
promises to swing back to where it left
two years ago, and there again history
repeats itself. IL the spring of 1900 the
possibility OF carrying this county by the
republicans was something the most
eanguine OF that party did not dream Of.
The almost certainty of democratic sue
cess attracted the political parasites in
such number as, with packed caucuses
and conventions, disguised the honest
party men, and the ticket went down to
defeat.
Instead OF being warned by this re-
-pudiation at the polls OF that class OF
work, our republican friends started in
this year in almost the same indentical
manner. Months before All election was
called, emisarries of Levi Ankeny were
patrolling the county, setting up pins to
capture the convention for the Walla
Walla money bag How we'll they sue.
ceeded it a matter Of history. At the
nominating convention the idea appear
ed to prevail that "any old thing" that
got on the ticket was sure Of election
with the usual result.
Three months ago the election of a
democrat in this county seemed hope.
less, yet today the prospects are eXcell-
ent for the election of majority, if not
all the ticket, and for indentically the
same reason the republican ticket won
two years ago-the grafters failed to
reckon with the ''independent voter"
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