Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-03-24
HENRY WATTERSON WRITES
ON CAMPAIGN OF 1904.
-terson in Louisville Courier

(ftenry NatteTSOn In LOu1SN1lle courier
Journal)
WASHINGTON, d. c., March Ito a
hayseed like myself, who comes to WASH
ington to pick up a little information and
polish, the outlook is discouraging. Chaos!
Everywhere! In society, which has not
quite recovered it's equipoise though the
prince has been gone a fortnight In poll
tics, where a bronco buster in the white
house is making fingers and thumbs of
things, so that no man can foretell what
next"
In the face of such limitations, 1 am
going to write not as If 1 were writing for
publication, but as might talk to a group
of neighbors and friends ranged about my
own fireside. It is so hard to get at the
truth, even when one honestly seeks it..
49,
There is but one thing that at this mo-
ment stands out bold and clear upon the
horizon of the national capital before the
eyes of all intelligent men. That is that
the democratic party has in front of it
great opportunity If it but knows how to
improve it. For the first time these thirty
years II is the republicans who are at sea.
Their boat may not have yet sprung
leak. Both compass ana rudder may be
still intact. But there are two pilots
aboard and rocks ahead.
FACTIONS AND FACTIONISMS.
In 1.-THE first place. on the republican side,
the situation revolves about the success
sion. 1t is Teddy and "anti-Teddy."
Little of this yet appears above the sur
face. Both factions are out in submarine
boats, but these are loaded with explo-
sives Observe that sleek, smooth-shaven
gentleman crossing the rotunda between
the house and the senate. His step is
light, jaunty, even springy. Not a cloud
across his brow, not care in his eye.
You might take him for a prosperous pro-
fessor and so he is, of the shoals and
depths of party management. for that is
the chairman of the Republican National
committee, the junior senator from Ohio,
Mr.. Hanna-Mr. Mark A. Hanna-and
don't let 1t escape your memory. He is
Field Marshal of the Old Guard, Past
Grand Master of Mckinley Lodge, knights
of the American Protective System and
Dean of the Ancient Order OF Robber
Barons.
He, with Senator Fairbanks, of Indiana,
for a good second, is easily the leader Of
those reasonable elements OF the republic
can party who reject the autocracy set
up by the man on horseback at the other
end Of the avenue. Senator Hanna and
Senator Fairbanks and those behind them
do not intend to indicate either their pow
er or their rights. They refuse to stand
and deliver. They do not want to repeat
the mistake the republicans made in 1884
when they turned Arthur down. But if
they can help it, neither do they intend
to place themselves in the hole where
Cleveland placed the democrats during the
years between 1893 and 1897. They may
agree finally to Mr.. Roosevelt's ,nomina-
tion in 1904 But he must. as the saying
is, behave himself"
The president is in many ways a dis
ciple of Grover Cleveland after Mr.. Cleve-
lands own heart. He brooks no rival is
impatient Of opposition. There are those,
indeed, who doubt his sanity. yet is he.
after his kind and fashion, a politician of
no mean pretensions.
Gradually, but surely has he been weed
ing out the distinctively Mckinley element
from the cabinet. In the fulness of time
they will all go. He Is filing each vacated
post with a practical politician made in
the Roosevelt image-that is to say, with
a politician who knows how to work the
civil service racket for all it is worth.
Bronco buster though he be, there is a
method In his bronco busting. Mindful of
the fate of John Tyler and Andrew John
son. he draws the line about where Grover
Cleveland left IL. That he is a clean,
honest man Of good impulses and the best
intentions should go without saying. but
he is an inconsiderate man, combative and
aggressive. and, while much heartier and
more genial than Mr.. Cleveland less cold
ly reserved and selfishly resolute. Mr..
Cleveland made no mistakes, at least IN
padding his own canoe. He had a nose
for his particular interest. He generally
got there" 1t remains to be seen wheth-
er Mr.. Roosevelt can duplicate the pecu-
liar tactics of Mr.. Cleveland.
There is Mr. Fox German. And again,
there is Mr.. Fox Hill. But as sure as
either offers to furnish the needful patch
IT, IT.
against his foxship; declares MIN no fox
at all. but only gray wolf of a Republi-
can in disguise.
We need not impugn the honesty OF, the
critics of this description to doubt their
wisdom. Their idea of party warfare is
to meet every Republican assertion with
an indiscriminate denial or a vehement
denunciation. They would make the dis
lance between the two parties so great
as to place them out of sight and range,
and, even at that rate, they would seem
to prefer for their weapons bows and ar
rows to powder and bail. Meanwhile. it
Is as true now as ever it was that polit-
zeal battles are gained chiefly on one or
two simple issues plainly stated and visi-
BILE to the naked eye, driving home to the
actual business and bosoms Of men, nor
ever departing very far from the high
ways of public affairs, government itself
being largely an affair of compromises.
Disappointed as many Democrats were
In Mr.. Observation-Disclosures in his sec
ond administration, from which they
hoped so much-can any thoughtful Dem
ocrat say that he did not gain something
from his elevation to the presidency?
The south once more became a working
part of the government The Republican
party was checked in its reckless disre-
gard of consequences. The voters were
given a sight OF the books. The politi-
clans were made to understand that the
people still rule. Was all this nothing?
Now, If, with the load they have to car
ry the Republicans win in 1904 because Of
our insuficieney they will not go out I'M
til the corruptions and discussions newt
able to long dominancy drive them out at
the end of something like a revolution.
They are likely to remain in power for
a generation at least. Suppose we cannot
get all that the most ultra-Democrats
want in 1901; suppose we cannot reunite
the party on any radical assertion of mere
doctrinal politics. is it not worth the
while of conscientious and thinking men
to stay the tide of absolutism which is
stealing upon the administration of every
department of the public service in its
present hands, to get at the truth of what
is. going on in the Philippines, and estab-
lish a vantage ground for such changes of
policy as the good sense and good feeling
of the people may decide after we have
taken stock. as it were, and know just
where we stand?
In Mr.. Payne and Mr.. Root he has two