The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1903-01-16
THE RISE OF SOCIALISM.
The Startling Strength Of the Socialist
Party Recognized By Both RePubH-
cans and Democrats.

From LesIie's Weekly.
The rise Of socialism Is the most start
ling revelation which was made by the
recent congressional election. When
Eugene Y. Debs, the most magnetic
candidate which the socialist party ever
had, polled 5000 votes for president in
1900 the country was surprised Old re-
publican and democratic chieftians in
stantly saw that a new force had entered
into the politics of the country, with
which the two big parties would hence
forth have to reckon This judgment
receives a striking confirmation by the
fact that over 100000 votes were pOlled
for socialist candidates in the recent
canvass for congress, or five times as
many as Debs received two years ago,
after the most active presidential cam
ps1gn by the most eloquent and Pictur
esque Of socialism's leaders.
Socialism's great showing was not con
fined to any section of the country. It's
candidate for governor OF Massachusetts,
received $4,000 votes. In California,
Texas, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota,
Kentucky, Indiana and many other
states its vote for candidates for state
Offices or for congress went up to high
figures. Chicago cast 1900 socialist
votes and the proportion in Cleveland,
Toledo, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Gov
ington, Dayton and other towns in the
Mississippi valley was as large IS IN Chi
cago, and in some of them much larger
Naturally the socialists are much elated
at this great showing and they intend TO
have tickets in the state elections Of 1903
and to make a supreme effort in the
presidential canvass Of 1904.
All this has porteutious significance.
Socialism is here to stay, and its natur-
al ally is the democracy. When David
B. Hill put his coal naturalization plank
in the New York platform in the recent
canvass he saw the drift Of socialism and
made a bid for the socialist vote for his
party. He was only a little ahead Of
the democratic national convention of
1904 Socialism viii get into the demo
cratic national platform then, but not
enough of it can be accepted to divert
many votes from the regular socialist
ticket which viii be put up in that year.
The Cleveland, Shepard and Carlisle
section of the democracy will fight
against the invasion Of socialism IN the
convention of 1904, as that element did
against the incursiOn of pOpulism and
free silverism in 1896, but they viii
probably be beaten to a sufficient extent
to send many of them over to the repub-
Iican side as in that year and IN 1900.
There is not the faintest chance, how
ever, that the socialists will be satisfied
with anything that the democrats viii
dare offer them in that year
Josiah Quincy, the Massachusetts
democratic leader, said a year or two
ago that the democracy was naturally a
radical party and that it must grow pro-
gressively more and more radical in or
der to i've. Radicalism in Quincy's
state in the shape of socialism pOlled
over $4,000 votes in 1902, more than 400
600 votes in the whole country IN the
same election, and this is only the be-
ginning. The prospect is that triumph
ant radicalism, rejecting the concess-
ions which the democratic party will
make to it in 1904, viii have party of
its own in the field which will poll more
than 100000 votes which General Weav-
er. the pOpulist candidate Of 1892, re-
ceiYed. There is a disposition among
powerful element Of the people to draw
the lines between tho sO-called classes,
and If this issue comes squarely up
the stability of the republic viii be put
when the stars and stripes fell on Stump
ter