Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1903-12-10
A CRAZY QUILT PROGRAMME FOR THE
CAMPAIGN OF 1904.

Effort to AmaIgamnte the Incapable,
the ThriftIess, the Despondent and
the Revolutionary Against the
Party of Prosper rity and Patriotism.
The Democracy is determined that
the issues of the next national cam
paign shall be those of the capable
against the incapable, the thrifty
against the wasteful, the Industrious
against the idle, the reasonable against
the unreasonable, the hopeful against
the despondent, the people of the coun-
try against the people of the cities, cap
ital against labor, class against class,
and in the contest which it thus seeks
Il great portion of the Democratic press
already proclaims the party the cham
pion of unreason. discomfort and de-
spair. While this has the outward ap-
pearance of campaign of generous
emotion it in reality is based on as cold
blooded statistical figuring as was ever
made by the rankest political dema-
gogue. The reasoning is something like
this: For any attack on organized So
ciety there can always be counted the
votes of the vicious, the criminals, the
cranks, the anarchists and the social
ists. While these have no possible
point of agreement as between them
selves, they are always ready to join
in any attack on constituted society.
Among them these classes can deliver
a very substantial block of votes which
the radical Democracy can count on as
Il foundation upon which to wage
campaign of hate. To those votes, con-
sidered sure the Democratic statisti-
clans proceed to add the Democrats,
the union worllingmen and the free
silver followers of Bryan. The column
foots up a satisfactory majority which
seems to assure Democratic possession
Of the offices, which is to be the only
genuine object of the campaign.
As n matter of fact the figures are
illusory. To begin with, the Demo
cratic votes cannot be delivered for
such q programme There are certain
principles and doctrines which since
tie days. of Thomas Jefferson have re-
ceiYCd the name Of Democratic" They
are held and maintained by a great
number of American citizens as sound
principles and profitable doctrines.
These people, however mistaken, are
not anarchists and not socialists, and
while they would by no means he
avcrse to a hodgepodge platform to
catch the hodgepodge vote, they would
assist in such campaign only under
conditions which, in case of success,
should assure absolute control to the
old line Democrats. If the control was
to rest with the Bryanite wing, they
would bolt the ticket en- masse. An
other miscalculation is in regard to the
union workmen. The calculation as
sumes that union workmen are void of
intelligence, which is as gross a mis-
conception as could be entertained. 1t
is true that socialism is getting a strong
hold on many of the unions, and 1t is
also true that socialists as class are
intelligent and would, as socialists. but
not as union men. join any attack on
society, expecting to profit as the re
suit of an upheaval. But the artisans
who are not socialists would no more
support ticket pledged to class war
fare than the regular Democrats, Nci-
ther could Bryan hold his bucolic sup
porters, who are more soidly opposed
to union labor than the most grasping
monopolists on earth. And as for farm
ers and substantial citizens generally,
nothing would suit them better than Il
square vote on the issues of stability,
order and prosperity as opposed to un-
certainty, disorder and calamity And
the quicker and clearer this issue is
made up the better-San Francisco
Chronicle