The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-01-02
The Decline of Southern Statesman
 ship.

Editorial in Jackson (Miss.) Evening
 News of Dec. g.
 In the early days of the Republic, and down to the time when the Southern men seeded from the Charleston Convention, Southern statesmanship nodded the poli- ices and controlled the destinies of the nation.
 All of the vast and princely territorial acquisitions that make the United States one of the great world powers came under the auspices of Southern statesmanship. Florida, the Louisiana Purchase, the ac- quisltion from Mexico and the annexa- tion of Texas, all were accomplished under the national administration of Southern Presidents.
 Florida was purchased from Spain dur ing the administration of President James Monroe, of Virginia. The great Louisiana Purchase was accomplished by the illus trious Thomas Jefferson, also of Virginia. The treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo with Mexico was made during the administra- ton of James K. Polk, of Tennessee, by which princely territorial concessions were made to the United States, and finally the Republic of Texas was an- nexed during the administration of James K. Polk.
 In those days the men of the South were @ power in the councils of the na- tion. They sat in the high places, and in lofty spirit of patriotism they laid the foundation for the future progress and development and power of the re- public.
 All of this has changed since the Civil War, until for the past eight years the Southern men have permitted themselves to be placed under the leadership of a mountebank and political agitator, and they have subscribed to political doctrines that represent the very worst things in American politics.
 The Democratic party dwindled away until its political power Is circumscribed Co the limits of the Southern States, xxyith IoPf fr VNo many.
 This is all the more remarkable for the fact that this position of the Southern men Is one of their own deliberate choos- ing. They embraced Bryanfsm with en- thusiasm, and they have held on to it with a singular and fervid tenacity. Every thing was thrown away in 1856, in the wild hope of getting the votes of the prole- rariat,, and with that made venture and It's collapse before their eyes, they re- peated the same foolhardy policy in 1900.
 With out leadership and without a plat form, the Southern men have adopted the guerrilla tactics of fighting everything, good, bad and indifferent, that is pro- posed by the government.
 Whenever the Southern men choose to recover their prestige in national politics they can, unquestionably, re-establlsh themselves in the confidence and respect of the country by placing themselves In accord with broad and patriotic principles and policies, and by abandoning and re- pudiating the narrow and reationary doctrines that have characterized the utterances of the party since the Chicago Convention of 1896, that are favored with socialism, that are suggestive of anarchy, and that represent the essence of populit- Ism In government.
 Bushwhacking and guerrilla tactics will never win a presidential election. The Democratic party should soliotfy Itself in mass, and make fight along the whole line, under the auspices of broad-gAuge leadership, and under the auspices Of sound and patriotic principles.
 The opportunity Is suspicious. The present Republican President does not en- Joy the full confidence of the great con- servative business interests of the coun- try, and he Is regarded as cratic ana eccentric, unquestionably as highly tm- pulsive, and for that reason uncertain.
 There are two national questions wait ing the advocacy of national party; one is remedial legislation against the trusts, and the other is an equitable revision of the tariff, based, not on free trade ideas, but on a fair and conservative treatment lHof American interests. On this platform, with Grover Cleveland as the candidate, the Democratic party ought to defeat the Republicans, if the present presidential incumbent Is the Republican nominee;
 The Southern men have the power in the party to declare this sort of platform and to nominate MT. Cleveland, though at present there is unfortunately nothing to | indicate that they will take such course, but, on the contrary, everything indicates continued disintegration and guerrilla | tactics against the panty fin power. One of the strangest and most inex- \ plicable things in the politics of the South | Is the sentiment of political enmtty that the Southern men in politics entertain for Mir. Clveeland. It is unreasoning and | without Justification. Mir. Cleveland has made the noblest defense of the white ! men of the South on the racial question | that was ever made by a Northern man | During his two terms he was generouE in hiA appointment of Southern men to once. He nlled his Cabinet with them.