Idaho Springs siftings., 1904-09-17
Professions and Promises
Compared with Its
Performances.
vERlTABLE CALAMITY PARTY
Breaches the Gospel Of Discomfort and
Wastes Time in 0bsirueting Wise
and Beneiicent Republican
III Policies.

oaSressman J. Adam Bede tells OF
Ufeting n typical member OF the party
81 promises and calamity howlers. The
Dtmocrat had just come out Of n saloon
When he told Bede he had been buying
ssrne lining for his uuderclothes. In
frrly to Bede's query as TO how he was
Getting on. the unfortunate desciple OF
Jeferson answered:
-Ihat his horse went dead and his mule
Ana he lost six cows in a poker game:
Then hurrieaue cane. on a summers day.
4nd blew the house where he lived, away;
And an earthquake came when that was
mi swallowed the land that the house
Ttap tho tax collector soon came round
AID charged him up Will the hole in the
ground"
Be1e said that his friend thought that
vas carrying the single tax too far. But
u you could analyze his case and those
- ali chronic complainers and kickers
Jpu would find that. out OF hundred
- them. at least ninety weight ought 10
- out and kick themselves.
Short on Performance
FL Democrats do not know the meaning
q the word performance" when ap-
MAiS2 ~ hNs AAi4Ae AtA AhF So
ral good. the advancement OF the hu-
Dan race. or the betterment OF man
Hnd. As a party it has been trying
q write it FOR more than a full round
century. and yet II has not succeeded in
1ormiug the first letter. To do anything
constructive or of permanen; benefit
GEMS utterly beyond its moral and
Rychic conception, or physical capacity
- perform. Its normfi attitude is with
~ face to the past aud its back TO the
e1ture. II never sees an opportunity un-
q the issue has been permanently set
Ill by the Republican party and public
Gantimen;. Then il will stand up. with
Z Ablushins and inconceivable effrontery,
D say: Il did it."
# In the question OF locomouon, with
depended upon the two limbs of prom
and performance. it wonld limp
trough its course loathsome deforniity.
Zhe promise leg would reach several
lines around the earth and then 10 the
0oon. while the performance member
epuid not be found. intact. with pow
orfui magnifying glass. Ii has been a
HELPLESS victim of promisephobia for
hundred and one years. and there is not
= single symptom of relief in sight. The
&isease is conceded by the best author
1ies to be fatal. but a slow death car
Ges its own peculiar form Of retribuuye
ounishment-
Founded on a Mistake.
!. jefferson, its father, while a man OF
1eep learning and consummate diplo-
macy, hated Washington. and early op
oosed the cardinal principles Of the Fed
&raI Government. He organized the
Democratic party to aid him in this OPP
Dosition. Washington and Hamilton
Eanted n strong protective government.
jefferson wanted a weak ''Government
hat would govern the least" Founded
q the idea of resentment. resistance, ne
Ention, subversion and academic and
hlse conception OF personal privilege,
DE party has quite naturally been
eforninst" all sane measures directed
bward the healthy progress OF the coun-
III and the real advancement of its peo-
DE. Being a party OF opposition and
obstruction its policy has been TO preach
calamity and foster discomfort; to prom
De everything and actually do nothing.
q Party Odium Under Jackson.
II jefferson was the founder of De
bocracy. jackson is its patron saint. Az
the Jeffersonian period. 1SO1-2j. came
Re Jacksonian. 1S25-40. The signih-
nnce of the jackson era of Democracy
1es in the fact that he was able to build
= machine from the rabble or the less
olucated classes. that enabled him act
unlly to assert his claims in conflict with
De Constitution and against the idea
= Republicanism. He assumed n posi-
i(lon between Congress and the people. as
q were; as a patriarchal ruler of the re-
&ublc. The curse Of Jackson's ad-
Dinistration was that it weakened re-
pect for law. The first clear symptom
q the decline of healthy political spirit
vas the election and reelection of Jack
On to the Presidency. His administra-
ION paved a brond way for the demor-
1izing transformation of the American
4 0eople. Under Jackson, politics were
Inlgarized and American society was de-
rived OF its rightful influence over gov
5fnment.
III Partisans, Not Patriots
4 The twenty years from the defeat of
Ian Buren, in 1910 to the defeat Of
Douglas in 1850 brought additional dis
btef and odium upon Democratic ad
Dinistration- The strength Of the party
rs always rested in the Solid South,
nd the uneducated riffraR Of our great
tiles. During the years mentioned the
outhern Democracy pursued a policy OF
prritorial expansion. not out Of patriotic
broad motives, but for the sole pur-
pse Of increasing the number of slave
hates, and thus preserve the sectional
4 alance in the Senate. These years are
Memorable in history for the struggle
br territorial acquisition, the struggle
yer the Wilmot Proviso. the Compro-
hise of 1850. the repeal OF the Missouri
ompromise, for the long agony in Kan
hs. for the sensational Dred Scott de-
sion, anS for the reconstruction OF the
arty on strictly sectional lines.
n Rapid Moral Decay.
q During all these weighty history-mak-
hg years, the Democratic party was
hs wiling accomplics Of the Southern