Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1904-09-29
Washington Post and Chicago Chronicle
The Washington Post contains the
following vigorous editorial:

Inc washington IOSJ contains the
following vigorous editorial:
The Chicago Chronicle, having trans
ferred its political designation from
Democratic to Republican" without
having undergone any material change in
other respects, continues to manifest the
same exuberanee of zeal that was its
distinguishing characteristic when, in
Democratic" guise it joyed in in1cting
chastisement on the Democratic party in
the only reliably Democratic section Of
the country. In a recent editorial en-
titled '9Taggart's Tactical Error the
Chronicle remarks that from one point
of view the managers of the Democratic
campaign are wise in determining to
make their chief campaign in the cities "
Why that determination is wise the
Chronicle proceeds to show in a discourse
consisting of seven ragraphs, of which
these three are fair samples:
1T is evidently their purpose to appeal
to the passions and prejudices of the ig-
norant, criminal and vicious who abound
in great centers of population. II there
is any chance of Democratic success it
lies in such an appeal, since there is moth
ing in the platform or the record of the
present day Democracy to justify hope
of response from intelligent, respectable
and conservative voters.
IF the Democrats are to win at all, or
rather, If they are to make even a re-
spectacle showing at the polls, they must
rely upon the ignorant and idle, the dis
contented, dangerous and desperate of the
cities. ***
'tNIr. Taggart and his associates cannot
pilot such an organization to victory
There are not enough fools, knaves and
criminals-not enough fossilized Demo
Gratis Socialists and secret revolution
aries-to overcome the elements which
eminent"
It is not the custom of any political or
ganization to demand proof of good moral
character as a condition of membership.
Each of the leading parties contains men
of whom its respectable members are
ashamed. But the party that is held re-
sponsible for Addicks and his method of
campaigning makes itself ridiculous when
it puts forth a claim to superior morality
It is true that .'the ignorant criminal
and vicious abound in great centers of
population" and it is equally true that
no one party monopolizes them and that
their votes are not undesired or unsought
by Republican or Democratic managers.
But in rural Delaware in the domain Of
Addicks, the ignorant, criminal and vi
cious" are mostly on the Republican side
of the party line. And how is it in the
city of Philadelphia, where, according to
the testimony of the Philadelphia Press
the Republican leaders are in the habit of
polling some $4,000 fraudulent votes. or
in other words, committing $4,000 felonies
whenever those leaders deem such an
effort expedient?
We take it that the highest authority
in the United States on both the urban
and the rural vote is Chairman Babcock
the man who has led the Republican par
ty in five successive and successful cam
paigns for control of the national house
of representatives. He it was who, at the
close of his latest campaign, in Novem-
Der, 1902, foresaw and foretold where the
next fight must be waged He saw and
said that the rural vote, the support of
the farms, had saved his party from de-
feat. He noted the almost uniform Demo-
cratic trend of the city vote from the At
lantic to the Pacific, and he knew and
named the cause of it. 1t was not the
work of "the ignorant criminal and vi
cious.' 1t was, In his expert opinion, the
direct result of Republican policy 1t
was the protest against the enormously
increased cost of living, the protest made
by many thousands Of salaried men and
others whose incomes had remained in
status quo while the cost of subsistence
had gone up, up, up, until the .tera of UNI
exampled prosperity for majority Of
the people had become to them an era