The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-11-11
Popular Government INDICATED.

Such events as the Minnesota election
restore confidence. in the principle. Of
popular government. They are com
plete answer to the pessimists who. tell
us that the masses of the people are
blind and cannot be trusted. There are
a good many occasions when the voters
decide against their own interests, but
at such times it is either because the
question is not vital enough to stir UP
the people, or because the issue is not
clearly drawn. ID,
Then a real crisis arrives, and the
voters prove themselves equal to the &C.
casion. They break away from ties Of
party and do their voting on the propo-
sition before them, and not on partizan
prejudice. Give them time, to under
stand the issue and they will decide it
honestly and intelligently. !.
The great silver campaign of 1896
was a striking example Of this. The
country seemed to have fallen a prey to
financial heresy. The fallacy Of six
teen to one' captured the great demo
cratic party, which four years before,
had carried the country. It split the
republican party and for a time carried
thousands Of able men, who ought to
have known better, into the ranks of
the Bryan army. The country was
ablaze with excitement, and few
weeks before election, Bryan 8 success
seemed certain. j.. ~" g 2 ~
Election day came, and the people
spoke. They said in the most emphatic
tone that they wanted sound money and
business stability. They had not done
much talking, but they had done some
quiet thinking, and the verdict was
overwhelming. 49, -.
| There was not much Of an issue in
the national election this year, but the
miserable showing made by Parker is a
Reputation of the old democracy that
cannot be mistaken. The so-called is
sues presented by Parker were sized up
as fustian arguments made for the pur-
pose of getting into office, and the peo-
pie indicated their good Judgment by
a most emphatic and significant vote.
Old bourbonic Missouri broke loose
from the solid south, and by a splendid
show of independence the state in,
dorsed both Roosevelt and Folk, men
Of opposite parties who do things and
stand for principles.
i Wisconsin seemed about an even thing
last summer as between La Toilette ant
the stalwarts, and when the stalwarts
. joined with the democrats to beat Ii
Toilette, it looked like an end of hi
regime. The result shows La Toilette
stronger than ever. Even the primary
election principle has been Endorsed.
Minnesota's result is the most EN-
phatic of all. It is Ia non-partiza1
] victory for good government, a popular
: protest against the worst things tina
,, have ever entered Minnesota politics
Many thousands of democrats and pop
ulists voted for Roosevelt, while J OH
. A. johnson was elected governor by tn
t votes of 10000 republicans. Two year
! ago, democrats joined with republican
to indorse the campaign against tn
: railroad merger by the reelection o
Y Van SAINT. At the state convention thi
! summer, the republican politicians re
versed that Judgment and nominate,
the one man conspicuous for sympath.
J with the merger. By this act the part
5 stood committed, and not only thai
but the party assumed the burden o
$ an obnoxious candidate, with a recor
q which had already been well ventilated
u After that things looked dark 10