Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-10-13
Democratic Weakness.

The weakness of their campaign seems to
De mat they lack national issues They do
fot care TO press the tariff even on the
GROUNDS as fixed by Judge Parker Their
ATTACKS on the President as unsafe and as
menace to the Constitution are received
coiuly' and they therefore stumble when
.iey nope TO be going straight ahead Some
eoiu ueihocfats nave gone back but here as
III ne" iork most of them seem to have
returned to their party allegiance in 1900
oI eise TO nave renewed their democratic
ialth IN the intervening state campaien
oneil fortnight ago the democrats
iopeo TO make something out of state
issues. Ihey still profess faith that thew
Will gain votes on the question Of taxine
the railway corporations. This In substance
Is local issue. 1t is alleged that the rail-
ways should pay more taxes where their
terminals are located. The democrats took
a positive stand for this in their state CON
Ventlon, but when the republicans came
along they also declared in favor of a read
1ustment which, as I understand it, would
ieaVe the main stem of the railroads SUBJ
)ect to the state taxation and the terminals
to local taxation.
The truth is that neither party in New
Jersey is very antagonistic to the RAILWAYS.
ana the latter corporations recognizing
that public sentiment is demanding a
change, have indicated that they will accent
any reasonable measure. Mr. Black. the
democratic candidate for governor, still
"
part of his addresses, but his opponent. Mr..
Stokes, seems to be fully able to meet him
ON that question. After the New Jersey
fashion Mr.. Stokes was in training for the
ed to cope with the local issues 1 am in
clined to think that this matter of railway
taxation will cut practically no figure in the
national campaign.
The other grounds on which the demo-
Gratis base their expectations are I'M
usually vague. / have had 1t explained
that McK1nleys ajority in 1900 was "only
o1.OOO' that nobody in the state was for
Bryan, and that in the last two national
campaigns there was no such thing as a
democratic organization. Now they have a
good organization, the party is reunited,
they say; the machinery Is working smooth
ly, and they ought to carry the state. They
add, moreover, that in the last campaign
for governor the republican majority was
only 1900. and they take this to mean
that New Jersey had started to drift back
to the democracy. and may still be drifting
that way. Seventeen thousand, however,
is a good majority in state campaign,
especially in commonwealth where the
national issues are the controlling ones.
Cleveland Has No influence.
Away from New Jersey something is
heard of ex-President Cleveland's possible
influence on the state. But here 1t Is rarely
mentioned. Across the ferry in New York ]
have heard five people discussing Mr..
Gieveland's influence where one person In
New Jersey brings the ex-President into
his talk. Mr.. Cleveland Is popular with
the college boys in Princeton and is hon.
ored by Princeton community. He may In
fiuence a few votes there, but II in all New
Jersey his advocacy of Judge Parker is
worth thousand votes to the democratic
candidate for President have not yet seen
the signs of 1t.
In the center of city population New Jer-
sey does not appear to give the democrats
NJ fIat tl,nxy a. -
other states. The rivalry always is be-
tween Hudson and Essex counties, that is
between Jersey City and Newark Now Ii
In both cities that the Newark republicans
are much more aggressive and enthusiastic
Tor President Roosevelt than are the Ter