The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1904-11-19

cialist and Prohibition parties, but
literally millions of them voted the Re
publican ticket because they did not
see any particular attraction anywhere
else. 1t was like the Pierce campaign
of 1852, when defiant Democracy
trampled down q spinelesS Wing and
Il hopeless Free Soil party. 1t seemed
then as if the people had decided for
slavery, but the events of two years
later showed that they had not. They
had merely tolerated the pro-Slavcry
party for lack of something better. 1t
remains now to be seen whether the
Democracy is to meet the fate the
Wing party met after 1852, or whether
it is to seize its opportunity
Some things are certain. 1t is cer-
tain that the Republican party is not
going to remain without effective oppo-
sition. 1t would be monStrous, incred-
ible, that in country of universal edu-
cation and universal suffrage Il group
of INSCRIPTIONS capitalists should be
allowed to make the government Of
eighty million people an annex to their
private business without arousing a
protest strong enough to make itself
felt. These capitalists have their
party-the people are going to have
theirs. There will be Liberal party,
with Il sane, consistent, progressive,
popular policy. The only question is
whether the Democracy will fill that
position or not. If it will, it will re-
gain the place it held under jefferson
II not it will have to make way for
another.
1t will not be necessary to ''reorgan-
izc' the party. Let it equip itself with
principles, and live up to them. and re-
organization will take care of itself.
People who do not like the principles
will drop out Those who do like them
will be attracted from other parties
The Democracy will not have to go
into its next campaign with its finger
on it's lips. 1t will not be tempted to
fish for seven electoral votes and a
nominating vice-prcsidential candi-
date who believes that the Dingley
duty on the coal he sells is low enough.
When the Democracy is established
on a solid basis of principle, it will not
have to worry about the chances Of
victory or defeat. 1t can stand re-
testing against the argument that free
silver ought to be dropped in order to
win. The only trouble was that free
silver was wrong in itself. Ii it had
been right, lost ground could have
been retrieved by a campaign Of edu
cation, but when you are wrong the
more you educate the people the more
you lose.
A liberalizcd Democracy will know
exactly what it wants and say en-
actly what it means. 1t will not be Il
sectional party. The fact that free
silver had no standing in the East
ought to have been enough in itself to
warn the leaders of their blunder in
1896. True Democracy appeals to the
average man just as much in the East
as in the West. New York is not in
habitcd solely by plutocrats. If it has
Wall Street. it also has Avenue A. A
doctrine which, properly presented,
can not be made attractive in every
state in the Union has some flaw in it.
There ought to be no such thing as a.
rock-ribbed, impregnable Republican
state, for all the states are prevailed
to Il considerable .eXtcnt by common
people. Since the masses in Vermont,
as elsewhere, would be benefited by
the application of Democratic princi
pies, even Vermont ought not to be
hopeless missionary ground for the
Democratic party. 1t is held to Re
publcansm now by the memory of
dead issues, and preiudices half a cen
fury old. A liberal Democracy should
be able to clear away such obstruc-
lions and make Il fair start every
where.
To recur to Mr.. Hays metaphor:
"The Republican party is the ship; all
else is the sea- What the people
need, and intend to have. is another
ship on that sea-a trim cruiser, pre-
pared to lay alongside the Republican
ship and bring down the black flag
that has Haunted so long over the
spoils OF plundercd merchantmen.
Origin of the Game of Dominoes.
of nj,