The Irish standard., 1904-11-19
That Place is Now Definitely and Apparently
For All Time Occupied by Repub-
llcan Party.
The Place of the Liberal Party is Unoccupied
But Belongs Naturally to the Dem
ocratic Party.

fOf eleFen years the democratic
party has been sick-sicker than Mt
any other time in it's long and varied
career, says Samuel r. Moffett in
Golfers. 1t has had periods of de-
preston before, but never one like
this. In the darkest days Of the war
and reconstruction epochs the Democ-
racy remained a vigorous fighting
force. In 1862 it carried New York,
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, In
diana and Illinois. In 1868 it would
have elected Seymour president If the
South had not been under military
rule. In 1870 it carried New York,
Connecticut, Indiana, and Oregon, held
complete control of California, made
an even run in Pennsylvania, and
looked forward with confidence to the
presidential election of 1872. In 1874
IT swept the country, and for nineteen
years thereafter the Republican party
remained in continuous popular mi
nority. But from 1903 to the present
time the Democracy has been not
merely beaten, but demoralized 1t
has been stricken with deadly par
alysis. 1t has been helpless in the face
Of such opportunities as an insolent
and reckless dominant party, drunk
with power, never offered to an oppo-
sition before. How are"we to diagnose
its disease?
Perhaps the trouble may be de-
scribed as fatty degeneration of har-
mony. Harmony is n good thing in
moderation, but the Democracy has
had too much Of it. 1t has sacrificed
too much Of principle, of unity, Of
heart, and Of fighting energy in hold
Ing together men who do not belong
together. 1t has lived in abject terror
Of split. A split is what it needs.
The party will never be larger until
1t is smaller. When it sloughs off some
of it's diseased tissue it may hope for
healthy growth.
Until the campaign of 1S80-the
time when Republican politician said
that there was zone more president in
the bloody shirt'-American politics
turned on purely American issues. The
parties were coherent and energetic
because each held definite position
on those issues, acceptable to the bulk
of it's own members. The questions
in dispute being purely political, not
social, farmers, laboring men, and cor
poration magnates could and did be-
long to either party without any sense
of incongruity. But from 1880 onward
American politics underwent revo-
luton. 1t gradually assimilated itself
to the politics Of the world.
Now, in the civilized world of the
twentieth century, there are two fun
damental parties, more or less con-
sciously organized in the various states
the Conservatives, or Reactionaries,
on one side the Liberal or Progressivcs
on the other. The Rupuhlican party
in the United States has found its
place in the world-movement. 1t has
definitely ranged itself as the Ameri-
can Conservative party-the party of
reaction, of class privilege, of govern
mcnt for the profit of special interests.
1t has converted, frozen out or silenced
all it's liberal elements. 1t has made
former free-traders like President
Roosevelt talk protection. 1t is a def
nate, coherent entity, under complete
command. AS Secretary Hay happily
said: '"The Republican party is the
ship''--a pirate ship, it is true-"all
else is the sea-"
But while the place of the Conserva-
tive party is thus filled, the opposite,
the Liberal place. is still vacant. 1t
belongs naturally to the Democracy,
but the Democracy has not yet ven
tured to take it. The close of the war
and reconstruction epoch found the
Democratic organization loaded up
with many men who would have no
place in liberal party-who would
never have Joined such party If
modern issues had been at the front
when their political affiliations were
formed. Many of these men were and