The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-09-08
Distinguished Democrats Speak
 at New York Banquet
DISCUSS POLITICAL OUTLOOK
Mir. Watterson, Clark Howell and Her man Ridder Enthuse Hearers-Tre- mendous Cheering When
 Dixie Is Played.

New York, September 7-Nearly 800 democratic editors from all parts of the United States met at the banquet at the Waldorf-Astoria tonight the occasion be- ing national conference called at the in- stance of the democratic national commit. tee.
 The toast list included several of the best Known editors in the country. All of the toasts were on political subjects.
 Col. sylvanus F. Johnson. Washington correspondent of the Cincinnati Enquirer and former president of tte Gridiror club, was the toastmaster.
 A large orchestra furnished music dur Ing the dinner. When Dixie" was played the diners. many of whom were from the south, jumped to their feet and the rebel yell was given several times. Enthusiasm was at the highest pitch when the selec- tion was encored.
 Colonel Johnson in a brief speech in- troduced Henry Watterson, who respond ed to the toast "The Issue and the Out look" He said:
 MT. Watterson's Speech. Tn order to auay curiosity and sup press conjecture-or words to that effect | let me say in the beginning. that l be- 1 lieve we can win this presidential battle, I I will go even further and say that with anything like even showdown of powder and ball. 1t will be our own fault I If we lose 1t. The two parties will go to the finish fairly united Each will poll very nearly. If not quite It's normal 1 strength The independent vote, there
 fore, will decide the result. l Tn the five debatable states of New
 York, New Jersey, and Connecticut In the east. Indiana and Wisconsin in the
 west, there are, on a rough estimate, a
 million of these independent voters. Half
 million of them Germans. The
 other half are mugwumps and shnaters.
 For the life of me T cannot see how any
 self-respecting mugwump can vote foHs l Roosevelt. the reereant civil service re-
 former, nor how any intelligent German. much as the president resemble the
 kaiser, can be willing to take even a lot tery chance in war with the mother l country precipltated upon the drop of hat, to gorify the administration. l Parker, the iurist, means peace with
 all nations, entangling alliance with none. | Roosevelt. the war lord, means compli-
 cations abroad and corruptions at home, 1 designed to prolong single party dynas- l ty and to perpetuate It's favorites and 1 agents In power. Every economic ques- ! ton must pause before an issue Sd l transcendant.
 "If 1 Were a Republican,
 Tn venturlng to discuss 1t tonight, though surrounded by members of my
 own party and profession may l not take | a supposttious standpoint, and declare
 that, if I were republican-and. over | about the headquarters of Bitter creek,
 there are democrats who insist that I am m fIal hnffo T fpr Dar
 and Davis and against Roosevelt and
 Fairbanks. Being only q plain Ameri- can, who loves his country and clings to It's institutions I mean to do this anyhow. l shall do 1t because 1t seems to me the upright thing to do, the enlightened thing 1 to do, the prudent and honest thing to do
 Tn spite of some excesses of feeling
 and mistakes of judgment the democratic
 heart beats true to the essential prin-
 ciples of the republic as it was created by the sublime declaration and ordained l by our incomparable constitution. In 1 spite of their intelligence and energy. the l republican leaders are losing sight of l their fidelity to both Even the errors l of the democrats lean to virtues side. 1 whilst the very virtues of the republi- | cans are beginning to be slcklied OCT
 with the pale cast of corruption and ab- l solutism. This is not because the dem-
 ocrats are democrats or the republicans l are republicans. The label has little to
 do with 1t. It Is because the nature of
 long dominancy tends first to corruption
 and then threatened with exposure to | tyranny.
 'The old democratic party came into 1 being, like the republican party. as the
 friend of man: 1t grew so strong by l prolonged domination. that it was able to | make it's exit from power the signal for
 long, bloody and senseess war. [ | would take no chance of a repetition of l this evil history. l would have a change
 of parties, though only for the sake of 1 the change. Little as the two adminis- l trations of Grover Cleveland effected. 1 either in the statutary laws or in the 1 general policy, they were benehcient in- l terludes to the unbridled ambition and
 the grasping inelinations of the republi- 1 cans. They did bring the republican l leaders to a realizing sense Of their public
 obligations. They did serve notice even
 upon the saints that they do not pos-
 sess the earth Such will be the affect, if none other, of the election of Parker and
 Davis and the defeat of Roosevelt and 1 Fairbanks
 Shall 1t lntrench ltself7 "The issue before us, therefore Is whether the people will allow the republi- can party to grow so potent, so to in- trench itself In power, as that nothing short of some dire convulsion shall be able to uproot 1t. or whether they shall, before it be too late, take Roosevelt and Fairbanks by the hand, and bid them stand aside, w-ist in the persons ot Parker and Davis they recover into their own hands the lost balance of power; of power which Is now lodged in the execu- tive mansion at Washington tianked on one side by the speaker of the house and his committee on rules supported on the other side by a group of senators who seek to know the Presidents will In order to obey it.
 'Inevitably the personality, the char acter and performances of Theodore Roosevelt. occupy the foremost place In the public mind They will constitute tho chief horn of tho peoples dilemma In the coming campaign. They are, as 1t
 were, the beginning and the end of the chapter Yet, because ", propose to ds- cuss the President. anl to hold him to q just measure of accofntability. we ara