The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-12-03
The Socialist Rise.

Probably the most significant feature of the recent election result was that it placed the Socialists first and the Populists last among the small parties. Watson received barely loo.ooo votes the country over and the Debs vote ex- ceeds 600,000. In the city of MilWaukee and in Lorraine County. O., Debs ran second to Roosevelt, going ahead or Parker.
 It was expected that the Parker gold telegram and the triumph of the con- servative element at the St. Louis con vention would have the effect of revi- vifying the Populfst party, but 1t was not so. MT. Watsons vote Is not halt so great as that boiled for the Prohi- bition candidate, MT. Swallow, while the the small party candidates in previous elections except that given General Weaver, the Populist nominee, in 1892
 The Socialist vote has increased over six-fold in four years, and. though yet inconsequential in strength, 1t promises to be a force that must be reckoned with.
 There are two things that materially aid the growth of the Socialist party. One of these is the breaking down of the conservative Democracy and con- sequent tendency to make the line sharp in politics between conservatives and radicals. The other is the growth of the trusts and extortionate mono polies The radical and progressive Democracy" which MT. Bryan had pro posed, and which Tom Watson has said is nearly identical with his brand of Populism, is only a compromise with the Socialists, and many voters natural ly prefer the genuine to the adulterated article. Through any form of radical ism to Socialism there Is only transi- tion state.
 Socialism is yet a stranger to the South. It has it's home chiefly in the crowded Northern cities. As evidenc- ed by the large vote boiled in Milwau- foreign born element. But 1t com prises many native Americans. There were 10000 votes boiled for Debs in the city of Chicago, and Lorraine Coun- ty, O., is in the staid and respectable Western Reserve.
 hard times. Calamity as a sustain ing diet. is probably even more agrea- ble to the Socialist temperament than to that of the Populist. The times now are unusually prosperous and labor is generally employed. If the Presi- dential campaign had come in the midst of financial depression, the Debs vote would unquestionably have been greater than 1t was. That 1t increased from 97.O00 to over 6oo,o00 in four years of plenty and prosperity is remarkable
 One of the most objectionable features of the Socialist party. as pre- sented in the recent election, is that 1t represents to a degree the lawless ele- ment of that political faith-at least that Is the character of its candidate Mir Dehs is not a theoretic Socialist after the manner of the late Edward Bellamy, Edwin Markham or that later and more brilliant exponent of the Socialist cult in the literary world. the aggressive and incisive young Califor- nian, Jack London. Debs was the man who instigated the Chicago riots, threatened to impede the commerce of the entire country and defied the courts in 1894. He is, indeed, a thorough radical inimical to all established in- stitutions and proposing a complete up- heaval of the old order.
 With the Socialist party first of the smaller organizations, and the Populist party virtually dead, MT. Bryan's pro- posed radical and progressive Democ- racy" would have to seek an alliance in that quarter. In this event, there is one question which becomes very perti- nent in this part of the country: Can the South be induced to sustain such an alliance?