The Irish standard., 1905-10-14
A CALL FOR LEADERSHIP.

editorial in which 1t calls for new lead
ership in the Democratic party thus
states its conception of what is need
ed in that leadership: IF the Demo-
cratic party had young leader with
the courage and persistency of Folk,
the magnetism and eloquence of Bry-
an, the staple character and talent for
popularity of the late Governor Russell
what an opportunity he would have,
what service he could render to a
great government absolutely at the
mercy of its unaccountable president
and little combine of sordid sena-
tors" The Democratic party and the
people Of the whole country have been
waiting for some time for the appear
ance Of such a leader. Never was
there time in the history Of our
country when such a leadership in the
Democratic party was so much needed
as it Is at the present time. Graft
prevails in almost every department
of our government. Senators and rep
resentatives Of the Republican party
have been indicted for felonies and
convicted. Extravaganza is every
where the rule. The recent disclosures
in reference to the life insurance COM
panies are but a phase. People have
every reason to believe that what the
life insurance companies did other
companies do to gain their ends. The
Republican party has been so over
whelmingly successful that 1t Is drunk
with power. The lack of an effective
opposition party has brought disgrace
to the dominant party and ruin to the
country.
Great occasions usually provide
proper instrumentalities for the solu-
ton of the questions at issue. Ger
tainly there now exists and has exist
ed for some years past a situation
which calls for strong leadership in the
Democratic party. No one has yet
come forward equal to the occasion.
Mr. Bryan possesses many Of the quail
itie5 needed yet he has been so long
before the public and has met with
so little success that his leadership is
somewhat prejudiced from the start.
1t is evidnt that no such man as Judge
Parker, however respectable and able,
Serious minded Republicans as we'll
as Democrats who have the good of
the country at heart can not but hope
that the next couple Of years will bring
forward a man with the ability, the
courage and the magnetism necessary
to arouse and re-unite the Democratic
masses and thus offer to the country
an opposition party able to take ad-
vantage of the serious shortcomings
Of the party in power. The time has
come when it ceases to be a question
las to what class of citizens shall hold
the offices. The question now is, are
the people to have an instrumentality
in the way Of an effective political Or
ganization through which they can
punish the Republican party and its
leaders for the crimes that they are
committing? We were told in 1896
that the success Of the Democratic
party in hat campaign would bring
ruin to the finances of our country. A
majority of the people believed that
Democratic success would do so. Time
has shown that the success of the
Republican party has brought disaste,
/ to the public service Of the country
This result is, no doubt. in large part
due to the fact that the Republican
party has had no check. Victory hal
followed victory until the leaders have
lost all sense of accountability to the
people. There Is urgent need for {
Democratic leader who can measure VI
to the requirements of the time.