The Lamar register., 1906-10-17
The DYING Democratic Party.

land. 1t is clearly evident, not to
the prophetic eye alone, but to the
most commonplace observer, that the
democratic party is now house
hopelessly divided against itself, an
organization of warning and irrecon-
cilsble factions. On many occasions
of the past, this condition has been
found in political parties, and when
such has been the case they have
never endured very long.
The political situation in America
has been a peculiar one since the
Civil war. In some respects the re-
publican party, though usually the
winner in presidential elections, may
be said to have fought against odds,
for, on the one hand, the democrats
0vere sure Of the South; those were
SO many votes on which they could
always count, no matter what were
the issues of the campaign; while,
on the other hand, it needed only a
few Northern states, in which a
strong democratic organization was
always found, to win the victory.
The "solid South" was always the
fear that made heavy the republican
heart. But change has already
come. The democratic party of to-
day, q minority in nearly every north
ern state, even when united, is now
hopelessly divided between the old
radicalism and the new in the North,
while the South repudiates, In toto
the radicalism that would supplant
the old. Organism, Hearstism-call
it what you willis hopelessly out
of joint because the states that have
been rs the rock of Gibraltar to the
cause of the democracy will have
none of it. The few Northern states
even were New York included among
their number, to which the new radi-
calism may appeal, are but as dust
in the balance to what has already
been lost.
The democrrtic party weakened
itself hopelessly when it forsook the
principles that carried Mr.. Cleveland
and itself to victory in 1892, and
took up with new rallying cry.
The world may not love the princi-
pies of man or an organization of
men, but it respects the man or or
ganizatIon that stands valiantly by
its principals without finching. Tne
principle of the democratic party for
over hundred years had been in
dividuslism. That was its inherit
ance from Jefferson. The one dog
ma of republicanism which, since the
day of the Civil war, it had hated
most was the policy of protective
tariffs. That policy the democratic
party had proclaimed again and
again to be robbery of the people
and even an unconstitutional enact
ment With that slogan the over
whelming victory of 1892 was won.
And then what happenedY With
both houses of congress, and the
president of their choice, they not
only failed to take advantage of their
opportunity, but passed tariff act
that every decent, self-respecting
man in the old country, whether pro-
tectionist or free trader, despised;
tariff act that raised duties, tn at low
Dered duties, that left them where
they stood before; a tariff act SO
shameless that Mr.. Cleveland would
not sign it, though he did not have
the grace to veto it as he should have
done. Since that time, democrats
have not enjoyed discussing the tar
if question, yet with the passing of
that question from the field of poll
tics, the democratic party lost its
raison d'etre.
Today, the democratic party is
nothing coherent; it is only a mass of
anarchisms, and very loud snarchisms
at that. Mr.. Bryan cries from the
housetops, but democratic auditors
in the South do not applaud. Mr..
Hearst, too, cries, and with loud
voice, but the man who has pro-
claimed nearly all the old democratic
senators traitors can only split his
party the more widely apart. His
nomination by the democrats for gov
ernor of New York was an act of
suicide, for the democrats of the
south will not look with kindly eye