Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1906-10-19
THE EVILS OF PARTYISM.


average man to become the property of
political party are forcibly brought
out in an article entitled, The Party
Fetch, by Brand Whitlock, mayor of
Toledo, in recent number of the Sat
urday Evening Post Mayor Whitlock
claims that the bosses, the hoodlers and
the grafters are not TO blame for this
state of affairs, hut lays the response
bility directly ut the doors of those cit
liens who have consented to become
something less than free men, have
voluntarily DISTINGUISHED themselves
and actually conspired TO throw away
their votes by belonging absolutely
to political parties. II is the man who
votes the straight ticket who speaks
with pride of having done so and
who confidently boasts that he will
continue to do so rs long as he lives,
that is responsible for the failure of
democracy according to Mayor Whit
lock s belief In characterizing this
type of citizen Mr.. Whitlock says:
The party man, indeed, is in curl.
Gus state of mind. PasSiunatcly de.
voted and unalteraby committed as he
is to his party, he nevertheless does
not insist that everyone belong to his
party. He does not even wish that.
He insists only that everyone belong
.
especially a party that stands for moth
ing but itself. He proclaims his res
spect for his neighbor who belongs to
an opposing party, but he treats with
something like contempt the man
across the street who says he belongs
to no party at all. Why is this! Be.
cause to the party man the party is of
primary and paramount Importance;
the principle is secondary; the party
has ceased to be a means, merely a We
hicle to carry on "A principle; it has
become an end in itself. The party
man has lost sight completely of his
town, his state, his nation he thinks
only of his party, and of his duty to-
ward it: he feels that he has dis.
charged his duty, and his whole duty,
if he is, as he loves to say, "loyal' to
his party-that is, if he votes his par.
ty ticket. Thus he enters the state of
the crystallized mind; the form is ev
erything, the spirit nothing. He feels
and thinks that, by belonging to a.
party, he is patriotic, just as many /
men think that by belonging to a.
church they are religious,
When sufficient number of men
have reached this state of mind Mr..
Whitlock tells us that the political
boss appears and establishes himself
as dictator. He is in politics for what
there is in it, and his movements are
not hampered with any twinges of con.
science. He knows that it is not nee
essary to reckon with the voters who
have become unvarying adhnrents to
the straight ticket idea, and pays lit
tie or no attention to them. As long
as these voters cling to the superstition
of party regularity the boss remains
in supreme control He puts the names
of his men on ballot and the partisans
duly elect them; he has his legislatures
recognize parties. in the laws and
makes independent movements difficult
and almost impossible. He devises a
new and convenient form OF ballot on
which the names of his nominees ap.
pear in columns 50 that thereafter the
party man need exercise no intelligence
whatever.
After speaking of the material and
moral cost of this partisanship and the
whitening of character, strength and
personality due to it Mayor Whtlock
concludes by saying:
If our municipal governments have
been bad it is because they have been
representing bad things But we want
something more than good government,
something more than mere honest eco
nomical administration of affairs and
clean streets. We want cities that
will be filed with free civic spirit, eX-
pressing itself in artistic ferns, above
all, cities that will be better, kindlier
places to live in, cities that will offer
to every man on equal terms the Oppor-
tunity to live a beautiful life-that is,
to realize his own personality. But to
do this there must first be men who
are determined to express their own
personality and not to eubvert it to
the personality of others; independent
men who are in no kind of slavery to
a party or any agency or institution.
When we have enough such men in
our cities, and when we have home ,
rule in our cities we shall have simpler
forms of government. We shall have
a government that is responsible to
the people, and when this condition '
prevails the problems of the cities will {
soon be those that belong to the next .
stage of evolution and to conditions
that are hereafter to exist,
These facts should be considered at
tentively by the citizens of Vermont,
where the partisan principle is so :,
firmly entrenched that bossism finds an
easy foothold What is true in many
IF the larger cities of the country is :
equally true in this state. The major
ty OF the voters are 50 shackleu ny =.
5he "party right or wrong" idea that
political independence is viewed almost
n the light of crime. Until this be-
ief is destroyed by the proof of its v
,alsity the people will not receive the d
representation to which they are EMIT !,
ed under our present form of govern n
nent. a
The deer season in Vermont comes