Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-04-14
DEMOCRATIC FEAST
Predict Victory For Folk,
 Bryan or Towne.
GOVERNOR OF MISSOURI OK CRAFT
Speakers at Kansas City Press Ban. Quet Call For Party Harmony as Harbinser of Successful Presi-
 dential Campaign.

KANSAS CITY, April 14.-Five hun
 dred Missouri Democrats, including 15O
 Missouri editors, attended a banquet
 last night given by the Missouri State
 Democratic Press association to com
 memorate the birthday anniversary of
 Thomas Jefferson. The principal speak.
 CTS were Governor Joseph w. Folk,
 United States Senator William J.
 Stone, Congressman Charles A. Towne
 of New York and Charles W. Knapp
 of the St. Louis Republic. All the i speakers made plea flor party lharmo-
 ny in this state, and all predicted that
 at the next election Missouri would
 again be found in the Democratic col
 umn.
 It was predicted that the Democrats
 would be successful at the next na- tional election and that the nominee
 for president in 1908, whether it be Folk. Bryan or Towne," will be elect ed by large plurality.
 Governor Folk of Missouri was loud ly cheered on arising and said:
 'The life and teachings of Thomas Jefferson are an inspiration to the lovers of representative government everywhere. Jeffersonian Democracy means the rule of the people, not of any class nor of any clique nor of any special interests Whenever the peo- pie cease to rule anywhere and gangs and bosses govern instead then special privileges and corruption which springs from special privileges as a necessary consequence follow.
 That was one of the first declara- tions against what Is known in modern times as graft. Graft in it's last analy- sis is special privilege. either exer- cised contrary to law or one the law itself may give. Some special privi- lege is at the bottom of every graft. No one ever heard of an official being corrupted in order to give equal rights to all. It.is always for the purpose of obtaining some special privilege for a few.
 "A very good rule to follow is to as- certain on which side the enemies of the people and of representative gov ernment are fighting and then get on the other side and oppose them. One may rest assured that he cannot then be far from the right"
 Charles A. Towne of New York city said in part:
 Times change. and we change with them. New exigencies bring new du- ties. The issues that arise in the life of a great people must be solved in the light of their attendant conditions. slavish obedience to the letter of tra- 1! dition may involve disregard of it's essential spirit. The highest honor we can pay to the memory of Thomas Jef- I ferson is to meet the problems of to- day not by trying to discover their analogy to the specific questions he en- but by bathing our souls in the high inspiration of his great gen eral principles of government and Hb- srty snd addressing ourselves as prac- tical men to the solution of practical difficulties. Let us have his faith fin Ihe people. his sense of obligation to he welfare of the whole citizenship. his opposition to class rule. his con seption of the dangers of special priv Iexe and the sacredness of honestly acquired private property Tn this 'pirit msy the great party he founded ,fer a shelter at the present crisis in ,ur industrial history from the tyrsn- ly of privilege on the one hand and he unsounded per1is Of Socialism on he ocher-