Lewiston evening teller. [volume] (Lewiston, Idaho) 1903-1911, 1907-01-02
Special to Evening Teller.

Special to Evening Teller.
WASHINGTON. Jan. 2.-Opportun-
ism has been responsible for the con-
tinued defeat of the democratic party,
according to General Charles H. Gros-
venor. 4'old figures.-@ as hs is called.
the veteran Ohio statesman and legis-
lator who Is now serving his twenti-
eth term in the national house Of rep
resentatives, and who viii retire to
private life at the end of this session
Of congress.
General Grosvenor is nide-bound
republican. and his views on the
weakness OF the democratic party are
of unusual interest, especially at this
time when the great party is search
ing so eagerly for an issue for the
campaign OF 1908.
'Ths democratic party ~ill never
achieve success In national politics
until the leaders abandon what I
call 'opportunism.' said the general
by 'opportunism' mean the practice
the democratic party has Of siezing
upon every little thing tha& comes up
in the hope OF hitting upon winning
ISSUE"
G. o. P. Has No Candidate.
The general was asked Who, In his
opinion, the republicans would nomi-
nate in 1908.
| 1T IL senseless to talk OF such q
question at this Time" he answered.
Il have no more idea thsn you, or
anyone else. and do not believe any
man can state with any degree OF
certainty who Will lead the forces OF
the Grand Old Party to success two
years hence. It is anybody's fight
and there are several able men who
would like the nomination"
You ask when success VIII again
pearch upon the standard Of the dem.
ocratic party In national campaign
Not until the leaders abandon thei,
4 pee-wee tactics. How soon they vii
- this ! DO mot know. When tn,
democratic party leaders establish /
set OF fixed principles, the people may
again take their candidates for tn,
presidency seriously
i But so long as they continue t.
chase rainbows In an effort to catcl
the vote Of the masses. 50 long VII
| the party continue to go down to de
FEAT.
Select Well Known Mon.
Another thing. the democrats mus
nominate men who are known to tn,
public. They cannot expect to win
by nominating men who are practi
. cally unknown before their nomina
tions. No matter how able or hov
| strong the candidate may be, tn
people Of America are not going t
rally to his support unless they kno,
something Of him.
"He must have had experienc,
must have been before the public an
must have convinced the public Of hi
/ ability by some deed OF statesmanshi]
To illustrate what mean:
1.-THE democrats at present al
making lot of fuss over SecretaH
Roots speech at the Pennsylvani
dinner in New York the other nigh
His announced views on centralizs
ton. they say, has furnished the part
with an issue unpon which they ca
win in the campaign of 1908.
This illustrates just what mes
by 'opportunism'. The leaders expe
to sieze upon Roots speech as the o.
portunity for riding into ONCE.
Jump 1t Conclusions.
"The democrats jump at concl
ions. Why, within the last few yea
the democrats, especially southe
democrats have contributed as mot
or more, to Capitalization than al
other members 81 congress. T
whole trend of their actions has be
towards decreasing the powers OF I
state. and vesting more power in I
federal government.
III But now that the administrati,
- through Secretary Root. has prac
cally declared for Capitalization. ma
~ Of those same democrats are raisi
~ great fuss. They insist that i,
- administration has furnished tn
q with an issue.