The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-03-19

=
the split in the Democratic party.
About the time the biennial aggrega-
ton Of gentlemen who have during
the recent ITall declared with heat
that threatened their own early and
appOpleptic dissolution that the party
was perpetual. have run upon q haSty
apperceptiOn Of the fact that per
diems are limited and 50 run home
aeain-thc annual fissure yaWns in
thousand heads, proceeds from
unanimous orchestra OF the circuit
with a deep and hollow sound to warn
the feet of cOnSerVa tlVeS Of the peril
that is theirs. Yet it IS really like
the epizOOtic. 1t is a bad lnfluenza,
but its gaping is not all on one side.
Those who must hear the narration Of
familiar symptoms have right TO
}aWn also They exercise their right
and live to yawn again.
Is is the aftermath Of defeat-thiS
"split' And, perhaps, in some quar-
tiers it is honest. 1t proceeds un-
doubtedly from Il pain. Yet the noise
is made chiefly by those who would
magnify an isolated case or 50 into
general Infection. 1t IS the ultimate
Of egOtiSm: as one who, having a
pain, discovers that the country is nj
the mercy Of enteric. The country re-
fuses as q rule to be alarmed. When
it has been once in while, it has
repented Of it's terrors in tears. The
conVerSatiSn2 of not getting afraid re-
pents of the folly of fear, and is not
so easily stampeded second time.
The GhOst-Iiile Split.
Just now, while occasionally there
still fingers in Raleigh a legislator
trying to cure a sore throat, the
split is getting generous advertise
ment. 1t is told of in a vague way,
pictured like a country Of gOblings
feStOoned with eerie shadows and
habited with appalling shapes. Cen
orally, il takes the form Of lesson,
with the Legislature as the 'horrib!e
example" See, is the cry, the work
of the Legislature, Mark the danger
of the demagogue. Take thought over
the dire things that wait on listening
to popular clamor against the bust
ness interests We tell you in all So
berness, with all the conservatism Of
Il ferVent soul, say these rOn-explicIt
editorials that the sober common
sense of the better interests in this
old State are not forever to remain
placid, are not always to bend the
neck to the lash, are not always to
stand by quietly and submit to seeinS
their business threatened and their
investments wiped away by the lash
of a party-rdden element that don't
know a party when it sees it. The
revolt is cOming-nay, it has come
they chant, and we told you so, we
told YOU so, In their dear, conserva-
tive souls there is the fever of the
zealot and the impassioned tongue Of
the prophet crying destruction from
the wilderness.
Yet two years from now instead Of
having split the party, such of the
candidates to the Legislatu ture as she
conservative element could nomi-
nate and elect Will be standing stiff
legged in the House and senate, red
Of face, volcano-lille of voice, and
they will be saying: 4 have always
been a Democrat. No one can take
my Democracy away from me-! And
they will be adding, soto Voce, 'but
if YOU persist in running over the MI
nority, we tell YOU plainly that the
majority whom the minority repre-
sents, the big, sober, conservative ma
jOrty, will split the party!
1t is us regular an aftlictlon as a
summer cold.
Some Imaginary Ffssures
The first serious split in the Demo-
cratic party occurred Immediately
after the Populists, who had really
split, had come back to the fold. The
Constitutional amendment stirred
many fervent, conservative souls to
their depths Constitutional fears,
fears of the conditions that would
prevail in the west sad head-shak-
ingS were the rule. Yet the Constltu-
tional amendment rolled up its great
majority in triumph
Again in 1903, when the Watts law
was passed, numerous statesmen OF
the prophetic sort went away from the
Capitol in tears, declaring that the
constituencies which they represented
would find no blood on their hands,
but that they were human-they could
not be expected to trust a party which
had so grievously houted the right to
drink and the right to make flicker"
The glory of the man who could
drink or let it alone" found eloquent
expressions and his wrath, when he
found that his privileges at the still
and the crossroads bar had been cur
tailed was frenZiedly painted. The
statesmen used cloves and put liquor
on high plane: it was not ques-
ton of drinking, but the principle
they said, and you Kill the party
Again, in 1905, the Ward law
brought out new anathema. TO be
sure the people had stood for the
Constitutional amendment. They had
stood for the Watts law on account
of their fear Of renewal, Of Republican
rule Bat they could not stand this
Ward Jaw AS the valiant minority
went down in defeat, they looked
upon their VictorS with the sad mien
of those who contemplate the already
fore-dammed. They went home chas-
tened with the very thought of what
the people would do to the party.
Yet, and once again, the great ma
jOrlty came rolling back endorsing
the Watts and Ward laws renewing
the principle of the Constitutional
amendment, declaring for new re-
forms and for protection against cor
pOrate greed And again the valiant
minority stood and made its fight and,
when it was forced to yield, sent up
its prophecy of disaster. Again the
legislature has adjourned; and again
the party is "split.
The scenes of legislative history are
thrown again upon the canvas: and
the masters of the new show are still
the same. Again on the "circuit' they
gather together and nod wise heads
over the wreck and ruin. And again,
and already. the people are beginning
to forget the turmoil in the interim