The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1907-05-17
THE DEMOCRATIC POSITION
As Clearly and SuocintIy Set Forth by
Mr. Bryan In The Gommuner.

A Kansas Democratic club asks
The Commoner to set forth briefly
some OF the reasons which can he
given by Democrats for the support
of their party's position, and the
request is cheerfully complied with.
Frst---The Democratic party be.
lieyes in the theory of government
set forth in the Declaration of In
dependence, namely, that govern
ments derive their just powers from
the consent of the governed. The
party was formed by Thomas Jeffer.
son, the author of the Declaration
of Independence, and has ever
borne the impress of his personality.
While all parties have until re-
cent years to greater or less ex.
tent given adheraDce to the doe
trines set forth in the Declaration
Of Independence, the Democratic
party has differed from the parties
which have opposed it in that it
has emphasized the fact that the
representative is the servant of his
constituents, while the parties that
take their inspiration from Alexan.
der Hamilton regard the repre-.
sentative as more OF less indepen.
dent of his constituents 1t makes
Il great deal of difference whether
the public official recognizes it as
his duty to give expression to the
wishes of those who elected him or
considers himself a sort of superior
being elected TO act for the people
but not TO be controlled by them.
The official who assumes the right
to disregard the wishes of those
who elect him strikes at the very
foundation OF popular government.
SecOnd-The Democratic party
believes in the inalienable rights of
the individual and zealously guards
those rights from infringement.
There are individual rights sacred
from the touch even of the ma
jority, as for instance. the right to
life, liberty and to the pursuit of
happiness, and the amendments to
the constitution have named free
dom of speech, freedom of the
press, and freedom Of the conscience
us necessary to the preservation of
the inalienable rights of man.
Third-The Democratic party is
the champion Of local self govern
ment, believing that that govern
ment is best which is Dearest to the
people and that the people can act
most intclligeutly upon the sub.
jects with which they are most
familiar.
Fourth-The Democratic party,
believing in the inalienable rights
of the individual and in the wis
dom of local self government, in
sists upon respect being shown to
the constitutional provision which
reserves to the States and to the
people respectively the powers not
expressly delegated to the Federal
government or denied to the States.
This balance of powers between
the State and Federal governments
is essential to the life of the Re
public.
Fifth--The Democratic party be-
lieves in the exercise by the Fed
eral government of its delegated
powers IN such q way as to protect
the interests of all the people with
out giving favoritism to any part
Of the country-equal rights to all
and special privileges to none be-
ing its motto.
Sixth-The Democratic party,
believing that government rests
upon the consent of the governed,
is in favor of such improvements
in the methods of government as
will make the government more
directly responsible to the people
and more responsive to the will of
the people. It naturally favors the
election of Senators by direct vote
of the people, the direct primary,
aud the initiative and referendum.
Seventh-ln taxation the Demo-
cratic party believes that the bur
dens of government should be
collected in such a way that each
citizen will contribute in proper
ton TO the benefits received under
the protection of the government.
Carrying out this theory of taxa.
ton, it has opposed a tariff levied
purely for the purpose of protec.
ton and has urged the income tax
as n means of equalizing taxation.
Eighth-The Democratic party
believes in economy in public ex-
penditures. Taxation being not a
blessing but necessary evil, should
Al II