Lewiston evening teller. [volume] (Lewiston, Idaho) 1903-1911, 1908-03-23
DEMOCRACY IN KENTUCKY

1
W. Watterson of the Louisville
Courier-Journal is democratic in
tone, but is rich in style, and too
good to be denied the readers of even
republican newspaper. Here it is
in full:
The defeat of Governor Beckham
may MARYLAND if the file-leaders of
the party choose to have It so, it
will mark-a New Departure for
democracy in Kentucky out form
the Slough of Dependency and up
and onward to the top of the Delec-
able Mountains
| Cne could wish it had come about
| through other agencies. He could
wish that some less offensive parti-
san had got away with the prize.
But rescue from the death grip of
8eckhamism will be cheaply bought,
If its lesson is improved even at
the cost of six years of Bradley in
the senate
| The ex-governor has no one but
himself to thank for the fate which
| has oyertaken him. He was earn
estly and fully warned. The party
CT which he has made little
group of servitors the visible en-
hodiment has no one to hold answer
able for it's defeat but this self-con-
fident man, who put his trust, not
in God, Truth and the People, but
in+ Haley, Brown and Company, Of
flee brokers and machine architects.
Thoughtful men, upright democrats,
self-respecting Kentuckians, could
see in the combine only the advent
Of the old Camernolian, Pennsylvan-
ian system, the re incarnation of the
restless soul of Matthew Stanley
Quay in the person. of John Crepps
Wickliffe Beckham, and enough of
them rose in revolt to deny It &C
cess. to forbid it definite and perma-
nent establishment.
That is all there was of the re-
publican victory last fall. 1t WI
prove to be all that there is in the
result of the senatorial deadlock in
case the democratic leaders take
counsel of it and address themselves
to the work of reorganization, like
men and not like children.
The discipline which was display
ed at Frankfort was magnificent but
it was not craftsmanship, nor even
smart politics. A thousand miles
away 1t is easy to see that IL Cover
nor Beckmah had possessed a parti-
Gle of the spirit of abnegation, a
democrat, and not a republ can
would now be senator, If he had
aqssossq1 particle Of foresight
he himself would be senator. To
go nc further than the rip-up Of his
cwn marty in the city of Louisville.
Their and there, in digging the
grave of Granger, Barth and COM
pany-his devoted friends-he dug
his own. In the event that they
had been ten-fold worse than they
were IT did rot lie with him to
turn them down. They played pe'l-
tics as he PLAYED politics, and they
had been PLAYING his politics. II
he lost the city in the senatorial
urinary. it was through no fault
of theirs; and, since in machine
politics, the principle of addition,
division and silence constitutes the
golden rule, he owed them at least
what he claimed for himself
If the election of 1905 in the city
of Louisville was foul, what was
the snap primary of 1906 in the
state? If it was disloyal in the
members of the general assembly
who refused to vote for Governor
Beckham, who in the preceding ell
ection of 1907 had set them the ex-
ample? Even in machine politics,
as constructed by such men as old
Simon Cameron, and Quay, and
Platt, there are logical conditions
cause and effect, wherein fair play
| Is still jewel 1t was the boast OF
both Cameron and Quay to say moth
ing of Platt, that they never be-
trayed partner in crime, nor SUI
fered a faithful servant, no matter
how sinful, to come to grief. The
Courier-Journal has no tears to shed
| in memory of the defunct Louisville
machine; such as 1t may have BEEN
for good or i'll, it was the democrat
ic party; it had stood by Governor
Beckham the best it knew how;
hut there can be no doubt that In
going back on it the governor lost
the state to the party and the sem
atorship to himself, and that ne ac-
complished no good whatever for
apvhodv except the republicans.