The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-11-22
The Red Thread
 Of Democracy

l ConStltutlon or the united States was
 embodied in the Constitution of the
 Confederate States. document which 1 more than any other preserved the l Ideals of the founders Of the govern ment. but which became only a reinin-
 iscence. when the conTederacy was
 baked of It's hope to take a place l among the nations of the world. Slav- I cry was in 1t, 1t Is true, but then
 slavery was fin the United States Con- l stitutIon.
 | Not only was the United States Con- l stitution adopted as a whole by the l Confederate States, but the changes and additions made to 1t would number less l than ten and not half a dozen of thein | were of consequences. The Constitution | of the Confederate States was more 1 nearly like the Constitution of the United States as 1t came from the Con- stftution makers, than is the Constttu- i tfon of the United States, afer Charles l Sumner and Thaddeus stevens had
 trimmed and added to itfaccordtng 1t to l their liking.
 The widest difference between the I two was in the. straightforward, un- l mistakable declaration of the Confed-
 crate Constitution that except for l revenue for the government. there 1 should be no tarin or impOst duty or l any kind levied by the new govern l ment on any importation
 | The difference between the organic l laws of the old government and the oI> l ganic law of the new government, was | not so much on the question of slav- l cry, as the world has eoms to think, but
 on the tariE question. Slavery was, | of course. the reason the fountain head from waich emanated the original dis sention between the two governments. | But slavery was recognized in the urst l constitution. although it was done hys I pocritlcally yet unmistakably, under the cautious term of .'certain persons applied 10 slaves The Supreme Court | again and again made this clear. The | Southern statesmen, when they came to 1 make a constitution, called H spade spade, and the hypecritical term was marked out and the<word slaves in. l serted.
 But the main difference in the two documents was that declaration that
 under no circumstances was the Con- | raderata government to levy taFim In l order to foster industry.
 The TaKsaT question So important was this question and | SC widely variant was the position Of I the South and North upon ir, that Pres- tdent JefTerson Davis, In his inaugural address, devoted more of his argument 70 discussing the free trade peiief Of the South than ne did to discussing the jnstttntion Of slavery.
 When secessIcn was an accomplished fact. when tho hhw President, Lincoln. | and his assoclatsss had assumed charge l of the g0verhment ak WeBhiiig tutls whsu the Constitution of4ths southern States was about to be drattSd. the question Of aboaspthg stasery Nsaa net an issue. ofcourse. the wosle' thrqgsgh niisrepresentaflve hlstory, has cesne to believe that 1sresidcnt Lincolr's aim and purposes as soon as he got to Washfngton was SO abolish slavery in the Southern States. Nothing was ear- ther from his shoughts. In all his speeches and writings in that untortu- nate campaign. President Lincoln made 1t clear that he and his associates had no intention of interfering with slav- cry as 1t then existed in the Southern States He had no more idea of isau- ing an edict aholishing slavery thap he did of promulgating an edict abol- ishing the republic and announcing himself a Constitutional monarch. Ono would have been as legal as the other.
 One of his most characteristic utter ances and one which shows how far history has gone wrong in the popular mind, is shown in the following ex- cerpt from the speech he delivered at Cincinnati when he was on his way to Washington to be inaugurated as Pres ident, while the war clouds were gath ering:
 We mean to leave you alone. and in no way interfere with your tnstitu- tions; to abide by all and every com promise of the Constitution; and, in word, coming back to the original prop osition to treat you, so far as deSeneF- ate men--if we have degenerateo-may according to the examples of those no- ble fathers, Washington, Jenerson no Madison. We mean to remember that you are as good as we are; that there is no difference beteween us other than the difference of circumstances. we mean to recognize and bear in mind always that you have as good hearts in your bosoms as other people. or as we claim to have, and to treat you ae- cordingly.
 Nor was he less explicit In his dec- laration, that he would not interfere with existing conditions in the South ern States in his first inaugural ad-, dress. great mass of misinrorma- ton is given to the world and labelled history.
 Worlds oldest Party
 In one of the most striking meta phors In history. Heine, described the genius of the Jewish people, being handed down through the ages from generation to generation like loren, passed from torch-bearer to torch bearer in a Roman race. In much the same way the Democratic party mas reserved the genius of the original constitutions and worked to maintain the Ideals of those who founded the common government.
 The Democratic party today is the oldest political organization, not only in America, but the oldest political party fin the world. It's unbroken chain of principles and traditions run back through our country's history, to Thomas Jefferson writing the Declara- ton of Independence in a cheap hotel in Philadelphia. In age, Democracy, is as a man gray with the years of wisdom, beside the youth of the Re- publican party.
 The principle of the Democratic Party is that the Government shall not go out of its way to protect and foster one mans business at the cost of another, Upon the magnificent base, that it is not the part of Government to select a favortte industry to be built up to riches and prosperity through governmental aid and ignore other business interests for the favor ite's benefits the party, has been built up.
 In every piece of rope made for the British navy there runs red thread, its own certificate of genuineness. So even dues the principle of a tariR for revenue only run back to the assembled wisdom of those who founded the Gov ernment of the United States, and those who. as Democrats, came behind them.
 The Southern Democrats in the old days. tenaciously clung to this prin- cInfe and so tt became the nonunen-