Newark evening star and Newark advertiser., 1910-09-15

Temporary Chairman John r.. Har-
din's speech to the convention follows
in full:
The second election of Monroe to
the presidency marked millennial
period of American history when all
parties were merged in one. 1t imme-
diately succeeded the death struggle
of Federalism and emphasized the
complete conversion of the youthful
nation to the Jeffersonian teaching.
1t Immediately preceded the fierce per-
sonal strifes of the Jacksonian cam
paign which disintegrated the unified
political mass and left it redivided in
partisan camps under magnetic and
strenuous leaders whose antagonisms
recognized no courtesy and asked no
quarter. Partisanship became one of
the manly virtues, and man with
out a party was an object of pity and
Gerision. There has never been a
time when the influence of partisan
ties has been as little potential as at
the present moment. The ticket
labeled Republican" or Democratic"
no longer, as formerly, commands the
votes of thoughtless masses of men
merely because of its label and with
out regard to the character of its can
didates and the principles they de-
clare themselves to represent.
The Party Name.
The party name by law and custom
still carries certain authority essential
to the conduct of popular elections
and bestows certain qualities neces-
sary to secure popular support of Of
fetal ambition. but the contest for the
official designation is not always a
struggle among men of like mind to
select a favorite son to represent the
common cause, but Is often a battle
between men of divergent views to
secure a vantage point from which
to assault and destroy an opposing
force. The result is that the party
name at times represents in one State
one view-in another State different
and contradictory View-as the party
name may have been secured in the
Urinary skirmish by those still nomi-
nally within the party fold through
slkilful generalship or numerical
strength.
The Independent of Today.
The Independent of today is The.
Regular of tomorrow, and his party Is
radical or conservative as the accident
of control may make it. A substantial
continuity of political thought and doc
trine in the State and national plat
forms of the same party in the same
year and in succeeding years has late-
ly been wanting, and the natural conse-
quence has been a loosening of party
ties and constant shifting of the
thoughtful voter from faction TO fac
ton and from party to party.
The commanding influence of finan-
cial issues following the panic of 1893
completely shadowed the national cam
paigns of 1896 ana 1900 and left no
room for attention to other questions
of great Importance, which the great
combinations of capital In the indus
trial field and the rapid consolidation
and grasping policies of the railroad
interests were pressing upon the people
A great work had been begun, but WAS
scarcely more than outlined.
The sherman Act.
The sherman act had been passed,
but the necessity for its enforcement
had not been recognized, and the pos
sbilities for good concealed within it's
provisions had not yet been realized.
was at work, but the corporations sub
ject to it's jurisdiction had not willing
y submitted themselves to its rules,
and the imperative need for the en-
largement of its powers had not been
appreciated by those most TO be beno-
fitted by its services.
Even the ever present aspiration OF
the body polite for further advance
in the protection of the ballot and for
the effective safeguarding of popular
elections from the malicious influences
of selfish control was for the time be-
ing suppressed, or at least retarded,
by the pressure of the immediate prob
lens of the currency and the Spanish
War. Primary aud electoral REFORM
effectively begun by the general adop-
ton of the Australian ballot, waited
for further development on the conven-
ience of a people then too busy for its
immediate consideration.
The financial question. ut least to