The Sauk Centre herald., 1910-12-01
BY FRANK NJ. EDDY

6y fHANN
The editor of The Herald requested
) me to pen my opinion of the results
of the election, national and state,
with the causes which led up to the
same and the insertion of the follow
ing is incompetence with this request.
wish to state that the opinions
hereinafter expressed are purely per-
sonal and no one is in any way re-
sponsible for them but myself, and l
am not sure I desire to become re-
sponsible for all of them, and they
might aptly be termed my irresponsi-
BILE opinion of the late political UNI
pleasaDtness."
At stated intervals every political
party in control of the administration
and responsible for its actions has got
its bumps, and the republican party
had it's bump coming and it got it.
For fourteen years the republican
party has controlled the presidency
and both branches of congress and
that is about as long as any party has
enjoyed uninterrupted and unbroken
control.
During the last fifty years the re-
publicans have controlled the nation
AZ years and the democrats about
eight years, so it is demonstrated with
mathematical certainty, that taken
as whole, the republican party fur
nishes administration of character
more satisfactory to the people, than
does the democratic party.
| Another fact that stands out with
startling distinctness: that when po-
litical temporary Insanity becomes
epidemic and the people place the
democratic party in control of con-
gress or the presidency, they always
recover by the next ballot time and
embrace the nrst opportunity of re-
turning to the ''safe and sane' rule
of republicanism.
Democratic representatives seldom
forward the cause of good legislation
or aid in the betterment of conditions
but they do contribute muchly to the
gayety of politics, aid hugely to the
picturesqueness of legislative bodies,
and add greatly to the hilarity Of
convention gatherings.
There were many causes to the re-
cent political upset in congress.
The people had become saturated
with prosperity, so like petulant
child who with it's arms full of apples,
casts them all on the ground because
it can't carry any more than it al
ready has, they were willing to take
chances of losing what they already
had, because silver-tongued dema-
gogues, in both parties, convinced
them they were not getting all they
were entitled to receive. ,S
They had been led to believe, by
magazine articles and public speakers,
long on imagination and short on
facts, that the increased cost of living
was due to legislation, and as the re-
publican party was responsible for
legislation they proceeded to give it
to the republican party in the neck,
thinking by so doing they would re-
duce the price of beef-steak, flour,
butter, eggs, clothing, rent and the
other necessaries of life.
1t is political history that when
ever political party revises the tariff
it always loses out in the next elec-
tion. The reason for that is very
plain. Every individual wants the
tariff so revised as to make all the
commodities he has to sell very dear
and all those he has to buy very
cheap. 1t is very difficult to pass
tariff legislation that will accomplish
this. The Payne bill failed to do it.
Hence there was much dissatisfaction
with the Payne law and this was one
of the causes of the landslide that
buried so many republican candidates.
| The press of the country with sur
prising unanimity portrayed Speaker
Cannon as persistent obstructor of
progressive legislation, and small-bore
congressman came home in droves
and told their constituents that the
reason they did not accomplish all the
marvellous things they promised them
they would accomplish when cam
paigning for their votes, and why the
legislative millennium had not been
brought about by their efforts
and the exercise of their marvellous
ability was because ''Uncle Joen
stuffed them in bottle and stuck in
the cork and left them with no more
power or ability to accomplish results