The Greeley tribune., 1911-09-21
MILITANT DEMOCRACY
frrom the National Monthly


schedules, only serve to throw int'
sharp definition the impressive les
son of democratic constructiVenes'
as exemplified at the present session
Of congress.
The credit Of achievement. ane
THE responsibility OF obstruction; arr
placed exactly where they peiohs
Under the handicap OF repuoilcal
president, and of republican sen
ate the democratic house OF repre-
sentatives has carried through an
extensive and efficient program OF
relief to the public. Backed by tne
nation, 1t has even beaten oown
som OF the senate barriers, mas iih'
posed terms and conditions on the
garrison OF that stronghold OF reae-
ton, has won victory for reciproc,.!
after 1t has been repudiated oy the
last republican congress. has passed
the free list bill. the WOOL DILL the
cotton bill. the statehood DILL the
direct election of senators resolu-
ton, besides inaugurating far-reach-
| ing retrenchments. and curbing the
trusts by Investigations that nave
done more to check lawless monop-
oily than has any other bit or bride
tried in the last twenty years.
But now. between the democracy
and the people to whom 1t brings
rescue, rises another fortress OF
privilege, as in the battle Of Ger
mantown, during the Revolution,
single stone house, garrisoned by
company or two of British. stood De-
tween Washington and the capture
of Philadelphia. That fort is the
white house. 1t is there that Mr..
Taft, welding the veto power
waves signals of encouragement 10
the standpatters of the senate, the
Paynes, Cannons and DalZells of the
house, and uses the authority vested
in him to neutralize the splendid
campaign of democratic progressive
ness.
1t will not be neutralized.
By his reactionary vetoes. and the
threat of other reactionary vetoes
to come, Mr.. Taft only opens the
way to a decisive mapping out Of
democratic triumph greater than
that of 1910.
The remedy for construction
menaced by obstruction is militancy.
The democratic worker in 19l l,
baked of the just objects for which
he works, becomes the soldier of
1912, as he was the soldier in 1910.
The hosts which won the nation
wide democratic victory last year.
will be reinforced next year by
multitude of republicans who have
waited and watched, reserving de-
cision until they should see whether
the republican crash of 1910 had
taught their party any statesman
ship. whether Mr.. Taft had profited
by that severe experience.
These sentinels on the watch tow
ers of republican politics now have
their answer. They have seen relief
to the country near. They have
seen it brought by democratic
hands They have seen President
Taft interpose his yetoes between
the givers and the recipients.
They have also seen that in the
struggle of the past months in con-
gress, all the retrogressive elements,
all the confusing elements, all the
elements that fought against down
ward tariff revision, and other meas
ures of progress, and, when driven
to bay. haggled for any vantage
point that might tell against the
people, and for the privileged in
terests, were republican.
The inevitable outcome of such a
situation is, to exclude the republi-
can party from the consideration of
all who are in sympathy with pro-
gressive tendencies. to eliminate the
republican party from further toler-
alton by those who have condoned
its misdeeds and hoped against hope
that it contained recuperative forces
which might eject the poison OF
special privilege from its system.
Nineteen ten was the year of re-
volt OF the Independent voters from
the republican party. Nineteen
twelve will be the year of the revolt
from that party of that extensive
following. who while not thick-and-
thin party men. are bound tighter
by the ordinary ties of party affilia-
tion than that class generically de-
scribed as Independent voters
usually are.
Thus we have a three-fold set oil
conditions:
/ 1. The democracy solidified and
strengthened during the interval be-
tween 1910 and 1912.
2. The Independent voters. who
contributed SO much to the demo
cratic success of last year, confirm
ed in their faith by the record ol
democratic achievement in 1911.
3. The warp ond woof of the
republican party disintegrated by
the disaffection of those republicans
who have held their judgment In
allegiance until now, but who have
definitely come to the conclusion
that the people have nothing to ex.
pect from the republican party
A situation made of such com.
ponent parts pre-supposes only one
result. What that result will be is
1 shown by the steady and inexorable
gathering of the democratic tida
wave of 1912.