The Harrison times., 1911-01-21
PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATS IN
MAJORITY.
Will Make Honest Effort to Bring About
Tariff Revision and Change OF
House Rules.

effort to bring about genuine tariff
revision, and genuine revision OF the
parliamentary rules Of the House iS
the opinion expressed by Judson {.
Welhver and Louis Brownlow,
noted Washington political ohserv-
ers, in the February number OF
Hampton's Magazine. In an article
headed What Will the Democrats
Do:" these two writers, after re-
viewing the possible strength of the
Tory or Conservative Democrats in
Congress, say:
There is, however, good reason
to believe that the majority of the
Democrats in the House of Represen-
tatives will be found on the Pro-
gressive side when the division is
made. This belief is founded on the
record of the party for the past SIN
teen wears. 1t has been minority
party during all that time, and its
record does not stand out as boldly
as does that of the Republican
party. Nevertheless it has a record.
Bear in mind that in this connection
we are talking now about the DEM
ocratic voters in the country not
their politician leaders,
"In 1896 the Democratic voters
rebelled against President Cleveland
because they believed he had be-
trayed them into the hands OF
money power. The Cleveland wing
of the was not able to muster even
the one-third vote necessary to
deadlock a Democratic convention.
Mr.. Bryan was nominated and
the radical platform was reatflrmed.
Again the ticket was defeated.
In 1904 the politicians IN charge
of the st. Louis convention believed
that Parker had enough money
behind him to win. They convinced
the Southern leaders, and Parker
was nominated by the combined
efforts of Wall Street and the Solid
South.
"But the rank and file would not
follow the leaders. The Democratic
voter wanted something more than
a mere victory for the Democratic
ticket and the consequent distribu-
ton of federal pie. He insisted upon
remaining true to his principles.
He could not be convinced that
Parker represented those principles,
One hundred and twenty-nine OF
the two hundred and twenty eight
Democrats elected to the next House
of Representatives hail from South
ern states. The South is not con-
servative in politics, as some would
have us believe 1t is progressive.
Every Southern state has the direct
primary, including in every state
but two the nomination OF United
States senators. There is no such
thing as a boss in any Southern
state. The primaries have long since
driven that tribe Of politicians to
extinction.
Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas,
Alabama and Georgia have railroad
and corporation laws as strict or
stricter than those of lnsurgent Wis
consin and Iowa Southern Dem
ocrats were in control of the CON
sIitutional conventions which draft
ed the Constitutions of Oklahoma
and Arizona, and these certainly
cannot be classified as retrogres-
sive political documents In every
Southern state where the direct
clash has come between Big Busi-
ness and the People, the People have
won at least a partial victory.
"In view of these facts one might
think that the Southerntrs in Con-
gress would be all on the Progress
i've side, But that conclusion is not
justified by the facts. The Louisi-
ana aud Florida delegations, for in
stance, are Tory because they are
protectionists and they seek the fa-
vor of Republican Standpatters,
They are Democrats only because of
the race questionable negro prob
lem making the label Republican !"
unpopular even among those who
agree with Standpat Republican
doctrines. Southern Tories will not
be so bold now that they will be in
the limelight of responsibility.
THE ninety-nine other Democrats
elected to the next House are about
evenly divided between the East, on
the one hand, and the West and
Middle West on the other Those
hailing from Nebraska, Minnesota,
Michigan, and the rural districts of
Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio show, in
their campaign declarations, a