The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-28

Washington, September 27.-tSpeeialD- Faction is to party what cancer is to the flesh, what eanker is to the plant, what treason is to the state, what simony is to the church. It withers whatever it touches and paralyzes wherever it reaches. It was not so much the legions of Rome that destroyed Carthage as cabal in the Carthagenan council, and faction has been a hand-and-a-half in political affairs in our republic through out it's entire existence. Faction may be the child of envy, it may be the off, spring of malice, it may be the harvest of error, it may be the fruit of fanati- oism. Whencesoever it comes, it uni formly divides and necessarily desolates When MT. Douglas secured the passage of the Kansas Nebraska bill was with the most patriotic intentions, and he fondly hoped and confidently believed that he had eliminated the slavery ques- ton from American politics, but he was greatly mistaken. He. only irritated the ] ulcer, and made faction in his own party | fragrant The result was the split at | Charleston in 1S6O two democratic tickets
 
 pary altogether sectional, and the pre- ciptation of the most tremendous civil war of all hisory.
 The hostility of the two wings of the democartic party in 1860 harbored against each other was far more intense than either had for the common foe. And in 1872 Grant hated Charles Sumner far more bitterly than he did Jefferson Da- wis. and Conkling displayed far more ami 1 mostly against Carl Schurz than he did | against Allen G. Thurman. The most cruel, vindictive and malign islander ever was that Thomas Mast. a republican, vis- ited on Horace Greeley, who did more to make the republican party victorious than any other member of it. And in 1896 Bryan was more malevolent in his | feelings toward Grover Cleveland than he was toward William Mckinley. And right now in 19l1 Boies Penrose, the re- publican leader of the senate, is as thick with Thomas s. Martin, the democratic | leader of that body as "Brndle with Cherry" though he abominates Robert
 
 perfidy and the upper crust of party dis honor And Joseph G, Cannon has just | as little use for Victor Murdock, while John Dalzell wonders what Cooper of , Wisconsin was made for. Thus tariff slavery is doing for the republican party what African slavery did for the demo- cratic party-dviding it that 1t may be the more easily conquered if not totally destroyed.
 In 1896 l heard David B. Hill, then a senator in Congress, exclaim in tones oi despair, What is it in this silver ques- tion that makes democrats hate one an other SOP" In his view it was nothing but matter of policy, about which nc sane man would get out of temper Later iIill went to the Chicago convention in order to bring the factions together and engage them in common cause against the enemy. He disastrously failed and il nearly broke his heart.
 David B. Hill was an extraordinar, man and much misunderstood. The aver age observer put him in class with the bosses, estimated him as one with Cor man, who was one with Clay. Il was q mistake Hill was absolutely sincere when he made the famous declaration, ,.'l am democratr' And he would have been democrat in Vermont and a more intense democrat than in New York il that were possible. In Pennsylvania German would have been a, republican.
 Perhaps it' was Machavelli who said x,lx...