Perth Amboy evening news., 1911-04-01

PARTISANSHJP
By WILLIAM II. BANDfS.


Sometimes we SURROUND the early
Christian church with an aureole of
glory, looking back upon 1t as some
thing well-nigh perfect. In doing
so we simply shut our eyes to the
testimony of the records left US. In
the apostolic church were the same
I divisions and factions IS exist today,
the same tendency to forget the
church as a whole and to emphasize
out of all proportions some small
fraction thereof.
For instance, the Apostle Paul, in
his letter to the church at Corinth,
clearly reflects the situation of the
church in that Paris of the ancient
world. For it hath been signiied
unto me concerning you that
there are contentious 9mong you.
Now this I mean, that each one of
you saith, I am of Paul; and l of
Apollos; and l of Cephas; and 1 of
Christ" he wrote. In other words,
in one of the very churches founded
by his own efforts, within a short
time afterwards there were a num-
Der of different parties, each one
thinking of its own surcess rather
than of the welfare of the church as
a whole. The modern tendency Is to
emphasize those things which the
different sections of the church all
have in common, and to keep in the
background those things that tend
to divide.
There is a growing similar tend
ency in the world Of politics that
augurs well for the future of our
country. 1t seems to be the estab-
lished, although unwritten law, that
| thoen JTnitnI Ctota1 chon ho Divided
into political parties, parties which
know no state boundaries, and
which bind together those of other
wise dissimilar sentiments. Each
party has it's own shibboleth, and to
the bane of the country as a whole
each party has thought more Of Its
own success than of the welfare of
the country at large. They are real
" but to an end, but have
actually become ends in themselves.
But the growing ~inderendence OF
the citizenship at large, the insist
ence on the part of the voter of the
right to think for himself, Is work.
ing havoc with the p~art'es, much to
the disgust, not to say the alarm, OF
those professional politicians who
have fattened themselves at the ex-
pense of the public welfare. More
and more men are standing by prin-
ciples, rather than adhering to par.
ties; or rather, PERHAPS new parties
are forming, Indicating around some
new principle as a center, Just as
the present but effete parties them
selves did a generation or more ago.
The two Leading parties. for in
stance, are recognized as the Demo-
cratic and the Republican. Yet In
each party there Is an ever i~ncIeas-
ing number OF i~ndenendent political
thinkers who find that they hav0 far
more in common with each other
than they have with the members of
their own parties. These ~independ-
ents. sometimes called insurgents"
sometimes "progresefves." are the
real salt of the political earth, and
will become the salvation of the
country.
A few days ago the philadelphia
, North American voiced the following
striking sentiments: I'VE read our
title clear to Republican'sm. And
for that reason we say, without res
ervation, that after two years OF
Taft we have no kinship with or toll
Grafton for the miscalled Renublican-
ism which this administration-with
the exception of a ~lamentably few
c~ommendable acts-has represented
and does represent.
"This administration came into
power for the sole reason that the
country demanded the continuation
and perfection Of the Roosevelt poll
cies. 1t was pledged absolutely to
opposition to special privilege. the
~perverter of Republicanism and the
fiIcher of the name. And his ad-
ministration surrendered at the cry
outset to those forces.
"IF Cannonism, Aldriehism, Bal
lingerism and Wall street mastery
OF our foreign as we'll % u domes-
tic affairs are to he construed as
: RepubIicanism, THEN WE ARE
NOT REPUBLICANS. For by that
test we never have been.
"But at last, as at first and always,
we stand for the Rerublicanism OF
Lincoln, Roosevelt. Pinchot and La
Toilette.
I'VE shall preserve our freedom.
WE SHALL STICK TO NO PARTY
LABEL that masks a secret alliance
with the forces that imrerfl the
? peoples industrial or political free
dom. And we shall uphold a WOOD
, ROW WILSON. wherever we find
him against a Harmon OF a Bailey
IN EITHER PARTY az the best evil
dence of our Republicanism. that to
us Is the synonym OF patriotism and
, government for the peonle.'"
, 1t is the same In municipal and
I state as In national affairs, things
IS they are are run too much by the
few and for the few, and these few
those professional politicians who
are at once the ruin and the shame
of our country. But the handwrit-
ing Is On the wall, to be read by all
who can interpret. 1t may be per-
ceived on the walls of the City Hall
of Perth Amboy no less than on the
; walls of the state House at Trenton
and on the walls of the Capitol at
4 Washington.