The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1911-05-06

4 SHC uiIe'llon IL tHey Will Dut dC-
cept the responsibility and the lead
ership The democratic party is
more in sympathy with the new ten
denotes than the republican. Its free
forces are the forces of progress and
of popular reform
Both parties are of necessity
breaking away from the past,
! whether they will or no, because our
life has broken away from the past.
| The life of America is not the life
| it was twenty years ago. 1t is not
the life it was ten years ago. we
| have changed our economic condi-
tons from top to bottom, and with
our economic conditions has changed
also the organization Of our life,
! The old party formulas do not fit
| the present problems. The old cries
| of the stump sound es they belong
| ed to a past age which men have al
most forgotten. The things which
used to be put into the party plat
forms of ten years ago would sound
antiauated now You will note.
moreover that the political audiences
which nowadays gather together are
not partisan audiences. They are
made up of all elements and come
together, not to hear parties de-
nounced or praised. but to hear the
interests of the nation discussed in
new terms the terms of the pres
ent moment.
We have so complicated our ma
chinery of government, we have
made it so difficult, so full of am
bushes and hiding places, so indi
rect, that instead of having true rep
resentatiye government we have
great inextricable jungle of organi-
zation intervening between the peo-
pie and the processes of their gov
eminent, so that by stages, without
intending it, without being aware of
it, we have lost the purity and direct
ness of representative government.
What we must devote ourselves to
now is not to upsetting our institu-
tons, but to restoring them
Undoubtedly we should avoid ex-
element and should silence the dem
agogue. The man with mower. but
without conscience conId with an
eloquent tongue. if he cared for
nothing but his own power. nut this
whole country into a flame, because
the whole country believes that
is wrong and is eager TO
follow those who profess to be able
to lead it away from its difficulties.
But it is all the more necessary that
We should be careful who our guides
ire The processes we are engaged
II are fundamentally conservative
processes. If your tree is diseased
t is no revolution to restore to it
he purity OF it's sap. to renew the
soil that sustains it, to re-establish
the conditions of its health. That
is a process of life, of renewal, of
redemption
There is no ground for alarm,
therefore. We are bent upon a per-
fectly definite program, which is one
of health and renewal.
Let us ask ourselves very frankly
what II is that needs TO be correct
ed. To sum it all up in one sem
ience, it is the control OF politics
and of our life by great combina-
ions of wealth. Men sometimes
ak as If it were wealth we were
afraid of. as if we We're jealous OF
he accumulation of great fortunes.
of the kind is true. Amer
ca has not the slightest jealousy of
he legitimate accumulation of
wealth Everybody knows that there
ire hundreds and thousands of men
If large means and large economic
power who have come by it all per-
ectly legitimatelv not only, but in a
way that deserves the thanks and
of the communities they
nave served and developed. But
everybody knows also that some of
he men who control the wealth and
have built up the industry of the
country seek to control politics and
also dominate the life OF common
men in a way which no man should
be permitted to dominate.