Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1912-10-29
OLDEST DAILY WEST OF THE
MISSOURI RIVER SEES THE
ERROR OF ITS WAY.
DECLARES THE DEMOCRATIC
PARTY TODAY is THE TRUE
PROGRESSIVE PARTY.
GREY HAIRED REPUBLICANS
HAVE WAITED IN VAIN FOR
HONEST TARIFF.
BY EDWARD INSLEY,
Managing Editor of the Sacramento
Union.

Union.
More than a year ago-September
81, 1911, to be exact--the Sacramento,
Calf, Union declared editorially that
it would support Woodrow Wilson for
nomination and election to the Presi-
dency. The Union has never been
Democratic organ, nor has it ever be-
fore supported Democrat for the
Presidency. Yet it is the oldest
daily newspaper on the Pacific Coast,
the oldest west of the Missouri river,
and older than the Republican party
itself We feel that in this the
Union is typical of an element OF
former Republicanism that must now
be rated as Independent in politics,
and which will be found this year
ranged with practically the whole OF
the La Toilette Republicans and many
who opposed La Follette's redicalism,
under the Wilson banner. We pre-
ferred Wilson to La Toilette, we pre-
ferred him to Taft, to Roosevelt, to
any other Democrat, or to any other
man in public life today.
The pennant of political independ-
ence flies at the Unions masthead,
and we are not to be rated among
those who are temporarily out OF SYM
patty with the Grand Old Party"
ready to return if given good ex-
cuse. But the process of selection
which brought us TO Wilson is the
plain path of logic which hundreds OF
thousands of life long Republicans
are travelling with u.s. We declared
a year ago that the Republican party
had broken down; that it had ceased
to be an instrument of government
upon which the people might rely;
that the election of no Republican to
the Presidency, be he Taft, La Fol
lette, Roosevelt or any other. would
/ assure the performance of platform
Apromises, whatever they might be;
hat the Democratic party alone was
/ a position to make good program
legislation.
Republican Party a Wreck.
urning of necessity from the
eek of the Republican party, a
= re : far more complete today than
it W a year ago, hope for the pro-
gressive legislation which the coun-
try demanded was found in the Demo
cratA party, provided the Democrats
wou- name Woodrow Wilson as their
leader He, above all other Demo
Gratis, stood before the country as the
embodiment of the progressive princl-
pies of the day.
The Democratic party today is the
true progressive party. The nomina-
ton of any other than progressive
at the Baltimore convention was an
impossibilty. But in Wilson the
party had the personification of its
progressive spirit, which would have
been expressed adequately in the
nomination of no other man.
There are gray haired Republicans
in every section of the land who have
been waiting all their lives for the
Republican party to make good Its
promises of an honest application Oh
the protective tariff policy. They
have waited in vain. Lincoln de-
clared the danger of tariff fed trusts.
Garfield, Blaine, Mckinley, all sound
ed the note of alarm. A tariff where
none was needed has never been good
Republican doctrine, but it has al
ways been Republican practice.
Then came Roosevelt who never so
much as mentioned the tariff during
his seven years incumbency except to
give out a statement from the White
House once that "after comforting
with Messrs. Cannon and Aldrich. the
President had decided that there
would be no tariff revision"
Not for Free Trade.
Taft promised a tariff measured
by the difference between the cost
of production at home and abroad.
but we did not get it. Taft and
Roosevelt both repeat the same idle
promise this year Only sedulous-
" cultivated fear of free trade if the
Democrats got into power, has kept
a million or more of honest tariff Re
publicans in line for two generations
Out here in California we are not
free traders We believe in protec
ton where it is needed But we dc
not believe in tariff robbery. And
while we may not agree with Wood
row Wilson's theory of tariff for
revenue only, nor subscribe fully to
the Democratic plank on that sub
ject, we do have faith in Wilson's
promise that honest business that has
grown up under the protective tariff
will not be disturbed In practice
the Wilson promise is identical with
the Taft promise, with this radical
difference, that Wilson will be in a
position to make good, while neither
OF the others could if he would. Both
Taft and Roosevelt are thoroughly
identified with interests that demand
something different from an honest
tariff, whatever these individuals
promises might be. In the tariff re
vision which we shall get at the
hands of Wilson and the Democratic
party, the country will realize fol
the first time the adjustment of the
tariff along the lines which all the