The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-11-07
THE ELECTION OF WILSON.
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 Tn determining that Governor Wilson ,f New Jersey shall be the next pres dent of the United States, the Ameri- ean people have reached precisely the ,onc1usion which the political expert snce of the nation foreshadowed ana would have been a political miracle. rhe event proves that the situation wA4 never anything but simple in it's ss4entialS elements. inasmuch as with one Of the two great political parties severed almest in the middle the other party gained supremacy by virtue Of lte indisputab1e bulk and weight in the political scale. It was only necessary for the democratic party to stay whole in order to win. The mere nomination of Governor Wilson practically assur- sd the democratic party of its physical -ntegrity, for so attractive candidate wa# sure to draw republicans who or4ts drawn off by the new party. What may be called the physics of the situation worked for the democratic ticket with all the uncompromising, lnexorable power that distinguishes the working of the law of gfavitation.
 Any other result, also would have done violence 10 our political exper- ience because immediate acceptance of a new political party by majority of the people Of this country is utterly incbhsistent with the prudence which has hitherto Characterized the elector- ate in political crisis. We have some very radical elements in American so- ciety today; we also have powerful conservative clements. A new party. making it's first bid for popular favor, inevitably appeals to radicals and re- pels conservatives. It has always been SO A new party, making it's first ap- pesrEnce, is inevitably 6elf-conscfol1s, therefore emotional, and it may De have not been tested in the bitter de1d- of warfare; it has not found it. self The question whether it is per Enanent or temporary cannat be an sWered save by the passage fof' time for beyond one election Americans have never yet given a mandate to ern the country, nor will they in the future unless a crisis of indescrdbag1e the political steadiness and sanity which distinguish them from the more ferrid and tE9plcl peoples or Latin
 With the success of the old republi- can party rendered impossible by the Formidable revolt of it's one-tfme lead- ably in our annals, the triumph of the democratic candidates is really the majestic verdict of all those tendencies of grave import, which streaming down through s1AxneflGand history, give ball. ance to our democracy and ballast to the ship of stafes We see in this yer diet the preservation of Americas rep utation for steadiness in government, and for adherence to what ig sound in her political traditions The unwritten law against third term for presi- dents again survives the shock of as- sauIt. American institutions as order ed by the constitution will not be cast into the melting pot until the teach fngsof a well understood and wisely lnterpretsa experience are more con- elusive in their bearings than they are
 Yet the election of Governor wilson while unquestionably aided by deeply conservative Influences, is not tri- urnph for reaction in any form The Democratic party, now over century pld. possesses tradition and "a stub born vitality that make it perennlaily serviceable to the nation; and, under but reactionary. Precisely as the nomination of woodrow Wilson wrote 'progressive' into the leadership and the policies of the democratic party, SO the election Of Woodrow Wilson is a guaranty of progress in the nation The presfd ent-to-be is personally sym pathetic with and committed to pro- Rressive causes; he is personally in touch with American democracy in the broadest sense, and his program en- braces a national scheme of advance ment for the American people. With his Knowledge of the country drawn both from historical study and obser- into public sentfment,i with his power of imagination in guiding him in difd- cult and untried paths. with his will and his tact. he may be expected to provide a leadership such as the dem ocratic party has not had in many years And if this hope should be full d1led, the country as whole would be enormously the gainer-
 No one can be mindful of the difh- culties that will beset the new presi- dent Conditions will offer some his party others But so far as his party i@ concerned, 1t must be aware that it Is on it's good behavior. The demo- f1ast expectations of the American people in the sustained loyalty of it's nupport of the democratic president, Dr 4t will be hurled from power at the earliest opportunity. A repetition of the party's performance in the second administration Of President Cleveland would be absolutely and swiftly fatal
 Nor can the party fail with impunity to support earnestly the progressive program of the new leadership, as it may be developed along democratic lines This country today is progress nIve and not reactionary. The pro- wressive spirit abroad is unmistakable, and it will rule the country's destinies through one party or another The and, in the future, it must be reckoned with as a party of opposition. And the new party organized by MT Roose- welt is likely to remain during the .,<srt four yeans a. sufficient menace to democratic .supremz offering an ai- terna tive 70 democratic radicals, in point thern-to force the democratic party to govern the country along the progressive lines on which MT. Wilson would conduct his administra tion-
 Tt was MT. Rooseyelt's bolt from the r@prblican party and the imminent danger that he might effect an alli- ance with MT Bryan that made the Dornination of Governor Wilson imper- akfve And go the popular strength shown by the Roosevelt party at the polls in this election should give to the incomingzs " ilson regime g. coTn- p1ete conmahd Of the undivided re- sources and the consolidated power of fhe democratic party. Self-preserva- ton alone dictates loyalty and eager