Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1912-11-08
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1912
THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE.

"
"But yesterday, and Caesar might
have stood against the world; now. none
SO poor as do him reverence Substi-
tute the words republican party" for
the word Cesar in this quotation, and
there will result an extremely graphic
description of the fate which has over
taken OF the greatest of the political
entities known to modern history.
Never great, certainly, in all the good
meanings of the word, but great in most
of the accepted meanings.
During the - years which will have
elapsed on the fourth of March next,
since 1861, it has been in power a years.
I'm those years il has had control of the
nations finances. 1t made treaties with
foreign powers, declared war. and has
made peace. 1t directed the armies
which overran and conquered some of
the richest and most prosperous states
of the union, and it dominated those
states by the power of the bayonet for
several years. 1t was in charge of the
armies and navies which wrestcd from
Spain some of her flares; possessions.
While it's best admirers can not say that
its record has been altogether creditablc,
is worst enemies must confess that it
has been picturesque and striking.
Four years ago it was returned to
power without any very marked cvi-
dcnces that its popularity was waning
This year it comes out of the election
shorn of it's power, utterly discreditcd,
with a beggarly account of twelve cleo
toral votes to its credit, and of these only
four come.&reHf- IT'S birthplace in the
east-thc east which has heretofore been
it's inner citadel, the source and center
of it's power.
Altogether it would be hard to find Il
parallel for this in history. 1t un-
doubtedly has no parallel in the history
of our country. The headline which an
nounced the result of the election in the
Herald, though hastily framed, stated
the case exactly, Not an election, but
a revolution"
Whence the revolution? Doubtless
more than one scapegoat will be turned
loose in the wilderness to bear the sins
of the party. Yet the blame for this
political revolution can not be laid on
the shoulders of any one man. Ii is not
the fault of the handsome, genial gen
tleman who now holds the Office of pres
ident of the United States. as the choice
\ of his party four years ago. AS he is,
is party has always been. 1t would be
ird to find in all the land a more rep
\ecntativc republican than Mr.. Taft.
e has lived up to the political tradi-
Ions and ideals of the people who elect
kd him. In the administration of his of
flee he has carried put to the best of his
ability, what he believed to be their will
and he is not entirely to blame if h
mistook their wishes for Tie will of the
people.
The explanation does not lie in the
person of the other scapegoat, Mr.. Roose-
welt. In point of fact both Roosevelt
and Taft make poor showing in the elec-
ton returns
But Roosevelt or no Roosevelt. the
fact is that the people have lost conf
dence in the republican party. Whethnt
they expressed that lack of confidence by
voting for Roosevelt or Wilson. the fact
is sufficiently apparent. The party has
sought to live in its past. and has over
looked the present. The people asked
ii for bread and received a stone. The
asking and the gift occurred not once
but many times. Then the people. with
the startling suddenness that character
ICES the movements of all people, dropped
the republican party, The answer to
the cause of the revolution is not Taft,
not Roosevelt, but the people-the pa
tient. long-suflering resolutc, head
ed people.
Let us observe that it was the silent
vote that brought about the present re
suit.
-0-
The third term handicap o~utweighcd
the schoolmaster argument with some
ouucaS IN snare