The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1912-11-08
YEP, GONE
DEMOCRATIC

You republicans that made fool bets
prepare to pay them now. New York
went democratic" is right. So did the
whole dern United States. And the
funny thing about it is that the old
line republicans are blaming it all on
Roosevelt and the progressive party.
They can't see or if they see they
won't admit that the republican party
committed hari kari at Chicago last
June. The standpatters have for
years refused to see the trend of
events in political circles. The demo-
cratic upheaval two years ago which
resulted in a democratic congress
taught no lesson. The great socialist
gains of two years ago meant to them
nothing. The initiative, referendum
and recall were signs of an unrest
among the people, it was true, but the
people would forget them after awhile.
The republicans had been in uninter-
rupted power for sixteen years and at
each recurring election they had been
able to pull through by using once
more the old republican rule and
prosperity gag. They really thought
that somehow the old con game would
work again and when Roosevelt
threw his hat in the ring" they
h 10, fa, oil I,o lie, hos
them from that time on. The repub-
lican party might have saved its bacon
Cat least pulled through this cam
paign) had it used half way political
common sense at Chicago last June.
The nomination of Roosevelt or of
Cummins or Hadley or LaFollette and
the adoption of progressive plat
form would have insured victory at
the polls Wilson could not have won
against a united party headed by a
progressive candidate standing on a
progressive platform. But the party
preferred to remain safe, sane and
conservative and take the chances of
a beating. 1t took the chances and
also the beating. Wilson swept the
country like a priarie fire. Rock
ribbed republican Maine, staid old
Massachusetts, militant Wisconsin,,
progressive California-all fell into
line and when the smoke drifted from
the field thirty-six states were found
democratic. The upper house of con-
gress is safely democratic and ma
jority over all in the lower house.
And don't forget the big popular
vote for Roosevelt, even though he
gets the electoral vote of but few
states. Sixteen progressive congress
man elected. And a startling increase
in the socialist vote of the nation.
Every indication points to vote for
Debs we'll in excess of million.
"And Taft, oh where was he?
Ask of the waves that miles around
with fragments strewed the sea-"
And all because the Barnes-Penrose-
Guggeheim-Taft crowd emboldened by
sixteen years of power and arrogance,
thought they could put over that Chi
cago fiasco on the people and get
away with it by digging the "republi-
can prosperity or democratic hard
times" scarecrow out of the attic and
setting it up in the political cornfield.
1t is fortunate for the country and
for the democratic party that the
democrats have complete control OF
both branches of government. If the
incoming administration can lower the
cost of living, further social and indus
trial justice, the country will know to
whom it is indebted. If it cannot,
then the country will know that 1t is
time to throw the democratic party
on the scrap heap along with the de-
funct republican party. The demo-
Gratis tell us that the ills of the coun-
try can be cured by legislation. They
have the machinery now and If they
fail they must take the blame. Ii, at
the end of four years, the democrats
have made no more headway in solv-
ing social and economic problems than
have the republicans in the last six
teen years, the country will have ar
rived at the conclusion that neither
one of the old parties knew what they
were talking about and that it is time
that a new economic system be given
a trial.