New Ulm review., 1912-10-23
Democracy and Progress.
By d. NJ. Hall.

to be progressive, or At Asst their
sponsors, the professional statesmen
are. In this country We have ninety
two million Inhabitants, each Of
which. without any other qualification
than his American citizenship, 10
equally entitled, according TO the
Declaration of Independence, to life,
liberty and the unvexed right to be
happy. Consequently in no need Of
the ministry of political quacks.
The Tranquility of Homes.
Without government, country is
sure to fall into . state of barbsrism.
A country j. itself, however, but On
aggregation OF homes, and govern
ment has no function it can rightfully
exercise except that which 10 neces-
sary to the security and tranquility of
these homes, and to give protection,
equality and general convenience to
their inmates. Anything in the nature
of business privilege should no more
have the confederation of government
than healthy human organism
should be innoculated with death.
dealing germs.
Why Is the Democratic Party
Doubted?
The chief reason, perhaps, is found
in the fact that too many of its
leaders have been men who stood for
nothing that could by any possibility.
mean democracy. One of these leaders
in recent address before an audience
OF college students in New York, with
gleeful Indifference, said: "It is hard
in these times to tell from q mans
speeches whether he is Democrat or
What . graceless, dreary, slmost
villainous confession! Think Of all
the ruin, Of all the frightful increase
OF poverty, vice and crime; al the
preventsble sickness, wretchedness
and untimely deaths that have oc-
Cured under and directly trscesble
to Republican policies, and yet we are
left to conclude that this ''pro-
gressive" leader knows no democracy
but that which is so shabby it cannot
be distinguished from Republicanism.
But lose faith in democracy and
what is left for the masses but the
contemplation of ruined lives and the
great waste of human endeavor,
turned to wealth and piled mountain
high for the privileged few, and what,
but to 20 out into the great songless
desert OF palsied opportunities and be
swallowed up in sickening despair?
A Glance at Federalism.
In the beginning of our government,
which went into effect in 1889, the
ADMINISTRATION was in the hands of the
Federal party, which represented the
aristocracy that had been transplanted
to this country, and which had con-
.trolled the convention and domina ated
the formation of a constitution in
which special privilege was intrenched
almost beyond the possibility of
amendment. r@.
Naturally, such unfair advantage of
government fostered and developed
the most pronounced, old-wor]d aris.
tocratic tendencies. This party pur-
sued policy SO extragant, so corrupt
and so undemocratic that in 1900,
after being in power twelve years, the
people rose up in their might and
elected Thomas Jefferson to the
Presidency, and the discredited
Federal party, as the Republican
historian, Cooper, says, "Passed out
of power in cloud of intrigue and in
vain grasp at the Aesh-pots."
The Coming of Jeffersonian De.
mOcracy.
With the advent of Jefferson came
the PRONUNCIATION of democracy, the
ultimate purpose of which was.
equal rights to all: special privi-
leges to none," and for which he and
his followers contended until tariff
spoliation was so restricted that in
lS46 an epoch of so-called "F'ree
Trade' was ushered in and its benig-
nant sway continued until the simeon
of mad reform swept everything into
chaos in 1861.
The story of the triumph OF de.
mocracy is told in the adminlstr alton
of Jefferson who inaugurated a system
of economy, fairness and equality that
prevailed for sixty years. These sixty
years in spite of constitutional
privilege and Misrepresentation, grew
at length, under a low tariff policy,
made possible by the wisdom and
teachings of Jefferson, into an era of