The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-08-21

tlie public but even it's leaders are nov elsoi ganized while quarrelng over in loot As for the partys bosses. inc i'm proper influences in American politica Iile are about equally divided betwee, tneHl, everywhere. Boss Barnes ii crossing swords with 'Boss' Finn. an, lhelr charges and countercharges dfsclos, greatness onlr when we apply Emerson statement: Consistency is the hobgobljr of little minds
 How comes it that we have reached such condition of affairs in American nie that the party in power is rent ir ."ain' that boss is charging boss witt knavery, crookedness and dishonesty. ant that each faction is claiming an exclu sIve patent upon honesty and patriotism While avowing that the success of in, other would spell irreparable ruin for th public? And more particularly, how come this to pass under a republican system O government consisting of co-ordinat branches to which were ceded bv in, people none of the inalienable rights bu oniN such powers as were thought to b, needful to redress the wrongs, preserv, the rights and keep unsha ckled the moral intellectual and physical forces of man kind?
 Determining Majority
 Though majority of the people have
 
 have been assuming thereby that the ma. lorlty would rule the disgraceful bui purifying scenes which have been enacted recently in republican conventions diclost that large number of those who have been voting the republican ticket ar, democrats at heart. These scenes disclose fufth that we have been mistaken r some Of our conclusions touching govern. ment in America. We have yielded q quiet assent a Jority Is all-powerful and that a minorit, has no rights which a majority is bound to respect But now we know that the theory of the historic democratic party that 1t Is the right of a majority to rule but only within constitutional limitation, anu without the usurpation of q single lnalienable right of single individual k correct
 Tt is only when majorities thus rul, that governmental machines move with. out friction. The right of majority tt thnis rule must always be conceded I won der however, if it has dawned upon the sober second thought of this people thet it is possible for a majority to be A mi nority and that it Is equally possible fol minority. to me a majority At frs blush. 1t would seem that the official, elected by the plurality of votes become the representatives of the majority ana mat as such. they rule. But I am not r error when l declare that it is not the mere number of voters which determines majority in America, in the sense of having the power to formulate the policy enact the legislation and control the gov. ernment and l point to the election of lSs Tor proof The protest of every mar who voted for President Taft and who is now dissatisfied with the presidents management of public affairs proves that for four years a minority has been the majority in America. At the risk of of. lending the sensibilities of the republi. can who voted for President Taft onl, to be dissatisfied, with his administra. tion l am going to tell him that he is one of the men l counted in making S per cent or the voters of this countr, members of the historic democratic party. His present protest against tn, result of his ballot reveals his belief tha II Is not the business of government f, grant, under the guise of taxation to an, class of citizens or to any members O society special privileges which are no granted to every other class and 10 ever, other member of society
 "The social condition which we cal democracy and which finds it's avenue ot expression at the polls through our party is unalterably opposed to special privi. lege whether granted by the law or seized by ruthless ambition It Is true tbe mother of all special privilege Is the high protective tariff. All who voted the dem. ocratic ticket at the last presidential election were unalterably opposed to this system of unjust taxation and a suffi. cient number of those who voted the re. publican ticket were likewise convinced of its infquity to make an overwhelminp majority against IL. Give favored few all were agreed that relief. to a greater or less extent. should be afforded to the people from the unjust exactions Of this system. All knew that we could not edu- cate the people of America indiscrim- nately, enlarge their views of life and happiness and then by the high cost of living deprive them of their pleasures without making of American life seeth- ing caldron of discontent. Theoretically speaking, therefore. the majority of votes having put party in power upon a plat form pledged to relieve the people ot these burdens. has been ruling under con- stiiutional limitations. But this Is not SO Immediately after the election the mi nority became the majority In the sense that it assumed control of legislation with reference to special privilege All the members of the democratic party and all the protesting members of the republi- can party have been in the minority when IL came to counting votes where the count fixed the cost of living. It may be said thai this is a mere accident of politics a single illustration, and that it will not occur again But 1t is no accident It is only one of many Illustrations II simply dlscloses the utter folly of A man remaining Il member of a party when the party policy ceases to voice his in- ner spirit The republican party does not recede now from its protective theory. Its return to power will mean again the rule of a minority and the theoretical idea of democracy will continue 10 be the practical aristocracy of special privilege in this country.
 ''fhe voter who cannot satisfy himself this year is indeed censorious Elimi- hating the verbiage of platforms. taking their substance and viewing the candi- dates placed on them, the voter who be- ileNes that the cost of production at home and abroad should be eqialized to the manufactured of this country and who grants an oligarchy to rule. may ov.c the. straight republican ticket: the voter who believes ir similar protective the- or., but who prefers po an oligarchy that ine, president shall be the state. may vote the progressive ticket; the voter who believesthis government should ibe turned into socialism may vote the ssociaIisti ticket; the voter who thinks that church and state are not separate in America and that the people have a right to set tie religious questions and to determine by ballot what is good and what is bad. may vote the prohibition ticket: and all those who insist that it is not the bust ness of government to equalize the eos, of production a home and abroad to the manufacturer until 1t equalizes the differ