The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1913-12-26
A PARTY OF PANIC

(NOte-The World has been print
inging some exceptionally fine editO-
ria.a lately, hut none OF them his the
RAJ so squsrtiy or the head, accord
ing TO our notions, as the article
which we hereto append. The edito-
ria is pungent and fOrceful because
lit is timely and true. 1t will do one
who is in sympathy with its utter
arcos good to his marrow bones to
read It'd. Banner)
Mere powerful than anything else
in shaping the policies Of the national
republican committee was the conf
derce OF its members that hard times
are at hand. That this feeling is bas-
ed upon something more than faith
is shown by the utterances OF lead
irg members OF the party. It is an eX-
preston also OF a hope, feryent and
potential.
The country is already in the
midst OF a financial and industrial
panic" said Representative Mann, re-
publican leader OF the house, the day
before the committee assembled.
The lever of prosperity has been re-
versed." exclaimed Joseph G.. Can
nor on his arrival at the capital. 81
| lent wheels, smokeless stocks and suf-
fering people will speak louder than
any declaration of principles that we
can make" was the argument of
Reed Smoot. THE lumber industry
in my state is Frustrated" was the
testimony of Congressman Humphrey
of Washington.
Repeated references were made at
the committee meeting to business de-
! preston under democratic administra-
! tion," says one report; ''smokeless
chimneys, dinnerless pals and crowd
ed soup houses were predicted by
most of the speakers. ITO rely upon
mistakes of the democratic admins
tration rather than upon new declara-
tions of principles" was the substance
of another Answering those who
wished to place the party on record
with reference to progress and princi-
pie, Sherman Granger Of Ohio epit-
omized the gospel of calamity and
standpatism in the words: Demo
cratic legislation and the conditions
we now have in the country-these
are your platform"
political organization that delib
erately elects to become a mere tide
waiter and beachcomber may properly
be described as a party of panic. It's
hopes rest upon public misfortune. All
of its prayers are addressed to the
god of mischief. For such party it !
is only step from the wish ID the
deed. The evil passions that men Sc
cretly cherish develop later into no.
torious wrongs that afflict the earth. (
When a political organization de- !
votes itself to panic it becomes an
active agent of panic.
Through this committee of de-
throned bosses we thus learn the
state of mind of monopoly and privi-
lege. which for the first time in a gen.
Grafton have been challenged. 1t is
more than vengeful. It is rebellious.
It's hostility is not confined to an ad- +
ministration or a poli-y. 1t is aimed
at a nation.
There is not a republican leader
who does not know that financial dis
quiet is universal. If those who wait
upon panic and distress are as famil-
lar with foreign markets as they are
with Wall Street, they know that con- !
soils in London reached the lowest
price ever recorded for them yester-
day, and they know that in every con-
tinental capital there is commercial
caution and uncertainty. Can a free
nation tolerate a political party that
is in open and shameful alliance with
the piratical speculative interests
that find profit in disasters which
they engineer?
Opposition to the democratic par
ty is desirable, but not cut-throat OPP
position. Every ma jority is benefited
by intelligent criticism, but not by
the knives of assassins of the bIud-
geons of DULLES. High-minded as we
believe President Wilson to be, his
public service may be improved by
antagonism that is based in con-
science, principle and patriotism, but !
not by antagonism having its roots in
greed and revenge. In a word, there
is no place in constitutional govern
ment for a party that, rejecting the
splendid visions of its founders, draws
its inspiration from the brigandage of
its wreckers.
1t is the leadership of the republi-
can party that is at fault The
republic must recognize the fact and /
prepare to reckon with it.-World, |