The Emmett index., 1913-11-13
MEANING OF THE ELECTIONS.

The result Of Tuesdays elections
hailed by Democrats as victory an
they view with much complacenc
the chief means by which it has beel
won--the quarrel among their oppo
nents. They take the maintenance
of the voting strength they showed
in 1912 as popular Endorsement o
their tariff and currency policies, ye
the election returns only emphasize
the fact that the Wilson administra
tion is that Of minority party, vastly
outnumbered by it's opponents, ant
holds office only by virtue of their di'
visions. If confronted by a unitec
Republican party, the Democracy
would have lost Massachusetts, ano
New Jersey and would have had q
hard fight to hold Maryland. II
would probably have suffered the same
fate as il met in New York state and
city, where the opposition combined
against it, though its defeat there was
aggravated by as serious division in
its own ranks as prevailed among Re
publicans elsewhere.
The elections are pregnant with
meaning to those who hold Repub-
lican principles-bo those who ad-
here to the old party and those who
have gone forth to form the Progress
i've party. They teach the latter that
their strength reached its high water
mark in 1912 and is shrinking rapidly
instead of expanding. They teach the
former that certain proportion OF
the Roosevelt voters of 1912 are stall
warts, prepared to help the Democrats
for an Indefinite period in defeating
the Republicans in the hope of forcing
the latter to accept their terms.
As to obtaining a mandate from the
people to carry out their plans Of pub
lie betterment, the Progressives have
accomplished nothing. In that respect
they are falling behind in proportion
as their vote this year has fallen be-
hind that OF last year. In Massachu-
sets, with candidate who is much
stronger than his party and with the
Republican party divided, their votes
have fallen short of that of 1912. In
New Jersey, with candidate of excel
lent drawing power, their vote has fal
len from $4,000 TO about 10000,
while the Republican vote has swol-
len from about $4,000 to about i5O,-
900. In New York the Progressives
have elected so few legislators that
these, combined with the Democrats,
are still minority and can therefore
be safely ignored by the Republican
majority.
The Progressives, therefore, are
farther away than ever from control
of the Government, either in the Ma
ton or in any of the states. The next
results Of their efforts is to continue
and to strengthen the Democratic
supremacy and to postpone triumph
of those principles which they hold in
common with Republicans. In spite
of all that Progressiyes may say,
there are but two clearly marked di-
visions Of political opinion in this
country Republican and Democratic.
The former is held by both Repubk
can and Progressive parties, but its
only hope of being put in practice
is the union of these two. SO long as
they remain apart, the party opposed
by both will predominate. At pres
ent the two seem quite content to let
the Democrats rule while they strug-
gle, each in the hope of forcing the
other to accept its terms. Should
some supreme issue arise, which
brings into strong relief the funda-
mental differences between Republic
can and Democratic policy, the dis
united wings of Republicanism may
feel impelled by regard for the Ma
tional veal TO flock together. Until
that event the struggle may continue
There is no reason to expect that,
while the Progressive party is stead
lily losing strength in elections, the
Republican party will make a COM
plete surrender by accepting its whole
as Colonel Roosevelt insists
that it must. There is good reasons
to expect that whatever of the Pro-
platform is good and approx
ed by general public sentiment will be
enacted into law. We may also ex-
pect that the continued presence of
the Progressive party in the field will
furnish a stimulus to the reorgani-
zation of the Republican party on the
platform of the new Republicanism,
of which Senator Borah is the chief
Whatever truth there
may be in the charge that the machin-
cry of the Republican party is corrupt
no man can truthfully say that of the
whole body of voters of which it is
composed, and what Mr.. Borah said in