Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1913-05-01
A COMPROMISE.

Club at Pittsburg Saturday night, ex
tended the "ungloved hand of genu.
inc party friendship" to those pro.
gressives who had seen fit to draw
away from the republican and unite
with the progressive party. He talks
glibly of democratic incompetency'
and pleads for the laying aside oi
the pettyisms and animosities'
which divide progfessives from re-
publicans. Well, the Tidings editor
belongs TO that class of republicans
who withdrew their support from the
republican party, nor was it on ac-
count of ''pettyisms', or 'animosi-
ties" that he did so. 1t was simply
because the republican party had
been Kidnapped by lot OF political
exploiters who cared not whit for
equitable government, but who, on
the other hand, had deserted the
landmarks of republicanism and were
attempting to control the party ma
chinery in the interest of certain ia
vored classes.
Had the rank and file OF the party,
in its struggle at the Chicago con-
vention, succeeded in wrehching the
control of the party organization
away from these eXploiters, and in
manning the party with leaders in
sympathy with its principles no mat
ter who the nominee of that conven-
ton might be, there would have been
no split and no new party.
Those politicians who look lightly
upon the party DETECTION and hope
for an early reconciliation will do
well to remember that this is an era
of individual investigation and in
dependent thinking. No longer are
American citizens welded TO a name
the organization must demonstrate
true substance or prepare to lose it's
hold forever on the hearts of it's for
mer adherents.
Already too long have citizens
blindly followed party dictation.
The country needs wholesome legis-
lation. Control has drifted away
from the people so that now the
powers of government are exercised
too much for private gain and indi-
vidual political preferment. The
public mind will never rest until the
machinery Of this government is
firmly in the hands of the whole
people, Nor will it be satisfied with
less even though, to accomplish it
the total annihilation of all party
organization be necessary.
Nothing in the history of this gov.
ernment has ever been made clearer
than the demand of the people fol
revision of the tariff downward
The results of the last election leave
no room for doubt on this score. All
of the democratic voters and all OF
the progressive voters and many OF
those who still adhered to the repub.
lican party have grown confident that
the need for protection in many OF
the lines has passed and that to con-
tinue the high tariffs in such cases
works great hardship on consum.
ers and put the beneficiarles of such
schedules in position to exploit the
people. That is why they refuse
longer to stand for high protective
tariff.
Equally clear has been the deter
mination of the people to see to il
that the control of government is
henceforth anchored in the individ.
ual citizen, in free expression of his
control at the ballot box, without
the intervention of any party organ
ization. This is being accomplished
though imperfectly, through the pri-
mary system. After while it will
become generally apparent that
party organization is unnecessary to
accomplish good government and the
primary laws will be so changed as
to permit of general instead of party
primaries. When that is accom-.
plished party organization will be nc
more and those asking preferment al
the hands of their fellow-citizens will
be compelled to do so purely on their
past performances, or upon the merit
or character and the principles which
they advocate, without being able tc
depend upon powerful political or.
ganization, working on the preju.
dices of its partisans, to help them In
and hold them in power.
Those who take the pains to fol
low the tariff debates now in prog
ress. on the floor of congress will
readily observe that the great bone
of contention for the past fifty years
between the democratic and republi
can parties has been no bone at all
The tariff has always been local
not a party issue. Now it is JUS
being demonstrated beyond cavil, b!
the attitude of democratic and pro