The Washington herald., 1915-01-12
The Observation-Disclosures.

uC vi
| Old wood, old wine, old friends, and old books
are best, said some one long ago. The New York
Times goes farther and reminds the President that
all signs point to a return of the Republican party
to power, and adds: "Our grandfathers are the
coming men in this country" The Times does not
say in so many words that the Republican is the
grandfather party, but it suggests that the people
have tried out the new notions of the young ones
and paraphrases the other old sayings that "Old
birds are not caught with chaff," and Young men
think old men are fools; old men know young men
to be So"
Republicans may not like the suggestion of the
Times, that theirs is the grandfather party, any
more than they do the Presidents complaint that
they have not had a new idea in the last thirty
years But both may be more or less true. There
are good many grandfathers in the Republican
ranks and they appear not to have lost their vigor
or their courage. DR.. Gallinger and Uncle Joe
Cannon are seventy-eight Elihu Root and Senator
Warren seventy, Senators Gof Dillingham;, and
Nelson are sevcnty-two; Lodge is sixty-fve, Clark
sixty-four, and Burton sixty-three. They are all
alive and able to for themselves in public
service On the outside are Aldrich and Depew,
Fairbanks, Roosevelt and Taft and many other
grandfathers who still able get into the ring
without asking handicap in their favor. The Re
publicans of the younger generation have not been
averse to following the old proverb "Old men for
counsel and young men for war;" but have taken
counsel of the grandfathcrs because of their ex-
perience.
The grandfathers have had the advantage of
experience and they could have told the Pres-
dent the history OF the two tariff commissions, and
the effect they had on tariff legislation. They could
also have told him that the Interstate Commerce
Commission is nearly thirty years old. That is
said to have been the last new idea in government,
and it has been worked to excess in commission
government since that beginning. But the Pres-
dent may not be much opposed to grandfathers
and grandfather ideas, his abrupt sentence about
no new ideas in thirty years would indicate, for he
made his speech on Jackson Day, and his party has
two grandfather saints, measuring all development
and progress by the dongs and sayings of Jeffer
son and Jackson for nearly a century. Both these
Democratic grandfatherS lived to be sages to lead
their party and hold it to cardinal Democratic prin
Cples for long years after they retired from public
lie and then to be cannonized, with their sayings
treasured the law and the gospel of government
for all time to come Those glorious days of
the Democratic party A number of Democratic
States have also mmortalzcd the grandfathets in
their constitutions, with "thc grandfather clause"
Grandfathers have from the beginning of time,
been looked upon fountains of experience if not
of WISDOM and it may not be unfortunate for the
country if grandfather party again comes to the
'front.' to at least turn back the pages for the young
ones to read about the experiments with some of
the notions which they think are brand new. The
old Congressional Record may not be the first to
exploit new discoveries, but it is a repository
where the young inventors and dscoverers OF gov
ernment panaceas can find full record of the trial
of most of the new things in government, if they
only have the patience to read under the guidance
of some OF the grandfathers who were present
when the ideas were first brought forward,
debated as extensively and as learnedly as now,
and some of them tried out with unfortunate re-
suits. SO, after all, why not try the grandfathers
again. Judging by the past and the present the
New York Times may be correct in saying that
"our grandiathers arc the coming men in this
"