Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1916-10-31
PEOPLES PULPIT
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WHY GREAT PARTIES LIVED
AND DIED

IN former article OF mine puDlSHeu
in The Courier under date OF the tenth
inst, quoted at some length from
President Wilson's speech Of the thir-
tieth of last month, in which he essay
ed to praise his party for its long life
and giving as the reason therefor, that
his party had always persistently been
the party of the people for the right
of the people to control, and that the
federal party and the whig party which
his party had overthrow, had neither
been party of the people and there.
fore had died
have lived much longer than the
president-thirty years longer and
have more knowledge personally OF
our political history than he has. Leu
me say here that to my mind the pres
ident is wilfully wrong In his state
ment. He must know that he is wrong
when he declares that his party owes
its persistent life to its having always
been the party of the people.
The life Of the democratic party H.
and has been, due to the fact that 1t
would not progress.
The democratic party was seeming
ly unable to progress away from the
incubus Of human slavery. 1t could
live and flourish with its central and
controlling life lodged in an aristoc.
racy Of slavery, title of nobility in all
but the bestowal of the titles. This
central life Of the party finally led 1t
into rebellion and still it lives, and its
president unblushingly de-
clares with this same once slave hold
ing power solidly behind him, that his
party has held its persistent life be-
cause it Is the peoples party. party
that submits and abides by the voice
Of the people. The democratic party
today would be negligible quantity
stripped of national power, we're it not
sustained by practically solid south,
the verdict of which Is delivered by
that same once slave holding aristoc-
racy. Let me say here that for this
one reason. If for no other. can never
support a party whose life as 1t were
survives. because 1t is as sure Of re-
ceiving the southern vote, as the union
soldier was sure Of hearing the whistle
of the southern bullet.
The death OF the whig party came
solely because it could not hold its
rank and file to abide the dictation Of
this slave aristocracy. The whig party
in Its expiring years tried to hold the
slave power with it, but in vain. The
elements of progress in that party
could not be crushed by the bane Of
party fealty. right or wrong. 1t put
on the raiment Of the republican party
in that tremendous battle both civic
and warlike in which the slave holder
sought first to make slavery national,
and failing in this he sought to divide
the union.
Indulge me in relating a little per.
sonal experience here.
remember we'll the years when the
wing party was sick and dying of too
much subservience to the slave aris-
tocrats. My first vote was cast in
184S. had arrived at my majority in
January Of that year. l am a Buckeye
by birth. In Ohio then the state voted
in October for state officers and there
were three candidates for governor,
viz: Nelson Barrere, the whig: Sam
Medary. the democrat, and Charles F..
Lewis, free soiler. Lewis received
sixty thousand votes MY father and I
walked to the polls together. The old
ties Of the whig party still fingered
WIFI dIlu ne NOleu LOT bdTTere,
while |. enthused by my young blood,
unfettered by old party ties. voted for
Lewis. 1t was this breaking away by
hundreds of thousands that caused the
death of the whig party, continuing
until 1854, and resulting in the birth
of the republican party. The demo-
cratic party still dined on the flesh pots
Of human slavery and played the role
of the rebel. or the copperhead, and
now comes the president of that party
and claims his party owes its long life
to its having always been the party
of the people. This theme is brim full
of what might be written about it, but
l prefer brevity as rule.
In closing. this thought comes to me-
If the democratic party were cast into
hades for thousand years with an
other noted character and his follow.
ers, it would still in the end come up
smiling in babe like innocence and
plead for party victory, because it had
always been the party of the people.