Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-11-03
THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN
AND THERE IS NO APPEAL
The Country viii Now Await With
calnness the Assumption Of Power
by the Republican Party


IN THE marble slab over the grave Of
| James Wilson in the yard of Christ
Church In Second street there is this in
scription taken from the writings of the
man who did more than any other to make
| the constitution charter Of democracy:
That the supreme po,oer. therefore,
should De cested IN the people Ia IN my
Judgment the great panacco Of human poll
hcs.-Jdmes Wilson.
The people exercised their power yesterday
| in solemn referendum. 1t was an awcsome
| spectacle, that Of the electors Of nation Of
1000, 600 people going quietly to the polls
and registering their will. confident in the
justness Of their verdict and confident also
that It would be accepted by the vanqushed
| as well as by the victors.
This Is the democracy which that great
Pennsylvonian, James Wilson. advocated in
the constitutional convention and in all his
writings In defense of the principles which he
sought to have embodied in that document.
The verdict has been rendered by the
highest tribunal There is no appeal from
1t. And In ten years those who have lost
their case will admit that the verdict was
In accordance with the evidence.
The last four months have been devoted,
not TO framing Of the issues, but to
summing up Of the testimony and to the
capitalization Of the opinion of the great
jury Of the electors.
The question at issue was whether tho
Democratic party had made good as an in.
strument Of government and whether the
country would continue to use it. But aside
from the success or failure of the party in
power, that party had to face the reaction
in feeling which always follows a great war.
The party under which war is fought al
ways suffers from this reaction. The con-
dition is not peculiar to America The
government In France which prosecuted the
war has gone out of power: the same thing
has happened in Italy, and it is morally
certain that there will be a change Of the
party in control Of the government in Great
Britain before many months. This desire
for a change persists regardless of the merits
or demcrits Of the war government, and Is
based on a feeling that the men who have
conducted war have contracted political
habits which will make it impossible for
them to carry on the work of peace.
The position Of the Democratic party was
its conduct in San Francisco. The national
convention had not been in session twenty
four hours before it was manifest that the
party was not united There was Wilson
faction and an anti Wilson faction. The
anti Wilson faction, composed of the worst
elements In the Democracy, fought for con-
troll and won. 1t permitted the President to
write the platform, but when it came to
making a nomination, Murphy, Taggart.
Nugent and Brennan united their strength
with the strength Of those other spoilsmen
who sympathized with them TO force the
nomination of Governor Cox, q nomination
agreed upon by them at an Indiana gam
bling resort several days before the conyen-
ton met. They put Cox over, and Cox
turned his back on the Wilson inspired
platform and has hardly referred to II during
all the succeeding months. 1t was not until
the closing weeks Of the campaign that he
began to talk about the League Of Nations
which the platform pledged the party to
support, and as he talked he got farther
and farther from the platform until the dis
eliminating voters were unable to find any
vital difference between his position and that
occupied by Senator Harding.
90 "heh the voters went to the polls they
were confronted by the necessity of retnin-
ing party in power which had repudiated
its President in the selection of its candidate
and which, as the campaign progressed, re.
pudiated the one issue which the President
had insisted was more important than any
other that had been submitted to the cleo
torate for a generation, or Of giving q man
date to party which professed belief In
the ends sought by the League of Nations
and had record in the past Of successful
achievement.
Under the circumstances, it is not surpris-
ing that the Democratic party has been sen.
fenced to hard work in the opposition for the
next four years No sophiStication Of argu-
ments has been able to conceal from the
voters the real issue. With their usual per
spicacity, they have sensed its essentials and
have reached n conclusion which time will
show was inevitable.
The defeat is the most crushing which has
come to any American party in many years.
In virtually every state in which there was
a contest the Democrats have been reDudi-
ated. They carried the solid South for the
single reason that the Republican party has
no real existence there.
The responsibilities now TO be assumed bv
Senator Harding and by his associates IN
Congress will have SOLDERING effect upon
them. They cannot contemplate the tasks
awaiting them without awe. They will take
over the government burdcncd with an cnor-
nous war debt and with war organization
still In existence. 1t will be necessary to dis.
organize the war agencies ann return the
personnel to private life, n work that ought
to have been done months rgo. 1t will be
necessary to provide revcl ne for ordinqry
expenses and in addition f1r the payment OF
interest on the billions O. the war debt
The ingenuity of the l,est economic brains
in the country will be taxed to the utmost
10 devise revenue laws which will raise the
necessary money while doing nothing to ham
per the conduct Of legitimate business.
Such laws cnnnct be drafted by cross