The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1920-11-12
THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY

"The Democratic party" says Mr..
McAdoo, "has suffered a severe but
not a disastrous defeat. 1t is far
from dead; it is not even seriously
wounded" Other Democratic leaders
have FASTENED to say that the over
whelming majorities of the election
are not death blow to the parry. The
assurance may seem necessary, but to
anyone who knows the history of
America and understands the nature
of American institutions the assur-
ance is superfuous, The Democratic
party may be temporarily shattered
by the blow, but most certainly it is
not dead or dying. 1t would be sor-
ry day for the country if it were. For
the country needs the Democrat,,
party, and perhaps it never needed it
more than now when the great Re.
publican preponderance requires, be-
cause of the very nature of all human
propensities, balance wheel. The
party that survived the disasters OIL
the civil war; and that through the
twenty years following maintained it.
self under conditions that seemed
hopeless for supremacy, is not made
Of destructible stuff. Four times since
then the people have given it the con-
troll of the government and no doubt
they will do it again if the mistakes
Of the Republican party seem to JUS
tify change.
No party in this country can main
tain its hold upon power indefinitely,
and it is well for US that it cannot. In
hx Ave tnn of a
Republican party seemed to be so
firmly established in the seats of po-
litical dominancy. so firmly fixed in the
confidence of the seople, that appar-
emily nothing could remove 1T. In
1908 and 1908 the Republican plurall-
ties, both in the popular and electoral
vote, were overwhelming. But the
Democratic party was not dead. In
1912 the Republican party, torn by
internal dissension and weakened by
division, lost it's place and gave way
to the once more triumphant Democ-
racy. Then it was that the Republi-
cans feared that their party was dead,
and with far more reason than the
Democrats have ever had, for the par
TVS bitter civil war had made wounds
HnUSt uilIlCult W nedls anu Until IuSy
could be healed there was little hope
for Republican restoration. Yet time
did heal them; the party became once
more united. 1t showed its returning
vitality in the election of 1918, and in
that just held it has achieved the
greatest popular vote in its history.
If ever a great party seemed obliter-
ated that seeming existed on Novem-
Der, 1912, yet today the Republican
party has swept the country in overs
towering triumph. No one can tell
when nor under what circumstances
the Democratic party will come back,
but the tendency Of political events,
and of the feelings of human nature
in democracy, is constantly toward
the balancing of powers through the
shifting of the pendulum. Public
opinion is, as it were, centrifugal
force pulling from the inner to the
outward, and the party in power can
maintain its control only so long as it
gan counteract that influence by eff
fective public service.
government in the hands of political
In other words, the people place the
party on conditional terms. Ii the
party SO commissioned does not meet
expectations, if it does not fulfill the
responsibilities laid upon 1t by the
country, If in any way its administra-
ton S generally unsatisfactory, the
people displace it and give the power
to the other party. The dominant
party must expect to receive the balme
for whatever is. Often 1t is blamed
for events or conditions over which it
has no control, but that is a phase Of
human nature that must be accepted
as one of the inherant liabilities Of
power. Such causes of complaint or
dissatisfaction do not in themselves
cause the overthrow of party in this
country, for the judgment of the
American people is usually sound, but
they often contribute nightly to It
when the valid reasons for disapprov-
al are impressive. In any event the
time almost inevitably comes whe,.
the accumulation Of dissatisfaction