New-York tribune., 1920-09-19

favor of entering the league so long
as he refuses to state the conditions
on which ne wants America to 20 in,
- -
Differences Between the Parties
The Maine election strikingly DIS
played the American tendency to
turn away from the Democratic
party in times of public anxiety. It
IS fair-weather party, we'll enough
when skies are clear. But confidence
flows away from it when clouds are
heavy.
There are reasons for this. Judg-
ing on the basis of things done and
accepted by all after they were done,
one party generally has been right
and the other generally wrong. The
enduring contributions to American
political life have not often come
from the party of Jefferson. jackson
and Wilson. 1t has fought them, and
most of the causes it championed are
now in its ample cemetery.
The differences between the two
great political organizations first
showed in the struggle over the or
ganization Of the nation and the
adoption Of the Constitution. Those
who favored the new Roof, as it was
called, for the greater part became
Federalists, and those who would
have no Capitalization became Jeffer-
sonians. The Federalists won, and
their work has abided.
But the parties were not sclf-con-
scious until Washington's second
administration. The first issue arose
from the wars in Europe. All
America at first applauded the
French Revolution, but when the
Revolutions conduct fell into the
hands Of zealots for disorder and
anarchy there was hot division. One
party was for liberty as the child of
order, while the other held that or
der did not much matter. Liberty
with order won, and France now
leads in upholding the principle.
Other issues divided the parties in
the decades that followed, such as:
National assumption of colony
war debts.
A national banking system and an
elastic bank currency.
Protection of the American wage
scale and standard Of living.
Internal improvements by the ma
tional government.
Acquisitions of new territory dedi-
Gated to freedom.
Secession and notification.
Slavery.
Fiatisn1--both greenback and sill
yer varieties.
Which party may look back on it's
record with the greater pride?
There are other items as to which
the duel has been less definite. Re-
publican areas and laws have been
the more progressive and demo-
cratic; they first gave the country
the transforming public school,
passed the homestead act, estab-
lished public control over public util-
tiles and large corporations, and
have led in all kinds of bettering
humanitarian action. The League of
Nations is a conception more in ac-
cord with the Republican tradition
than with the Democratic one.
Should New York, repeating her
own laws, enact instead the code of
North Carolina, for example, the ac-
ton would properly be regarded as
unspeakably reactionary. Not by
accident did thirty Republican legis-
latures ratify the equal suffrage
amendment, while only six Demo-
cratic legislatures did so. Perhaps
two-thirds Of the Republican party
is progressive. while in the other
party the fractions are reversed
The latest instance of Democratic
conversion is the adoption of Hamil-
tons currency ideas by the Wilson
Administration, though to do it it
was compelled to repudiate Andrew
Jackson
Differences deep and fundamental
exist between the two parties-un-
mingled streams Of tendency-and
these differences are such that in
periods of stress there is confidence
in one party and lack of it in the
other.
Calvin Coolidge Saws