Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-02-12
WnN HISTORY REPEATS

WHEN HISTORY REPEATS
II n . familiar saying that History
speafS itsolf.- and reliable history pre-
Sente nnmercue INSTANCES of the truth
uf tho assertion especially in respect
Of similar happenings a century apart
II may &c said with some degree OF Ger
tainty that the political situation in this
country. should It continue in It's pres
snt trend, may afford another instance
I'm support Of the wcli-known prophecy.
For comparison: In 1890. James
Monroe WIS reelected President of the
unanirnity as the candidate OF the Re-
publican (now Democraticl party. He
received all the electoral votes but one.
and the elector who thus dissensed did
20 because he believed that the honor
II unanimous choice. bestowed twice
upon George Washington, should not be
shared by any who succeeded him IN
the Office This generous recollection OF
President Monroe went into history as
the "er, of sood feeling"
-Four years later. in 1894. the country
wns shaken by one Of the ficrcest con-
tentions for tho Presidency. The DOM
inant Republican party presented four
candidates-Andrew jackson Of Ten
nessce. John Quincy Adams OF Mass
William II. Crawford Of Georgia. There
was no choice IN the electoral vote. al
though Andrew jackson led largely.
and in the popular vote as well. and
the election devolved upon the House OF
Representatives. In that body. an Ad-
ams-Clay coalition resulted in the choice
Of Adams for President and Clay be-
came hts Secretary Of State.
This result led 70 the organization.
under the vigorous and enthusing lead
errhip Of Andrew Jackson. Of the pres
ent Democratic party. which held con-
troll Of the country almost continuously
from that time TO the breaking out Of
the Civil War. and which In all it's his
Tory hae never suffered defeat when IT
went into q popular campaign thor
ooen,y united ~
In 1890. a century after the EZRA OF
good feeling" inaugurated by the al
most unanimous reelection Of Presi-
dent Monroe. the country witnessed
another Presidential campaign that re-
suited IN the almost unanimous sue
cess o. the victorious candidate Ger
tainiy Mr.. Harding's victory was over
whelrning. and for awhile IL was at
tended by an unusual degree of good
feeling. IN which the vanquished seemed
20 participate. With a single excep-
tion-ehe disastrous defeat in the Gree
ley campaign OF 1s72-it was the Demo
cratic party's most overwhelming over
throw. To this extent, al least. the
political history Of 1890 was virtually
repeated
And now what of 1924? VIII n wit
ness a disruption Of parties. a tu-
muituous struggle for the Presidency
by at least a quartet Of leading cansi-
dates OF such strength OF following and
political prominence as TO defeat
popular choice. as was the outcome a
century before-
II VIII be admitted that present
political conditions show a decided
trend in that. direction Already the
successful party Of last year is con-
fronted with rivslries and disputes that
may prove most disrupting. Already
there is a struggle for leadership of
the defeated Democratic party-fol-
lowers Of Governor Cox and Mr.. Nc
Adoo manoeuvring for party control
and Mr.. Bryan manifestly inaugu-
rating a campaign for the restoration
OF his former autocratic rule
With party organizations thus teeter-
ing on the edge of disturbing, possibly |
turmoil of factional con
tention, with the perplexing problems
arising from the World War still un-
settled and SO many statesmen obsessed
by the belief that they alone can solve |
them, who can venture TO predict what |
aTill be the outcome of the national |
political campaign Of 1924, or what |
burning issues or appealing candidates /
Il will bring forth?