Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1923-12-12

| OuuGI our lGIul Vi SON6IuHleuL, pO-
litical parties are an integral part
They are just as essential as our
supreme court, our Congress or our
executive branch. Without parties
our government ceases to function.
To the women who are present
and attending this school of
democracy, | would say that the
party work you do in your home
communities is Just as much a rela-
tive part of carrying on the function
of government, as the work per-
formed by the judge on the bench,
the chief executive, or the legislator
in state house or Congress.
IN the early stages Of our national
existence, certain questions and is
! sues arose so far reaching in scope,
! and yet SO intimate in their relation
/ to the individual and his trend of
/ thought, that the seeds of bitter
craftsmanship were sown. We must
realize that at the outset the CON
| stitution Of the United States had not
! been interpreted by our supreme
court. The question of states rights
was an eyer-recuring one, and just
what the relationship between the
several states and the national gov
eminent was to be, remained unde-
termined.
In the early stages each individual
state considered itself greater than
the union of states There was, in
fact, no real national entity. We be-
came a nation only by degrees.
1t was bat natural that people
whose forebears had conquered a
wilderness, and who had themselves
fought and bled on the soil which
they possessed, should entertain
strong partisan views on the issues
affecting the manner in which they
were to be governed. In conse-
quence, type of party partisanship
sprang up in America which, as time
went on, became bitter in the eX-
IRENE. That America did not escape
the suffering incident to growing
pains is but natural. Red-blooded
men belonged to one party or the
other. The Independent was weak
ling. Party ties were second only to
family ties, and sometimes tran
scended even these. But America
grew.
The slavery issue lent finder to the
flame of deep partisanship, but was
settled. and with it the question of
secession. This took the backbone
out of states rights. The latter, to
be sure, has come up collaterally
once in a while since the secession
question was settled, but no state to-
day considers itself greater than
the nation, and we all place country
first.
The result of this old-line partisan
ship has been to make members cling
to their party, regardless OF the
present-day issues involved. Some
intrepid individuals have, in times |
past. dared to change parties upon
finding that their party no longer |
stood for what they believed. These |
have invariably brought down the |
wrath of the deserted party upon |
themselves. They have been called |
everything. from backsliders to mug |
Wamps. Henry Ward Beecher, for |
instance, was called a mugwamp for |
boiling the republican party in 1884.
In 1856 Hannibal Hamlin who |
tor from Maine, resigned from the U. |
S. Senate, returned to Maine, and was |
subsequently, in 1857, elected to the |
Senate as a republican on the anti
slavery issue. Largely as a result OF |
this courageous stand, he was sub
sequently elected vicepresident.
In late years the tendency has been
growing to get away from the bitter
partisanship and hatred which poll
tics in America has at times engen-
dered, and to stand and vote with
PARTIES on issues. rather than from
blind partisanship.
We are facing the dawn of new
partisanship; some think, new
alignment of parties. If, in 1924,
the democrats elect President and
the republicans are defeated, the re-
publican party in the nation is very
apt to become the radical party. De-
feat of the republicans nationally in
1924, would doubtless mean that the
stand-pat element now in control
would be thrown out, and party con-
troll seized by the radical element so
powerful in the republican, party to-
day.
can present no better illustration
of the futility of following the old
partisanship than to review the po-
litical situation in the State of Maine.
For seventy years our State has
been almost uninterruptedly under
republican domination. During this
period Maine has shown a decline
agriculturally-in certain sections
amounting to disintergration- and
our industrial growth has not kept
pace with that of the notion. Our
abandoned and dilapidated farms are
mute evidence of this disintergrating
process. The sons and daughters of
Maine, after receiving their educa-
ton at the expense of the State, mi
crate in large numbers to other
states and help in their building-up
process, while Maine stands still.
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