Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1928-11-17
Other Papers
~DEMOCRACY'S FUTURE
beaumont Enterprise).

~Jcsephus Daniels of North Carolina says, in Chica-
go: ANY party that polls $4,000, 900 votes is not dead"
The democratic party is not dead yet. but if its mem
bers continue to quarrel among themselves they will
destroy it as surely as North Carolina was carried by
Herbert Hoover.
~Josephus Daniels was a prohibitionist before the
eighteenth amendment was adopted. He made tn.
United States navy dry, in spite Of the ridicule 10
which he was subjected and the silent indignation he
aroused among peppery old admirals. In addition to be-
ing a prohibitionist, Mr.. Daniels was and is a demo-
crat. He saw no reason why he should desert his
party's nominees in the presidential election. 1t was
not his fault that North Carolina went republican. The
credit for that achieyement-if it is an achievement
goes to Senator Simmons, the most prominent demo-
cratic leader in the south who bolted the ticket.
Along with Senator Sheppard Of Texas. author Of
the eighteenth amendment; Senator Pat Harrison of
Mississippi and most of the other democratic leaders
in the south, Mr.. Daniels fought for a democratic vic
tory. He sees no reason now to follow any other course
than he has consistently followed in the past, which
is to work for the unity and success Of the democratic
party, and to discourage sectionalism.
Mr.. Daniels thinks that cit is not sectional leader
ship we want, but united effort. with the democratic
minority in congress offering a unified program around
which the party can rally. I see no reason why We
should say New York should lose control Of the party
VI VIZ y Y CePpseu IS chairman. we VIII get
nowhere criticizing each other"
Dissention in the democratic party. contributed 20
the overwhelming defeat Of Governor Smith. A pOpu-
lar vote may be something to boast of, but it is the
electoral vote that counts. Does the democratic party
intend to continue an intraparty fight that will assure
control of the federal government by the republicans
as long as they want it?
One is tempted sometimes to say that the demo-
cratic party does not deserve to win, because of the
stupid blunders it commits. The democratic party does
not lack brains, but it often makes a sorry business Of
using them. Immediately after the election democrats
in the southern states demanded the official head of
John J. Raskob. 1t was declared that the party must
be reorganized and a new leadership established. Pre-
sumably the idea is to transfer democratic leadership
from the east to the south.
What will become of the democratic party if the
southern wing is divorced from the eastern wing? In
that event the "solid south" will r main intact, per-
haps, but the democratic party will cease to be a ma
tional party and will become a sectional party. The
"solid south" alone and unaided, could not elect a
president Of the United States in 100 years.
The democratic party certainly does need leader
ship. but leadership with vision, intelligence and pa
triotism that will draw the shattered ranks Of the party
closer together, instead of prolonging and aggravating
internal differences, and will make the party once more
a militant, fighting organization.