The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1937-01-20

indolent as to let it slip If they
are accustomed to thinking it Sc
cure! But if political inequality
which favors themselves is OPEN
ly attacked or undermined. they
are up in arms at once. George
Washington saw the evil and
warned against political parties.
Though temporarily eclipsed by
his prestige, they existed then as
they always have ixisted and al
ways must exist If we are to have
free country. Open discussion
of differences of political opin-
ion followed or accompanied by
the organization of those favor
ing the different views, is fun
damental to rule by an intelli-
gent majority.
TO The Victors
The alternative is rule by an
ignorant majority or by cunning
minority. Not the existence of
parties but their purposes, their
activities and their abuses are
important. For about forty years
Mr.. Madisons viewpoint on the
whole held good. He said, 1.-THE
president can displace from Of
flee a man whose merits require
that he should be continued
Should he do So-"he will be i'm
peachable--for such an act Of
maladministration. Later came
Jackson and, ITO the Victors be-
long the Spoils,' as a political
slogan. Translated into present
day facts as they really happen,
the victors under the spoils sys-
tenn own both the public offices
and the public moneys as person.
al belongings, to be awarded
where they will. The Jackson slo-.
gan and the spirit in which it
was conceived. altered our whole
national life. Political privilege
which had been more or less
hampered by the public under
standing of the Declaration of
independence, was again recog-
nized as being legitimate. Men
might be born free and equal be-
fore the law. but unless they
chose to belong to the political
party In power thereafter, that
equality ended with birth.
Privileges
Though there was no party Of
the king to be opposed by the
party of barons or by the party
of the commoners. America ac-
cepted the return of political
privilege as right. To the VIC
tors belonged the political spoils.
The unimportant form known as
monarchy was rejected. The i'm
portant substance of of enequal-
ity, of political privilege under
the forms of law, was revived.
Grants OF offices as spoils have
produced the same sort of
"Swarms of office holders" as the
American rebels protested against
the Declaration of Independence.
Use of the powers of legislation
to grant exclusive privileges 20
partisans have been accepted as
proper spoils to the victorS. Pay
from the public treasury. "hon-
ors" created in order to be dis
tributed by persons in public TO
their political friends, attacks by
the "black horse cavalry" as
matter of course. 1t was but a
matter of natural sequence that
political privilege should also at
times stand between criminals
and he courts. Equality before
the law may be crippled by the
pull of politician II he claimg
the right as his spoils.
Maxims
Equality before the law and
ito the victors belong the spoils"
are maxims Numerically opposed
to each other. Which principle
will finally win? If we and our
descendants do not forget the les
sons taught by Magma Charta,
the Protectorate. the Revolution,
the Civil War: that freedom
must be won over and over again
IN substance; that names are Of
ten but the shadows raised by
those who claim class privilege in
order to cloud the substance Of