APRILl.21,,19l -
The Commoner.
7
Approaching a Political Climax
"Some metropolitan newspapers do not re
quire that their editors shall possess even ordi
nary intelligence If they did, several men
now engaged in befogging knowledge by writ
ing editorials would be earning an honest living
at manual labor. Nowhere is there displayed
such crass ignorance of public sentiment as on
the editorial pages of those New York news
papers which wear the greatest air of profound
wisdom.
"The foregoing paragraph is written with the
New York Sun particularly- in mind. It ap
plies with equal force, however, to several 'other
great journals of the most provincial city on the
continent. Published as they aro within the
zone of crooked finance, and drawing both in
spiration and sustenance from big business,
these newspapers are apparently unaware of
the existence of any voters outside the area of
their own city, or of any public sentiment worth
taking into account except that dictated by
Wall Street.
"The best illustration of this utter pro
vincialism is furnished by the present political
attitude of those newspapers. They are labor
ing to bring about a condition whereby the
progressives of both old parties shall be pre
vented from casting a progressive ballot in the
presidential election next year. They seem to
believe that such a condition can be created.
They assume that the reactionaries will be able
to control the republican party, and to bring
about President Taft's renominatlon. Therefore
their energies are being directed toward the
capture - of the democratic party by the plun
derbund for which they speak.
"Their object, of course, is to nominate on
the democratic ticket a man like Judson Har
mon, or some other candidate as satisfactory
as President Taft to the forces of reaction. They
believe, or seem to believe, that the progres
sive democrats and the progressive republicans,
as' in days of Told, can -be induced to align
themselves on one side or he other in a sham
battle' between "these twin candidates of special
privilege and vested wrong'. -
"Nobody can blame a flabby and swollen
beneficiary of privilege for entertaining the no
tion that the progressives can be disfranchised
by the simple process of buying the two old
party organizations. It is characteristic of the
intellect which devotes itself exclusively to
making money, that it believes unquestioningly
in the omnipotence of the dollar, and is con
sequently unable to understand that anybody
can be influenced by other than sordid motives.
It Is true, moreover, of the bourbon mind in
every age of the world that it has been totally
incapable of sensing public sentiment. B,ut
of trained newspaper men, whose mission in
life is .to - read and interpret public sentiments
something better is expected. They are looked
to to produce a higher grade of intelligence than
the fat-necked and dull-witted financier or tariff
beneficiary whose pocket they serve.
"In the case of several New York editors of
distinction, however, it is painfully evident that
they have sunk to the intellectual level of their
employers. Hence they imagine that a double
barrelled scheme of political reaction can be
worked' out in American politics; that both
parties can be brought to serve the Mammon
of Unrighteousness, and that after the candi
dates are nominated predatory wealth may take
Its ease and view the result in November with
stolid indifference.
"Now, if there is one thing in politics more
certain than another, it is that the progressives
are not going to be disfranchised. They will
most surely find a way of expressing their
opinions at the ballot box. If that opportunity
be denied by both existing parties, a new party
.-will be born a party certain to receive millions
of votes', and which, while it may not be im
mediately successful, will close one epoch in
American politics and usher in a new one.
"The immediate effect of the birth of such
a party would be the disappearance of either
the republican or the democratic party along
the gloomy trail to limbo which the whig party
travelled over sixty years ago. Our national
experience has proven that there is not room
enough in this country for more than two chief
political parties. When the slave interest cap
tured both the whig and the democratic organi
sations, a new party wa,s born almost in & Say,
and the whig party vanished into the realm of
things forgotten. History is bound to repeat
itself if the reactionary leaders of this day force
tho progressives to form a new party.
"Most of the reactionary press of the country
just now is professing an ostentatious devotion
to the welfare of the democratic party. It
makes that pretense because of superficial indi
cations that the democratic party is to win tho
next presidential election, and because its
masters wish It to be on the ground floor. Tho
real owners of these newspapers believe they
can serve their purposo best by pretending to bo
democratic. It would seem that the democratic
party had been afflicted sorely enough in tho
nast few years without having to suffer the visi
tation of this latest scourge, but evidently it
was not to bo.
"Of course all the advice which the reaction
ary press gives to the democratic party is bad
advice. It cannot help being bad, because it is
prompted not by a desire to conserve the party
welfare, but by a desire to promote tho financial
interests of men who have no party. Followed,
such advice would either wreck tho party, or,
in the event of a victory, would make that vic
tory more costly than a defeat.
"Take the case of the New York Sun as an
example. Here is a list of some of the things
it hits advocated since the democratic success
last fall, following which it edged itself over
into the democratic camp:
"1. Election of W. F. Sheehan and 'Jim'
Smith as United States senators from New York
and New Jersey respectively.
"2. Denial of statehood to Arizona, because
that state's constitution provides for direct
legislation and the. recall.
"3. Elevation of Fitzgerald and other no
torious Cannon democrats to places of impor
tance in the house organization.
"4. Defeat of direct primary legislation in
New York, New Jersey, and other states where
the democratic party for the first time in years
Ib In control.
".5. Nomination of a 'conservative' democrat
for president in 1912.
"These, of . course, are - mere details of a
'-general program so reactionary that, If carried
out, .it would drive from the party ranks pro
gressive democrats by the millions. The pro
gram differs in no moral particular from tho
course followed by the stand-pat republicans '
the following of which caused the republican
party to be repudiated at the polls. It goes
without saying that the man or the newspaper
that advocates it knows' nothing of and cares
nothing for real democracy. An attempt to
commit the democratic party to it is inspired
either by treachery, or by a belief that an
extreme reactionary policy will win. enough
votes in the east and in the solid south to elect
a president satisfactory to big business.
"It may be the result of deliberate calcula-
tion. Possibly a reactionary democrat might be
elected in 1912 as a result of the formation of
an independent progressive party. But even
that is -figuring on only one presidential cam
paign, and takes no account of the future. The
ultimate result of the formation of a progres
sive party is bound to be an alignment of all the
voters in two parties one reactionary and the
other progressive and unless big business has
gone mad it is not trying to bring about that
result.
"It Is perfectly clear, however, that reaction
ary democrats will make a desperate attempt
. to control the democratic -national 'convention.
That offort will be backed by all the 'money
needful for a campaign of corruption, intimida
tion and political debauchery. It will command
the support of every reactionary democratic,
politician in the United States, as well as tho
support of every timid democratic business man,
who, after all, would serve the democratic party
best by getting out of it.
"These politicians and business men are in
the democratic party under false pretenses. To
save their lives they could not intelligently dif
ferentiate themselves from stand-pat republi
cans. They have bolted the democratic ticket
in three presidential contests; they have no.
comprehension of what democratic principles
are; they simply sail under a black flag. But
they are influential and powerful in the demo
cratic organizations of too many states, and they
constitute a black menace to tho . success of
progressive democracy working within, demo
cratic party lines.
"It is already apparent that? barring some
political cataclysm, reactionaries "will control
tho republican party, and that President Taft
will bo renominated. Whatover tho progres
sive leaders may do whother they bolt or yield
a nominal allegianco to tho party nominee the
progressive rank and file will not voto for Mr.
Taft.
"Theso progressive republicans can bo at
tracted to tho democratic tickot if there Is
vlrtuo enough left in tho democratic party to
attract them. Much depends, of course, on tho
dovolopments in tho new democratic congress;
but even more will dopond upon tho action
which tho democratic party takes in Its national
convention, namely, tho character of its nomi
nees and tho declarations of its platform.
"If tho schomes1 now Incubating in the finan
cial centers of tho country can bo worked out,
no offort will be mado by the democratic party
to attract the independent and progressive vote.
Tho plan is to nominate a reactionary in each
party, and firm In tho delusion that the voters
can bo bamboozled forevor, to let the election
take care of itself.
"In tho light of what has happened In tho
past fow years to awaken public sontiment and
to enlighten public intelligence, Is it nosolblo
that such a scheme can succeed oven at tho
next election?" D. K. L., in Tho Public, (Louis
F. Post's paper.)
THE MEXICAN TROUBLE
Tho Mexican trouble assumed a serious aspect
when tho Mexican troops undertook to capturo
the Mexican town of Agua Prlota', near tho Ari
zona border. The revolutionists, repulsed tho
government troops and the bullets from both
sides fell In Douglas, Arizona, wounding five
Douglas residents. A troop of United States
cavalry sought' to protect tho residents of Doug
las, but its efforts wero in vain. Later Bala
sario Garcia, commander of the revolutionists
at Agua Prlqta surrendered himself to Captain
Gaujot, of ifhe First United States cavalry.
Gdvernor Sloan, of Arizona, reported to Presi
dent Taft the firing upon Douglas and advised
that radical measures were necessary to protect
Arizona people. Tho president replied to tho
governor, saying that, while ho appreciated the
seriousness of the situation, he was relucfant to
take radical measures because thp motives of
the .American government might be miscon
strued; ho said ho had' warned both the Mexi
can government and tho leaders of the revolu
tionists. President Taft later laid the entire matter be
fore leading members of congress, lotting It be
come known that United States troops would not
cross tho border unless authorized by congress.
Senator Stone, of Missouri, offered in tho
senate, a resolution calling, for investigation yy
the committee on foreign relations as to the
Mexican situation. The resolution was tabled
at Senator Stono's request, and ho will later
make a speech upon it.
Have you ever seen the dam that is being
built at Keokuk, Iowa? If not it will pay you
to turn aside arid Inspect it.' It is one of the
really great engineering enterprises of the
generation.
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HE DIED SMILING
A Cleveland, O., correspondent for the
Louisville (Kentucky) Times, sent- to
his newspaper this dispatch, concerning
tho late Tom L. Johnson:
THiilTicr- 'hia loaf lllnoaa "Ti Trihrtann
was requested to write his autograph
' in the birthday book of Miss Louise
Graham, a friend of the family. Com-
menting on the paragraph he selected,
Mr. Johnson's Secretary remarked on
its appropriate sentiment. Mr. Johnson
said ho, "hoped it would be so," and
signed his name to the following quota-
tlon:
"His face was a thanksgiving for -his
past life and a love letter to all man-
kind."
When Arthur Fuller, the chauffeur for
Mr.. Johnson, visited the patient Sunday
afternoon he remarked that his employer
was still smiling.
"Yes, Arthur, I'm dying, but I still
have my smile, arid I am going to die
smiling," replied the former mayor.
And he did, the end coming at 8:47
o'clock.
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