imimmmemmmmvm
fully apparent In respect to mining claims and the
organization of railroad, banking, and other corpora
tions, and the granting of franchises generally. It
is necessary that there ho somebody or ofiicer vested
with legislative authority to pass laws which shall
afford opportunity to capital to make investment
here. This is the true and most lasting method of
pacification.
This is military genius! It is all done for
purpose of pacification! The Filipinos are now
fighting for their homes and the laud which they
have occupied from time immemorial. Take away
their land and they will have nothing left to de
fend! How simple the plan! Strange that it had
not been thought of before!
Weyler starved the Cuban's so that they had
no strength left to fight with, but the Taft plan
is much more effective because it leaves the Fili
pinos nothing to fight for.
Unless the conscience of the American people
is seared there must be a revolt against the prop
osition to surrender our principles of government,
our sense of justice and our ideas of public moral
ity at the demand of the greedy and conscience
less syndicates which are hovering like vultureB
over the Philippine Islands.
A Sample of Harmony.
Tt is fortunate for the democracy of the nation
that at the very beginning of the jBght the reorgan
izes, furnish a sample of the harmony which they
recommend to the party at large. St. Louis, the
chief city of one of the great democratic states,
is chosen as the theatre for the exhibition of this
model reconciliation! A mayor is to bo chosen
who will hold office during the World's Fair, and
certain men who did not think it important that
the nation should have a democratic president are
convinced that it in a matter of paramount im
portance that St. Lpuis should have a democratic
mayor. Of course, it was thought necessary that
so important an office at so important a time
should bo filled by a man of "eminent respecta
bility," but it is strange that among the many
thousands in St. Louis who are in the habit of
voting the democatio ticket, not one could be
found who measured up to the standard set by
the reorganizes.
Mr. Rolla Wells, the gentleman who was nomi
nated by the democratic city convention, re
nounced his allegiance to the democratic party in
1890 and resigned the presidency of the St. Louis
Democratic club. He actively co-operated with
the bolting contingent who supported the repub
lican ticket that year, and in 1898 he openly op
posed the democratic candidate for Congress in
his district. In 1900 his influence was given to
the republican national ticket, and he has not
since that time returned to the democratic party,
or announced his acceptance of democratic prin
ciples as set forth in the party platform.
The resolutions adopted by the local conven
tion which nominated him include an endorsement
of "the fundamental principles of democracy,"
but Mr. Wells, if elected, will be able to -define
and construe those principles to suit himself.
Mr. Wells is personally, no doubt, a good
man. According to the Republic, Mr. Carpen
ter of the National Lead Company, a republican,
gives Mr. Wells a certificate of good character,
and Mr. Walsh of the Terminal Railroad Com
pany endorses the certificate. Even the Globe
Democrat cannot withhold its testimony to his
respectability. '
It may be that the gituation in St. Louis is
The Commoner.
such as to make it necessary to disregard party
lines, but if such is the case, the candidate should
run as a non-partisan or as an independent. Mr.
Wells has been affectionately described by his
friends as "a man who can win," but what if he
can win? It would not bo fair to hold the demo
cratic party responsible for the administration of
a man who, by his own act, severed himself from
his party and repudiated its principles.
A party must have principles as well as an or
ganization, and a national convention is the proper
body to declare those principles. If, after a plat
form is adopted, any member cannot conscien
tiously support that platform, he has a perfect
right to leave the party, and no one can justly criti
cise his action if he is honest with himself and
with his party. But a man cannot be outside of
a party and inside at the same time. Those who
remain innide the party have rights as well as
those who desert it. They have a right to insist
that any one who leaves his party and opposes its
platform and candidates shall return in some open
and formal way before he can again consider him
self a member. It is not enough that Mr. We'lls
condescends to accept a nomination and a chance
of election to an important oflicG; that is merely
an acceptance of a benefit from a party which he
repudiated and spurned. Before he is entitled to
be called a democrat he must in some way mani
fest his willingness to accept the party creed. Ho
may be willing to have the party accept his prin
ciples, but not willing to accept the party's prin
ciples. He may think it humilkfting to return to
the party, but is it not more humiliating for the
par.ty to surrender to him?
The democratic .party showed, in the campaign
of 1900 that it was ready to welcome any return
ing democrat, and it is doubtless just as ready
now to extend a welcome to those who opposed
the ticket in 1900, provided they express a will
ingness to accept the principles of the party and
give some evidence of their intention to support
the party's candidates in the future. The j-n'odi-gal
son is always well treated when he sees the
error of his ways and rejoins the family, but he
omrht not to demand a deed to the house as a
condition precedent to his return.
The nomination of Mr. Wells may, in St.
Louis, be attributed to his private character or
personal merits, but outside of St. Louis it is
every where hailed as a triumph for the reaction
ary elements of the party.
The Louisville Courier-Journal says of it:
This action of the party in St. Louis (the demo
cratic nomination of a "gold bug" for mayor) is evi
dence that the process of reunion is going on. It also
shows how rapidly the silver issue is passing from
public view in such an extreme democratic state as
Missouri. It is a most auspicious indication of the
decline in party strife and the return of the masses
to the old leaders under whom it was led to victory in ,
former years.
In the campaign of 1900 the democratic party
stood for the Declaration of Independence and
for industrial independence as well as for financial
independence, and the democrats of St. Louis
gave loyal support to. the ticket. The republican
party stood for an imperial policy and trust domi"
nation as well as for the gold standard, and Mr.
Wells gave his influence to that party. The more
prominent he was as a man and the more influence
he had, the more valuable was his support to the
republican ticket and the greater the loss to the
democratio cause. If Mr. Wells has changed hi
views, let him publicly announce his conversion to
democratic principles and his sins, though they
may be many, will bo forgiven. Of course, if
the conversion did not occur until after he made
up his mind to seek the nomination for mayor,
some might doubt the sincerity of the change, but
so far he has failed to give even that much com
fort to the democrats.
If Mr. Wells has undergone no change of
opinion, what reason is there to doubt that he
will use the influence of his office to defeat demo
cratic congressmen in 1902, as he used his indi
vidual influence to defeat democratic congress
men in 1890, 1898, and 1900? Is there any
reason to believe that the environment which led
him out of the democratic party lias lost its con
trolling inflHonoo over him? If he is the saino
man that he was in 1890, 1898 and 1900, official
position will simply increase his power to do harm
and weaken the party in its effort to overthrow
republican doctrines.
Mr. Wells' nomination is a part of the plan of
the reorganizers national in its extent to cap
ture the organization by stealth and then make
the democratic so much like tho republican party
that there will be little choice between them.
The democratic party now stands for definite
principles and it aggressively opposes republican
policies. The Kansas City platform embodies the
principles of tho party, and the rank and file of
the party are attached to those principles. Those
who oppose the Kansas City platform will not
make an open fight -against it even Mr. Wcllg
would not have been willing to risk a nomination
oil a platform repudiating the Kansas City plat
form but under the pretense that success can bo
won under the leadership of the reorganizes,
men are being pushed forward for local offices who
have no sympathy with democratic principles.
The election of 1894 gave some indication of
the fate which awaits the party if it becomes tho
tool of organized greed and bids only for tfio
favor of the plutocratic element of the country.
Democrats cannot afford to lose sight of demo
cratic principles in their eagerness to secure a lo
cal victory, which, when secured, is nominal
rather than real.
A Good Amendment.
Judge Brewer of the United States 'Supreme
Court, in a recent address, called attention to
a defect in the jury system, viz., the requirement
of a unanimous verdict. While in criminal cases
the rule which gives the prisoner the benefit of a
reasonable doubt makes in necessary to preserve
the unanimous verdict, there is no reason for ad
hering to it jm civil cases: California and Ken
tucky have already secured this reform, and it
has been discussed in other states. Under the
present requirement, a jury often reports to the
judge tha.t it cannot agree and is sent back with
the instruction to remain in the jury room until
an agreement is reached. In such cases it is little
more than a test of endurance. The law should
be amended so that two-thirds or three-fourths of
a jury may render a verdict.
The New York World, in discussing the ques
tion, says that up to the time of Edward III. the
English jury consisted of fifteen, eighteen or
twenty, and that twelve were required to agree in
a verdict.. The unanimous verdict, it seems, is
an innovation, and it has not been justified by ex-
penence.
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