I
i
'ft !
r
'4
The Commoner.
r
K'
jj"1
f.
.
f
R-
m
Bv-
!(.
Governor Wilson and Jim Smith
.Governor "Wilson is "willing to concede some
thing to harmony, hut ho will not go to the ex
tent "of acknowledging the possibility of combin
ing his ideals and thoso of Jim Smith. If the
governor makes himself understood ho is not so
much against Smith, the man, as Smith, tho
representative of tho boss bcIiooL of politics.
With such ho has and can have no parleyings
or associations. This is good news. It indi
cates if Governor Wilson is elected that ho will
deem it not only his privilege, but his duty, to
assist in ending not only Smith, but Murphy. Ho
will clean up his party as a national organiza
tion, and ho will bo on tho watch against its
becoming dirty again. New York Globe.
Our republican friend and neighbor, tho
Tribune, is calling upon Governor Wilson to
como over into Now York and fight Murphy.
Just at present tho governor is very busy fight
ing James Smith in New Jersey, and there are
700,000 democrats in New York whoso duty it
Is to see that Murphy is disposed of. New York
World.
Governor Wilson's step is a bold one. It will
stir up trouble 1n New Jersey. He will be criti
cised by democrats in some quarters on the
allegation that he is causing discord. But Wil
son Is right. He is doing his duty. He is
exorcising the true functions of party leader
ship. There is no sense in his going to the
White House, if his influence and the party's
measures are to be neutralized in Che senate by
such democrats as Smith. His clarion call to
arms will bo received with hearty approval by
tho bulk of democrats all over the land, and
tho probabilities are that his course will result
in Smith's utter defeat in the New Jersey pri
maries. Democracy has a real leader who has
brains, convictions, determination and courage.
Ho fights for the right and he will win. Birm
ingham News.
Let it not bo forgotten that Woodrow Wil
son's political career has been distinguished
from its start by war on bossism. Ho early in
vited tho relentless hostility of Smith, the most
powerful democratic politician of New Jersey.
For that the people of that state love their'
governor. During bis official life Governor Wil
son has dethroned the machines of two parties
for republican and democratic bosses understood
each other and were subservient to great cor
porate interests and set the government of
New Jersey free to Berve the people. It was a
consummation that men of little faith never ex
pected to see consummated, but courageous
leadership brought it about. This is tho man
and the candidate whom the aspirant for a third
terra declares would be subservient to tho bosses,
and so must not be voted lor by genuine pro
gressives. Wilson never truckled to them; and
Roosevelt did that's all; and it is likely to
prove a sufficient warrant to the voters of tho
United States. Springfield (Mass.) Republican.
Tho action of tho governor is bold and un
mistakable. It is also necessary. Mr Smith at
.tho latest possible hour entered tho race. Three
or four other democrats had entered it before
him. The success of any of them would have
involved no antagonism to Governor Wilson's
candidacy or to the tariff principles of the na
tional democracy . The record of James Smith
is contrary to both, and commends him to repub
licans as Governor Wilson's moBt formidable
opponent in the Now Jersey democracy, whoso
dividing power would be effective, should he not
bo rebuked by his own party, to give the legis
lature of tho state of New Jersey to the re
publicans, its next senator to that party, and,
possibly, its electoral vote to Theodore Roose
velt, Governor Wilson's most formidable oppon
ent. The most anti-Wilson force in democracy
in New Jersey is the James Smith phalanx of
protection democracy, not in spite of, but be
cause of, James Smith's affectation of support of
the candidacy of the governor for president of
tho United States. Brooklyn Eagle.
Governor Wilson will lose nothing in the long
run by his present courageous stand against
Smith, though it is mpst probable that he gave
no thought to tho political effect of his action
eithor in New Jersey or in the nation. The
partisans who affect to believe that Wilson took
no risks "in kicking a dead or beaten boss "
deliberately shut their eyes to the truth of tho
conditions in New Jersey, and by their mean in
sinuation betray their own petty incapacity to
recognize fine conduct by others.
Governor Wilson has set an example which
is as rare as it is admirable; he has lifted him
self inestimably in the opinion of disinterested,
nonpartisan and independent thinkers -by his
bold attack on Smith, and his honesty will
bring its own recompense. Philadelphia Pub
lic Lodger.
Governor Wilson is giving plenty of evidence
that he is sturdy and unflinchingly progressive
and that as the democratic nominee for presi
dent he stands right where he did when he was
simply a candidate for that nomination.
When William J. Bryan Issued his appeal to
the candidates for the democratic .presidential
nominees to join with him in an effort to pre
vent tho choice of Judge Alton B. Parker as
temporary chairman of the Baltimore conven
tion, on the ground that the tories and special
Interests represented in the party were backing
Mr. Parker, Mr.Wilson was the only candidate
who unhesitatingly and openly joined hands with
Mr. Bryan. "You are perfectly right," he "wrote
Mr. Bryan, and he fell with Bryan In that pre
liminary skirmish at Baltimore. In the end
against formidable opposition, he and Bryan
gained control of the convention.
It is plain that Governor, Wilson believes in
doing the thing that is right. In the Parker con
test he greatly imperiled his chances of becom
ing the democratic presidential nominee by his
brave support of Bryan and principle. Only
recently Governor Wilson publicly expressed the
opinion that the democrats of the various states,
including New York, should nominate progres
sive democrats as candidates for governor and
other state offices. This was nothing more or
less than a repudiation of Governor Dix of Ney
York and a defiance of Tammany. New York's
electoral vote is the largest of any state in the
union and Tammany dominates the democracy
of New. York. His open declaration shpws tho
great strength of Mr. Wilson's moral courage
and political conscience,
Now, in Governor Wilson's own state, James
Smith, jr., who for years carried the democracy
of New Jersey in his pocket, announces himself
a candidate for the United States senate. Smith
was one of the democratic members of- the United
States senate who nullified the effect of the
democratic national victory In 1892. He, with
Gorman of Maryland and other members who
served special privilege, bedeviled the demo
cratic tariff, which was passed during Grover
Cleveland's second administration, to such an ex
tent that Mr. Cleveland pronounced it "an act
of party perfidy" and refused to sign it Demo
cratic victory which gave Gorman, Smith and
others like them power to hetray the party and
the people was something to which democratic
defeat might well be preferred. And so it is
today.
Governor Wilson has had a hard fight in New
Jersey, a fight that has left many scars. Natur
ally he would like to carry his own state next
November, but he has many enemies in New
Jersey and Smith is in a position to make trouble
for him. In these circumstances an ordinary
political leader would "keep quiet from fear of
arousing opposition within his own party.
Not bo Woodrow Wilson. He courageously
faces and squarely meets his duty and responsi
bilities as a leader chosen by the people. In a
statement addressed to the democratic voters of
!ieYii?rBr he declares; among other things,
that Mr. Smith's election as a democratic candi
date for the senate would be the most fatal step
backwards that the democrats of the state could
possibly take." Prom personal knowledge he
asserts that Smith's hand has at every turn been
found "againsfthe new plans of the party his
influence working steadily, but covertly, against
everything that has substituted hope and pride
for discouragement and shame in the politics of
New Jersey."
Truly, in Woodrow Wilson, the American
people have found a new leader, a true leader
and a great one. The high qualities of his
leadership must appeal strongly to the progres
sive voters of Wisconsin. Milwaukee Journal.
The statement made by Governor Wilson in
regard to ex-Senator James Smith, jr., of New
Jersey, and his announcement of his determina
tion to oppose Smith's return to office, as repre
senting machine and ring rule which he (Wil
son) is pledged to destroy, will find the1 heart-
' VOLPMB 12, NUMBER 38
lost applause from every true democrat that in
from every man who believes in tho government
of the people as against government by machine
and ring. It may not be "good politics" in tlm
view of the ward politicians; but it is truo
democracy and it is successful democracy
Governor Wilson stands pledged to crush out tho
machines and rings, and he is determined to do
bo whatever its effect upon his presidential
chances. He would not be worthy of the nomi
nation he won at Baltimore had he abandoned
the very first plank in his platform the end of
rings and machines and the triumph of tho
'people; he will be still less worthy if he aban
doned this cause to help his own election.
Those who vote for him vote for "death to tho
rings and machines," to the- Smith machine in
New Jersey, to- Tammany methods in New York
to the Behrman administration in New Orleans!
New Orleans Times-Democrat.
GOVERNOR WILSON'S STRONG PROTEST
Following is an Associated Press dispatch:
Jersey City, N. J., Sept. 21 Governor Wilson
proclaimed tonight in a speech on the New
Jersey senatorial situation that the only condi
tion upon which the democratic party can gain
the confidence of the nation is that it should
have itself through and through absolutely com
mitted to progressive policies.
The governor spoke here and at Hobokon in
opposition to the candidacy of Former United
States Senator James Smith, jr., in behalf of
Representative William Hughes for the office of
United States senator to be voted en in the state
primaries next Tuesday. The governor declared
at the outset that it was his duty as spokesman
for the democratic party in the state to warn
the people that James Smith, jr., was not a pro
gressive, but a reactionary. He declared it was
no personal contest and that if Mr. Smith was
his "dearest friend and held the same opinions
that he does,' the governor would feel obliged
to oppose him.
"I have never been aware of any personal
feeling on my part in any political contest
against any individual," said the governor.
"There is no man In New Jersey that I care to
fight or oppose because of his personal quality.
They are neither here nor there. The United
States is not choosing men now by their private
characters merely; it is not choosing them for
their likabillty; it is not choosing them because
they are fine fellows, but it is choosing them
because they understand the interests of America
at this moment. And a man bred in the old
school is rejected now, not because he does not
hold his convictions honestly, but because ho
holds convictions from which the cause has
turned away.
"We are at a critical juncture, in the history
of America, and at a very critical juncture in
the history of the democratic party. There is
only one condition under which the democratic
party can gain the confidence of the nation and
that condition is that it should have itself
through and through absolutely committed to a
progressive policy. Just so certainly as it turns
back, just so certainly as it makes any other
choice, it will be rejected now and need have no
hope whatever of being chosen again for our
generation.
"The amazing thing to me is that men do not
see that those who are put not only at the head
of a ticket, but In every "place on every ticket
must represent this new impulse of democracy
or else democracy will be discredited.
"We are not speaking our own individual
opinions. We ara the spokesmen of a great pro
gressive force in this nation. Why is it that
some men who would naturally ally themselves
with the third party in this nation are now refus
ing to do so? Because they say there was no
excuse for the formation of that party after tho
profession of principles and the nominations of
the Baltimore convention. Before the campaign
began, the very leaders of that party admitted
that I stood by the very thing that they pro
fess to stand for, and the contest now as be
tween parties is to gain the permanent confi
dence of all the people of the United States who
have made up their minds that we must move
forward with the change of arrangements and
the altered necessities of politics. Therefore any
man who stands in the way of this great move
ment of humanity must stand aside. He can
not walk with the triumphant hosts of the great
democracy,"
At both meetings the governor was enthus
iastically cheered. He returned to Seagirt tonight.
We are prepared to believe that "Colliers
will be able to print 'em as fast as the Wyoming
senator's friends can burp 'em
iffiA'-to&frAdg 4u
'Wr
,
