Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 November 1901 — DEMOCRATIC POLICY. [ARTICLE]

DEMOCRATIC POLICY.

Commenting on the future policy of the Democratic party, the Indianapolis News says: “The party has the appearance of waiting idly and helplessly for something to happen that will give it a chance again. It may be that nothing better than this can be expected at the present time. * * The outlook for a vigorous, aggressive and thoroughly intelligent opposition party is not encouraging. ” About the time the country has been squeezed quite dry by the present policy of the party in power, there will have been enough dissatisfaction aroused, and sufficient indignation produced, to throw the balance of power into the hands of the Democrats, without any effort on their part, who will then have, as they have often had before, the task of building up what their predecessors have torn dow T n. If a competent business man were to take hold of a business that had been mismanaged, he might expend a great deal for improvement, aiid for correcting the mistakes of his predecessor, and in that, way spend more money than he. So when the Democratic organization does take the reins, tjie country is a dry and lifeless corpse, that must be instilled with new life. It may have all the appearance of being strong and in good condition, like a man that is kept alive by stimulants, but when these fail of their purpose, and a change of doctors is ordered, then the man becomes weak and nigh unto death. This latter condition is not the fault of the doctor last employed, but of his predecessor. So the evils of a bad administration should not be laid upon the one following, simply because the bad effect does not become apparent until those who are responsible for the same have been retired. Whatever may be said to the contrary, it remains a fact that the republican party is the friend of the moneyed class, to which nine-tenths of them belong. On the other hand, the majority of Democrats are men of moderate means, at best, and a great many of them may be said to be decidedly poor. There are also to be found in the Republican party a large majority of the latter class. Taking for granted the fact that with two pigs in a pen, and one getting all the corn, it is manifestly impossible for the other to get it all, no, not even his share; no, not any. It seems very plain that the interests of the two parties could not be more widely divergent. The great body of people who vote against their interests by voting with the Republicans, thereby making themselves poorer and tlirowing the fruits of their toil to the winds, exhibiting by such action not even good hog sense, are in a manner responsible for the present m isera Ljle condition in which the poor people are finding themselves, and they nre those who, when the present conditions become unbearable any longer, will, by voting with the Democrats, place them in power, and place upon them the responsibility of putring the rank and file of the people ujion their feet again. Yet when thd jieople have had a few years time in which to recuperate from a bad administration, there conies such a howl of bad times from the moneyed classes who in the meantime have been denied some of the fleeces they had formerly lioen shearing, that the people are induced to again place them in power, that they may agnin be shorn. • The fault lies entirely with the people. Their will, expressed at the ballot box, is sovereign. Many of them fail to rec-

ognize their own interests. If one pig eats all the corn, the other gets none. If all the money goes into the hands of the wealthy, the poor are left empty handed. If the poor get their just share, the rich set up a howl of hard times. Then the people, benevolently disposed to shew the rich a good time, let them have their way, at the expense of their own inconvenience and happiness. This country is no longer in its infancy. ’ Our commerce has invaded the markets of the world. Our products are sought after from all quarter* If bur manufacturers are not now able to exist without the continual toadipg of the peoplo, we had better turn them over to others. But they are. We are now come to a point where labor must have a chance. This country must not be allowed to degenerate into a medley of titled aristrocrats on the one hand, and a mass of serfdom on the other. Every man is the equal of every other man. Every man should own his own home, should be able to send his children to college for higher education; should have a generous surplus put away for the inevitable rainy day. This cannot be done under Republican policy. It is simply impossible. The money which is earned by hard labor goes into the coffers of employers. and the more that, is thus collected, the greater is said to be the employers’ business sagacity. The laws must be so amended that wealth will tend to dissemination among the masses, instead of collecting into the hands of a few. The burning issues of the future will differ radically from those of the past. Summed up briefly, the agitation may center around“labor vs. capital; right vs. wrong; man vs dollars.” Democracy stands now as it ever has, for the first; their opponents are fast degenerating into suporters of the latter. %*