548 TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



scription have fallen "outside the breastworks." We have been going 

 through a period of political housecleaning, and the politicians in re- 

 sponse to an awakened public opinion have been showing fruits meek 

 for repentance. Seldom have the leaders in every party been so much 

 on their good behavior. Judged by the sort of measures that have been 

 placed upon the statute books during the past year, the Democratic 

 party in Ohio and the Republican-Progressive party in California have 

 been about equally progressive. There is not much choice between the 

 Democratic party in ISTew Jersey under the leadership of Woodrow Wil- 

 son and the Eepublican party in "Wisconsin under the leadership of Sen- 

 ator La Follette. When politicians in general are competing for the 

 good will and support of the more decent and public-spirited portion of 

 the community, as they are to-day, the friends of good government have 

 much ground for encouragement. 



Political parties, in common with individuals, are judged by the 

 kind of company they keep and by the reputations they acquire. This 

 accounts for the defeat of the Eepublican party and the appearance of 

 the Progressive party in the presidential election of 1912. The Eepubli- 

 can party has not been entirely irresponsive to the demands of a more 

 exacting public opinion. A growing number of men truly progressive in 

 spirit has become conspicuous in its counsels. Many salutary measures 

 have been placed upon the statute books under Eepublican auspices. 

 But in all of this there has been a certain hesitation, a reluctance to 

 move forward save under compulsion, a tendency to death-bed repent- 

 ance. The revision of the tariff at the hands of the Eepublican party is 

 a conspicuous illustration. As a result, the party has failed to receive 

 due credit for some of the forward steps which it has occasionally taken. 

 This was especially true under the Taft administration when a number 

 of progressive measures were enacted into law, while others, notably the 

 recommendations of the President on conservation, failed to become 

 laws partly because the public suspected the auspices under which they 

 originated. The Eepublican party is suffering the consequences of not 

 keeping properly abreast of the times. At a time when new problems 

 were pressing for solution, it has sustained a reputation for " standing 

 pat" and for "letting well enough alone." Wlien it might have in- 

 voked the power of the national government to solve problems that are 

 clearly nation wide in character, it has faltered and failed to prove true 

 to the traditions of its origin.^' 



19 The future of the Eepublican party is an interesting subject for specula- 

 tion. On the one hand, it has a great past. Its early devotion to human rights 

 has not been forgotten. It performed a great service in saving the Union and in 

 freeing the slaves. It has repeatedly recognized the sense of nationality which we 

 cherish as a people. Its very name is a household word, and it« devotees are still 

 numbered by the millions. Its alliances are by no means as unsavory as those 

 that killed the Whig party, and it has an incomparably greater past. As a going 



