Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 9.djvu/364

 336 T. W. Davenport. eiples and ceases to live for any worthier purpose than preying upon the commonwealth for individual benefit. And indeed it is a herculean if not impossible task and one which permits of no intermission, to hold a political party up to the high ground of equal and exact justice, while at the same time, it is the source and dispenser of emoluments and powers coming from partisan success, and which may be increased by the victors. I am confident that it is not in human nature to estab- lish or maintain popular government upon any such basis. It was easier to do so fifty years ago than now, but the experi- ment has signally failed. We are further away from a reign of justice now than in the early days of the republic, despite the fact that chattel slavery is gone. For in its place we have compulsory wage slavery and the grind of relentless corporate power, which is more exacting than the oligarchs of the South ever were. There is no color line to limit the extent of corporate greed or mitigate the penalties of poverty. And the powers which so dominate the commonwealth have been enthroned by the government acting in the name of and by the authority of the people, through their representatives. And how could such misgovernment arise? There is one sufficient answer to this question, viz: By and through the extra-legal, voluntary, political machinery, intended as an auxiliar to government, but really its corrupter. The spirit and principles of the Jeffersonian Democratic party were good— indeed, formed the basis of any and every government by the people, but the spoils system of politics corrupted it and extinguished every spark of its original aspiration. With- out the public patronage the slave power could not have sub- jugated the party of Jefferson; without it, that power could not have dominated the party of Lincoln ; and without it, the silent Democrats and Micawber Whigs of Oregon, would have joined in one prolonged and joyous shout proclaiming to all the valleys the genius of universal freedom. And it may be assumed for a certainty that without it, squatter sovereignty would never have been promulgated and accepted as an