Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 83.djvu/552

548 have fallen "outside the breastworks." We have been going through a period of political housecleaning, and the politicians in response 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 New Jersey under the leadership of Woodrow Wilson and the Republican party in Wisconsin under the leadership of Senator 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 Republican party and the appearance of the Progressive party in the presidential election of 1912. The Republican 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 Republican 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 repentance. The revision of the tariff at the hands of the Republican 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 Republican 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." When it might have invoked 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.