AMERICAN POLITICS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1004, 20 December 1910, Page 4

AMERICAN POLITICS.

''Tiie Confusion of American Politics" is the title chosen by Mit. Sydney Brooks—a competent' and unbiased authority—for an article in the October Fortniyhtly Review. His theme is tho situation in the States which immediately preceded the Republicans' non-success. In that, interesting contribution to, the world's' politics he made the fact clear that the confusion in America is, largely on the surface: that, the principal objects aimed at rightly understood, the situation is easily capable of comprehension. Since Mr. Roosevelt's return from his tour in Africa and Europe he has shaken the political kaleidoscope of his countr/ with an energy, that makes_ the:final rearrangement of the pieces extremely problematical. No one can predict even the immediate future of the States with any degree of safety. Powerful forces are displayed operating on the open stage and under the full blaze of the footlights; but other forces, hostile, sinister, and' scarcely less potent, are at -work behind the scenes, planning and plotting in secret. . Mr.. Boose-, velt represents the party visible to all; the."Old Guard ' of the Republicans heads the schemers who prefer'the shadows and the darkness. The irony, of the situation is- that both Mr. Roosevelt- and Mr. Taft are members', of the - Republican party, but with, presumably, numerous reservations. And reservations— in other words, diverging views— among' individuals forming a great political combination mean. internal weakness and the near approach 'of disruption and disaster. It is p'os ; siblo to ovor-estimate the influences now affocting American politics; even to exaggerate the evils rampant in the country, and to consider Mr. RoOsevelt's new nationalism as a heaven-inspired - panacea. Mr. Roosevelt possesses the peculiar faculty _of believing himself, and of making a proportion of onlookers beljeve, ..that, .whatever his contest, it is the greatest he over undertook, and that,the/issues are, the issii.es; of a lifetime. He was badly ..worsted" in the recent' campaign . and it " is doubtful whether he will ever recover the lost ground. For all that, the present, and still more, the coming, struggle is of the very utmost importance and one that is likely to leave its imprint upon the i history of America for generations.to come. Herbert Spencer would doubtless have found many valuable and telling illustrations for his dissertations on sociology had his knowledge of -American . politics i been greater. There.-is'"a perennial delusion," he reminds us, "that legislation will get'done because laws are passed to do it. i 'There is the confidence in one or other form o'f government, due,to the belief,,that.a .Government once - established vnrill: rotain:>its'form and itft&tded'/? Thereis the li'ojpV that by'rsome. me¥ns' ;: the | collective wisdom can be separated : from the collective folly,". The satisfaction of'the American"'public in the-: past with the ex-President's rather flamboyant speeches suggests at times .the utility of a Spencerian wet-blankot. . Not that the need -for many of; the . reforms which ,Mr. . Roosevelt ;• advocate's is' not sufficiently' urgent; the- questions to •which are awaited arc wh'ether or n<jt . majority in America wants'those' 'reforms, and will take'the trouble'to give effect to. thorn.' -Mb:" .Roosevelt's teaching, says 'Thc THnes, is "Bryanistic" ; yet .America has steadily repulsed Mr. Bryan. The Insurgents, who have split off fromthe old Republi-can-stem, are, it is believed, more Democratic than Republican; but Mr. Roosevelt, Who supports the Insurgents, s'ay3 he. "has no. present intention of forming a new progressive pa . .rj^prfbli-3 cans.".'-'^';TOe v Vpreseii't. iturmoil- >in'. American politics, as far as parties go, is directed chiefly against the Republicans. This party has, for somo time, suffered from dissensions within itself, it is supposed to be allied with "privilege, it seems to have had ,its share of recent besmirch-ings-owing to corruption among its members. Gradually the Insurgents dovelopcd _ their policy which is to stifle''privilege .in all its forms and to seek out' and end the corruption which, "Mr.- Roosevelt declares,' is the bane of Americp,. - In such a campaigri 'as. this Mr. Roosevelt's new Nationalism has the most powerful forccs in the.country arrayed against it. "I" : always insist upon absolute honesty),.and',:- in, the-second, place, upon obedience- to law": stand for thfe/pbor man until he does'something t^at'is..wrong" : "If. the rich man strives .to' use nis wealth to destroy , others, I will 'cinch' him if I can": "I shall insist upon honesty if it breaks up tho biggest industry in tho land," are some of the admirable apophthegms with which Mr. Roosevelt liberally sprinkles his addresses. ' But they are not new. The fact that precisely the . same things ■were uttered while the speaker occupied the White House, and have to be iterated and reiterated after he has vacated White House, seems to suggest a likelihood of their remaining, for years to come, a feature of political reform in the United States.