From a letter to the editor in the October 11, 1906 NYT:

Being a Democrat and wishing to take part in the present campaign, I would like to know how I stand, that is, whether I am forced to support the Republican or Independence League candidate, there being no Democrat in the field.

The letter writer refers to the nomination of William Randolph Hearst as Democrat candidate for the governor of New York, yet many "small l" democrats might ask the same question today in many parts of the country.

From another letter to the editor in the same edition:

Any man or set of men who would set class against class in this Republic, whatever his label, is not and cannot be a follower of Jefferson and a Democrat. Any men who will endeavor for his own purposes to foment and capitalize the latent unrest of humanity is a foe to every form of law and government.

...It is a sad commentary on our self-seeking age that only self-seeking demagogues have found it worth while to spend time and money in the exposure of great evils...A man and men are needed to remedy both the original evils and the almost greater evil of an inflamed public mind, a public aroused to destroy. For it seems to be the age of destruction, with the gospel of reconstruction unrevealed. Our National safety in this crisis depends upon sane leadership, and our National ruin lies along the path of Hearstism.

The letter writer in this case refers to insurance scandals that required investigations and indictments earlier in the year, of which Hearst was lead dog. Nevertheless, the language seems equally pertinent today.