Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1874-10-02

; SO of course could not vote for it.
: Or, if he is not a State-rights Demo
crat, he may be, like some of tn,
other nominees Oh the Anti-N1onopoly
, ticket, railroad official or contractor
in which case he would naturally
take the other alternative, and con
clude that railway restriction was
unnecessary" So, you see, a mar
can easily be on either side of this
question, and still be perfectly sound
upon that platform.
The success Of party is nothing,
axcep: as it subsorves the public
good; and no party can afford to
come before the people with u doubt
full or equivocal platform and claim
their sutfrages ard support. The
people have a right to ask of any
party to state precisely where it
stands upon all important questions
of policy. And when party comes
before the people, claiming to be the
special champion of any great r.
form, it surely ought to utter no un-
certain sound in reference to that re-
form. But how is it with this Anti
Monopoly party Of Iowa? 1t was
organized upon the claim that the
Republican party was not to be trust
ed in legislating upon monopolies,
especially railroad monopolies. And
yet. the first year of its existence it
is ashamed to say anything upon the
subject; and the second year it con-
structs 4 platform upon which every
man in the nation can stand. Why'
not come up like men and say some
Thing? We Republicans do at least
say somctAinq. We say that Con
grcss has the power to control rail
way tariffs, and that it is the duty of
Congress to exercise that power.
My Anti-Monopoly friend, if you
claim to be man of integrity and
virtue and christian worth, if you
admire fairness and upright dealing,
| ask you how can you appeal to the
people for their votes when you have
platform that has been purposely
constructed to cheat the people? My
friend, whenever you find plank in
y platform that has double mean
ing, you may safely take it for grant
ed that there is an intention to cheat
somebody-and that it is the people
that are to be cheated. (Cheers.)
And l charge upon the leaders of the
.Anti-Monopoly party that they dare
not take any position on that subject,
one way or the other; and that that
resolution was SO worded on purpose
that men upon all sides of the ques-
ton might stand upon that platform.
The leading Democratic papers, the
Dubuque Herald, the Clinton 4dge,
and others, declared ut the time that
this was the purpose in view.
I But this is not all. The !Anti-Mo-
nopoly platform, after declaring in
favor of all constitutional and ne,-
cssary" restrictions, in the very next
resolution patted the railroads Oh the
back, by passing the following:
Resolped, That while demanding that the
railroads be subject to legislative control
we shall discountenancc any action on,
this subject calculated to retard the prog
ress of railroad enterprise, or work injus-
tice to these invaluable auXiliarics to com
merce and civilization
! There's plank upon which all the
railroad presidents in the country
ought to feel perfect at home. Do
you propose to restrict railroads in
any way? Not at all, says the Anti
Monop. platform; restrictive lcgisla-
ton tends to discourage railroad ell
terprises and retard their progress;
and 1--WE shall discountenance any ac-
ton on this subject calculated to
retard the progress Of railroad enter
prises"
! The speaker dissected nearly every
plank in the Iowa Anti-Monopoly
platform, showing that i'll regard to
the currency-expansion or contrac-
ton, grecnbacks and national bank
currency, the payment OF the public
debt, tSc,-in regard to the tariff and
internal taxation-in fact, in regard
to nearly every SUI 'ject mentioned in
the platform, it is SO contradictory as
to mean anything or nothing at the
choice of the reader or interpreter.
There is one plank, however, in the
Autobiography platform which is out
spoken and una,nbiguous. After
long searching in vain for something
not susceptible of a two-told construc-
ton, l finally found the following
the tenth resolution--generally
known as the "whisky plank"
Rcsolred, That the personal liberty and
social rights of the citizens should not be
abridged or controlled by legislative en-
actment except so far as may be necessa-
ry to promote the peace ana welfare of
society.
Uaushtcr.) Now, whom was that
put in there to cheat? Everybody.
In the first place, our German friends.
They will not have forgotten how,
in the State convention that made
this platform, they endcavorcd to Sc
cure the insertion of something di-
rect and detinite-language that
meant something or other; but their
representatives in that convention
were chokcd dowl, and Kissed and
insulted, until but for the tirmress
and manlincss. and devotion to right,
and determination to be just, on the
part of the President Of that convcn-
tion-who, by the way, is promi
nent and honorcd citizen of your
own city-the representatives and
friends of the German element i'll
that convention could not have been
heard a word. And they cheated
the Gcrmaus by this two-faced
meaningless platform-just rs they
mean to cheat them again when they
come to vote. Besides, the temper
ancc men are to be cheated. 1t is all
cheat. For instance are you i'll
favor of free liquor? There is Il
place on that plank for you to stand:
"Personal Liberty and social rights
Of citizens should not be abriged or
controlled by Legislative enactments."
But along comes your ncighbor,
temperance man, and says, "That
will never do: intcmperance will
spread its bancful and destructive in
tluencc over all the land" But,
hold. here is lroviso that person