Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1880-07-29
CO.. az s tn
Flat, Stale and Improbable.

! y Flat Stale and Improbable.
r. President Hoar of the Chicago Con-
.~ention gave the keynote, in his open
ing address, to the Committee on Reso-
buttons, and the members of that COM
mittee pitched their tune in strict ac-
cordance Herewith. The result is that
IL Is exceedingly fat--as fiat, if SO start
ling change in metaphor be permissi-
BILE, as dishwater. The only thing that
It does reasonably well or with any APP
pearance of enthusiasm is the point
ing with pride;" and this has so long
ceased to be regarded, even by the par
ties who expect to support platforms,
as worth doing at all, that its being
we'll done can hardly be claimed as a
striking success in the matter of plat
form building. Even in this respect
the platform Is only constructed we'll in
a general way. The descent into de-
tails neutralizes wholly the sweeping
claim that the Republican party has
been covering itself with glory as
with 4 garment for the past twenty
years. a
When the platform calls attention,
for instance, to the alleged fact that the
party ''has raised the value of our pa
per currency from thirty Weight per
cent. to the par of gold" it invites a
kind OF comment which is not at all
calculated to swell the Republican
bosom with pride. 1t suggests, in the
first place that it is to the Republican
party and its abominable financiering
the country was indebted for the de-
basement of its currency to thirty EIGHT
per cent. and it suggests, still further,
that but for the economy and retrench-
ment which the Democratic party intro
duced, the boosted appreciation would
even now be in the dim distance. 1t
calls attention. moreover, to the grave
doubt which still exists, in the minds
of prudent men of all parties, as to the
permanency of the financial result so
mitch exulted in.
Equally damaging, and more nom
;sensical, is the crediting of the Repub-
licsn party with the increased mileage
of railroads and the increased prepon-
deranee of exports over imports. Had
thesframers of the platform pointed
with PRIDE in general terms and
grandiloquent language to the startling
growth and progress of the country, and
stopped at that point, they might have
had some effect on the unthinking por-
ton of the party or of the people. But
when they give a name to the progress
and prosperity and measure them in
miles of railroad, the least thoughtful
man in any party sees at a glance that
the party is Boosting of that which it
had no hand whatever in bringing
about. Some few railroads have been
built. perhaps, which but for the Re-
publican party would not have been
built But it was because the party
gave away huge slices of the National
domain as subsidies to the builders; and
50 obnoxious has this unwise generosity
become that the party long since re-
solved not to continue it. and in this
very platform expressly declares that
emo further grant of the public domain
should be made to any railway or other
corporation" If, therefore, the party
is to be credited with the increase in
railroad mileage it is because it has
followed policy so odious that the
party conventions have been compelled
to condemn and repudiate it. As for
the remarkable excess of exports over
imports last year-which the platform
overstates, by the way, to the extent of
$50 600, 0004it is something for which
the Republican, party. is nomore respon-
sible than it is for the immense crops, and
the favorable seasons which made the
crops possible. 1t was injudicious,
for the Committee on Reso-
lutions to refer to the commerce of the
country. In doing so they remind the
public that both the imports which they
belittle and the exports they magnify
were carried across the sea in vessels
of foreign build, because the policy of
the party has wiped the American ship
builder out of existence, and will not
permit the American merchant to be-
come the owner of foreign-built ships.
To the rest of the platform there is
no force whatever, Even in the enun-
citation of the party doctrine of central
ization it is as feeble as it well could be,
though it indicates Enthusiastically that
the party will - when it can-give
the Federal Government control
- both of the schools and the
churches. 1t is still more feeble,
if possible, in the treatment of
the Chinese question. The plank on
that point contains just enough to irri-
tate Che Eastern Republicans; while it
falls very far short of satisfying the peo-
pie of the Pacific slope. 1t is essentially
q milk-and-water proposition, with the
water very largely predomidating.
1t is abundantly clear that the COM
mittee which framed the platform and
the Convention which adopted it looked
forward to personal campaign rather
than a contest in which principles will
be at issue They will find themselves
very much in error, however, when the
contest actually begins. From this
time to the second of November they
will be kept so busy defending the past
of their party that they will have no
opportunity to point with pride. Their
feeble platform will be found utterly in
sufficient to furnish the party standing
room much less fighting room. Detroit
Free Press.
What the Nomination Does.
The first and most obvious result of