The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1880-07-23


veniion gave the keynote, IN his open
ing address. 10 the Committee on Reso-
lutions, and the members Of that COM
mittes pitched their tune in strict ac-
cordancc Herewith. The result is that
il is exceedingly fiat--as Hat. il sostart-
ling change in metaphor be pcrmiss-
BILE, rs dishwater. The only thing that
IL does reasonably well or with any APP
pearance Of enthusiasm Is the ''point-
ing with pride;' and this has 50 long
ceased 10 be regarded. even by the par
ties who expect to support platforms.
as worth doing at all, that it, being
well done can hardly be claimed as
striking success in the matter Of plat
form building. Even in this respect
the platform is only constructed well i'm
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 garment for the past twenty
years
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-eight 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. II 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 II 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. II
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
much exulted in.
Equally damaging. and more nom
scnsical. is the crediting Of the Repub-
lican party with the increased mileage
Of railroads and the increased prepon-
derance Of exports over imports. Had
the trainers of the platform pointed
with pride" in general terms and
grandiloquent language 10 the startling
growth and progress OF the country, and
stopped at that point, they might have
had some effect on the minimizing por-
ton of the party or of the people. But
when they give name ID the progress
and prosperity and measure them in
miles Of railroad, the least thoughtful
man in any party sees at glance that
the party is Boosting Of that which 1t
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
..no 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 a 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
overstatcs. by the way, to the extent of
sec. 600. O00--it is something for which
the Republican party is no more respon-
sible thant is for the immense crops, and
the favorable seasons which made the
crops possible 1t was injudicious,
moreover, for the Committee on Reso-
lutions to refer to the commerce Of the
country. In doing 50 they remind the
public that both the imports which they
bcittle 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 forcign-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 il is as feeble as it well could be,
though il indicates Enthusiastically that
the party will -- when it can-give
the Federal Government control
49, both Of the schools and the
churches. 1t is still more feeble,
il possible. in the treatment oil
the Chinese question. The plank on
that point contains just enough to irri
tate the Eastern Republicans; while i
falls very far short Of satisfying the pco'
pie Of the Pacific slope. 1t Is essentially
n milk-and-water proposition, with the
water very largely predomidatjng.
II Is abundantly clear that the com
mittee which framed the platform and
the Convention which adopted IL looked
forward to personal campaign rather
than contest in which principles will
be AT issue. They will find themselves
very much in error. however. when The
contest actually begins. From thil
time to the second Of November they
will be kept so busy defending the pas
of their party that they will have NJ
opportunity to point with pride. Thei
feeble platform will be found utterly In