The freeman. (Parkersburg, W. Va.) 1886-18??, 1888-08-22
A SPIRITED APPEAL.
DR.. BROOKS ACCEPTS THE NOM
NATION FOR VICE PRESIDENT.
The Party of Prohibition Party of Pro-
gress-Triumph Means the End of Sec
tiona1 Strife-No Color Line-No Solid
South-A Sober Union of States.

tional strife-No Color Line-No Solid
south-A Sober Union of States.
To Hon. John P. st. John, Chairman:
DEAR SIR-To be nominated by such a
body as she indianapolis convention is the
greatest honor that could be conferred
upon an American citizen The supreme
importance of the issues formulated by
that convention, the consciousness that
God is on the side of right and that the
salvation of the home and the state de-
ponds upon the triumph of right princi-
pies, mpel me to accept the nomination
now formally rendered.
With this acceptance l propose to do all
can to carry your banner to victory in
this campaign if possible, and if not, to
help lay the foundation upon which that
victory shall be achieved in the near fut-
ure.
1t is with confidence and pride that l
stand upon the platform which you have
presented No such honest and manly
formulation of principles has emanated
from any political convention in this re-
public since the late civil war. With a
firm and vigorous purpose it grasps the
living'issues of the day.
Recognizing the necessity Of progress, it
leaves the dead past to bury its dead and
boldly leads in its attack upon existing
evils. 1t does not sadly bemoan the fact
that its great leaders are In the grave and
seek to live upon the deeds of the i'm
mortal dead, but with it's banners to the
breeze, inspired by present truth and fol-
lowing living captains, dares to do right.
Accepting as final the settlement Of past
political issues, it inscribes upon its ban
ners the motto of ''no sectionalism in poll
tics" and scorns to bemean the party by
an ignoble and unpatriotio appeal to
sectional animosities that ought to have
been abandoned twenty years ago.
This platform makes it's appeal not to
one section, but to the whole country now
forever united. I cannot overestimate
the patriotism of this wonderful docu-
ment. The triumph of it's principles
means the end of sectional strife, the
plotting out of the color line in politics,
the breaking of the solid south, a free
ballot and honest count, not in Alabama
and Mississippi alone, but in Ohio and
Michigan as we'll In short, it means a
division of all the citizens of the entire
country upon the great living issues of our
day.
When it is remembered that all other
political organizations are incapable of &C
complishing such results, the Importance
of this new departure in political action
cannot be overestimated
The pending conflict between organized
capital and labor is one of the most i'm
minent dangers to which the republic is
exposed. That an abnormal condition of
society exists, and one, too, that is dan
gerous to public welfare, will not be de-
nil LOTT o1ai, 1,
fact. The farmer and wageworker con-
tinue with difficulty the unequal conflict
for Just remuneration, while combined
capital with ease accumulates it's mil
lions. With each succeeding year the
former becomes poorer, while the latter
increases in wealth
Monopoly and so called trusts" con-
troll not only the business of the country
in their own interests, but political parties
and conventions as we'll Dominating
these conventions, they I'm tie in denounc-
ing the very combinations of capital in
whose interest they are members of these
bodies, and then see that none but their
friends are nominated to stand upon the
platform adopted.
Your platform of principles boldly pro
poses to regulate all necessary combina-
tions of capital in the interest of the state
and to strike down all these "trusts" at a
single blow.
| have faith in a political party which
without reference to present success pro-
poses to build it's fortunes upon principle,
whether the end shall be contaminated in
one year or twenty.
A party of truth and principle must in
evitably triumph. Time has demonstrated
that neither of the old parties is compe-
tent to effect these results. Repeated
promises have been broken
The legislation that makes possible this
combination of capital to the detriment of
the public good, and in the interest of a
limited class of our citizens, is radically
defective.
We need not be surprised that the
tariff should elicit some consideration in
this campaign. When the import tax
upon any given article approximates the
point of prohibition and foreign COMPETE
ton is shut off, the crust" can certainly
the more readily control the market value
of the product. 1t is matter of serious
consideration that the trusts" are
against wholesome revision of the tariff.
Each year increases the danger, and
hence the growing demand for an honest
revision of the tariff What is the rem
edy? Shall internal revenue taxes be
abolished and duties upon all articles,
such as are produced by our people, be in
creased to the point of prohibition, and
other articles except luxuries" be re-
leased from import duties?
Or secondly shall the internal revenue