Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1888-06-23
U. S. SENATOR KENNA.
HE PUNCTURFs THE REPUBLICAN NATION
AL PLATFORM,
And Lets the american System" Gas 0Ozs Out in
WAY TO Gauss a 0Ollapss-SOms
Expressions Of 0pInOn.

-
commencement exercises at Mt. de Chan
tai, where his daughter has been attending
school, remained over q day with his
Wheeling friends, and has paid as frequent
visits, watching through the REGISTERS
dispatches ths proceedings of the Chicago
convention. Tue Senator has been i'm
pressed, as others have, by the contrast be-
tween the Democratic gathering at st
Louis and the copglomeration of discord-
ant factions which call themselves con-
vention at Chicago.
''St. Louis was ratification" said the
Senator at the Mcclure House last even
ing. 1.-THE people had nominated Cleve-
land for President. The people had
nominated Thurman for Vice President
and the people-ths great American peo-
ple-by convention and mass meeting, and
general expression, both public and private,
had adopted the platform. 1t thus appears
that the st. Louis Convention, more than
any other representative political body
ever assembled in the country, illustrated
by its action precisely the result which
would have come if thelDsmocracy Of the
Union had been gathered together in
single mass meeting"
''But how about Chicago" queried the
REGISTER.
"Just like st. Louis" said the Senator,
''in at least one point of analogy. st
Louis represented the Democracy as IL is
harmonious, united and trusting in its
great leaders. Chicago represents the Re-
publican party as il is, afraid of its record,
Jealous OF itself, divided into factions and
ready to repudiste its idols. II
the Republican party were true
to itself, willing to stand by its
record on silver, on finance, on the Chinese
question, on contract foreign labor, on the
revenues, on land grants and on all the
deyiltries its Southern bloody shirt policies
included, of which it has been guilty, 1t
would nominate John Sherman, and with
or without a platform, it would go forth
to the assured defeat which under any
other name" will be as complete and de-
served. But its chief object is to defeat
and dodge the men who have constituted
its approved agencies. Take the tariff, 1"
said the Senator, "and the first declara-
ton of the Republican platform asserts
that the Republican p,rty favors the
American system of protection
Why" said he, "the American system
of protection is the system which orig
mated with Mr.. Clay. The great COM
promise of 1888, led by Henry Clay,
and which has been accepted
as the american System, provided for
gradual reduction of duties to an average
of TWENTY PER CENT! The present rates
average FoRTY-sEvEN PER CENT! The
Mills Bill reduces them to about THIRTY-
SEVEN per cent So that the grand old
party, so-called, denounces THIRTY-sEVEN
per cent protection under the Mills Bill
and declares its advocacy Of TWENTY
per cent protection under the AMERICAN
SYSTEM"
.tHow do you account for such declar'
atom" asked the REGISTER scribe.
Gust as thsy account for all they say, u
said the Senator. why not? They squau-
dored the public lauds-they now con
gratulate the country that large bcunda'
ries have been reclaimed. They drove ouI
shipping from the sea-they now complain
that Cleveland has not had time to resur'
rect the ghost of our departed marine.
They organized the gang that robbed
us of our navy-they now complain
that the Democratic party has not rebuilt
it in day. They passed the only law
that ever authorized the importation o.
contract labor-they now declare it was
crime. They admitted every Chinamar
who waves his pig tail in triumph over ouI
workmen-they now admit that it was &
shame and q disgrace. They turned thu
public treasury and the legislation Of thu
country into agencies of monopoly and oP
pression-they now denounce the trusts
which their own exactions from the peo
pie have Toasted and fattened, and ON
said the Senator, sit il too fruitful sub
iect for casual exemplifcation, but thu
chief function of the Chicago platform
seems to be to denounce everything tn
Republican party ever did, to promis'
everything it never did, aaa worst, and, i
Won will pardon me, meanest of ali to i'm
press upon the quarter of million OF idl'
laborers Of the country whose places ar
filled by Hungariaus, snd Italians ant
Cinnamon, foil consciousness Of thu
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