Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1888-06-28
A Comparison of Platforms.

cOwardly, equivocal, straddling, dema-
gogical utterances of the st. Louis
platform are very striking. Every
plank in the former is of pure, clean
and clear timber, while most of the
planks of the latter are rough, knotty,
irregular, internally rotten, deceitful
and unfit for use in the building of a
great progressive nation.
The declarations at Chicago are for
America; those at st. Louis, so far as
they express anything, are utterly re-
gardless of America and American in
stitutions.
The Democrats at st. Louis pretend
to declare in favor of free ballot and
fair count, when in truth the only
districts in America where there is
any complaint on the subject are the
very strongholdS of Democracy, and
the short leave of power which that
party now enjoys was obtained through
the suppression of votes, the stuffing of
ballot boxes and the false returns of
Democratic election machinery.
The Republicans declare in favor of
free, honest and popular BALLOT be-
cause it is one Of the fundamental
doctrines of the organizations, and has
ever been cherished, defended and
practiced by the adherents of the party
from the first Republican convention
to the present time.
The Democrats, while almost unani-
mously in favor of running American
industries and American markets by
the heIesy of free trade, brought forth
a mongrel resolution which is capable
of as many different interpretations as
there are ofiee-seeking factions in that
party, and of which the New York
Sun Dem in "a satirical article on
Grover Cleveland says:
As the mugwumps had been dropped
overheard in 1887, to sink into the
abyss of iLnOcuOuS desuetude, and as
the free traders had been captured with
a man9uyre that was peerless, so it
now became necessary to apply political
attraction TO tie prOtectiOniSts, in or
der to prepare them for favorable ser
vice in the approaching campaign.
Hence the st. Louis platform, work
of extraordinary aStuteneSS, construct
ed with such marvellous ingenuity that
every faction can claim it as its own.
GA the other hand, the manly and
patriotic declarations made by the Re
puElicans that 1--WE are uncOmprOmiS-
ingly in favor of the American system
Of protection" will give courage to
every producer and wage-earner in the
land, and the same New York Sun has
this frank confession to make: 1.-The
Republican platform is more than
twice as long as the Democratic plat
form. Yet we are bound to say that
there will not be half as much miSun-
Outstanding as to what it really
means"
The Republicans declare their hos
tility to trusts and combinations and
to the importation of Chinese labor,
whereby the best fruits of the prOtec-
tive system in most cases are denied to
consumers, and lost to labOrers; they
point with pride to the Republican
homestead policy, under which millions
Of settlers have been provided with
free homes; they, moreover, show that
every acre of the public lands which
have been recovered from corporate
grants, has been recovered under Re-
publican legislation.
The trucking policy of the present
administration in the matter of the
protection of American fisheries which
has caused a blush of shame on the
face Of every true American is justly
denounced. They appeal to the people
with just indignation against continued
ulSlI dllCHlSCuOut IoA pelI Oloul 1CdoOIIO
of more than a million honest settlers
in the territories. They favor, as Re-
publicans have always done, the gen.
eral dissemination of knowledge among
all the people. They pledge anew their
determination to provide for the SOL
diers who crushed a Democratic rebel
lion; they denounce the hypocrisy Of
the present administration in its viola
ton of every principle of civil service.
The platform as whole is one of
the grandest and most patriotic and
truly American documents that was
ever promulgated by any political party.
1t will bear inspection and careful
study. 1t contains no ambiguous SEN
fences but states clearly and boldly the
position of the party on the great ques-
lions of the day.
The conscientious voter who wishes
to carefully study party principles can