Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1889-11-01
he is A DEMOCRAT.
president ELIOT, OF HARVARD UNIvER-
SITY, so DECLARES HIMSELF-A POWER
Full STATEMENT OF HIS POLITICAL

Full STATEMENT OF HIS POLITICAL
PRINCIPLES.
Before great company assembled at the
regular dinner of the Bay State Club in
Boston on Saturday evening last, President
Eliot, of Harvard University, announced
that he had joined the Democratic party.
We give his remarks in full
AS President of Harvard University,
find myself in this campaign in position
of singular partially. (Laughter.) The
Presidents of both political conventions,
the gentlemen who wrote both platforms,
are graduates of Harvard College. (Laugh-
ter and applause.) l have received lately
a good deal of gratuitouS advice through
the public prints as to the dire consequent
ces which might befall Harvard Universi-
ty if its president should publicly join the
that the benefactors and supporters of
Harvard College belong to both par
ties and to all religions. prolonged
applause.) Moreover, the graduates Of
Harvard College respect any man, no
matter to what party he belongs, who
forms his opinions intelligently, expresses
them with moderation and has the courage
of his convictions. (Great applause.)
Ii were called upon to indicate those
qualities which the graduates of Harvard
generally condemn in public men, should
say they were lack of candor in the express
sion of political opinions and political
cowardice. Tremendous applause.) These
faults, | believe, the vast ma ority of the
graduates of Harvard College emphatical-
ly condemn (applause) whether they OBJ
serve them in their own comrades OF in
others.
But present myself to you, gentlemen,
as case. of some interest to practical poll
ticians. l believe that as practical politi-
clans, what you desire and need is to con-
vert a few thousand voters in Massachu-
sets, and in a few of the other States, from
the Republican to the Democratic party.
daughter.) Now that is just what has
been effected in my case (applause), and
my reasons for changing my party may
possibly be influential with others.
l have always been Independent in poll
tics in two senses In the first place there
may perhaps be 100000 of Americans
who have some expectations of public
office, OF vague desire for public employ
ment; but there are 5S,000,000 who have
no such expectation OF desire, and who
know that if they wanted public employ
hs sn they eod mot get tndLs a aao
i Laughter and applause.] And am indie
pendent in politics in another sense. Twill
stay in political party only so long as
that party stands for the political prin-
ciples which believe in. [Great applause.
Now, the Republican party has great
past. 1t was formed for the advancement
of a great moral idea, and it did advance
that idea, and carried it to triumph. And,
so lasting is the force of a sound moral
purpose, that thousands still cling to that
party because of its past history, although
its actual leaders have forgotten its noble
birth, abandoned its disinterested princi-
pies and deserted the standards of its foun-
Il 7 f1,otf l,n
party no longer stood for the political prin-
ciples in which believe. I felt obliged to
join the opposite party, (great APPLAUSE;
for the position of the Independent, in the
technical sense, does not seem to be an
effective one. L think that a conscien-
tious citizen should choose between
ne snG he phh abu # ta ae c with
that one which best promotes the prin-
ciples which he holds. The position
of man who hangs between the two, and
votes now with one party and now with
the other, seems to me very unsatisfactory,
unless it is avowedly temporary and pro-
visional. Being thus an Independent in
two senses, and yet being resolved to act
with one OF other of the two great parties,
if either fairly stand for the principles in
which | believe, let me tell you what pub
lie policies had in mind when l left the
Republican party and joined the Demo-
cratic.
In the first place, though brought up first
wing. then kepubllcan, and almost a
Protectlonlst, have come to believe that
the protectionist principle is false and de-
lusive, and that the industries of the Uni
ted States are crippled and their natural
development prevented by the heavy taxes
maintained under the name of protection.
The protective duties, so-called, protect
capital perhaps, but not labor (applause)
on T hnli latf l,ir 70.
tai is unnatural and undesirable in the
long run. (Applause.)
Now, between the Republican policy as
regards the national taxes and the Demo-
cratic policy there is a clear choice, the
two parties being sharply divided upon
this subject, and every man who holds my
opinion with regard to protective taxes
must in good conscience join the Demo-
cratic party (Great applause.)
Secondly, believe that the reform of the
civil service is vital issue in this country,
that the preparation of free institutions
depends upon that reform; for no govern
ment can long endure the public unre-
proved application of the sum total of all
the government salaries as a bribery and
corruption fund. This is precisely what
the spoils system means. On the complete
destruction of that system depends, as |
believe, the permanency and success of our
free institutions. On that issue what is the
record of the Republican party as compared
with that Of the Democratic party? Have
we not seen the public service degenerating
more and more, and treated more and more
as private property under successive Re
publican Administrations-the last of the
series being the worst of all in this respect?
(Great applause.) And have we not seen
the single Democratic Administration of
the % years past the best of all American
Administrations during that period, in this
raSn InIIS 1nrIc y
telligent man will place any reliance upon
the professions of party when its public
performances necessarily contradict them.
(Applause.) We must rely upon the public
acts OF the men who represent the respec-
tive parties. Can any civil service reformer
hesitate for moment between the Admi-
nistrations of Cleveland and of Harrison on
that issue? (Applause.) One honestly
promoted the reform, and the other has be-
trayed it.
L have still another reason for preferring
the Democratic party, which is, perhaps,
peculiar to myself-at least do not see it
much referred to in the public prints. |
dlency OF a pension system, particularly
under Republican institutions where pub
lie Office should be open alike to the poor
and to the rich. (Applause.) | believe
in pensions, not only for soldiers and sail
ors, but for judges, teachers, tiremen, po-
lioClllSll, anu all pubic servants who have
deserved we'll of the country (Great ap-
plause.) Therefore l hold it to be a hide
Gus wrong inflicted upon the republic that
the pension system instituted for the bene-
lit OF the soldiers and sailors of the United
States has been prostituted and degraded
by the whole series of Republican Admin
lstratlons. cloud applause.} AS things
pensioner of the United States was a brave
soldier OF sailor, or a cowardly deserter.
CIrue,) One cannot tell whether pen
sioner of the United States received an
honorable wound in battle, OF contracted
a chronic catarrh twenty years after the
close Of the war. (Applause.) One can
not tell whether pensioner Of the United
States is disabled soldier or sailor, or
perjured pauper who has foisted himself
upon the public Treasury. l say that to
have put the pension system of the United
States into this condition is a crime against
all honest soldiers and against Republican
institutions (applause); and it is a series
OF Republican Administrations which has
brought that system to this condition, the