St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-06-23
MASTERLY ARRANGEMENT
OF the Defiant Snakiness of Re
publ caniSm.

The appearance of MIR. Wilson upon
the platform with the committee was
greeted with long continued cheers and
yells. When he could be heard Chair
man Owens addressed the convention
as follows:
Gentlemen: 1t gives me much pleas
ure to present to you as the permanent
chairman of this convention, one of the
bravest Democrats in America, William
l.. Wilson, of West Virginia. Mr.. Will
son was again received with cheers,
and addressed the convention as
follows:
Gentlemen of the Convention: l
thank yon most heartily for this honor.
l shall endeavOr to meet the duties of
the high position to which you have
called me with spirit of fairness
and equality that is Democratic.
This convention has a high and
patriotic work to perform. We owe
much to our party; we owe more to our
country. The mission of the Demo-
cratic party is to fight for the under
dog. When that party is out OF power
we NAV be sure there is an.under dog
to fight for. and the under dog is the
American people. When the party is
out of power we may be sure that some
party is in control of our government
that represents section, and not the
whole country; that stands for ella IS
and not the whole people.
Never was this truth brought home to
us more defiantlv than by the Repub-
Iican convention at Minneapolis. We
are not deceived as to the temper of the
Republican party; we are not in doubt
as to its purposes. Having taxed us for
years without mercy it now proposes to
dsarm us of all powers of resistance.
Republican success in this campaign,
whether we look to the party platform,
the party candidates, or to the utteranceS
of party leaders, means that the people
are to be
Stripped of Their Franchise
through force bills in order that they
may be stripped of their substance
through tariff bills. Free government
is self-government. There is no self
government where the people do not
control their own elections and levy
their own taxes. When either of these
rights is taken away or diminished a
breach is made. not in the outer de-
fenseS, but in the citadel of our freedom.
Y For years we have been struggling to
recover the lost right of taxing our
selves, and now we are threatened with
the loss of the greater right of govern
lag ourselves. The loss of one right is
followed necessarily in the succession
by the loss of others. When you CON-
fer upon the government the power OF
dealing out wealth. you unchain every
evil that can prey upon and eventually
destroy free Institutions excessive tax
alton, class taxation, billion dollar con-
crosses, a corrupt civil service. de-
bauched ballot box and purchased cleo
tionS..
In every campaign the privilege of
taxing the people will be bartered for
contributions to corrupt them at the
polls. After every victory new Nc
Kinley bill to repay these contrlbu-
from the people. For every seif-gov
erning people there can be no more
momentous question than the question
of taxation. 1t is the question. as Mr..
Burke truly said, around which all the
Great Battles of Freedom
have been fought. 1t is the question
out of which grow all the issues OF gov
eminent, Until we settle this question,
wisely, permanently, Justly, We build
all other reforms on foundation OF
sand. We and the great party we rep
resent are today for tariff reform be-
cause it is the only gateway to genuine
Democratic government.
The distinguished leader who pre-
sided over the Republican convention
boosted that he does not know what
tariff reform is. Who ever said that he
did? Let us hope, with the charity that
helpeth all things, that relieveth all
things. that he is fully as ignorant as
he vaunts himself to be. Unfortunate
ly, the people are not SO ignorant OF the