Huntsville gazette., 1892-07-02
REPUBLICAN PLATFORM.

1t Has in 1t the Unmistakeble Ring of
Victory.
The very first sentence in the repub-
lican platform has in it the thrill of
victory. The mere place of holding the
convention, never befo u campaign
feature, was turned to [ ing account.
"The representatives of the repub-
licans of the United States" the plat
form begins, assembled in convention
on the shores of the Mississippi river,
the everlasting bond of an indestrnct-
ible republic" There is nothing far
fetched in this. The Mississippi is
precisely that-"the everlasting bond
of an indestructible republic" That
was the controlling idea with Jeffer-
son in making the Louisiana purchase,
and that is why SO much interest CEN
tered in the siege of Vicksburg. That
felicitous allusion will serve to quicken
memories and suggest thoughts of
patriotism. and such memories and
thoughts always promote the welfare
of the republican party
The declaration in favor Of protec-
ton with it's supplement, reciprocity,
was accorded the post of honor as the
first definite plank of the platform.
There was no chance for anything be-
yond a reaffirmation of the doctrine
laid down in the resolutions of 1883 and
incorporated in the act of 1890. There
were no two opinions in the conven-
tion.- 1t must have been proud day
for William Mckinley when he saw the
great national convention of the repub-
lican party over which he was presid
ing absolutely harmonious and very en-
thusias.ic in the Endorsement not only
of the principles of the platform of
1888, which he penned and reported,
but of the bill which he afterward
framed and pushed to enactment.
The next plank was carefully word
ed and an admirably exact statement of
the genuine bimetallic position of the
party, and an Endorsement of the inter
national silver conference. This plank
ought to be satisfactory to all intelli-
gent people, from the Pacific to the At
lantic, for it stoutly upholds the silver
dollar and tenaciously clings to the
gold dollar, making the former equal in
seems to strike good many monetary
theorists as impossible, but it is no
mystery. Ever since 1879 even the paper
dollar, having no intrinsic value what
ever, has been worth its face in gold.
The more that plank is studied the
more it will commend itself to the bet
ter Judgment of the American people.
The doctrine of free ballot and a
fair count is reaffirmed, coupled with
denunciation of the outrages perpe-
trated at the south for political reasons.
There is also a reaffirmation of the
Monroe doctrine in its application to
the present state of our foreign rela-
tions, and an Endorsement of the for
eign policy of the administration, in
Guiding the steps taken to prevent GRIM
inals, paupers and contract laborers
from being dumped upon our shores.
These large questions, together with
the final resolution indorsing the ad-
ministration of President Harrison,
may be set down as the landmarks of
distinctive republicanism. The other
planks are of such nature that, if the
democracy is wise, they will not en-
counter hostility. The democratic
party is for free trade and against a
free ballot sustained by an honest
count, and is committed through its
members of congress to free silver, but
it cannot afford to antagonize single
plank in the republican platform, COM
ing under the head of miscellaneous.
Those planks are, to put them as brief
ly as possible, protection against acci-
dents in interstate commerce, mining
and manufactures; sympathy with the
Irish in Ireland and the still more op-
pressed Jews in Russia; education with
out any union of church and state; hos
tility to trusts and monopolies; free
rural postal delivery and one-cent post
age as soon as practicable; civil-service
reform; the Nicaragua canal; the ad-
mission of the territories as soon as
they are ready for statehood, and the
selection from their own citizens OF the
federal offices for them: the reclama-
tsou Of the arid lands and their utilisa-