The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1892-06-17
A MYSTIC PLATFORM.
WHAT DOES THE MINNEAPOLIS MAN
lFESTO MEANi

The True Inwardness of the Monopo-
listic idea Exposed.
The Republican platform produced at
Minneapolis is a document of rare in
terest to the student Of opinions and to
the critic of style. 1t combines the di-
rect and almost infantile simplicity of
the chap book with the mystic mistiness
Of the second story back clairvoyant,
No one man can understand IL. To take
it in comprehensively and interpret it
intelligently would require the best en-
deavors of joint session of a kinder
garten and q Browning club. No one
man wrote 1t. No one man could have
written it. not even Colonel Abe Slupsky
himself.
Wonder ceases when we remember
that this masterpiece Of political litera-
ture is the achievement of committee
of forty-eight, operating through five
subcommittees of five each, and all
under the immediate and active fuper-
intendence Of Joseph Benson Foraker.
There was no subcommittee on the
preamble. The point-with-pride de-
partment was evidently managed by
Foraker in person and alone. The we'll
known fire alarm rhetoric is here in I'M
diluted strength:
"The representatives Of the Repub-
hcans Of the United States, assembled
In general convention on the shores Of
the Mississippi river, the everlasting
bond Of an indestructible republic,
whose most glorious chapter of history
is the record of the Republican party.
congratulate their countrymen on the
majestic march of the nation under the
banners inscribed with the principles of
our platform of 1888, vindicated by VIC
tory at the polls and prosperity in our
fields, workshops and Mines"
Is the everlasting bond of an inde-
structible republic the Mississippi river
or the general convention on its shores?
Is the record of the Republican party
the most glorious chapter of the Missis-
sippi river, or of the general convention,
or Of the indestructible republic, or of
the everlasting bond? Is the majestic
march Of the nation vindicated by the
Democratic victories at the polls in 1890;
asmuch as the nation walks right along,
whichever party wins? Is the agricul-
tural, manufacturing and subterranean
prosperity referred to by Foraker vim
dication Of the majestic march, or of
the Republican party's banners, or Of
the beaten force bill, or of the billion,
or Of what2 Foraker knows and could
"a t,a n hA
knows likewise.
But this is only the whipped cream on
the pudding. We come next to the tariff
plank. It reaffirms the American doc
trine of protection. 1t points to the
benefits of policy which was the policy
Of the Democratic party while the Re-
publican party was still unseen in the
mists Of the future. It declares that the
duties levied on imports coming into
competition with American products
should be equal to the differences be-
tween wages at homo and abroad" This
is a distinct and specific declaration, al
most the only one in the Foraker plat
form.
1t is taken directly from the Demo
cratic national platform Of 1884, the
platform on which Grover Cleveland
was elected, but it is not exactly tie
principle inscribed on the Republican
banners Of 1888 or embodied in the Nc
Kinley revision. Then the platform
goes on to predict that Mr.. Blaine's bril-
liant reciprocity idea, something not in
scribed on the banners of 1888, and
therefore not vindicated by victory at
the polls and prosperity in our fields,
workshops and mines, will eventually
give us control of the trade Of the world.
And 1t Is silent, silent as the tomb, con-
cerning the reduction of the national
revenue by the repeal Of the internal
revenue taxes, or Of any part of them.
That was distinctly inscribed on the
banners of 1888. Since 1883 the Repub-
hcan billion congress discovered another
and an easier way to reduce the surplus.
Among the meaningless platitudes
poured into the pot by the gentlemen
who had hand in compounding the
Republican platform of 1892 are these:
We demand that every citizen of the United
States shall be allowed to cast one free and un-
restricted ballot In all public elections.
We favor the extension OF our foreign com.
merce, the restoration of our mercantile ma
rine BY home built ships.
We reafiirm our approval OF the Monroe
doctrine.
The ultimate reliance Of free popular gov
ernment Is the intelligence of the people and
the maintenance of freedom among men.
We declare anew our devotion to liberty Of
thought and conscience, of speech and press
We are opposed to any union Of church and
state.
We sympathize with all wise and legitimate
efforts to lessen and prevent the evils Of intem-
perance and to promote morality.
Colonel Abe Slupsky, we repeat,
would never have written such trash
or such cant as this and offered it to the
country as formal and careful decla-
ration of principles made by party
protesting to be party of principles.
But Colonel Slupsky, worse luck, was
not intrusted with the great and mo-
mentous job,-New York Sun
The Republican Platform.
The platform adopted by the Repub.
hcans at Minneapolis is u sweeping drag
NJ ~