Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1894-04-05

Minneapolis. March 29.-The great
republican meeting in the exposition
building this evening was presided
over by Gov. Nelson of Minnesota,
who, without formality, introduced
Gov. Mckinley. As he rose to speak
he was enthusiastically cheered by
nearly 5000 people, representing every
republican organization in the state.
He spoke from manuscript for an hour
and a half, and the closest attention
was paid to his utterances. Interrupt
tons by applause when a specially
striking point in his address was
reached, were frequent, and at the
conclusion he was accorded a rising
vote Of thanks for his courtesy In
visiting the northwest and for the
mastery effort presented. He spoke
in part as follows:
much has happened since the great
republican national convention of 1892
assembled in this hall. The platform
and candidates of that great conven-
ton, admirable as they were, were re-
jected by the people at the election
following; but the people had no
sooner spoken than they realized their
great miStake-a mistake which they
now feel most sensibly and regret most
deeply. The principles enunciated at
that convention were true then; they
are true now. They are dear to re-
publicans now as then; they are bet
ter understood and more ardently sup
ported by the great body Of the people
in the year 1894 than they were in
the year 1892. While the republican
party failed to carry the election, the
cause for which it contended did not
fail. It survived the awful disaster
and shines more brightly and glorious
~ than ever before.
"The past year has been a long one
the longest since the war. 1t has been
full of changes and experiences which
have been impressive and instructive,
but expensive. All kinds Of business
have been seriously disturbed. Invest
mentS have been sacrificed; capital has
been despoiled of it's earnings, and
labor, more than all and dearer to US
than all, has succumbed to the wasting
blasts of the great change by which
industry has been cheated of it's just
rewards. Everything has suffered but
the republican cause. Everything has
been blighted but republican principles.
They have escaped the mildew which
has settled upon everything else. Even
the democratic party has suffered-a
calamity we could bear with resig-
nation, if it had not also carried in it's
train the vast and sacred interests of
the people.
''What were the great principles and
policies then enunciated in this hall?
Let me enumerate them: A protective
tariff, which shall serve the highest
interests Of American labor and Ameri-
can Developments; reciprocity, which,
while seeking the worlds markets for
our surplus products, shall not destroy
American wages, nor surrender Ameri-
can markets for products which can
be made at home; the use of both gold
and silver with which to measure the
exchanges of the people and cheat
nobody; honest elections, which are
the true sources of public authority;
the extension Of our foreign commerce;
the restoration of our merchant marine
by home-built ships; the creation of a
navy for the protection of our national
interests and the honor of our flag;
the maintenance of the most friendly
relations with all foreign powers and
entangling alliances with none; the re-
affirmation of the Monroe doctrine
and of our faith in the achievement of
the manifest destiny of the republic
as the best government of earth in
the broadest and truest sense.
''Who would modify these principles;
who would reverse this declared
policy; who would strike from the re
publican banner a single star or stripe?
Like all republican doctrines they are
Interchangeable. Upon them the republi-
can party bases it's claim to future
supremacy and impatiently awaits the
constitutional opportunity to make it's
appeal to the people.
"The democratic party won in 1893,
as in every contest since the war in
which it has succeeded, by a cam
paign Of profuse and glittering prom
ises 1t now stands demOralized on
the field of performance and has, so
far, signally failed to redeem a single
pledge it made to the people. It has
been for many years denOuncing the
tariff, because some men became rich
under its operations and others poor.
| The first year of democratic control
has cured all that and the prescription
has proved quite as effective on the
poor as the rich, for it has involved
them all in a common loss. What de
vastation and distress have been
wrought in single year!
"Let the briefest statement Of the
business condition at the close Of the
year 1892 be contrasted with a like
statement of that condition at the end
of 1893. The year 1892 SAYS Dun's
Review Of Trade, the best non-parti-
san authority, has been the most
prosperous ever known in business.
This is the business Endorsement Of
thirty years of republican rule. Now
mark the change! Says Dun s Review
of Trade for 1898:
Starting with the largest trade
ever known, mills crowded with work
and all business stimulated by high
hopes. the year 1893 has proven in sud
den shrinkage of trade in commercial
disaster and the depression of indus
tries. the worst for fifty years.
Whether the final results of the panic
of 1887 were relatively more severe.
the scanty records Of that time do not