The record-union., 1896-08-26
The Ninth Annual Convention Called to
Order at Milwaukee.
Two Sessions Which Were Devoted
to Preliminaries.

Address, Pointing Out the Re-
sponsibiIity Resting Upon the
People i'm the Present Campaign
The Fight for the Presidency of
the League.
MILWAUKEE, Aug. 25.-The ninth
annual convention of the National
League of Republican Clubs assembled
in Exposition Hall to-day, with an at
tendance of delegates and spectators
which did not equal expectations. This
was due in a large measure to the ina
bility of the managers to secure the
presence of speakers of national repu-
tation, owing to the exigencies of the
campaign and demands of local con-
ventions in various States.
The two sessions We're devoted TO the
preliminaries of the convention, and
in the afternoon notable addresses were
made by Congressman McCleary of
Minnesota and A. b. Cummings of
Iowa, who bore to the convention the
greeting and good will from the Ma
tional Committee. TO-morrow's ses-
sions will be devoted TO the considera-
tion of the Chairmans reports, with
mass meeting at night. Elections will
probably occur Thursday.
1t was 11:15 o'clock when President
McAlpin called the session to order. He
introduced Rev. W. A. Hunsbarger,
pastor of Grand Avenue NJ. f. Church,
who opened the proceedings with
prayer.
Addresses of welcome were made by
Mayor w. o. Rauschenberger, Irving
NJ. Bean. Chairman of the local Exec
utive Committee in charge of the con-
vention arrangements, and Samuel A.
Harper President of the Wisconsin
State Leage. His statement that Wis
consin was in favor of a protective tar
if evoked more applause than any other
sentiment.
Response wasNmade to these addresses
on behalf Of the national organization
by d. d. Woodmansee of Ohio. His al
fusion to the title given to Bryan, The
boy orator of the Platte" as being pc
culiarly appropriate, "the river being
1900 miles long and six inches deep"
was received with shouts oI laughter
President McAlpin read his annual
address. In the course of ii he said: If
: understand the political conditions
Alright, and interpret correctly the ac-
tions of the various conventions that
followed the Republican convention. we
appeal to our fellow-citizens above and
beyond our belief in our own party.
along lines broader and higher than
that as a matter of patriotism. that
there shall be a united front opposed to
those who are trif1ing with the nations
credit, disturbing her business interests
or appealing to human prejudices as a
means of arraying section against sec
tion or class against class, in the hope
of gaining political preferment
Have sacrificed lives and treasure
ceased TO teach their lessons? Grave
indeed is the responsibility upon any
man who would try, as he stands with
in the shadow of the rebellion, to delib-
erately divide the country into sections.
her people into classes, arraying them
against each other either for personal
advantage or to subserve political ends.
Such course. although begun merely
in public discussions, will, if persisted
In threaten the permanency of our in
stitutions. That such an effort will not
be successful I firmly believe.
"As the blood courses through the
human body, and by its various func-
tions sustains life, so does an honest
currency passing through the channels
Of trade sustain the prosperity OF our
citizens and establish the Nations in
tegrity. We are contending. there
fore, with other objects, for honesty in
Government, the inviolability of con-
tract rights. and the assurance to every
in F,v IL.
change for commodities Of a full and
honest dollar. We are all creditors and
we are all debtors. We cannot cheat 9th
ers without cheating ourselves. our
present money standards are neither
the result of chance nor conspiracy, but
are rather the outgrowth of experiment
and the result of centuries Of progress.
The Government can neither make
value nor give it without con-
sideration. To ask, therefore. that
it shall create a dollar of in
Crinsically half it's nominal value
and force its acceptance at its face value
is to ask the Government to actually
take property from our citizens and com
NIT legalized robbery. That money
must necessarily be the best money
whose intrinsic value is nearest to its
declared value wherever it may be pre-
sented for use.
We are told by our political oppo-
nents, recently assembled at Chicago.
that the Government shall coin the sill
yer of the world into dollars actually
worth o3 cents in merchandise value
and declare them worth 100 cents. The
Government must. therefore, present
from its own fund of credit II cents of
value. or by statutory enactment rob its
citizens of that amount of property
which they have alredy accumulated.
For myself / protest against the in
consistency which denounces the exist
ence OF trusts, and at the same time
seeks to compel the Government to
take the entire product of one field of in
dustry at specific price. measured by
an absolute standard, and to disburse
1t at fictitious one. Such a course is
opposed to the spirit of cur institutions
ard contrary TO the functions of Gov
ernment. The Nations integrity rests
not alone upon the surplus in its vaults.
hut in the reserve power of labor in its
citizens and their capacity and oppor-
tunity for employment To continually
draw upon the one will as surely dissi-
pate it. as win free values and abnor-
NAL standards destroy the other
Upon the tariff. General McAlpin
said 1--WE believe that the doctrine of