Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1896-08-28
BEST OF REASONS
Given For Remaining In the
Republican Party.
THOUGH A STRONG SILVER MAN,

Tom Fitch of Arizona Was Asked IL He
Would Leave His Party-How He An
swered the Question--"who, Then, is
There In This Land That Shall Dare
Ask ME to Betray These Memories Be-
cause of q Difference of Opinion on
Silver P"
AT the late Republican convention Of
Arizona, held to elect delegates to the
st. Louis convention, Tom Fitch, one of
the most noted free silver advocates in
the territory, was called upon to speak,
and responded in speech which for
simple eloquence and beauty Of diction
deserves preservation. His reasons why
he should remain in the Republican
party are unanswerable, and should be
read by all Republicans. Omittlng his
introduction Mr.. Fitch said
This morning a friend, who is a
member of this convention, and who
now houors me with his audience, said
to me: Mr.. Fitch. you have always
been pronounced advocate of the free
coinage of silver; what will you do if
the St. Louis convention adopt plank
in their platform favoring a single gold
standard and denouncing the free coin
age of silver?' / did not answer this
question then, but with your permission
will do SO now
II belong to the Republican party be-
cause its history is the history of the
growth, the greatness and the freedom
of the nation; because its purposes are
patriotic because it is the friend of
labor without being the foe OF thrift
because it is wise; because it is just /;
because its restoration to complete
power will rekindle the furnace and
start the turbines, and fill the land with
the music of contented and well. paid
tell, and put bread into mems mouths
and hope into their hearts.
II belong to the Republican party be-
cause it is the grandest political organi-
zation of freemen that the world has
ever known; because under its wise
guidance star after star has been added
to our flag ship after ship has been
added to our fleets, factory after factory
has been added to our resources, mil
lions upon millions have been added to
our wealth, city after city has been de.
veloped from our villages, and the land
has been laced with network of iron
rails, and furnace fires have illuminated
the night, and the grand diapason Of
labor has beeh made to sound through.
out the continent
II belong to the Republican party be-
cause under its inspiration these United
States, once a wrangling and discordant
commonwealth United States,
once shamed with slavery and decrepit
with the disease of secession--these
United States have become country
where no slaves presence dishonors la
Dor, where no freeman's utterances are
choked by the hand of power, where no
man doffs his hat to another, except
through the courtesy of equals, where
education IS free, where manhood is re-
spected. and where labor is protected.
under the patriotic rule of the Re-
publican party these United States have
become nation whose credit reigns at
the head of the worlds finances-whose
flag floats proudly upon the sea, and
whose armies would come at the drum.
beat out of the hives OF industry to
swarm in defense of the country on ev-
cry shore.
"Under the rule of the Republican
Phkpy thCcO " AibCu ptdGCo lldNo DtCoDlt
the greatest, freest and most prosper ous
nation under the light of the sun.
~ belong to the Republican party be.
cause it gave work to the industrious,
because it ave freedom to the slave,
because, when the nation was in peril,
1t gave armies and treasure for her
preservation
Forty years ago, then lad of IS,
Joined the Republican ranks, and, too
young to vote, flung my blazing ban.
ner aloft for Fremont and Jessie. Twas
present as newspaper reporter at the
Chicago convention in 1850, when all
Illinois shouted Abraham Lincoln into
the presidency l heard the song of
John Browns soul sung in bated breath
and in secret gatherings of his sympa-
thizers, and, four years later, ON these
distant shores. I almost caught the echo
of its refrain when armies chanted it
for their battle anthem. enjoyed the
eloquence and friendship of Baker and
of Starr King, and Butler and Bing.
ham, and Garfield and mixing, and
that noblest Roman of them all, James
G. Blaine
who, then, is there in all this land
that shall dare to ask me to betray these
memories because of difference of
opinion concerning the conditions under
which silver dollars shall be coined?
"Who shall dare to tell me it is my
duty to leave the path along which my
youth and manhood, and where, when
the evening bugle shall sound the final
reveille, my age shall be found still
marching? Rather will 1 turn to the
Republican goddess the same steadfast
face that / bore when my locks, now
whitening, were as black as the ravens
wing, and say to her, as Ruth said to
Naomi, 'Wither thou goest, will go !;
and where thou lodgest, shall lodge !;
thy people shall be my people, and thy
God my God; where thou diest. will
die, and there will be buried"
How Railroad Shop Men Voted.
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