The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-11-01
TRUE DEMOCRACY.
What 1t Means for a Democrat to
Vote for M'KinIey.
To the Editor of the Globe.

To the Editor Of the Globe
True Democrats must be compelled to dis
sent from the position taken in the address
which hos heer issued bv six former members
of the National Democracy. Gentlemen, who
base their convictions on the hope of the cleo
ton Of their candidate certainly are not
standing on questions Of right and wrong.
Men who find it impossible to sustain the
responsibility which would be imposed upon
them If their votes were cast for a candidate
who might stand in the position Of holding
the balance Of power, do well to desert The
cause which they have foStered; and cast
their votes for a candidate who stands an
even, or more than even, chance Of election.
The principles which they uphold are fol-
lowed only because Of the votes they bring
and not for the right of the cause. These
gentlemen have not considered the meaning
of their votes. The fear which the Demo-
cratic believer in the gold STANDARD has, that
by the establishment of free silver the coun-
try would be forced to undergo the most
severe panic the century has known is more
than overbalanced by his aversion to sup
port ticket and principles which, with but
one exception, have always been artago-
nistic to his sense of right, justice and proper
government.
The Democrat who votes for Mckinley and
Hobart turns his back upon the principles
OF levying and collecting taxes for the pur-
pose only of maintaining our government and
furnishing the means for the accomplish
ment Of it's legitimate functions and en-
braces the dogma that hereafter taxation is
1usti1able for the express purpose and intent
Of promoting especial interests and enter
prises. He repudiates the doctrine of free
raw materials and cheaper manufactured
goods, and processes himself willing with 9TH
ers to pay more for his goods that the nall
trust, the sugar trust and other monopolies
and classes, which flourish under a protective
system may be benefited thereby. He deserts
the essential principles of government as
laid down by the author of the Declaration
Of Independence in the famous inaugural ad-
dress of 1901 and takes up and approves
vi lott Nf na,,1 4Sn
administration he cannot help but admire
and which he has and does believe will go
down in history one of the most ably man-
aged in the annals of the country. He will
leave the support of the state governments
in all their rights, as the most competent adj
ministrations for our domestic concerns and
the surest bulwarks against anti-republican
tendencies" and will adhere to the centraliz-
ing theory, which means paternalism and the
lettering Of the individual. He will aid stump.
tuary laws that interfere with the individual
rights Of the citizen.
Democracy cannot take too strong a stand
against the paternalism which is indicated in
the protectionist measures of the Republican
party. Regulation Of the hours of labor,
the persons to be employed and the rate of
wages is odious to the thinking voter. The
utmost possible liberty to the individual and
the fullest possible protection to him and
his property consistent Herewith Is the aim
of Democracy; and the party which would
restrict that liberty in order to protect 9TH
ers can but be hostile to his sense of justice
and equality. AS the conditions of men be-
come equal, individuals grow smaller and the
nation larger. The Democrat fights for the
individual, the Republican and the Populist
for the nation at the expense of the indi-
vfdual. To the Republican the interests Of
the former are nothing, the latter everything,
and the power that represents the community
has more wisdom than the persons compos-
ing it,, and must guide and govern each in
dividual citizen. The Democrat who deserts
his ticket for his Republican opponents rati-
fes these paternalstic ideas and makes him
self responsible for their fulhIlment in the
next administration.
BY casting his vote for the Republican
electors he commends the policy of federal
control of elections, the dominance of a con-
tinuing oligarchy of offceholders. He in
dorses billion dollar congresses, the Repub-
lican policy of profiigate expenditures; trusts
and combinations fostered under a protective
tariff system; interference with the freedom
of education, a freedom which Is essential
to civil and religious liberty as we'll as q
necessity for the development of intelligence.
State interference with paternal rights and
dren are outgrowth of Republican sentiment;
and will be supported by the vote of a DEM
ocrat for Mckinley. His vote would mean
the Endorsement Of a pension scheme which
builds up a system of spoils and not roll
Of honor, and the defamng of two OF the most
upright and honest administrations of the
pension bureau since it's establishment. The
vote of Democrat for the Republican NOM
inees is a vote against individual liberty and
the unfolding of the state governments in all
their rights, and is support of centralized
power and paternalistie guardianship.
Charles s. Albert,