The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1896-08-20
Why lie Eeniains n Repub'ican.
nm thn 81 ntIio (, lnhn Itn,unrrut

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.
Mr.. Fitch said: "rhis morning IL friend,
who is II member of this convention and
who now honors me with his audcne SO said
to me: Mr.. Fitch, you have always been
q pronounced advocate Of the free coinage
of silver; what will you do if the St
Louis convention adopt a plank in their
platform favoring IL single gold stand
ard and donouncng the free coinage of
slver2' / did not answer this question
then, but with your permission | will do
SO now.
81 belong to tho Republican party be.
cause its history is the history of tho
growth, the greatness and the freedom of
the nation; because its purposes are pa-
trinti2; because it is the friend Of labor
without being the foe of thrift; because it
ii wise, because it Is Just, Because its
restoration to complete power viii re-
kindlc the furnace and start the turbines,
and iii the land with the music Of con,
tented and well-paid toll and put bread
into mems mouths and hope into their
hearts,
Il belong to the Republican party be-
cause it Is the grandest political organiza-
ton Of frecmCn 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 fleet,
factory after factory has been added to
our resources, millions upon millions have
been addci to our wealth, city after city
has been developed from our villages, and
the land has been laced with II network of
iron rails, and furnace fires have illumi-
mated tho night, and the grand diapason
of labor has been made to sound through
out the continent.
Il belong to the Republican party be.
cause under its inspiration these United
States, once wrangling and discordaLG
commonwealth, these United States, once
shamod with slavery and decrcpit with the
disease of scccsSiOn-thUse United States
have become a country where no slaves
presence dishonor' labor where no free
mans utterunCcs are chokcd by the hand
of power, where no man dotfs his hat to
another. except through the courtesy of
EQUALS, where education Is free, where
manhood is respected, and where labor is
protected.
Under the patriotic rule Of the Rcpub-
lcan party these United States have be-
come IL nation whose credit rcigns at the
head of he worlds tinanccs-whosr flag
floats proudly upon sea, and whose armies
would come al the drumbcat out of the
hives Of industry to swarm in defense of
the country on every shore.
"Undrr the rule of the Republican party
these United States have become the great.
est, frccst and most prosperous nation
under the light of the sun.
II belong to the Republican party be-
cause it gave land to tho landlcss, because
it gave work to the industrious, because it
gave freedom to the slave, because, when
The nation was in peril, it gave armies and
treasure for her preservation.
'Forty years ago, when a lad of IS, l
joined the R@pu' l'cn rank', and, too
young o vote. ilung my blazing ban
ner aloft for Fremont and Jessie | was
present as IL newspaper reporter ut tho
Chicago Convention in 1860, when all llli-
nois shou cd Abraham Lincoln into the
Presidency. | heard the song of John
Browns soul sung in bated breath and in
secret gatherings Of his sympathizcrs, and,
four years later, on these distant shores,
| almost caught the echo of it's refrain
when armies chanted ii for their battle
anthem. | enjoyed tho cloqucnCe and
friendship Of Baker and of Starr King,
and Butler and Bingham and Garfield
and Conkling, and that mobiles Roman Of
them ALL James Il. Blaine.
"Who shall dare to tell me 1t is my duty,
shall dare to ask me to bctray these mem.
orics because of IL difference of opinion
the conditions under which
silver dollars shall be coined:
"Who shall dare to tell Inc it Is my duty
to leave the path along which my youth
and manhood, and where, when the cvcn-
ing buglc shall sound the final rtvclilc,
my nge shall be found still marching?
Rather will turn to the Republican god.
less the same stcadfast face that / bore
when my locks, now whitening, were as
black Us the ravens wing, and say to her,
rs Rulh said to Naomi: "Whither thou
gOcst, Will go; and whore thou lodgcst
will lodgo;thy people shall be my people
md thy God my God; whore thou t.!est,
viii die, and there will be buried"