The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-04-22

u greatest of presidents, Abraham Lin coin. human slavery was destroyed and rebellion crushed. Now the tremen- dous task before the republican party is to deliver a nation from the curse and slavery of idleness, poverty and want; to furnish food and labor for the millions.
 The eyes of the whole country are upon us. What we do here tomorrow, with calm deliberation, shall be herald ed from Maine to California, from the great lakes to the gulf, and shall be eagerly read in every city, town and hamlet in the country. Why is this so ? Because every citizen feels that this convention will send delegates to the convention at St. Louis who shall nom- mate the next president of the United States, and I want to say right here and now, we are all stalwart republi- cans tonight, and propose to stay so; and while we may personally prefer some one of the great statesmen now before the people, we are all of us, heart and soul for the ticket nominated at St. Louis.
 We come from all parts of this state, fresh from the people and ought to know, and we feel sure that we do know, what public men and measures they are talking about, and what they are saying They are saying with one accord, Give us protection; give us sound money; give us work to do at fair wages; give us a dollar that is worth 100 cents anywhere in the world"
 Never before in recent years has the great heart of the people so warmly re- sponded to the republican doctrine as to-day.
 Four years ago in the midst of un- equalled prosperity by false statements and falser practices, the democratic party succeeded in persuading the peo- pie to exchange Harrison and com fort" for Grover and clover" They were told that they were being ruined by rpublican protection, that they were limited to home market, and they were cheated with expecting bet ter times to result from obtaining the markets of the world, giving up the substance for a shadow The exper- fence has been a bitter one and our towns and villages present a strange and unusual condition.
 The mill bell calls not the thousands of well clothed, well fed, well housed men and women to we'll paid labor, the throbbing of the great engine is not heard, and the busy spindles whirl not, but all is quiet as the grave The only thread that is spun is that of the noisome spider, emblem of desolation, as he weaves his web over the silent looms, and the mourners go about the streets, because industry is dead and starvation stares them in the face-the direct result of the free trade policy of the democratic administration. Able- bodied men earning three and four dol lars a day, 313 days in the year 1892, have had no work at all for the last year, and have plenty of time to read in the papers of the prosperous woolen industries in Bradford, England, or to stroll on the country roads and pick flowers by the wayside.
 Four years ago this country reached the highest point of financial credit and prosperity, and was regarded with respect at home and abroad Now we find the administration without respect anywhere. With a foreign policy of surrender with a patchwork tariff bill that no one will be sponsor for, and which the president himself would not sign, with no financial policy upon which the party can agree we find the treasury bankrupt and debt piling up, in times of peace, by the millions each month and immense loans negotiated in secret for private benefit After a shameful plotting and cruel treatment of our near friends and relatives, the struggling republic of Hawaii, the whole world is amazed and universal war well nigh precipitated upon the Venezuelan question And this pre- ciops party of incompetents crown their imbecile performances by passing, in times of most profound peace, that measure tolerable only i'll stress of war, the income tax, forcing upon the coun- try, except for the decision of the su- preme court. an army of inquisitorial tax gatherers more burdensonle and devouring than all the plaques of Egypt. The democratic party has no ability to govern. Nothing of perma- nent value has been advocated or &C., complished by them. Their leaders are not able to formulate safe and sound measures, either os finance or other matters, and the rank and file being only an organized appetite" are so eager to divide up the spoil of office that they have no time or liking for statecraft, or for managing the affairs of the country upon business princi- pies. They are as party like some of their members who were formerly in the rebel army. By deceit and strat- egy they overcame the Union picket, surprised our forces and drove them back. If the advantage thus gained had been followed up a notable victory would have been achieved; but they were very hungry and finding the Union stores they fell to like famished wolves and spent the time in eating. They could not be controlled by their leaders, and so the Union troops, hay ing time to rally, returned and drove them, defeated, but with full stomachs, to their former lines. So it is with the democratic party. Given both houses of congress and a president whose ig- norance and obstinancy and angloma- mia had not then been exposed, if they had shown any ordinary capacity for government, they could not have been dislodged from power in generations. But the verdict of the people has all ready been rendered on this admins tration. It has been weighed in the balances and found wanting" There were state elections last November and