The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-11-05
OVERMYER TALKS
In Conjunction With Jerry
Simpson at Newton.
The Topeka Orator Discusses
State Issues
STIRS UP THE VOTERS.
the War Issues From
a Critical Standpoint.
FaYOrs the Increase Of the
American Navy.


meetings ever held in this city. Mr..
Overmyer was to have spoken here in
the afternoon, but was unable to get
here.
Mr.. Simpson opened the evening in a
short speech and made many friends
by the plain, telling manner in which
he put his arguments. He was followed
by David Overmyer, whose remarks
were frequently interrupted by spon-
taneous bursts of applause.
Mr.. Overmyer said, in part:
AS to the statement that the last
war was a Republican one, MI Over
myer said that outside of the fact that
the president and a majority in con-
gress were Republican. there was not
a single fact to support the claim The
first movement was made by a Demo-
cratic senatOr-Morgan of Alabama
who introduced a resolution recognizing
Cuba as a belligerent power. The Re
pubIicans, he said, made great promises,
but after the election they forgot there
was such an island as Cuba In his
first message to congress President Nc
Kinley said not a word in respect to
Cuba. When the Morgan resolution
passed again several Republican sena-
tors voted against it He then told
about how Speaker Reed had refused
to select a committee to which the res
olution had been referred.
The session passed and nothing was
done until on a morning In February,
1898, there flashed through the sea and
over the world the awful intelligence
that the American battleship Maine
had beeen blown up in Havana harbor.
The whole nation was aroused; the
whole nation was ahame ready Tor war.
But the president and the Republican
majority in congress hesitated and fall
tered and paltered, and it was finally
decided to have an investigation to To-
cate the responsibility for the destFuc-
ton of the Maine. although il was
known to all from the beginning that
il had occurred through either the ma
IciOus action or hostile negligence Of
the Spanish authorities. After nearly
two months the commission made
subdued and cOlOrless report. The pres
ident sent It TO congress, accompanied
by a subdued and cOlOrless message a
roar of disgust humiliation and rage
went up from the country Then, when
the rising tide Of popular Indignation
could be resisted no longer, the Repub-
ucans in congress. driven by an over
whelming popular sentiment largely
the result of Democratic and POpulist
agitation, reluctantly began to yield to
the universal demand for war. The
hesitaucy of the Republican leaders was
not from lack of information, nor be
cause they misunderstood the temper
of the masses, but because they were
waiting for signal from the power
that had made them-the power of ag-
gregated wealth. that sinister power
held them in its SoTdid thrau in a para
lysis that was pitiful, and that power
was against any war for so sentimental
a thing as justice, or honor, or human
ity Mark Hanna, the titulary divinity
of the Republican party, declared that
there would be no war, and only when
they could hold out no longer did he
and his party yield to the viii Of the
people.
What use do the Republican leaders
propose to make Of the doctrine of ex-
pansiOn?'' asked he. 1T can have no
application to any territory Wrested
from Spain to utilize 1t as a party issue.
If the Republicans propose to extend
the area of free institutions until II
shall cover the whole globe, they can
have no issue, because all favor that
except some Of the plutocrats and the
Republican leaders.
If the Republican leaders propose
those blOod-stained and inhuman meth
DDS of territorial extension and dOmin-
ion, let them say SO plainly, and not at
tempt to cover up their designs under
the vague and indefinite word 'expan-
SION
AT the very threshold Of the great
debate which such a proposition will
provoke will be found the question OF
the origin and source Of public powers
In the whole history of the human
race there have been but two great
schools of politics. The first and Oldest
which obtained in the infancy of the
race, taught that some men were bet
ter in the sight of God than other men,
and hence, divinely appointed OF heaven
to rule over their fellow men,
Under that explanation public au-
the Euphrates rose and fell, and its
baneful influence still uphOlds thrones
and supports crowns.
AS the world grew in experience and
in knowledge and the light Of reason be-
gan to dawn upon the minds of men,
they began to question concerning the
origin and source of public powers,
wars ensued and up out of the tumult
of revolution, and up out of the roar of
CONFUSION. arose the majestic voice Of
liberty prOclaiming the new. the mod
ern. doctrine that ALI power is inherent
in the people, and governments derive
their just powers from the consent Of
the governed" What was the accepted
doctrine of the founders of our great
republic? 1t was proclaimed to the
world in the declaration OF indepen-
dence. Tt is embodied in the constitu-
ton Of the United States. 1t is reiter-
ated in direct terms in the constitution
of Kansas. It is the foundation, the
substructure, upon which rests our free
institutions.
The day. the hour, which shall wit
ness our departure from this great fun
damental canon OF freedom in our deal
ings with other peoples, that same day,
that same hour will usher in that pro-
cess OF erosion and Of eating and of
crumbling away of the foundations of
the temple of liberty, which will never
cease until it lies a shapeless mass of
ruins Again, ask, do the Republican
leaders propose the expansion of war
OF the expansion of peace2
oreseeIng the dilemma presented by
IIe eXtraVagant and indiscriminate
EKtepGDHcan cry Of expansion, Mr..
ChaFIeS Emory Smith, pOstma ster gen
eral or the United States, and presurn-
aoly, therefore, speaking for the ad-
Inlnlstratlon, in a speech delivered in
Iopeka short time ago. declared that
the true meaning of expansion is
SIMPLY commercial expansion. When
reaQ that invOluntarfly exclaimed a
new olspensation has daWued the leon
ara can change his spots, I have seen
MIN 90 It! have lived to see the party
or trade restriction, and commercial
limitation renounce its errors and come