The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1899-09-01
Special to News-D Democrat.


temporary chairman of the Democratic
convention, delivered the following ad-
dress on assuming the chair this morn
ing:
Gentlemen Of the Conventions:
To the members of the State Central
committee, 1 desire to express my most
sincere thanks for the high honor this
appointment confers upon me. To be
called to preside over the deliberations
of convention of the gallant Dem
ocracy of the Buckeye state, at any
time and under any circumstances
must ever be esteemed a high honor
but when, as now, our party is splen-
didly united; when our adversaries are
torn and rent by faction and threaten
ed with rebellion; when the principles
for which we contend are coming into
more and more general recognition, and
the policies we advocate appeal with all
the strength of revolutionary fervor to
the masses of the people; when from
the ranks of the toiler, in workshop,
field and mine, proceed the sound of
dissatisfaction and discomfort with the
results of the administration of the
party in power; when from the schools
and colleges of the land, the patriotic
scholarship Of the country raises the
cry that our opponents are departing
from the eternal principles of "the
fathers" teachings; when the very place
in which we are gathered is rich in
memories to cheer us, and full of omens.
the most auSpiciouS, to prepare us for
certain victory, to be called as chair
man of such a convention and under
such circumstances is an honor not soon
to be forgotten.
We are assembled today to renew and
to reaffirm our allegiance to Demo-
cratic principle and to Democratic pre-
cept in this ancient capital of the state.
The gavel, which it is my honor to hold,
and to the sound of which it is your
honor to hearken, has history dear
to US all. 1t is constructed from log,
part of an unpretentiouS cabin once
located near where we now are, in
which that great man, great statesman,
great and faithful tribune of the COM
mon people, Thomas A. Hendricks,
was born. What fond memories does
not that name awaken? What an
epitome of Democracy his life's history?
Sprung from the common people, he
never lost their confidence and never
proved untrue in their service. Their
wants he knew; their necessities he felt;
their rights he appreciated, and in all
his positions of honor and authority,
he never forgot his origin and never
ceased to be a great commoner, trust
ed by every honest man. Equal rights
to ALL special privileges to none,' was
the rule of his political life. Equal and
exact justice in every matter Of legiSla-
tion was, with him, the only considera-
ton. No robber tariff ever received
his sanction; no trust ever resulted
from his vote, and no monopoly ever
existed or thrived by reason of his in
failure to execute the law;
no striver for liberty anywhere ever
suffered from his aggression. He trust
ed the people and had confidence in his
country's future. He imposed no foreign
policy upon his native land and was
to divide the sovereignty of
the people here with any other govern
ment on earth. The story of his life
is an ideal. 1t is a matter of pride to
his native state and source of
to his political party.
If the memory of the honored dead is
an inspiration, the history of Zanes-
vile as a convention city is full OF
promise of good fortune. Four years
ago, there was assembled here an Ohio
Then, as now, the junior
held, as he thought, in the palm
of his hand, the action of his party, the
political destinies of his state; then, as
now, unlimited resources were in his
possession and organized wealth stood
ready to do his bidding; then, as now,
his ways We're ways of gentleness and
his paths were paths of peace; and then,
as now, Judge Nash was his personal
candidate for governor of Ohio. That
so disposed of the business
before it, that defeat came to Hanna,
disaster to Nash and political ruin
stared Mckinley in the face. That
the Hanna machine has since grown
stronger within his own party, and that
the National administration, at the ex-
pense of a fragrant breach of it's most
- ,fGnc so
suspend the operation of the civil
service law and thus provide the only
means of a Hanna triumph at the Re-
publican state convention, are beside
the question. Committees may be
delegates may be silenced or
coerced, conventions may be forced to
stand and deliver, but the people, this
year, in this state, will carry out the
historic parellel, and this convention
will take the action, declare the prin-
ciples and name the ticket by which the
end will be accomplished.
There will be today no contest as
to the platform declarations which our
party shall make. There is no differ
ence of opinion. The Democratic party
of Ohio stands squarely upon every
plank of the Chicago platform of 1896.
We believed it then and we believe 1t
now. In advocating that platform in
'96, we in Ohio taught no new doctrine
to the people. The Ohio Democratic
convention of '96 anticipated the action
of the National convention of that year
and selected as delegates at large to
Chicago, gentlemen whose opinions up
on the money question were known of
all men and whose integrity and ability
were guarantees that the wishes of
Ohio would be forcibly and faithfully
presented to that great convention.
Ohio, in 1896 in the national convention,
cast its entire vote for the adoption
of the platform and in the following
campaign, no state in the Union
mustered a more loyal, a more devoted
or more harmonious Democrat host
in support of the cause. We waged that
year, in this, the enemy's stronghold,
the greatest fight the party in Ohio ever
conducted, and, altho' defeated, we
polled more votes than any winning
party, before or since that year, has
ever counted to insure it's victory
Some Democrats, somewhere, when the
voice of conscience speaks, may feel
themselves called upon to repent their
disloyalty in '96 but there are no such
Democrats in Ohio. The people who
sent us here do not believe in a double
standard of Democracy. In '96 the test
was. ARE you loyal to the PLATFORM
ard that fo fha Ohio taaf foHaU