The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1899-09-05
DUTY OF DEMOCRATS.
(National Watchman.)


hand. Do not neglect it. If the people
can be made to realize the perfidy of
| the administration 1t will be all that
| will be necessary to cause such re-
action against the Republican party
| that ii will not only be hurled from
IpOwer but driven into exile Tor genera
tion.
The insolence and arrogance of the
cabal of moneyed men who are using
| the administration to further their
| schemes of exploitation Is of such
| brutal character that they hesitate at
nothing that promises to give them an
additional dollar or render their power
more formidable. This class is one of
| the products of this age of rampant
| Commercialism. They are imperYious
| themselves to moral forces and are
seemingly oblivious of the existence
| of such forces. Hence the coarseness Of
| their methods and such an utter lack
of shame that they have thrown aside
much of the hypocritical cant formerly
used to disguise their purposes The
gang that is holding sway and direct
ling the administration under Mckinley
are so destitute of morality and virtue
themselves that they fail to recognize
these qualities in others.
The wholesale murder of an unoifend-
| ing people on the opposite side of the
earth for no crime whatever except
| love of liberty, and a willingness to
make sacrifices for the same, even to
offer up their lives, is shocking to chris
tians and Americans. The heart of
humanity bleeds and the chorus of joy
that for more than a century welled
fourth from the universal soul of man
| kind is shocked by sorrow and grief at
the thought that the American public
may become an apostate to liberty.
| Answer, Americans: Shall the father
hood of God and the brotherhood of
L.. I,.n nh nj a
among the nations? Is the new dispen-
sation that dethroned brute force and
enthroned moral force to disappear from
| the earth? Are schools and churches
| failures. Is God a myth liberty
phantom and reason delusion? Is 1t
natures cruel decree that all the
nobler instincts of man are to be dwarf
| ed beneath the lordly sway of greed for
gain and lust for power?
Man is impotent to administer self
restraint? This grace is not among
Gods gifts to men. Hence no indt-
Vidual or class can be trusted with ire
sponsible power. The strong have ever
enslaved the weak. Liberty is the
result of proper balance of the relations
of men to each other. No man is good
enough to govern another. Hence liberty
can find no abode in a government that
is not responsible to the governed.
This precept is the vital spark in the
DECLARATION OF independence.
Has the one nation elevated by this
principle in a single century to first
place among nations only to discover
it's power to become perverted, and
sink to the level of a national pugilist
and thief? If 50, national atheism and
decay must soon follow
The cruel, heartless Goddess precepts
of a souless commercialism is now
welding the scepter in the Republican
lincoln
Chase, Stephens, Wade and Greedy is no
more. The moral precepts that Whit
tier and Lowell put into verse and that
Garrison, Phillips and Theodore Parker
spoke as with tongues of fire, are no
longer heard and the party of Abraham
Lincoln no longer exists. The Repub-
lican party of today is the helpless VIC
tim of cruel insatiate greed.
The conscience of the nation is not
dead The sentiments that forced an
unwilling administration to interpoSe
by force and put an end to the inhuman
barbarities Of Spain in the Antilles is
powerful to stay the hand of Mckinley
and his cohorts and call halt in the
work of murder in the Philippines.
Whom the gods would destroy they
first make mad" The heart of the
American people is loyal to truth, and
the attempt to utilize a war demanded
by them in the interest of humanity to
destroy our grand republic and estab-
lish an empire on its ruins is blasphemy
against noble people and the work Of
political and religious athesists
Contrast the moral position of the
Republican party under Hanna and
Mckinley with that Of the Democratic
party under the leadership of the match
less Bryan and ask yourself what must
be the verdict Of the great American
people.
Democrats, your opportunity is at
hand and your responsibility is great.
1t is yours to save this grand republic
to be the hope and inspiration Of man
kind for ever. You'haVe a leader whose
devotion and abilities are not only uni
Versally recognized but are above suspi-
ciOn. Remember that thrice armed is
he whose cause is just" Therefore, fail
we cannot, if we do our duty.
Our duty is plain. 1t is to quicken the
intellect and the conscience of our
people by education. The duty of the
hour is to see that every American home
| is visited weekly by such newspapers
| as represent the peoples cause and
are not in the service of Mammon.
Spurn the free gifts of reading matter,
whether in the form of weekly editions
Of susidiZed commercial press furnish
ed at price often less than one-fourth
Of the cost, pamphlets furnished free
Remember that the enemies of liberty
|
the Republic and the establishment of
a military despotism are now in the
midst Of their deadly work and that
their success depends upon confusing
the intellects of honest people. Three
fore, arouse yourselves now while time
| Is on your side. Remember that your
work must be done this year. Next
year sides will be taken by the people,
] after which their ignorance or their
preJudices cannot be easily overcome.
After the money kings start the free
distribution of newspapers and pamph-
lets and the air is filed with the elo-
quence of party spell binders and the
noise and glare of fireworks 1t will be
too late to reclaim honest voters who
can easily be reclaimed If the right
reading matter Is put into their hands
this year. Duty calls us to act now.
Next year may be too late. Let as ac-
cept the call of duty and enter at once
upon the work of arouslng the intellect
and QOnscfanQa of tho nation If xua do