The Forrest City times., 1899-10-06

the early Cos, said that no man was more
to be trusted in our government than the
man who tolls In poverty I am not fat
porters of democracy by a government
OF the people. by the people and for the
poeple-must find its support among the
Pile, IL you please. and there Is no better
indication of the departure OF the repub-
lican party from the people than Is to be
found in the fact that whenever a man
now speaks Of the plain people. as Lin
coin described them. or OF the common
people. as the Bible calls them, he is de-
this: That man Is a statesman whose ear
Is strained to catch the slightest pulsa-
tions of pocketbook. while he is dema-
Of humanity
Mr.. Bryan spoke at great length in
this line, saying that whenever the
government touches the American cit
izen, all must stand equal before the
law-that the government, in its ex.
ecutive, Legislative and judicial depart
ments must know no difference be-
tween high and low, rich and poor,
great and small.
The income tax received Is minutes
handling. The Chicago platform, free
silver and the trust question were dis
cussed volubly by the speaker. Con-
tinuing, he said:
But pardon me for dwelling so long OF
what you may call old issues. | wish to
speak of new issues. If we could go to the
country to-day on the very same platform
that we had in 1896, and have no other is
sue presented than the issues then pre-
sented | believe we could win our fight
but Providence has been good to us ard
In the past two years issues have been
presented to us in addition to those which
We had In 1896. We have not only grove,
on the old issues, but we have grown OH
the new ones.
The republican party to-day stands for
a large army In 1898 we had 25 600 SOL
diers in the regular army, and in Decem-
Der 1898, republican president asked for
iOU,000 soldiers In the standing army, max
ing the army four times as great as that
or 1896, and. If any republican tells you
that the president wanted these soldiers
to beat down an uprising in the Philip
pine islands, you tell him that a republi-
can president asked for 10000 soldiers
two months before there was any upris-
ing In the Philippine islands.
AT the time the president sent his mes-
sake to congress, in the early part of De-
cember. there was no uprising anywhere
The treaty with Spain was practically Y
agreed upon. and there was no evidence
of any necessity for large army, except
as a permanent policy of this government
so that when Mr.. Mckinley asked for the
army II was not for an emergency, but
II was for the permanent, continued pol
Icy of the United States.
Mflitarfsm as an Issue.
"In other words, we are to chose be.
tween an army of $1,000 and an army OF
100000. / will venture the assertion that
in any of the nations that have gone to
mil l.ta rism, you can not find an instance
where such large increase was de
ma nded. Consider a moment Grant an
increase of 300 per cent at the very first
step. How easy 1t will be to give them 10l
per cent and double 1t, and then 100 per
cent. more and double it, and make 1t 40(
I,er cent.
When you start on the road from de-
pendence. upon the people to dependence
upon professional soldiers. there is nc
place to stop until you reach the end OF
the endurance of the people
I'm Europe they have an armed soldier
riding upon the back of every toler Thei {
were men in the republican party that
wanted large army. They have wanted
II FOR years, but they could not get 1t, be-
cause there was no necessity for it, but
the moment the Philippine question came
how quickly did they take advantage OF
ii, and, hiding behind what they called
a necessity, they demanded this increase
that they have wanted for many years.
81 do not believe the laboring men OF
this union Will look with favor upon this
attempt to make great military estab-
lishment, which, when created will not
only be burden to the producers OF
wealth, but will be a menace to the gov
ernment itself
Some one has referred tonight to the
case of France. When you find a great
army demanding the conviction of an in
nocent man. and, my friends. the French
president had to Immediately pardon the
convicted man out Of respect for the pro-
tests of the civilized world against mli-
tarism tCheersl, and when In this Union
We have a great standing army we would
have & horde af dfe-holdng officers. When
We have L~rde OF soldiers we will not
only have the burden that Is borne in 9TH
er nations. but a grave menace to the very
principles of the life of our government
itself. and also, my friends IL we have
an imperial policy We Will have large
standing army.
"If we were going up In the wilds of
Canada to take stretch of country to be
settled by American citizens 1t would be
expansion. 1t would be extending the linn
Its OF the republic; but when we cross the
ocean II Is not expansion, II is imperialism,
What defense do they give for an i'm
perial policy? Not one in ten will give any
defense at all: Some will say that while
they do not know what is going to be
done that he has implicit confidence In
fenses of Imperialism. The first is the
financial argument that there Is money
in it. The second is the religious argu-
ment that God is in 1t. The third is the
political argument that we are in it and
can't get out OF 1t. GLaughter.l
ITO me Is seems to be absurd for man q
begin to calculate in dollars % and cents the the
they denounced the Chicago platform
Some ministers denounced it. One eastern
minister said the platform was written
in hell; another said that the devil wrote
II, and the last remark felt to be little
personal, because helped to write a part
of It. do not believe a single plank vio-
lates the ten commandments Of the moral
Law. and II you can show me a
plank in that platform which vio-
latos any Of the commandments or any
moral precept, I am willing to abandon II,
and never again advocate 1t. But there is
no such plank In that platform: but no
matter what you may think of that plat
form, the party's position upon the Phil
tnn1noq nfeqt Ion ia set forth that a.
publican can urge that about II. The posi-
ton is: That the country can not afford
to do wrong. no mater how much II
pays" lCheers.l