The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-06-21

The Democratic attitude toward the Philip
pines rests wholly upon the proposition
that the American people have neither the
capacity nor the honesty to deal rightly
with these islands. They assume that we
shall fail. They fall down and worship a
Chinese half-breed whose name they had
never heard three years ago., and they
SANDER and cry down and doubt the honor
OF American soldiers and sailors, OF ad-
mirals and generals and public men VINO
have gone In and out before US during an
entire lifetime. We are true to our own
We have no distrust Of the honor, human
ity or the capacity of the American people.
To feel or do otherwise Is to DOUBT our
selves, our government and our civilization.
We take issue with the Democrats VINO
would cast off the Philippines because the
American people cannot be trusted with
them, and we declare that the American
people can be trusted to deal justly. wisely
and generously with these distant Islands.
and will lift them up TO a higher pros
perity, a broader freedom and a nobler CIV
ilization than they have ever known. We
have not failed elsewhere. We shall not
fail here.
Those are me questions we present to the
American people in regard to the Phlllp-
pines. Do they want such a humiliating
change there as Democratic victory would
bring? Do they want an even more radical
change at home? Suppose the candidate
of the Democrats, the Populists, the foe of
expansion, the dissatisfied and the envious
should come into power. what kind of an
administration would he give us? n
NQulQ Ills SdUlUel DC. lui1ih I'D Oil
electric spark of confidence would run
through every business interest in the
country when such a Cabinet was an
nounced as we can readily imagine ne
would make. More important still, we ask
the American people whether they Will put
In the White House the hero of ~uncounted
platforms, the prodigal spendthrift OF
words, the champion of free silver, the OPP
ponent of expansion. the assailant of the
courts; or whether they will retain In the
presidency the Union soldier. the leader of
the House of representatives, the trained
statesman who has borne VIGOROUSLY the
heavy burdens OF the last four years, the
champion of protection and sound money.
the fearless supporter of law and order
wherever the flag floats?
GREATEST QUESTION OF ALL.
But there is one question which we will
put to the American people in the cam
paign which includes and outweighs all
others. We will say to them: You We're
in the depths of adversely under the last
Democratic administration. you are on the
heights of prosperity to-day. Will that
prosperity continue if you make a change
in your President and in the party which
administers your government? How long
will your good times last If you turn out
the Republicans and give political power to
those who cry nothing but "Woe, woe!'-
the lovers of calamity and foes Of prosper
ity, who hold success in business to be a
crime and regard thrift as a misdemeanor!
II the Democrats should win. do you think
business would improve? Do you think
thai prices would renal steady, that
wages would rise and employment increase
when that result of the election was
known? Business confidence rests largely
upon sentiment. Do you think that senti-
ment would be a hopeful one the day after
Bryan's election?
Business confidence is a delicate plant.
10 Won think jf w0llI6 flourish with the
Democratic party? Do you not know that
If Bryan was elected the day after the
news was flashed over the country wages
would go down, prices would decline and
that the great amount of American busf-
ness now forging ahead over calm waters,
with fair breezes and with swelling cam
vas, would begin to take in sail and seek
the shelter and anchorage of the nearest
harbor? Do you not know from recent
and bitter experiences what that arrest OF
movement, that fear of the future, means?
1t means the contraction of business, the
reduction of employment, the increase of
unemployed, lower wages, hard times, dis
tress. unhappiness. We do not say that
we have panaceas for every human ILL.,
We do not claim that any policy we, or
any one else, can offer will drive from the
world sorrow and suffering and poverty,
but we say that so far as government and
legislation can secure the prosperity and
well-being of the American people our adj
ministration and our policies Will do 1T.
We point to the adversely of the Cleveland
tC&LS YIN q III 10 ~ mas 1911
replaced by the prosperity OF the Mckfn-
ley years. Let them make whatever ex-
PLANTATION they will. the facts are with US.
1t is on these facts that we shall ask for
the support of the American people. What
we have done is known, and about what
we intend to do there is neither secrecy nor
deception. What we promise we will per-
form. Our old policies are ~here-alive. sue
cessful and full of vigor. our new policies
have been begun. and for them we ask
support. When the cloud of impending
civil war hung dark over the country in
1861 we took up the great task then laid
upon us and never hinched until we had
carried IL through TO victory. Now, at
the dawn of a new century, with new poll
cies and new opportunities opening before
US in the bright sunshine of prosperity,
we again ask the American people to in
trust US with their future. We have pro-
found faith In the people. We do not dis
trust their capacity of meeting the new
responsibilities even as they met the old,
and We shall await with confidence, under
the leadership of William Mckinley, the
verdict of November.
THE SPEECH WE'LL RECEIVED.
Senator Lodges voice showed SPLEEN
did carrying power, promising well for the
trying task of presiding over such a gath
ering. His oratory is not of the ford
type, but it's intense earnestness. the
beauty of diction and the frequent tributes
to the achievements of the party appealed
to his audience and brought constant and
long continued applause. His reference to
Hawaii and the presence of representatives
of that new acquisition, brought the dele
gates to their feet I'm a lusty greeting TO
the Hawaaiians. When he referred to the
"infamy'' in Kentucky, the delegates from
that State yelled their approval and the
other States added a sympathetic demon
stration. Mr.. Lodges reference TO the
policy of the government toward Cuba and
ifestations of approval. His brilliant trib-
ute to the American soldiers fighting In
the tropics closed with the well-rounded
sentences: ''They are our soldiers and we
will sustain them" 1t was the signal
for a hearty demonstration. in which Gen.
Gibson. of Tennessee, was seen among the
delegates waving aloft his cane topped
by a silk hat. Senator Lodge concluded
at 1877. He had spoken fifty minutes.
tations. Colonel Childs. of Rhode Island.
in a neat speech presented an historic
gavel. the mahogany from the Capitol at
Providence, the bronze from the yacht
Columbia, which defeated the
at the international yacht races last fall.
A young delegate from Kentucky, John
w. Langley, mounted the platform and in
an eloquent little speech presented another
gavel, carved from a tree in the valley of
the Big Sandy. beneath which General
Garfield is said to have knelt at the battle
of Middle Creek and asked the God of
battles to give the Union forces victory.
He stirred the delegates with his eloquence,
and they cheered when he concluded with
the statement that he presented the gayel
Kentucky to the principles of Republican,
scv, on1 q hncfoO On that the Stat U0T1Id