Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1900-08-09
HON. JOHN ?. ALTGELD.
Speech Before Ohio Association
of Democratic Clubs.
AN ABLE HISTORICAL LECTURE
lie Replies to Governor The OtlOre ROOse-
welt. we viii Do Our "Plnin Duty"
in the Philippines.

Among the speakers who addressed the
Ohio Association of Democratic Clubs in
Toledo last week, was Ex-Governor Alt
geld, OF Illinois, who spoke at length,
and said in part:
There are only two principles or sys-
TENS of government known to man-gov-
eminent by brute force and government
by consent of the governed. The one is
applied from without and is repressive,
and, in the end, destructive, because it
arrests growth while the other works
from within, is evolutionary and pro-
yressve.
Government by force has existed for
thousands OF ycers, and its tendency is
everywhere the same. 1t has checked
growth, arrested development, cowed the
nobler aspirations OF man, stunted the
intellect, and covered the earth with
suffering and misery. The constant ten
dency Of such a government is toward a
lower and lower level. and repressive
measures become more and more severe
until finally conditions are created which
result in dissolution and death.
The principle OF governing by consent
OF the governed was first applied in it's
broadcast sense in the formation OF our
republic, and it worked a revolution in
human society. 1t has given the world
more progress in one century than it
achieved in the fifty or sixty centuries of
recorded time. BY freeing the intellect,
by encouraging the higher aspirations
man leaped into an activity in all lines
of human effort that had been impossible
in the past, there was new birth in in
ventions, in the industries, in agricul-
ture, in art, in literature, in government,
and in education. To this we are largely
indebted for our shops, our railroads,
our cities, our agriculture and everything
that makes us great.
Moving along the lines OF peace and
progress, along the lines OF evolution and
development, it is mastering matter, it is
annihilating space, it is uniting man with
his brother, it is bringing the human
race to its God. All OF the nations of the
earth have been affected by the principles
Of our Declaration OF Independence.
We have seen the spectacle of a majo
general OF the United States army, who
was sworn to defend the constitution and
was paid salary by the government for
that purpose, stand up in his gorgeous
uniform and tell an assembly OF wine
drinking trust magnates that the consti-
tuition was no longer binding.
Now after career of unparalleled
splendor, after having been the hope of
the human race for a century, after hav-
ing shaped the civilization Of the age, it
is solemnly proposed to abandon the
principles that made us great to come
down from the heights where we have
been reckoning the nations, and to get
on the low plane OF brute force, and en-
ter into a scramble with the despotic
nations Of the earth in an attempt to
plumber weaker people. For one hundred
and twenty-five years we have celebrated
the wisdom and heroism OF the fathers
in resisting King George and in estab-
fishing the eternal principle OF human
equality, now we are forced to witness
the spectacle OF a republican administra-
ton enacting into a law and placing upon
the statute books the exact principles
contended for by King George, and the
defenders of this administration sheer
ingly tell us that the Declaration of
Independence is mere tissue of silly
gencralties.
For forty years the republican party
has controlled the policies of this govern
mcnt while during that time the demo-
Gratis twice elected Il president, yet during
one term they did not have control OF
congress, and during the other nothing
was done that changed the policy OF the
government. wish to speak kindly of
the republican party; it came into the
world with great mission, and when
guided by Lincoln it stood for justice,
equality and humanity; but with the
wipng out OF slavery its mission was per-
formed and it passed into the hands OF
corruptionsts until it stands for exactly
the opposite principles OF those that were
represented by the martyr president.
Since the civil war every method Of
plunder that genius OF man could invent
has been practiced; government has been
used to enrich the few.
Through the special privileges obtained
from the government great combinations
and syndicates known as "trusts' have