The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1900-08-14
OLD POLICIES CAST ASIDE
It Once Stood For Freedom, 1t Now
Endorses Slavery.
ONCE EXALTED MAN, k0WtXtLTS MONEY
Once il Declared That All Governm ms Derived
Th3ir Jus. Powers From the Consent Ct
tn. G yerned. Now it Holds Eng
lands Colonial Policy.


When, in 1896, the Silver Republicans
refused to stand upon the 81. Louis
platform, they declared that the Repub-
lican party was deserving its traditional
policy and that they were not willing
TO follow the party in it's change upon
the money question. They pointed out
that the Republican platform in 1888
denounced Mr.. Cleveland's attempt to
demonctize silver, and that the Repub-
Iican platform of 1892 declared that
the American people from tradition and
interest favored bipletallism. They took
frequent occasion to quote Mr.. McKin-
ley's speech Of 1851 in denunciation Of
| Mr.. Cleyelapd's attempt to make money
lscarcer and therefore dearer-money
the master, and everything else thu
servant"
Each year the departure of the Repub-
licans from the early ideas of the party
becomes more apparent. Lincoln often
referred to the plain people" and to
the common people, but any one who
thus classifes the people at this time
is sure to be called a demagogue by the
Republican leaders. When the Republic
can Iarty wrote its national platform in
1856 it invited the cooperation of all
those who were in favor "of restoring
the action OF the Federal Government
10 the principles of Washington and JEFF
fcrson,' and Lincoln himself was a
greater adnirer of Jefferson. In 1889
the Republicans Of Boston celebrated the
birthday of Thomas Jefferson, and Lin
coin in his letter OF regret paid the fol-
lowing tribute to Jefferson: "All honor
to Jefferson; to a man who in the con-
crete pressure of a struggle for national
independence by a single people had the
cOolness, forecast and capacity to in
troduce into 4 merely revolutionary doc
ument an abstract truth, applicable to
all men and 2ll times, and so to embalm
it there that today and in all coming
days it shall be q rebuke and a stumbling
block to the h~arbingers Of reappearing
tyranny and oppression.' In the begin
ming OF the party's existence the Repub-
licans appealed to the name and the
principles of Jefferson, but at Republican
banquets nowadays Jefferson's name is
spoken with disrespect, and Hamilton's
name and ideas are e1trayagantly
Iauled.
The significance of this change becomes
apparent when it is remembered that
Jefferson was the foremost representa-
tive of the Democratic idea, While Sena-
ter Henry Cabot Lodge in his life of
Hamilton points out that the latter was
the representative oS the aristOcratiS
idea. Lodge says: The republic of
Hamilton was to be an ar;stocratic, as
distinguished from a Democratic repub-
lie, and the Iower of the separate States
was to be effectually crippled. The first
object was attained by committing the
choice of the President and Senators,
who were to hold office during good be-
havior, to a class of the community
qualified to vote by the possession of a
certain amount of real property. The
second was secured by giving to the
President of the United States the ap-
pcintment of the Governors Of the va
rlOus States, who were to have a veto
on all State legislation. These provis-
ions, as may be seen at a glance, in
volved the essential character of the
Government, and although purely Repub-
lican, came much nearer TO the British
model than any other by their recogni-
| ton of classes and of the political rights
f of property, while by the treatment of
the States a highly centralized national
government was to supersede entirely
the confederate FORM
e In 1889 Lincoln, in speaking of the re-
lation which should exist between money
and humanity, said that the Republican
party believed in both the man and the
I dollar, but that in case of conflict it be-
lieved in the man before the dollar. In
one Of his early messages to Congress
D Lincoln warned his cOurtrymen against
5 the approach of monarchy, and said that
his alarm was caused by the attempt
to place capital upon an equal footing
with, if not above, labor in the structure
of government. Now the Republic1n
: party seeks to settle every question
: upon a financial basis. The dollar MARI
is plainly stamped upon every modern
Republican policy.
Lincoln signed the bill which provided
h for a graded income tax; in the Fifty
+ third Congress the Republican part,
: voted against an income tax.
$ The Republican party created The
s greenback; now it is planning to destro,
the greenback.
g When the war closed Lincoln began t.
y plan TO make the payment of the nationa
@ debt easier by increasing the volume o
a money available for the m of debt
IS In Raymond's Life Of Lincoln publish
. ed in 1855. the Presidents views are Sc
forth as follows:
Nothing can indicate more clea1t,
the elation of mind with which the Pres
ident regarded the future Of the country
u now that its safety had been assured
If than the language he addressed, in
"a conversation at this interview, to MI
CoifaX, who was at this time preparin
II for a journey overland to the Pacif
coast. Said he: Mr.. Colfax, | want W
% TO take a message from me to the miner
whom you visit. | have very large idea
CT the mineral wealth Of our nation.
believe it practically inexhaustible.
abounds all over the Western countr,
from the Rocky Mountains to the Pa
ciic, and its development has scarcel
st commenced. During the war, when W
is were adding 4 couple of millions of do,
ell lar every day to our national debt, al
c. net care about encouraging the increas
in the volume Of our precious metal