The Bemidji pioneer., 1900-10-18
DEAR BOY" LETTERS NO. 8

My Dear Boy:
So old man Skinner says that there
will be war in the Philippines for twenty
years yet; that we will soon see the time
when men will be conscripted in every
township for service in China, and that
we are bound to have financial crash
next spring, and then the poor, people will
see the hardest times they ever saw.
Well, guess the old man is a typical
Democrat. He certainly has all the
symptoms. Perhaps had better tell you
what the symptoms are.
There are certain constitutional char
acteristics which distinguish the Demo
cratic party and opposite characteristics
which distinguish the Republican party.
When tell you what they are, you will
see why want you to be Republican,
I. The Democrats are pessimistic.
They always look on the dark side. They
perpetually expect evil ahead and see
nothing but the evil in the things that
now are. You pick up an average Demo
cratic platform and you find It full Of
phrases like the following: I'VE protest" !"
eve denounce, I'VE disapproye," I'VE
view with alarm" One Of the strongest
reasons against the party Is that they
are always striving to make the people
discontented with their lot and to fill
them with anxious forebodings for the
future Right in the middle of abundance
and cheer and victory, they insist that
we are all going ito the how-wows.
Now it is the nature of Republicans to
be optimistic. The Republican party sees
the bright side. Thankful for the bless
ings Of the past, they look forward with
confidence to the future. They expect
good things and the expectation helps
bring good things to pass. They rejoice
in the greatness and prosperity of our
highly favored land. They look upon
our schools and churches, our farms and
factories, our army and navy, and their
platforms contain phrases like these:
Thankful for the past, I'VE rejoice Z
eve congratulate we point with
pride" They bring to the people q song
of hope and cheer and content. Be q
Republican, my boy, and keep sweet
Don't let yourself get soured and pessi-
mistic.
2. The Democratic party seems unable
to learn from experience. One reason
why fit in easily into the Republican
party is because l can learn from expe-
rience. Eight years ago I was free
trader. read about free trade in book
and was convinced. It was very nice
book and the free trade theory was pre-
sented in a very nice way. ] still insist
that free trade is a nice thing in book
so long as you keep it in the book: but
when yon take it out of the book and APP
ply it to wool and eggs and pig iron and
things, it doesn't work worth cent. The
experience Of this country from 1893 to
1897 made me protectionist. But our
Democratic friends have failed to learn
the lesson In their platform this year
they still denounce our protective tariff
law
II there is anything positively settled
by the experience Of nations, 1t is that
the best standard for nations currency
and for the worlds currency is gold. For
centuries the nations bungled along en-
deavoring to keep up two standards, sill
yer and gold, with the result that the
comparative values Of the two metals
were constantly changing and the cheap
er one driving the other out of circula-
ton, making currency scarce, values un-
certain, exchange troublesome and COM
merce difficult. Through experience, the
nations, one after another, learned that
the honest way and the best way is to
have one standard and that standard the
best money gold-with a hundred cents
worth Of gold in the dollar. We have
learned that, since a standard dollar is
a measure of value, it should contain the
value that it represents.
All civilized people in the world have
learned this except the Populistic-Dem-
ocratic party. They come out this year
of our Lord 1900 and propose to roll
back the wheels Of progress and return
to the financial ways Of barbarism.
Now the Republican party does learn
by experience. 1t keeps up with the pro-
cession. When thing has been tried
and found wanting, the Republican par
ty drops it. When a thing has been
proved to be good BY experience, the Re
publican party sticks to it. My boy, the
Republican party is not perfect by long
ways. It has some men in it who are
not good. Any great party must have
some such in a world like this. 1t may
sometimes make mistakes. But the broad
political principles Of the party are true
and right end it IS the party that LEARNS
from experience. You be Republican
and you will not be sorry
YOUR FATHER.