The Elk Mountain pilot., 1900-09-25
LEADING ISSUES OF THE CAMPAIGN
DISCUSSED BY CANDIDATE ROOSEVELT
He Accepts Nomination for Vice>President-"We Have a
Right to Appeal to All Good Cizcns"-The Menace to
Prosperity-A Historical Review of Exransion-The On
ly Danger of Milarisn1 Is in Bryans Idea Of Pro-
tectorate

torc Roosevelt accepting the noInina-
tiun of the Republican National Con
venton for Vice President:
Oyster Bay, n. Y, September 10
I0O0-Tc Hon. Edward O. Wolcott,
Chairman Committee Gu Notitica ton
of Vice President: Sir-I accept the
nomination as Vice President of the
United States. rendered me by the Re
publican National Convention, with n
very deep sense of the nonor conferred
upon me and with an infinitely deeper
sense ot the vital Importance to III,
whole country of securing the re-elec
tion of President Mckinley. The na
tiou's welfare is at stake. We must
continue the work which has been so
well hesun during the present admins
tratlou We must show in fashion in
capable of being misunderstood that
the American people, mt the beginning
of the twentieth century, face their
duties in a calm and serious spirit;
that they have no intention of permit
ting folly or lawlessness to mar the eN-
traordinary material well-being which
they have attained at home, nor yet
of permitting their flag to be dis
honored abroad
feel that this contest is by no means
one merely between Republicans and
Democrats. We have a right to appeal
to all good citizens who are far-sighted
enough to see what the honor and the
interest of the nation demand. To put
into practice the principles embodied
in the Kansas City platform would
mean grave disaster to the nation; for
that platform stands for reaction and
disorder; for an upsetting of our imam
cial system, which would mean not
only great suffering, but the abandon
ment of the nations good faith; and
for policy abroad which would imply
the dishonor of the flag and an un-
worthy surrender of our national
rights. Its success would mean un-
speakable humiliation to men proud of
their country. jealous of their country's
good name and deslrous of securing
the welfare of their fellow citizens.
Therefore, we have n right TO appeal to
all good men, North and South, East
and West. whatever their politics may
have been in the past, TO stand with us.
because we stand for the prosperity
of the country and for the renown of
the American flag.
The most important of all problems
is, of course. that of securing good gov
ernment and moral and material well
being within our own borders. Grea
though the need Is that the nation
should do its work well abroad. even
this comes second to the thorough per
formance of duty at home. Under the
administration of President Mckinley
this country has been blessed with II
degree of prosperity absolutely un-
PARALLEL. even In its previous prosper
Gus history. While II Is, of course
true that no legislation and no ad-
ministration can bring success to those
who are not stout of heart. cool of head
and ready of hand. yet it is no less
true that the individual capacity of
each man to get good results for him
self can be absolutely destroyed by bad
legislation or bad administration, while
under the reverse conditions the power
of the individual to do good work is
assured and stimulated. This is what
has been done under the administration
of President Mckinley. Thanks to his
actions and to the wise legislation of
Congress on the tariff and finance. the
conditions of our Industrial life have
been rendered more favorable than
ever before. and they have been taken
advantage of to the full by American
thrift industry and enterprise. Order
has been observed the courts upheld
and the fullest liberty secured to all
citizens. The merchant ard manufac-
turer. but above all the farmer and the
wage-worler. have proiited by this
state of things.
Fundamentally and primarily the
present contest is contest for the con
tinuance of the conditions which have
told in favor of our national integrity.
IL this nation is to retain either its we'll
being or its self-respect, 1t cannot af-
ford to plunge into financial and econo-
mic chaos: it cannot afford to indorse
governmental theories which would un-
settle the standard of national honesty
and distroy the integrity of our system
of Justice. The policy of free coinage
of silver at n ratio of 16 to is policy
sraught with destruction to every home
in the land 1t means untold misery to
the head of every household, and.
above all. to the women and children
of every home. When our opponents
champion free silver Mt lG to l they are
either insincere or sincere in their at
titude. If insinccre in their champion-
ship they. Of course, forfeit all right
TO belief or support on any ground. If
sincere. then they are menace to the
welfare of the country. Whether they
shout their sinister purpose or merely
whisper it makes but little difference.
save as ii reflects their own honesty.
No issue can be paramount to the issue
they thus make, for the paramountcy
of such an issue is to be determined.
not by the dictum of any man or body
Of men. but by the fact that it vitality
affects the well-being of every home
in the land The financial question is
always of such a far-reaching and
tremendous Importance to the national
welfare that it can never he raised in
good faith unless this tremendous i'm
portance is not merely conceded but
insisted on. Men who are not willing
to make such an issue paramount have
no possible justification for raising it
at all. for under such circumstances
their act cannot under and conceivable
do nurbt hut ornyp