Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-06-20


question. Again comes the reply, We have
done so. The long agony Of the island Is
over. Cuba is free. But this great work
brought with 1t events and issues which nc
man had foreseen, for which no party
creed had provided policy. The crisis
came, bringing in its train. The repub-
lican President and the republican Con-
gress met the new trials in the old spirit
We fought the war with Spain: The result
is history known of all men. We have the
perspective now of only a short two years
and yet how clear and bright the great
facts stand out, like mountain peaks against
the sky while the gathering darkness of a
just oblivion is creeping fast over the low
grounds where lie forgotten the trivial and
unimportant things. the criticisms and the
fault findings, which seemed so huge when
we still fingered among them.
Here they are, these great facts: A war
of a hundred days, with many victories and
no defeats, with no prisoners taken from us
and no advance stayed with a triumphant
it's worldwide meaning. Was ever a war
more justly entered upon, more quickly
fought, more fully won, more thorough in
it's results? Cuba is free. Spain has been
driven from the western hemisphere.
Fresh glory has come to our arms and
crowned our flag. 1t was the work of the
American people. but the republican party
was their instrument. Have we not the
right to say that, here too, even as In the
days of Abraham Lincoln, we have fought
a good fight. we have kept the faith, We
have finished the work.
War; however, Is ever like the sword of
Alexander. 1t cuts the knots. 1t is a great
solvent and brings many results not to be
foreSeen.
Question of a Peace With Spain.
The worlds forces unclaimed in war per-
form in hours the work Of years in quiet.
Spain sued for peace. How was that peace
to be made? The answer tc this great ques-
ton had to be given by the President of the
United States. We were victorious in Cuba,
in Porto Rico, in the Philippines. Should
we give these islands back to Spain
Never" was the Presidents reply. Would
any American wish that he had answered
otherwise? Should we hand them over to
some other power? Never" was again the
answer. Would our pride and sef-respect
as a nation have submitted to any other re-
ply? Should we turn the islands, where we
had destroyed all existing sovereignty, loose
upon the world to be prey to domestic an
archy and the helpless spoil of some other
nation? Again the inevitable negative.
Again the President answered as the nation
he represented would have him answer. He
boldly took the islands, took them knowing
well the burden and responsibility, took
them from a deep sense of duty to ourselves
and others, guided by just foresight as to
our future in the east, and with an entire
faith in the ability of the American people
to grapple with the new task. When future
conventions point to the deeds by which the
republican party has made history they
will proclaim with especial pride that under
a republican administration the war of 1898
was fought. and that the peace with Spain
was the work of William Mckinley.
Az to the Future.
So much for the past. We are proud Of
it, but we do not expect to live upon 1t,
for the republican party is pre-eminently
the party of action, and its march is ever
forward. We are not made that we
can be content to retreat or to mark time.
The traditions of the early days of our
party are sacred to us and are hostages
given to the American people that we will
not be unworthy of the great leaders who
have gone. The deeds of yesterday are in
their turn a pledge and proof that
what we promise we perform, and that the
people who put faith in our declarations in
1886 were not deceived and may place the
same trust in us in 1900. But our pathway
has never lain among dead issues, nor have
We won our victories and made history by
delving in political graveyards. We are
the party of today, with cheerful yester-
days and confident tomorrows. The living
present is ours, the present of prosperity
and activity in business, of good wages
and quick payments, of labor employed and
capital invested, of sunshine in the mar
ket place and the stir of Astounding life in
the workshop and on the farm. 1t is with
this that we have replaced the depression,
the doubts, the dull business. the low
wages, the idle labor, the frightened capt.
tai. the dark clouds which overhung indus
try and agriculture in 1896.
This Is what we would preserve, SO far
as sound government and wise legislation
can do it. This is what we brought to the
country four years ago. This Is what we
offer now. Again we promise that the
protective system shall be maintained, and
that our great industrial interests shall go
on their way mistaken by the dire fear Of
tariff agitation and of changing duties.
Again we declare that we will guard the
national credit, uphold a sound currency
based on gold and Keep the wages OF 1lie
workingman and the enterprise OF the man
of business free from that most deadly OF
all evils. a fiuctuating standard of value.
Deficit Wiped Out.
The deficit which made this great country
in time of profound peace borrower OF
money to meet its current expenditures has
been replaced by abundant revenue. bring
ing a surplus, due alike to prosperity and
to wise legislation. so ample that we can
now safely promise a large reduction OF tax
alton without imperiling our credit or risk
ing a resort to loans. We are prepared to
take steps to revive and build up our mer-
chant marine, and thus put into American
pockets the money paid for carrying Amer
lean freights. Out of the abundant re-
sources which our financial legislation has
brought us we will build the isthmian canal
and lay the cables which will help to turn
the current of eastern trade to the Golden
Gate We are on good terms with all ma
lions, and mean to remain SO, while we
promise to insure our peace and safety by
maintaining the Monroe doctrine, by ample
coast defenses and by building up navy
which no one can challenge with impunity.
The new problems brought by the war
we face with confidence in ourselves and
a still deeper confidence in the American
people, who will deal justly and rightly
with the islands which have come into
W. o,,fo o,yn
possessions is as empty as the can't about
i'militarism'' and imperialism is devoid Of
sense and meaning. Regard for a moment
those who are loudest in shrieking that the
American people are about to enter upon
a career of oppression and that the repub-
lie is in danger. Have they been in the
past the guardians of freedom? Is safety
for liberty now to be found most surely in
the party which was the defender of do
nestle slavery? Is true freedom to be Sc
cured by the ascendanoy of the party which
beneath our very eyes seeks to establish
through Infamous laws the despouc rule
of small and INSCRIPTIONS band Of usurp.