Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-05-04
WILLIAM II. KINCAID
Discusses Politics and Political
Methods as They Apply to the
Coming Campaign.

as old as the nation. Its birth was
with the nations birth, and its man
hood started in the days of Jefferson,
and it has been from thai day 10 this
| the godmother that took into her arms
! the great doctrines provided in our
Constitution-kept them unsullied and
provided ways that the progress of
! the nation might receive the greatest
! good possible under the form OF gov
eminent provided for by this organic
| law. 1t has met the receptions
offered by it's opposers from the
! early beginning Gown to this day,
and its wise course has reared for us
the greatest republic and the greatest
nation that ever existed. To-day we
are in the battle for the right, as ever
heretofore. The party stands for the
common people; it believes in laws of
! equality and justice and denounces
partisanism; it stands for the Consti-
I tuition that emanated from our faith
! ers; we believe, although the opposi-
| ton say st is old and musty and
should be discarded because it is not
/ up to the times" that its preeepts
! govern our nation, and it Will cease
/ to be a republic when they no longer
exist as the supreme law of the land.
/ The Democratic party will never be
ready to espouse Imperialism. Its
principles may be ignored and tram
pied under foot for awhile, but they
J will rise again in all their splendor
and turn aside the impostors who have
deceived the people. 1t will unfurl it's
! banners and enter the contest of 1900,
/ just as it has in every Presidential
! contest since the beginning of our
! government. Its emblematic princi-
| pies are the Declaration of Indepen-
! dence woven into law in the Federal
Constitution, the farewell address of
Washington and the enunciations of
/ Jefferson. We believe these embodi-
ments follow the flag into every terri
/ tory owned by the United States and
1 that all our possessions bear that
name, and that it means the same
government to all our territories, and
I this denounces government without
/ representation and without the consent
/ of the governed We enter the COM
/ ing campaign to maintain these prin-
ciples and rights. They are to-day put
| in jeopardy by the opposition. The
Constitution is assaulted and set aside
the uISI llu1e Ill IuS ulSIOIy VI IllC Ia
| tion-its doctrines ignored and the
principles of the stamp act inaugur-
ated by King George III. to govern
the colonies, and which brought on
the Revolutionary War of 1875, sub
stantiated in its stead. Soon ma
tional Democratic convention will con-
vene to nominate candidates for Presi-
dent and Vice-President and to con-
struct a platform that, coupled with
the emblematic principles of the party,
will define it's course upon all ques-
lions that enter into the coming con-
| test and how it will administer the af-
fairs of government if successful. To
mold these fundamental principles in
to proper form delegates to the Ma
tional Convention should be men who
represent the party in all its princi-
pies. What constitutes the fundamen-
tai principles of our party to-day? The
platform of 1896. Then these dele
gates should be men who stand by
that platform and who voted for Bryan
in 1896. Strike down this platform
and on what does our party rest!
There is not a thing that has occurred
politically since it's adoption to cause
the party to change a single plank IN
the platform. If it was right in 1896
it is right to-day. The 6,50O,000 men
who voted for Bryan stand to-day for
these principles, and they constitute
the Democratic party. They believe
and know these principles are the
foundation upon which our great re-
public must build if we ever put be-
hind us the wrongs perpetrated by the
opposition since 1870. What right has
any man to enter the Democratic Ma
tional Convention unless he is sup
porter of these fundamental principles.
He may promise to vote for Bryan and
to help nominate him, but if he is not
supporter of this platform and is OPP
posed to its precepts then he is not
Democrat, and really is not a supporter
of Bryan only for the sake of policy.
A Gold Democrat is not supporter
of Bryan on these principles, and
therefore should be discarded. Why
take this class of men into our coun-
ell, knowing as we do they helped
make possible the election of Mckin-
ley. and are the means thereby of
bringing about the troubles and dan
gers that confront US to-day, by the
abuse Of power this administration is
using in administering the affairs OF
our government. They supported the
Louisville platform and either voted
for Palmer and Mckinley. They are not
Democrats, but a set OF mongrels, who
only drank at the party fountains or
Democracy to procure the loaves and
fishes Of the party. AS soon as their
masters the syndicates and corpora
tons that controlled them, in oraer TO
control the party, found they no longer
| held the views that guided its des-
| TIMES, and that the Chicago conven-
ton had turned down Cleveland and
| the money powers that controlled him
and his administration, and once more
stood by the common people, the yeip-
| ing began-schemes and plans were
| laid to break down the party, and the
| trusts, bankers and corporate powers
| of the nation led the van and begat
| the Gold Bug party. Why should
| these men be invited into the party
| councils with no assurance from them
| that they have repented OF their act?
| They belong to another party and are
as tar from being Democrats as is
| Republican or Popuiist. The Demo-
| cratic national convention that con-
vened in Chicago July 1th. 1896, and
| formulated the platform of that cam
paign was the only Democratic con-
| vention CT that year. 1t was reg
ularly called by the chairman of the
| Democratic National Committee and