Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-09-17

TItoldtuL Vi Tie OuitCu Otdl0S, tc4QtI-
ed me by the Republican national con-
vention, with very deep sense of the
honor conferred upon me and with an
Infinitely deeper sense of the vital i'm
portance to the whole country of Sc
curing the reelection of President Nc
Kinley. The nations welfare is at
stake. We must continue the work
which has been so we'll begun during
the present administration. We must
show. In fashion incapable OF being
misunderstood that the American peo-
pie, at the beginning of the twentieth
century, face their duties in a calm
and serious spirit; that they have no
intention of permitting folly or law
lessness to mar the extraordinary ma
terial well being which they have at
tanned at home, nor yet of permitting
their flag to be dishonored abroad.
l feel that this contest is by no means
one merely between Republicans and
Democrats. We have 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 involved in
The Kansas City Platform
would mean grave disaster to the ma
ton; for that platform stands for re-
action and disorder; for an upsetting
of our financial system which would
mean not only great suffering but the
abandonment OF the nations good
faith; and for policy abroad which
would imply the dishonor Of the flag
and an unworthy surrender Of our ma
tional rights. Its success would mean
unspeakable humiliation to men proud
Of their country, jealous of their coun-
try's good name, and DESTROYS OF Sc
curing the welfare of their fellow citi-
zens. Therefore, we have a right to
appeal to all good men, North and
South. East and VEST 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
government and moral and material
well being within our own borders.
Great though the need is that the ma
ton should DO its work well abroad,
even this comes second to the thorough
performance of duty at home. Under
the administration of President Nc
Kinley this country has been blessed
with a degree of prosperity absolutely
unparalleled, even in it's previous pros
porous history While 1t is, of course,
true that no legislation and no admin
istration 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 himself
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 admins
tration of President Mckinley, Thanks
to his actions and to the wise legisla-
ton 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 Amer
lean thrift, industry and enterprise.
Order has been observed, the courts
upheld, and the fullest liberty secured
to all citizens The merchant and man
ufacturer, but above all. the
Farmer and the Wage-Worker,
have proited by this state of things.
Fundamentally and primarily the
present contest is a contest for the con-
tinuance of the conditions which
have told in favor of our ma
terial welfare and of our civil and
political integrity. If this nation is
to retain either its we'll being or its
self-respect, it cannot afford to endorse
governmental theories which would I'M
settle the standard of national honesty
and destroy the integrity of our sys-
tenn of justice. The policy of the free
coinage of silver at ratio of sixteen
to one is a policy fraught with destruc-
ton 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 at sixteen to one they are either
insincere or sincere in their attitude
If insincere in their championship they,
of course. forfeit all right to belief or
support on any ground. II sincere,
then they are menace to the welfare
OF the country. Whether they shout
their sinister purpose or merely whis-
per it makes but little difference, save
as 1t 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 far-reach-
ing and tremendous importance to the
national welfare that it can never be
raised in good faith unless this ire
menIbous Importance is not merely con-
cedei but insisted or. Men who are
not willing to make such an issue par
amount have no possible justification
for raising it at all, for under such
circumstances their act cannot under
any conceivable circumstances do aught
but grave harm.
The success OF the party represent
ing the principles embodied in the
Kansas D.ty platform would bring
about the destruction of all the condi-
tons necessary TO the continuance of
cur prosperity 1t would also unsettle
our whole national system, and would
therefore disarrange all the vast and
delicate machinery of our complex in
dustrial Life. Above all, the effect
i L .