People's voice., 1900-07-26
Thursday, July @, 1900.
Webster Davis Great Speech Before the
Kansas City Convention.

One of the most severe and most
truthful arraignments Of the Republ-
can party was made by Webster Davis
in his speech before the Kansas City con-
vention. 1t will bear reading and re-
reading. We give it in full. He was,
until recently, secretary Of the interior
under McKinley's administration:
'Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the
convention-I appreciate very highly
the honor conferred npon me by invit-
ing me to say few words at this time
and l shall detain you but moment
1 have been honored highly by another
party than this in the past. l have
served that party well and have rendered
services as good as the honor l receiv-
ed and the account is balanced now.
(Great applause and cheering Lite,
human life, is but narrow span between
two great unknown eternities, and life
is too short for a man to sacrifice his
principles or his love of country for
money or fer Office in this republic len
thusiastic applause and cheering.) l
have never yet read or heard platform
that was so intensely American as the
platform read here in this convention
CONTINUED applause and cheering):
Old conditions have passed away, old
questions have passed and gone, many
Of them, and new questions are now
before the American people. care not
a snap of my finger for public or pri-
vate criticism. care nothing for Office,
for have given up one voluntarily bet
ter than any you can give me (great ap-
plause and cheering) and the man or
newspaper that makes the statement
that l was forced to leave the admins
tration against my will, absolutely, un-
qualifedly and maliciously lies (thnnder-
Gus applause and cheering
81 love liberty. 1 love equality of
rights and l love Justice, and when the
party that l belong to has been too COW
ardly to take stand for liberty, to rep
resent government against British aris-
tocracy and monarchy, leave it for
good. wild and enthusiastic applause
and cheering,) In every part of Europe
and Africa the charge is made by the
British press and the British officials that
there is a secret alliance between this
country and Great Britain to the effect
that in case of any foreign nation at
tempting to intervene in behalf of the
poor Beers that this republic will stand
by Great Britain with its army and its
navy. (Cries of No, no.') l have yet to
hear of the administration denying the
report. l defended the administration
in every address made in behalf of the
Beers since my unfortunate visit to that
country-for me, l say unfortunately
financially and politically-but l say
now l will never defend it again, because
it has not taken the chance at its ma
tional convention to tell the American
people that we are for liberty and re-
publican forms of government (Great
applause. Liberty! We all love the
splendid word-the sweetest word that
ever blossomed upon the tongues of
men, and as one great Republican SEN
ator said in the United States senate, it
has come to pass that we must whisper
the word liberty in Washington.
"Is it fact that liberty is to become
obsolete in the American lexicon? Is it
a fact that this great republic must chain
itself to the chariot wheels Of the Brit
ish empire in its mad race for gold?
~ sympathize with people struggling
for liberty everywhere. l sympathized
with them as they struggled for liberty
in every country. And when the war
broke out with Spain, we said then that
it was not war for conquest, not for
glory, but to carry liberty to people who
were crying for help at our feet. Loud
applaus,. And the boys marched up
from the north-land whose fathers once
marched in tattered blue, with the song
their fathers loved, Ny Country 'Tis OF
Thee; and the boys came from the south
land, they whose fathers once marched
in tattered gray, to the mNSic Way down
South in Dixie, (applause) and they
followed the men who at once led
the northern and southern armies down
to Cuba and into other lands and into
the islands of the sea. They marched
under one flag, in behalf of one coun-
try, to the music of one splendid mel
odv, as they felt in their hearts the
music that inspired the men in days
gone by.
"Tn the beauty Of the lilies, Christ
was born across the sea;
As he died to make men holy, let us
die to make men free
"Up until that point the war was right,
but when we passed beyond that point
the administration went too far. But it
was another indication of following in
the footsteps of Great Britain. When
our flag rose over the rotten Spanish
monarchy the American republic could
not resist the temptation then Of follow
ing in the footsteps of Great Britain, and
it thirsted for land and gold, and that
is where the mistake was made. We
should have stopped at the end of the
Spanish victory, when we brought lib
erty to the people who were being
ground to death under the wheel Of
Spanish tyranny. Welove liberty. The
masses Of the American people stand
for the blessed idea of liberty, Justice
and equality Of rights and l dare say
today if it were possible to get the news
over the British cable to the Boer farm
ers in the two South African republics
that these representatives of six or seven
million American voters send word of
sympathy to them, many Boer would
shout for JOY in the hills of the Trans
yaal. Grander struggle for liberty was
never made in all the worlds history
than the struggle being made by the
republicans and democrats in South AZ
rica. Let us sympathize with them.
am glad that you have taken this
action today. At the polls in November
follow it up. Let American principles
ever live. Let them go on down for years