The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-06-26
SUCKER DEMOCRATS.
Illinois State Convention Meets
at Springfield.

Springfield, Ill, June 26.-The Demo-
cratic state convention was called to
order at 1915 O'Clock by Chairman
Watson, of the state central commit
tee. Elmore W. Hurst, of Rock Island,
was introduced as temporary chairman
Mr. Hurst said in part:
"The greatest danger which threatens
our institutions today is to be found
wealth. These vast and powerful In |
terests fully realize that their safety |
lies in the continuation Of a Republican /
administration which has failed TO en-
force the laws now on the statute book
or enact more stringent laws against |
them and they will oppose with all }
their power any change of adminlsIra7 /
tlOn and unless the mass OF the peOple /
is aroused to the danger which con- |
fronts them, the time will soon come /
when no law will pass or honor be con- |
ferred without the consent Of these pow |
erful and interested combinations which |
are speedily becoming the government |
itself to the utter subversion OF the au- |
thor1ty of the people. II you THINK TINS |
an overdrawn picture look at their ma |
tional convention at Philadelphia where |
the representatives Of these interests
named the candidates and dictated ehe
policy a convention to which the great
state of Illinois chose two of it's dele
gates the ruling spirits of the barbed
wire trust, trust, which to advance
the interests of its officers, recently
closed down twelve OF It's factories ana,
| without any warning whatever, de-
prived more than 5000 laboring men OF
| employment.
THE Democratic party wages no war
on property or property rights. The
true Democrat glories in the opportuni-
| ty for individual advancement under
| a government such as ours whenever
rightfully administered and has only
+ admiration for the man who, asking
nothing from his government but equal
and exact justice, carves out his own
success be it financial or otherwise, but
! Democrat demands
blessings of government shall fall, like
| the rain from heaven on the rich ana
poor alike, and demands that his gov
eminent shall not grant special priv
| ileges to the few.
/ Under the influence of plutocratic
interests, the Mckinley administration
is writing one of the darkest chapters
in our history and in its lust for trade
and empire is losing US the hearts ana
confidence of liberty loving people
throughout the world.
"A country with subject provinces
governed by force is not republic and
where plutocracy5 reigns Democracy be-
comes merely name.
at is the part of wisdom to learn
from experience the real tendency OF
things and shun the rocks upon when
other nations have been wrecked. 1t is
true that the policy Of the adninistra-
ton in relation to those islands has met
with opposition from some of the best
and purest men in the Republican party
but when the opponents to the poncy
! OF imperialism nave uISeQ llidl IL lAC
doctrine of righteousness and freedom
and human right dictates our course in
Cuba, that the same doctrine demanded
a like course in dealing with the phil
ippines they have met with the answer
| that the mountains of the island were
rich with iron-that there were great
stores of coal there and that the streams
and valleys were full of gold.
Justice and freedom and human
rights weigh as nothing with these men
against dollars and cents and so our
soldiers are laying down their lives not
: in a war for liberty, but in a war OF
conquest, that trade may be extended.
There are others who attempt to de-
? fend this policy of Imperialism by in
sisting that we must protect the honor
} of our flag.
1--WE yield to no party in our devotion
to the country's flag, but we protest
against a policy which makes 1t an en-
/ blem of that hypocrisy which seeks to
cover a war of conquest with the cloak
of humanity and religion an emblem of
the greed which would treat matter
involving our national honor, the integ
: rity of our institution and the peace and
r character of the republic as mere
i, matter of dollars and cents-an emblem
t of the imperialistic ambition which
=. mOcks the .nObleSt of our present and
stamps the greatest national heroes of
our past as hypOcrites or fools.
t There is great danger to the Repub-
/ lie in this policy of imperialism-this
J. reaching out for distant islands to be
: governed as subject provinces. Such a
colonial system destroyed all hopes of
republicanism in olden times. It can
exist in no free country, because it up
roots and eliminates the basis of repub-
lican institution that governments de-
rive their just powers from the consent
of the governed
The question presented to the Ameri-
can people is not the question of expan-
sion of the republic over contiguous ter
| ritory to which we extend the blessings
of our institutions, a policy which we
| xrrafr al5z1, 90
ably and honorably; no: the question
between the republic and the empire
between liberty and slavery, between
the declaration of independence and i'm
perialism, between the doctrines of JEFF
ferSOn and the doctrines of George III
and Lord North and with firm reli-
ance in the love of liberty which God
has planted in the hearts of the Ameri-
can people I firmly believe the people
will hurl aside those who, in the delir-
ium for trade and conquest seek to de-
stroy the character of our institutions
THE task of leading the Democratic
hosts of pleading the peoples cause anC
of teaching the gospel of the true De
mocracy should be given to that great.
est exponent of Democratic principle.
since the day of Jefferson-William Jen-
nings Bryan, of Nebraska"
The allusion to Bryan was made tn,
occasion of a wild demonstration
After receiving the reports of the var
ious Congressional delegations anC
standing committees, the convention
took a recess till D. m.
Monster. Devil Fish