Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-04-26
NATIONS WATCHMEN.
Speech of j. q. Monahan at Wis.
consin Republican Convention.
THE PARTY Has KEPT ITS PLEDGES
w. j. Bryan's Rhetorical Question
"Watchman, What of Ntght2" Ably
Answered In a Fine Address
Mckinley Our Waterman.

milwaukee, April s5.-At the state
convention of the republicans of Wis
consin, held in this city today, James
G. Monahan, the temporary chairman,
said:
Today the accredited delegates of
Wisconsin's magnificent republican ar
my have met for the purpose of en-
dorsing national republican admins
tration that stands for faith kept, pro-
misses fulfilled and pledges redeemed,
and to elect and instruct her delega-
ton to vote for the denomination of
President Mckinley.
Several times during the history of
our nation, an administration has pre-
scented strong reasons for an endorse
ment by the people, but never before
has there been more to commend and
less to censure, than in the present.
The administration of Washington
saw the government firmly founded
and started on its glorious career; that
of Lincoln saw human slavery abolish
ed, the Union saved. the flag made
stainless; that of Mckinley has driven
hunger and want from the land, given
honest men an opportunity to do an
honest days work, and receive their
pay in honest dollars. 1t has fought
and won war for universal liberty,
driven the last cruel despot from the
Western Hemisphere, quelled an UNI
holy instruction in the Philippines,
brought light and liberty to twelve
millions of people, and in the name of
a higher civilization bids mankind look
up and march on.
'sWe have all read with some inter-
est and much amusement, the many
speeches delivered by William j. Bry-
an during the past year,-or rather
the same speech delivered in many
places entitled 'Watchman, What of
the Night?'
I'm that speech he describes how
watchlnen We're placed on the walls to
stand sentinel over the city or camp,
while the people slept; these watch
men he lilkened to the officials the peo-
pie elected, and fguratively placed on
the walls to guard their interests, and,
when the people growing weary of.
waiting for promises made, to be full
filled, would approach that official wall
t'LN ~ SAS oSoAJ u tA4Ci1 oouiSS u
out, 'Watchmen, What of the Night
the answer would come down from the
wall, oh, plow on, plow on
Let US accept Mr.. 1Bryan's figure of
speech, and briefly apply to it the,
truth Of history.
President Mckinley stands on the
wall, and seventy-five million Aneri
cans say to him, Waterman, you prom
Used us that prosperity would return if
you and your party were placed in
power. How is it? Waterman, what
of the night and clear and distinct
comes the answer: A tariff law has
been passed that, while raising the req
uisite revenues in time of peace, pro-
tects the, labor of the country.
The soup house has disappeared.
The workingman finds steady employ
ment at remunerative wages; the far
mer, ready markets for his produce;
the mills and factories are running ov-
ertine, and railroads and ships find it
difficult to handle the business. In, all
the United States there is non today,
from necessity, an idle man. Prosper
ity is here. And again the people
shout: Watchman,-
I'm 1896 we were threatened with re-
pudiation and fiatism; you promised
that if elected, the existing gold stan
dard should be maintained. Watch
man, what of the highland again he
answers. congress has passed a law
fixing gold as the unite of value, that
law is on our statute books, and there
it will remain eternally unless the
American people, in madness, elect a
congress and president that will repeal
it,.
"Watchman, your party denounced
as unpatriotic the hauling down of the
American flag at Honolulu, and prom
ised if they We're given power, it should
not be repeated; Waterman, what of
the night And again the answer
comes: The Sandwich Islands are to-
day American territory. No foreign
power shall take, fortify and use them
as base of operations against our
western. coast. in case of war. Our
flag is there, and there it will remain
forever.
Waterman, your party expressed
sympathy for Cuba, and promised to
use the good offices of this government
from Spanish tyranny. Waterman,
WLdU u Tic
''And in answer, President Mckinley
says: The good offices of the govern
ment We're used until the diplomacy
was exhausted, and then the army and
navy moved, the man behind the gun
spoke. Cuba is free and the Maine has
been remembered.
''Watchman, it is charged that you
are sectional president, and are in
terested in only one portion of the ma
ton. Waterman, what of the night?
And we hear him say: There is no
sectionalism. 1t was grim war in 1861
to '65. 1t was grim war in 1899, but
oh, what difference. In 1868 it was
the North against the South, section
against section, the blue against the
gray, brother against brother. In
1898 all sectional lines and pasb diff
ferences We're wiped out and the men,
who, wearing the blue and the gray
fought each other in 1865, saw their
sons, each wearing the blue of the
Union, each following the flag of free
dom, marching side by side as broth
ers to fight for, progress and
In future wars the Kear-