Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1900-06-26

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its delegates the ruling spirits of the
barb wire trust, trust which, TO ad-
vance the selfish interests of its Off
| GERS, recently closed down II OF its
factories, and, without any warning
whatever. deprived more than six
thousand laboripg men of employ
| ment.
The democratic party wages no
war on property or property rights.
The true democrat glories in the oP-
portunity for individual advancement
under a government such as ours.
when 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 the true democrat
demands that the blessings of govern
ment shall fall. like the rain from
heaven, on the rich and poor alike,
and demands that his government
| shall not grant special privileges to
the few. The words of jackson. in
his message vetoing the national bank
act. may well be considered the creed
of the democratic faith upon the sub
ject. He says in this message:
Injustice of Governments.
lit is to be regretted that the rich
and powerful too often bend the acts
of government for their own selfish
purposes. Distinctions in society
| will always exist under every Just
government. Equality of talent. or of
education, or of wealth, cannot bepro-
duced by human institutions, but
when the law undertakes to add to
these natural and just advantages. ar
tificial distinctions, to- grant titles,
gratuities and exclusive privileges, to
| make the rich richer and the potent
more powerful, the number mem bers
of society-the farmers, mechanics
and laborers-who have neither the
time nor the means of securing like
favors for themselves, have q right to
complain of the injustice of their gov
ernment.'
The growth of trusts is largely
due to the protective tariff laws en-
acted by the republican party, but not
content with the advantages afforded
by control of home markets under re-
publican legislation and influenced by
the prospect of profitable trade with
the islands wrested from the domina-
tion of Spain, these monopolists have
inspired the imperial policy of the
present administration, the enforce
ment of which can only be accom-
plished by revolutionizing our gov
ernment and substituting the prin
ciples of our hereditary enemies for
the teachings of Washington and his
associates. Five score and IA years
ago our fathers brought forth on this
continent a new nation, conceived in
liberty and dedicated to the PROPOSE
tion sthat all men are created equal.
Winning their struggle for liberty,
they established here great self
ruling natior-the living embodiment
of the gospel of democracy "A gov
erDment of the people. for the people
and by the people, a government
which has been beacon light to the
people of the world struggling for Ii
berty, and whose influence.has liberal
lied monarchies and limited arbitrary
power all over the world
I'm the past we have ever been
ready to extend words of sympathy
to the people of the world struggling
for the benefits of free government,
such as we enjoy. When Kossuth
was an exile from his native land,
his only crime being the advocacy of
liberty for the people of Hungary,
congress rendered him one of our owa
ships to bring him TO our shores.
when the states of South Ameri-
ca were springing into independence,
emerging from that Spanish despot-
ism into which they had been I'M
mersed for ages, the great heart of
the American people went out to
them in their struggle for liberty.
and the speeches of Henry Clay, in
their behalf, proffering peace and
friendship and encouragement in
their efforts, were read at the head of
their armies and hailed with shouts of
enthusiasm. They came into the
world as free nations, as it were, un-
der our auspices, hailed. cheered OH
and encouraged by the voice OF Amer
lea.
Past and Present History.
Such was our course and our his
torv in the past. What is our posi-
tion today? Under the influence of
the plutocratic interests. the McKin
ley administration is writing one of
the darkest chapters in our history.
and in its lust for trade and empire is
losing US the hearts and the con idence
of liberty loving people throughout
the world. Let us for moment turn
the pages of this history: In April,
1895, we went to war with Spain. be-
cause the great heart Of the Ameri-
can people went out in sympathy to
the people of Cuba in their struggle
for liberty. The object of the war
was proclaimed by a solemn resolu-
tion of congress. rePudiating all in
tention of annexation on our part,
and declaring that the Cuban people
are and of right ought to be free and
independent. President Mckinley
also declared that annexation by force
could not be thought of, because. ac-
cordiug to our code of morals. it
would be criminal aggression
In the course of the war Dewey