The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1900-05-31
The Michigan Platform.


the direction of better government
than that offered by a plutOcracy is evi-
dent from the platform adopted by the
Michigan State Democratic convention
Although the Democracy persists in
maintaining the principles upon which
our system of government was based
by the maintenance of which 1t alone
can be successfully perpetuated as a
government of the people, yet it finds
the more we progress in the direction
of the solution Of the human problem,
that the ills to which all flesh is heir
can only be cured by a close study of
the wants. the demands and the neces-
sites of the whole people. and that
those necessities can only be supplied
by the people themselves.
Hence municipal ownership and di-
rect legislation, following in the lead
of Nebraska, the adoption of which is
in strict line with the most advanced
IDEAS of statesmen and economists
everywhere In the world Because the
Democratic party insists upon the rigid
observance and the practical adapta-
tiOn of the principles specified in the
Declaration of Independence. enacted
into the United States constitution as
the organic law, and always observed.
enforced and impressed upon the peo-
pie as their only salvation, until the
Mckinley administration cast it all
overheard. the Democratic party has
been charged with senility, old fogy-
ism. effeteness, and has been plainly
told that the government has outgrown
the principles which 1t has always
borne close TO its heart. and is there
fore incompetent to handle the affairs
of the government as they have pro-
gressed. In the light, however, of the
recent declarations and enunciatiOns of
its statesmen and leaders, no man can
say that this charge is true. The Demo-
cratic party does not carry its bag Of
grain To mill with the wheat in one end
and a big rock to balance it in the
other. 1t, in common with all Ameri-
can citizens except the Republican par
ty, has OutgrOwn this old fosyism The
main point after all is. how are we 60
ing to stop the increasing corruption.
extravaganza and wandering away
from the principles Of government
which have made the nation great?
How are the people TO be drawn out
from under the crushing weight of mo
nOpOlists, trusts and plutocracy which
cannot live unless they are based upon
f,,nati. tiStp aInnt.I In.
of the Republican party? Would the
government eXpend in three years over
one thousand millions in cash, Il sum
greater than the total of the much
vaunted balance of trade in our favor
for the same period if the people them
selves possessed any influence with the
law-m making power? Could Mark Han
M. as the agent of criminal combines.
stand behind the Presidential chair and
dictate laws, expenditures and policies
for the benefit of his own special class
if the people stood between him and
that Presidential chair? How could the
people of the country he annually drain
ell of sum of money in excess of the
entire circulating medium, gold. silver
and paper money, if they owned. con
trolled or regulated the means by which !
this money is diverted from their own
pockets for the special class already !
alluded to?
The great Democratic party is draw !
ing closer and closer tO the people. as .
is evidenced by the Michigan, Nebraska I
and other platforms. and in tile daily /
from the Democratic !
press.
Corruption in the Philippines.
What Is true of Cuba Is trebly true in
the Philippines. There the censorship.
which Gen. Otis declared abolished last
September, is more active and oppres-
sive than ever. Private letters from
the Philippines make the most horrible
charges in regard 10 the condition of
affairs. 1t is declared that tlte war has
iesenerated into massacre. in which
hundreds of Filipinos are being shot
lown weekly. whether armeI or uI-
armed. The Filipino soldiers are now
allied bandits ANA robbers in order 10
ind Il convenient justification for the
by the American army of
he rules and deccncics of civilized
warfare. Not only have over four hun
lred volunteer officers rendered Il their
but hundreds of Ameri-
an soldiers are in prison for absolutely
'efusing to obey orders to shoot un-
Filipinos.
The insurrcct on is blazing from one
nd of the archipelago to the other. In
md around the American outposts
arge bands of insurgents are constant
Y lowering. attacking whenever the
liShtest advantage is to be gained. {