The Portland daily press., 1900-07-18

not full of such terrible possibilities OF
tragedy to the nation, it would amount
to farce. My fellow townsman, Mr..
Richard Croker, the arbiter of the des-
TIMES OF the New York Democracy, has
recently evolved a theory which Is entire
" worthy of serious consideration by any
men who are willing to take the Kansas
City convention itself seriously.
MIR. Croker has announced that he
thinks Congress should change the ratio
every four years, so that the only thing
certain about our dollar would be that no
one ever could prophecy more than that
length of time in advance what it would
amount to. Mr.. Croker party associates
appear inclined, it is true, to treat his
views on finance with levity. But in real
1ty he is just as much entitled to serious
treatment from them as they are entitled
to serious treatment from US. 1t is hard
~ necessary to say that not merely free
silver, but the very threat of free silver
would paraIyZe our whole industrial life
The election of Mr. Bryan would cause
such economic and financial chaos as to
reduce this whole country to a condition
of fearful and acute distress that can not
be imagined even by those who keep
fresh IN mind the dark days of '93, only
seven years ago. Any representative Of
the populistic Democracy, as at present
composed, whom Mr.. Bryan could appoint
as secretaries of State and of the Treas
ury, would inevitably bring the country
to the brink of ruin; they would do far
more to harm 1t now than they could
have done four years ago.
Now, as to expansion. 1t hardly seems
worth while to waste any time upon what
the Kansas City people call Imperialism
and militaTIsn. The dominant note of
the Kansas City convention was insin-
certify. The convention which nominated
Mr.. Bryan IN 1900 was in character In
finitely below that which nominated him
in 1896. In 1896, for all their wild and
dangerous folly, his advocates had at
least the merit OF sincerity in their bitter
fanaticlsm. However Wrong-headed, they
knew what they believed and they stated
1t without fear. IN 1900 their actions
were determined purely by policy, and
they, pandering to the worst and most
degraded passions in our political life,
bad enough in all conscience sake in
itself, was rendered infinitely worse be-
cause robbed of every vestige of honesty
and sincerity. 1t took them two DAYS to
yer, and this was the only plank concern
ing which they took the trouble to find
out their beliefs at all.
They reasserted the doctrines of anarchy
which they had preached in 60 not be-
cause they longer believed in them. but
because they hoped by announcing them
to attract to themselves all men OF I'M
sound and violent mind.
When it came to dealing with our for
eign policy they deliberately strOve to fOs-
ter resistance to the national flag where
such resistance already exists, and to call
it into being where it does not exist, with
the hope OF gaining some petty party adj
vantage at no matter what cost OF ruin to
the nation. They mouth about imper-
lal1sm and m1litarism, knowing that
hare is not one shred of truth in what
they say, knowing, if they know any
thing, that their words are putting a
premium upon trouble IN every island
from which the Spaniards have been
driven; and caring nothing because they
wish to purchase party success even at
the cost of dishonesty to the flag, of death
and suffering to the men who fight under
the flag. Bitter, indeed, is the cup they
hold out to the nation to drink, and
thrice bitter it VIII be for the nation if
it does not spurn it.
What they say about Cuba and Porto
R1cO need not detain us for a moment.
In Porto Rico we now have Governor
Allen in charge. We have established
system under which the island is advanc-
ing by leaps and bounds to prosperity.
In Cuba we have put General Leonard
Wood in charge, and all the preliminary
steps have been taken to give to the
people of the island their own govern
ment; our pledge to Cuba shall of course
be kept General Woods administration
is a synonym for honesty and cleanliness,
and the minute that fraud was discovered
in the Ostaldepartment, the wrong-doers
were hunted down in unsparing pursuit;
ana the best possible proof was thereby
given that we meant what we said, and
that governmental cleanliness would be
obtained in the only possible way by the
unsparing cutting out of corruption
wherever it was found.
We now come to the Philippines, and
to the general question OF expansion.
Many of the positions taken by the popu-
listtc Democracy at the moment are so
palpably taken and maintained in such
palpable bad faith that to state them is
sufficient. 1t is hardly necessary to dis
cuss what they say about the cOnstitu-
tiOn following the flag" The Democratic
party never ohampiOned the doctrine thus
set forth save in the dark days when it
had become the handmaiden of slavery
and rebellion, and danced to any tune
which the apostles of slaveryichose.to pipe.
When under Jefferson the great West be-
yOnd the Mississippi was acquired, when
largely through the fundamentally of
jackson, Florida was added to the union
the new provinces with their Indian pop
ulatiOns were governed precisely and ex-
actly on the theory under which the Phil-
ippines are now governed. President
Jefferson secured the Louisiana purchase
just as President Mckinley secured the
Philippines, and Andrew Jackson
warred against the Seminoles when we
had acquired Florida from Spain precise
ly as General Macarthur is now warning
against the bandits among the Tagals, in
Luzon. Unless we are willing to deprive
Jefferson and Jackson of the NEED OF
honor which has been held to be pecu
liarly theirs, we cannot deny the ssaIne
high praise to President Mckinley. At
Kansas City the men engaged in preach
ing the gospel of dishonOr and repudia-
ton solemnly asserted that Imperialism
abroad will lead quickly and inevitably
to despotism at home" You mon Of
Minnesota and the Dakotas who are here
this evening can appreciate the fatuous-
ness Of that statement, by the simple pro
cess Of thinking whether your liberties
have been abridged by the return of the
Minnesota and Dakota troops who won
such honor for themselves in the Philip
pines There are geometrical PROPOSE
lions SO essentially absurd that mathe-