The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1900-07-13
Democratic Platform for 1900.

40 rcanlrln our latin III tnaL lnuoTIal prOcld-
| nation of the inaienable rights of man, and
cur allegiance to the constitution framed in
harmony Herewith by the fathers of the re-
public. We hold, with the United States
Supreme Court, that the Declaration of Inde-
pendence is the spirit of our government, of
which the Constitution is the form and letter.
We declare, again, that all governments insti-
| tuted among men derive their just powers from
the consent of the governed; that any govern
ment not based upon the consent of the
governed is a tyranny; and that to impose upon
any people government of force is to substi-
tute the methods of Imperialism for those of q
republic. We hold that the Constitution fol-
lows the flag, and denounce the doctrine that
an executive or congress deriving their eSs-
tence and their powers from the Constitution
can exercise lawful authority beyond it or in
violation of it. We assert that no nation can
| long endure hulf republic and half empire.
| and we warn the American people that i'm
| perialism abroad will lead quickly and inevi.
tably to despotsm at home.
Believing in these fundamental principles
we deuounce the Porto Rico law, enacted by a
Republican Congress against the protest and
opposition of the Democratic minority, as a
| bold and open violation of the nations organic
| law and fragrant breach of the national good
faith. 1t imposes upon the people of Porto
Rico government without their consent and
| taxation without representation. 1t dishonors
1 the American people by repudiating solemn
| pledge made in their behalf by the command
| ing general of our army, which the Porto
Ricans welcomed to peaceful and unresisted
| occupation of their land. 1t doomed to poverty
and distress a people whose helplessness APP
peals with peculiar force to our Justice ana
| magnanimity. In this, the first act of its i'm
perialistic program. the Republican party
seeks to commit the United States to a colonial
policy inconsistent with Republican institu.
tons and condemned by the Supreme Court
| in numerous decisions.
We demand the prompt and honest fulfill
ment of our pledge to the Cuban people and
the world that the United States has no dis
position nor intention to exercise sovereignty,
Jurisdiction or control over the island of Cuba
except for its pacifcation. The war ended
nearly two years ago. profound peace reigns
over all the island. and still the administration
keeps the government OF the island from its
people while Republican carpet-bag officials
plumber its revenues and exploit the colonial
theory, to the disgrace of the American PEG.
pie.
We condemn and denounce the Philippine
policy of the present administration. 1t has
involved the republic in unnecessary war,
sacrificed the lives of many ofour noblest sons
and placed the United States, previously
! known and applauded throughout the world
as the champion of freedom in the false and
un-American position of crushing with mill
tary force the efforts of our former allies to
achieve liberty and self-government The
Filipinos cannot be citizens without en-danger-
ing our civilization; they cannot be subjects
without imperiling our form of government,
and as we are not willing to surrender our
civilization or to convert the republic into an
empire, we favor an immediate declaration of
the nations purpose to give the Filipinos first
stable form of government; second, indie.
pendence, and third, protection from outside
interference, such as has been given for nearly
a century to the republics of Central and
South America.
The greedy commercialism which dictated
the Philippine policy of the Republican ad-
mnistration attempts to justify it with the
plea that it will pay, but even this sordid and
! unworthy plea fails when brought to the tests
of facts. The war of criminal aggression
against the Filipinos, entailing an annual ex-
pense of many millions, has already cost more
than any possible profit that could accrue
from the entire Philippine trade for years to
come. Furthermore, when trade Is extended
at the expense of liberty the price is always
too high.
We are not opposed to territorial expansion
when it takes in desirable territory which can
be erected into States in the Union and whose
people are willing and fit to become American
citizens.
We favor expansion by every peaceful and
legitimate means. But we are unalterably
| opposed to Selling or purchasing distant s-
lands to be governed outside the Constitution
and whose people can never become citizens
We are in favor of extending the republics
! influence among the nations, but believe that
influence should he extended not by force
and violence, but through the persuasive pow.
er of high and honorable example.
The Importance of other questions now pend
ing before the American people is nowise
diminished, and the Democratic party takes no
| backward step from its position on them, but
| the burning issue of imperialism growing out
of the Spanish war involves the very existence
| of the republic and the destruction of our free
institutions. We regard it as the paramount
issue of the campaign.
The declaration in the Republican plat
form adopted at the Philadelphia Convention.
held in June, 1900. that the Republican party
| "steadfastly adheres to the policy announced
in the Monroe Doctrine" is manifestly iDsin-
cere and deceptive. This profession is con-
tradicted by the avowed policy of that party,
in opposition to the spirit OF the Monroe Doc
trine, to acquire and hold sovereignty over
large areas of territory and large numbers of
people in the Eastern Hemisphere. We insist
on the strict maintenance of the Monroe Doc.
trine and in all its integrity, both in letter and
in spirit, as necessary to prevent the extension
of European territory on this continent, and
as essential to our supremacy in American af-
fairs. At the same time, we declare that no
American people shall ever be held by force in
unwilling subsection to European authority.
We oppose militarism. 1t means conquest
abroad and intimi ,ation and oppression at
home. 1t means the strong arm which has
ever been fatal to free institutions. 1t is what
millions of our citizens have fled from in
Europe. twill impose upon our peace-loving
people large standing army and unnecessary
burden of taxation and q constant menace to
their liberties. A small standing army and a
well-disciplined state militia are amply suffi-
Gent in time of peace. This republic has no
place for vast military service and conscrip-
ton. When the nation is in danger the volun-
teer soldier is his couutry's best defender.
The National Guard of the United States
should ever be cherished in the patriotic hearts
of free people.
Such organizations are ever an element of
strength and safety. For the first time in our
history and coeval with the Philippine con-
quest has there been wholesale departure
from our time-honored and approved system
of volunteer organization. We denounce it as
un-American, undemocratic and unrepublican
and as subversion of the ancient and fixed
principles of free people.
Private monopolies are indefeusible and
intolerable. They destroy competition, con-
troll the price of all material, and of the finish
ed product, thus robbing both producer and
consumer. They lessen the employment Of
labor and arbitrarily fix the terms and condi-
tons thereof and deprive individual energy
and small capital of their opportunity for bet
terment.
"They are the most efficient means yet de-
vised for appropriating the fruits of industry
to the benefit of the few at the expense of the
many, and unless their insatiate greed is check
ed all wealth will be aggregated in few hands
and the public destroyed.
1.-THE dishonest paltering with the trust evil
by the Republican party in state and national
platforms is conclusive proof of the truth of
the charge that trusts are the legitimate pro-
duct of Republican policies; that they are fos-
tered by Republican laws ard that they are
protected by the Republican administration in
return for campaign subscriptions and political
support. .,o nou,ouo.,o coo.