The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-10-19
GOSPEL OF
THE G. 0. P.
Horace PIatt's Telling
Speech.
WAS ONCE A DEMOCRAT.
Splendid Presentation Of the Facts
and Logic Behind the Cause
Of Mckinley.
Honolulu, H. L, Oct. IS. 1900.

good reading for p. c. A. readers.
+. NJ. SWANZY.
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct G.-For two
hours last evening Horace G. Plat held
an audience which crowded Metropolitan
Hall to the doors, with his mastery ar
of Organism, which is mas
querading under the name of Democracy.
room was at a premium long be-
fore the speaker made his appearance,
and when the peroration had lifted the
vast audience to its feet there had been
no diminut.on of the crowds, which
filed seats and aisles during the delivery
o. an address that had for its paramount
topic the wisdom of Republicanism
against the folly of Organism.
Willie the delivery of the speaker was
not of the magnetic kind with which po-
litioal orators usually attract their audi
ences. the clean. incisive puncturing of
the fallacies of Organism. followed by
the cautery of sarcasm that scared the
verbal growth OF anti-imperiaIisnA was
so logical ard so clear as to bring out
prolonged applause so frequently and so
fcrvently given as to show that the en-
tire assemblage was in hearty sympathy
with the speaker.
II was an audience that was typical of
the times In that 1t showed that patriotic
party adherents, since fully oLe-third of
the seats in the body of the hall were
filed with ladies, who were as eager to
show their appreciation of the points
made as were those who had the casting
of the ballots.
meeting with a topical song, and were
tv ice recalled, receiving prolonged ap-
plause for their rendition and selections.
When A. Gerberding arose to introduce
the speaker of the evening he seemed to
feel the response from the audience SO
strongly that he could scarcely resist the
opportunity Of launching out into oratory
and introduced Mr.. Plat, who was re-
ceivcd with a round of applause that
continued In wave after wave until 1t
closed with cheering for the speaker and
the cause he represented.
The sympathies of the audience were
enlisted from the very beginning of the
address. and when the orator told that he
was leaving the Democratic party
because II dethroned Jefferson and en-
throned Bryan, the man who mistakes
epigrams for ideas and personal ambition
for patriotism, the prolonged applause
twice caused the speaker to wait for an
opening. His scholarly arraignment of
Bryan as deceiver of the American peo-
pie, his mastery welding OF sarcasm and
biz logical deductions of the sequence of
events were of such nature that his para
graphs were punctuated by the voiced ap-
prevail of his hearers.
He opened with the assertion that he
should devote his lecture to the "Mis-
takes of Bryan and with statistics and
extracts from reports from all sources,
Democratic and non-partisan, as well as
national. he proved the fallacy Of each of
Eryan's predictions and the fulfillment of
each OF McKinley's promises. He con-
trasted the calamitous prophecies of the
feeders of Democracy with the actualities
OF existing conditions, and as he reached
the climax of the two pictures presented
the audience almost rose to its feet in en-
tfusiastic tribute to his argument.
The most severe arraignment of the
Democratic leader. however, was In the
discussion OF the conditions in the Phil
iTpines, and. disdaining the use of in
vective, he placed the leader of Democ-
rrcy in his true light as an ally Of those
who were fighting the soldiers of the
country. He quoted from Lincoln an ex-
tract from a reply to a pea that he order
the execution of n deserter. wherein the
blatant orators of those days were le-
nounced as being the traitors. in that
their public speeches spread the doctrine
/ that instigated the desertion. ard in ap-
plying the words Of the martyred Presi-
dent he showed how they suited the con-
diticnS of the present time and the man
vic was giving comfort to the insurgent
/ F1ipinos In order that he might make
personal, political capital through the
That the speaker had been followed with
olcsest attention during the entire ao-
dress was shown when at the close thz
audience scarcely waited for dismissal by
the chairman OF the meeting in the DIES RI
to shower their congratulations on the
orctor. Ladies and gentlemen crowded Il
tho Etage and Mr.. Plat was soon the Gen.
ter OF a crowd, each member of VIII cf
was anxious to grasp his hand and ex-
press personal satisfaction with tho VI
tfr RANGES Of the man who had boldly re.
nernced allegiance to party fealty wher
that fealty meant remuneration of princi-
pies which involved the So fety CT his coain.
) try. In opening his address Mr.. Pias
!, sid.
Ladies and Gentlemen: All my life
have been Democrat. After mature re.
Election ] rive determined to nubIicl,
change my political efiliation. and thi.
evening make this public confession o.
the faith that is in me.
am opposing the Democratic party be
cause u Is now radical revolutionary
Impractical and populistic, and becaus,
It's present aspirations are menace to tn,
welfare of the country
am supp orting the Republican Fart,
because II Is conservative. practical pro
gressive and creative, and because its sue
cess at this election Is necessary to tn
continuance of prosperity.
: j am leaving tho Democratic partv he
, sen. the man of thought. the statesman
the philosorhe who believed In SCUM,
money and territorial expansion, and ha
, enthroned Bryan. the man of words, VIII,
mistakes epigrams. for ideas, rhetoric 70
philosophy. defamation for wisdom, per
: sonal ambition for patriotism. and q dis
honest dollar for an honest one.
l am entering this campaign agains
the Democratic party because 1t has nom
mated for the Presidency man who, a
that old Democratic warhorse, Henri.
Natterson. said only two years ago. 81
not of the material of which the peopl
of the United States have ever made
President. nor OF which any party ha
J ever before made candidate" becaus
his speeches tend to disturb the peace AM
order Of the state by their appeals {
class distinctions that do not exist and L
an antagonism between capital and labo
that cannot obtain in this country as a
present organized. and because he Is no
honest with the American people.
I am entering this campaign on behal
OF the Republican party because its can
didate for the Presidency has as Presi
dent proved himself to be n skillful pilo