Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1900-07-19
WEBSTER Davis . pemoerst.

His Speech before the Kansas City Convention.
Mr. Davis speech ID full was as follows
Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the
convention appreciate very highly the
honor conferred upon me by inviting me
TO say few words at this time and | shall
detain you but a moment. have been
honored highly by another party than this
in the past have served that party well
and have rendered services as good as the
honor 1 received and the account is
balanced now. Great applause and cheer
3ing) Life, human life, is but narrow
span between two great unknown eterni-
ties, and life is too short for man to
sacrifice his principles or his love Of country
/ for money or for Office in this republic
(enthuastic applause and eheering).
have never yet read or heard a platform
that was so intensely American as the
platform read hers in this convention
continued applause and eheeringl Old
conditions have passed away, old question S
| haye passed and gone, many Of them, and
new questions are now before the Ameri-
csn people. I care not a snap Of my finger
for public or private criticism. care
nothing for office, for I have given mp one
voluntarily better than any you can give
me, (great applause and eheeIipg) and the
man or newspaper that makes the statement
that was forced to leave the administra-
ton against my will, absolutely. unquali-
fiedIy aud malieionsly lies tthnnderoas ap,
plause and cheering
love liberty. / love equality OF
rights and / love justice, and when the
party that belong TO has been too coward
" to take a stand for liberty, TO represent
government against British aristoeracy and
monarchy, leave it and leave it for good.
Wild and enthusiastic applause and cheer
lng). In every part of Europe and Africa
the charge is made by the British press
and the British officials that there is a secret
alliance between this country and Great
Britain to the effect that in case of any
foreign nation attempting to intervene in
behalf of the poor Beers that this repub-
lie will stand by Great Britain with its
army and navy. (Cries of No, no.n
have yet to hear of the administration de-
nying that report. / defended the ad-
ministration in every address I made in
behalf of the Beers since my unfortunate
visit to that countiy-for me, l say unfor-
tunate financially and politically-but
say now I will never defend it agai q,
because it has not taken the chances at its
national convention to tell the American
people that we are for liberty and republi-
can forms of government. Great applause)
Liberty We all love the splendid word =
the sweetest word that ever blossomed
upon the tongues of men, and as one great
Republican Senator said in the United
States Senate, it has coma to pass that we
must whisper the word liberty in Wash
ington.
is it a fact that liberty is to become
obsolete 10 the American lexicon? Is it a
fact that this great republic must chain
itself to the chariot wheels Of the British
empire in its mad race for land and gold?
sympathize with people struggling
for liberty everywhere. sympathised with
them as they struggled for liberty in every
country. Aud when the war broke ont
with Spain, we said then that it was not a
war for conquest not for glory, but TO
cary liberty to people who were crying
for help at our feet cloud applause)
And the boys marched up from the north
land whose fathers once marched ia tattered
blue, with the song their fathers loved,
My Country, It's Of Thee > and the boys
came from the south land, they whose
fathers once marched in tattered gray, to
the music of Way Down South in Dixie
(applause), and they followed the men
who at once led the northern and southern
armies down to Cuba and into other lands
md into the islands of the sea They
marched under one flag, in behalf of one
country, TO the music of one splendid
melody, as they felt in their hearts the
music that inspired the men in the days
gone by.
" In the beauty if the lilies, Christ was
born across the sea,
AS He died to make men holy, LEI us die
to make men free.
f" Up until that point the war was right.
but when we passed beyond that point the
administration went too far. But it was
another indication of following in the foot
steps of Great Britain. When our flag
rose over the flag OF the rotten Spanish
monarchy, the American republic conld not
resist the temptation then of following in
the footsteps Of Great Britain, and it
Unlisted for land and gold, and that is
where the mistake was made. We should
have stopped at the end of the Spanish
victory, when we brought liberty to the
people who were being ground to death
under the wheel of Spanish tyranny. We
do love liberty. The masses of the .Amer
can people stand for the blessed idea OF
liberty, justice aud equality Of rights, and
[ dare say to day if it were possible to ge;
the news oyer the British cable to the Boer
farmers in the two South African republic
that these representatives of six or seven
million American voters send word of
sympathy to them, many a Boer would
shout for 10y ia the hills of the Transvaal
Grander struggle for liberty was never
made in all the worlds history than the
struggle being made by the Republicans
and Democrats in South Africa. Let us
-ympathize with them. I am glad that
yOu have taken this action to-day. At the
polls in November follow it up. Let
American principles ever live. Let them
20 on down for years to come as an iDspira-
tion to generations yet unborn Liberty.
love of country, one flag, one country, one
splendid destiny alone. | stand upon this
platform and support William Jennings
Bryann