Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1901-03-07

bondst
Suppose the Democratic party were in power
and had been guilty OF equal extrayagance and
folly. 10 there any rational Republican who would
expect the people at the polls to indorse such
record7
1t is high time for President Mckinley to assert
himself and exercise his great authority for the
guidance Of the Republican party out of the bog
into which deficient brains and excessive greed
have plunged it. He can do it IL he viii. Espe-
cially can he end at once peril that threatens
the party with disgrace and the country with
dishonor- Bad as conscienceless waste Of the pub
Lie money is. that is innocence itself in compai-
son with the movement whose aim is to have the
Republican party repudiate the nations sacred
pledge to Cuba That cannot be done without
rank disioyalty to the party's platform adopted
at Philadelphia, which says;
ITO Cuba independence and self government
were assured in the same voice by which war was
declared, and to the letter this pledge shall be
performed
Repeatedly the president himself has reafirmed
the binding nature Of this promise to the fulfill
snsnt OF which ths United States is committed as
securely - honor can commit any nation to any
act. Why. then, do members Of the Republican
party. many Of them in high official place. dare
to intimate that President Mckinley can ever be
persuaded to consent to the dishonor of the coun-
try and his own administration
In December, 1900, Mr.. Mckinley in his message
to congress said it was our plain duty to grant
free trade to Porto Rico, which had been deprived
Of her Spanish and Cuban markets by annexation
to the United States. Yet President Mckinley
was induced to recede from that just and honor
able position. Hence the hope of the advocates Of
psrady and spolfation in the case Of Cuba that he
may be cozened into reversing himself again.
Now, what does The North American
wish to stir up unpleasant recollec-
tions for? Why does it harrow up the
memory with reference to that his
torfc wabbling and somersaulting in
the Porto Rican business? Hasn't
President Mckinley a right to change
his mind radically ON questions of
greatest pith and moment while you
waltz Hath The North American no
bowels of compassion?
Dragged In the Mire.
The further it goes the worse it gets,
for it has the hardihood to say:
The party needs leadership from the White
House. 1t needs immediate and plain speaking
from President Mckinley. which shall crush at
once and forever the rising hope Of those who
would saddle the Republican party with the crime
Of denying Independence to the Cubans. billion
sibiy be argued into forgiying, but unless Ameri-
cans have forgotten self respect and good faith
there could be no forgiveness for the party, re-
sponsible for national perjury. That this perjury
should even be suggested by Republicans holding
seats in congress and on terms of cordiality with
the White House is an insult to the president so
intclerable that we marvel he has not resented it
ere this. The party is being foully stained, and
the Republican president owes it TO the Repub-
licans of the United States. well to himself,
TO rebuke and rout the Beyeridges the Stewarts
and the Reids.
The same leadership that has dragged the party
into the mire OF indefensible extravaganza seeks
to make of 1t pack animal for the trusts-for
wealth whose only interest in government is to
use it for the increase OF private profit at the cost
Of the masses of the people. 1t was the sugar
and tobacco trusts that applied the pressure which
deprived the Porto Rieans OF country and pill
losied the United States as the doer Of cruel and
soydid injustice.
The North American ought really to
be ashamed of itself to publish that
last sentence, for it must know two
things: ~ That Hon. Serene E. Payne,
chairman of the committee OH ways
and means, fathered that bill after
changing his mind suddenly and mex
plicably; q that he is in feeble health
and may die Of heart failure if the
Republican North American keeps up
such jabber as that. Too bad! Too
bad.
Mckinley and the Beers.
The greatest enigma. the most un-
fathomable mystery. the most unsolv-
able puzzle connected with this admin
istration, is its attitude touching the
Anglo Boer war. The heroism Of the
two little South African republics i'll
this matchless fight for freedom ap-
pears to have challenged the admira-
ton Of all the world except the Nc
Kiniey administration. 1t has out
Heroded Herod--i. e., Johnnie Bull
himself-in the sang froid with which it
has watched the death struggle Of the
foremost heroes in the f1cod of time.
True. 1t has not sent its armies to help
Mr.. Bull, for the all sufficient reason
that It could not, for there is con-
gress still, though 1t has in these later
days abdicated many of its functions
In favor OF the executive. Neverthe-
less there Is enough of congress left to
raise a row occasionally; but. while no
American army has fought under the
cross of st. George. the administration
has done everything in its power to
aid the British In their crusade against
liberty. notwithstanding the fact that
we are supposed to be neutrals.
English agents have purchased in
America openly and aboveboard over
77,0O0 horses and mules during the
Boer war. have shipped them openly
and aboveboard in their own ships
from the port Of New Orleans to South
Africa, have filed the New Orleans pa
pers with advertisements and other
wise deported themselves as though
they were thoroughly at home. and
who shall say that mules and horses
are not ''contraband of war;" Why
are they any less .'contrahand of war"
than is coal. which is solennly dcclar-
ed to be so by treaty? New Orleans is
a queer place for the English to select
to operate in stranglins two little re-
publics. Clearly the spirits of the
mighty dead do not return to earth, or
that Of old Andrew Jackson would ap-
pear in that historic city and scare the
bloody Britishers out of town. It would
be retributive justice.
Hats on to Pettigrew.
Defeat may have imbittered Hon.
Richard Franklin Pettigrew of South
Dakota, but 1t did not pale his intel
lectual fires. He kept good his promise
to defeat Mark Hanna's pet bill and
colossal steal, the ship subsidy raid
upon the treasury. That must be q
sweet recollection for Richard Frank.
lin the remnant of his days-and may
they be long in the land. He shot many
a Parthian arrow into the serried ranks
of the army of senatorial looters. One
Of the sharpest, which went straight to
the mark, was his suggestion that the
president of the republic should wear
the farther designation of ''the emper
or Of the islands of the seas" Evl
IDENTIFY Mr.. Pettigrew is not looking fol
a job under the administration and has
no aspirations to become an ornament
Of our imperial court. Pettigrew re
fuses to bend the pregnant hinges Of
the knee that thrift may follow fawn
ing. He goes-he may never return
but he defeated Marks fondest hopes
All hats OF to Pettigrew!
With Pettigrew goes another remark
ahIo aha ran ntor Hon Marion Ruflpr o1