Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1902-09-11
KANSAS CITY PLATFORM
WAS NOT RE-AFFIRMED
Minority Report Was Defeated by Vote
Of 344 to 384.

nority, which reaffirmed the Kansas
city platform. after which ensued one
Of the warmest debates ever heard in
democratic convention. Addresses
in favor of the majority report were
made by Ex-Governor Boies. Judge
Van Wagenen and S. II. Bashor while
General Weaver, G. F. Rinehart, ]. J..
Shea, Col. c. II. Mackey and ex-Con-
gresham Walter H. Butler opposed it.
The majority report follows:
I'VE, the chosen representatives Of
the democratic party in Iowa, in dele
gate convention assembled. hereby de-
clare anew our faith in the funda-
mental principles OF the democratic
party and renew our allegiance there
| to.
we find much in the domestic at.
fairs of the nation chat ought to be
changed. The tariff policy adopted for
the avowed purpose of raising revenue
to meet the enormous burdens of the
civil war, has been turned to use OF
individual and class interests until
1t has become the creator of counties
unearned fortunes and the shelter OF
huge combinations Of capital, organic
| ed in the form of trusts, which arc
| strangling competition in many of our
industries, destroying individual effort
! crushing ambition largely in every
| line Of industry and already acquiring
a power which enables them to dictate
in their own interest the prices OF
labor and raw material and the cost
Of transportation of finished products
1--WE affirm the power and declare it
| to be the duty of the government to
grapple with all monopolies of this
| oh a,f, l., Il.
neither be evaded or defied, drive them
from every inch of American soil.
! 1--WE assert that an immediate re.
| duction of our tariff system to 8
| revenue basis is one absolutely rs.
sential remedy for these overshadoY
ing evils, without which they can
never be overcome. ...
| I'VE congratulate our republican
| friends in Iowa who have become able
to realize that protective tariff may
be made so high as to become a
shelter to monopolies; but regret that
tueir brief reference to the subject IN
their platform is matter of p severe
criticism on the part of leading mem
bers Of their party throughout the
country and openly repudiated by
many of their own delegates in con.
|
That the republican party as now
organized is powerless to revise the
tariff downward or curb the monstrous
trusts it shelters, is. as we believe,
clearly and concluisvely shown by the
attitude of its national leaders. We
therefore appeal to every citizen of
| the state whose judgment leads him
to believe such revision necessary, 20
| come to our aid and help us demon
| strate to the world that Iowa at least,
| will no longer submit to conditions
which the conscience of her people,
as We believe, does not approve.
I'VE charge that discrimination in
| freights by common carriers Is the
handmade of an exorbitant protective
| tariff. in fostering the gigantic trusts
that have become a menace to the well
fare of the masses, and we demand
such changes in our interstate COM
merce act as may be necessary to Sc
cure the speedy punishment by i'm
| prisonment of any officer or agent Of
corporation engaged in interstate
commerce, who is guilty of such dis
| elimination, and the enactment Of
! further provisions that shall make
such discrimination a ground for pro-
| hibiting the Offending corporation
from transacting the business of a
common carrier in the business of In
terstate commerce.
I'VE are especially proud of the facs
that our party in state and nation
alike is loyal to the principles enun.
ciated in that immortal chart of hui
man liberty. the Declaration of Amei-
lean Independence, and today with
mistaken faith in its wisdom and JUS
tice alike we reaffirm its central ana
ever enduring truth that govern
ments derive their just power from
the consent of the governed
I'VE charge the republican party in
its recent administration of the at.
fairs of the nation has wantonly violat-
ed this fundamental principle of our
government upon which its most bere.
ficent Institutions were built, and
most continue to rest, if their bless
ings are to be preserved for genera
lions tO'come.
ITO sustain this indictment we
point to the fact that in the recent
death struggle of the Boer republics
in South Africa our government nv
permitting the use of its ports for the
collection of horses and mules, the
most essential to the English army of
the munitions of war, and the con.
slant and open shipment therefrom
by English agents and officers to the
seat of war of such supplies, made us
for every practical purpose allies OF
the British empire in its wanton AMI
nnally consummated purpose to blot
from the continent every yestige OF
democratic government and to subject
to monarchial rule as brave and deter
mined a people as ever welded 4
weapon in defense of human liberty.
I'VE assert that the commencement
of the Philippine war was the fragrant
abuse of the most noble sentiment of
the American people that lead them 10
voluntarily assume the onerous bu:.
dens of a foreign war in aid Of a strug.
Cling race for freedom. That its un.
justifable prosecution has loaded our
people with a financial burden of hun
dreds Of millions of dollars,
sacrificed the lives of thous-
ands upon tens of thousands Of
the bravest and best of our young
men. the very flower and glory of
American manhood, and prepared our
pension rolls for long list of names
of those with broken and shattered
constitutions, whom the honor of the
nation requires shall hereafter be sup.
ported at public expense.
In behalf of the honor of the Amer
lean people, in the name OF justice to
race we have wrOnged, in defense
Of the American doctrine of govern.
ment by consent of the governed, in
support of the most sacred of the In.
stItutions of our country. bequeathed
us by the fathers of the republic, and
in obedience to all the traditions Of
all our people from the foundation of
the government to present time, we
demand that this wrong of the nation
shall, so far as possible, be atoned for.
ITO accomplish this, We insist that
our steadfast aim should be TO pra.
| ~ yAnnI, 20. ,nIf