The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1902-08-01

of a large majority of the members of the
republican party, but that party to-day is
so controlled by organized wealth that the
rank and file of the party are not consulted
about the policies nor are the interests
Of the rank and file considered by the
leaders. With the exception of the tariff
question, the republican party has not in
recent years honestly submitted a single
important issue to the arbitrament of the
ballot, or even to the judgment of the
members Of its own party. 1t has written
ambiguous platforms and forced its pol
icies through congress after elections. In
1885 1t used promise Of international BIZ
>metallism to conceal it's real purpose to
fasten the gold standard on the country.
In 1900 1t practiced the same deception on
imperialism and on the trust question.
Even within a month 1t has refused to
announce its purpose in regard to the
philippines, and has put OFF until after
November the passage of the subsidy bill
and the consideration of the trust ques-
ton. The leaders of the party show their
lack OF vital faith in the doctrine of self
government by their unwillingness to take
the people of the country, or even the
voters of their own party. into their con-
hdence. The hope of the democratic party
lies in bringing this fact to the knowledge
of those who have been in the habit of vot-
ing the republican ticket. One aristocratic
party in the country is enough. Demo-
cratic success must be won, not by imitat-
Ing the republican party, but by exposing
it-not by making the democratic party
aristocratfc, but by convincing the people
that it IS really democratic and can be
trusted to defend democratic ideas and to
cultivate democratic ideals. As there are
many in the republican party who have ad-
hered to the party Notwithstanding the
change that the organization has under
gone, so there are some who call them
selves democrats who have themselves I'M
dergone change which has alienated them
from the democratic party, or from any
party worthy Of the name.
Deserters of Two Glasses.
To attempt to patch up an apparent har-
mony between those who are not in SYM
pathy with democratic purposes is not
only waste of time, but would prove dis
astrous. The men who deserted the party
in 1896 may be divided into two classes.
Those who left because they understood
the issue presented and those who left be-
cause they did not understand the real
nature of the contest. Until the former
are completely changed in their sympa-
thies they cannot return to the party with
out injuring It,. The latter will be recon-
ciled to the party when they themselves
become aware of the real character of the
life and death struggle now being waged
between plutocracy and democracy. / say
plutocracy, because the aristocracy of to-
day is one of wealth rather than of birth,
and 1t includes not only those who have
been alienated from the common people by
the possession Of great wealth, but those
who, although without wealth, pander to
1t and measure all things by money STAN
dard. Organized wealth has become so
potent in governmental affairs that some
even now despair of applying any effective
remedy. But such underestimate the pa
triotism Of the people and the strength of
the public conscience. The people have a
remedy within their power, namely the
ballot, and with it they can and will right
every wrong and remedy every grievance.
Party Must Stand Firm.
THE democratic party must have a con-
trolling purpose, unchanged by victory or
defeat; it must stand for that purpose at
all times and everywhere, unmovsd by
threats of disaster and uninfluenced by
promise of temporary gain. 1t must have
character, for character is as essential
in party as 1t is in an Individual No one
Will trust an unstable man or one so with
out principle that his position upon any
moral question cannot be guessed in ad-
vance. Neither will the people trust a
party that Is willing to write into its plat
form to-day anything that promises to
catch few votes or strike out of its plat
ate few votes. Even If 1t desired to do
SO, our party could not compete with the
republican party in the use of money in
campaigns or in the deception or coercion
OF voters, because large campaign funds
can only be secured in return for the prom
Use of favoritism, and our people are not
In position to coerce. Our party must
have principles and proclaim them; it must
stand by them and defend them relying
upon it's faith in the righteousness of those
principles and upon its faith in the intelli--
gence and patriotism Of the people.
An Unending Struggle.
''The struggle between human rights on
the one side and greed on the other Is an
unending one. Our party must take part
in the struggle, but that struggle cannot
be permanently settled by this generation
or by any future one. AS the children of
Israel. wandering in the wilderness, could
not store bread for the morrow, but were
compelled to gather mama each day, SO
the citizen finds it impossible to rest upon
the achievements of yesterday, or to frame
a government that will run itself. He
must labor to-day, tomorrow and while
life lasts if he would be secure. He must
meet each new problem and examine each
new proposition that is submitted to the
people. but in doing so he will employ the
same purposes and apply the same gen.
eral rules. He cannot tell what tempta-
lions he may have or of what immediate
gain he may have the promise If he will
but surrender his manhood, but he knows,
If he Is an upright man, that he will en-
deavor to resist every temptation, and he
will determine to forego every advantage
that requires a surrender of his manhood.
Issues Must BE Met.
$50 with our party. We canont tell what
issues we may have to meet; we can only
determine to meet them ia a democratic
spirit. to apply to them democratic prin-
ciples and to take the peoples side always
In 1892 the paramount issue was tariff re-
form, and the democratic party boldly as
serted its demand for a tariff for revenue
only. 1t fought the campaign and it won,
but its majority was so narrow that a few
senators, disloyal to the party on this sub
ject. defeated the verdict of the people rem
dered at the polls. But the failure of the
party to 90 all that it had promised would
not have been sodisastrous but for the fact
that the Wilson bill, unsatisfactory as it
was to tariff reformers, had to bear the
sins of a republican financial system which
was supported by our administrator
against the protest Of an overwhelming
majority of the voters of the party The
defeat of 1894 was more disastrous than
any that the party has experienced since,
and Il was due to the fact that the admin-