Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1903-06-25
Ioua Democrats
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TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN's ADDRESS

ton We are here both protesting against
things which we condemn and demanding
remedies. Unless there are governmental
conditions deserving Of our denunciation
We might better have remained at home,
and Joined in the paean OF prosperity so
loudly sung by the republican press and
platform. Our presence here is proof that
there arc wrongs of which we know. Such
being the case unless we can offer to the
people remedies our deliberations viii
end in failure; for, however useful may be
the office of the physician who points out
diseases, that of the healer who brings
cal party o Should ue e m,ln IKE narty
which lays bare It's opponents mistakes
does less than half Its duty. I must be
for things as well as against Things. If IT
would be called 10 power OF retained in it.
What then are the conditions against
which we protest. is not The nation pros
porous? 1t is trus that all over the land
labor seems d!sson,ented aud labor dis
turbances agite.e the people. Capital Is
arrayed against labor, and labor against
capital. Ru.. stransS TO gay, we have
Grown to. regard t!csa s'ijfcs AZ some
| Thing TO be expected and 1t may be said
(! BY some that their existence Is no proof
that we are MOI prosperous.
| 1T Is true that IN many occupations
4 wages are lower than ten years ago. and
that where they have seemed to advance,
| the cost OF living has advanced stlll more.
Yet, employment Is mote easily obtained
/ the mills and factories are running, the
railways are gorged with traffic and AL
the processes of production are going on,
pouring out golden streams, of wealth.
| or what then do we complain? Against
what public foe il 1t our duty to unfur
the banners OF democracy? here is the
adversary against whom jefferson would
lead the hosts OF the people. and ON whose
armor would be rainsd the ringing blows
OF Jackson2 ii these mighty ones of
the past We're with us today where is the
! evil at which they would bid US strike?
| day In our personal and national life fall
short of the Americans of the day of JEFF
ferson and jackson? The answer must
1 come spontaneously 10 the mind of every
man present. Within the past few years
we have all become conscious Of q great
and ominous change IN the conditions un-
every thoughtful man with regret and
foreboding, a change which has crcpt
hcross the spirit OF American institutions
and cast over all sinister shade of
! doubt and fear, dimn,ing the bright sun
1sht OF freedom which we once regarded
as our inaienable bir hrisht. This change
mas not come about by violence and bloody
revolution, but by I've ns!d!ous advances,
the secret usuipations of q class of power
full men. class constantly narrowing UNI
tll 1t Is now scarcely more than n group.
III mas not been accomplished by open and
, avowed attacks upon the right of suffrage,
of freedom Of speech or of the press. or
upon any of the express rights upon which
we have been taught to look as the safe
guards of liberty, but 1t has come with the
gradual cornerlng of our mines, our coal
and oil fields, our highways, the great orig
mai sources of production, the. means of
transportation. the avenues of employ
ment. until the time has arrived when
the once free born American is born into n
monopoltzed and fenced-up world. in
winch he must walk I'm the mighty shadow
Of the owners of his country and ask of
them the right to labor to life liberty and
the pursuit OF happiness.
Here lies the wrong at which the spirits
OF Jefferson and Jackson bid us strike.
rms issue we must meet. III the demo
cratic party has any mission today, that
mission Is to set itself In battle array
against these new masters of our people,
these Industrial Caesars for whom we
have coined a new namc-the trusts.
DO I exasgerate this evil? Let him who
many farmers and the representatives of
farmers. The Iowa farmer is the synonym
Of independence Yet he sells at prices
ftxed by the grain and meat trusts, buys
other trusts, and reaps that the rail-
ways may garner In. He is fortunate Cf
he owns his FARM in having a living as
sured. but as to whether or not he shall
earn profits, the lords of the factory, mar
ket. mine and highway determine for him
as absolutely as czars. But how is 1T In
With the young man going out into n world
In which he has no possessions? Where
are the avenues of f-elnp!oyment which
opened 30 invtingly TO his father? To
him is left scarcely more than the one sim
gle chance. to enlist In the service of one
of those corporations by which the trust
X.
sorrow ana envy of his ancestors who
went forth with gun or AK. or pillow or
level--each his own man--and worked out
each his own independent fortune. But
he cannot expect to do the same. The
American Is fortunate and exceptional
now. who Is his own man. He finds him
self immeshed In Il new feudalisn, where
the lords of soil and highway are not. as
of old, proud mobiles Jealous of glory, but
Invisible corporations, greedy of power and
out for the stuff. Such conditions ought
mi Let IL
ocracy. where the people have not been led
away from the truth, such conditions cam
not exist In any nation where such
wealth and power are permitted perma-
nenty to be 20 concentrated. democracy
cannot exist. The trust principle and the
principle of popular government are so ex-
nctiy opposed to each other that where
both are in the field, they must fight and
one must tall.
This convention should go down to his
tory Tor Its fearlessness In recognizing this
battle and placing itself upon the fighting
line. L have no fear that we will commit
any great error. IL we keep our eyes fixed
upon the north star of democratic prin-
ciple and steer our course by that. There
Will always be found some timorous and
venal souls who will prefer any course
which promises an easy campaign and
success at the polls. But | say to you
that success at the polls won at any sac
rlice OF true democracy will he more dis
astrous than any defeat. There are those
who say any say with great plausiblity,
that by making peace with Wall street we
might make sure of winning in 1904. Such
gentlemen hold out promises of much fat
ness In the honors and emoluments to be
won. The temptation is disguised under
specious words. but essentially the thing
proposed Is bargain, In which a cam
paign fund and offices are offered as the
cratic party. do not know the extent to
which such views are held here, but as
for me. pray we may not be led into
such temptation. but be given defeat with
rather shameful
But those who dream of such a depar-
ture from the straight path, are l am per-
snaded, few. Moreover their reasoning is
plausible rather than sound. Our party
swell of opinion from the people. 1t is
weak when 1t listens to the voice of the
!empter. of plutocracy. In 1892 the plat
form offered by the committee to our ma
tional convention was rehash of the vic
torious one of 1854. But there sprang to
we platform a man who knew that the
lection. and demanded a tariff plank
which would mean something. My God"
said he, must we now. in 1892, go back
to the straddle of 1882" The convention
adopted. There followed tariff cam
paign on free trade lines, and free trace
principles won. Democracy was strong
convictions.
But the leadership of the party saw fit
to abandon the issue on which this vic
tory was won and pushed to the front
questions alien to those on which the
! party had been called to power. The re-
suit was such disaster az we had never
known. Victorious In 1882 and in full pos
session OF all branches of the government
we met in 1894 such defeat as was never
met before or since.
The party was corrodcd and eaten away
Vacation Pointers.