Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1904-09-16
FULL TEXT OF MR.. WATSON'S SPEECH
The Republican Party HamlItonIan.

l
iltonian. Every corporate interest on
champion in the republican party
Every beneficiary Of special privilege
| knows that he has a welcome in the
! republican party. Every trust, levy
ing its tribute upon the million homes
of the people feels secure in the or
ganized power of the republican party.
l have no words of abuse for Theo-
, dore Roosevelt. l believe him to be a
, brave, honest, conscientious man.
: give him full credit for having splen-
. did courage of conviction, but mas
much as he stands for those govern
mental principles, which, in my judy
ment, are hurrying this republic into
!, a sordid despotism of wealth, will
combat him and his principles as long
as there is breath in my body.
The Democratic Party Ludicrous.
How is it with the democratic party =?
Our political history has never seen
situation so ludicrous as that which
the national democracy now holds.
can understand how the citizen can
work for the republican party and vote
its ticket with enthusiastic zeal. If
the republican party represents his
ideals of government, then he is justly
proud of it, can justly confide in 1t, for
1t has stood by its principles through
storm as well as sunshine; and no
matter how bad you and may think
its creed is, we are bound to admit
that the republican party has a creed.
is willing to fight for it. is willing to
cling to it in defeat. and continue to
struggle for it until victory comes
again. But why any human being
should. in the year 1904. vote the ma
tional democratic ticket is something
that passes my untutored comprehen-
sion.
can understand why the citizen
could vote local democratic ticket;
can understand how in some cities and
in some states that party may be strug-
Cling to do some distinct thing. which
he believes ought to be done; but in
the name of common sense tell me why
any sane and sober citizen should in
this campaign vote the national demo-
cratic ticket.
What principle of democracy does 1t
stand for? What does it propose to do
for the people. different from what the
republicans are doing? To what point
IS 1t directing it's line Of march, ex-
"ept to the republican camp? Sur
rounded by the Wall street magnates
who had financed his campaign for
two years. Judge Parker bided his
time till the perils of the two-thirds
rule were passed; and when 1t was
too late for the convention to retrace
It's steps-for even the democratic
bosses require more than fifteen min
rtes to turn completely round in-he
cracks the Wall street whip over the
heads of his leaders, and with prompt
were made to furl their flags and re-
verse their line Of march.
Democratic Masses Outraged.
The mass of the democratic party
feel outraged at the way in which
their leaders have sold them to Wall
street. I do not believe that the six
and half million men who followed
Bryan, with cheers on their lips and
warm convictions in their hearts, can
now be delivered like cattle to the
Nlevelandites who knitted the ticket or
bolted it in 1896. believe that the
~reat majority of the men who voted
'or Bryan are men of convictions;
can not but hope they will realize that
am fighting their battle now.
Where are the voters who followed
the fortunes of the democratic stand
ard-bearer in 1896 and 1900? We're
they men of conviction? Did they
honestly believe in the principles they
professed? I believe that they did.
Acting upon that belief. our party
'oined hands with the democrats who
had adopted our platform. and I my
self did yeoman service for Bryan
5tumping his own state and helping
70 give Nebraska's vote to him. To-
hight remind the democratic voters
that the peoples party stands just
where 1t did then. and If they believed
N our principles then they ought to
como with ns now.
I call upon the six and a half mil
lion voters whose political faith was
"rvstallized in the Chicago platform of
1896 and in the Kansas City platform
If 1900, and ask. What is there in
the democratic platform of 1904 that
bids you hone? What Is there for you
in that platform? What do you get to
represent you? What is it that he pro-
roses to do for you? II you believe
IN republican doctrines. why vote for
Parker? Why not "go the whole hog
or none" and vote for Roosevelt? By
what right do the democratic leaders
Undertake to preach and expound to
the American people any economic
questions? How do we know that they
have studied and mastered any of those
questions?
Never in the world could it emrSa-
cize itself on anv iss~e as IT. did on
the money question from 1896 to the
vear Of 1904. If all the writings and
all Of the speeches which they made
against the REPUBLICAN party on the
money question were put into printed
form and loaded for transport upon the
backs of camels. the caravan would
stretch from one end to the other of
the great Sahara desert.
Did they understand the money ques-
ton? If not, how do we know that
they understand any other question?
In their campaign book of 1896 the
democratic leaders say: 1--WE are I'M
alterably opposed to mono-metalism."