The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1904-10-06

VINO maze IQlS WOrk possible are the
men to do the work The men who op-
posed every step by which the canal
was secured are not the men to dig it.
Make Theodore Roosevelt President
and that canal will be dug We have
began to dig it now. Continue us in
power and we will continue to dig it
today, tomorrow and next day;
we will continue to dig il every
day, every year until the thun-
der of our cannon announces to the
world that Atlantic and Pacific are
forever one. Joined in eternal wedlock
by the great Republic
Our Debt to the Soldier.
We stand for the Canal, for pro-
lection, the gold standard, the enforce
ment of laws, the flag in the Philip
pines and we stand for the old SOL
diers OF the Union. The opposition
attacks the pension order of the Pres
ident. That is nothing new. The Op-
position has attacked by their votes in
Congress most measures for the relief
of the men who saved the nation. The
law declares that the soldiers of the
Civil War shall receive pensions based
upon physical disability. For forty
years the orders of the Department
have determined what evidence shall
be sufficient to constitute disability
determined even how much of a
pension shall be paid for one kind Of
disability and how much for another;
how much for the loss of an eye or
the loss of finger, etc. Accordingly
President Cleveland ordered that no
medical examination should be re-
quired when a soldier was seventy-five
years of age; though there was no
friendliness to the soldier In this or
der The Nation-wilf not be bank
rupted by pensioning soldiers seventy
five years old But the principle of
Cleveland's order was the same as
that of Roosevelt's order President
Mckinley ordered that sixty-five
years should be deemed evidence Of
physical disability emitting an old
soldier to the minimum rate. And
now President Roosevelt has said that
sixty-two years of age shall be con-
sidered evidence that soldier is at
least one-half disabled from doing the
work other men can do. This order
required the expenditure of s1,500,00o
and Congress appropriated money to
meet the charge. Yet the Opposition
tells us that President Roosevelt's old
soldier order violates the Constitution
and disregards the law.
The Republics Bounty to its Soldiers.
The nations generosity to the de-
tenders of the flag has been unparal-
leled in the history of the world, and
yet it has never impaired our fin
ances; they are in better condition
than those of any government 1t has
not hurt our prosperity; the American
people have waxed richest in the very
hour when they were giving most free
ly to those who saved them. Let no
man be alarmed at the volume of
the Republics bounty poured out each
year to those old defenders of the
flag That money does not leave the
country. 1t is not boarded in the
strong box of misers. Every dollar Of
it is released within thirty days from
the date the old soldier receives it.
1t pays his grocer. 1t buys his cloth
ing. 1t keeps roof above his head.
Hundreds Of millions of pension mon
ey pour continually through the art
cries of the country's daily commerce.
Even from a commercial viewpoint,
the pension charge is not an unmixed
evil. From the higher viewpoint no
man or nation was ever worse for be-
ing just or generous. Let the Opposi-
tion be not disturbed. The pension
problem will not long vex and har-
soon NOW down the appropriations
that so anger the Opposition, by
moving down the old veterans who
receive them. Be patient-the old
soldier will not long remain. But
while he is here and while the Repub-
lican party runs this Government he
shall have the place of honor at the
Nations fireside as he shall have the
place of honor in the Nations memory
when he is gone.
The Vice Presidency.
On our record we will win; on our
platform we will win; on our ticket
we will win. In this ticket we in In
diana have a special pride. For, side
by side with Theodore Roosevelt, the
Republicans of the nation have
placed my honored colleague, Charles
w. Fairbanks, and thus confirmed by
their Judgment what we Tndianaians
already knew Of the quality and worth
Of our senior Senator 1 ask no man
to forsake his principles on personal
grounds. But when, as in. this cam.
paign, our own commonwealth is rep
resented on the national ticket by
fellow-citizen honored by the whole
State-why should we not, without re-
gard to party, show our appreciation
Of Charles w. Fairbanks, by register
ing a majority for the ticket which
he helps to lead, by which the world
can measure the place he holds in the
hearts Of the people of his home.
Republican Ideals and
American Ideals.
The on-going of our Nation-only
that is important. The primacy of
divine destiny of the American people
only this is our political religion.
And so we press onward inspired by
a single motive-the progress of the
Nation. For this we legislate. For
-
the worlds divided waters one For