Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1904-07-15


Congressman John Sharp Williams Of
Mississippi was elected temporary chair
man of the Democratic national conven-
ton at St. Louis, and upon taking the
chair he attacked the s'stand pat' policy
OF the Republicans. His speech in part
follows:
There have always been two great par
ties who. since the first national political
conventions, have elected delegates TO
conventions for the purpose of selecting
a candidate and promulgating platform
One of these parties has gone through It's
party election Of delegates, has selected
candidate and announced platform. 1t
was one Of the quietest and "most unan-
imous" occasions that the muses. Of his
tory have recorded. Everything seems
to have been fixed beforehand.
The address of the temporary chair
man of the Republican convention was III
one sense historical. 1t dealt much IN
history most Of it ancient history, and
great deal of it bad history.
There was Iabored argument to prove
that the party Of Roosevelt must, by
something like evolutionary process, act
as the party of Lincoln and Mckinley
This was necessary in order to disguise
the palpable fact that it is not so act
ing.
Not without reason, then, this labored
argument by this great and ingenious
lawyer! 1t was to draw away attention
from Rooseveltism, it's volcanic, erup-
tive character, by dwelling upon the
fact that, at some period Of its history,
the Republican party has been "a party
which did things" and did them safely.
The orator hoped to have the country
lose sight Of the fact that it IS now in
both Of its legislative branches party
of passivity, Of non-action, of obstruction
to reform and progress-in word,
party whose only sacred precept is the
shibboeth which maketh them known,
one Of them to the other, shibboleth
drawn from the gamblers table-"stand
pat" a precept born of cowardice and
fear to move.
Quotes Tariff Speeches.
1 have heard that in October, 1902, Mr..
Root made a political speech in Cooper
Union, New York, in which he used
this language:
IF tariff law has on the whole work
ed we'll, and if business has prospered
under it and if still prospecting, it is bet
ter to endure some slight Inconvenience
and inequalities for a time, than to in
cur the uncertainty and disturbance Of
business which necessarily results from
the process of making changes"
And / have heard that the President
in his political tour through the West
in the spring of 1908 made speech in
which he used this language:
IF tariff law has on the whole work
ed well, and if business has prospered
under it and is prospecting, it may be
better to endure some inconvenience and
inequalities for a time than by making
changes to risk causing a disturbance
and perhaps paralysis in the industries
and business of the country"
Verify! Two souls with but a single
thought. Two speeches that read like
one.
And that single thought SO harmoni
ously expressed is not to force single
special interest to take it's lips from
the public breast for fear the public, find
ing them unnecessary, might shake them
all off.
The temporary chairman said speaking
of the Republican party, through it
more than any other party the moral SEN
timent of the American people finds ex-
preston" Going back to ancient his
tory, in the Credit Momiier, in the De
Golyer-Ames scandal, in the whisky ring,
in the long saturnalia of southern recon-
struction or where?
Or in recent history? In the Postoffice
Department? In the Public Lands Bu-
reau? In the full sway of bosses, for
merly cursed SO bitterly and now taken
so fondly to his bosom by the President?
In the celebrated order of Hell Roaring
Jake" Smith, prescribing ten as the age
above which children were to be killed
in one of the islands of the Philippines?
In the universal honeycombing of our
national life with the corruption of leg
islation-bought special privileges? What
has ancient history to do with present
iniquities anyhow?
Mr.. Root says offenders have been
relentlessly prosecuted and sternly pun
ished." Isn't this remarkable thunder
ing in the index" for you, when COM
pared with actual Republican accom-
plishments? If there ever were deter
mination fully entertained and finally
carried out, it was the determination of
the Republican administration and the
Republican legislative body to see to it
that nobody should investigate the alleg-
ed culprits in the Postofice Department
except their colleagues in the executive
branch of the government.
There follows something, however,
which will be taken seriously. The Sec
rotary boasts that the per capita of cir
culation Of money among the people in
the United States increased from $23.14
in March, 1897, to $31.02 in May last,
and that the credit for that and the con-
sequent prosperity following it was due
to the Republican party.