New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-11-03
WHAT Mr.. PARKER SAID
Extracts from His Remarks at
Cooper Union and Carnegie Hall.


Have you ever seen anybody able to give you
d" '".eilgent and satisfactory reason why we
must have those things "a big army and navv,?
Some say We must have them To nrotac+ o,
commerce ! ask then has there ever bean a
moment since the year 1872 when our commerce
suHeleo III the lsast from the want OF a bI-
navy to protect it2
The President may then force a war upon the
country in spite of the adverse opinion OF Con
gress he may do this. keeping as to the exer-
else of his powers within the letter OF the Con
stltution, although hagrantIy violating its spirit
and intent And he may do this almost sure OF
the subsequent approval and support OF Con-
SIess, which. when an accomplished fact has
put our country In an attitude more or less
hostHe 10 foreign power is usually very re-
luctehI 10 dlsavow our government
Whether We armed OF unarmed, every
European power. even the greatest and proudes.
VIII go to the very extreme of possible conces-
sion to avoid a serious quarrel with this Repub-
ic. Every sensible knows that there is
not one Of those powers which entertains the
shShtest idea of attacking US; that they win
readily comply with whatever we can decentlv
ask for, and that if we are TO have any conflict
with any one of them we shall have to bring IL
on ourselves by uncomfortable provocation- The
simple reason is that. aside from what moral
loNC VI peace tuey may cherish. LLey can laTQly
afford 10 have a serious struggle with so re-
sourceful and pertinacious an antagonist as this
Republic. in view of the possibility OF dangerous
complications at hOme--tFrom his Cooper
Union speech
Whichever party az given time G5i0.Is IT,
moral side; whichever party. to borrow a phrase
from our opponents. is "a party fit to govern"
gets its credentials from the independent voters
of the land
2
that the support in this campaign of the indie
pendent vote gives not alone an assurance OF
victory, but abiding faith that that for which
We are coutecding is the right
Not unnaturally we are threatened with a
great danger-the lack Of self-controL And in
what aIluring form does temptation assan u.s.
We are great We are strong. We are rich.
our mission IS the refuge of the downtrodden
and the protection Of the oppressed. What more
natural then, that we should say we need great
revenues, . great army and a powerful navy
that may fulfil the mission 10 which
have been called? But in al human experience
to what uses have great revenues great armies
and great uavies been putt Have they, in fact.
been ever used by their possessors 10 elevate
mankind?
What have we then before US in this election?
We. the plain people cf the United States. stand
ranged on one side. on the other as l view il,
stand the forces which make for evil to the
United States. There we find the exaggerated
tariff aggraudizing the few. and the trusts
grinding the many; there the extravagance that
is their bedfelIOw there the tnsOIent disregard of
the rights Of the weak and there the greed OF
empire
Behind them stand not those citizens OF the
United States who are the true Republicans. but
those few who have for their own purposes
seized upon the power OF the people and who
rely on the traditions OF the Republican party
and the deIusions created by their astuteness for
the perpetuation in their hands of the powers
they have misused.