The Delta independent., 1904-10-21
MAIN ISSUE AT STAKE.
IT 10 NOT THE PERSONALITY OF
THE CANDIDATES.
Great Question Il Whether = Republi-
can or Democratic Ad dm In istration
Shall cond net the Affairs of Govern.
aent - opposition IL Neither Safe
Nor Sane.

Nor Sane.
Although the Republican party vel
comes comparison of tho rharactc
and personality OF its candidates witt
those OF the candidates of the ST. I.oui
convention. it prefers to urge the cleo
tion OF Roosevelt and Fairbanks AZ fit
ting representatives and instruments O.
the party's policies and intentions.
II it were true. which it is not, tha
there is anything in the career of Judge
Alton B. Parker TO justify the cOnten
ton that he would make "Saner an,
safer President than Theodore Roo<e
velt, the fact would remain. that. tied
up with the Democratic party. a Moses
with the modern equipment of a Glad
stone, could not insure as safe and sane
government as the Republican part,
has administered under President Koose
welt.
1t is not pretended that Judge Parker
possesses any superiority OF statecraft
character or experience to Grover Cleve
land. In fact. he has been accepted by
the conservative clements of Democracy
as disappointing alternative for the
ponderous oracle OF Ruzzard's Bay. and
he has only been accepted by the radical
or Bryan element of the party. because
he had demonstrated the lack Of Cleve-
lands safety and sanity by voting for
free silver In 1896 and 1900.
In these two votes the proof is COM
plete that there is nothing in Judge
Parkers convictions. character or con-
science to promise anything better. should
he be elected. than weak, vacillatimG
and reactionary Democratic administra-
ton.
Worse than this, whatever may be
thought Of Judge Pnrkcr's personal char
acter and ability. he stands before the
world as rhe presidential creation Of
David r. Hill. and his chief associates
and advisers since his nomination have
hcen Hill. "Rilr' Sheehan. Pat" Nc
Carren, Charlie Murphy and others
of the Manhattan brand OF Tammany
statesmen for revenue only.
"Mr. Facing both. Ways"
Nothing in his campaign ntteranccs
has suggested that Judge Parker pos
:'esses any Of the stern attributes Of
leadership that bind parties 10 the will
Of a strong. conservative. conscientious
chief. On the contrary he has earned
the sohriqnet, bestowed upon him hy
Speaker Cannon. of "Mr.-Faciug- Both
Ways"
Therefore vote for the safe and
sane" Parker and his octogena ran mate
il only to be justified by trust in the
safety and sanity of the party whose
nominees they are.
For forty ycars-ba rring the two
Cleveland intervals-the Democracy has
l'een excluded from power. because the
American people have mistrustcd its
safety, its sincerity and its sanity. Dur
ing all that period 1t has embraced with
in its ranks nearly all the clements OF
discomfort, discord and reaction that are
the signs and proofs of hopeless politi-
cal stagnancy and decay. ZIG"
: As a party 1t threw every impediment
within Its reach in the way of the ener-
Eetic prosecution of the war for the
preservation of the Union. H
That the reader may understand that
the Democratic leopard has not changed
its spots in forty years 1t may be re-
called that on July 2, 1864, the Demo
cratic members of Congress put forth
an address to the people of the Un:'e
States in which. according to George
William Curtis in Harper's Monthly.
President Lincoln was charged with the
engrossment Of power: with military in
reference in elections: with the crea.
ton Of bogus States with illegally rais-
ing troops; with unnecessary and hateful
conscription; with the payment of ex-
Orbitant bounties: with employing colored
troops on an equality with white soldiers;
with setting up false and ruinous finan-
cial system: with placing us in peril OF
foreign interference: with enieavoring to
corrupt the race by amalgamation with
negroes"
In August of that same year August
Belmont, whose son is now pulling wires
behind the "Sphinx of Esopus," as tenn
porary chairman of the Democratic Ma
tional Convention, said that -four years
Of misrule by a sectional. fanatical and
corrupt party had brought our country
to the verge Of ruin. The past and pres
ent are sufficient warnings Of the dis.
astrous consequences which would befall
us II Mr.. 1incoln's reelection should be
made possible by our want of patriotism
and unity"
ssynour's Sentiments.
Horatio Seymour. in his speech ns
permanent chairman Of the same con-
vention. inveighed bitterly against lin.
coins administration and the Republican
party. saying: They were animated by
intolerance and fanaticiSnI. and blinded
"! Ill ignorance OF tne spirit or our III
stitutons. the character OF our people
aad the condition OF our land" "Step by
step" be continued. they have marched
On to results from which at the outset |
they would have shrunk with horror:
and even now when war has desolated
our land. has laid its heavy burdens upon
labor. and when bankruptcy and ruin
overhang us. they will not have the union
restored except upon conditions unknown
10 the Constitution" He concluded by
demanding the restoration Of the Union
through the unconditional surrender of
the principle Of national self-preserva-
tion and the full recognition of the
rights Of the States" demanded by the
people Of the South
These speeches of Belmont and Sey-
mour--the prototypes of the Belmonts
and Hills. Bryans and Ben Tillmans.
Bsurke Cockrans and Carl Schurzes OF
our day-were but tho prelude 10 the res
elutions OF the convention in which lin
teln's administration Wan denounced
from every traditional point sf view with.
in tho vocabulary OF PARTISAN vitupera-
tion. and the war was denounced as fail.
ure in the following perennial Democratic
phraseology:
Resolved, That the convention does ex-