The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1904-04-28


drew your inspiration from the life Of
oliver r. Morton! DO you shrink from
the responsibility. you who rece we'd y.ur
instruction from the lips of BENJAMIN Har-
rison? Do you dread the approaching con-
dict. you who are still guided by she death
less presence of William Mckinley. NO.
Our party, united. inspired by the con-
seriousness Of the highest patriotism. with
nothing to regret and naught to make US
ashamed: with a record clean and spotless
and filled with the most illustrious tr'unIhs
prosperous and our people everywhere nap
py-our party hopefully faces the dawn,
confident that the ticket Il shall nominate
that the platform Ii shall adopt viii voice
the aspirations Of a great majority OF our
fellow-men.
THE DEMOCRATIC RECORD.
And In the meantime what has the Dem
ocratic party been doing? What triumphs
are engraved upon its banners? What has
1t accomplished to warrant the people In
deposing the Republican party from power
and placing the control Of the government
In its hands?
Gentlemen. have you ever permitted
yourselves to contemplate what would have
been the inevitable results had the Demo-
cratic party been able to execute It's plans
and purposes at different periods In our
party?
II that organization had been permitted
to carry out its designs in the sixties this
should instead look out upon once great
Union dissolved. its former States dis
cordant and belligerent. their people anil
mated by hatred and malice and inspired
BY motives of revenge.
II that party had been permitted to
carry out Its designs in the sixties we
should TO-DAY behold the black banner of
African slavery waving over the fields OF
the Southland. African slavery. with all It's
unspeakable woes. would today curse the
fairest portion of our land. and the hands
would be set back upon the dial Of time
thousand years. IL that party had been
permitted to enforce its policies In the
pudiated. self-respect would have been
sacrificed. the great lessons Of national
honor we have since given the world would
moral tone which today characterizes inter
national thought, feeling and action would
have been an impossible dream For with Will,
men. when honor is lost all Is lost.
Had that party had free hand in the
as 1t once had In the nInetes. 1t would
have destroyed utterly the last vestige OF
our protective tariff system. 1t would
have given our manufactures over to the
keen and merciless competition OF similar
institutions in Europe, where the labor
engaged has always been underpaid and
underfed and underclothed. This policy
would have taken our wool. our cotton.
our ores and all our raw material to Eu-
rope to be there converted into the fin
shed product. and would then have ex-
\
our cattle for that finished product. For
eign capitalists would thus have laid their
exacting hand upon the products of our
farms. forests. our mines. and levied
tribute upon every branch of our industry
to sustain their factories. their mechanics.
their artisans s.. They would thus have pre- re,
Is so essential TO a complete civilization.
History proves that no people can ever at
c easn the that do mot fniiT develop '' manufac
turing. The national hand must he trained.
as we'll as the national head and the ma
dard IN Trder at 10 easurp up TO
assert that no nation can be truly indie
pendent that does not to the fullest degree
try. To be really Independent. nation
must be self-sustaining. though all the
world should close its gates. and no ma
tion can be self-sustaining that does not
produce everything that its climate. its soil
and its natural resources will enable II to
produce. That is the key that unlocks the
mystery of the tarif-a nation to be inde-
pendent must be self-sustaining: to be self
sustaining il must do its own work. and
this would have been impossible under the
operation of anv tariff law proposed by the
Democratic party for sixty years-yes, In
all our history.
IL that organization had been able to en-
force its demands in 1896 this country
would have gone to a silver basis. Our
entire financial. Industrial and commercial
system would have been impoverished. de-
pleted and well-nigh DESTROYED Had the
same Democracy been powerful enough to
enforce its platform demands In 1900 II
would have sounded the first note Of re-
treat ever heard beneath our flag. II
would have disbanded our army. Ii would
have scattered our navy. 1t would not have
taken Porto Rico. Ii would not have re-
ceived the Hawaiian islands. 1t would not
have annexed Guam. III would have pulled
down our flag at Manila and. unmindful of
the unparalleled triumph Of Dewey i'm that
bay. would have ANONYMOUSLY withdrawn
from the Philippines forever. IL would
have abandoned those islands to tribal In
surrection. TO predatory and wasteful war
fare. to atrocities as unspeakable as those
Of Weyler in Cuba. to the medieval tor
ture of half -barbaric Spain. until some
ton. more courageous than our own. had
assumed sovereignty over them In the inter
est of humanity and for the advancement
OF its own commercial concerns
WHAT OF THE PRESENT?
But. Mr.. Chairman. it is not enough to
Invoke the past. What of the present?
Where do these two great parties stand
with reference to the questions that today
confront and perplex us as people?
What are the vital issues involved in this
contest? Whatever issues they may seek
to present we propose to meet them on.
because on everv fundamental question
that can possibly be brought forth in this
contest we are vitality right and they are
essentially wrong.
Will the issue be the much-Yaunted post
onice scandal! II so We are ready for tle
contest 1t might we'll be concluded that
| such was the purpose Of a party hard
| pressed for some question upon which
| to wage the impending. conflict. But Is
| there one grain OF comfort In 1t for this
purposeless party?
Is the President to be condemned? Upon
the first. whIsperings Of fraud in that de
| partment he at once ordered an investiga-
! ton. and the language of his instant COM
mand was: Let no guilty man escape"
| What was the result! An investigation at
| that every Democrat in congress approved
and every Republican In congress applaud
| ed Its sweeping results; an investigation
| that unearthed every fraud and brought
| to the light of day every crime; an inyesti-
| CATION that led to tie Indictment, trial
and conviction Of every guilty man.
The people of this country might Justly
| condemn party that concealed fraud and
secreted crime, but it will scarcely punish
| a party that exposes corruption. that lays
It open to the light and that apprehends
| and convicts every man engaged In It, Is
| the party to blame because some Ilen In Of
i dee dsappoint expectation and prove re-
creant to their trust? Unfortunately all
| men are not honest: unfortunately dishon-
est men vii! get into Office, but the party
| In power Is In no wise to blame unless II
shields them In their dishonesty. When
| we reflect upon the facts that some Of the
men convicted were Democrats and some
service and some were not, and that the
| party in power vigorously investigated
relentlessIy pursued and merc..essly pun
4 ished every guilty man, certainly there can
be no condemnation Of Its conduct. Why,
then, all this talk? Why ali these vague
and misty charges? The cause 1t not far
! to seek. The Democratic party had to
have an issue, and, having nothing else at
hand and no other one appearing on the
horizon. It sought to manufacture one-to
force one-out OF this AFFAIR.
THE TARIFF.
Is the issue to be the tariff? If 80, we
are prepared to meet 1t at every point
The Democrats In this campaign will Wig
orously assail the tarin. From beginning
i nsa nd nil La