The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-07-09

II
untold agonies OF the reconstruction
measures are still fresh. rou know
| him az one who considers that the
problem which, amid fields devastated
| and homes made desolate by the name
/ of war, has come to you - a dread
| legacy Of the past. 10 a problem WITH
which you alone are competent to zeal
! and that, In dealing with 1t, the gov
| eminent should let the south aione
| You know him as one who by unceas-
| ing appeals to the judgmenSand sense
al Justice has obtained from the best
men of the North that sympathy fol
| the South which the ever-to-be-
| iamented Grady had pleaded for in
| vain In the very heart of enlightened
| Massachusetts.
Gentlemen Of the convenffon--men OF
| the North and OF the South, Of the East
/ and OF the west-7accredited represen-
| tatives OF Democracy, to- you / say;
| should your nominee be man whose
/ views upon public questions are known
l d man whose attitude upon the issue
l which, at this time. confronts the
| American people, accord with the prin-
| ciples Of your party?
| II he should. where will there be
| found one equal to him whose cause
we are here to advocate?
1t has been said, and truly said, that
| no campaign ever decides more than
one issue. What, then, 10 the Issue
which divides today the Democratic
and Republican parties? What is the
fundamental principle upon which they
are in antagonism? What is, the es-
sential thing which Democracy stands
for and which Republication antagon-
| ICES? Is 1t question of tariffs or
| tarin revision? A question of stand
ards of money? A question of regulate
Ing the currency or controlling the
banks? a question of expansion, or of
| imperialism? No. Important as these
| are. the question Is greater than any
| or all OF these. 1t includes them all.
1t IL true, but IL includes much more
1t Is question which touches the very
foundations Of our institutions and
strikes at the very existence of our
| government. Let euphemistic babb1ers
gloss 1t over as they may; let trim
mers who shift their sail to every po-
litica1 breeze that blows, evade it as
| they can; let time servers who usurp
the name OF Democracy, affect to sneer
| at 1t as they will. still the question
which confronts the American people
tOuay-whfch has confronted them
with ever growing insistence since the
civil war--is whether this government
shall be carried on for the benefit of
the people. and Of the whole people,
or whether it shall be manipulated for
the dement, OF privileged class
whether its great departments, legisla-
tive. executive and judicial. shall be
perpetuated for the protection OF the
equal rights of all, or whether they
shall be perverted into the plastic in
struments OF syndicated capital
Gentlemen of the Convention, IL this
IL not the paramount issue of this cam
pafgn. what Is the issue7 II this Is
not the fundamental question upon
which the two parties differ, in what
do they differ? If the Republican party
does not stand today as the party Of
the privileged classes and as the ex-
ponent OF the money power, for what
does 1t stand? and IL the Democratic
party does not represent the antithesis
of all this. what does 1t represent? II
the cause of the people-of the plain
people--of the upnumbered multitudes
who each morn 'implore heaven to
give them their daily bread, and who,
by daily toll earn the right to the fulfii-
ment Of their prayer, Is not the cause
of Democracy, what is the cause? IL
its mission Is not to defend the equal
rights of those who constitute the
countless hosts OF labor-not of labor
in a narrow or restricted sense, not of
labor confined to those only who re-
ceiye daily wage; not of labor or
gani1ed IN guilds or unions alone but
Of labor in its broad and catholic sense
of labor which includes all those who
work with hand or brain. and who.
whether in fields of waving grain in
the glare of the forge, in the smoke
of the furnace, amid the whiz of ever
restless wheels in the depths OF mines.
In the emphytic air of collieries. upon
the decks Of floating craft, at the desk
of the counting house, in the chemists
laboratory. maong the books of the
lawyers library. in the merchants
shop or wheresover else upo1
the earth may be found those who full
fill the great Creators law, that man
sEall eat his bread in the sweat of
his brow-if say, to defend the equal
rights Of these. the unprivileged and
the less favored, be not the mission
OF Democracy, what mission has it7 II
to protect them from the schemes of
speculation and plumber. of syndicated
wealth, is not the justification for its
existence. what justification have 1t to
exist? Aye, gentlemen. If the cause of
the plain people Is not the cause to
which you are pledged. devoted, con-
secrated by the very name you bear.
by what title do you call yourselves
Democrats? BY what right do you
usurp the name of him whose memory
you profess to venerate. whose pre-
cepts you approve in your platform,
whose examples you claim to emulate.
by what right do you style yourselves
followers of him who said:
1T hope we shall crush In Its birth
the aristocracy of our money corpora
lions which dare put our Government
70 a trial of strength and bid defiance
to the laws Of country" of him whose
% rdinal maxim was Equal rights for
all: special privileges for none"--of
him whose life was one incessant bat
tie waeed against the oppression OF
the MANY for the benefit of the few?
repeat 1t, sirs. IL the cause OF the
unnrivilesed and the less favored De
NOT vour cause, IL to secure them equal
tights be not your mission. If to pro-
rect them against the oppression OF
syndicated capital be no the 1ustlnca-
tion of your existence as party, aye
airs. II YOU are here today bent upon
outdoinR Republicans In truculent SUD
serviencv to the money oligarchs Oh
wall street. If you are here tremuous
with apprehensions or fear OF giving
them offense, If you are here cherishlng
the hone of placating their antagonism'
1pinninz their favor by subserVlency
ana reRaining office and place by the
aid of their influence and the corrupt
ing mower of their gold-if the party
has sunk so low, II it has reached this
depth of contemplate degeneracy, rise
from the grave. immortal Spirit that
sieeps under the sod of Monticello, rise
and rebuke the recreant Democracy,
which with hypocrisy in its heart ana
a lie unon its Inns dare usurp the name