The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-09-12


Dor In any great mandatory or on
any great railroad. and find out how
large is the percentage of men between
the ages of sixty-two and seventy. and
whether these men are still employed at
the highly paid tasks which they did
in their prime As a matter of fact many
railroads pension their employees when
they have reached these ages, and in ma
lions whereold age pensions prevail they
always begin somewhere between the two
limits thus set. It is easy to test our OPP
ponents' sincerity in this matter The or
der In question is revocable al the pleas
ure of the executive. If our opponents
come into power they can revoke this or
der and announce that they will treat the
veterans of sixty-two TO seventy as pre-
sumably in full bodily vigor and not
| entitled to pensions. VIII they now au-
| thoritatively state that they intend to do
| this? If so. we accept the issue. If
not, then we have the right to ask why
they raise an issue which when raised,
they do not venture to meet.
Do Not Dare to Attack.
In addition to those acts of the admin
istration which they venture to assail
| only after disappearing them, there
are others which they dare not overtly
| or officially attack, and yet which they
the overthrow of the party In certain
| great centers and with certain great in
| erests our opponents make every effort
| to show chat the settlement of the an
! thracte coal strike by the individual act
| of the President, and the successful suit
| against the Northern Securities company
| the merger suit-undertaken by the de-
| partment of justice, were acts because OF
which the present administration should
! be thrown from power. Yet they dare
not openly condemn either act. They
| dare not in any authoritative or formal
| manner say .aat in either case wrong
! was done or error committed In the
| method of action, or in the choice or
| instruments for putting that action INTO
| effect. But what they dare not man
| fully assert in open day, they seek to use
! furtively and through special agents 1t
is perhaps natural that an attack so
conducted should be made sometimes on
| the ground that too much, sometimes on
| the ground that too little, has been done.
| Some of our opponents complain because
| under the antitrust and interstate COM
! merce law suits were undertaken WhlcH
| have been unsuccessful. The democratic
state convention in New York dealt with
! the anthracite coal strike by demanding
in deliberate and formal fashion that the
| national government should take posses
| sion of the coal fields yet champions OF
| that conventions cause now condemn the
| fact that there was any action by the
! President at although they must know
| that it was only this action by the Pres
! ident which prevented the movement Tor
| national ownership of the coal fields from
| gaining wha. might well have been an
| irreslstib'o impetus. Such mutually de-
| structi-e criticisms furnish an adequate
| measure of the chance for coherent ac-
| tior or constructive legislation II our OPP
nsnents should be given power.
J Interrupted in Different Ways.
So much for what our opponents OPEN
ly or covertly advance in the way of an
attack on the acts of the administration.
When we come to consider the policies
for which they profess to stand We are
met with the difficulty always arising
when statements of policy are SO made
that they can be interpreted in different
ways On some of the vital questions
that have confronted the American peo-
pie in the last decade our opponents take
the position that silence Is the best pos
| slble way to convey their views. They
| contend that their lukewarm attitude OF
| partial acquiescence in what others have
accomplished entities them to be made
| the custodians of the financial honor and
| commercial interests which they have
| but recently sought to ruin Being un-
| able to agree among themselves as to
whether the gold standard is a curse or
blessing, and as to whether we ought
or ought not to have free and unlimited
coinage of silver, they have apparently
thought it expedient to avoid any COM
INITIAL on these subjects. and individually
each to follow his particular bent. Their
nearest approach to majority Judgment
seems to be that 1t Is now lnexpedient
to assert their convictions one way or
the other, and that the establishment Of
the gold standard by the republican party
should not be disturbed unless there is
an alteration in the relative quantity Of
production of silver and gold Men who
hold sincere convictions on vital questions
can respect equally sincere men with
whose views they radically differ; and
men may confess change of faith with
out compromising their honor or their
self-respect. But 1t + difficult to respect
an attitude of mind such as has been
fairly described above; and where there
Is no respect there can be no trust A
policy with so slender a basis of prin-
ciple would not stand the strain of a
single year of business adversely
Believe in Gold Standard.
We, on the contrary, believe in the gold
standard as fixed by the usage and YER
dict of the business world and in a
sound monetary system as matters of
principle; as matters not of momental Y
political expediency, but of permanent or
ganic policy. In 1896 and again in 1900
far-sighted men, without regard to their
party fealty In the past, joined to work
against what they regarded as debased
monetary system The policies which
they championed have been steadfastly
adhered to by the administration; and
by the act of March IA. 1900, congress es-
/ tablished the single gold standard as the
measure of our monetary value. This act
received the support of every republican
In the house, and of every republican, ex-
cept one, in the senate. OF our oppo-
nents eleven supported 1t In the house
and two in the senate; and one hundred
and fifty opposed 1t In the house and
twenty-eight in the senate The record
of the last seven years proves that the
party now in power can be trusted to
take the additional action necessary to
improve and strengthen our monetary
system and that our opponents cannot
be so trusted. The fundamental fact is
that In a popular government such as
ours no policy is rrevocably settled by
law unless the people keep in control of
the government men who believe in that
policy as a matter of deep-rooted convic-
ton. Laws can always be revoked; It is
the spirit and the purpose of those re-
sponsible for their enactment and admin
istration which must be fixed and I'M
changeable. 1t is idle to say that the
monetary standard of the nation is ir-
revoeably fixed as long as the party
which at the last election cast approx
mately forty-six per cent of the total
vote. refuses to put in its platform any
statement that the question is settled A
| determination to remain silent cannot be