The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-07-09
Speech of Martin w. LittIeton,
of New York,
Nominating Alton b. Parker for
the Presidency.
AN ELOQUENT APPEAL
To Democrats to Bury All Past
Differences.
Declares There Are No Party
Discussions in His State.

St. Louis, July 9.-In placing the
name OF Alton B. Parker before the
Democrat national convention Mar
tin w. Littleton of New York said;
Mr.. Chairman and gentlemen of the
convention: We donot expect here that
stupid peace which smells of chioro-
\ form. We do not wish that unctuous
unanimity which springs from the
unconhicting emotions Of a solitary
man. We would not have our har-
mony in a single harness We, too.
love the stir of a strenuous life; but
we believe in equal strenuousness for
all and special strenuousness for none.
We do not derive our power from the
seats of the mighty but from the souls
of the humble. We do not ask for
inane agreement springing from
faithless fire. but rather out
bursts of dissension issuing from ro-
bust freedom We are not in exec
utive session, but rather in commit |
tee of the whole We were sent here
by the people to select a candidate; |
were not sent here by the candl- I
date to notify the people Our adj |
versarfes. by dwelling tenderly on the |
simplicity of the lamented Mckinley, |
managed to endure for three days the |
strenuosity of Roosevelt But, re-
counting in affectiOnate terms the /
achievements of the one, they evoked /
an enthusiasm which they Immediate
that were shed for the noble dead.
they saw a larger outline of the living.
Driven by lash and lured by luck they |
called on all the sacred dust to keep /
their spirits up
Tribute to Mckinley.
Set to run for three full days the
pendulum petered out. the hands stuck
fast, and only a strenuous shake
Spiritless in the sulIen task they work
ed up hill against the grain and grav-
ity of the hour. Without the master
whom they had learned to love they
fingered listless under the whip of one
whom they have learned to fear
Stripped of premeditated pomp and /
shorn of premediated pomp and
sion meant no more or less than an
era of boots and spurs Take away
the tribute to the dead. and all that
is left is a horseman on the slope
of san Juan Remove the reverend
black that tells of a nations grief. and
underneath is a khaki uniform With
hold the record made by hands and
hearts now still and all that is left
IS usurpation's bold account Pull of
the mask that wears the kindly smile
Of peace, and see the grim and firm
set teeth of war. It was the change
from sure and certain ways then the
shifting. eddying currents of the wild
unknown 1t was a leap in the dark
ness of Republican eclipse, and four
years hence will find them vainly look
ing for the light 1t marks the place
- I
vice forsoOk the beaten path and
went on a winding way of untraveled
road. 1t marks the gap between the
era of conservative and the radical.
1t looks good now because they do
not see where the old force ends and
the new begins. But as they drive
away to sea the ever widening span
twixt craft and land will set many a /
life boat toward the shore
Old Way the Best.
There is much talk of twisting ten
dOns in the race for life; of running
out of breath toward the open grave.
The old and honored way is still the
best; be not SO strenuous as to strain
yourself, nor yet so simple as to fall
asleep There is much said by those
who sit on cushioned chairs about
towards and weaklings in the nations
life The sunburnt farmer is just as
brave as the star crowned soldier. |
The man of natural peace is a hero
hundred times to where the man
of artificial war is a hero once. Some
how of late the atmosphere of our ma
tional life is filled with a spray of
blood. somehow the march of progress
sounds OF hammered steel: somehow
although the sunlight of peace is all
about US, there is now and then the
CLEAN of bayOnets in its radiant fire
and a flash of swords in its silver
beams; somehow, although the constf-
tLtion is still in force, there is a
sense Of falling power and growing
o1SreSpect which makes us feel that
the venerable old man. so TO speak
is halt and blind with years and bur-
dens the strenuous household of his
grandchildren Somehow at times
there was a sort of shock right down
TO the foundations CT this republic
which makes the structure trembIe,
and all the county pauses and listens
and then returns to work.
Somehow. although the future well
comes US, 1t does so with a mailed
hand; somehow. although you can not
put your finger on the cause there
IS a universal fear; the mother watch
ing while her children sleep. mods and I
then she hears the bugle call. the ,
tramp of soldiers and staring in the i