The Miller sun. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 190?-19??, 1904-10-26
CHOICE OF PARTIES.
Why Young Men Should Vote the Re-
publican Ticket.

clined to make n speech for Judge Par
ker, has found it worth while to write
a magazine article on why a Young
Man Should Vote tie Democratic
Ticket With what may be regarded
as the ~pardonable egotism of advanc-
ing years, Mr.. Cleveland gives his own
mistake in choosing between Fremont
and Buchanan half a century ago as
a sufficient argument why young men
should make the like mistake of ally
ing themselves with the party which has
learned nothing and forgotten nothing
since.
If Mr.. Cleveland had cited his choice
OF Buchanan as his political idol and
guide as a warning to all young mel
to avoid when making choice OF the
party with which they are about to afiili-
ate his reasoning would have been com
prehensible. 1t may be recalled that
buchanan was the last Democratic Presi-
dent before the war. The party to which
young Cleveland (age 19 gave his
callow allegiance in 1856 went into de-
served eclipse in 1860, from which it did
not fully emerge until 1884, when he was
elected President by the Mugwump d.
version of that year.
From 1860 to 1884 the Republican
party successfully administered the gov
nme of the United States through
the tribulations of q terrible civil war,
to which the temporizing vacillation of
Buchanan contributed, and through the
trying period OF reconstruction. resump-
ton of specie payments and wonderful
national expansion.
When Lincoln was first i%naugurated
the population Of the United States was
31,443,321; at the time of Cleveland's
first election it was 54,011,O00. During
the same. period the wealth of the re-
public had risen from SIG, 159,G16,O00 to
about $50,000,000,00 0.
When Lincoln was inaugurated the
national debt was less than $9O,O0O,OO o
by the close of the war of secession it
had risen to $2,674,S15,S56 By 1884,
when Cleveland was elected. it had been
reduced, through Republican financing,
over one billion dollars, to $l,43S,542,99
When Buchanan was President, full
filling all the ideals of young Cleveland
Of safe and sane" government, the cir
c~ulation of money in the United States
ranged from $15.S1 DOWN to $13.S5
per capita. During the succeeding
twenty-four years of Republican admin
istration it ranged from $l3.9S UP to
$22.65 per capita.
During Cleveland's first term the
money in circulation ranged from $23.O2
DOWN to S21.S2 per capita. rising from
S22.52 to S24.56 under President Harri-
SON., Republican, only to drop again from
$24.03 DOWN to $21.41 during the sec
ond term of the sober and conserva-
tive Cleveland.
Starting at $21.41 in 1S96-the lowest
point in sixteen years-the per capita cir
c~ulation Of money in the United States
has risen steadily during the terms Of
Presidents Mckinley and Roosevelt UNI
til, according to the latest statement Of
the Treasury Department on October 1,
1904, it was $31.16, estimated OF a popu-
lation of S2,214,0 900.
The fuctuation of the per capita cir
c~ulation of money during Republican
and Democratic administrations affords
a representative barometer OF the success
or failure of the conduct of national af'
fairs.
Mr.. Cleveland says he was attracted
to the Democratic party by its doctrines
and methods" The Republican party
invites and attracts all young Americans
to it's support by the souudness Of its
principles and an unbroken record oil
splendid and substantial results.
Mr.. Cleveland finds a slight resem-
blance' in and attempts an ~inyldlous
comparison between the campaigns ana
candidates of 1856 and 19O4. lie speaks
of Fremont's nomination as an appeal
"to the peoples romantic sentiment ana
love for the spectacular" while on the
other hand 'the Democratic party chal-
lenged the sober and conservative thought
of the country by the nomination or the
mature undramatic and experienced
Buchanan"
There can be no installing the unwar-
ranted parallel this is intended to sug-
gest and emphasize. That Roosevelt does
appeal to the romantic sentiment Of the
American people is true, but he appeals
to them because of the singular candor
and genuineness of his nature. the posi-
tiyeness and courage of his actions, the
remarkable versatility and resourceful-
ness of his mind. To depreciate Mr..
Roosevelt by inferring that he suffers
anything by contrast with Buchanan re-
viyed in the person of Judge Parker
as being immature, dramatic and mex
p~erienced is to invite a comparison alto
gether favorable to the Republican can
didate. In age Mr.. Roosevelt is within
two years of being as mature as Mr..
Cleveland was when he was elected Pres
ident, and in experience he has had
more variety of responsibility than both
Mr.. Cleveland and Judge Parker rolled
into one.
When it comes to choosing between
parties because of their candidates the
young voter will not look beyond Theo-
dore Roosevelt as the best living incar-
nation of the spirit of aggressive manli-
ness-a duty-loving, duty-doing citizen.
If the choice is between the records or
the personnel of the two great parties
the choice is equally easy. The Demo-
cracy to-day offers nothing TO young men
starting out on careers but wornout
creeds and unfulflled croakings. 1t only
survives as a brake on the swift adj
yancing wheels of American public life.
On the other hand, the Republican
party invites the affiliation and support
of young men because Of its splendid
achievements and the vitality and viril-