The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1904-10-20
1904 AND 1904.
Democratic Speeches Now
and Forty Years Ago.

Hon. Charles F. Remy has
resurrected the democratic ar
guments of 1864 and they are
Identical with those of today and
in many respects this campaign is
not different from the successive
contests between the republican
and democratic parties since 1856
but if l read history Alright the
campaign of 1904 is more like
the campaign of 1864 than any
other. In 1884 the democratic
party had so far abandoned the
extreme position it had taken on
the question of states rights in
the campaign of SO and go that
it acknowledge the power of the
federal government to preserve
the union, and George B. Nc
Clellan in his letter accepting
the democratic nomination for
the presidency said that he be.
lieved in a vigorous nationality" p"
This being the position all along
taken by Lincoln and the repub-
licau party, there was nothing
left the for Mcclellan and his
party to do but to attack the
personality and the administra.
tion of the president and Abra-
ham Lincoln became the issue.
How like the present campaign
forty years later. The democrat
ic recoganizers have abandoned
the position taken by their party
on vital issues in 1896 and 1900;
have accepted the position of the
republican party as the right one
and have no issue than the crit
icism of the president and his adj
ministration.
In1864 they said Lincoln was
homely. They called him a ba-
boon. In 1904 there are those
who see nothing of Roosefelt
but his teeth. In 1864 they said
Lincoln was a clown, a country
town story teller. without digni-
ty, an insult to the genteel men
of the government. The Indiana
State Sentinel of Oct. %, 1864,
said editorially: 1--WE assume
that you regard Abraham Lin
coin as unfit for president. We
have a right to assume it, There
is not an intelligent man in
American today who thinks him
fit for the office.
1T is beyond denial that Mr..
Lincoln's habit of joking with
vulgarity, and too frequent in
decency, is his most prominent
characteristic" In 1904 they
tell us that Roosefelt lacks dig
nifty; that his mannerisms are
shocking.
In 1864 the democrats said that
Lincoln was a negro lover"
They make the same charge
against Theordore Roosevelt ia
1894.
Horatio Seymour said in his
speech, assuming the duties as
chairman of the democratic ma
tional convention in 1864, that
ssthis administration (Lincoln's)
can not save the union if it would.
1t has hampered it's own
freedom of action by unconsititu-
tional acts. =. We are resolved
that the party that has made the
history of our country since its
advent to power seem more like
some unanturai and terrible
dreamshall overthrown." In 1904
John Sharp Williams, the chair
man OF the St. Louis convention,
attacked President RoOsevelt's
administration, and among other
things, said: The democracy will
nominate for president man
trained in the ways of the con-
stitution, who will not usurp the
judicial and legislative functions.
The democratic platform of 18-
"a declared that Abraham Lin
coin as president had disregard
ell the constitution in every part,
and that public liberty and pri.
vate right had alike been trod-
den under foot" The st. Louis
platform says that the Roose-
velt administration has violated
the s'plan statutes of the United
States, international usages and
constitutional law"
In his letter of acceptance Nc
Clellan's criticism of Lincoln was
couched in the following Ian
gauge: ssI should seek the con-
stitution of the United States,
and the laws framed in accord
ance Herewith, the rule of my
duty and the limitation of exc
cutive power" Mr.. Parker, in
his letter OF acceptance, attacks
what he affirms to be the CEN
tralizing and imperial tender les
of the Roosevelt administr, Ion,
and states that the chief issue is |
ssconstitutionalism versus imper-
ialism.
Joseph E. Mcdonald, demo-
cratic candidate for governor of !
Indiana, in speech delivered by