The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1904-07-14
petite for national ..prestIge.' and dls.

dom OF the American people shouio see
10 It that Il brings no more. To revive
the dead and hateful race and sectional
animosities IN any part Of our common
country means confusion. distraction OF
business and the reopening Of wounds
now happily healed. North. south. east
and west have but recently stood together
In line of battle from the walls Of Pektn
to the hills OF Santiago and as sharers
CT 4 common glory and common ees-
tiny we should share fraternally the COM
mon burdens. We therefore deprecate
and condemn the Bourbon-like- selfish
and narrow spirit of the recent repub-
ucan convention at Chicago which sought
to kindle anew the embers Of racial and
sectional strife. and we appeal from 1t to
the sober common sense and patriotic
spirit OF the American people.
The existing republican administration
has been spasmodic, erratic, sensational,
spectacular and arbitrary. 1t has made
itself a satire upon the congress, the
courts and upon the settled practices and
usages of national and international law.
II summoned the congress into hasty
and futile extra session and virtually adj
journed II, leaving behind its flight from
Washington uncalled calendars and I'M
accomplished tasks II made war, which
Is the sole power OF congress, without
its authority thereby usurping one of its
fundamental prerogatives. II violated
a plain statute OF the United States as
well as plain treaty obligations, interna-
tional usages and constitutional law; and
has done so under pretensepf executing
q great public policy which could have
been more easily effected lawfully, con-
stitutionally and with honor. II forced
strained and unnatural constructions
.s.s, NAa Unfair
pretation and substituting congressional
enactment by decree. 1t withdrew from
congress its customary duties Of investi-
cation which have heretofore made the
representatives of the people and the
states the terror Of evildoers. II con-
Quoted a secretive investigation OF Its
own and boosted q a few sample con-
victs while II threw a broad coverlet over
the bureaus which had been their chosen
field of operative abuses and kept In
power the superior officers under whose
administration the crimes bad been COM
mitted. II ordered assault upon some
monopolies, but paraylzed by Its first VIC
tory, II flung out the flag Of truce and
cried out that II would not run amuck,"
leaving Its future purposes beclouded by
Its vacillations,
The democracy when entrusted with
power will construct the Panama canal
speedily. honestly and economically.
thereby giving to our people what demo-
Gratis have always contended for. a great
interoceanic canal, furnishing shorter and
cheaper lines of transportation and
broader and less trammeled trade rela-
tions with the other peoples OF the world.
We favor liberal trade arrangements
with Canada and with peoples of other
countries where they can be entered into
with benefit TO the American agriculture,
manufactures, mining and commerce,
| We favor the admission of the terrific
rios Of Oklahoma and the Indian terri
tory. We also favor the immediate adj
mission of Arizona and New Mexico as
separate states and a territorial govern
| ment for Alaska and Porto Rico. We
| hold that the officials appointed to adj
| miniscr the government of any territory,
| as well as with the District of Alaska,
should he bona ilde residents at the time
Of their appointment of the territory or
| district In which their duties are to be
performed.
We favor the maintenance Of the Mon
| roe doctrine Ia its fun integrity.
We favor the reduction of the army and
| Of army expenditure to the point his
| torically demonstrated to be safe and
| sufficient
The democracy would secure to the sur
| viving soldiers and sailors and their de-
| pendcnts generous pensions, not by an
| arbitrary executive order, but by lcgis-
| lation which Il grateful people stand
| ready to enact. Our soldiers and sailors
who defend with their lives the consti-
| tuition and the laws have a sacred inter-
| est In their Just administration They
must therefore share with us the humilia-
| ton with which we have witnessed the
| exaltation of court favorites without dis
| tinguished service. over the Scared he
| roes of many battles: or aggrandized by
| executive appropriations out Of the treas
uries of PROSTATE people, in violation
| of the act of congress which fixes the
| compensation and allowances of the mil
] itary officers.
We denounce the ship subsidy bill re-
Gently passed by the United States SEN
ate as an iniquitous appropriation of
| public funds for private purposes and
a wasteful. illogical and useless attempt
to overcome by subsidy the Instructions
raised by republican legislation to the
| growth and development of American
| commerce on the sea.
We favor the upbuilding of merchant
marine without new or additional bur-
dens upon the people and without boun-
] ties from the public treasury.
The democratic party stands commit
ted to the principles of civil service re-
form and we demand the honest, Just
/ and impartial enforcement We denounce
the republican party for its continuous
and sinister encroachments upon the
| spirit and operation of civil service rules
whereby 1t has arbitrarily dispensed with
examinations for office In the interests OF
favorites, and employed all manner OF
devices to over-reach and set aside the
principles upon which the civil service
was established.
We demand the determination of polyg.
amy within the Jurisdiction of the United
States and the complete separation oil
church and state In political affairs.
| We congratulate our western citizens
upon the passage Of the measure known
as the Newlands irrigation act for tn,
irrigation and reclamation Of the arid
lands Of the west-a non-partisan vote
and passed In the house against the Cd
position of almost all the republican
leaders by a vote the majority Of which
Il was democratic. We call attention to thi.
great democratic measure, broad ant
comprehensive as II Is, working automat
ically throughout all time without fur
} Their action Of congress, until the re
clamation Of all the lands in the arid ives
capable Of reclamation IL accomplished
reserving the lands reclaimed for home
seekers In small tracts, and rigIdly guard
ing against land monopoly. as an evidenc
OF the policy of domestic development
contemplated by the democratic party
| should Il be placed in mower