Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-08-17
AN ORNATE DOCUMENT
DISCOURSES UPON BLUNDERS OF
OUR EARLY HISTORY.
Rehearses Political Life of Our Coun-
try and Pays Respects Incidentally
to the Republicans.

by a most notable convention as commit
tee to notify you of your nomination by 'he
democracy as their choice Tor vice fresi-
dent of the United States. We desire 10 eN-
press the pleasure we feel In having peeh
selected to perform this duty and our con-
fdence in YOU, your faithfuness. honesty
and wisdom. The people see IN you one
of the best products of the best period of
American institutions, a period whose sa-
lient characteristics were local sell gov
eminent. individuality. equal opportunity
and freedom-freedom to work, freedom u
buy and sell. freedom to compete IN m
dustria life resulting in self-depehuence'
freedom to develop as ones own master,
and not merely as the Weli-trdiheu anu
well-managed Industrial servant Oh an
other. They see al you what onVe. N If
doll Holmes said is rare thing-a sen
made man who is yet not proud Oh MS
maker It,. IT
was going to West Virginia WIN sonle
others to notify you of your nomination.
one of my brothers little boys. standins
by. said. Uncle John. he must be a mighty
big goose If he hasn't heard OF IL ALREADY,
Ir- certain way the notlncat,on VIII VIA
which we are charged is perfunctory ana
unnecessary, and yet it is well to MAINTAIN
by some degree of formality that respect
fnl observance which is due to great events.
The nomination by a great party 10 the
GREAT office to which we call you-the vice
MISUNDERSTANDING with 1t the duty OF
presiding over the Senate of the ohlteu
States and the possibility of succession 10
the presidency, Is a great event
Disfranchisement of Indians.
"As soon-as l learned that l was by reso-
luton of the convention to be the mourn
piece of the committee for the performance
q, This pIeasant task l began to look about
me in order to see how the duty had been
performed by others. | found from recent
performances of a similar character IN ire
republican camp that for notlhcation
speech a historical essay Is altogether .he
proper thing absolutely necessary Tor inc
emergency. We shall therefore entitle our
notification address A Brief Hlstorlca.
Disposition Upon Some OF the biuna S,2 "a
Our Ancestors, as viewed From the Stand
point of the Wisdom of Republican STATES
men Tho Have Embraced the strenuous
Life ,,,,
.s'rhe first of these consisted of discriml.
mating against the red mantle image OF
God in cherry-on account of his race ana
color and previous condition. OuI ano -.
tors said 1t was on account OF the Eihei.
or inherited race traits, tendencies anu
incapacities. of which his coior
was but the outward sign. Be that claim
Dretense or sincerity. we founu 10 oul o. %.
constituent that the door OF opportunity
and hope in the way of office holdlns ana
voting had been closed to 10! the POOR IN
dian. He was not invited In by the select
men In Connecticut, nor by the eiectors "
the self-governing towns IN Massa , se,,r
10 help govern our ancestors ana the coaH
fry winch they had committed 10 lheii
charge nor did our ancestors p,onise ~
assimiate him. This first vioiatlon ~
America of the divine right OF mannoooI1
suffraee-and of the cherished fundamental
dogma that all men of all races are equaiIy
to govern themselves, ana es-
peciaIly to govern others, mas oou'''e"'
been the Had of all our woes
q. "Plainly II was what the Boston irans-
cript so eloquently calls 'colorphobia. we
could not account for 1t except perhaps
upon line Of thought suggested oy q sen sen
tence in the notification address OF the per
manent chairman of the Chicago conVen-
tIon. Informing the President or his nomi,
q tion by the republican party 10 succeeo
himself. Mr.. Cannon said: ny oloou; us No ne
heritance, by education and by practice' we
are a self-governing people. Are we 10 De
iieve that Mr. Cannon meant 10 ihtihiate'
e converse. that nobody was or seli-soFerh-
ing capacity unless by blood, educatioh OF
successful practice.
.'If So 1t Is feared that he Is getting back
to our ancestors blunder and may incur
the danger Of receiving the appreciation OF
some of those benighted creatures known
as southern democrats. We wonder II our
ancestors in New England, New York ana
Virginia had been stupid enough to have
some notion the converse of Mr. Cannon's
utterance in their heads, and II they had
based their action on the fact that the
noble red man had none OF the blood or
races in his veins, none or
that subtle force of 'heredity.' which &C
counts for so much. and which Is so hard
to be accounted for itself; if they thought
that he had not for any sufficient length
of time been educated for the task of gov
erning white men, or had had no practice
in it, except such seemed to lead to the
conclusion that he was not capable of it.
Blundered in Early History.
THE next great blunder in our early his
tnI in, hair flE Ing
against King George and his forces. when
the latter were actuated they them
selves confessed. only by the klndest de-
signs of 'benevoently assimilatng' to
themselves our resources and our opportu-
mites. You, sir, who have a republican
son-in-law, and therefore possess culture
by affinity at least. will hardly believe that
our ancestors were stupid enough to fight
against the principle which we 50 frankly
recognize in the Philippines viz: that 1t Is
perfectly right. self-evidently proper for a
flag to cover and emblemize two entirely
different sorts of government. one for our
selves at home. protecting individual, civil
and political liberty and pretending to fur
nish full and equal opportunities for Indus
trial development and another for other in
the colonies absolute and discretionary in
its character and avowedly limiting indus
trial development there by the necessities
of commercial exploitation for the benefit
OF the home merchant and the home
manufacturer.
I'VE know now. Of course. that all our
ancestors talk about inalienable rights OF
self government. no taxation without rep
resentation. habeas corpus and right of
trial by jury. freedom of the press freedom
or speech and freedom OF assembly were
only pretext reSorted to by ranting in
surgents In order to throw Off the .ciyiIiz-
ing Influences of the best government
which the world had that far witnessed
we nave not been stupid enough to confine
TO mere words our apology for this mistake
IN our history; We have apologized by deeds
or confession. 1t seems strange that we
could, as people, have prospered indus
tlaily ana otherwise. as we have PROS
pered so marvelously. sir. In all our his
tory. both as colonies and as states in
spite OF the monstrous error-,his unboiv
rebellion. ''
Coming on down the current of time wa
round another period of popular mysteries
that Is incomprehensible to US of a wiser
generation. in view of some enIiphteninp
1acts In our recent history. Some men in
the troublesome little town of Boston
masquerading as Indians, seized and threw
INTO the sea certain cases of tea belonging
10 certain merchants of the East India
company. That this was a Violation Of
Ia" no man In England or America had
any uouot; that the violators of the law
were afnenable to punishment under the
law through Its usual processes among
which were indictment by grand j,rY
ana trlai by petit jury. none doubted
Refers to Roosevelt