Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-10-27

We have never owned Cuba; we nave
never claimed to own it. The Philip
pines are ours by every sanction known
to public law; by fortune of war, py
treaty, by purchase, by occupation, py
undisturbed and undisputed posses
sion. To say that the cases are the
same and require the same treatment
simply SHOWS in the man who says II
| a confusion of mind or a deliberate
Misrepresentation, either Of which
proves him 10 be-in the words of one
of Judge Parker's most ardent admir-
ers-''not fit TO be President this year
or any other year"
| In this speech the Democratic candi-
date has given the measure of his
knowledge of large affairs, has shown
his lack of any sense of responsibility,
and has introduced another element
of doubt and danger into the problems
which would confront his administra-
| ton if he were elected.
This, gentlemen, is the cruX OF the
situation. If you vote the Republican
ticket you know what you are doing.
The Republican record and the Repub-
lcar professions are at one. They
ayow what they have done. They
make no apologies, no excuses, Tor 1t.
They say that under similar circum-
stances they will do the same again.
Whether right or wrong they are clear,
explicit. straightforward. They ask no
| mans vote on false pretenses. On
The other hand-and | wish to speak
| with respect of d great party which
embraces 50 many good citizens, so
MANY of our valued friends-no wizard
son of a seventh son can tell what
the Democratic policy is, what they
would do with the government If they
were given it. Their platform is a set
of turbid and evasive phrases. The
utteranccs of their public men are
shifty and elf-contradictory. They
tax of Il policy of adventure! L nave
vet to hear of an adventure 50 reck-
less ana wild as intrusting the for
tunes Of the Republic to an aggrega-
| zion like the Democratic party of to-
| day-a fortuitous concourse of unre-
lated prrjuCiices. We can say tonight,
what has so often been said before in
times of far more danger and stress
than these. that the Republican party
| is the ship-all else is the sea. 1t is
the only certainty in sight.
| At every election we hear that there
should be rotation in ofhce-that
neither party should be continually III
power. None of us deny that there is
some truth in this contention. There
! should be occasional change in the
government; there may be whenever
two things happen: When the Repub-
Leans forsake their record and the
| Democrats get rid of theirs. Again
say we are not so silly as to claim any
individual superiority, moral or m
teIlectual, over our opponents. IL
| would lie absurd to say that nearly
half our people are devoid OF the hlgn-
est civic virtues. But the simple
truth is they are badly led They
made a mistake, deplorable past al
computation, in 1860. and they have
not recovered from it yet. FlrS'
thnre was slavery extension, then Sc
cession, then reputation, and popu'
,ism and free silver-a hopeless sue
cession of mistakes. 1t is most diff
cult-we hope it will not be impossible
for them to extricate themselves
from such a Serbonian bog. We al
earnestly desire the day when the Two
parties may enter the lists under
|
painful to say that day has not yet
dawned
There was a moment this year wher
we had hopes of a salutary change IN
the Democratic attitude. They We're
travel-stained and unhappy with their
wanderings in the wilderness IN 1871
and 1900. They seemed to have made
ND their minds that free trade, repu-
dja;ion and anarchy were out or date
and unbecoming-that they no longer
appealed to the public taste. so they
tried to get as near to the Repupllcar
platform as possible. Some OF thelI
leaders apparently intended, when they
went to st. Louis, to say to the coun
? try: We are Just as safe and sane as
the Republicans We are for the golc
1 standard: for a reasonable tariff; fol
restraining unlawful combinations
without iniuring lawful business; fol
seIf-goyernment, not abandonment, o.
the Philippines. But the instinct Of
I laundering was too strong for them
l As soon as they got together the power
r NJ the mass asserted itself. The!
3 turned down the gold-standaro
= nroposition. they declared protection tt
: be robbery, and came out fatty TOT th'
immediate abandonment of the Phllp'
: mines. Then they tried to make up fol
. this destructive platform by nominate
ing what they called conservative
candidates-for the Presidency. gold
standard. or 1T least standard
man. who had voted for free silver
{ whenever he got chance; ana 10,
yice-President. a Southern Democrat
enormously rich. who believed in pro
lection.
With this harlequin ticket and TIM
, idly radical platform they have gone
to the country and little by little then
well-melnt disguise has worn into tat
: tiers and the party appears in its old
3 familiar shape. It's reliance is. as OIL
. yore. on the Solid South. which means
r an appeal to racial hatred. and or
e Tammany Hall. which means organized
corruption. And relying upon these
two sources OF power, they claim the
e confidence of the country upon grounds
l that affront the common intelligence
2 and fatigue the derision of the world
1 1t is not a sight for men and angels tc
, see the Solid South. which exists by
virtue of its notification of the COnstt-