The daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1904-1905, 1904-04-26
WA7SON'S SPEECH
Continued from LIST page.)

that bloOd-bought solution we have
forty-five free and equal states
stretching away to the two oceans,
yet all acknowledging the sovereignty
of one government, the supremacy OF
one Constitution and the dominion Of
one flag. &c.. .',.. ;
After that war Of liberty the public
debt occasioned by it piled mountain
high and was grim with terror for the
timid. A hostile party proposed re-
pudiatien. But Grant was there,
the bows who had rushed to rescue the
imperiled Union were there, the Re
publican party was there. They knew
that just beyond reputation lay tho
rayless abyss Of bankruptcy and dis
aster, and to this dishonorable de-
mand they answered :"No; every dol
lar Of that debt is as sacred as our
soldiers blood, and every penny OF 1t
shall be paid, and paid, too, in the
best money known to the nations OF
the earth.'' That party settled that
question, involving the honor of the
Nation, and settled it forever.
A hostile party opposed the re-
sumption of specie payments, said
that the ereenbacks never could be
redeemed in gold, said that it would
bankrupt the Nation to establish and
maintain parity. But the Republican
party had promised that it should be
done; promised while the country was
slowly bleeding to death in the midst
of an awful war; promised in order
to make it possible to keep the boys
in blue at the front and the old flag
in it's place in the heavens; and, ever
mindful of that sacred obligation, it
needed not the evil prophecies of the
foes of our integrity, and it did re-
sumo, and did it noiselessly, so i'm
perceptibly that there was neither jar
nor shock to any institution in the
land.
In 1896 the national honor was
again assailed. the national integrity
was again attackd. The Organized
Democracy proposed to force us to
a silver basis, to sink us to the level
of Mexico and China. to half repudi-
ate our outstanding obligations and
thus ruin our credit abroad, to bring
upon us the obloquy and contempt of
the civilized nations of the world, and
plunge us into unutterable disaster at
home. What power stood between
this country and financial ruin? The
Republican party. What force with
stood the onslaught of needless ard
turbulent Democracy? The Republic
cant party. What organization had
the courage to array its forces around
the gold standard, at a time when
that term grated harshly on the pub
lie ear; at time when financial fren-
zy abounded; distress was everywhere
written upon the stern faces of men,
and hunger upon the pallid cheeks Of
women; when a herculean effort was
made to array class against class and
arouse the hatred of the poor against
the rich; when the terms "plutocrat'
"gold bug" "monopolist,' "bloat-
ed bondholders, were flung from the
tongue of every scheming demagogue
to stir up the envy Of those in woe,
and incite the anger Of those in want ;
when passion, prejudice and cupidity
were appealed to as never before in
our history? What organization? All.
The only one that for fifty years in
this country has had the fortitude,
the daring, the bravery to stand ev-
erywhere and always for honor, for
conscience, for right.
In 1900 a hostile party proposed
that we should abandon the Philip.
pines, that we should surrender the
fruits Of victory, that we should flee
from the results of war, that we
should shrink from the performance
of duty. that we should dishonol
the memory Of our soldier dead, bur.
led in the sands of the Luzon, an6
abandon the cause of the living, bleed
ing for the country's rights beyond
the track of the sun. 1t was the
Democratic performance of 1864 over
again. What party withstood thi:
clamor? What party held aloft ou1
shining ideals? What party feared
not to face the attacks of those wht
should prove recreant to the sacred
trust imposed upon us by the will O
God? What party stood resolut'
while the enemies of our policy, ant
our honor, shouted imperialism, ,
"militarism,'' "the Republic
DOOM fthe Unions dissolution. ,