Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1904-09-17

TNTTIWg INIT CIIUn
effect But what they dare not manfuIiy
assert in open day they seek TO use fur
lively ana through special agents. 1t is
perhaps natural that attack so con-
Quoted should be made sometimes on the
ground that too much sometimes on the
ground that too little has been done.
Some OF our opponents complain because
under the antitrust and interstate com
merce laws suits We're undertaken which
nave been successful; others because
suits were not undertaken which would
have been unsuccessful The Democrat
ic state convention in New York dealt
with the anthracite coal strike by de-
handing, In deliberate and formal fash
ion, that the national government should
take possession of the coal fields: vet
champions of that conventions cause
now condemn the fact that there was
any action by the president at all
though they must know that il was only
this action by the president which pre-
vented the movement for national owner
ship OF the coa' fields from gaining what
might well have been an irresistible inn
petus. Such mutually destructive crit
lclSmS furnish an adequate measure of
the chance for coherent action or con-
Structive legislation if our opponents
should be given power.
So much for what our opponents open
ly or coVerty advance in the way of an
attack on the acts of the administration.
When we come to consider the policies
for which they profess to stand we are
met with the difficulty always arising
when statements of policy are so made
that they can be interpreted in different
ways. On some of the vital questions
that have confronted the American peo-
pie i'm the last decade our opponents take
the position that silence is the best pos
Sible way to convey their views They
contend that their lulsewarm attitude of
partial aequiescence in what others have
accomplished entities them to be made
the custodians of the financial honor and
commercial interests which they have
but recently sought to ruin. Being I'M
able to agree among themselves as to
whether the gold standard is a curse or
a blessing and to whether we ought
or ought not to have free and unlimited
coinage of silver. they have apparently
thought il eXpedient to avoid any COM
initial on these subjects. and individually
each to follow his particular bent Their
nearest approach to a majority judgment
seems to be that it is now inexpedient to
assert their convictions one way or the
other, and that the establishment of the
gold standard by the Republican party
should not be disturbed unless there is an
alteration in the relative quantity of
production OF silver and gold. Men who
hold sincere convictions on vital Ques-
tons can respect equally sincere men
with whose views they radically differ.
and men may confess change of faith
without compromising their honor or
their self respect But It is difficult to
respect an attitude of mind such as has
been fairly described above and where
there is no respect there can be no trust.
A policy with so slender a basis of priu-
ciple would not stand the strain OF a sim
gle year of business adversely.
We, on the contrary, believe I'm the gold
standard as fixed by the usage and YER
dict of the business world and i'm a sound
monetary system as matters of principle
as matters not Of monetary political ex-
pediency, but of permanent organic pol
icy In 1896 and again in 1900 farsighted
men. without regard to their party fealty
i'm the past Joined to work against what
they regarded as a debased monetary sys-
tenn. The policies which they championed
have been steadfastly adhered TO by the
administration. and by the act of March
IA. 1900. congress established the single
gold standard the measure Of our mon
etary value. This act received the sup
port of every Republican i'm the house and
of every Republican except one in the
senate. or our opponents eleven support
ed IL in the house and two i'm the senate
and $50 opposed il i'm the house and TWEEN
ty-eight i'm the senate. The record OF the
last seven years proves that the party
now in power can be trusted TO take the
additional action necessary to improve
and strengthen our monetary system and
that our opponents cannot be so trusted
The fundamental fact is that in a popu-
lar government such as ours no policy is
, irrevocably settled by law unless the peo-
pie Keep in control OF the government
/ men who believe in that policy az "A mat
, ter OF deep rooted conviction Laws can
always be revoked. II is the spirit and
the purpose OF those responsible fer their
enactment and administrat ton which must
, be fixed and Interchangeable. II is idle to
say that the monetary standard of the
, nation is irrcvocably fixed SO long as the
party which at the last election cast APP
proximately &c per cent OF the total vote
refuses To put In its platform any state
1 mont that the question is settled a de-
! termination TO remain silent cannot he
accepted as equivalent To "A recantatiou
! Until our opponents as n party explicitly
adopt the views which we hold and upon
which we have acted and are acting i'm
the matter of n sound currency. the only
real way TO keep the question from be
:. coming unsettled is to keep the Repub-
4 lican party I'm power.
As for what our opponents say I'm ref-
erence 10 capital and labor Individual or
corporate. here again all we need by way
or answer is TO point to what we have
, actually done and TO say that il contin-
, ued in power we shall continue to carry
out the policy we have been pursuing and
TO execute the laws as resolutely and
! fearlessly in the future as we have ex-
. ecuted them in the past. In my speech
OF acceptance / said:
| I'VE recognize the organization Of can
, ital and the organzat ion of labor as nat
ural outcomes OF our Industrial system
| Each kind of organization is TO be favor
/ ed so long as IL acts In spirit OF Justice
I
1 Each is to be granted the full protection
/ OF the law, and each in turn is to be held
! TO strict obedience To the law, for no
man is above il and no man below IL
The humblest individual is TO have his
/ rights safeguarded scrupulousiy as
! those OF the strongest organiza ton, for
! each Is to receive justice, no more and
| no less. The problems with which we
| have 10 deal in our modern industrial
1 and social life are manifold. but che spirit
/ In which IL Is necessary To approach their
! solution is simply the spirit of honesty.
| OF courage and of common sense"
| The action of the attorney general in
| enforcing the antitrust and interstate
! commerce laws and the action of the last
! congress in charging the scope of the
| interstate commerce law and in creatin
| the department of commerce and labor,
| with n bureau of corporations have for
/ the first time opened a chance for the
! national government to deal intelligently
| and adequately with the questions affect
| ing society, whether for good or for evil.
! because of the accumulation OF cap
! ital in great corporations and because of
! the new relations caused thereby. These
| laws are now being administered with
| entire efficiency. and as. in their working