Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-06-23


MasterfuI Manner the Work of
Roosevelt and His Predecessors.
Chicago, June 81. - That the Amer
lean government has prospered during
years Of republican administration of
national affairs and that the party of
Roosevelt, of Mckinley, and of Lincoln
is the party of safety is the conclusion
reached in the address of Hon. Elihu
Root, former secretary of war. who
presided as temporary chairman over
the republican national convention to-
day. Mr.. Roots address was master
full review of the work of the party
and tho men it has honored with Of
fees. His words were listened to with
close attention by the thousands of
people who filled the vast Coliseum and
he was frequently interrupted by the
applause which greeted his splendid ex-
position Of the history of great po-
'litical party in great nation. His
address in full follows:
A Great Responsibility.
~The responsibility of government
rests upon the republican party. The
complicated machinery through which
the 100000 people of the United
States govern themselves, answers to
no single will. The composite govern
tment devised by the trainers of the
constitution to meet the conditions of
national life more than a century ago
requires the willing cooperation of
many minds, the combinations of many
Independent factors in every forward
step for the general welfare.
"The President at Washington with
his cabinet, the ninety senators repre-
,senting forty-f1ve sovereign states, the
1856 representatives in congress-are
required to reach concurrent action
upon a multitude of questions involv-
ing varied and conflicting interests
and requiring ,investigation, informa-
ton, discussion and reconciliation of
Views From all our vast territory
-~--s 4 It's varieties Of climate and in
austry, from all our great population
active in production and commerce
and social progress and intellectual
and moral life to a degree never be-
fore attained by any people-diff1cult
problems press upon the national gov
ment.
within the past five years more
than $4,000 bills have been introduced
in congress. Some method of selec-
ton must be followed. There must he
some preliminary process to ascertain
the general tenor of public Judgment
upon the principles to be applied in
government, and some organization
and recognition of leadership which
shall bring a legislative majority and
the executive into accord in the prac-
tical application of those principles; or
effective government becomes impos-
sible.
"The practical governing instinct OF
our people has adapted the machinery
4 devised in the eighteenth to the con-
dition of the twentieth century by the
i organization of national political par
ties. In them men join for the promo
ttfon of few cardinal principles upon
which they agree. For the sake Of
those principles they lay aside their
differences upon less important ques-
lions. To represent those principles
and to cary on the government in ac-
cordance with them, they present to
the people candidates whose compe-
ltency and loyalty they approve. The
people by their choice of candidates
indicate the principles and methods
which they wish followed in the con-
duct Of their government. They do
not merely chose between men; they
choose between parties-between the
principles they profess, the methods
they follow, the trustworthiness Of
their professions, the differences to be
drawn from the records of their past,
the general weight Of character of the
body of men who will be brought into
participation in government by their
ascendency.
Record Of Republican Party.
when the course of the next admin
istration is but half done the republi-
can party will have completed the
first half century of it's national life
OF the eleven administrations since
the first election of Abraham Lincoln
nine-covering period of thirty-six
years-have been under republican
presidents. For the greater part of
that time, the majority in each house
of congress has been republican. His
tory affords no parallel in any age or
country for the growth in national
greatness and power and honor, the
wide diffusion of the comforts of life,
the uplifting of the great mass of the
people above the hard conditions of
poverty, the common opportunity for
education and individual advancement,
the universal possession of civil and
religious liberty and security, the pro-
lection of the property for
the rewards of industry and en-
terprise, the cultivation of national
morality, respect for religion, sympa-
thy with humanity and love of liberty
and Justice, which have marked the
life OF the American people during this
long period of republican control.
with the platform and the candi-
dates of this convention, we are about
to ask renewed expression of popu-
lar confidence in the republican party.
1--WE shall ask it because the prin-
ciples to which we declare our adher-