The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1904-07-07

And | hope ! am violating neither tbs
lconfidence OF friend nor the propri.
leties OF an occasion like this when
refer to the ardent and able youne
statesman who Is now. and is to be
our president TO let you know that II
times OF doubt and difficulty tn,
thought oftenest in hls heart is, what
in such case. would Lincoln have
doneg"
What the Party Has Done.
Let me hurriedly enumerate few
of the events In the long and fruitful
career of the republican party which
seem to us to entltle 1t TO the eonfi-
Idence OF the country and the final APP
proval OF history. After the war was
ended and peace reestablished with no
damage to the structure OF the gov
ernment, but. on the contrary, with
added strength and with increased
guarantees of its perpetuity, It re-
mained TO be shown whether the power
and success OF the republican party
We're to be permanent, or whether.
born OF a crisis. 1t was fitted to cope
with the problems OF daily national
life, II had destroyed slavery. or, per-
haps we might better say, Il had Gre
|ated the conditions by which slavery
had committed suicide. In the abb
sence of this great adversary. could
the party hold together against the
thousand lesser evils that beset the
public life Of modern peoples--the evils
of ignorance. corruption. avarice, and
lawlessness. the prejudices OF race
and OF class. the voices OF demagogues,
the cunning OF dishonest craft, the
brutal tyranny OF the boss, the venal-
ity of the mean? think II Is not too
much to say that the last 40 years
have given an answer, full of glory and
honor, to that question. The republl-
can party. in the mass and in detail
has shown its capacity 10 govern. BY
the homestead law, with equal gem
erosity and wisdom. il distributed the
immense national domain among the
citizens who were willing to cultivate
1t and who have converted wide
wide stretches of wilderness into smil-
ing homes. II built the Pacific rail-
road, which has bound the union to-
gether from east to west by bands OF
steel and made the states beyond the
amang our most loyal and
commonwealths. 1t re-
deemed our paper currency and made
all our forms OF money OF exactly
equal value and our credit the best in
the world. BY persistent honesty in
our finances-in the face Of obstacles
which might have daunted the hardi-
est statesmen-it has reduced our In
terest charges so that in any mart on
earth We can borrow money cheaper
than any other people. In the finan-
cial revulsions to which all commun-
tiles are subject, we are able, thanks
to our laws and our administrative
system. to meet and pass the most
violent crisis without lasting damage |
to our prosperity. We have. by the
patient labor Of years, so succeeded
In reforming and regulating our civil
that patronage has almost
ceased to cast its deadly blight upon |
he work Of our public servants. HUI
nan nature is weak and offenses hap
pen; but they are almost always found
put and are punished without mercy
when detected. BY persistent adher-
ence to the policy Of protection. we
rave given to our industries a devel-
,pment which the fathers of the re-
public never dreamed Of; which, be-
iides supplying our home market, has
,arried our manufactures to the ut
ermost ends of the earth.