New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-07-07
NETWORK DAILY TRIBUNE THURSDAY. JULY Z. 1904

NlLff
Of our wealth, the precious blood of young
men. that filed Lincoln's heart with anguish
and made him old before his time, but It was the
storm OF partisan hostility that ragged against
him. filling the air with ISLANDERS and thwartlng
his most earnest and unselfsh efforts for the
country's good. But in spite Of il all he peTse-
vered, never for q moment tempted by the vast
power he welded to any action not justified by
the moral and the organic law. / have always
liked the inscription on the medal which the
workn?en OF France, by one cent subscriptions
caused 10 be struck after his death: 'ADra-
ham Lincoln, the honest man. Waged war
Abolished slavery. Twice elected President
without Yelling the face OF liberty rms WAS
an achievement new to the world; that q man
ard 2 party, armed with authority so un-
questioned and so stupendous, in the very cur
rent Of a vast war; should nave submitted them
selves so rigdly TO the law-and never nave
dreamed there was anything meritorious ABOUT
Il. Then, if never before, we proved we We're a5
NJ to be Iree as the men VINO acAieVed our 4Iee-
dom.
The world learned other lessons in swift sue
cession We disbandeG arny-sent the SOL
diers home to their lvings as simple Gnu
Of the land they had saved, without terms
or conditions; they asked meme; they WanaG
peace they were glad to get to work. Ana
there We're no repria2ls. not a man punished Ior
rebellion or treason: not an act OF violence SUI
fierce hut loyal; we at least wished the recon
Citation to be perfect. Then came the paying
OF our debts To whom IS the crealt ee que 81
that. enormous task, that sublime effort or
common honesty. if not to the party when
against every assault Of open and covert repudi-
alton stood by the Country'S honor and kept II
free from stain?
PARTY'S CAPACITY TO GOVERN.
Let me hurredIy enumerate a few Of the
events in the long and fruitful career or the Re
publican party which seem to US 10 entitle II 10
the confidence Of the country and the fnal APP
prevail of history. After the war was ended and
peace re-esta blished with no damage TO the
structure of the government but, on the con,
trary with added strength and with Increased
guarantees Of its perpetuity, it remained TO be
shown whether the power and success or the Ike
publican party We're TO be permanent, or
whether. born of q crisis 1t was lifted TO cope
with the problems of daily national life. 1t had
destroyed slavery, or, perhaps we might better
say il had created the conditions by when
slavery had committed suicide. In the absence
Of this great adversary. could the party hold to-
Eether against the thousand lesser evils tHat pc
set the public life OF modern peoples-the evils
Of ignorance, corruption, avarice and lawless-
ness, the preJudlces OF race ana OF cIass' the
voices Of demagogueS. the cunning Of dishonest
craft. the brutal tyranny OF the boss, the Venal-
itv of the mean? I think il is not too much 10
say that the last forty years have given an an
swer. fun Of glory ard honor, 10 that question.
The Republican party, in the mass and in de
tail. has shown is capacity to govern. By the
Homestead law, with equal generosity and wis
DOM Il distributed ,he immense national do
main among the citizens who were willing TO
cultivate II and who have converted wide
stretches Of wilderness into smiling homes. II
built the Pacific Railroad, which has bound the
Union together from East to West by bands of
steel and made the States beyond the mountains
among our most loyal and prosperous common
wealths. It redeemed cur 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 hnances-in the face
90 obstacles which might have daunted the
hardest statesmen-it has reduced our interest
charges that I'm any mart on earth We can
borrow money cheaper than any other people.
In the financial reVulsonS 10 which all COM
our laws and cur administrative system, to meet
and pass the most violent crises without last
ing damage TO our prosperity. We have by the
patient labor of years, so succeeded in reforming
and regulating oUr civil service that patronage
has almost ceased TO cast its deadly blight upon
the work or our public servants Human nature
is weak and offences happen, but they al
most always found out and are punished WITH
out mercy when detected. BY persistent adher-
TO our industries a development which the
fathers OF the Republic never dreamed of; which.
our manufactures to the uttermost ends OF the
Garth.
GROWTH UNDER REPUBLICAN RULE.
History affords no parallel to the vast and in
creasing prosperity which this country has en-
JOyed under Republican rule. / hasten 70 say
we do not claim TO have invented seedtime and
harvest, and industry and thrift We
great people and success is our right. God IS
good TO those who behave themselves. But
may justly claim that the Republican party has
been in power during these years of marvellous
growth, and can at least bring proof that
have not prevented it-and this IS Slight
q a
moment speak OF the important acquisitions Of
territory have made, which render in
many ways the predominant power in the Pa
CiiIc. But out of the territory we already pos
sessed fourteen new States have entered the
Union. The census OF 1880 gave % 100000
Of population-the last one 100000. The
number OF our farms-the total of cultivated
acreage-has increased fourfold. our crop
is five times what ii was; our wheat crop. six
times. The capital invested in manufacturing
has grown from SJO0OOOOOO to $1O000O000O 600;
where 1t employed less than million artisans.
it now employees more than five millions; and
while the number Of workingmen has increased
five times. their wages have increased tenfold.
The value Of manufactured property is thirteen
times what IL when the Republicans Of
Michigan met under the oaks The real and
personal wealth of the country has grown in
this amazing half century from $1,000. OJ0OOO
TO sol, 900, 100000. our railroads have grown
from a mileage Of 5000 TO one OF 100000.
Our imports and exports have gone up by leaps
and bounds to the same mOnstrous proportions.
And finally, let US hasten to say, as the other
side will say ii for us, instead OF the SAT 100000
which supplied modest needs in 1850 we
collect and spend some 500 100000 an
nually. I can only add what Speaker Reed re-
pied TO Democratic statesman who COM
planned OF billion dollar Congress: well this
is a billion dollar country"
PARTY RECORD TO BE PROUD OF.
OF course our opponents who have got far
enough from the men and the events of the
great war period to admit they were not with
out merit, will say-for they must say some
thing-that we have fallen away from that high
level Now I am grieved to confess that I am
old enough to have seen something Of the be-
ginning well Of the present Of Repub-
lcan administrations, and venture to say that
no eight years Of government In our history
have been purer from blame have conferred
greater benefits upon the country than the eight
years OF Mckinley and Roosevelt which claim
your approval to-day. 1 need not hesitate to
refer to it, although I have been associated
with both administrations; so little of their
merit is mine that L may speak of them without
fa M in h1Xya