The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-06-21
PROMISE AND PERFORMANCE.

49, III
''Reaf1rming allegiance OF the prin-
ciples Of the Republican party, and
condemning combination in restrain of
trade" the National League Of Repub-
lican clubs ended its convention in
Philadelphia on Tuesday. Incidentally
the league paid tribute to Fremont,
Lincoln and Roosevelt.
To the student of history it seems
eminently fitting that the scene of this
lstter-day' celebration, should be held
in Pennsylvania, the home OF the steel
trust. and the Pennsylvania railroad
the original scene of the Standard OILS
first conquests- the abiding place Of the
coal barons, and the most corrupt COM
monwealth in the American republic.
With the memory Of the Gettysburg
speech before them, and the echoes Of
the Pennsylvania and Standard Oil in
vestigation still ringing in their ears,
the delegates must have regarded their
own declarations on the trust question
with a sardonic humor tempered by
some forebodings as TO the future fate
Of the party.
Few things could be more pitiably
contradictory than the resolutions
against illegal combinations in re-
straint Of trade adopted by the league.
The. Republican party owes its poIiti-
cal strength to these combinations. and
properly so. Successive administra-
tions. though amply empowered by law
10 destroy illegal combinations, have
permitted the trusts to thrive on mon
opoly and fatten on robbery
made possible only by the fniouf-
ties Of a Republican tariff. And sue
cessive administrations have perpet-
uated the wrongs in return for fnan-
ciaI aid in national and state cam
paigns. furnished by the trusts and
their allied Institutions
Imagine the irony Of resolutions by
a Republican convention ia denuncia-
ton Of the trusts Beginning with the
steel trust, the oil trust, the coal trust,
the beef trust, on down through the
innumerabIe lesser. trusts, every one Of
them has been a beneficiary Of the Re
publican party until it is small ex-
aggeratton TO say that but for the
trusts there would be no real Republf-
can organization. The convention
IN ght as well have denounced the in
surance companies which gave policy
holders funds to Mr.. CorteIyOu for
campaign purposes and expected the
country TO. take them seriously. Or
in its lighter mood it could as properly
E-r- II
Of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia as
examples Of what the great RepubH-
can party had achieved in the way Of
purity and cleanliness in public life.
Was there a word Of positive, aggres-
sive. constructive policy in the resolu-
tons? was the platftudinous stand
pat declaration on the tariff a sign Of
hope to an oppressed people? Was
there in the whole declaration an hon
est expression OF a purpose to remedy
great evils which have grown I'D
through successive Republican admin
istrations?
Hardly. The Republican party had
it's origin in a determination to free
all men from injustice and oppression.
It's cardinal creed was the belief that
no man has the right to take from an
other his work or his property without
just compensation; that no man can
justly hold another in bondage. Tba+
was Bincoln's faith: it was what Grant
fought for, with the hundreds. of tbou-
sands who followed him. In his dav
Lincoln foresaw the danger Of ILLEGAL
Accommodations Of wealth and warned
the people against the result. Since
his time every word Of his prophetjc
warning has been justifed-and the
party ne brought to greatness has been
responsible. Today it stands as the
sponsor for special privilege criminal
monopoly corruption in public life and
all the attendant evils growing out Of
tariff denominations
The wiser Republicans realize the
drift OF events and recognize the fact
that unless these special privileges are
abolished soon. the people viii abolish
them by eIecting men who are under
no obligation to the trusts or to the
men who farm out government bene-
factions in the guise OF protection. If
there is one certainty in American
politis today, it is the approaching
day Of judgment for the politicians
who stand pat for licensed plumber