, 1906-02-16

ideal that knows neither creed, station
or section. He would have been what
he was had he tended store in the Berk-
shire hills and split rails in Maine, in
stead OF Illinois. In him we had the
best expression Of that saving grace of
.humor, homely common sense, warm
-heartedness, rugged honesty and heroic
moral courage which we are pleased TO
believe represents the ideal American
character.
AS the first president elected by
the republican party we are justified
in claiming for u organization that
we inherited as a party, the lofty aims
and practical good Judgment which dis.
tinguished his character and actions,
1t has been the good fortune of the
party of which he is the patron saint,
to have guided the ship Of state, we
believe, as he would have directed. No
commonwealth of the union took him
more closely TO its heart or followed
him more faithfully than the grand old
commonwealth of Massachusetts, and
as II was loyal to him and his precepts,
so it has been in the main faithful to
the party upon which his wise teach
ings were Sc indelibly stamped.
Next in Importance to those funda'
mental principles of justice and right
eousness on which our government is
founded and which safeguard our liber,
ties, the most striking and important
policy of our party and that which best
illustrates our adherence to the sound
common sense and capacity for wise
administration that marked him whom
we honor tonight, is the policy of pro
lection TO our labor and Industries, a
policy under which prosperity has been
the handmaiden of liberty. From some
things we have heard and read of late
from Massachusetts, We have wonder
ed whether the grand old common
wealth, which has generally been SO
true and steadfast to the great princi'
pies of the party were wavering, wheth,
or IL were possible that the historic 10y
atty and fealty of Massachusetts to
the policy and theory of protection had
undergone a change and were now but
skin deep. or shall we say hide deep;
whether Massachusetts, with her won
derful volume of protected manufac-
.tured products had ceased to appreci-
ate and adhere to the great body Of the
protective tariff policy and come to re,
gard of primary and "transcedent i'm
portance only certain features of it, as
might be styled external-the woollI
outer covering and the hide, as it were
Now, out II way we see but lit
tile of the direct benefits of the protec
tive system. Our manufactures are few
and such as they are are protected more
by transportation schedules than by
tariff. But we ave as a people a deep
and abiding faith in the principle and
its benefits to the people of the oun
try at large, upon whose prosperity our
ultimate growth and development must
wait. We have, however, a few indus
tries which receive a direct and appre-
ciable benefit from tariff schedules. We
have bleating flocks on all of our
plains, and so far as the forestry ser.
vice will allow, en- all of III mountain
sides. Cattle feed on u thousand
hills. We believe that the wool tariff
makes Il wool industry not always
particularly profitable, but at least al.
ways possible, and generally reason
ably remunerative. No matter how
ingenious the Arguments to prove that
the hide schedule is not beneficial, our
people believe that it is with a fervor
and tenacity which no argument so far
presented a shake. We believe and