The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1908-06-18
A Ready-Made Republican Greed.

The candidate to be nominated
by the convention having been Sc
lected in advance, it was appropri.
ate that the platform for the con-
vention to adopt should also be
written and given to the press be-
fore the convention was called to
order. The Republican party hav-
ing destroyed the deliberative char
acter of the House of Representa-
tives, it has now degraded the ma
tional convention to the level of a
mere ratification meeting
OF course, the most delicate task
i'll compromising the platform was
to get over the panic of last fall,
which not only occurred under d
Republican Administration, but of
which the Presidents speeches and
messages were contributing cause.
All the financial reverses for half a
century-the panics of 1878, 1884,
the partial panic of 1890, the severe
stringency of 1902 and the panic of
r9o7-occurred under Republican
Administrations, with the single
exception OF the panic of 1893,
which came before the Cleveland
Administration had had time to do
anything and which was caused
mainly by the Republican silver
legislation of 1890, aggravated by
the sacrifice of revenue which the
Mckinley tariff effected In view
of this perfectly familiar record, it
provokes laughter rather than re-
sentiment that the platform attri-
butes to 1.-THE operation of Republi-
can policies the recent safe passage
of the American people through a
financial disturbance which, if APP
pearing in the midst of Democratic
rule, or the menace of it, might
have equaled the familiar Demo
cratic panics of the past" This is
really the finest achievement of
political impudence that can be
found III our history.
The platform bristles with plain
falsehoods. That Congress did not
enact lot of the Roosevelt meas
ures is attributed to the Democratic
hlibuster. Every body knows it was
due to the opposition of Cannon,
Payne, Dalzell and other Republi-
can leaders 10 the President. The
statement that the Democratic par
ty opposed the Anti Trust law and
refused to enforce it is plain lying.
Senator Sherman introduced an
Antitrust bill, but Senator Vest
said he wrote more of the measure
as it passed than Senator Sherman
did. The Cleveland Administration
originated or pushed to the highest
Courts suits against two great in
dustrial combinations. The state
ment that the Democratic party
stands for the contraction of Amer
ican influence in the world has no
other warrant than Democratic sup
port of the traditional anti-imperi-
alistic policies of the American ma
ton. President Cleveland challeng-
ed England in the case of the
Venezuelan boundary, the boldest
step ever taken in support of the
Monroe doctrine, and he warned
Spain of the impending interference
of the United States in Cuba if the
disorders should not speedily cease.
The statement that "the Democrat
ic party of today believes in Gov
ernment ownership" is a grotesque
falsehood, for Mr.. Bryan's PROPOSE
tion of the Government ownership
of railroads was so promptly reject
ed by Democrats all over the coun.
try that Mr.. Bryan made haste to
declare that it was not a present
issue.
For inendacious eBrontery the
platform goes far beyond all politi-
cal documents of its class.
-PHila. Record.