Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-06-18

Or land. 1t CLEANS upon us In print
er's ink but it has neither substance
nor organization nor candidates, Tor
organizations and candidates must be
taken from the ranks of men and
cannot be the floating phantoms OF an
uneasy dream. The American people
must choose next November between
us and the Democratic party. With
the Democratic party, and with that
alone must the comparison be made
We differ from that party in some i'm
portant particulars. We both, it is
true, have a past and a history but we
treat those possessions very different
ly They wish to keep their past a
profound secret. We seek by all
means to publish ours to the world.
If we refer to their history they
charge US with calunny. We regard
ours, truthful and undistorted, as our
greatest glory. To the youth of the
country they say, Judge us solely by
our discovered future" We say,
"Read our record, judge us by our
past and our present and from these,
learn what we are, what we have
been and what we mean to. be-" Re
call the cries which have sounded
| from the lips of these two parties dur
| ing the last half century. On the one
side slavery secession, reputation OF
the public debt, fat money, free trade,
free silver, the overthrow of ths
courts and government ownership"
| On the Republican side, Free soil
| free men, the union, the payment OF
the debt, honest money, protection to
| American industry, the gold industry,
the maintenance of law, or order and
of the courts and the government
regulation of great corporations" The
old shiboleths of the Democrats are
today the epitaphs of policies which
are dead and damned. They serve
only to remind us Of dangers escaped
or to warn us Of perils to be stunned.
The battle cries of the Republicans
have been the watchwords Of great
causes They tell of victories won
and triumphs tasted-they are en-
bodied in the laws and mark the STEP
ping stones by which the Republic
has arisen to even greater heights OF
power and prosperity.
"RepubIican Party Never Failed Elk.
cept When it Faltered."
AS we thus call up the past and the
echoes of these old conflicts again
i sound in our ears and touch the
chords of memory, one great fact
stands forth, clear and shining. This
Il Republican party has never failed ex
cept when it has faltered. Our long
career of victory, so rarely broken
has been due to our meeting boldly
each question as 1t arose, to our fac
ing every danger, as 1t crossed oul
path, with entire courage, fearless .
consequences and determined only tt
be true to the principles which
brought the party into existence ant
to the spirit which has inspired /
from its birth.
We faced secession rather than as
sent to the extension of slavery
Rather than submit to secession VIZ
took up the dread burden Of civil war
But a few years ago we permitted
thousands Of Republicans to leave us
thereby imperiling our political powe
4 rather than abandon the gold stand
ard and plunge the country into disas
! ter and dishonor.
\ In these latest years, as in the mos
Il remote, we have been true to our ira
4 ditions. In the process of develop
ment a point was reached where tn
4 country was confronted by a situation
more perilous than any 1t has eve
faced except in the civil war and W
4 Republicans were, therefore, oblige
q to deal with problems of the mos
a complex and difficult character.
To our honor, be it said, we hav
q not shrunk from the task Much ha
q been done, much, no doubt, still re
n mains to do, but the great underlyin
Fl principles have been established an
y upon them we can build, as necessit
a arises, carefully and deliberately.
81 have spoken of the seriousness {
Il the situation with which the countr
u was confronted Its gravity can hart
q ly be oyer-estimated, It grew out {