Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-06-17


in part: 1
No political party in modern times
can show such a record of achieve
ment during the last so years as the
republican party. Upon that record
we can stand and challenge all corners |
to the lists. But it is well to remem- |
Ter that the test we have to meet is !,
much less severe. This is compare |
tive world. We do not go forth to
contest the great prize with an ideal
party, which we sometimes see beau
tifully depicted by persons of self !,
confessed superiority and chronic dis !
content. The glittering abstraction
, which they present never existed yet !,
OF sea or land.
People Must Choose.
1T CLEANS upon us in printers ink |
but it has neither substance nor Or
ganization nor candidates. for organi- |
cation 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 impor-
1tant particulars. We both, it is true,
have past and a history but we
/ treat those possessions very differ
emily. 1
"They wish to keep their past pro
found secret. We seek by all means
| to publish ours to the world. If we
refer to their history they charge us
with calumny. We regard ours, truth
full and undistorted, as our greatest
glory. To the youth of the country
they say, Judge us solely by our un
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- Recall the
cries which have sounded from the
| lips of these two parties during the
last half century. On the one side,
Slavery; secession: reputation of
the public debt; fiat money; free
trade; free silver; the overthrow of
the courts and government owner
ship
The Real Live Ones.
"On the republican side-fFree soil;
free men; the union; the payment of
the debt; honest money; protection to
American industry; the gold industry;
the maintenance of law, of order and
of the courts, and the government reg
ulation of great corporations. The old
lshiboleths of the democrats are today
the epitaphs of policies which are dead
mind 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 embodied in the laws and
mark the stepping stones by which the
republic has risen to ever greater
heights of power and prosperity.
'As we thus call up the past and the
echoes of these old conflicts again
sound in our ears and touch the chords
!. of memory, one great fact stands forth,
clear and shining. The republican
party has never failed except when it
, has faltered. Our long career of vic
tory, so rarely broken, has been due
! to our meeting boldly each question
as it arose, to our facing every danger,
as it crossed our path, with entire cour-
age, fearless of consequences and de
termined only to be true to the princi
: pies which brought the party into ex
: istence and to the spirit which has in
;. spired it from it's birth
i Has Always stood Pat.
j. 1--WE faced secession rather than as
: sent to the extension of slavery
Rather than submit to secession we
took up the dread burden of civil
: war. But few years ago we per
S mitted thousands of republicans to
o leave us, thereby imperiling our po
: litical power rather than abandon the
! Igold standard and plunge the country
4 into disaster and dishonor.
: I'm these latest years, as in the
most remote, we have been true to
e our traditions. In the process of de
S veloping a point was reached where
e the country was confronted by sit
# Iuation more perilous than any it has
r lever faced except in the civil war and
r we republicans were therefore, Obliged
to deal with problems of the most
complex and difficult character.
ITO our honor, be it said, we have
mot shrunk from the task. Much has
been done-much, no doubt, still re
7 imains to debut the great underlying
principles have been established and
|, upon them we can build, as necessity
). arises, carefully and deliberately.
II have spoken of the seriousness
lof the situation with which the coun
$ TRY was confronted. It's gravity car
). hardly be over-estimated. 1t grew
II out of conditions and was the result
n of forces beyond the control of men
Science and invention, the two great
r factors in this situation, have not onl,
d altered radically, human environment
and our relations to nature, but, il