The Topeka state journal., 1908-06-17
He DRAWS THE LINE.
Continued from Page one.)

greatest glory. To the youth OF the
country they say-"Judge us solely by
our undiscovered 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; repud1ation
OF the public debt; fiat money; 1reee
trade; free silver; the overthrow OF
the courts and. government owner
ship
on the Republican side: Free soil;
free men; the Union; the payment OF
the debt; honest money; protectlon 10
American industry: the gold stanoaro;
the maintenance of law, OF oroer anu
of the courts and the government
regulation of great corporations. Inc
old shibboleths of the Democrats are
today the epitaphs of policies Whlcn
are dead and damned. They serve only
to remind us of dangers escaped or
to warn us of perils to be shunneo.
The battle cries of the Repuohcahs
have been the watchwords OF great
causes. They tell of victories won
and triumphs tasted.they are
bodied in the laws and mark the step
ping stones by which the repupnc mas
risen to ever greater heights OF power
and prosperity.
Failed Only When Falter1nS.
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 1alled ex-
cept when it has faltered. Our long
career of victory, so rarely broken. has
been due to our meeting boldly each
question as it arose, to our facing
every danger, as it crossed our pain,
with entire courage, fearless OF conse-
ouences and determined only to be
true to the principles which orought
the party into existence and to the
spirit which has inspired II from its
birth. We faced secession rather rnan
assent to the extension or slavery.
Rather than submit to secession we
took up the dread burden OF civil war:
But few years ago we permitted
thousands of Republicans to leave us,
thereby imperiling our political power
rather than abandon the gold standard
and plunge the country into disaster
and dishonor.
In these latest years, as IN the most
remote, we have been true to our ira
ditions. In the process OF develop
ment a point was reached where the
country was confronted by a situation
more perilous than any 1t has ever
faced except in the Civil war and we
Republicans were, therefore, obliged
TO deal with problems of the most
complex and difficult character.
To our honor, be it said, we have
not shrunk from the task. Much has
been done-much, no doubt. still re-
mains to do-but the great underlying
principles have been established and
upon them we can build. is necessity
arises. carefully and deliberately.
Changed Conditions.
l have spoken of the seriousness of
the situation with which the country
was confronted. Its gravity can hard
ly be overestimated. 1t grew out of
conditions and was the result OF forces
beyond the control of men. Science
and invention, the two great factors
in this situation, have not only alter
ed radically, human environment and
our relations to nature, but. in their
application, they have revolutionized
economic conditions. These changed
economic conditions have. in turn. af-
fected profoundly society and politics.
They have led, among other things, to
combinations of capital and labor on
witnessed. The have opened the way
to accumulations of wealth in masses
beyond the dreams of avarice and
never before contemplated by men.
The social and political problems
thus created, are wholly new. 1t is a
failacy to suppose that because the
elements are old the problem itself
must, therefore, differ only in degree
from those which have gone before.
The elements may be old but the prob
lem presented by change in the
proportion of the elements may be,
and, in this case is, entirely new.
Great individual fortunes and rich
men are, it Is true, as old as recorded
history. Nearly two thousand years
ago the tax farmers of Rome formed a
Trust" for their own profit and pro-
lection; the English people. three GEN.
turies ago, revolted against the patents
and monopolies granted by Elizabeth
and James to their courtiers and
monopolists, forestallers and specula-
tors in the necessities Of life were q
curse in our revolution and bitterly de-
nounced by Washington. Yet, it is
none the less true that the same things
today present questions different in
kind as we'll as in degree from their
predecessors.
Portentous Problems
1t is the huge size of private fortunes,
the vast extent and power of modern
combinations of capital, made possible
by present conditions, which have
brought upon us. in these later years.
poblems portentous in their possibili-
ties. and threatening, not only our
social and political welfare, but even
our personal freedom, if they are not
boldly met and wisely solved.
The great body of the American peo-
pie, HtllHcE very IlCl very pOOT,
the honest, the thrifty. the hard-work-
Ing the men and women who earn and
save, have no base envy-no fanatic
hatred of wealth, whether individual
or corporate. If it has been honestly
gained and is wisely and generously
employed with sense of responsibility
to the public. But this great body of
our people, by habit and instinct alike,
wisely conservative, these people, who
are the bone and sinew of our country
and upon whom it's fortunes and it's
safety rest, began to observe, with
deep alarm, the recent manifestations
of the new economic conditions. More
and more they came to believe that
these vast fortunes and these huge
combinations of capital were formed
and built up by tortuous and dishon-
est means and through a cynical disre-
gard Of the very laws which the mass