The Clarksburg telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1874-1926, 1908-10-22
GlassGOlk for Clean Government
(Contlnued from page ID

either looked upon as all right or at
least permitted to pass without critl.
cism few years ago Is now CON
demned and the people applaud the
contemplation. "A few years ago PEG.
pie only inquired whether you had o
good boss or a bad one. Now they
insist II you stand in the pu bic lime.
light. that you he completely dlsrobed
and II your garments Of official OF
private life show blot or stain; or the
man free from the garments does no,
present, the strongest evidence of In
tegrity and character and Of promise
for the future that he be condemned
las unworthy Of their confidence and
support.
A few years ago the whole coun-
try appleuded when one man stood
up in great convention and dra-
matically declared that he carried
his sovereignty under the crown Of
his hat. Today every citizen in this
country knows he Is a sovereign and
he does not hesitate to exercise that
sovereignty as seems best to him, and
according to the dictates OF his own
conscience. That is his right and he
is doing just what the founders Of
this country intended and planned
that he should do. The declaration
that all men are created equal does
not mean that one shall be bound
and another free, and does not mean
that one shall command and another
shall obey, but rather 1t means all
shall be free or all shall be slaves;
all shall command or all shall obey;
and when 1t was declared that all
men are endowed by the Creator with
certain inallenable rights among
which are life, liberty and the pur-
suit Of happiness, II was meant and
intended as a declaration OF brave
men that liberty and the pursuit Of
happiness is God given right Of
rich. and poor. black and white,
alike. not for one class to the ex-
clusion of another; because under
our system Of government, thank
God, there are no classes, and should
be none.
Good Account Rendered.
But you want to know whether or
not the Republican party in West vir-
ginia has kept pace with the forward
movements in this country; has our
administration OF your business been
all that could be expected OF us under
the circumstances. In short can we
render good account OF ourselves?
My fellow citizens, think We can,
and do not mean by that simply
that we can render better account
OF ourselves for the past 10 years
than the Democratic party can rem
der of Its conduct of our business for
the period during which it was In
power in the state, but rather mean
that we have done all thot could rea-
sonably be expected in that period OF
time. Remember, that the things
We have done have been bitterly OPP
posed by an organization of men
known as the Democratic party. We
have had to fight our way through.
When we said this thing OF. the other
must be done the Democratic party
girded on Its armor and said: "No;
II you get that you have to fight for
It," And into 1t we went, and when
we fell we fell on top of the Demo-
cratic party. You may say we have
not done everything that we promised
to do. That may be true, but I
sometimes wonder that our failures
have not been more, when take in
to consideration the opposition with
which he have had to contend.
In the platform adopted by the
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