The daily sentinel., 1908-07-07

its victories by honest means.
''In the Chicago convention a min
{ ority report of the committee on res
olutions, containing a declaration in
favor of campaign publicity, was
J Overwhelmingly defeated upon a roll
Z call of the convention and the Re-
) publican party placed itself squarely
I upon record in favor of concealing
the names of the contributors, and
the amounts of their subscriptions.
BY vote of So to l in the commit
tee, and vote or more than ten to
one in the body of the convention,
they confessed their guilt They thus
admitted the charge so frequently
made by our party that Republican
success in the past has largely de-
pended upon the vast sums of money
collected from the great monopolies
of the country and corrupty used in
j the conduct of its campaigns. Let
I the voters of this country seriously
I consider whether the refusal of the
4 Republican party to disclose the
sources and amounts of its election
finances is not a confessio of the de-
4 basing and corrupt use of moneys in
its campaign.
I .1t is eminently proper that this
convention should define the Demo-
cratic attitude toward the regulation
1 the attention of the country to the
I indisputable fact that it was only
after years of Democratic effort than
an amendment was made to the in
I terstate commerce law authorizing
II the commission to establish rates
I whenever it appeared that an exist
ing schedule was unjust or unreason-
able. The national platforms of the
Republican party remained silent
upon this great question for years.
and the fact that the necessary
change was advocated by Repub-
lican president, who succeeded only
through the aid of the Democrats in
both branches of congress in placing
the amendment upon our statute
books, does not affect the credit to
which our party is entitled for hav-
ing worked persistently for such an
enactment.
Further amendment to our laws
giving the federal government super
vision over the issuance of railroad
stocks and bonds is demanded.
The fixing of transportation
charges and the control of issuances
of railroad securities are inseparably
connected with the actual valuation
of railroads. The Democratic party
believes that the first thing to do is
to secure a physical valuation of the
roads, that is a valuation of the solid
rather than the liquid assets of rail
road companies. While on the other
hand. the Republican party. on roll
call in the convention by an over
whelming vote, took an unequivocal
stand in favor of a system of water
rates without giving the people the
benefit of meter. .0t
We search in van sor one syllable
Ia. Va fx.a.. .I...F
Republican party to retrenchment
! and REFORM and it is no more coin
c'dence that has given us billion
dollar session of congress on the eve
of national election and the possible
revision of the tariff.
so long as we maintain the pres
ent method of electing United States
senators we cannot hope that the
upper chamber of congress will re-
fleet the popular WIZ
'On five different occasions the
house of Representatives has passed
an constitutional amendment provid-
ing for the election of United States
senators by the direct vote of the
people, but these measures have been
sandbagged in the senate by those
who are determined that the senate
shall not become an integral part of
our free, representative institutions
The Democratic party will con-
tinue to labor for the direct election
of United States senators and it ap-
peals to the voters of America to
elect members of the different state
legislatures who will pledge them
selves to vote for no candidate for
the United States senate that is not
in favor of this reform.
''The affirmative position of the
Democratic party upon these great
questions will be made clear during
the impending campaign and disdain-
ing all subterfuges ii will speak in
language that cannot be misunder-
stood. Its voice will ring with gen.
uine love for humanity and the
charge of insincerity will never be
brought to its doors Let our party
declaration in this convention pre-
sent the strong contrast between that
which we here propose and that which
was declared at Chicago. Let any
man take the temperature of the
Chicago platform and discover. if he
can, any sign of human warmth. Not
a single sentiment is there to redeem
it from the materialism permitting
1t through and through
"on the bosom of the Pacific will
be enacted the great commercial
l CT roll nf f,,,