Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-10-26
Republican Club Rally in
The Library Hall
Addressed by Col. Edward C.
PIummer Of Bath.
The Young People Preparing for
Halloween Parties, Next Week.

ilstli WAS very large ana SHOW
ed an interest both in the facts which
the speaker had to present and the
cause for which they We're presented.
In introducing Col. Plummer, eX-May-
or G. A. Knight expressed his pleas
ure ~ the number in attendance. He
introduced the speaker as a man quail
flied to speak upon the subject he was
To present through his 12-years assoc
citation in business with men of af-
fairs in Washington. d. c., and of his
knowledge of conditions there, not
alone in business but in the manner
in which legislation is conducted.
Colonel Plummer spoke from his
manuscript and explained that he did
SO that he might be sure of getting
his stetemtnts correct He said that if
any man got the facts correctly he
could not Justify his lack of support to
the Republican party. His speech bris
tied with facts, based, many of them,
upon personal nowledge, bearing upon
and refuting many of the claims of
the Democrats and Progressives.
In taking up the question of a pro-
tective tariff as compared with the
free TRACE plans of the Democrats the
speaker gave several instances show
ing how free trade would affect Maine
industries; the importation of cotton
goods; lowering the duty on lime and
lumber. the manner in which the
amendment. passed by John Sharp
Williams. would affect the shipbuild-
ing industry in Bath was forcibly stat
cd, This being a subject upon which
Col. Plummer is well posted. The reci-
nrocity treaty with Canada was dis
cusseu at some length and the speak
er called ii document proposed by
Theodore Roosevelt when President
but the carrying out of which was
not completed but was left to Presi =
dent Taft and that when Roosevelt
saw that it was not popular he turned
his back upon it. This was one in
stance in which Col. Roosevelt was
spoken nf. His chief argument against
Roosevelt was made when he declared
that the platform proposed by Roose-
volt WIS very similar to that offered
by Ger. Ben Butler in the early sos
Upon that subject Col. Plummer spoke
in part as follows:
Colonel PInmmer caused Il good deal
of amusement by his comparison of
Ben Buffers Third party of 1884 with
the Third party of today Said he:
LAS ypus listen TO this Third party
talk, do you ever stop To remember
that the platform. with the exception
E of the recall of Judges. is the same
platform that Ben Butler drew When
he launched his Third party in 1854?
He. too. had conservation of public
Lands war upon soulless corporations
and monopolies, bringing the govern
ment back into the hands of the peo-
pie condemnation of both Republic
v...1 lpsatf IL. rAsNr Toe, ne snp
tralled by corrupt wealth. votes for
women these We're there.
"Ben's party had come into exist
ence in exactly the same way as that
which has been followed by its sue
cessor. Butler had been a candidate
for the Presidency at the Chicago con-
venticn. He. too, was the 'storm-cen-
ter there. Old press dispatches tell us
that wherever he appeared, there was
the loudest scream nobody ever had
anything on Ben when it came to
spectacu,arty. But the Southern del
egates wouldn't support Ben any more
than they would support his success
OF this year; so Ben denounced the
convention as ruled by bosses and
launched his Third party candidacy in
six-column newspaper statement of
the grievances of the people in general
and of himself in particular-just as
the present Third party was launched
Get dcwn the files of your newspa-
pers for the campaign of 1884. and
Hcull have to laugh. Zen had 4 force
FIJI Northumberland he used it. Tie adj
mitted that he was tine Abraham. Linz
coin of his day and he didn't care who
knew it. He had been called by the
common people to save them from the
Republican and Democratic parties,
which he had discovered We're full of
bosses and corruption as soon as they
had refused to nominate him for the
Presidency, and he proposed to make
them stop grinding the face of honest
toll There wasn't anything missing
in the dramatic line. On July came a
press dispatch that the son of Mayor
Mumford, whom Ben had hung at New
Orleans, was going to shoot hinl-and
Ben promptly let the people know that
he was prepared to die in their SER
vice az usual. He proved conclusively
on the stump that the delegates who
had nominated Cleveland, his oppo-
nent. didn't represent the people be-
cause the people were for him and
hadn't had a fair show, and ne ex-
planned that the contest was really be-
tween him and Blaine with blaine
mighty poor SECONDHAND yet his OPP
ponent was elected and this Third par
ty, the birth of which Ben had deciar-
ed marked the greatest epoch in the
life of this nation, not only went INTO
exile but was so thoroughly forgotten
that when it was re-introduced, TINS
year with recall of judges necktle
substituted for the greenback one with
which Ben had adorned it, it was wei
coined as a born child of wisdom,
and poor old Ben, who had created II
and brought it to perfection, don
even get a mention. Is this a square
deal?
Perhaps l ought to add that after
having demonstrated that he had
practically all the voters of Name
with him, Ben actually polled in TINS
State 3T70 votes
Mr.. Plurimer also exposed the de-
ceptions being practiced by means OF
published tables of alleged food prices
in this country and London, where
they had over-shot the mark by quot
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