The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1914-04-01
in us, or is it a bait to catch gud-

Igeons?
aTs it the plighted word Of men Of
honor to accomplish certain things
or is it only ''good-enough Morgan
till after election. which palters WIS
the people In a double sense-Whicn
"keeps the word of promise to the ear
and breaks 1t to the hope"T 5
}"I have stood by that declara-
ton ever since, now almost
twenty-five years. / stand by 1T now.
I will stand by it until l am bereft
of my senses. It is the rule OF con
science and Of patriotic service. NO
other rule will do to live by or die by.
"That statement is in language
more bizarre than I would use now,
but the idea expressed therein IS the
same idea / entertain now n VIII
| entertain until [ I'm in my grave.
"There has been much felicitation
among the supporters of this Dill
about their tremendous victory on the
adoption of the rule. When it is re-
membered that the majority was only
20 on the rule and that a change or
Is votes would have defeated 1T in a
house with IA democratic majority,
the grounds for their self-congratula-
ton are hard to discover.
when Pyrrhus, king OF Ep1rus,
was walking over a battlefield where
or he had won a hard fought victory
and observed the number Of dead and
wounded among his own soldiers. he
mournfully exclaimed: j..
Another such victory and we are
undone.'
"To whom Toes the Panama canal
belong, anyway? To the United
States of America. We built it at the
enormous cost of $500. 600, 600. We
built it On American soil. We have
fortified 1t: we will control it. In or
der to get a chance to build it we
created a republic. .
For whose benefit did we build it?
Primarily for our own, s~econdarily for
the worlds benefit.
"rWhy did we build it? In order to
secure cheap water freight rates.
who fought the building Of the
canal for fifteen long, wearisome
years? The transcontinental rail-
roads. .'.
who would be the chief beneficiar-
les Of this repeal bill? The same
transcontinental railroads-the Cana
dian Pacific and. Tehuantepec National
heding the list. 1t would be many
pockets annually. To do a thing to
enable them to hold up their old rates
is ~altruistic generosity run mad and
n outrage on the American people. I
refuse to endorse any such program.
lone Of the wisest things the faith
ers did vas to distribute the powers
of government among three depart
ments-legislative, judicial and execu-
tive; and they ~endeavored to so ar
range things that no n department
should encroach upon the p~rerogatives
Of the others. r.
Under this system of checks and
balances certain duties are devolved
upon the president which he is sworn
to discharge, and truth to tell, Presl-
dent Wilson shows no reluctance in
d~ischarging his duties and exercising
his powers to the utmost.
when he was elected governor OF
New Jersey he declared that he had
been elected leader Of the people OF
that state. When he was elected pres
ident he declared he had become ipsc
facto leader Of h people Of the Unit
ed States. In both declarations he
was correct, but even leadership has
it's limitations.
"I am willing to follow where he
leads SO long as he is in the White
House, and so long as he does not ask
us to repudiate a plain platform dec
laration.
Under our system a national con.
vention is the grand inquest Of a po-
litical party, the highest authority fol-
LnS NCSloLd LlOu VI parity pIlllClplSS
higher than president or COMPRESSION,
al caucuses; indeed, higher than pres.
ident n congressional caucuses com
btned.
1.-THE fathers also devolved upor
congress certain duties which we arr
sworn to discharge faithfully anG
well, duties which we cannot shirl
nor fail to discharge without self,
qualification and the condemnation
Of the people and of our own con
sciences.
1.-THE president discharges his duties
The question is. have we the wisdom
the courage and the patriotism tt
discharge ours? If not, we SHOULD
make way for men imbued with thu
spirit OFFS, to the end that we ma,
transmit u priceless heritage Of lib,
erty to children and our children.
children unimpaired. "r
1.-THE declaration in favor of FREE
tolls for u coastwise trade was wri
large in the Baltimore platform. L
is in these words: H..
we favor the exemption from
toll Of American ships engaged il
coastwise trade passing through tn,
canal. ..
We also favor legislation forbid,
ding the use of the Panama canal BY
ships owned or controlled by railroad
carriers engaged in transportation
competitive with the canal
1.-THE proponents of the repeal a
frst, with far more zeal than discre'
ton, asserted, that that plank was in,
serted in the platform surreptitious'
up and without any consideration
But that would have blasted SO many
regulations that the men who were
on the platform committee-parti'
cuIarly the eleven men on the sub
committee which reported the toll!
plank to the full committee-refuset
to rest under that false and foolish
charge, and told the truth about 1
in self-defense; and the truth Is thu
tolls plank was introduced in the
usual way and was fully discussed
not only discussed, but amended and
agreed to in it's amended form by the
full committee and taken by thu
whole convention.
"We went to the people on tina
platform containing the free tol
plank: headed by President Wilson
himself we all endorsed It; standing
on it we appealed to the voters O.
the land for their support; and they
responding to our Macedonian cry fol
help, enabled us to sweep the lant
from sea to sea by amazing MAORI
ties in the electoral college. Ant
now it is proposed that we rewart
their faith in us and their supper
OF US by repudiating n Of the plank'
Of that platform on which W. achieved
that astounding victory, a plank 81
clear that there could be no misunder'
standing about 1t, no possible mis-
construction Of it. I refuse absolute
ly to be a party to any such perform
ance. Tell it not in Gath. proclaim /
not in the streets OF Askalon that tn,
democratic party will not keep faitl
with a confiding public.
I'VE most earnestly desire neact