The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1916-07-12

position clear; why they ignored
Cummins and that host Of favorite
sons. all OF whom were upon record
on the burning issues Of the hour
we ask them why they repudiated all
these aspiring statesmen and turned
with unanimous approval to one
whose views were an unfathomable
secret?
What is there in the record Of Mr..
Hughes that commends him to those
critics OF the administration who de-
mand vigorous foreign policy? What
is there in his character that war
rants the assumption that he, better
than Woodrow Wilson. can grapple
with the grave problems that are now
in the process of happy solution? The
record of Mr.. Hughes as governor Of
New York dwarfs before Woodrow
Wilson's wonderful record as chief
magistrate of New Jersey. While
governor of New York, Mr. Hughes
used his influence against the ratifi-
cation Of the income tax amendment.
He vetoed the two cent rate law. He
vetoed the policemen's eight hour
law. He vetoed the law that gave
women teachers equal pay with men.
! Woodrow Wilson as governor of New
Jersey and as president OF the United
States. with leadership that has
challenged the admiration of the
world, has caused to be written into
the statute books. Of this land more
benign legislation, more humane
measures, than the republican party
in all the sixty years of its existence.
Stands for Americanism.
| The democratic party and Woodrow
Wilson, it's great tribune, stand for
an unadulterated, undiluted and I'M
qualified Americanism. An American
ism that springs from a high appre-
under the flag. An Americanism that
brings into being all that is best Of
every race and every creed and every
age of time. An Americanism that
is inspired by sense of justice AID
follows code Of honor; that makes
a lingering affection for the cid land
consistent with answering fidelity to
the new. ~
1t matters not that thu mystic
chords Of memory carry us back to
a little cottage on Scotland's craggy
hills, or to Erin's shimmcring lakes /;
to the vineclad slopes Of France OF
the castles on the Rhine. We have
one country that means more to us
than all the feeting memories OF the
past, and that country Is our own
United States; one flag dearer to our
hearts than all the gaudy banners OF
the earth, and that flag the stars and
stripes. God pity the man who fall
ters in his allegiance to that country
or in fealty to that flag. Upon his
head shall fall the curse Of the man
without country, who
l"Living shall forfeit fair renown
And doubly dying shall so down
To the vile dust from whence he
sprung
Unwept, unhonored and unsung."
Before this convention I declare
that it takes more than maudlir
fanatic with a torch in his hand; II
takes more than an occasional tory
or an occasional hyphenate-it takes
much more than that to indict before
the bar of American opinion any o
those great peoples who in the day
that are gone, when our. country wa
assailed gave freely Of their lives ant
: fortunes in its defense. And whel
the time Of trial shall come agar
and we turn to Americas foreign
born we will find them as true ant
faithful and ready as they have al
ways been in the past to lay down
their lives for the land that gives
them refuge.
At this moment the Mexican ques
ton is absorbing the interest of the
American people more perhaps than
any other matter. The opposition has
ridiculed the president for what they
please to term vacillating policy
They profess to believe that Ameri
can property and American life has
not been properly safeguarded. With
out attempting an analysis of that
unfortunate situation down there, let
us see how consistent our republican
friends have been.
Last March when President Wilson
defied the German submarine order
and courageously asserted the time
honored right of American citizens to
travel unmolested upon armed mer
chantmen, the republican members OF
congress had a splendid opportunity
to prove their devotion to the prin
ciple of protecting American life and
American property. That was Ques
ton that involved the invasion OF
American rights not upon foreign soil
over run with revolution, but upon
the high seas, the common property
Of all nations. How does the vote
of the administration critics upon the
Gore and McLenmore resolutions
square with the high sounding syE
ables of their platform. A majority
OF the republicans in both houses OF
congress voted to warn Americans
off of the seas. Supported the infam
GUS principle that an American citi
zen forced to travel upon armed mer
chantmen, forfeited the protection Of
his government. Who was spineless
upon that occasion? the republicans
who voted to surrender right be
cause we might have to defend it
or the president who defied the great
est military institution upon earth
When the issue was the United States
against Germany where was theil
boosted Americanism? but when Il
comes to dealing firmly with pool
distracted Mexico their patriotism
knows no bounds.
Fruits Of Calm Counsel.
The best pages of American history
have not been written by hotSpurs