The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-07-10
FLAYS BOTH SIDES
Right and Left Wings of Same
Bird of Prey.
Keynote Speech at Liberal Con-
yention Is Bitter One.
MERE CAMOUFLAGE
Allen McCurdy Says Both Could
Be by Same Pen.
Attorney General Palmer Comes
in for Denunciation.

Chicago, July 10.-Allen McCurdy,
New York City, temporary chairman
of the Committee of Forty-eight" ma
tional convention, in his keynote
speech today proposed as a platform
abolish economic privilege"
Dilating on that phrase, McCurdy
said host of reforms would follow
the victory of party fighting for that
abolishment
McCurdy prefaced his assertion of
the necessity for a third party with
the statement that the Committee OF
Forty-eight believes in the two party
system; that the two parties now in
existence really are but the right and
left wing of the same bird of prey"
The Democratic and Republican
parties. he said. conceal under these
names an unyielding opposition to the
popular will" That they are Of the
same stock is proven. he said. by the
fact that they consolidate when the
people, as in North Dakota, unite in
their own behalf.
Offers No Panacca.
The new party, he said, offers no
panacea for all ills and it is not So
cialistic.
Thru our platform" McCurdy said,
I'VE declare that just as in 1860 the
paramount issue in American life was
chattel slavery, so the paramount issue
of 1920 is the abolition of economic
privilege which has grown more pow
erful than slavery ever became.
''If we can unite, there is ground to
hope that in that union we will have
formed a political party with a plat
form thru which the majority of our
fellow citizens can realize a hope too
long deferred. Failure will strike a
severe blow at generation already
twice disappointed, once by the coll
lapse of the Progressive party and
again by the incomprehensible con-
tradiction between the words and the
deeds of the present administration"
Roasts Two Platforms.
The platforms of the two old par
ties might have been written by q
convention of corporation lawyers and
Wall--street- Bankers -McCurdy said
and added:
"over the trail of these national
failures is to be drawn the red her
ring of international relations. This
is an ancient trick of reaction. If il
succeeds in 1920, the American peo-
pie will discover too late that they
have assumed the position of a man
! gazing intently at the moon that the
pickpocket may more easily relieve
him of his possessions. How dare
we permit foreign relations to doni-
nate this campaign? Exploited our
selves, shall we give the power to ex-
ploit other peoples to our own ex-
ploiters?
1.-The Republican bid is bold. It
reads out of it's councils every man
and woman who ever stood for any
form of human rights, adopts a plat
form that evades, eQuivocates or
straddles every living issue; paves the
way for war by which, in exchange
for the lives and treasure of the peo-
pie. Mexican oil shall be delivered to
the interests: endorses the infamous
Esch-Cummins bill over the protests
of farmers. workers, and Informed
citizens: and consistently crowns Its
work by nominating as candidate tor
the presidency a proven, steady. wheel
horse politician. guaranteed to stand
without hitching.
Democratic Bid Brazen.
1.-The Democratic bid is more than
bold; it is brazen. With mild reser-
vations it not only claims a partisan
credit which belongs to the whole ma
ton, for fighting and winning the war
but it declares it administered the
! conduct OF that war without the tajnt
of scandal! And the ghosts of HOG
Island, aircraft and shipbullding and
cantonmenu construction appropria-
tions and nitrate plants are still stalk
ing thru the land
Nor is that all. Failure to protect
a people against profiteering in time
of war might be forgiven, but to break
the faith of a whole nation cannot be
f.7optiuued m Page Two.I