Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1920-07-02
CUMMINGS SAYS
THE LAST WORD
Chairman Democratic National
Committee Buries Republican
Hopes in Keynote Speech
in San Francisco.

Homer S. Cummings, chairman of
the Democratic National Convention.
made tn e keynote speech of the
Democratic national convention in
San Francisco Tuesday. The address
is pronounced the greatest delivered
in years. A few excerpts follow:
"At this high hour, when the des-
tinies not only of political parties
but of peoples are Mt stake; when
social unrest everywhere apparent;
when eXstng forms Of government
are being challenged, and their very
foundations disturbed or swept away.
it is well for us, here in America, to
pause for period of solemn deliberN
| ton.
We, who assemble in this great
convention, counsel together, not
merely as members of party, but
as children of the Republic. Love of
country and devotion TO human scrv-
ice should purge our hearts of all
unworthy or misleading motives.
Let us fcrvently pray for Divine
blessing upon all that we do or under
take. Let us pledge ourselves anew
to equality of opportunity; the unity
| VI Oui bUt lHltTOSlS
of groups or classes, and the main
tcnance of the high honor of Amer
ica in her dealings with other ma
tions.
The people will shortly determine
which political instrumentality is
best suited to their purposes, most
responsive to their needs. They will
have before them many platforms
and many promises. In what direc-
tion will they turn? There is no bet
ter way of Judging the future than
by the past. We ask, therefore, that
the people turn from the, passions
and the prejudices of the day to the
| consideration of record as clear as
it is enduring.
Republican Leadership.
The Republican Party was unsuc-
cessful i'll the election of 1912 because
it had pcrsistently served special in
tcrests an dhad lost touch with the
spirit of the time Those who con-
trollcd its destiny derived their poll
tical inspiration from "the good old
days of Mark Hanna" and neither
desired II new day nor were willing
to recognize new day when it had
dawned. To each pressing problem
they sought merely to reapply the
/ processes of antiquity.
There were elements in the Rcpub-
lican Party which were intolernnt of
its mental sloth and moral irrespon-
sibility. These influences sought to
gan party control 1912 and again
in 1916. They renewed the hopeless
struggle at the convention recently
held at Chicago.
Despite these efforts, the leaders
who have manipulated the party
mechanism for more than genera
tion are still in undisputed control.
We are proud Of our great navy;
we are proud of our splendid army;
we are proud of the power of our
country and the manner in which
that power has been used; we are
proud of the work that America has
done in the world; we are proud of
the heroism of American men and
women, and we are proud of the in
spired and incompatible leadership
OF Woodrow Wilson.
Has not the time come when all
Americans irrespective Of party,
should begin to praise the achieve
ments of our country rather than to
criticise them? Surely II just and
righteous sense of national pride
should protect us from the insensate
assaults of mere partisans. We
fought Il great war, for great cause,
and we had leadership that carried
America to greater heights of honor
and power and glory than she has
ever known before in her entire his
tory. If the American flag must be
lowered. it will be hauled down in n
Republican convention and not in Il
| Democratic convention
Assails Congress Investigations.
1t is this shining record of tre-
mendous achievement that Republi-
can managers and the Chicago plat
form seel, to shame and besmirch
Various Congressional committees,
which. for want of more appropri-
ate term, are called "smelling COM
mittees." were appointed for the pur-
pose of ascertaining whether or not
there was any graft in the conduct
of the great war. Over eighty inves-
| legations have been made, over two
million dollars have been wasted, and
the one result has been TO prove that
it was the cleanest war ever fought
in the historyNof civilization"
Through the hands Of Democratic
| Administration there have passed
more than forty billions Of dollars,
and the finger of scorn does not point
to ne single Demcratis official in all
America. 1t is record never before
made by any political party in any
country that ever conducted war.
If Republican leaders are not able
to rejoice with us in this American
triumph, they should have the grace
to remain. silent, for it does not lie
in the mouths of those who conduct
ed the Spanish-American War to
indulge in the luxury Of criticism.
What was there in this war to COM
pare with the thyhoid infested camps
and the paper soled shoe controversy
of 1898? What was there in this war
scandal of the Spanish American
to compare to the embalmed bef