South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1920-07-11
HOST
OF REFORMS BY
NEW PARTY
Allen McCurdy Delivers Key
note Speech at Con-
Vention.
BY Trited Press

~ LiAtu ltsS-
CHICAGO. July 1O-Allen Nc
Curdy. New York city. temporary
chairman OF the Committee OF As ma
tional convention. in MS keynote
speech today proposed as a plat
form Abolish economic privilege"
Diating on that phrase. McCurdy
said a host Of reforms would follow
the victory Of a Iarty fighting for
that adjustment
McCurdv prefaced his assertion Of
the necessity for a third party with
the statement that the Committee
of IS believes in the two-party sys-
TEN; 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 10
the popular will that they are of
the stock is proven, he said, by the
fact that they consolidate when the
people. as in North Dakota. unite in
their own behalf.
The new party. he said. offers no
panecea for all ills and it is not So
cialistic.
Through our Ilatformt Nc
Curdy said, I'VE declare that Just as
in 1850 the paramount issue in
American life was the abolition Of
special privilege of chattel slavery.
so the paramount issue OF 1920 is the
abolition Of economic privilege which
has grown more powerful than slav-
cry ever became.
Holds Out Hope.
eff we can unite. there is ground
TO hope that in that union we will
have formed political party with a
platform through which the major
ity of our fellow citizens can realize
hope too long deferred. Failure
will strike a severe blow at "A gen
Grafton already twice disappointed;
once by the collapse Of the progress
sive rarty. and again by the incom-
prehensible contradiction between
the words and the deeds OF the pres
ent administration"
The platforms of the two old
parties might have been written by
a convention of corporation lawyers
and Wall 81. bankers, McCurdy said,
and added:
over the trail of these national
failures is 10 be drawn the red
herring OF international relations.
This is an ancient trick of rca ctiOn.
If IL succeeds in 1920, the American
people 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
dominate this campaign Exploited
ourselves, shall we give the power 10
exploit other Peoples 10 our own
exploiters?
Republicans are Bold.
THE republican bid is bold. IL
reads out OF its 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 eX-
change for the lives and treasure OF
the people. Mexican oil shall be de-
livered TO the interests; indOrses the
infamous Esch-Cummins bill over
the protests of farmers. work
ers and informed citizens; and con-
sistently crowns its work by nom
mating as candidate for the presi-
dency a proven. steady. wheel horse
politician. guaranteed TO stand with
out hitching.
The democratic bid is more than
bold: it is brazen. With mild reser-
vations il not only claims partisan
credit which belongs to the whole
nation. for fighting and winning the
war. but il declares il. administered
the conduct of that war without the
faint of scandal, And the ghosts OF
Hog Island, aircraft and shipbuild-
ing. and cantOnment construction
and nitrate plant appropriations are
still stalking through the land
"Nor is that all Failure TO pro
tect a people against profteering in
time of war might be forgiven, but
to break the faith Of "A whole nation
cannot be forgiven. That is the bit
ter experience of these past years.
Ne all remember with gratitude the
words that thrilled our hearts ana
I,indled a ferVent hope that we were
really i'm the dawn of new day. We
felt the inspiration of a leader who
was to guide us into a more COM
plete realization of the things we
had always held nearest our hearts.
yet. il is by these words the dem
ocratic party must he judged. BY
these words il is weighed in the bal
gnce and found unworthy OF hu-
man confidence For into the expect
ant hope went the devastating arm
of Burleson and Palmer. destroying
every vestige Of civil liberty we ever
hold dear and turning the fight OF
freedom into darkness"
McCurdy attacked Palmer, saying
the democratic party through its
endorsement OF that officials work
would lead us back TO the days OF
pbillfp N OF Spain and the unsT eak
ablc Mctternich Of Austria and cause
thoir inouisitions. secret police spies,
csnionage. arrests without warrants.
private prisons. illegal detentions
and star chamber proceedings IN
suDDlant the methods provided in
the Bill Of Rights which has been
the bulwark Of Anglo Saxon free