Morning Oregonian., July 07, 1904, Page 10, Image 9

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THE MORNING OREGONIAN, THURSDAY. JTJIT- 7, 1904.
Semi-Ceritennial of Republican Party Celebrated
SECRETARY HAY REVIEWS ITS SERVICES TO
THE NATION .
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JACKSON, Mich., July 6. Nearly 10,000
persons assembled In a picturesque oak
(grove In the outskirts of Jackson today to
celebrate the eeml-centennlal anniversary
of the Republican party. It -was in a
Email oak grove at the opposite end of
Jackson, that, 0 years ago today, the
''first State Convention that was held -under
the name of "Republican" took place.
There the flrst Republican State ticket
was then placed in nomination.
Secretary of State John Hay was the
orator of the day, and Senator Charles
"W. Fairbanks, of Indiana, Republican
candidate for Vice-President, and Speaker
Joseph G. Cannon, of the National House
of Representatives, also delivered ad
.dresses. On the platform was seated a repre
sentative delegation of the Republican
party of 31ichlgan, headed by Senators
iUger and Burrows. Senator Burrows
tproslded over the afternoon session, and
-Senator Alger was the last speaker of the
jafternoon.
Behind the speaker's platform rose a
Swall of bright-colored bunting with im
ixnenee pictures of John C. Fremont, the
flrst Republican nominee for President,
jand Abraham Ldncoln, the first Repub
lican to occupy the White House, fastened
pa it. Straight ahead, and to the right
nd left over the heads of the assembled
.multitude, towered scores of splendid
-oaks.
In the front rows of the audience were
nearly 1000 men who voted for John C.
Fremont for President, some of whom had
(participated in the original "under the
ioaka" convention CO years ago. To this
wenorable company special reference was
5aid.
Secretary Hay, Senator Fairbanks and
'Senator Alger were met at the station
on their arrival from Detroit by a dele
qgation of citizens and escorted to a hotel.
iSpeaker Cannon arrived last night.
The day's programme began with a sun
rise gun and band concert, preceding the
icpening of the morning exercises at the
jspark.
Secretary Hay was greeted with tre
jSncndous cheers when he stepped forward
'in response to Chairman Burrows' intro
duction and began his oration.
Senator Fairbanks was the next speak
er, and he also recolved cordial greeting.
Speaker Cannon spoke extemporane
ously. "Here at Jackson," he said, "you made
the declaration many years ago that we
'could not have slaves and free men
.working side by side, and that was
'right."
The Republican party, he declared, had
'made labor free, and America would ele
vate and keep labor above the level of
the laboring man In any other country in
the world.
Senator Fairbanks spoke. In part, as
follows:
Fifty years Is a brlof period when com
jpared with the life of the elder nations, yet
ilt embracos the entire life of the Repub
"Ucan party, a party whose achievements ar
.-among- tho most lasting and luminous of the
deeds done by any party since the begin
ning of the Government.
The span of the last BO years, is. Indeed,
the golden age of the Republic. During the
greater part of that poriod, the Republican
party was In tho ascendancy. Its principles
and Its policies were in full operation in
tho Nation, and our country advanced as
never before. Its growth during the exist
ence of the Republican party verges upon
the marvelous. "While the tremendous pro--gTe6s
that has been made cannot be ascribed,
of course, entirely to the wisdom and
beneficence of Its policies, yet it has con
tributed immeasurably to the results which
Vfcave been attained. 2n"o duty has been laid
on it. no matter how sudden or grave, but
ftbat It has met It wisely and bravely.
The Republican party has given to hls-
f'tory many statesmen of great eminence
whose names have become a part of the im
f"jneasurable glory of tho Republic. We will
J enter upon the half-century, which opens
j "before us with such hopeful promise, under
)& brave, patriotic, wise American, whoso
I Ideals are in harmony with the best tra
Wltlons of the Republic and whoso ambition
(ls to lead our countrymen and our country
tin the paths of peace, prosperity and honor
-Theodore Roosevelt.
Address of Secretary Hay.
The address of Secretary Hay, which
aroused great enthusiasm, was as fol
lows: A century Is but a moment of history; it has
often happened that several of them have
Zasfed away, since men began to record their
,-deeds, with little change in the physical as
Jpoct or the moral progress of the world. But
i at other times of Intense action and spiritual
(awakening a single generation may form an
epoch; and few periods of equal duration in
political annals have been so crowded with
.-great events as the 50 years we celebrate to
fcday. Under the oaks of Jackson, on tho 0th of
3uly, 1S54, a party was brought Into being
and baptized, which ever since has answered
sihe purposes of its existence with fewer Xoilled
!ond failures and more magnificent achieve
ments than ordinarily fall to the lot of any
Institution of mortal origin. And even the tw
inning of tho end la not yet. This historic
party is only now in the full maturity of its
! power and Its capacity for good. Ve look
back upon a past of unparalleled usefulness
and glory with emotions of thankfulness and
kpri.de; we confront, the future and Its exact
ing problems with a confidence born of the
experience of difficulties surmounted and tri
Irumpha achieved in paths more thorny and
prays more arduous than any that are likely
fto challenge the courage and the conscience
(of the generation which Is to follow us. It Is
'meet that at this stage of our -journey we
Lehould review -the past and read Its lessons,
fend in Its light take heart for what lies be
yond. The Republican party had a noble origin.
Vlt sprang directly from an aroused and In
dignant National conscience. Questions of
".finance, of political economy, of orderly nd--jnlnlstraxlon,
passed out of sight for the mo
ment, to be token up and dealt with later on.
fc-Sut In 1S34 the question that brought the
thinking men together was whether there
ehould be a limit to the aggressions of slav
ery; and In 1S01 that solemn Inquiry turned
lo one still mors portentous. Should the Na
tion live or die? The humblest old Republi
can in America has the right to be proud
that In the days of his youth In the presence
Of these momentous questions be Judged right;
end If he is sleeping in his honored grave.
Ills children may justly be glad of his de
cision. Power of Elave Party.
It was not so easy CO years ago to take
icddea against tho slave power aa It may seem
today. Respect for the vested rights of the
-Southern people was one of our most eacred
traditions. It was founded on the oompro--mlses
of tho Constitution, and upon & long line
iof legal and legislative precedents. The men
of the Revolution mado no defense of slavery
:ln itself; Washington, Adams, Jefferson -and
franklin deplored Its existence, but recognized
the necessity of compromise until the public
znlnd might rest In the hope of its ultimate
.extinction. But after they had passed away,
improvements in tho culture and manufacture
of cotton made this uneconomic form of labor
tior the time profitable, and what had been
merely tolerated as a temporary necessity ba
fan to be upheld as a permanent system.
Slavery entrenched Itself In every department
of our publio life. Its advocates dominated
Congress and the state legislatures; they even
Invaded the pulpit and grotesquely wrested a
Sew texts of scripture to tlelr purpose. They
cave the tone to society; even the Southern
accent was Imitated in our schools and col
leges. If the slaveholders had been content with
their unquestioned predominance, they might
lor many years have controlled our political
and social world. It was natural for the
conservative people of the Xorth to eay: "We
deplore tho existence of slavery, but we are
all to blame for It; we should not cast upon
our brethren in the South the burdens and
perils of its abolition. We must bear with
the unfortunate condition of things and take
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our share of its Inconveniences." But the
slaveholdlng party could not rest content. The
ancients said that madness was the fate of
those judged by the gods. Continual aggres
sion is a necessity of a false position. They
felt Instinctively that if their system were
permanently to endure it must be extended,
and to attain this object they were ready
to risk everything. They rent In twain the
compromises which had protected them so long.
They tore down the bulwarks which had at
once restricted and defended them; and con
fiding in their strength and our patience they
boldly announced and Inaugurated the policy
of the Indefinite extension of their "peculiar
Institution."
Once embarked upon this fatal enterprise
they left nothing undone which could contrib
ute to tho catastrophe upon which they were
rushing. The Whig party, had gone to ruin
in 1852 on account of the Impossibility of
combining the scattered elements of op
position to the party of pro-lavery aggres
sion; but they themselves furnished the weapon
which was to defeat them. In May, 18M,
after several months of passionate debate, to
which the country listened with feverish in
terest, Congress passed the bill organizing the
Territories of Kansas and Nebraska, omitting
the restrictions of the Missouri Compromise
which excluded slavery from them. This ac
tion at once precipitated the floating anti
slavery sentiment of the country. A mighty
cry of resolute indignation arose from one
end of the land to the other. The hollow
truce, founded upon the legitimate comprom
ises which had been observed in good faith
by one side and ruthlessly violated by the
uiucr, wu a, an cna. .wen oegan to eearca
their consciences Instead of the arguments of
political expediency.
A llecusslon of the right and wrong of
slavery became general; the light was let In.
fatal to darkness. A system which degraded
men, dishonored women, deprived little chil
dren of the sacred solace of home, was
loomed from the hour It passed Into the
arena of free debate. And even If we phut
our eyes to the moral aspects of that heart
less system, and confined ourselves to the ex
amination of Its economic merits, it was
found to be wasteful and inefficient. The
Americans are at once the most tentlmcntal
and the most practical of peoples and when
they see that an institution is morally re
volting, and, besides, does not pay, its fate
is scaled.
Kept Fight Within Constitution.
Tet the most wonderful feature of that ex
traordinary campaign which then began, and
which never ceased until the land was purged
of Its deadly sin. was that even In the very
"tempest and whirlwind of their paealon" the
great leaders of the Republican party kept
their agitation strictly within the limits of
the Constitution and the law. There was no
general demand for even an amendment to
the organic Instrument. They pleaded for the
repeal of unjust statutes as Inconsistent with
the Constitution, but did not advocate their
violation. Only among the more obscure and
ardent members of the party was there any
demand for the abolition of slavery, but tho
whole party stood like a rock for the princi
ple that the damnable Institution must be
content with what It had already got. and
must not bo allowed to pollute another Inch
of free soil. On this impregnable ground
they made their stand; and the moss conven
tion which assembled here In 18M. while the
vibrations of the thunder of the guns and
the shoutings of the birthday of Liberty yet
lingered in the air, gave a nucleus and a
name to the new party, destined to a great
and beneficent career. Before the month ended
the anti-slavery men of five more great states
adopted the name "Republican," and under
that banner Congress was carried and two
yeans later a National party assembled at
Pittsburg and nominated Fremont and Day
ton, who failed by a few votes of sweeping
the North.
Who of us that was living then will ever
forget the ardent enthusiasm of those days?
It was one of those periods, rare In the life
of any nation, when men forget themselves
and in spite of habit, of interest, and of
prejudice, follow their consciences wherever
thoy may lead. In the clear, keen air that
was abroad the best men in the country drew
deeper breaths and rose to a moral height
they had not before attained. The move
ment was universal. Sumner In the Bast,
Seward in New York, Chase In Ohio, Bates
In Missouri, Blair in Maryland, all sent forth
their Identical appeal to the higher motive;
and in Illinois, where the most popular man
In the state boldly and cynically announced,
"1 don't care whether slavery is voted up
or voted down," a voice, new to the Nation,
replied, "There ore some of us who do care.
If slavery is not wrong, nothing Is wrong"
and Abraham Lincoln came upon the field
not to leave it until he was triumphant in
death.
I have no right to detain you at this hour
in recounting the history of those memorable
days. Two incidents of the long battle will
never be forgotten. One was the physical
and political contest for the possession of
Kansas, carried on with desperate courage
and recklessness of consequences by the pro
slavery party on the one side, and, on the
other, by the New England farmers whose
weapons of aggression were Bible texts and
the words of Jefferson, and whose arms of
-dofense were Sharpe's rifles. With words
that Ting even now when we read them,
like the clashing of swords, the Slave State
men claimed .Kansas as their right and the
Free State men replied In the words of the
prophet before Herod, It is not lawful for
you to have her. And when the talking
sharpened to the physical clinch, the praying
men fought with the rame ferocity as the
men who cursed. In the field of political
discussion the most dramatic incident of the
fight was the debate between Lincoln and
Douglas.
Not many of you saw that battle of the
strong, where each of the gladiators had an
adversary worthy of his steel, where tho
audiences were equally divided, where tho
combatants were fairly matched in debating
skill and address, and where the superiority
of Lincoln was not so much personal as It
was in the overwhelming strength of his
position. He was fighting for freedom and
could say so; Douglas was lighting for slav
ery and could not avow it. The result of the
contest is now seen to have been inevitable.
Douglas was re-elected to the Senate, but
had gained also the resentful suspicion of
the South, which two years later disowned
him and defeated his lifelong ambition. Lin
coln became at once the foremost Republican
of the West, and a little later the greatest
political figure of the century.
Pride of Party In ldncoln.
If there is one thing more than another
in which we Republicans are entitled to a
legitimate pride it is that Lincoln was our
flrst President; that we believed in him,
loyally supported him while he lived, and
that we have never lost the right to call
ourselves his followers. There Is not a prin
ciple avowed by the Republican party today
which is out of harmony with his teachings
or Inconsistent with his character. We do
not objoot to our opponents quoting him,
praising him even claiming him as their
own. If it is not sincere. It is still a laud
able tribute to acknowledge excellence. It
It is genuine, it Is still better, for even a
Nebraska Populist who reads his Lincoln Is
in the way of salvation. But only those who
believe in human rights and are willing to
make sacrifices to defend them; who believe
in the Nation and Its beneficent power; who
bellevo in the American system of protection
championed by a long line of our greatest
and best, running back from McKinley to
Washington, and, as Senator Dolllver so
truthfully said, "to the original sources of
American common sense"; only those who
believe In equal Justice to labor and to cap
ital; in honest money and the right to earn
It, have any title to name themselves by the
name of Lincoln, or to claim moral kin
ship with that august and venerated spirit.
I admit it would be little less than sacrilege
to try to trade upon that benignant Re
nown, whose light "folds in this orb o the
earth." But we who have always tried to
walk In the road he pointed out cannot he
deprived of the tender pride of calling our
selves his disciples, and of doing In his name
the work atlotted to us by Providence. And
Z hope I am violating neither the confidence
of & friend nor the proprieties of an occa
sion like this when I refer to the ardent
and able young statesman who is now. and
Is to be, our President, to let you know that
in time of doubt and difficulty the thought
oftenest In his heart Is, "What. In such a
case, would Lincoln have done?" '
As we are removed 'further and further
from the founders of our party and their
j mighty work, their names and their fame
rise every year higher in the great perspect
ive of history. The clamor of hatred and
calumny dies away. The efforts made to
weaken the hands of Lincoln and his associ
ates are forgotten. The survivors of those
who so bitterly attacked him and his cause,
which was the cause of the country, are now
themselves astonished when confronted with
the words they then uttered. But It was
against a political opposition not less formid
able and efficient than the armed force be
yond the Potomac that the Union men of
that day, and their President, had to strug
gle. It was not merely tho losses In battle,
the waste of our wealth, the precious blood
of our young men, that filled Lincoln's heart
with anguish and made him. old before his
time, but it was the storm of partisan hos
tility that raged against him, filling the air
with slanders and thwarting his most ear
nest and unselfish efforts for the country's
good. But in spite of it all he persevered,
never for a moment tempted by the vast
power he wielded to any action not Justified
by the moral and the organic law.
I have alwajs liked the inscription on the
medal which the workmen of France, by one
cent subscriptions, caused to be struck after
his death: "Abraham Lincoln, the honest man.
Waged war. Abolished slavery. Twice elected
SECRETARY HAY ON REPUBLICANISM, PAST
AND FUTURE
The Republican party had a noble origin. It sprang directly from
an aroused and indignant National conscience.
Respect for the vested rights of the Southern people was one of
our most sacred traditions.
If the slaveholders had been content with their unquestioned pre
dominance, they might for many years have controlled our political
and social world.
If there is one thing more than another in which we Republicans
are entitled to a legitimate pride. It Is that Lincoln was our first Presl
dent that we believed in him, loyally supported him while he lived,
and that we have never lost the right to call ourselves his follow
ers. History affords no parallel to the vast and Increasing prosperity
which this country has enjoyed under Republican rule.
TVe are a great people and success Is our right; God Is good to
those who behave themselves.
We do not covet the territory nor the control of any other people.
We hold ourselves absolutely apart from any combinations or groups
of powers. We favor no National Interests but our own.
We are not claiming that we monopolize the virtue or the patriot
ism of the country. There are good men In all parties.
The record of 50 years will show whether as a party we are fit to
govern. For 50 years the Republican party has believed in the coun
try and labored for it in hope and joy.
The Constitution of our fathers has been the light to our feet; our
path is, and- will ever remain, that of ordered progress, of liberty un
der the law.
President without veiling the face of liberty."
This was an achievement new to the world:
that a man and a party, armed with an au
thority so unquestioned and so stupendous, in
the very current of a vat war, should have
submitted themselves so rigidly to the law
and never have dreamed there was anything
meritorious about It. Then, if never before,
we proved we were as fit to be freo as the
men who achieved our freedom.
Example lo the World.
The world learned other lessons In swift suc
cession. We disbanded our army sent them
home to earn their lUlngs as simple citizens of
the land they had saved, without terms or con
ditions; they asked ndne; they wanted peace;
they were glad to get to work. And there
were no reprisals, not a man punished for re
bellion or treason; not an act of violence sul
lied the glory of victory. The fight had been
fierce, but loyal; we at least wished tho rec
onciliation to be perfect. Then came tho pay
ing of our debts. To whom Is the credit due
of that enormous task, that sublime effort of
common honesty, if not to the party which
against every assault of open and covert re
pudiation stood by the country's honor and
kept It free from stain?
Let me hurriedly enumerate a few of tho
events In the long and fruitful career of the
Republican party which seem to us to entitle
it to the confidence of the country and the
final approval of history. After the war was
ended and peace re-established with no dam
age to the structure of the Government, but,
on the contrary, with added strength and with
Increased guaranties of Its perpetuity, it re
mained to be shown whether the power and
suoccss of tho Republican party were to be
permanent, or whether, bom of a crisis, it
was fitted to cope with the problems of dally
National life. It had destroyed slavery, or,
perhaps we might better say, it had created
the conditions by which slavery had com
mitted suicide. In the absence of this great
adversary, could the party hold together against
the thousand leaser evils that beset tho public
life of modern peoples the evils of ignorance,
corruption, avarice and lawlessness, the preju
dices of race and of class, the voices of
demagogues, the cunning of dishonest craft,
the brutal tyranny of the boss, the venality
of the mean? I think it is not too much to
say that the last 40 years have given an
answer, full of glory and honor, to that
question. The Republican party, In the mass
and In detail, has shown its capacity to gov
ern. By the homestead law, with equal gen
erosity and wisdom, it distributed tho im
mense National domain among the citizens who
were willing to cultivate it and who have
converted wide stretches of wilderness into
smiling homes. It built the Pacific Railroad,
which has bound the Union together from
East to West by bands of steel and made
the states beyond the mountains among our
most lojal and prosperous commonwealths. It
redeemed our paper currency and made all our
.forms of money of exactly equal value, and
our credit the best In the world. By persistent
honesty In our finances in .the face of ob
stacles which might jh&ve daunted the hardiest
statesmen It has reduced our Interest charges
so that In any mart on earth we can bor
row money cheaper than any other people.
In the financial revulsions to which all com
munities are subject we are able, thanks to our
laws and our administrative system, to meet
and pass the most violent crises without last
ing damage to our prosperity. We have, by
the patient labor of years, so succeeded in
reforming and regulating our civil service that
patronage has almost ceased to cast Its deadly
blight upon the work of our public servants.
Human nature is weak and offenses happen;
but they are almost always found out and
are punished without mercy when detected. By
persistent adherence to the policy of protection
we have given to our industries a development
which the fathers of the Republic never
dreamed of; which, besides supplying our home
market, has carried our manufactures to the
uttermost ends of the earth.
Prosperity of Republican Role.
History affords no parallel to the vast and
increasing prosperity which this country has
enjoyed under Republican rule. I hasten to
say we do not claim to have Invented seed
time and harvest, and industry and thrift. Wo
are a great people and success is our right;
Ood is good to those who behave themselves.
But we may Justly claim that the Republican
party has been in power during these years
of marvelous growth, and we can at least bring
proof that we have not prevented It and this
Is no slight honor for a party to claim. I
will not at this moment speak of the Im
portant acquisitions of territory we have made,
which render us in many ways the predomi
nant power In the Pacific But out of the
territory we already possessed, 14 new states
have entered the Union. The census of 185Q,
gave us 23,000,000 of population the last one
76,000.000. The number of our farms the total
of our cultivated acreage has increased four
fold. Our corn crop Is five times what it
was; our wheat crop, six times. The capital
invested In manufacturing has grown from five
hundred millions to ten billions; Where it em
ployed less than a million artisans, It now
employs more than five millions; and while
the number of worklngmen has Increased five
times, their wages have Increased tenfold. The
value of manufactured property Is 13 times
what it was when the Republicans of Michi
gan met under the oaks. The real and per
sonal wealth of the country has grown in this
amazing half century from seven thousand
millions to ninety-four thousand millions. Our
railroad have grown from a mileage of 10,000
to one of 200,000. Our Imports and exports
have gone up by leaps and bounds to the
name monstrous proportions. And finally, lt
us hasten to say, as the other side will say It
for us. instead of the 147,000,000 which sup
plied our modest needs in 1550 we now collect
and spend some $700,000,000 annually. I can
only add what Speaker Reed replied to a
Democratic statesman who complained of a
blillon-dollar Congress: "Weill this Is a bll- f
lion-dollar country."
Of course our opponents, who have got far
enough from the men and the events of the
great war period to admit they were not with
out merit, will say for they must say some
thingthat we have fallen away from that
high level. Now, I am grieved to confess
that I am old enough to have .seen something
of the beginning, as well as of the present, of
Republican Administrations, and I venture to
say that no eight years of government In our
history have been purer from blame or hare
conferred greater benefits upon the country
than the eight years of McKinley and Roose
velt which claim your approval today. I need
not hesitate to refer to It, although I have
been amoclated with both Administrations, so
little of their merit Is mine that I may speak
of them without false modesty. Our National
finances have never In our history been so
wisoly and succcrsfully administered; our credit
never stood on a basis so broad and so strong.
Our two per cents command a premium in all
. 4
markets no other country on earth can say aa
much.
We paid abroad the other day fifty millions
of gold in a single transaction without pro
ducing a ripple in exchange. The vast ex
penditure made necessary by our enormous In
crease In every element of National growth
Is collected with the utmost ease and ex
pended with perfect honesty. Our protective
system, loyally and Intelligently carried out and
Improved in the last seven years, not only fills
our treasury with the means of National ex
penditure, but has carried our Industries and
our commerce to a height of prosperity which
is tho wonder and envy of our neighbors, who
are trying to emulate our progress. In the re
lations between labor and capital, always a
subject of deep concern In democratic govern
ments, we have Improved both in the letter
and the spirit. How could It be otherwise
when labor knows that McKinley and Roose
velt have watched over Its interests as a
brother might, and capital knows that" Its
rights will be sacredly guarded oo long as it
Is true to Its duties?
Our Place Among- Nations.
As to our place in the world. It has simply
followed and naturally complemented the
steady Improvement in our domestic condition.
A country growlnc so fast must have elbow
room must have Its share of the sunshine.
In the last seven years, without aggression,
without undue self-assertion, vre have taken
the place that belonged to us.' Adhering with
religious care to the precepts of Washington
and the traditions of a century, and avoiding
all entangling alliances, professing friendship
to all nations and partiality to none, Mc
Kinley and Roosevelt have gone steadily for
ward protecting and extending American in
terests everywhere and gaining, by deserving
it, the good will of all the world. Their
advice has been constantly sought and spar
ingly given. By constant Iteration their policy
has been made plain. We do not covet the ter
ritory nor the control of any other people. We
hold ourselves absolutely apart from any com
binations or groups of powers. We favor no
National interests but our own. In contro
versies among our neighbors wo take no part,
not even tendering good offices unless at the
request of both parties concerned. When our
advice Is given, it is alwajs on the side of
peace and conciliation. We have made, it is
true, great acquisitions, but never of set pur
pose nor from greed of land. -In the case of
Hawaii, the win of tho people of those islands
coincided with the Important interests wo have
to guard in the Pacific In the Saraoan treaty
we freed ourselves from a useless and danger
ous entanglement, and In placo of an unde
sirable condominium we gained possession of
the best harbor in the South Seas, retaining,
at the same time, all our commercial rights in
the archipelago.
The diplomacy of McKinley and Roosevelt
has been directed principally to our present
and future interests in the Pacific, on whose
wide shores eo much of the world's work is to
be done. They have constantly kept in view
the vast importance of that opening field of
our activities. The long negotiations for the
"ooen door" In China; the steadfast fight we
made for the integrity of that ancient em
plre; President McKlnlcys attitude through
out the Boxer troubles, eo severely criticised
at the time and so splendidly approved by the
result; the position President Roosevelt has
since held and now holds In regard to the
neutrality of China In the present war have
all been dictated by one consistent policy, of
taking care that our Interests receive no detri
ment In the Pacific, that while we wish no
harm to anyone else, we, shall see that no
damage is done to our people, no door is shut
in our face.
The negotiations begun by McKinley and
successfully comploted by Roosevelt for the
abrogation of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty,
which Impeded our freedom of action in build
ing an Isthmian canal, was a part of the
same general plan of opening a field of en
terprise in those distant regions where the
Far West becomes the Far East. In this
matter we were met In the most frank and
friendly spirit by the British government, aa
also in the matter of the Alaskan boundary,
which was eettled for all time by a high
judicial tribunal, removing a cloud upon our
title to another great Pacific possession. And
to close this record of success monotonous
because gained by appeals to reason rather
than force, without parade or melodrama
came the treaty with Panama, by which we
Anally gained the pathway across the Isth
mus by a perpetual grant, insuring the con
struction of an American canal under Ameri
can control, built primarily for American
needs, but open on equal terms to all the
people of good-will the world over.
All the foreign policy of McKinley and
Roosevelt has been marked with the same
stamp of honesty and fair dealing, confessedly
In American Interests, but treating our friends
with equity and consideration. They have
made more treaties than any two preceding
Presidents; and" the conclusion of tho whole
matter is that wo stand today in independent
though amicable relations to all the rest of
the world without an ally and without an
enemy.
Expansion of tho Nation.
If the Government for the last seven years,
had dono nothing else. It would have entitled
Itself to an honorable place In history by the
manner in which it has handled the questions
of the islands whose destiny has been so in
terwoven with our own. The war with Spain
waa carried through with Incredible swift
ness and energy, without a shadow of cor
ruption, without a moral or a technical fault,
A hundred days sufficed for the fighting.
Diplomacy then did its work, and our com
zcisaloner brought 'horn a treaty-go Jst and
so beneficial that It was Impossible to unite
the opposition against It. Then came the
far more difficult and delicate task of ad
ministration. Tou remember tho doleful
prophecies of evil with which the air was
filled; that we had not the habit nor the
ability to govern outlvlnr txssseaalona: that
the Islands would bo cesspools of Jobbery and f
fraud ; that the enterprise was conceived In
violence and would go out in disaster.
And now you know the result. The Repub
lic never is in default of men to serve It
worthily when the Chief of the State Is hon
est and able; when he has the eye and the
Will tO Choose the best mm nr1 wilt K .it.
lsfied With no less. So in Cuba. "Porto fUro )
and the Philippines we got the beat we had.
Wood, Allen and Hunt, and Taft have each
In his place wrought a great work and gained
a righteous fame. Cuba and Porto Rico are
free and enjoying the one under her own
banner, the other under the Stars and Striper
a degree of prosperity and happiness never
known before In all their troubled story. As
to the" Philippines, the work done there by
Judge Taft and his associates will rank
among the highest achievements of colonial
administration recorded in history. Never
since their discovery has there been such gen
eral peace and order; so thorough a protec
tion of the peaceable and restraint of evil
doers; so wide a diffusion of education; so
complete a guaranty to industry of the fruit
of its labors. And when they see his ener
getic and efficient government carried on, free
from the venality and bribery which formerly
seemed to thm a necessity of existence, then.
Indeed, they aw like them that dream.
The principal evil from which they still
suffer has Its origin here. Some well-meaning
people and others not so well meaning are
constantly persuading them that they are op
pressed, and that they will be given their lib
erty, as they choose to call it, as soon aa the
Republican party Is overthrown In this coun
try. These are the true onemles of the Fil
ipinos, and not the men who aro striving with
whole-hearted energy and with consummate
success to amellorota their condition and to
make them fit for self-government and all its
attendant advantages. The so-called antl-lm-perlallsts
confound in their dally speeches and
writings two absolutely unrelated Ideas the
liberty, the civil rights, the self-government
which we have given the Filipinos, and the
independence which the best of them do sot
want and know they are unable to maintain.
To abandon them now, to cast them adrift at
the mercy of accident, would be an act of
cowardice and treachery which would gain us
the soorn and reproach of civilization.
Debt to tho Democrats.
Our opponents sometimes say wo have no
right to claim the credit of the great deeds of
the last half century that we could not have
accomplished them without the aid of Demo
crats. Nothing truer was ever said; and it Is
one of the chief glories of our annals, and It
forms the surest foundation of our hopes for
the future. Tho principles upon which our
party Is built are so sound, they have so ir
resistible an attraction to patriotic and fair
minded men, that whenever a timo of crisis
comes, when the National welfare Is clearly at
stake, when voters must decide whether they
shall follow their prejudices or their con
sciences, we draw from, other parties their
best men by thousands. Bright among the
brightest of those who founded our party shine
the names of Democrats; and when tho war
came on the picked men of that party rallied
to the colors. Douglas, shortly before he died,
declared his unfaltering support of Lincoln.
The sun would go down before I could name
the Democrats who fought like heroes for tho
country. Grant. Sherman, Sheridan, Dlx,
Sickles. Logan In short, an Innumerable host".
Democrats all. rushed Into tho field and there
after fought and worked with the Repub
licans while life lasted. And that vast ma
jority of Lincoln's In 1804 would have been
Impossible had not myriads of Democrats, cast
ing their life-long associations to the winds,
listened to the Inward monitor which said,
"Choose you this day whom ye will serve."
As it was then, so it has been in after years.
When the attempt was made to repudiate, in
whole or in part, the National debt; or to
abolish the system of protection to American
Industries, founded by Washington and Ham
ilton, and approved by the experience of a
hundred years; or to degrade our currency at
the demand of mere ignorance and greed in all
these cases we saw proof of the homely adage
that you may lead a horso to the water, but
may not make him drink. In spite of or
ganizations and platforms. In spite of the
frahtlc adjurations of gifted orators, hosts of
patriotic Democrats walked quietly to the polls
and voted as their consciences dictated. In the
Interests of the public wolfare, rather than of
a party. Even In so lofty and restricted an
arena as our Senate, wo have seen the ablest
and most adroit organizer of his party fall
in the most energetic effort of his life to In
duce his party to reject a great National ben
efit because It was offered by Republican
hands. Half the Democratic Senators said
this waa no question for pettifogging politics
voted for an American canal across the isth
mus. We are not claiming that we monopolize the
virtue or the patriotism of the country. There
are good men in all parties. I know far bet
ter men than I am who are Democrats. But
we are surely allowed, in a love feast like this,
to talk of what has been done by the family
and at least to brag a little of the Democrats
who have helped us. We get their votes for
one reason only because we started right and
In the main have kept right. We invite acces
sions from the ranks of our patriotic oppon
ents, and we shall get them in the future, as
we have in the past, whenever we deserve
them. We shall get them this year
because this year we desire them. We
come before the county In a position
which cannot be successfully attacked In
front, or Sank, or rear. What we have done,
what we are doing, and what we Intend to
do on all three we confidently challenge the
verdict of tho American people. The record of
CO years will show whether as a party we are
fit to govern; the state of our domestic and
foreign affairs will show whether as party
we have fallen off; and both together will show
whether we can be trusted' for a while longer.
The Republican Platform.
Our platform Is before the country. Perhaps
It is lacking In novelty. There, f certainly
nothing sensational about It, It is substan
tially the platform on which we won two
great victories In the name of McKinley, and
It is still sound and serviceable. Its prin
ciples have been tested by eight years of splen
did success and have received the approval of
the country. It Is in line with all our plat
forms of the past, except where prophecy and
promise In those days have become history In
these. We stand by the ancient was which
have proved good.
It would take a wizard to guess what a
dainty dish our adversaries will set before the
sovereign people tomorrow. Their state con
ventions have given them a rich variety to
choose from. As to money, they range all the
way from Bedlam to Belmont; as to tariff, the
one wing In Maryland Is almost sane, the other
wants raving free trade and dynamite for the
custom-houses. When they discuss our island
possessions, some want to scuttle away and
abandon them out of hand; others agree with
that sensible Southerner who sold: "What's
the use talking about expansion. Great Scottl
we've done expanded:" One thing Is reason
ably sure: They -will get as near to our plat
form as they poselbly can and they will by Im
plication approve everything McKinley and
Roosevelt have done in the last four years.
They will favor sound finance and a tariff
which will not disturb business; rjgid honesty
In administration and prompt punishment of
the dishonest; the Monroe Doctrine and an
Isthmian canal. To be logical they ought' to
go on and nominate the Republican candidates
who are pledged to- all these laudable policies.
But they will not be logical. They do not
care to oppose our policy; they merely deny
our sincerity in avowing it. They cannot deny
the soundness of our principles; they pretend
themselves to hold them. But the function of
an opposition Is to oppose, and as they are
otherwise destitute of an issue they seek to
make a few by attributing to us principles we
have never dreamed of holding and policies
which are abhorrent to us. And distrusting
the effect of these maneuvers in advance, they
announce their plan of campaign to be not
pro-anything, but anti-Roosevelt. This Js a
mere counsel of desperation, and the Re
publicans will gladly accept the Issue.
Even on this narrow issue they will dodge
most of the details. Ask them. Has the Presi
dent been a good cltlien, a good soldier, a
good man In all personal relations? Is he a
man of Intelligence, of education? Does ho
know this country well? Does ho know the
world outside? Has he studied law, history
and politics? Has he had great chances to
learn, and has he Improved them? Is he sound
and strong in. mind, body; and soul? is bo
accessible and friendly to all torts and condi
tions of men? Has he the courage and
the candor, and the God-given ability to speak
to the people and tell them what he thinks?
To all these questions they will answer. Tea.
Then what Is your objection to him? They
will either stand speechless or they will an
swer with the parrot cry which we have
heard so often: He is unsafe!
Roosevelt Unsafe to Lawbreaker.
In a certain sense we shall have to admit this
to be true. To every grade of lawbreaker, high
or low; to a man who would rob a till or a
ballot box; to the sneak or the bully; to the
hypocrite and the humbug, Theodore Roose
velt is more than unsafe; he 9 positively
dangerous.
But let us be eerious with these good peo
ple. What are the coefficients of safety in a
Chief of State? He should have courage; the
wisest coward that ever lived Is not fit to
rule. And intelligence; we want no blunder
headed hero In the White House. And hon
esty; a clever thief would do Infinite mischief.
These three are the Indispensable. With them
a man is all the more safe If he has a sense
of proportion, a sense of humor, a wide knowl
edge of men and affairs; If he seeks good coun
sel; and, finally. If he Is a patriot. If he loves
bis country, believes In it, and seeks in all
things Its Interest and Its glory. Any man
may make mistakes; but such a man as this
will make few, and no grave ones.
Such a man Is our President and our candi
date. He is prompt and energetic, but he
takes Infinite pains to get at the f&cts before
he acts. In all the crises which he has been
accused of undue baste, his action has been
the result of long meditation and well-reasoned
convection. If he thinks rapidly, that is
no fault; he thinks thoroughly, and that is the
essential. When he made peace between the
miners and the operators, it was no sudden
caprice, but the fruit of serious reflection, and
this act of mingled philanthropy and common
sense waa Justified by a great practical result.
When he proclaimed anew the Monroe Doc
trine in the Venezuela case his action waa fal
lowed by the most explicit acceptance of that J
saving policy which has ever come to us from
over seas. He aoted very swiftly. It Is true, in
Mississippi, when the best citizens of a town
threatened the life of a postmistress for no
fault but her color. He simply said: "Very
well, gentlemen; you may get your letters
somewhere else for a while."
And as to the merger suits, now that people
have come to their senses they see that his ac
tion In that case was as regular as the
equinox. He was Informed through legal chan
nels that a statute had been violated. He did
not make the statute, but he was bound by his
oath to axecute It. He brought the proceed
ing which It waa his duty to bring. The
courts, from the lowest to the highest, sus
tained his action. He did what It would have
been a high misdemeanor not to have done.
The laws In this country are mad to be
obeyed, whether It Is safe or not. It Is al
ways unsafe to disobey them.
But there has been more noise made over his
suddenness on the Isthmus of Panama than
elsewhere. It Is difficult to treat this charge
with seriousness. The President had made a
treaty with Colombia at her own solicitation,
which was Infinitely to her advantage, to In
augurate an enterprise which was to be for
the beneflt of the world. He waited with end
less patience while Bogota delayed and trifled
with the matter, and finally rejected it, and
suggested new negotiations for a larger sum.
Panama, outraged by this climax of the wrongs
she had already suffered, declared and estab
lished her Independence.
President's Hand In Panama.
The President, following an unbroken line of
precedents, entered Into relations with the new
Republic, and, obeying his duty to protect
the transit of the Isthmus as all other Presi
dents had done before him, gave orders that
there should be no bloodshed n the Une vt
the railway. He said, like Grant, "Let us
have peace," and we had It. It will seem in
credible to posterity that any American could
have objected to this. He acted wisely and
beneficently, and all some people can find to
criticise In his action is that he was too brisk
about It. If a thing Is right and proper to
do, it does not make it criminal to do It
promptly. No, gentlemen! That was a time
when the hour and the man arrived together.
He struck while the Iron was white hot on the
anvil of opportunity and forged as perfect a
bit of honest statecraft as this generation has
seen.
We could desire no better fortune. In the
campaign upon which we are entering, than
that the other side should persist In their an
nounced Intention to make the Issue upon
President Roosevelt. What a godsend to our
orators! It takes some etudy, some research,
to talk about the tariff, or the currency, or
SssSrf EBB 9fr BeHESSSv flsfl kIssM
Y Swollen glands, tumors, white swelling, sores, pustular
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digestion, emaciated, illy-nourished bodies, are some of
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GR0UNDCH0C01ME
foreign policy. But to talk about Rooaeveltt
It is as easy as to sing "the. glory of the
Graeme." Of crntJ birth anil irViHni-
a man of the people In tho best sense; with
the training of a scholar and the breezy acces
sibility of a ranchman; a man of the library
and a man of the world; an athlete and a
thinker; a soldier and a statesman; a reader,
a writer, and a maker of history; with tho
sensibility of a poet and the steel nerve of a
rough rider: one who -nivii- hm oni nwf
could, turn his back on a friend or an en
emy, a man whose merits are so great that
he COUld Win On hla WArllq alnna. .hra n..-
eonallty is so engaging that you lose sight
oi ci3 menu. .Make their fight on a man like
that! What irreverent caricaturist was .it
that called them the Stupid party?
in our candidate for the Vice-Presidency we
have gone back to the old ami mmn.nM.
custom of the Republic and have nominated
a man in every way fit for the highest place
in the Nation, who will bring to the Presi
dency of thft Senata an nhlllfv onH ,nArini.
rarely equaled in its history.
I have detained you too long; yet as I close
I Wans to sav a. word to the vmmir irun n-hnt-
political life is beginning. Any one entering
usiness wouia oe giaa or tne chance to be
come one of an established firm with nan nf
success behind it. with a wide connection, with
unDxemisned character, with credit founded on
a rock. How Infinitely brighter the future
when thA nrMftnt i no nnrn thA najtt mn irlrtr..
ious. Everything great done by this country
in me tast oo years nas neen uone under tne
ausnlrwt of th -RnilViHrflTi nntv. T nt til
consciousness a great asset to have in your
uunu ana memory? As a mere item of per
sonal eftmfnrf l It -nn- TtrrM.tVi ViftirfYir? T.ln-
coin and Grant. Hayes and Garfield, Harrison
ana -iciviniey names secure In the heaven of
fame they all are gone, leaving small estates
In worldly goods, but what vast possessions
ln principles, memories, sacred associations!
It is a start in life to share that wealth.
Party That Does Things.
Who now boasts that he opposed Lincoln?
who brags of his voting against Grant?
though both acts may have been from the best
motives. In our form of government there
must be two parties, and tradition, circum
stances, temperament, will always create a
sufficient opposition. But what young man
would not rather belong to the party that does
things. Instead of one that opposes them; to
the party that looks up, rather than down; to
the party of the dawn, rather than of the sun
set? For 50 yeara the Republican party has
believed In the country and labored for lt.-ln
hope and Joy; It has reverenced the flag and
followed It; has carried It under strange skies
and planted It on far-receding horizons. It
has seen the Nation grow greater every year
and more respected; by Just dealing, by In
telligent labor, by a genius for enterprise. It
has seen the country extend Its intercourse
and Its Influence to regions unknown to our
fathers. Yet It has never abated one Jot or
tittle of the ancient law imposed on us by
our God-fearing ancestors. We have fought
a good 'fight, but also we have kept the faith.
The Constitution of our fathers has been the
light to our feet; our path la. and will ever
remain, that of ordered progress, of liberty
under the law. The country has vastly In
creased, but the great-brained statesmen who
preceded us provided for minute growth. The
discoveries of science have made miraculous
additions to our knowledge. But we are not
daunted by progress; we are not afraid of the
light. The fabric our fathers builded on such
sure foundations- will stand all shocks of fato
or fortune. There will always be a proud
pleasure In looking back on tho history they
made; but, guided by their example, tho com
ing generation has tke right to anticipate
work not less Important, days equally memor
able to mankind. We who are passing off the
stage bid you. as the children of Israel en
camping by the sea were bidden, to Go For
ward; we pass It on to you that Its clear light
may show the truth to the ages that aro to
come.
Homeseekers Continue to Pour In.
BOXESTEELv S. D.. July 6. When the
registration office opened this morning
there were less than 23' people In line.
All night a cold rain fell, and homeseek
ers refused to leave their rooms, but few
being provided with overcoats or rain
coats. But-vWhon the. sun came outfhome-n
seekers appeared on the streets, and at 11
o'clock there were several hundred In the
row.
The early morning train from tho East
brought in about 600 men and women.
Other hundreds are arriving by every,
train.
3g
the system are not equaled by any other remedy. It
makes the weak, tainted blood rich and strong, and
drives out of the circulation all tubercular deposits
and morbid matter that cause the glandular swelling,
sores, abscesses, tumors and other horrible symptoms
A