M'KINLEY.
"We have been moving in untried paths, but our steps have been guided
by honor and duty. There will be no turning aside, no wavering, no
retreating. No blow has been struck except for liberty and humanity,
and none will be. We will perform without fear every national and
international obligation. The Republican Party was dedicated to freedom
forty-four years ago. It has been the party of liberty and emancipation
from that hour, not of profession, but of performance. It broke the
shackles of 4,000,000 of slaves and made them free, and to the party
of Lincoln has come another supreme opportunity which it has bravely
met in the liberation of 10,000,000 of the human family from the yoke
of imperialism."
_William McKinley_, _Canton_, _Ohio_, _July_ 12, 1900.
[Illustration: Inauguration of William McKinley, March 4, 1897.]
The opening months of 1896 were marked by a great struggle in both of
the old political parties; in the Democratic Party the struggle was one
of principle; in the Republican--of men. The silver question, which had
been a disturbing and unsettled factor in the politics of both of the
great parties for many years, dominated the Democratic Party in 1896
entirely, notwithstanding the strenuous efforts of the Cleveland
administration and the Eastern Democrats to have the party declare
against it. The instruction of the Democratic State delegations was
overwhelmingly in favor of the free coinage of silver at the ratio of 16
to 1, and the matter was decided long before the Democratic Convention
met. But how would the Gold Democrats be treated in the Convention; and
what action would they take when it declared for silver? Who would carry
the banner of the Democratic Party under the new issue? In the
Republican Party there was little fear that the Convention would be
stampeded in favor of free silver, as the instructions of the Republican
delegates were as emphatic for a sound money platform as those of the
Democratic Party had been for free silver. When the sentiment of the
Republican Party became known there was very little discussion of the
silver question, notwithstanding that it was apparent that the silver
element of the party would assert itself in the Convention, and would
probably secede on the adoption of the gold plank in the platform. The
great contest in the Republican Party in 1896 was between the two
leading candidates for the presidential nomination. Wm. McKinley, of
Ohio, and Thomas B. Reed, of Maine, were these candidates, and by reason
of their great services to the party there was at first almost an equal
division of sentiment for their nomination. Joseph H. Manley was Mr.
Reed's campaign manager, and the political destinies of Mr. McKinley
were in the hands of Marcus A. Hanna, of Ohio, who proved himself in
this canvass to be the greatest political manager in the nation's
history. The months preceding the Convention were occupied by a great
struggle for the State delegations, and although the managers for Mr.
Reed did not give up the fight until a few days before the Convention,
it was early seen that the strong trend of favor was toward Mr.
McKinley, and the indications were that he would be nominated on the
first ballot. The excitement caused by the unusual contest in both
parties was intense as the time for the national conventions approached.
The Eleventh Republican National Convention met at St. Louis, Mo., on
Tuesday, June 16, 1896, and was called to order about 12:20 p. m. by
Senator Thomas H. Carter, of Montana, Chairman of the National
Committee, and a pronounced advocate of free silver. After a prayer by
Rabbi Samuel Sale, Chairman Carter announced the selection by the
National Committee of Charles W. Fairbanks, of Indiana, as temporary
Chairman, who accepted the honor in an eloquent speech. After selecting
the various committees the Convention adjourned for the day. On
Wednesday morning, June 17th, the Committee on Permanent Organization
announced the name of John M. Thurston, of Nebraska, as President of the
Convention. He took the gavel and delivered a short, strong speech,
arousing the Convention to great enthusiasm. At the opening of the
afternoon session, Chairman J. Franklin Fort, of the Committee on
Credentials, reported, and, after a long debate concerning the contest
between rival delegations from Texas and Delaware, the majority report
was adopted, and after adopting the report of the Committee on Rules,
presented by Gen. Harry Bingham, the Convention adjourned. On the
morning of the third day of the convention the platform was reported by
Senator-elect Joseph B. Foraker, of Ohio.
REPUBLICAN PLATFORM, 1896.
The Republicans of the United States, assembled by their representatives
in national convention, appealing for the popular and historical
justification of their claims to the matchless achievements of the
thirty years of Republican rule, earnestly and confidently address
themselves to the awakened intelligence, experience, and conscience of
their countrymen in the following declaration of facts and principles:
For the first time since the civil war the people have witnessed the
calamitous consequences of full and unrestricted Democratic control of
the government. It has been a record of unparalleled incapacity,
dishonor, and disaster. In administrative management it has ruthlessly
sacrificed indispensable revenue, entailed an unceasing deficit, eked
out ordinary current expenses with borrowed money, piled up the public
debt by $262,000,000 in time of peace, forced an adverse balance of
trade, kept a perpetual menace hanging over the redemption fund, pawned
American credit to alien syndicates and reversed all the measures and
results of successful Republican rule.
In the broad effect of its policy it has precipitated panic, blighted
industry and trade with prolonged depression, closed factories, reduced
work and wages, halted enterprise, and crippled American production
while stimulating foreign production for the American market. Every
consideration of public safety and individual interest demands that the
government shall be rescued from the hands of those who have shown
themselves incapable to conduct it without disaster at home and dishonor
abroad, and shall be restored to the party which for thirty years
administered it with unequaled success and prosperity, and in this
connection we heartily indorse the wisdom, the patriotism, and the
success of the administration of President Harrison.
TARIFF.
We renew and emphasize our allegiance to the policy of protection as
the bulwark of American industrial independence and the foundation of
American development and prosperity. This true American policy taxes
foreign products and encourages home industry; it puts the burden of
revenue on foreign goods; it secures the American market for the
American producer; it upholds the American standard of wages for the
American workingman; it puts the factory by the side of the farm, and
makes the American farmer less dependent on foreign demand and price; it
diffuses general thrift, and founds the strength of all on the strength
of each. In its reasonable application it is just, fair and impartial;
equally opposed to foreign control and domestic monopoly, to sectional
discrimination and individual favoritism.
We denounce the present Democratic tariff as sectional, injurious to the
public credit, and destructive to business enterprise. We demand such an
equitable tariff on foreign imports which come into competition with
American products as will not only furnish adequate revenue for the
necessary expenses of the government, but will protect American labor
from degradation to the wage level of other lands. We are not pledged to
any particular schedules. The question of rates is a practical question
to be governed by the conditions of time and of production; the ruling
and uncompromising principle is the protection and development of
American labor and industry. The country demands a right settlement, and
then it wants rest.
RECIPROCITY.
We believe the repeal of the reciprocity arrangements negotiated by the
last Republican administration was a national calamity, and we demand
their renewal and extension on such terms as will equalize our trade
with other nations, remove the restrictions which now obstruct the sale
of American products in the ports of other countries, and secure
enlarged markets for the products of our farms, forests and factories.
Protection and reciprocity are both twin measures of Republican policy
and go hand in hand. Democratic rule has recklessly struck down both,
and both must be re-established. Protection for what we produce; free
admission for the necessaries of life which we do not produce;
reciprocity agreements of mutual interests which gain open markets for
us in return for our open market to others. Protection builds up
domestic industry and trade, and secures our own market for ourselves;
reciprocity builds up foreign trade, and finds an outlet for our
surplus.
SUGAR.
We condemn the present administration for not keeping faith with the
sugar-producers of this country. The Republican party favors such
protection as will lead to the production on American soil of all the
sugar which the American people use, and for which they pay other
countries more than $100,000,000 annually.
WOOL AND WOOLENS.
To all our products--to those of the mine and the fields as well as to
those of the shop and the factory; to hemp, to wool, the product of the
great industry of sheep husbandry, as well as to the finished woolens of
the mills--we promise the most ample protection.
MERCHANT MARINE.
We favor restoring the American policy of discriminating duties for the
upbuilding of our merchant marine and the protection of our shipping in
the foreign carrying trade, so that American ships--the product of
American labor, employed in American shipyards, sailing under the Stars
and Stripes, and manned, officered, and owned by Americans--may regain
the carrying of our foreign commerce.
FINANCE.
The Republican Party is unreservedly for sound money. It caused the
enactment of the law providing for the resumption of specie payments in
1879; since then every dollar has been as good as gold.
We are unalterably opposed to every measure calculated to debase our
currency or impair the credit of our country. We are, therefore, opposed
to the free coinage of silver except by international agreement with the
leading commercial nations of the world, which we pledge ourselves to
promote, and until such agreement can be obtained, the existing gold
standard must be preserved. All our silver and paper currency must be
maintained at parity with gold, and we favor all measures designed to
maintain inviolably the obligations of the United States and all our
money, whether coin or paper, at the present standard, the standard of
the most enlightened nations of the earth.
PENSIONS.
The veterans of the Union army deserve and should receive fair treatment
and generous recognition. Whenever practicable, they should be given the
preference in the matter of employment, and they are entitled to the
enactment of such laws as are best calculated to secure the fulfillment
of the pledges made them in the dark days of the country's peril. We
denounce the practice in the Pension Bureau, so recklessly and unjustly
carried on by the present administration, of reducing pensions and
arbitrarily dropping names from the rolls, as deserving the severest
condemnation of the American people.
FOREIGN RELATIONS.
Our foreign policy should be at all times firm, vigorous, and dignified,
and all our interests in the western hemisphere carefully watched and
guarded. The Hawaiian Islands should be controlled by the United States,
and no foreign power should be permitted to interfere with them; the
Nicaragua Canal should be built, owned, and operated by the United
States; and by the purchase of the Danish Islands we should secure a
proper and much needed naval station in the West Indies.
ARMENIAN MASSACRES.
The massacres in Armenia have aroused the deep sympathy and just
indignation of the American people, and we believe that the United
States should exercise all the influence it can properly exert to bring
these atrocities to an end. In Turkey, American residents have been
exposed to the gravest dangers and American property destroyed. There
and everywhere American citizens and American property must be
absolutely protected at all hazards and at any cost.
MONROE DOCTRINE.
We reassert the Monroe doctrine in its full extent, and we reaffirm the
right of the United States to give the doctrine effect by responding to
the appeal of any American State for friendly intervention in case of
European encroachment. We have not interfered and shall not interfere
with the existing possessions of any European power in this hemisphere,
but these possessions must not on any extent be extended. We hopefully
look forward to the eventual withdrawal of the European powers from this
hemisphere, and to the ultimate union of all English-speaking parts of
the continent by the free consent of its inhabitants.
CUBA.
From the hour of achieving their own independence, the people of the
United States have regarded with sympathy the struggles of other
American peoples to free themselves from European dominion. We watch
with deep and abiding interest the heroic battle of the Cuban patriots
against cruelty and oppression, and our best hopes go out for the full
success of their determined contest for liberty.
The Government of Spain having lost control of Cuba and being unable to
protect the property or lives of resident American citizens or to comply
with its treaty obligations, we believe that the Government of the
United States should actively use its influence and good offices to
restore peace and give independence to the island.
THE NAVY.
The peace and security of the Republic and the maintenance of its
rightful influence among the nations of the earth demand a naval power
commensurate with its position and responsibility. We therefore favor
the continued enlargement of the navy and a complete system of harbor
and seacoast defenses.
FOREIGN IMMIGRATION.
For the protection of the quality of our American citizenship and of the
wages of our workingmen against the fatal competition of low priced
labor, we demand that the immigration laws be thoroughly enforced, and
so extended as to exclude from entrance to the United States those who
can neither read nor write.
CIVIL SERVICE.
The civil-service law was placed on the statute-book by the Republican
party, which has always sustained it, and we renew our repeated
declarations that it shall be thoroughly and honestly enforced, and
extended wherever practicable.
FREE BALLOT.
We demand that every citizen of the United States shall be allowed to
cast one free and unrestricted ballot, and that such ballot shall be
counted and returned as cast.
LYNCHINGS.
We proclaim our unqualified condemnation of the uncivilized and
barbarous practice well known as lynching or killing of human beings
suspected or charged with crime, without process of law.
NATIONAL ARBITRATION.
We favor the creation of a national board of arbitration to settle and
adjust differences which may arise between employers and employes
engaged in interstate commerce.
HOMESTEADS.
We believe in an immediate return to the free-homestead policy of the
Republican Party, and urge the passage by Congress of a satisfactory
free-homestead measure such as has already passed the House and is now
pending in the Senate.
TERRITORIES.
We favor the admission of the remaining territories at the earliest
practicable date, having due regard to the interests of the people of
the territories and of the United States. All the federal officers
appointed for the territories should be selected from bona fide
residents thereof, and the right of self-government should be accorded
as far as practicable.
ALASKA.
We believe the citizens of Alaska should have representation in the
Congress of the United States, to the end that needful legislation may
be intelligently enacted.
[Illustration: Thomas B. Reed.]
TEMPERANCE.
We sympathize with all wise and legitimate efforts to lessen and prevent
the evils of intemperance and promote morality.
RIGHTS OF WOMEN.
The Republican Party is mindful of the rights and interests of women.
Protection of American industries includes equal opportunities, equal
pay for equal work, and protection to the home. We favor the admission
of women to wider spheres of usefulness, and welcome their co-operation
in rescuing the country from Democratic and Populist mismanagement and
misrule.
Such are the principles and policies of the Republican Party. By these
principles we will abide and these policies we will put into execution.
We ask for them the considerate judgment of the American people.
Confident alike in the history of our great party and in the justice of
our cause, we present our platform and our candidates in the full
assurance that the election will bring victory to the Republican Party
and prosperity to the people of the United States.
There had been a strong effort in the Committee on Resolutions by the
silver men urging the adoption of a free silver plank, and Senator Henry
M. Teller, of Colorado, had made an affecting appeal but without avail.
At the conclusion of the reading of the platform by Senator Foraker, one
of the most dramatic incidents in any Republican convention took place,
when Senator Teller arose, and in behalf of the silver men submitted the
following substitute for the financial plank as read:
"The Republican Party authorizes the use of both gold and silver as
equal standard money, and pledges its power to secure the free and
unlimited coinage of gold and silver at our mints at the ratio of
sixteen parts of silver to one of gold."
After presenting this substitute Senator Teller delivered his farewell
address to the Convention, at the conclusion of which Senator Foraker
moved that the substitute be laid on the table, thus cutting off any
debate. On a roll-call of the States the motion was carried by a vote of
818-1/2 to 105-1/2. The financial plank was then voted on separately, and the
one reported was adopted by a vote of 812-1/2 to 110-1/2. The entire platform
was then adopted by an overwhelming viva voce vote. The crucial moment
of the Convention was at hand. Senator Cameron, of Utah, was now
permitted to read a statement which had been prepared by the silvermen
to be read in the event of the adoption of the gold plank. The silver
manifesto was signed by Senator Henry M. Teller, of Colorado, Senator F.
T. Dubois, of Idaho, Senator Frank J. Cameron, of Utah, Representative
Chas. S. Hartman, of Montana, and A. C. Cleveland, of Nevada, the
members of the Committee on Resolutions for their States. Senators
Cameron and Teller then shook hands with Messrs. Thurston and Foraker,
descended from the stage, and, passing slowly down the aisle, left the
hall, followed by about thirty-two other silver delegates. The scene was
most impressive, the remaining delegates and spectators standing on
their chairs, shouting and singing national airs. After listening to
explanations by the silver delegates who remained in the convention, the
roll-call of States was had for the National Committeemen. Marcus A.
Hanna, of Ohio, whose brilliant management of McKinley's interests had
made his name a household word, was selected unanimously as Chairman of
the National Committee. Candidates for the presidential nomination were
now presented. John M. Baldwin nominated Senator Wm. B. Allison, of
Iowa; Senator Henry Cabot Lodge presented the name of Thomas B. Reed in
a scholarly and masterful appeal; with his usual eloquence Chauncey M.
Depew nominated Levi P. Morton, of New York; then came the great
enthusiasm of the Convention when Senator Joseph B. Foraker stepped to
the stage and began his speech, a remarkable effort, naming William
McKinley, of Ohio. After he had spoken a short time he was interrupted
by fully twenty-eight minutes of the wildest enthusiasm when the name of
William McKinley was first mentioned by him. John M. Thurston seconded
the nomination of McKinley, as did J. Madison Vance. Senator Matthew S.
Quay was nominated by Governor Daniel H. Hastings, after which the
balloting commenced. There were 924 delegates, and only one ballot was
taken, with the following result:
McKinley ........ 661-1/2 Reed ............ 84-1/2
Morton .......... 58 Quay ............ 61-1/2
Allison ......... 35-1/2 Cameron ......... 1
The nomination was then made unanimous, Messrs. Depew, Platt, Lodge,
Hastings and others joining in the motion. Nominations for
Vice-President being now in order, Samuel Fessenden named William G.
Bulkeley, of Connecticut; J. Franklin Fort nominated Garret A. Hobart,
of New Jersey; Wm. M. Randolph named H. Clay Evans, of Tennessee; S. W.
K. Allen nominated Chas. W. Lippitt, of Rhode Island, and D. F. Bailey
named James A. Walker, of Virginia. The nomination went to Mr. Hobart
on the first ballot.
Hobart .......... 533-1/2 Walker .......... 24
Evans ........... 277-1/2 Lippitt ......... 8
Bulkeley ........ 39
A few scattering votes were also given for Thomas B. Reed, Chauncey M.
Depew, John M. Thurston, Frederick D. Grant, and Levi P. Morton. After
selecting the notification committees, the Convention adjourned _sine
die_.
The Republican nominee in 1896, William McKinley, was born at Niles,
Ohio, in 1843, and was therefore only 18 years of age at the opening of
the Civil War, for which he enlisted in the ranks of a company of
volunteers. After the battle of Antietam he was promoted to Second
Lieutenant, and was subsequently advanced to Major, his commission being
signed by President Lincoln. The war over, Mr. McKinley studied law and
was admitted to the bar and practiced with much success, and soon became
prominent in Ohio politics. He was a member of the National House of
Representatives from 1877 to 1891, during which time he had steadily
increased in the esteem of his colleagues and the people. His framing of
the tariff law of 1890 had brought him into great prominence. He was
defeated for re-election in the political revolution of 1890, but was
elected Governor of Ohio in 1892, and served as such until January,
1896, a few months before the Convention.
The Democratic National Convention met at Chicago, Ills., Tuesday, July
7, 1896, and the silver forces immediately took control of the
Convention by unseating David B. Hill, of New York, who had been chosen
by the National Committee as temporary Chairman, and substituting John
B. Daniel of Virginia. The Democratic platform of 1896, adopted on the
third day of the Convention, contained the following plank, which, with
the opposite declaration in the Republican platform, became the
controlling issue of the campaign:
"We demand the free and unlimited coinage of both gold and silver at the
present legal ratio of 16 to 1, without waiting for the aid or consent
of any nation."
A minority report was presented by Senator David B. Hill, but was
rejected by a vote of 626 to 303. It was during the debate on the motion
to substitute this minority report that William J. Bryan delivered his
remarkable speech for free silver, an effort that created remarkable
scenes of enthusiasm in the Convention and made him immediately the idol
of the free silver forces. The speech concluded:
"If they dare to come out in the open field and defend the gold standard
as a good thing, we will fight them to the uttermost. Having behind us
the producing masses of this nation and the world, supported by the
commercial interests, the laboring interests and the toilers everywhere,
we will answer their demand for a gold standard by saying to them: 'You
shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns; you
shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold."'
This Democratic Convention nominated William J. Bryan for President on
the fifth ballot, and named Arthur Sewall, of Maine, for Vice-President
on the fifth ballot.
The People's Party Convention met at St. Louis, Mo., July 22, 1896, and
ratified the nomination of William J. Bryan for President, but the
Middle-of-the-Road members named Thomas E. Watson, of Georgia, for
Vice-President, the Vice-President being named first in this Convention;
the money plank in the People's Party platform in 1896 was the same in
effect as that of the Democratic platform, and its other demands were in
general the same as those of 1892. The Silver Party Convention met on
the same day (July 22d) in St. Louis and endorsed Bryan and Sewall by
acclamation. There were a large number of Democrats in 1896 who were
unwilling to endorse the Chicago platform and the candidates, and at the
same time they were not willing to vote for the Republican nominees, so
they held a convention at Indianapolis September 2, 1896, and nominated
John M. Palmer, of Illinois, for President, and Simon B. Buckner, of
Kentucky, for Vice-President, and adopted a sound money platform and the
name of the "National Democratic Party." Three other conventions had
been held; the Prohibition Convention at Philadelphia on May 27, 1896,
which nominated Joshua Levering, of Maryland, and Hale Johnson, of
Illinois, but a contest had arisen in this convention over the silver
question, and it resulted in the secession of a number of delegates who
met on the next day and styled themselves "The National Party." They
nominated Rev. Chas. E. Bentley, of Nebraska, and James H. Southgate, of
North Carolina, and adopted a bi-metallic platform. The Socialist-Labor
Convention met at New York on July 6, 1896, and nominated Charles H.
Matchett, of New York, and Matthew Maguire of New Jersey.
The campaign of 1896 was not only remarkable in its inception, but
continued throughout to be one of the most spectacular in our political
history. At first there was general shifting of the old party lines and
a "bolting" from all of the party candidates, but the Republican Party
suffered the least in this respect. Mr. Bryan conducted a remarkable
personal canvass of the entire country, and was greeted by large crowds
to see him and hear his arguments. Mr. McKinley remained throughout the
canvass at his home in Canton, Ohio, receiving hundreds of visiting
delegations and delivering a large number of earnest speeches which were
telegraphed over the country and carefully read. Monster street parades
were held in the large cities and thousands of badges and lithographs
adorned the persons and homes of the enthusiastic partisans, and, as the
campaign drew to a close, the people were wrought up to a high pitch of
excitement. One striking feature of the canvass was that the ruin and
disaster of the four years of Cleveland's second term which, late in
1895, indicated an easy victory for the Republicans, was largely
forgotten by the people in the new, exciting and novel issues raised and
argued by Mr. Bryan, but those who carefully analyzed the returns of the
States which voted in the elections held in August and September, and
the trend of public opinion, saw that a Republican victory was almost
certain, and this proved true on November 6, 1896, when the popular vote
in the several States secured to McKinley and Hobart 271 electoral votes
to 176 for Bryan and Sewall. The total popular vote at the election of
1896 was as follows:
McKinley ......... 7,111,607 Bryan ............ 6,509,052
Palmer ........... 134,645 Levering ......... 131,312
Matchett ......... 36,373 Bentley .......... 13,968
William McKinley was inaugurated for his first term on March 4, 1897,
and immediately called a special session of Congress to take action on
the tariff. The Wilson Tariff Law, as already noted, had totally failed
to provide sufficient revenue to meet the expenses of the Government,
and the result was a steady and growing deficit in the Treasury. On
March 18, 1897, Nelson Dingley, Jr., of Maine, introduced his Tariff
Bill in the House, and it became a law with the President's signature on
July 24, 1897.
[Illustration: Second inauguration of William McKinley, March 4, 1901.]
The Cuban question now came to the front and occupied public attention
more seriously than ever before. The United States had always taken a
lively interest in Cuban affairs, and when the Cubans revolted in 1895
for the sixth time against the cruel domination of the Spaniards there
was deep sympathy for them in this country, that continued to grow as
the months went by. In 1896 the Cubans were accorded the rights of
belligerents by the United States. Throughout the Summer of 1897 the
country was horrified by the reports from the "reconcentrado" camps
established by General Weyler, and sent aid and relief to the suffering
Cubans. The climax of hostility toward Spain came with the terrible news
on February 15, 1898, that the Battleship "Maine" had been blown up in
Havana Harbor and 260 American sailors killed. War was declared in
April, 1898, and the glorious achievements of American arms are too
fresh in memory to require an extended review of them in these pages.
Peace came with the Protocol signed at Washington, August 12, 1898, and
the formal Treaty of Peace was signed at Paris, December 10, 1898. Spain
released her title to Cuba, and the United States acquired Puerto Rico,
Guam and the Philippine Islands, paying Spain the sum of $20,000,000 for
the latter, and taking control of the islands for the suppression of
civil war and to avoid foreign complications. While the Spanish-American
war was in progress the country expanded territorially by the annexation
of Hawaii, which was accomplished by joint resolution, signed by the
President July 7, 1898.
The Fifty-sixth Congress organized with the election of David B.
Henderson, of Iowa, as Speaker of the House, and the most important
legislation was the Gold Standard Act of 1900, which effectually settled
the money question, as far as the gold or silver standard was concerned,
by providing for the coinage of a dollar consisting of 25 8-10 grains of
gold, nine-tenths fine, as the standard of value, and that all forms of
money issued in coin were to be maintained at a parity of value with
this gold standard. The Act further provided that all United States
notes and Treasury notes shall be redeemed in gold coin, and a
redemption fund of $150,000,000 was established. President McKinley
signed this most important Act, and it became a law on March 14, 1900.
In March, 1900, President McKinley, taking up the question of governing
the Philippine Islands, appointed a Civil Commission composed of William
H. Taft, of Ohio, President; Prof. Dean C. Worcester, of Michigan; Luke
E. Wright, of Tennessee; Henry C. Ide, of Vermont, and Prof. Bernard
Moses, of California, to continue and perfect the work of organizing and
establishing civil government in the Philippines, which had already been
commenced by the military authorities. The Commission proceeded to the
Philippines in the following April, and their work was one of the most
remarkable in the history of the nation, bringing order out of chaos, to
the complete satisfaction not only of the people of this country but
also the Filipinos, with very few exceptions. Education and
enlightenment followed the broad-minded policy of this government, and
through the splendid work of Governor William H. Taft military control
was gradually made unnecessary and the Filipinos were rapidly prepared
for self-government.
Great prosperity marked the business conditions of the country during
President McKinley's administration, and the balance in the U. S.
Treasury at the end of his term was nearly $495,000,000, which was a
strong contrast to the penury and borrowing during Cleveland's second
term. This splendid record, the successful conduct of the
Spanish-American war, the success in governing the new territories of
the United States, the courageous and dignified action in regard to
foreign affairs, and the complete and general satisfaction with his
entire administration, made President McKinley the logical and unanimous
choice of the party for the nomination in 1900, and the only question in
the convention would be as to who would have the honor of the second
place on the ticket. All of the minor parties held their conventions in
1900 before the conventions of the old parties. The Social Democrats
were first, with their convention at Indianapolis, March 6, 1900, at
which Eugene V. Debs was nominated for President. The People's Party met
at Sioux Falls, South Dakota, May 9-10, 1900, and nominated William J.
Bryan for President and Charles A. Towne for Vice-President. Their
platform denounced the gold standard Act of March 14, 1900, advocated
free silver, an income tax, and condemned the war policy of the
Republican Party. A faction of the People's Party opposed to fusion with
the Democrats had seceded in 1896, and became known as the
Middle-of-the-Road People's Party; they met in convention at Cincinnati
May 9-10, 1900, and nominated Wharton Barker, of Pennsylvania, and
Ignatius Donnelly, of Minnesota. The Socialist-Labor Party met at New
York June 2-8, 1900, and nominated Joseph F. Malloney, of Massachusetts,
and Valentine Remmel, of Pennsylvania. The Prohibition Convention was
held in Chicago, Illinois, June 27-28, and nominated John G. Woolley, of
Illinois, and Henry B. Metcalf, of Rhode Island.
The Twelfth Republican National Convention began its session Tuesday,
June 19, 1900, at Philadelphia, in the National Export Exposition
Building. About 12:35 p. m. on that day, Senator Marcus A. Hanna,
Chairman of the National Committee, faced the vast assemblage of
delegates and spectators and called the Convention to order. After the
opening prayer by Rev. J. Gray Bolton, Chairman Hanna, in a short
speech, which was received with great applause, introduced Senator
Wolcott, of Colorado, as Temporary Chairman. Senator Wolcott accepted
the honor in a strong speech, and after the roll-call of States for the
naming of the various committees, a motion to adjourn was made, and then
Rev. Edgar M. Levy, who had uttered the invocation at the first
Republican National Convention, forty-four years since, delivered a
benediction, and about 3 p. m. the session was over for the day. At the
opening of the second day, Chairman Wolcott stated that fifteen
survivors of the preliminary Republican Convention at Pittsburg in 1856
were present with the same old flag used in that convention, and as
these men came forward, with their tattered flag, they received a
remarkable and stirring ovation. Sereno E. Payne, of New York, reported
for the Committee on Credentials, and the report was adopted without
debate. Gen. Charles E. Grosvenor, of Ohio, Chairman of the Committee on
Permanent Organization, now reported the name of Senator Henry Cabot
Lodge, of Massachusetts, as Permanent President of the Convention, and
that the rest of the temporary officers be made permanent; the report
was adopted, and Senator Lodge delivered a scholarly and eloquent
speech, reviewing the history of the country for the past forty-four
years. Senator Chas. W. Fairbanks, of Indiana, Chairman of the Committee
on Resolutions, then read the platform, which was adopted with displays
of the utmost enthusiasm.
REPUBLICAN PLATFORM, 1900.
The Republicans of the United States, through their chosen
representatives, met in national convention, looking back upon an
unsurpassed record of achievement and looking forward into a great field
of duty and opportunity, and appealing to the judgment of their
countrymen, make these declarations:
EXPECTATIONS FULFILLED.
The expectation in which the American people, turning from the
Democratic Party, intrusted power four years ago to a Republican Chief
Magistrate and Republican Congress, has been met and satisfied. When the
people then assembled at the polls, after a term of Democratic
legislation and administration, business was dead, industry paralyzed,
and the national credit disastrously impaired. The country's capital was
hidden away and its labor distressed and unemployed. The Democrats had
no other plan with which to improve the ruinous condition which they had
themselves produced than to coin silver at the ratio of 16 to 1.
PROMISE OF PROSPERITY REDEEMED.
The Republican Party, denouncing this plan as sure to produce conditions
even worse than those from which relief was sought, promised to restore
prosperity by means of two legislative measures: a protective tariff and
a law making gold the standard of value. The people by great majorities
issued to the Republican Party a commission to enact these laws. The
commission has been executed, and the Republican promise is redeemed.
Prosperity more general and more abundant than we have ever known has
followed these enactments. There is no longer controversy as to the
value of any government obligations. Every American dollar is a gold
dollar or its assured equivalent, and American credit stands higher than
that of any nation. Capital is fully employed, and labor everywhere is
profitably occupied.
GROWTH OF EXPORT TRADE.
No single fact can more strikingly tell the story of what Republican
government means to the country than this, that while during the whole
period of one hundred and seven years, from 1790 to 1897, there was an
excess of exports over imports of only $383,028,497, there has been in
the short three years of the present Republican administration an excess
of exports over imports in the enormous sum of $1,483,537,094.
THE WAR WITH SPAIN.
And while the American people, sustained by this Republican legislation,
have been achieving these splendid triumphs in their business and
commerce, they have conducted and in victory concluded a war for liberty
and human rights. No thought of national aggrandizement tarnished the
high purpose with which American standards were unfurled. It was a war
unsought and patiently resisted, but when it came, the American
government was ready. Its fleets were cleared for action; its armies
were in the field, and the quick and signal triumph of its forces on
land and sea bore equal tribute to the courage of American soldiers and
sailors, and to the skill and foresight of Republican statesmanship. To
ten millions of the human race there was given "a new birth of freedom,"
and to the American people a new and noble responsibility.
McKINLEY'S ADMINISTRATION INDORSED.
We indorse the administration of William McKinley. Its acts have been
established in wisdom and in patriotism, and at home and abroad it has
distinctly elevated and extended the influence of the American nation.
Walking untried paths and facing unforeseen responsibilities, President
McKinley has been in every situation the true American patriot and the
upright statesman, clear in vision, strong in judgment, firm in action,
always inspiring and deserving the confidence of his countrymen.
DEMOCRATIC INCAPACITY A MENACE TO PROSPERITY.
In asking the American people to indorse this Republican record, and
to renew their commission to the Republican Party, we remind them of
the fact that the menace to their prosperity has always resided in
Democratic principles, and no less in the general incapacity of the
Democratic Party to conduct public affairs. The prime essential of
business prosperity is public confidence in the good sense of the
government and in its ability to deal intelligently with each new
problem of administration and legislation. That confidence the
Democratic Party has never earned. It is hopelessly inadequate, and the
country's prosperity, when Democratic success at the polls is announced,
halts and ceases in mere anticipation of Democratic blunders and
failures.
MONETARY LEGISLATION.
We renew our allegiance to the principle of the gold standard and
declare our confidence in the wisdom of the legislation of the
Fifty-Sixth Congress, by which the parity of all our money and the
stability of our currency upon a gold basis has been secured. We
recognize that interest rates are a potent factor in production and
business activity, and for the purpose of further equalizing and of
further lowering the rates of interest, we favor such monetary
legislation as will enable the varying needs of the season and of all
sections to be promptly met, in order that trade may be evenly
sustained, labor steadily employed, and commerce enlarged. The volume of
money in circulation was never so great per capita as it is today.
FREE COINAGE OF SILVER OPPOSED.
We declare our steadfast opposition to the free and unlimited coinage of
silver. No measure to that end could be considered which was without the
support of the leading commercial countries of the world. However firmly
Republican legislation may seem to have secured the country against the
peril of base and discredited currency, the election of a Democratic
President could not fail to impair the country's credit and to bring
once more into question the intention of the American people to maintain
upon the gold standard the parity of their money circulation. The
Democratic Party must be convinced that the American people will never
tolerate the Chicago platform.
TRUSTS.
We recognize the necessity and propriety of the honest co-operation of
capital to meet new business conditions, and especially to extend our
rapidly increasing foreign trade; but we condemn all conspiracies and
combinations intended to restrict business, to create monopolies, to
limit production, or to control prices, and favor such legislation as
will effectively restrain and prevent all such abuses, protect and
promote competition, and secure the rights of producers, laborers, and
all who are engaged in industry and commerce.
PROTECTION POLICY REAFFIRMED.
We renew our faith in the policy of protection to American labor. In
that policy our industries have been established, diversified, and
maintained. By protecting the home market, competition has been
stimulated and production cheapened. Opportunity to the inventive genius
of our people has been secured and wages in every department of labor
maintained at high rates--higher now than ever before, and always
distinguishing our working people in their better conditions of life
from those of any competing country. Enjoying the blessings of the
American common school, secure in the right of self-government, and
protected in the occupancy of their own markets, their constantly
increasing knowledge and skill have enabled them to finally enter the
markets of the world.
RECIPROCITY FAVORED.
We favor the associated policy of reciprocity, so directed as to open
our markets on favorable terms for what we do not ourselves produce,
in return for free foreign markets.
RESTRICTION OF IMMIGRATION, AND OTHER LABOR LEGISLATION.
In the further interest of American workmen we favor a more effective
restriction of the immigration of cheap labor from foreign lands, the
extension of opportunities of education for working-children, the
raising of the age limit for child-labor, the protection of free labor
as against contract convict labor, and an effective system of labor
insurance.
SHIPPING.
Our present dependence upon foreign shipping for nine-tenths of our
foreign-carrying trade is a great loss to the industry of this country.
It is also a serious danger to our trade, for its sudden withdrawal in
the event of European war would seriously cripple our expanding foreign
commerce. The national defense and naval efficiency of this country,
moreover, supply a compelling reason for legislation which will enable
us to recover our former place among the trade carrying fleets of the
world.
DEBT TO SOLDIERS AND SAILORS.
The nation owes a debt of profound gratitude to the soldiers and sailors
who have fought its battles, and it is the government's duty to provide
for the survivors and for the widows and orphans of those who have
fallen in the country's wars. The pension laws, founded on this just
sentiment, should be liberally administered, and preference should be
given, wherever practicable, with respect to employment in the public
service, to soldiers and sailors and to their widows and orphans.
THE CIVIL SERVICE.
We commend the policy of the Republican Party in maintaining the
efficiency of the civil service. The administration has acted wisely in
its effort to secure for public service in Cuba, Porto Rico, Hawaii, and
the Philippine Islands, only those whose fitness has been determined by
training and experience. We believe that employment in the public
service in these territories should be confined, as far as practicable,
to their inhabitants.
THE RACE QUESTION.
It was the plain purpose of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution
to prevent discrimination on account of race or color in regulating the
elective franchise. Devices of state governments, whether by statutory
or constitutional enactment, to avoid the purpose of this amendment are
revolutionary and should be condemned.
PUBLIC ROADS.
Public movements looking to a permanent improvement of the roads and
highways of the country meet with our cordial approval, and we recommend
this subject to the earnest consideration of the people and of the
legislatures of the several states.
RURAL FREE DELIVERY.
We favor the extension of the rural free delivery service wherever its
extension may be justified.
LAND LEGISLATION.
In further pursuance of the constant policy of the Republican Party to
provide free homes on the public domain we recommend adequate national
legislation to reclaim the arid lands of the United States, reserving
control of the distribution of water for irrigation to the respective
states and territories.
NEW STATES PROPOSED.
We favor home-rule for, and the early admission to statehood of, the
territories of New Mexico, Arizona and Oklahoma.
REDUCTION OF WAR TAXES.
The Dingley Act, amended to provide sufficient revenue for the conduct
of the war, has so well performed its work that it has been possible to
reduce the war debt in the sum of $40,000,000. So ample are the
government's revenues and so great is the public confidence in the
integrity of its obligations, that its newly funded 2 per cent. bonds
sell at a premium. The country is now justified in expecting, and it
will be the policy of the Republican Party to bring about, a reduction
of the war taxes.
ISTHMIAN CANAL AND NEW MARKETS.
We favor the construction, ownership, control, and protection of an
isthmian canal by the government of the United States. New markets are
necessary for the increasing surplus of our farm products. Every effort
should be made to open and obtain new markets, especially in the Orient,
and the administration is to be warmly commended for its successful
efforts to commit all trading and colonizing nations to the policy of
the open door in China.
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE.
In the interest of our expanding commerce we recommend that Congress
create a Department of Commerce and Industries, in the charge of a
secretary with a seat in the cabinet. The United States consular system
should be reorganized under the supervision of this new department, upon
such a basis of appointment and tenure as will render it still more
servicable to the nation's increasing trade.
PROTECTION OF CITIZENS.
The American government must protect the person and property of every
citizen wherever they are wrongfully violated or placed in peril.
SERVICES OF WOMEN.
We congratulate the women of America upon their splendid record of
public service in the Volunteer Aid Association and as nurses in camp
and hospital during the recent campaigns of our armies in the East and
West Indies, and we appreciate their faithful co-operation in all works
of education and industry.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS, SAMOAN AND HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.
President McKinley has conducted the foreign affairs of the United
States with distinguished credit to the American people. In releasing us
from vexatious conditions of a European alliance for the government of
Samoa, his course is especially to be commended. By securing to our
undivided control the most important island of the Samoan group and the
best harbor in the Southern Pacific, every American interest has been
safeguarded.
We approve the annexation of the Hawaiian islands to the United States.
THE HAGUE CONFERENCE, THE MONROE DOCTRINE, THE SOUTH AFRICAN WAR.
We commend the part taken by our government in the Peace Conference at
The Hague. We assert our steadfast adherence to the policy announced in
the Monroe doctrine. The provisions of The Hague convention was wisely
regarded when President McKinley tendered his friendly offices in the
interest of peace between Great Britain and the South African Republic.
While the American Government must continue the policy prescribed by
Washington, affirmed by every succeeding president, and imposed upon us
by The Hague Treaty, of non-intervention in European controversies, the
American people earnestly hope that a way may soon be found, honorable
alike to both contending parties, to terminate the strife between them.
SOVEREIGNITY IN NEW POSSESSIONS.
In accepting, by the Treaty of Paris, the just responsibility of our
victories in the Spanish War, the President and the Senate won the
undoubted approval of the American people. No other course was possible
than to destroy Spain's sovereignity throughout the West Indies and in
the Philippine Islands. That course created our responsibility before
the world and with the unorganized population whom our intervention had
freed from Spain, to provide for the maintenance of law and order, and
for the establishment of good government, and for the performance of
international obligations.
Our authority could not be less than our responsibility, and wherever
sovereign rights were extended it became the high duty of the government
to maintain its authority, to put down armed insurrection, and to confer
the blessings of liberty and civilization upon all the rescued people.
The largest measure of self-government consistent with their welfare and
our duties shall be secured to them by law.
INDEPENDENCE OF CUBA.
To Cuba, independence and self-government were assured in the same voice
by which war was declared, and to the letter this pledge shall be
performed.
INVOKES THE JUDGMENT OF THE PEOPLE.
The Republican Party, upon its history and upon this declaration of its
principles and policies, confidently invokes the considerate and
approving judgment of the American people.
On the third day of the Convention, Thursday, June 21, 1900, Mr. Quay,
of Pennsylvania, withdrew a plan of representation which he had
presented the previous day, and the Convention proceeded to the
nominations for President and Vice-President. Alabama yielded to Ohio,
and Senator Joseph B. Foraker, of Ohio, who had the same great honor
four years previous, went to the platform and in a speech of great vigor
and eloquence nominated William McKinley, of Ohio, for President. The
nomination was seconded by Theodore Roosevelt, of New York, Senator John
M. Thurston, John W. Yerkes, of Kentucky, George Knight, of California,
and Governor James A. Mount, of Indiana. There were no further
nominations. The ballot showed that 930 votes had been cast, and that
William McKinley had received 930, and pandemonium broke loose. After it
had subsided, Col. Lafe Young, in a remarkable speech, withdrew the name
of Jonathan P. Dolliver for Vice-President and nominated Theodore
Roosevelt of New York. Butler Murray, of Massachusetts, and James A.
Ashton, of Washington, seconded the nomination, and in response to
demands for "Depew! Depew!" that gentleman came forward and with his
customary eloquence and wit also seconded the nomination. The balloting
then proceeded and Theodore Roosevelt received 929 votes, he having
refrained from voting for himself. Thus, in this Convention, for the
first time in the history of the party, the candidates for President and
Vice-President were practically nominated by acclamation.
The Democratic National Convention met at Kansas City, Mo., July 4-6,
1900. There was a long wrangle in the Committee on Resolutions over the
silver plank in the platform, but it was finally adopted by a vote of 26
to 24, and the Convention adopted the platform by acclamation. The
platform declared that while not taking a backward step from any
position of the party, Imperialism growing out of the Spanish war was
the paramount issue. The Kansas City platform is here given in full as
of great interest in the pending campaign.
DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM, 1900.
We, the representatives of the Democratic Party of the United States,
assembled in national convention, on the anniversary of the adoption of
the declaration of independence, do reaffirm our faith in that immortal
proclamation of the inalienable rights of man, and our allegiance to the
constitution framed in harmony therewith by the fathers of the republic.
We hold with the United States Supreme Court that the declaration of
independence is the spirit of our government, of which the constitution
is the form and letter.
We declare again that all governments instituted among men derive their
just powers from the consent of the governed; that any government not
based upon the consent of the governed is a tyranny, and that to impose
upon any people a government of force is to substitute the methods of
imperialism for those of a republic. We hold that the constitution
follows the flag, and denounce the doctrine that an executive or
Congress, deriving their existence and their powers from the
constitution, can exercise lawful authority beyond it, or in violation
of it.
We assert that no nation can long endure half republic and half empire,
and we warn the American people that imperialism abroad will lead
quickly and inevitably to despotism at home.
PORTO RICO LAW DENOUNCED.
Believing in these fundamental principles, we denounce the Porto Rico
law, enacted by a Republican Congress against the protest and opposition
of the Democratic minority, as a bold and open violation of the nation's
organic law, and a flagrant breach of the national good faith.
It imposes upon the people of Porto Rico a government without their
consent, and taxation without representation. It dishonors the American
people by repudiating a solemn pledge made in their behalf by the
commanding General of our army, which the Porto Ricans welcomed to a
peaceful and unresisted occupation of their land. It doomed to poverty
and distress a people whose helplessness appeals with peculiar force to
our justice and magnanimity.
In this, the first act of its imperialistic programme, the Republican
party seeks to commit the United States to a colonial policy,
inconsistent with Republican institutions, and condemned by the Supreme
Court in numerous decisions.
PLEDGES TO THE CUBANS.
We demand the prompt and honest fulfillment of our pledge to the Cuban
people and the world that the United States has no disposition or
intention to exercise sovereignity, jurisdiction, or control over the
Island of Cuba, except for its pacification. The war ended nearly two
years ago, profound peace reigns over all the island, and still the
administration keeps the government of the island from its people, while
Republican carpet-bag officials plunder its revenues and exploit the
colonial theory, to the disgrace of the American people.
THE PHILIPPINE QUESTION.
We condemn and denounce the Philippine policy of the present
administration. It has involved the republic in unnecessary war,
sacrificed the lives of many of our noblest sons, and placed the United
States, previously known and applauded throughout the world as the
champion of freedom, in the false and un-American position of crushing
with military force the efforts of our former allies to achieve liberty
and self-government. The Filipinos cannot become citizens without
endangering our civilization; they cannot become subjects without
imperiling our form of government, and we are not willing to surrender
our civilization or to convert the republic into an empire; we favor an
immediate declaration of the nation's purpose to give to the Filipinos
first, a stable form of government; second, independence; and, third,
protection from outside interference such as has been given for nearly a
century to the republics of Central and South America.
The greedy commercialism which dictated the Philippine policy of the
Republican administration attempts to justify it with the plea that it
will pay, but even this sordid and unworthy plea fails when brought to
the test of facts. The war of criminal aggression against the Filipinos,
entailing an annual expense of many millions, has already cost more than
any possible profit that could accrue from the entire Philippine trade
for years to come. Furthermore, when trade is extended at the expense of
liberty the price is always too high.
We are not opposed to territorial expansion when it takes in desirable
territory which can be erected into states in the Union and whose people
are willing and fit to become American citizens.
We favor trade expansion by every peaceful and legitimate means. But we
are unalterably opposed to the seizing or purchasing of distant islands
to be governed outside the constitution and whose people can never
become citizens.
We are in favor of extending the republic's influence among the nations,
but believe that influence should be extended, not by force and
violence, but through the persuasive power of a high and honorable
example.
The importance of other questions now pending before the American people
is in no wise diminished, and the Democratic party takes no backward
step from its position on them, but the burning issue of imperialism
growing out of the Spanish war involves the very existence of the
republic and the destruction of our free institutions. We regard it as
the paramount issue of the campaign.
[Illustration: Marcus A. Hanna.]
THE MONROE DOCTRINE.
The declaration in the Republican platform adopted at the Philadelphia
convention, held in June, 1900, that the Republican party "steadfastly
adheres to the policy announced in the Monroe doctrine" is manifestly
insincere and deceptive. This profession is contradicted by the avowed
policy of that party in opposition to the spirit of the Monroe doctrine
to acquire and hold sovereignity over large areas of territory and large
numbers of people in the Eastern hemisphere. We insist on the strict
maintenance of the Monroe doctrine and in all its integrity, both in
letter and in spirit, as necessary to prevent the extension of European
authority on this continent and as essential to our supremacy in
American affairs. At the same time we declare that no American people
shall ever be held by force in unwilling subjection to European
authority.
OPPOSITION TO MILITARISM.
We oppose militarism. It means conquest abroad and intimidation and
oppression at home. It means the strong arm which has ever been fatal to
free institutions. It is what millions of our citizens have fled from in
Europe. It will impose upon our peace-loving people a large standing
army and unnecessary burden of taxation and a constant menace to their
liberties.
A small standing army with a well-disciplined state militia are amply
sufficient in time of peace. This republic has no place for a vast
military service and conscription.
When the nation is in danger the volunteer soldier is his country's best
defender. The national guard of the United States should ever be
cherished in the patriotic hearts of a free people. Such organizations
are ever an element of strength and safety.
For the first time in our history and co-evil with the Philippine
conquest has there been a wholesale departure from our time-honored and
approved system of volunteer organization. We denounce it as
un-American, un-Democratic, and un-Republican, and as a subversion of
the ancient and fixed principles of a free people.
TRUSTS DENOUNCED.
Private monopolies are indefensible and intolerable. They destroy
competition, control the price of all material, and of the finished
product, thus robbing both producer and consumer. They lessen the
employment of labor and arbitrarily fix the terms and conditions
thereof, and deprive individual energy and small capital of their
opportunity for betterment. They are the most efficient means yet
devised for appropriating the fruits of industry to the benefit of the
few at the expense of the many, and unless their insatiate greed is
checked all wealth will be aggregated in a few hands and the republic
destroyed.
The dishonest paltering with the trust evil by the Republican party in
state and national platforms is conclusive proof of the truth of the
charge that trusts are the legitimate product of Republican policies;
that they are fostered by Republican laws, and that they are protected
by the Republican administration in return for campaign subscriptions
and political support.
We pledge the Democratic party to an increasing warfare in nation,
state, and city against private monopoly in every form. Existing laws
against trusts must be enforced and more stringent ones must be enacted
providing for publicity as to the affairs of corporations engaged in
interstate commerce and requiring all corporations to show, before doing
business outside the state of their origin, that they have no water in
their stock and that they have not attempted and are not attempting, to
monopolize any branch of business or the production of any articles of
merchandise, and the whole constitutional power of Congress over
interstate commerce, the mails, and all modes of interstate
communication shall be exercised by the enactment of comprehensive laws
upon the subject of trusts.
Tariff laws should be amended by putting the products of trusts upon the
free list to prevent monopoly under the plea of protection.
The failure of the present Republican administration, with an absolute
control over all the branches of the national government, to enact any
legislation designed to prevent or even curtail the absorbing power of
trusts and illegal combinations, or to enforce the anti-trust laws
already on the statute books, proves the insincerity of the
high-sounding phrases of the Republican platform.
Corporations should be protected in all their rights and their
legitimate interests should be respected, but any attempt by
corporations to interfere with the public affairs of the people or to
control the sovereignity which creates them should be forbidden under
such penalties as will make such attempts impossible.
We condemn the Dingley tariff law as a trust-breeding measure,
skillfully devised to give the few favors which they do not deserve and
to place upon the many burdens which they should not bear.
INTERSTATE COMMERCE LAW.
We favor such an enlargement of the scope of the interstate commerce law
as will enable the commission to protect individuals and communities
from discriminations and the public from unjust and unfair
transportation rates.
DECLARATION FOR 16 TO 1.
We reaffirm and indorse the principles of the national Democratic
platform adopted at Chicago in 1896, and we reiterate the demand of that
platform for an American financial system, made by the American people
for themselves, which shall restore and maintain a bimetalic level, and
as part of such system the immediate restoration of the free and
unlimited coinage of silver and gold at the present legal ratio of 16 to
1, without waiting for the aid or consent of any other nation.
CURRENCY LAW DENOUNCED.
We denounce the currency bill enacted at the last session of Congress
as a step forward in the Republican policy which aims to discredit the
sovereign right of the national government to issue all money, whether
coin or paper, and to bestow upon national banks the power to issue and
control the volume of paper money for their own benefit.
A permanent national bank currency, secured by government bonds, must
have a permanent debt to rest upon, and if the bank currency is to
increase with population and business the debt must also increase. The
Republican currency scheme is therefore a scheme for fastening upon
taxpayers a perpetual and growing debt for the benefit of the banks.
We are opposed to this private corporation paper circulated as money,
but without legal-tender qualities, and demand the retirement of the
national bank notes as fast as government paper or silver certificates
can be substituted for them.
SENATORS ELECTED BY THE PEOPLE.
We favor an amendment to the Federal constitution providing for the
election of United States Senators by direct vote of the people, and
we favor direct legislation wherever practicable.
GOVERNMENT BY INJUNCTION.
We are opposed to government by injunction; we denounce the blacklist,
and favor arbitration as a means of settling disputes between
corporations and their employes.
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.
In the interest of American labor and the uplifting of the workingmen,
as the cornerstone of the prosperity of our country, we recommend that
Congress create a department of labor, in charge of a secretary, with a
seat in the Cabinet, believing that the elevation of the American labor
will bring with it increased production and increased prosperity to our
country at home and to our commerce abroad.
PENSIONS.
We are proud of the courage and fidelity of the American soldier and
sailors in all our wars; we favor liberal pensions to them and their
dependents, and we reiterate the position taken in the Chicago platform
in 1896, that the fact of enlistment and service shall be deemed
conclusive evidence against disease and disability before enlistment.
NICARAGUA CANAL.
We favor the immediate construction, ownership, and control of the
Nicaraguan canal by the United States and we denounce the insincerity of
the plank in the national Republican platform for an Isthmian canal in
face of the failure of the Republican majority to pass the bill pending
in Congress.
We condemn the Hay-Pauncefote treaty as a surrender of American rights
and interests, not to be tolerated by the American people.
STATEHOOD FOR THE TERRITORIES.
We denounce the failure of the Republican party to carry out its
pledges, to grant statehood to the territories of Arizona, New Mexico,
and Oklahoma, and we promise the people of those territories immediate
statehood and home rule during their condition as territories, and we
favor home rule and a territorial form of government for Alaska and
Porto Rico.
ARID LANDS.
We favor an intelligent system of improving the arid lands of the West,
storing the waters for purposes of irrigation, and the holding of such
lands for actual settlers.
CHINESE EXCLUSION LAW.
We favor the continuance and strict enforcement of the Chinese exclusion
law and its application to the same classes of all Asiatic races.
ALLIANCE WITH ENGLAND.
Jefferson said: "Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all
nations; entangling alliances with none."
We approve this wholesome doctrine and earnestly protest against the
Republican departure which has involved us in so-called politics,
including the diplomacy of Europe and the intrigue and land-grabbing of
Asia, and we especially condemn the ill-concealed Republican alliance
with England, which must mean discrimination against other friendly
nations, and which has already stifled the nation's voice while liberty
is being strangled in Africa.
SYMPATHY FOR THE BOERS.
Believing in the principles of self-government, and rejecting, as did
our forefathers, the claim of monarchy, we view with indignation the
purpose of England to overwhelm with force the South African republics.
Speaking, as we do, for the entire American nation except its Republican
officeholders, and for all free men everywhere, we extend our sympathy
to the heroic burghers in their unequal struggle to maintain their
liberty and independence.
REPUBLICAN APPROPRIATIONS.
We denounce the lavish appropriations of recent Republican Congresses,
which have kept taxes high, and which threaten the perpetuation of the
oppressive war levies.
SHIP SUBSIDY BILL.
We oppose the accumulation of a surplus to be squandered in such
bare-faced frauds upon the taxpayers as the shipping subsidy bill, which
under the false pretense of prospering American ship-building, would put
unearned millions into the pockets of favorite contributors to the
Republican campaign fund.
REPEAL OF THE WAR TAXES.
We favor the reduction and speedy repeal of the war taxes, and a return
to the time-honored Democratic policy of strict economy in governmental
expenditures.
CONCLUDING PLEA TO THE PEOPLE.
Believing that our most cherished institutions are in great peril, that
the very existence of our constitutional republic is at stake, and that
the decision now to be rendered will determine whether or not our
children are to enjoy those blessed privileges of free government which
have made the United States great, prosperous, and honored, we earnestly
ask for the foregoing declaration of principles the hearty support of
the liberty-loving American people, regardless of previous party
affiliations.
William J. Bryan, of Nebraska, was again nominated for President, and
Adlai E. Stevenson, of Illinois, for Vice-President, both on the first
ballots. While the Democratic Convention was in session, the Silver
Republicans met in Convention in the same city. The Chairman _pro tem._
was Henry M. Teller, who had withdrawn from the Republican Convention in
1896. This Convention nominated William J. Bryan for President, and the
National Committee was authorized to name the Vice-President, which they
did on July 7th, by endorsing Adlai E. Stevenson.
The campaign of 1900 was as animated throughout as was that of 1896.
Imperialism was the issue raised by the Democrats, and the result in
November was an overwhelming victory for the Republican candidates,
McKinley and Roosevelt, who carried enough States to assure them of 292
electoral votes to 155 for Bryan and Stevenson. The popular vote for the
leading candidates was as follows: McKinley (Rep.), 7,207,923; Bryan
(Dem.), 6,358,133; Woolley (Prohib.), 208,914; Debs (Soc. Dem.), 87,814;
Barker (M. R. Peop.), 50,373; Malloney (Soc. L.), 39,739.
William McKinley was inaugurated for his second term on March 4, 1901.
On September 6, 1901, the almost unbelievable news was telegraphed over
the country that President McKinley, while in the Temple of Music at the
Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, had been shot twice by an assassin,
an anarchist named Leon Czolgosz. But it proved only too true, and for a
week the people of the country watched the bulletins and prayed for the
President, who fought bravely against death. The wound in the stomach
was fatal, and William McKinley, the third martyred President of the
Republican Party, passed away on September 14, 1901, at the home of John
G. Milburn in Buffalo. The great purity and simplicity of his life, his
devotion to his wife, his courageous struggle for the great economical
principles which had brought the country to the highest degree of
prosperity ever known, and the splendid record of his administration
made his loss deeply felt by the nation, and he was enshrined beside
Lincoln in American history. The last words of William McKinley
exhibited the Christian character of a great life: "It is God's way; His
will be done."
[Illustration: By special permission of C. M. Bell Photo Co., Washington D. C.
Theodore Roosevelt.]