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VOLUME .8, NUMBER 2?
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The Commoner.
Waterways
, - ' DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM
Water furnishes the cheapest means of transportation and the
national government having the control of navigable waters should
improve them to their fullest capacity. We earnestly favor the
immediate adoption of a liberal and comprehensive plan for improv
ing every water course in the union, which is justified by the needs
of commerce, and to secure that end, we favor when practicable,
the connection of the great lakes with the navigable rivers and
with the Gulf through the Mississippi river, and the navigable rivers
with each other, and the rivers, bays and sounds of our coasts with
each other by artificial canals, with a view to perfecting a system
of inland waterways, to be navigable by vessels of standard draught.
We favor the co-ordination of the various services of 'the gov
ernment connected with waterways in one service for the purpose
of aiding in the completion of such a system of inland waterways,
and we iavor the creation of a fund ample for continuous work,
which shall be conducted under the direction of a commission of
experts to be authorized by law.
REPUBLICAN PLATFORM
In line with the splendid undertaking is the further duty,
equally imperative, to enter upon a systematic improvement upon
a large and comprehensive plan, just to all portions of the country,
of the waterways; harbors and great lakes, whose natural adapta
bility to the increasing traffic of the land is one of the greatest gifts
of a benign Providence.
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Philippines
DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM
'We condemn the experiment in imperialism as an inexcusable
blunder which has involved us in an enormous expense, brought us
weakness instead of strength, and laid our nation open to the charge
of abandoning a fundamental doctrine of self-government. We favor
an immediate declaration of the nation's purpose to recognize the
independence of the Philippine Islands as soon as a stable govern
ment can be established, such independence to be guaranteed by us
as we guarantee the independence of Cuba, until the neutralization
of the islands can be secured by treaty with other powers. In
recognizing tHe independence of the Philippines our government
should retain such land as may be necessary for coaling stations and
naval bases.
REPUBLICAN PLATFORM
In the Philippines, insurrection has been suppressed, law es
tablished and life and property made secure. Education and prac
tical experience are there advancing the capacity of the people for
government and the policies of McKinley and Roosevelt are leading
the inhabitants step by step to ever increasing measure of home
rule.
DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM
The establishment of "rules and regulations, if any such are
necessary, in relation to free grazing lands upon the public lands
outside of forest or other reservations, until the same shall eventu
ally be disposed of, should be left to the people of the states re
spectively in which lands may be situated.
We repeat the demand for internal development and for the
conservation of our natural resources, contained in previous plat
forms, the enforcement of which Mr. Roosevelt has vainly sought
from a reluctant party; and to that end, we insist upon the preser
vation, protection and rejlacement of needed forests, the preserva
tion of the public domain for home-seekers, the protection of the na
tional resources in timber, coal, iron and oil against monopolistic
control, the development of our waterways for navigation and every
other useful purpose, including the irrigation of arid lands, the re
clamation of swamp lands, the clarification of streams, the develop
ment of water power and the preservation of electric power generat
ed by this natural force from the control of monopoly, and to such
end we urge the exercise of all powers, national, state and munici-v
pal, both separately and in co-operation.
We insist upon a policy of administration of our forest reserves
which shall relieve it of the abuses which have arisen thereunder
and which shall, as far as practicable, conform to the police regu
lations of the several states where they are located, which shall
enable homesteaders as of right to occupy and acquire title to all
portions thereof which are especially adapted to agriculture and
which shall furnish a system of timber sales available as well to
the private citizen as to the larger manufacturer and consumer.
GrazinglLands
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' REPUBLICAN PLATFORM
We indorse the movement inaugurated by the administration
for the conservation of natural resources; we approve all measures
to prevent the waste of timber; we recommend the work now going
on for the reclamation of arid lands and reafiirm the republican
policy of the free distribution of the available areas of the public
domain to the landless settler. No obligation of the future is more
insistent and none will result in greater blessinngs to posterity.
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Concerning post roads the democratic platform savs:
We favor federal aid to state and local-authorities in the con
struction and maintenance of postroads.
On this same subject the republican platform says :
Among those whose welfare is as vital to the welfare of the
whole country as that of the wage earner is the American farmer.
. The prosperity of the country rests peculiarly upon the prosperity
jof agriculture. The republican party during the last twelve years
has accomplished extraordinary work in bringing the resources
of the national government to the aid of the farmer, not only in ad
vancing agriculture itself,- but in increasing the conveniences of
country life. Free rural mail delivery lias been established; it now
reaches millions of our citizens, and we favor its extension until
Post Roads
every community in the land receives the full benefits of the postal
service. We recognize the social and economic advantages of good
country roads, maintained more and more largely at public expense
and less and less at the expense of abutting owner. In this work we
commend the growing practice of state aid, and we approve the
efforts of the national agricultural department by experiments and
otherwise to make clear to the public the best methods of road con
struction. The above comparison of the two platforms is taken from the
Denver News. - .,
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