ROOSEVELT'S RINGING
LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE.
A Document Breathing with the
of Patriotism and National
Duty.
VITAL ISSUE DECLARED TO BE PROSPERITY
Government in tbe Philippines by Tagalogs Would Be Equiv
alent to Government in America by Indian Tribes
New Dimes and Problems for the Nation.
Gov. Theodore Roosevelt has complet
ed the formal acceptance of the Repub
lican aomination for Vice-President. His
letter bear an Oyster Bay date and is
directed to Senator Edward O. Woleott
of the notification committee. It reads:
To Edward O. Wolcott. Chairman
Committee on Notification of Vice-President
Sir: I accept the nomination as
Vice-President of the United State, ten
dered me by the Republican national con
tention, with a Tery deep sense of the
honor conferred upos rue and with, an in
finitely deeper sense of the vital impor
tance to the whole country of securing
tb re-election of President McKinley.
The nation's welfare is at stake. We
must continue the work which has been
so well begun during the present adminis
tration. We must show in fashion in
capable of being misunderstood that the
American people, at the beginning of the
twentieth century, face their duties in
no intention of permitting folly or law
HsniMa to mar the extraordinary mate
rial well-being which they have attained
at home, nor yet of permitting their flag
to be dishonored abroad.
Fears Slsaatsr if Democrats Win.
I feel that this contest is by ho means
on merely between Republicans and
Democrat. We haTe a right to appeal
to all good citizens who are far-sighted
nough to see what the honor and the
Interest of the nation demand.
To put into practice the principles em
bodied in the Kansas Oity platform
would mean grave disaster to the nation;
for that platform stands for reaction and
lsord-r for an npsettilfg of our
daJ system which would mn tot only.
treat ""jffering but the abandonment of
ths nation's rood faith; and for a policy
abroad which would imply the dishonor
of the flag and an unworthy surrender of
or national rights. Its success would
mean unspeakable humiliation to men
proud of their country, jealous of their
country's good name, and desirous of se
curing the welfare of rheir fellow-citi-tens.
Therefore, we have a right to ap
peal to all good men. North and South,
luaat and West, whatever their politics
may nave been in the past, to stand with
vs. because we stand for the prosperity
of the country and for the renown of
the American flag.
Prosperity the Great Issue.
The most important of all problems is,
f course, that of securing good govern
meat and moral and material well-being
within onr-owa-borders. Orftt"ts"wt
the need is that tbe nation" shonld do its
work well abroad, even this comes second
to the thorough performance of duty at
tome. Under the administration of Pres
ident McKinley this country has been
biaase! with a decree of prosperity ab
solutely unparalleled. ?ven in its previ
ous prosperous hiatory.
While it U, of course, true that no leg
islation and no administration can bring
success to thoe who are not stout ,of
heart, cool of head and ready of hand,
yet it is no less true tbat the individual
capacity of each man to get good results
for himself can be absolutely destroyed
by bad legislation or bad administration,
while under the reverse conditions the
nower of the indiridnnl to do eood work
is assured and stimulate. Thi is whnt I
has been done under the administration i
of President McKinley. Thank to his
actions and to the wise legislation of
Congress on tbe tariff nd finance, the
condition of our Induatrisl life have been
rendered more favorable than ever be
fore, and they havs been taken advan
tage of to the full by American thrift, in
dustry and enterprise. Order has been
observed, the courts uphold and the full-
est liberty secured to nil citizens. The
merchant and manufactarer. but above
all the farmer and tbe wage-worker have
profited by this state of things.
Dependent on Financial Question.
Fundamentally and primarily the pres
ent contest is a contest for the continu
ance of the conditions which have told
In favor of our material welfare and of
our civil and political in'cgrity. If this
cation !s to retain eitW its well-being
or its' self-respect It ecnuot afford to
plunge into financial end economic chaos:
it cannot afford to indorse governmental
theories which would unsettle the stand-
ard of national honesty and destroy the
Integrity of our system of justice.
The policy of the free coinage of silver
at a ratio of 16 to 1 is a policy fraught
with destruction to every home in the
land. It means uartoM misery to tbe
head of every household, and. above all,
to the women and children of every home.
As to Democratic View on Silver.
When our opponents champion free
silver at Hi to 1 they are either insincere
or sincere in their attl'nde. If insin
cere in their championship they, of
eour, forfeit all rig.it ro belief or sup-
port on aar ground. If sincere, then they i
are s mer-sce to thf iveifjre or t-ue coun
try. Whethfr th".v s'.icut their sinister
purpose or merely v!i.1sj..m- it makes but
little difference. vi- as ;t reflects their
own honesty. No isiie o?:i be paramount
to fhe issre they thus mnie. for the par
amotjutcy or such at is..ie is to be de
termined not by the di't irn of any man
or body of men. but by be fact that it
vitally affects the w;i eing of every
home in the lrd
The f Eiincifll cnesti-.n ; always of such
far-reaching and tremendous importance . west, then known as the Illinois country,
to the national welfare tl.at it can never J were conquered from our white and In
be raised in good faith iir.1. this tre-j dian foes during the revolutionary 6trug-
Life
mendous importance is not merely con
ceded but insisted on. Men who are not
willing to make such an issue paramount
haTe no possible justification for raising
it at all, for under such circumstance
their act cannot under any conceivable
circumstances do aught but grave harm.
Cold Baals Mast Stand.
The success of the party representing
the principles embodied In the Kansas
City platform would bring about the de
struction of all the conditions necessary
to the continuance of our prosperity. It
would also unsettle our whole govern
mental system, and would therefore dis
arrang all the vast and delicate machin
ery of our complex industrial life. Above
all. the effect would be ruinous to our
finances. If we are to prosper, the cur
rency of this country must be based up
on the gold dollar worth 100 cents.
The stability , of our currency baa been
-Hat-aetpaed ' by the last Congress
But no law can secure our finances
against the effect of unwise and disas
trous management in the hands of un
friendly administrators. No party can
safely be intrusted with the management
of our national affairs unless it accepts
as axiomatic the truths recognised in all
progressive countries as essential to a
sound and proper system of finance. In
ttieir essence these must be tbe same for
all great civilized peoples.
Vital Question for Wasre-Karnera.
In different stages of development dif
ferent countries face varying economic
conditions, but at every stage and under
all circumstanoe-he most important ela-
mi r it stt it" sjp ""'"M'"rni-T weUbe-
ing is sound fiMnce, honest money. 1 So
i intimate is the connection between indus
trial prosperity and a sound jfu?rency
ttiat the former is jeopardized not mere
ly by unsound finance, but by the very
threat of unbound finance.
The business man and the farmer are
vitally interested in this question; but no
man's interest is so great as that of the
wage-worker. . A depreciated currency
means loss and disaster to the business
man; but it means grim suffering to ths
wage-worker. The capitalist will lose
much of his capital and will suffer wear
ing anxiety and the loss of many com
forts; but the wage-worker who loses his
wages must suffer and see his wife and
children suffer for the actual necessities
of life. The one absolutely vital need
of our whole industrial system is sound
money. ,r . .
On It ilie serious problems with which
we are confronted under the conditions
of our modern industrial civilization is
that presented by the great business com
binations which are generally known un
der the name of trusts.
The problem is an exceedingly difficult
one and the difficulty is immensely ag
gravated both by honest but wrong
headed attacks on our whole industrial
system in the effort to remove some of
the evils connected with it, and by the
mischievous advice of men who either
think crookedly or who advance remedies
knowing them to be ineffective, but deem
ing that they may, by darkening coun
sel, achieve for themselves a spurious
reputation for wisdom.
No good whatever is subserved by in
discriminate denunciation of corporations
generally and of all forms of industrial
combination in particular; and when this
public denunciation is accompanied by
private membership in the great corpora
tions denounced, the effect is, of course,
to give an air of insincerity to the whole
movement. Nevertheless, there are real
abuses, and there is ample reason for
striving to remedy these abuses. A crude
or "i-consiucrea enort to remedy tuem
or else would simply do damage.
Flan for Federal Interference.
The first thing to do is to find out the
facts; and for this purpose publicity as
to capitalization, profits and all else of
importance to the public, is the most use
ful measure. The mere fact of this pub
licity would in itself remedy certain evils,
and. as to the others, it would in some
cases point out the remedies, and would
at least enable us to tell whether or not
certain proposed remedies would be use
ful. The State acting in its collective ca-
r - '"J "r5l'",u u"1 me Ia
ana men oe aoie to iaae iucn measures
as wisdom dictated. Much can be done
by taxation. Even more can be done by
regulation, by close supervision and tbe
unsparing excision of ail unhealthy, de
structive and anti-social elements.
The separate State governments can
do a great deal; and where they decline
to co-operate the national government
must step in.
How He Deals wirfc Kxpansion.
While paying heed to the necessity of
keeping our house in order at home, the
American people cannot, if they wish to
retain their self-respect, refrain from
doing their duty as a great nation in the
world.
The history of the nation is in large
part the history of the nation's expan
sion. When the first continental con
gress met in Liherty Hall and the thir
teen original States declared themselves
a nation, the westward limit of the coun
try was marked by tbe Alleghany moun
tains. Even during the revolutionary
war the work of expanson went on. Ken-
tucky, Tennessee and the great North-
gle, and were confirmed to ns by the
treaty of peace in 1783.
Yet the land thus confirmed was not
then given to ns. It was held by an
alien foe until the army under Gen. An
thony Wayne freed Ohio from the red
man, while the treaties of Jay and Finek
ney secured from the Spanish and Brit
ish Natchez and Detroit.
Louisiana Purchase ana) Philippines.
Ia 1803, under President Jefferson, the
greatest siDgle stride in expansion that
we ever took was taken by the purchase
of the Louisiana territory. This so-called
Louisiana, which included what are now
the States of Arkansas, Missouri, Louis
iana, low a, Minnesota. Kansas, Nebras
ka, North and South Dakota. Idaho,
Montana and a large part of Colorado
and Utah, was acquired by treaty and
purchase under President Jefferson ex
actly and precisely aa the Philippines
have been acquired by treaty and pur
chase nnder President McKinley.
The doctrine of "the consent of the
governed," the doctrine previously enun
ciated by Jefferson in the Declaration of
Independence, was not held by him or by
any other sane man to apply to the In
dian tribes In the Louisiana territory
which he thus acquired, and there was
no vote taken even of the white inhab
itants, not to speak of the negroes and
Indians, as to whether they were willing
that tri?ir territory should be annexed.
The great majority of the inhabitants,
white and colored alike, were bitterly op
posed to the transfer.
Jefferson Forced Consent.
An armed force of United States sol
diers had to be hastily sent into the ter
ritory to prevent insurrection. President
Jefferson sending these troops to Louisi
ana for exactly the same reasons and
with exactly the same purpose that Pres
ident McKinley has sent troops to the
Philippines.
Jefferson distinctly stated that the
Louisianlans were "not fit or ready for
self-government," and years elapsed be
fore they were given self-government,
Jefferson appointing the governor and
other officials without any consultation
with the inhabitants of the newly ac
quired territory. The doctrine that the
"constitution follows the flar '"'t-
or by any other serious party leader, for
it never entered their beads that a new
territory should be governed other than
In the way in which the territories of
Ohio and Illinois had already been gov
erned under Washington and the elder
Adams; the theory known by this utterly
false and misleading phrase was only
struck ont In political controversy at a
THEODORE
much later date for the sole purpose of
justifying the extension of slavery into
the territories.
Consent Not Necessary.
The parallel between what Jefferson
did with Louisiana and what is now be
ing done in the Philippines is exact. Jef
ferson, the author of the declaration of
Independence, and of the "consent of the
governed' doctrine, saw no incongruity
between this and the establishment of
a government on common-sense grounds
in tbe new territory; and he railed at
the sticklers for an impossible applica
tion of his principle, saying in language
which at the present day applies to the
situation in the Philippines without the
change of a word, "though it is acknowl
edged that our new fellow-citizens are
as yet as incapable of self-government
as children, yet some cannot bring them
selves to suspend its principles for a sin
gle moment." He Intended that ulti
mately self-government shonld be intro
duced throughout the territory, but only
as the different parts became fat for it
and no sooner. This is just the policy
that has been pursued.
Filipinos on Basis of Indians.
In no part of the Louisiana purchase
was complete self-government introduced
for a number of years; in one part of it,
the Indian Territory, it has not yet been
introduced, although nearly a century
has elapsed. Over enormous tracts of it,
including the various Indian reserva
tions, with a territory in the aggregate
as large as that of the Philippines, the
constitution has never yet "followed the
flag;" the army officer and the civilian
agent still exercise authority, without
asking the "consent of the governed."
We must proceed in the Philippines with
the same wise caution, taking each suc
cessive sep as it becomes desirable, and
accommodating the details of our policy
to the peculiar needs of the situation.
But as soon as the present revolt is put
down and order established, it will un
doubtedly be possible to give to the isl
ands a larger measure of self-govern-mnt
than Jefferson originally gave Loui
siana. Florida Got Like Philippines.
The next great step in expansion was
the acquisition of Florida. This was
partly acquired by conquest and partly
by purchase, Andrew Jackson being the
most prominent figure in the acquisition.
It was taken" under President Monroe,
the aftertime President John Quincy
Adams being active in securing the pur-
, " . T x U
- ' ,v-V -V---
' 11
chase. As in the case of the Philippines,
Florida was acquired by purchase from
Spain, and in Florida the Seminoles, who
had not been consulted in the sale, re
belled and waged war exactly as some
of the Tagals have rebelled and waged
war in the Philippines. The Seminole
war lasted for many years, but Presi
dents Monroe, Adams and Jackson de
clined for a moment to consider the ques
tion of abandoning Florida to the Semi
noles. or to treat their non-consent to the
government of the United States as valid
reason for turning over the territory to
them.
Texas and Alaska Were Accessions.
Our next acquisition of territory was
that of Texas, secured by treaty after it
had been wrested from the Mexicans by
the Texans themselves. Then came the
acquisition of California, New Mexico,
Arizona, Nevada and parts of Colorado
and Utah as the result of tbe Mexican
war, supplemented five years later by
tbe Gadsden purchase.
The next acquisition was that of Alas
ka, secured from Russia by treaty and
purchase. Alaska was full of natives,
some of them had advanced well beyond
the stage of savagery and were Chris
tians. They were not consulted about
the purchase nor was their acquiescence
required. The pnrchase was made by
the men who had just put through a tri
nmphantwar to restore the union and free
the slave; but none of them deemed it
necessary to push the doctrine of the
"consent of the governed" to a conclu
sion so fantastic as to necessitate the
turning over of Alaska to its original
owners, the Indian and the Aleut. For
thirty years the United States authori
ties, military and civil, exercised the su
preme authority In a tract of land many
times larger than the Philippines, in
which it did not seem likely that there
would ever be any considerable body of
white inhabitants.
Hawaii Disproves Danger Idea.
Nearly thirty years passed before the
next Instance of expansion occurred,
which was over the island of Hawaii. An
effort was made at the end of President
Harrison's administration to secure the
annexation of HjawaiiTbe- effort
In a 'debate in Congress on Feb. 2,
1894, one of the leaders in opposing the
annexation of the islands stated: "These
islands are more than 2,000 miles distant
from our extreme western boundary. We
have a serious race problem now In our
country and I am not in favor of adding
to our domestic fabric a mongrel popu
lation (of this character). Our consti
tution makes no provision for a colonial
ROOSEVELIV
establishment. Any territorial govern
ment we might establish would necessar
ily, because of the population, be an Oli
garchy, which would have to be support
ed by armed soldiers.
Yet Hawaii has now been annexed and
her delegates have sat in the national
conventions of the two great parties. The
fears then expressed in relation to an
"oligarchy" and "armed soldiers" are not
now seriously entertained by any human
being; yet they are precisely the objec
tions urged against the acquisition of the
Philippines at this very moment.
Militarism Is Not Involved.
We are making no new departure.
We are not taking a siugle step which
in any way affects our institutions or our
traditional policies. From the beginning
we have given widely varying degrees of
self-government to the different territo
ries, according to their needs.
The simple truth is that there is noth
ing even remotely resembling "imperial
ism" or "militarism" involved in the
present development of that policy of ex
pansion which has been part of the his
tory of America from the day when she
became a nation. The words mean abso
lutely nothing as applied to our present
policy in the Philippines; for this policy
is only imperialistic in the sense that
Jefferson's policy in Louisiana was impe
rialistic; only military In the sense that
Jackson's poliey toward the Seminoles or
Custer's toward the Sioux embodied mili
tarism; and there is no more danger of
its producing evil results at home now
than there was of its interfering with
freedom under Jefferson or Jackson, or
In the days of the Indian wars on the
plains. Our army U relatively not as
large as it was in the days of Wayne;
we nave not one regular for every 1.000
inhabtants. There is no more dancer of
a draft than there is of the re-introduc- '
tion of slavery.
Right to Suppress Rebels.
When we expanded over New Mexico
and California we secured free govern
ment to these territories and prevented
their falling under the "militarism" of a
dictatorship like that of Santa Ana. or
the "imperialism" of a real empire in the
days of Maximilian. We put a stop to
imperialism in Mexico as soon as the
Civil War closed. We made a great
anti-imperialistic stride when we drove
the Spaniards from Porto Rico and the
fnihppmes and thereby made readv the
ground in these islands for that gradu
ally increasing measure of self-govern-
i
ment for which their populations are
severally fitted. Cuba is being helped
along the path to independence as rapid
ly as her own citizens are content that
sbo should go.
Of course the presence of troops in the
Philippines during the Tagal insurrection
has no more to do with militarism or im
perialism than had their presence in the
Dakota?, Minnesota and Wyoming dur
ing the ciany years which elapsed before
the final outbreaks of the Sioux were defi
nitely put down. There is no more mili
tarism or imperialism in garrisoning Lu
zon until order is restored than there was
imperialism in sending soldiers to South
Dakota in ISiK), during the Ogallalla out
break. The reasoning which justifies our
having made war against Sitting Bull
also justifies our having checked the out
breaks of Aguinaldo and his followers, di
rected, as they were, against Filipino and
American alike.
No Abandonment.
The only certain way of rendering it
necessary for our republic to enter on a
career of "militarism" would be to aban
don the Philippines to their own tribes,
and at the ssme time either to guarantee
a stable government among these tribes
or to guarantee them against outside in
terference, .v far larger army would be
required to carry out any such policy
than will he required to secure order
under the American flag; while the pres
ence of this flag on the islands is really
the only possible security against outside
aggression.
The wh ,!e argument against President
McKinej? policy in the Philippines be
comes absurd when it is conceded that we
should, to quote the language of the Kan
sas City platform, "give to the Philip
pines first a stable form of government."
Tf they are now entitled to independence,
they are also entitled to decide for them
selves whether their government shall be
stable or unstable, civilized or savage, or
whether they shall have any government
at all; while it is, of course, equally evi
dent that under such conditions we have
no right whatever to guarantee them
against outside interference any more
than we have rnoiw aifcwl Krantytn'
"TnecasJ eftlie Boxers (who are merely
the Chirje-e analogues of Aguinaldo's fol
lowers), i
If we lave a right to establish a stable
government in the islands It necessarily
follows tat it is not only our right but
our duty to support that government un
til the natives gradually grow fit to sus
tain it themselves. How else will it be
stable? The minute we leave it, it ceases
to be stable.
Now 4 Question of Contraction.
Properly speaking, the question is now
nott whether wet shall exnand for we
hafo-already e.tpthded but whether we L
snk.ll contract. The i'hihppines are now
nart of American territorv. Tf snrren-
would hfio surrender "iXjiierlcan
territory. Thejf Lust, of course, he gov
errd primaiij h the interests of their
owiMi'itizens. OuJ" first care must be for
the 'people of the islands which have
come under our guardianship as a result
of the most righteous foreign war that
has been waged within the memory of
the present generation. They must be
administered in the interests of their in
habitants, and that necessarily means
that any qnestion of personal or partisan
politics in their administration must be
entirely eliminated.
We must continue to put at the heads
of affairs in the different islands such
men as : Gen. Wood. Gov. Allen and
Judge Taft; and it is a most fortunate
thing that we are able to illustrate what
ought to be done in tbe way of sending
officers thither by pointing out what ac
tually has been done. The minor places
tSclij.tiuinmiJilrauon,-where It ' is im
possible to fill them by natives, must be
filled by the strictest application of the
merit system.
Tt is very important that in our own
home administration the merely minis
terial and administrative offices, where
the duties are entirely non-political, shall
be filled absolutely without reference to
partisan n filiations; but this is many
times more important in the newly ac
quired islanJs. The merit system is iu
its essence as democratic as our com
mon school system, for it simply means
equal chances and fair play for all.
Parallel with Indian Government.
It muts be remembered always that
governing these islands in the interest of
the inhabitants may not necessarily be
to govern them as the inhabitants at the
moment prefer, to grant self-government
to Luzon under Aguinaldo would be like
granting self-government to an Apache
reservation under some local chief: and
this is no more altered by the fact that
the Filipinos fought the Spaniards than
it would be by the fact that Apaches
have long been trained and employed in
the United States army and have ren
dered signal service therein: just ns the
Pawnees did nnder the administration of
President Grnnt: just as the Stockbride
Indians did in the days of (Jen. Wash
ington, and the friendly tribes of the six
nations in the days of President Madison.
There are now in the United States
communities of Indians which have ad
vanced so far that it has been possible
to embody them as. a whole in our po
litical system, all the members of the
tribe becomir? United States citizens.
There are other communities where the
bulk of the tribe are still too wild for it
to be possible to take such a step. There
are individuals among the Apaches, Paw
nees, Iroquois. Sioux and other tribes
who are now United States citizens and
who are entitled to stand, and do stand.
on an absolute equality with all our citi
zens of pure white blood. Men of Indian
blood are now serving in the army and
navy and in Congress arid occupy high
position both in the business and the po
litical world.
Filipinos Hope of Liberty.
There is every reason why as rapidly
as an Indian, or any body of Indians,
becomes fit for self-government, he or it
should be granted the fullest equality
with the white; but there would be no
justification whatever in treating thi.s
fact as a reason for abandoning the wild
tribes to work out their own destruction.
Exactly the same reasoning applies in the
case of the Philippines. To turn over
the islands to Aguinaldo and his follow
ers would not be to give self-government
to the islanders! under no circumstances
would the majority thus gain self-government.
They would simply be put at
the mercy of a syndicate of Chinese half
breeds, under vhom corruption would
flourish far more freely than ever it flour
ished under Tweed, while tyrannical op
pression would obtain to a degree only
possible under such an oligarchy. Yours
truly, THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
"THERE IS Ad SUCH AS
BEIRUT, Bill S; CHIKGE!"
McKinley lorty Years Ajto and To-Day
Has tbe Same Principles.
"There is no such word as retreat,
boys; charge."
These words were those r-f Maj. Mc
Kinley nearly forty years iig. They pic
ture the character of the 1'iesident of
to-day as of the soldier of l.sc2.
Thomas O'Callahan, with one eye
blinded and one ear closed to ouud for
ever by a bullet wound received under the
national colors at Gettysburg, is now a
resident of Fort Collins. He served
through the war with distinguished brav
ery. "I served under President McKinley
in 18(53 and have met him freqiscntiy
since. Every meeting brings hack to uie
one of tbe most patriotic expressions that
ever passed the lips of a soldier. A par
ty of forty men tiuder the then M.ij.
McKinley went on scouting duty. They
were perilous timn then.
"All went well until we reached the
top of a hiil and unexpectedly ran into
a body of 'Johnnies' numlcring between
MOO and 4O0. They were in ambush,
drawn up in firing line und awaiting our
approach. Our first knowledge of their
presence in the aiuliis!i was a vtdlry
which brought down our three front fi'iira
of horses and men.
" 'ICetreat!' our captain shouted.
"'There Is no such word as retreat,
boys; charge!' came a socr.nd order, this
time from Maj. McKinley. who. drawing
his sword, dashed ahead, fo'.luwed by ev
ery one of our mm except thoe who had
given their lives to the cnuse. The ene
my were completely astounded and at our
charge retreated in confusion."
"Before we started on ihis sr outing
expedition we were ordered to take three
days' provisions. I had a sac k of pound
ed oats on the pommel of my saddle,
.fin ,io. UUI It riirCE"eniy I turned
the oats out to feed my hoij and found
fifteen bullets in the sack, k ; horse was
wounded, as was Maj. Mc'j nicy's, and
his sword hilt was cot lo niK-cs by bul
lets. Maj. McKinley lnupniagly called
attention to it, and at the 'same time
complimenting his men on liu Ir bravery,
remarked: I?
" 'You have done me a treat favor,
boys, and if it ever lies in my powi r, I'll
reciprocate.' " h
K
"DEAR BOY" LETTERS NO. 7
My Dear Boy:
lV Jr..
Yon inform me that Job
ones. Tom
Bently and old Harry WeA'ph' say that f
b thf - afc-&u;.'ta" io Mte rirp.vrciiiiy
and Roosevelt," but that . thei- will vote I
and Roosevelt," but that . they will vote
against our Congressman,-niw a candi
date for re-election. i . -
Well, the Republican part') is very
much like Bro. Robinson's church. Bio.
Brown and Bro. Robinson, ttvo clerical
friends of mine, were talkirrgj fbont the
churches under their care. - Bro. Brown
said: (
"My church has a large membership.
net
i
but only about one-fourth of tliMO are ac
tive members."
Bro. Robin-son replied:
My church members are w active.
The last one of them is aetivel Those
who won't do anything else will; kick."
The Republican party is a vff active
organization. There is nothing dead
about it. The last one of It', mighty
membership is doingsomething,' nd it is
not snrprirfa,ii1"t some of this activity
Should display itself in kicking. Jones,
Bently anil Weldon have lined up with
the kickers.
Now, I am sorry. I will tell you why
I am sorry. In my judgment, the lead
ers of the Democratic party have very
little hope of electing Mr. Bryan, but
they do hope to elect a Democratic House
of Representatives. They do expect to
paralyze legislation, tie McKinlcy's
hands, block the wheels of the nation's
progress, and cripple the ship of state
right in the midst of the breakers that
surround it. And their hope lies in the
kicking of such men as Jones, Bently and
Weldon.
T happen to know just what is the
matter with those three men. Jone fail
ed to be appointed ostmaRter ft Sqne
dunk Station. Bently didn't get to take
the census in Pawpaw township, and
Weldon thinks he ought to have his pen
sion increased to twenty-four dollars n
month, and the department decided that
fourteen dollars was enough. Each of
them thinks that his representative in
Congress is to blame for his failure to
get what he wanted. Hence the kick
ing. Now, I do not attempt to solve the per
sonal equation in either of these three
cases. Perhaps Jones would be a very
good postmaster at Squedunk. It may
be that Bently was the most competent
person to take the census in Pawpaw
township. For aught I know Weld-on
ought to have a pension of twenty-four
dollars a month, although I doubt wheth
er he is more disabled than myself and
I get only eight dollars and am not kick
ing about it. I could use more to very
good advantage, but am thankful for
what I have.
Why, my boy, we are entering upon
wonderful times. The ancient civiliza
tion of the Orient is crumbling. The
islands of the sea are being transformed.
The Christian nations are coming to
gether. America, with her inexhaustible
resources, her intelligence and freedom
of thought, her energy and inventive
genius, is becoming the foremost factor
in the coming regeneration of the world.
And at the head of this great nation
stands William McKinley, enduring the
most tremendous strain which has come
upon any President since Lincoln's day.
Ilis wise, dignified faithfulness com
mands the respect and confidence of the
world. He should be re-elected and
should have a Congress upon whom be
can depend.
In view of these great tilings, how
small the postmaster's place at Squedunk
and such trifling persona! matters ap
pear! Once there was a man who tradil a
good farm for a drink cf whisky and a
plug of tobacco. The Bible tells us of
Esau who sold his birthright for a mess
of pottage, uradmon Informs us of a
man who cut off his iioe to spite his face.
nd of such are Jones. Bently and Wei-
don and others who let little things blind
them to great thing?.
My boy, this is not the year to kick.
Think on these things and DON'T BE A
KICKER YOUR FATHER.
k , wn mnuimia ct, jo9i