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The Commoner.
2
VOLUME 8, NUMBER 2f
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THE ': REPUBLICAN
PARTY IS IN FULL RETREAT
1 Tho republicans who attended tho.natipnat
convention. w pcptntors and joined in. the, deim
onstrationin' favor of President Roosdvolt' and
Senator LaFdlletto must liaVo fel inlligrnant as
they watched' the! panic, stricken dclpgWa. rum
ning over oach' other In their effort to got awayt
from the LaFolletto reforms, some of which had
boon endorsed by, tho president himself. Con
gressman Cooper, of Wisconsin, representing tho
LaFollotto men, brought in a minority report
signed by himself alone. Fifty-two members of
the committee signed tho majority roport, and
one Signed tho minority report. Tho republican
party will find tho ratio of fifty-two .to one a
vory embarrassing one to deal with in the , com
ing campaign. Mr. Coopor's report contained
a declaration in favor of publicity as to campaign
funds. It was lost by a voto of 880 to 94, moro
than nine to one, and yet the president has been
advocating legislation in favor of publicity as.
to campaign contributions, and Secretary Taft
wroto a lottor to Mr. Burrows advocating t)ie
passage of a publicity bill. How fortunate it
was that Secretary Taft's letter was finally dis
covered and published! Senator Burrows, tho
man to whom the Taft lottor was addressed, was
tho temporary chairman of tho conyontion, and
tho convention over which he presided turned
down tho publicity plank by a voto of nine to
ono! Who will deny that, on this subject, tho
republican party is retreating?
Another plank of tho LaFolletto platform
authorized tho ascertaining of the value of the
railroads. This plank was lost by a voto of 917
to. 68 -nearly fifteen to ono and yet President
Roosevelt has advocated this vqry proposition.
Hero is, a retreat on the railroad question.
In anothor column roforoncp is made to- tho
HAVE YOU READ
i-4n.M - '
jfrHave you read the republican -platform? If i
not you ought to read it. The contest in the
republican party betwedri the reformer arid tho
standpatter is for the present at fin end, with.'
tho standpatter in., the saddle. ' The ' platform
is a silent repudiation of nearly every promise of
reform that tho president and his 'followers have
given to the country. Itbeglns with an eujogy
of the president. "In n8 other period since the
days of LincolnVocttovQlng to thoplatform, "has
there been such mighty progress In those ideals
of government which make for' justice, equality
and, fair-dealing among men," J'Th'e highest
aspirations of tho American pfeoYve have found
a voice." (A reflection Is here implied on pre
vlbua republican presidents who have failed to
fivrnish a voice, for "the highest aspirations of
the American people.") "Their most exalted
servant represents the best aims,nnd worthiest
purposes of all his countrymen. American man
hood has been lifted to a noble 'sense of duty
and obligation." Without asking' why the re
publican party has held office and divided the
official salaries among its partisans so long with
out giving us a president who represented "the
best aims and worthiest purposes of the people;"
without asking why no other republican presi
dent in recent days "lias lifted American man
hood to a noble sense of duty and obligation,"
we may ask why it is that the republican con
vention spends so much time In 'praising; the
president xind gives so little attention to the
specific endorsement of the tilings he has' ad
vocated. But the president inust feel that
he is the only republican deserving of praise.
The recent congresses, according to the plat
form, have been full of patriots and the repub
lican legislators have been keeping "stop in
the forward march to bettor government." What
does the presidont think of being bracketed with
republican senntors and members of congress in
this indiscriminate praise? Nothing is said of the
conspiracy formed among the republican lead
ers of the scnato to defeat the president's -railroad
rate bill; no intimation 1b here given that he
sent several messages to congress in a vain en
deavor to get tho lower house to take up the re
forms which he was urging. The president must
resent the fact that the platform expressos no
gratitude to the democratic members and sena
tors for supporting him when the republicans
dfceerted him Not only does the platf.rm
fail' to' give the democrats -credit for helnlmr i
president in every effort" to lift, up, American
manhood to "aoioble sense of' duty andobllga-
injunction plank. Tho injunction plank adopted
by, the republican conventipn is a retreat from
the position taken by the president and from the,
position taken by Secretary Taft in his speeches,,
although neither of thcnTwent as far at they
ought to have gene -in their effort to prevent1
what "is known as government by injunction.
Here is the third retreat.
1 :jThe president has advocated the income tax
as a means of iireventing swollen fortunes and
of equalizing the burdens of government. The
republican platform is silent on the subject.
Was tho president right in the position he took?
If so, then the convention was wrong in not
endorsing him. Will the republican voters fol
low the president in this just demand or will
they follow the republican organization in re
treating from it?
The president advocated an inheritance tax,
but the republican convention is silent on that
subject. Was the president ahead of the repub
lican party in advocating this reform, or has
the republican party receded from the presi
dent's position? Did the president give a false
alarm on this question or has the party sounded
a retreat? ' '
In the president's message to congress last
spring ho presented an indictment against the
conspiracy formed among the great lawbreakers
to prevent the enforcement of the law and to
evade the punishments provided by law. The
platform adopted by the republican convention
contains no intimation of danger. If there are
any conspiracies, the convention did not see
them if there are any combinations, it. had not
heard of them; if there are any dangers ahead,
it was unconscious of them. Was the president
mistaken when he issued his defiance, or are
the republican 'managers deceived when they
:. i)
think that an aroused public will calmly con
template the encroachments of predatory wealth.
This . is retreat number six.
The convention, by voto of 866 to 114
more than seven to one voted down the plank
in favor of the popular election, of United States
senators. Iti Js true that the president and Sec
retary Taft haye never advocated th popular
election of 'senators. They seem to take tho
Hamiltohian rather than the Jeffersohiati view,
but the most popular reform in the United1 States
today is the reform that has for its object the
election of United States senators by 'direct vote.
It has five times been endorsed by the national
house of representatives three times -tfhen the
house of representatives was republican; It has
been endorsed by nearly two-thirds of the states
of the union, and there is probably ndt a state
in the union in which it would not be endorsed
at a popular election and yet in spite of the
record made in the house of representatives and
by the various states, this reform is rejected by
a seven-to-one vote in a republican national con
vention. ' '"
Here are seven propositions upon which the
republican party, in national cdnyeiritibh 'as
sembled, has retreated from the poSitlcmV taken
by that party In congress or fr6m 'the 'position
taken by the president. What have Roosevelt
republicans to say? The president hag awakened
a spirit of reform within his party, ho 'has at
least revealed to the world that there are re
formers in the republican party. Can that spirit
now be quelled by a stand-pat Convention? ' Mil
lions of republicans .have enlisted at the presi
dent's call to arms and are ready to' raai-ch .for
ward ; will they furl their banners and turn back
merely because the president 'acquiesces in' !the
sounding of a retreat? : ,: 'n ;-w ""
i
WE
V'i
)pi
SfANDPAT.
PLATFORM FOR 1908
thStfhiit it ACTUALLY CONDEMNS THE FIL
I&ij$TEft Wl-JI&ft THE PEMiQCRATIC MINOR-,
IUY ,: INSTITUTED - AND (CARRIED ON EOR
JL
THE EXPRESS PURPOSE' OF COMPELI
REPUBLICANS TO CARRY 'OUT THE -PRESIDENT'S
RECOMMENDATIONS. Mr. Williams,
leader of tho minority, timd and again called up
on the republicans to furnish thirty votes in sup
port of the president's policies and pledged the
democratic minority to furnish the remaining
number of votes necessary to carry out several of
the president's'- recommendations, and yet the
men Who vrot'd the platform presume upon: the
igridrance of thfettpublic and' complain that the.
flllbu'ster prevented the enactment of "many
wholesome and' progressive laws."
The writers 'of the platform "especially
commend the passage of the emergency cur
rency bill" a bill which combined two features,
one of which' had been rejected by the
senate, and the other by the house. So long as
there was a chance for a discussion there was
sufficient republican opposition to condemn both
features of the bill, but under the influence
of a few financiers, the bill was rushed through
during the closing hours with all of the bad
features restored and all of -the goOd ones elim-
inatod. How proud the republican bosses in the
senate and house must feel to have their work
thus-'endorsed by 'arepublican national, conven
tion: ' . .
The plank demanding a permanent change
in the currency system is general enough to
permit the republican orators to advocate in
each section of the country thS system most
popular there, and sufficiently indefinite to en
able congress td'do whatever it pleases or noth
ing without violating -any pledgee
The trust plank must prove a disappoint
ment to every republican who has come to under
stand the iniquity 'Of the trusts. There Is no
demand for a rigid enforcement of the law
there Is no suggestion that the criminal clause
which has not yet brought a; trust malefactor
within the walls of a penitentiary should bo
called into use. The platform says that the law
can bo strengthened by amendments which will
enlarge the supervision of the general govern
ment, hut these amendments are not mentioned
and there is nothing in this plank of the platform
that can be appealed to to secure any real Im
provement in tho law. If tho presidont, with all
of. his strenuosity; has not been able to enforce
the criminal law against a single trudt, what
chance is there of a less strenuous, man making'
progress with such lan anti-trust iplank as that
Inserted in the republican platform?
' . . ... i
There is a plank in the platform in favor
of such legislation and supervision "as, will pre
vent the future.' overissue 'of i stocksuand' bonds
by interstate carriers." This is' rgo6d,?,'b'ut li1'
is' coupled with the advocacy 6f,ji!db:Ungrr
rangement which makes a large concession to
the railroads without exacting any security to
the public, for the convention voted frown an
amendment proposed by Senator LaFpllette's
followers authorizing an enlargement of the pow-?
ers of the interstate commerce commission. :
The negro comes in for Tils quadrennial
quota of taffy. He is reminded that the' repub
lican party gave him freedom and citizetiship
and in this there is the implied 'warning that
he must not use his citizenship against the
party that gave it to him. It Boasts that he is
indebted to that party for his political rights and
for his progress in intelligence, Industry, etc.
The republican party has made political capital
out of the negro for a third of a century. In
many of the close states it has won its elections
by the negro vote and in the states where it
has had power it has never treated the negro
any better- than he has been treated by the dem
ocrats. In other words, in the northern states
the democrats, without receiving any support
from the negro vote, have been as friendly to
him as the 'republicans. In the' south the demo
crats have 'furnished a large art of the money
to provide that education of which the repub
lican platform boasts. And yet in each recur
ring campaign the republican leaders have at
tempted to appeal to the prejudices of the negro
by parading before him the restrictions placed
upon suffrage in some of the southern states;
They have been in control of the government,
with the exception of a few years, for now nearly
half a century and they have controlled the
courts as well as the other branches of the gov
ernment. 'If. the democrats have done anything
that they ought not to have done, why have hot
the republicans prevented it?. Why is it that
the republican leaders are only solicitous about
the colored man when voting time comes? The
republican platform says: "We condemn all
devices which have for their real aim his (thO
negro's) disfranchisement for reasons of color
alone as unfair, un-American and repugnant to
the supreme law of the land." How can these
things he repugnant to the supreme law of the
land when the republican suprfeme 'Court Is sup
posed to stand guard over the supreme law of
the land? There is scarcely a republican plat
form that does not approach the negro with'th
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