TWWW WB IplRT-v-HI-irn ,-
The Commoner.
JULY 10, 1908
9
arc acting in excess of their jurisdiction or strict
ly within their delegated powers. In either case
the people have a right to throw additional safe
guards around human liberty. There can be no
reflection upon th honesty of the courts in the
passage of a measure that will confine the equity
powers of the federal judiciary within such
bounds as the people of the United States,
through the legislative branches of their gov
ernment, may determine.
"This democratic convention must frankly
and unequivocally pledge itself to such legisla
tion as will prevent the writ of injunction from
being converted into an instrument of oppres
sion. (Great applause.)
"We have something to do in this conven
tion besides pointing out evils and calling the
republican party to task for the part it has
played in creating and perpetrating abuses. De
mocracy is once more called to the arena to
battle for the sacred principles of self-government.
It must wage an uncompromising war
for the return of the government to the hands of
the people and this means that the phalanx of
special interests must be broken. The triumph
of the people can come only through the demo
cratic party, for the life of its chief political
opponent is so absorbed into the artificial life
of the monopolies and trusts that it excludes the
hope that the republican party will ever be able
or willing to regain a separate existence where
it can honestly discharge its duty to the people.
TARIFF MUST BE REMOVED FROM TRUST
MADE GOODS
"With the power and opportunity to carry
out democratic principles we will be called upon
to revise our tariff laws in the interests of the
whole people. This issue can not be disposed
of by tjie assertion that the republican party
also stands for tariff reform. Republican re
vision and democratic revision are two different
things.
"The democratic idea id that where the
tariff enables the trusts to maintain a system
of extortion the duty should be removed from
all trust-made goods so that competition from
abroad may compel reasonable prices to our own
people. There is a vast difference between the
protection of American industries and the pro
tection of criminal monopolies.
"The expenses of our government, even
when most economically administered, will al
ways require substantial tariff rates, for the
customs duties will always be our chief source
of revenue.
"The distribution of tariff rates must al
ways be established with special reference to the
expenditures of government, keeping in view
the greatest good to the greatest number and
particularly prohibiting the conversion of the
tariff into an accomplice of monopoly in the
robbery of the American consumer. The demo
cratic idea is that the collection of sufficient
revenue to meet the necessities of government
must be the basis for tariff regulations and
that the philosophy of excluding competition by
a tax on the American consumer which requires
him to pay greater prices rt home than are
demanded abroad, is a pernicious abuse of the
taxing power and a manifest injustice to our
own people.
"The corrupt use of large sums of money
In political campaigns is largely responsible for
the subversion of the people's will at the polls.
The masses are awakening to a realization of
the great power of gold in contests that ought
to be determined according to the character
of nominees and the soundness and morality of
political issues; and there is a general demand
for publicity in the collection and use of cam
paign funds so that our citizens may know
whether a political party has purchased its way
into office or has won its victories by honest
means.
"An election Is a party affair and the peo
ple have a right to know before casting their
votes whether a campaign Is being financed by
the trusts and monopolies and just exactly what
influences are being exerted to gain control, for
it is not to be presumed that large appropriations
for election purposes are being made from the
treasuries of the corporations without an ex
press or implied promise that the contributors
shall receive special benefits in consideration
of their subscriptions.
"Upon no other subject has the republican
party shown such utter contempt for the wishes
of the people and its refusal to use a cash regis
ter in its political affairs clearly exhibits a crook
edness and dishonesty that will not bear the
light of. day. i . rj .
"In the Chicago convention a minority re
port of the committee on resolutions,, containing
a declaration In favor of publicity was over
whelmingly defeated upon a roll call of the con
vention and the republican party placed itself
squarely upon record in favor of concealing the
names of the contributors and the amounts of
their subscriptions.
"By a vote of fifty-two to one .In tlio com
mittee, and a vote of more than ten to one in
the body of the convention they confessed their
guilt. They thus admitted the chargo so fre
quently made by our party, that republican suc
cess in the past has largely depended upon the
vast sums of money collected from the great
monopolies of the country and corruptly used in
the conduct of its campaigns. Let the voters
of this country seriously consider whether the
refusal of the republican party to disclose the
sources and amounts of its election finances is
not a confession of the debasing and corrupt
use of moneys in its campaigns.
RAILROAD CONTROL IS IMPERATIVE NEED
"It is eminently proper that this conven
tion should define the democratic attitude to
wards the regulation of transportation compa
nies, and call the attention of the country to
the indisputable fact that it was only after years
of democratic effort that an amendment was
made to the interstate commerce law authorizing
the commission to establish reasonable rates
whenever it appeared that an existing schedule
was unjust or unreasonable. The national plat
forms of the republican party remained silent
upon this great question for years, and the fact
that the necessary change was advocated by a
republican president, who succeeded only
through the aid of the democrats in both
branches of congress in placing the amendment
upon our statute books, does not affect the credit
to which our party Is entitled for having worked
persistently for such an enactment.
"Further amendment to our laws giving
,tho federal government supervision over the issu
ance of railroad stocks and bonds is demanded.
"The fixing of transportation charges and
the control of issuances of railroad securities are
inseparably connected with the act"al valuation
of the railroads. The democratic party believes
that the first thing to do Is to secure a physical
valuation of the roads that is, a valuation of
the solid rather than the liquid assets of railroad
companies. While on the other hand, the re
publican party, on a roll call in the convention,
by an overwhelming vote took an unequivocal
stand in favor of a system of water rates with
out giving the people the benefit of a meter.
"We search in vain for one syllable in the
Chicago platform pledging the republican party
to retrenchment and reform; and it is no mere
coincidence that has given us a $1,000,000,000
session of congress on the eve of a national elec
tion and the possible revision of the tariff.
"So long as we maintain the present method
of electing United States senators we can not
hope that the upper chamber of congress will
reflect the popular will.
"On five different occasions the house of
representatives has passed a constitutional
amendment providing for the election of United
States senators by the direct vote of the people,
but these measures have been sandbagged In
the senate by those who are determined that the
senate shall not become an integral part of our
free, representative Institutions.
"The democratic party will continue to
labor for the direct election of United States
senators and it appeals to the voters of America
to elect members of the different state legisla
tures who will pledge themselves to vote for no
candidate for the United States senate that is
not in favor of this reform.
ALLEN HORDES OF ASIA MUST BE BARRED
"The affirmative position of the democratic
party upon these great questions will be made
clear during the impending campaign, and dis
daining all subterfuges it will speak in a lan
guage that can not be misunderstood. Its voice
will ring with a genuine love for humanity, and
the charge of insincerity will never be brought
to its doors. Let our party declaration in this
convention present the strong contrast between
that which we here propose and that which was
declared at Chicago. Let any man take the
temperature of the Chicago platform and dis
cover, if he can, any sign of human warmth.
Not a single sentiment Is there to redeem it
from the materialism permeating it through and
through.
"On the bosom of the Pacific will be enact
ed the great commercial struggles of the future,
and the interests of American commerce In con
nection with the exposure of our western shores .
greater portion of tho American navy shall bo
retained in tho waters of the Pacific to protect
our expanding commerce This maguiflcont
western country of ours has not only proved at
tractive to our own peoplo and tho other whito
nations of tho earth, but it has likowlso provod
alluring to tho brown and yollow races of tho
oast. Some protection hns been affordod by tho
exclusion of Chinese labor, but tho evil is but
half met, unless we shall enact such laws as will
exclude all Asiatic immigration. Not only tho
white toilers of America but all our peoplo, aro
vitally Interested in this monaco to our social
and industrial life from Oriental quarters, and
if this is to remain a whito man's country imme
diate stops should bo taken to prevent Asiatic
immigration of whatsoever character.
"This national convention meets nt a tltno
when the angel of peace Is hovering over the
entire world and the nations of the world each
day aro strengthening those ties of friendship
and common interest that will render war less
frequent and permit mankind to turn their
hands to tho peaceable pursuits of life, rather
than to tho destruction of ono another.
"Tho democratic party realizes tho weight
that America must inevitably exert in the affairs
of tho world and will demand that her Influcnco
ever he cast on tho side of peace, on tho sldo
of justice, on the side of tho .oppressed, and if
tho will of tho peoplo shall commit to democratic
hands tho scepter of power it will bo used for
tho realization of those high American ideals
that lift our own peoplo to loftier and bettor
things and through our precepts contribute to
tho well-being and happiness of all mankind."
to any hostile attack will demand that Oheflhaji0jb,tbat it Is b t
Mil. TAFT AND THE ROOSEVELT POLICY
The following appeared as an editorial in
tho New York Evening Post: ,
"Mr. Taft is receiving an extraordinary
. amount of praise for being unlike somebody
else not mentioned. At the Yale law school
yesterday, Senator Spooner thanked Heaven that
tho secretary was a lawyer, who would, if elect
ed president, know how to observe tho constitu
tional limitations of his office. 'When the three
branches have become subordinated to tho will
of tho executive, popular government has ceased
to exist.' Then the senator added solemnly: 'I
speak of this in an impersonal way.' Certainly;
wo name no names, but a robust man with eye
glasses will please take notice. Similarly, at
the Republican club ratification In this city last
night, the spcakors seemed unable to keep oft
the topic of Mr. Taft's judiclal-mindedness.
Everybody applauded loudly, and then lookol
around to see if any distinguished person, not
distinguished for having a judicial mind, was
taking offense. And when ex-Secretary Shaw
told his little story of the man who kept school
with a revolver, rawhide, and bowio knife, and
wound up in Orphic phrase: 'Punishment Is not
tho object of education, nor is criminal prosecu
tion the aim of government,' there was a silence
that could almost have been heard at Oyster
Bay."
W r0 1V fcj
CREDENTIALS COMMITTEE REPORT
The credentials committee had several con
tests to settle. In the Idaho case tho Dubois
delegation was seated by a vote of 20 to 20. Tho
Nineteenth Ohio district was given to tho Tom
Johnson men. In tho Ninth Ohio district tho
anti-Johnson men were retained. In the cases
of New York, Illinois and the District of Colum
bia tho action of tho national committee was
unanimously sustained, and in each case the con
testants were denied seats. Oklahoma was
granted eighteen delegates instead of fourteen,
the change being based on an incorrect appor
tionment. In the case of Pennsylvania tho vote
upon ousting tho Guffey delegates In Philadel
phia stood twenty-seven yeas to fifteen "-g.
fpl rt iA W
"NOTHING BUT PEOPLE"
Following is an extract from Walter Well
man's dispatch four days prior to tho Denver
convention, which dispatch was printed in tho
Chicago Record-Herald:
"There remains nothing for the men from
Wall Street and from the 'interests' to do but
make as graceful a surrender as possible. And
during the next few days much of the news will
pertain to the manner and method of this in
evitable bowing of tho knee by plutocracy to
the plowboy of the Platte. Here are the heroics,
here is the drama of the hour, a man has con
quered Mammon. A man, with nothing but the
peoplejjjbehlnd bin. No -American should be
.v ' sd timr.
11
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