KM
HIP
THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
IRVINE
IN MEMORY OF
James S. Rice
1
The Voter's Non-Partisan Handbook and Campaign Guide
GREAT ISSUES
-AND-
NATIONAL LEADERS
OF 1908=
BOOK I CONTAINING
HOW CONVENTIONS AND PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS ARE CON-
DUCTED. THE PROCEEDINGS AND PLATFORMS OF THE
NATIONAL CONVENTIONS OF ALL PARTIES; BIOGRAPHIES OF
THE CANDIDATES OF ALL PARTIES
THE GREAT NATIONAL ISSUES AND PROBLEMS
Discussed by Eminent Men of all
shades of Political Opinion, including
WILLIAM H. TAFT WILLIAM J. BRYAN
THOMAS E. WATSON JOHN TEMPLE GRAVES
WILLIAM R. HEARST EUGENE V. DEBS
EUGENE W. CHAFIN AND OTHERS
BOOK II CONTAINING
THE VOTER'S POLITICAL AND HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA ;
A COMPLETE COMPENDIUM OF NECESSARY, INSTRUCTIVE
AND INTERESTING INFORMATION
ILLUSTRATED WITH
A Complete Gallery of the Governors of the States, Portraits of the Presidential
and Vice-Presidential Candidates of all Parties, Favorite Sons and Statesmen,
and Stirring Scenes of the Campaign, comprising altogether
OVER 100 PICTURES
Copyright, 1908,
By W. E. SCULL.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
BOOK I.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.
The Objects and Uses of this Book as a Universal Educator and
Voters' Hand-Book in the Campaign of 1908 17
CHAPTER II.
How WE ELECT OUR RULERS AND MAKE OUR LAWS.
Useful Information for the Voter Upon the Organization of Our
National Laws How Our Democracy Differs from All Others
How We Elect Our President, Senators and Representatives
The Powers of the President The Duties of Cabinet Offi-
cers The Federal Courts The Sovereignty of the States, etc. . . 22
CHAPTER III.
THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE. ITS OBJECTS AND ITS POWERS.
How the Federal Vote of the Forty-six States is Distributed and
Valuable Information Showing the Changes Made Since the
Last Census Electoral Vote for 1908 33
CHAPTER IV.
How NATIONAL PRESIDENTIAL CONVENTIONS ARE CONDUCTED.
Vast Machinery Required Careful Planning Skilful Manipula-
tion Convention Required Thousands of Employees Enor-
mous Expenses Wire-Pulling Dark Horses, etc. Telephone
and Phonograph Equipments Denver Convention Hall 36
(5)
6 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
CHAPTER V.
THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION OF 1908.
At Chicago, June 16, 17, 18 and 19 Meeting at the Coliseum
Seating Capacity Nearly 12,000 The Sixteenth Presidential
Convention of the Party The Seventh Held in the City of
Chicago, the First Being the Famous Lincoln Convention of
1860 Story of That Convention Organization of the Conven-
tion Number of Delegates Seating the Delegates Called to
Order by National Chairman Harry S. New Photographing
the Big Convention Senator J. C. Burrows, of Michigan,
Temporary Chairman Amusing Incident in Speech Senator
Henry Cabot Lodge Made Permanent Chairman Speech De-
fending Party's Records Fight Over Anti-Injunction Plank
Platform Adopted How Taft and Sherman Were Each
Nominated on First Ballot 42
CHAPTER VI.
THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM FOR 1908.
Republicanism Under Roosevelt Equality of Opportunity Revival
of Business Recent Republican Legislation Postal Savings
Trusts Railroads Wage-Earners and American Labor
Anti-Injunction Plank The Farmer Rights of the Negro
Natural Resources Army and Navy Extension of Foreign
Commerce Veterans of the Wars Democratic Incapacity
Fundamental Differences Between Republican and Democratic
Parties 96
CHAPTER VII.
WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT,
Republican Candidate for President, 1908.
Big, Brawny and Brainy Thorough Equipment Nominated on
First Ballot Pleasing Personality American of Americans
Early Life and Education Parentage A Natural Lawyer
Important Positions on the Bench Declined Positions on the
Bench of the Supreme Court Obedient to Duty's Call Special
Qualifications for Carrying Out the Roosevelt Policy His
Political Career Governor of the Philippines Purchase of the
Friars' Lands Secretary of War and Governor of Cuba Tour
Around the World Panama 109
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 7
CHAPTER VIII.
JAMES SCHOOLCRAFT SHERMAN,
Republican Candidate for V ice-President, 1908.
Nominated on First Ballot The Conservative Element's Candidate
Long and Faithful Service in the Party Once a Democrat
Similarity to Mr. Taft Birth and Parentage Education His
Political and Congressional Record As a Campaign Collector
Friend of Roosevelt 1 16
CHAPTER IX.
WHY TAFT SHOULD BE ELECTED.
BY HON. SAMUEL L. POWERS.
How Taft's Campaign Resembles that of Lincoln in 1864 The
Main Policies of the Next Administration Protecting Trade
and Commerce Against Monopolies A Square Deal The
Pacific or Philippine Policy Panama Canal Our Wonderful
Manufacturing Interests Necessity of Extending Trade to the
Far East Taft Best Prepared of All Men to Deal with These
Questions A Thorough American Ancestors in the War for
Independence A Thorough Lawyer An Eminent Jurist
Roosevelt and the Financial Interests Favor Him 119
CHAPTER X.
THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION OF 1908.
Meeting at Denver, July 7th to loth Old-Time Slogans of the Party
Free Trade State's Rights In Andrew Jackson's Times
Why the South Remained Solidly Democratic The Causes of
Sectionalism Delegates at the Convention New Convention
Hall Cooled by Snow from the Mountains Music by the
Cowboy Band Roosevelt's and Bryan's Daughters Present
Temporary Chairman Bell The Keynote Speech of Democracy
Evils of Monopoly The Tariff Direct Election Grover
Cleveland Honored The Pennsylvania Squabble Great Bryan
Demonstration Hobson's Address Chairman Clayton's Slogan
of War Dunn's Nominating Speech Johnson and Gray
Named Platform Adopted Vote by States Bryan Nomi-
nated on First Ballot John W. Kern Nominated for Vice-
President 125
8 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
CHAPTER XI.
PLATFORM OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY, 1908.
Shall the People Rule? Anti-Injunction Tariff Railroads
Trusts Banking State's Rights Campaign Publicity In-
come Tax Republican Extravagance Boss Rule in Congress
Waterways Imperialism Navy Natural Resources Elec-
tion of Senators Territories Panama Canal and Pan-Ameri-
can Alliances What the Party Stands For 176
CHAPTER XII.
WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN,
Democratic Candidate for President, ipo8.
Power as an Orator Compared to Webster, Clay and Blaine
Rises Superior to Defeat Personal Popularity Birth and
Ancestry Influence of His Father Education and Early
Training in Oratory Study and Practice of Law Elected
to Congress "The Cross of Gold" Whirlwind Campaign
Second Nomination for President Supported Parker in 1904
Tour Around the World Home at "Fairview," Nebraska .... 190
CHAPTER XIII.
JOHN WORTH KERN,
Democratic Candidate for Vice-President, ipo8.
Story-Teller Like Lincoln Announcement of Nomination Per-
sonal Friend of W. J. Bryan Loyalty to His Party Outline
of His Life Fought His Way Up Fairness to Opponents
Home Life at Indianapolis 198
CHAPTER XIV.
WHY DEMOCRATS SHOULD WIN IN 1908.
By William Jennings Bryan and Henry Walter son.
Republicans Dodging Reform Opposing Campaign Publicity
Retreating on Railroad Investigation Injunction Plank a
Defeat of Roosevelt Policy Blind to Conspiracy Among Great
Lawbreakers Oppose Popular Election of Senators Seven
Roosevelt Reform Movements Repudiated in Their Platform
The Independence Party Platform Why Independents Should
Vote Democratic Ticket A United Democracy to the Rescue
of the Republic The People Demand Bryan's Election 201
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 9
CHAPTER XV.
CONVENTION OF THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF AMERICA, 1908.
Meeting May loth at Chicago Organization Communication with
Western Federation of Miners The Alcohol Question Social-
ism and Organized Labor The Courts Assailed Unity with
Socialist Labor Party Debs and Han ford Nominated Woman
Suffrage Urged Women Organizers to Work in States Where
Women Vote 209
CHAPTER XVI.
PLATFORM OF THE SOCIALIST PARTY FOR 1908,
Also Platform of the Socialist Labor Party and Principles of the
Christian Socialist Fellowship.
Principles of Socialism The Platform Program General De-
mands Industrial Demands Political Demands The Socialist
Labor Party Convention Its Difference from the Larger Party
Preston and Munro Nominated for President Reasons for
Not Uniting with the Socialist Party Socialist Labor Party
Platform Christian Socialist Fellowship Endorse Debs and
Hanford Declaration of Principles 217
CHAPTER XVII.
EUGENE VICTOR DEBS,
Socialist Candidate for President, 1908.
Pleasing Personality The Poets Love Him Tributes from James
Whitcomb Riley and Eugene Field Debs the Warrior Birth,
Parentage and Political Career A Labor Leader Trouble with
the Courts Story of His Imprisonment Socialism versus
Capitalism 230
CHAPTER XVIII.
BENJAMIN HANFORD,
Socialist Candidate for Vice-President, 1908.
A Runaway Boy Homeless and Penniless in a Great City Learns
Printer's Trade Drifting Joins Printers' Union Meets Fred.
Long Becomes a Socialist , 236
io GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
CHAPTER XIX.
THE SOCIALIST MOVEMENT AND WHAT IT STANDS FOR.
By Eugene V. Debs, Lyman Abbott, Charles H. Parkhurst,
Frances Willard, and Others.
Socialism Defined Labor Ownership and Operation versus Capital
Ownership Heads, Hands, Hearts and Souls Growth of
Socialism How It Will Help All Wickedness of Present
Business Ethics Humanity and the Future Opinions of Emi-
nent Persons on Socialism 239
CHAPTER XX.
THE PEOPLE'S PARTY AND THE CONVENTION OF 1908.
Under the Leadership of Watson Jeffersonian Principles Claimed
Populism's Strongest Showing Thomas E. Watson and Sam-
uel W. Williams Nominated 246
CHAPTER XXI.
PEOPLE'S PARTY PLATFORM, 1908.
Preamble The Money Question Land Question Trusts and Mo-
nopolies Initiative and Referendum Savings Banks Labor's
Rights The Courts and Injunctions 249
CHAPTER XXII.
THOMAS E. WATSON,
People's Party Candidate for President, ipo8.
Battling with Minority for Good of Majority Sowing for the
Future Draws Inspiration from Thomas Jefferson Birth and
Education Practice of Law Enters Politics Services in
Georgia Legislature and in Congress Literary Career "Tom
Watson's Magazine," "The Jeffersonian" "Hand-Book of Poli-
tics and Economics," and Other Writings 253
CHAPTER XXIII.
SAMUEL W. WILLIAMS,
People's Party Candidate for Vice-President, 1908.
Ran with Watson in 1904 Educated for Ministry Entered Law
Instead An Old-Time Democrat Single Tax Advocate
Student of Politics and Literature 256
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS n
CHAPTER XXIV.
PRINCIPLES AND CLAIMS OF THE PEOPLE'S PARTY.
By Thomas E. Watson and Samuel W . Williams.
The Principles of the Democracy Populism Contrasted with Bryan-
ism The Triumph of Populism Hearst's Independence Party
Attacked Hirelings Lead the Party Some Facts and Argu-
ments Old Parties Cannot Be Trusted Banks and Money .... 258
CHAPTER XXV.
INDEPENDENCE PARTY NATIONAL CONVENTION OF 1908.
Organization of the New Party Hearst's Arguments for It Com-
ments from the Press Its First Meeting in National Conven-
tion Cheers for Hearst Hisses for Bryan Hearst's Keynote
Speech Comparison of Platforms Walsh's Speech Reasons
for Deserting Old Parties Attempt to Nominate Bryan Causes
Trouble Thomas L. Hisgen and John Temple Graves Nomi-
nated 263
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE INDEPENDENCE PARTY PLATFORM FOR 1908.
Old Parties Assailed Looking Back to Lincoln For Direct Nomi-
nation, the Initiative and Referendum Money in Campaigns
Labor Plank Against Child Labor For Tariff Revision De-
mand Anti-Trust Law and Parcels Post System Oppose Asi-
atic Immigration Protection of Public Lands Popular Elec-
tion of Senators 282
CHAPTER XXVII.
NATIONAL LEADERS OF THE INDEPENDENCE PARTY.
William Randolph Hearst the Founder Thomas L. Hisgen,
Candidate for President John Temple Graves,
Candidate for Vice-President.
The Story of Their Lives and Achievements Concisely Told Former
Political Affiliation, etc 291
12 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
CHAPTER XXVIII.
CLAIMS OF THE INDEPENDENCE PARTY AND SUMMARY OF ITS
PRINCIPLES.
By John Temple Graves.
Why I Left the Democratic Party Wobbling on Issues Radical
Once More Under Bryan No Hope from Republican Party
Mission of the Independence Party The Hope of the Country
the New Party ( 300
CHAPTER XXIX.
THE NATIONAL PROHIBITION PARTY AND THE CONVENTION OF 1908.
Map of "Wet" and "Dry" States Why More Votes Are Not Cast
for Prohibition Wonderful Gain of Prohibition Sentiment in
1907 and 1908 Where Gains Have Been Made National Pro-
hibition Coming Assembling of the Convention Patton's Key-
note Speech Eugene W. Chafin and Aaron S. Watkins Nomi-
nated Both Their Party Nominees for Governor in Their
Respective States Campaign Fund Raised 304
CHAPTER XXX.
THE NATIONAL PROHIBITION PLATFORM FOR 1908.
The Shortest National Platform on Record Proposes Constitutional
Amendment Against Traffic in Liquor Direct Election of
United States Senators Income Tax Postal Savings Banks
Regulation of Corporations Permanent Tariff Commission
Uniform Divorce Law Prohibition of Child Labor Suffrage
Based on Intelligence Preservation of National Resources
What the Party Proposes to Do in Campaign of 1908 318
CHAPTER XXXI.
EUGENE W. CHAFIN,
Prohibition Candidate for President, ipo8.
A Prohibitionist of Long Standing Early Life Earned His Way
Through College Begins Practicing Law A Temperance
Orator Honors Heaped Upon Him by His Party, Both in Wis-
consin and Illinois Touching Speech to Convention When
Nominated Enters Upon the Campaign Visit to W. J.
Bryan Incident of Springfield Race Riot 320
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 13
CHAPTER XXXII.
AARON S. W ATKINS,
Prohibition Candidate for Vice-President, 1908.
Lawyer, Minister and Teacher Birth. Ancestry and Education
Preached Twelve Years Vice-President Ohio Northern Uni-
versity Ran for Congress Ran for Governor in 1905 Re-
nominated in 1908 Named for Vice-President 324
CHAPTER XXXIII.
WHY PROHIBITION Is A POLITICAL ISSUE AND WHAT IT STANDS FOR.
By A, E. Wilson, Governor Hanly and Silas C. Swallow.
Necessarily a Political Issue Greater Question Than the Tariff.
Injunction, Senatorial Election, etc. "Why I Hate the Liquor
Traffic" The National Aspect of the Problem Protected by
Federal Law Nation's Enemy All Voters Stockholders
Your Duty to Speak at Ballot Box An Appeal to Church
Members 326
CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE FORUM OF THE CANDIDATES.
Brief Addresses by the Candidates.
Taft on "The Republican Doctrine of Protection" and "Combinations
and Trusts" Bryan on "The Tariff Question" and "The Labor
Question" Chafin on "Hope of Emancipation from Rum Rule"
Debs on "What Socialism Means" Watson on "The Money
Question" Graves on "The Hope of Populism in the Indepen-
dence Party" 332
CHAPTER XXXV.
FUN OF THE CAMPAIGNS.
Toast to the Also Rans Franklin's Toast What Is Liberty Music
in Politics Samples of Old-Time Campaign Songs Tippe-
canoe and Tyler, Too Up Salt River The Full Dinner Pail
Rough and Ready Whig Song of 1840 Buchanan's Cam-
paign Song Lincoln and Yankee Doodle Martial Strains for
Grant Grandfather's Hat Bryan Song, 1896 and 1900 Nam-
ing Babies for Taft and Bryan Call Me Bill Taft and "He"
The Water Wagon When Labor Rules the World 344
BOOK II.
HISTORICAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
CHAPTER XXXVI.
FOUR HUNDRED YEARS OF AMERICAN PROGRESS.
A Wonderful Country Peopled from the Best Stock of Europe
Common Aspiration for Liberty First Steps Toward Union
The Declaration of Independence Constitutional Convention
Expansion of Territory Resources of the Greater Republic
Wars for Anglo-Saxon Supremacy Wars from Political and
Social Causes The Victories of Peace Industrial and Com-
mercial Development Marvels of the Past Century The Great-
ness of the Republic 359
CHAPTER XXXVII.
FROM WASHINGTON TO ROOSEVELT.
A Bird's-eye View of the Presidential Administrations of One
Hundred and Twenty Years,
A Critical Year in Our History Washington's Two Terms John
Adams' Administration How Jefferson Defeated Adams
James Madison and the War of 1812 James Monroe and the
Monroe Doctrine Era of Good Feeling Under John Quincy
Adams Stormy Career of Andrew Jackson Chief Events in
the Administrations of Van Buren, Harrison, Tyler, Polk,
Taylor, Fillmore Franklin Pierce and the Rising of the War
Cloud Buchanan, the Dred Scott Decision, and the Panic of
1857 Lincoln, the Great Civil War and Emancipation Andrew
Johnson. Ulysses Grant and the Reconstruction Hayes, Gar-
field and Arthur Grover Cleveland and the Restoration of
Democratic Power Harrison Takes It Back Into Republican
Hands A Cleveland Landslide to Democracy Again McKin-
ley and the Gold Standard Spanish-American War and World
Power Roosevelt and His Strenuous Reforms Panama Canal
Begun 373
CM)
THEODORE ROOSEVELT (1901-1909)
GROVEB CLEVELAND
The last Democratic President. The "Grand Old Man" of hla party, and
America's greatest champion of Free Trade. Died June 24. 1908. Universally
esteemed for his honesty and patriotism, and mourned by his countrymen of all
political creeds.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 15
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
DRAMATIC PASSAGES, TRICKS AND TURNING POINTS IN AMERICAN
POLITICS.
By George Barton.
Power of Oratory on Conventions Conkling's Nomination of Grant
Elaine the Plumed Knight Garfield's Boomerang Speech
Hancock the Superb Bryan's "Crown of Thorns and Cross
of Gold" The Strategy of American Politics Numerous Inci-
dents Cited 406
CHAPTER XXXIX.
THE DANGER OF CENTRALIZATION AND THE Loss OF INDIVIDUALITY . . 420
By Woodrow Wilson, President of Princeton University.
CHAPTER XL.
THE NEGRO IN AMERICA.
By Booker T. Washington and Others.
A Factor in Industry, Commerce, Politics and Society The Race
Problem a Serious One and a National One A Virile Race
Senator Tillman's Argument John Temple Graves' Theory
Booker T. Washington's Address Before National Educational
Association The Springfield, 111., Race Riot 423
CHAPTER XLI.
ORGANIZED LABOR IN AMERICA ITS RIGHTS AND ITS DEMANDS.
By Samuel P. Gompers and John Mitchell.
The American Federation of Labor Gompers and the Republican
and Democratic Conventions Old Parties Cannot Disregard
Labor Significance of 1904 Vote Campaign of Labor Is On
Legislation Through the Ballot The Hatters' Case Exemption
for Trades Unions Labor's Call to Action Both Parties Have
Spoken, Choose Between Them Attitude of the Two Parties
No Promise to Deliver Labor Vote Mitchell Head of Trade
Agreement Department of National Civic Federation Coal Min-
ing and Coal Miners Duty of the Nation to Mine Workers . . . 430
16 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
CHAPTER XLII.
BIOGRAPHIES OF STATE GOVERNORS AND CONDENSED INFORMATION
ABOUT THE STATES.
Containing a Short Life Sketch of the Governor of Every State and
Territory, His Politics, Term, Salary, Outline History, etc.
Also Interesting Statistics and Concise Historical Facts Concern-
ing the States 444
CHAPTER XLIII.
GROVER CLEVELAND.
A Brief Biography and Popular Estimate
Of the Late Democratic Statesman and President of the United
States from 1885 to 1889 and again from 1893 to 1897 477
CHAPTER XLIV.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT,
President of the United States.
A Character Sketch 479
CHAPTER L
INTRODUCTION.
nr^HE Presidential election of 1908 will take place on Tuesday,
November 3d. The object of this volume is to place in the
hands of every voter, in advance, such information as will
enable him to vote with patriotic intelligence upon the issues which
the sovereign peope will, on that day, decide by their ballots. To do
this is no easy task. It cannot be done by placing before the voter
the platforms and the principles of any one party. It can only be done
by arranging in convenient form, and placing at his disposal side by
side, or at least in the same volume, the platforms, the principles, the
arguments and the life sketches of the candidates of all the different
political parties.
In the last national campaign (1904) there were eight national
parties. Some of them, it is true, so insignificant, when counted by
the side of the great Republican and Democratic Parties, that they
were hardly observed by the average voter; and yet each one of
those parties stood for principles and advocated doctrines which,
within themselves, possessed not only the proverbial grain of truth,
but offered suggestions and advocated principles which have greatly
influenced the making of the new platforms for the year 1908.
i
*THE PARTIES OF 1904.
To enumerate the parties which came before the country with
platforms setting forth their claims in 1904 we have : first, the Repub-
lican Party, whose platform was adopted in Chicago June 22d, with
Theodore Roosevelt as standard bearer, securing 7,623,486 popular
votes and 336 electoral votes. Thus he became, for the second time,
(17)
18 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
the President of the United States, his term expiring March 4, 1909.
Second, the Democratic Party, whose platform was adopted July 8th,
at St. Louis, Mo., with Judge Alton B. Parker, of New York, as the
party's nominee. Mr. Parker received 5,077,971 popular votes and
140 electoral votes. Third, the People's Party, whose platform was
adopted at Springfield, 111., July 4th, with Thomas E. Watson,
of Georgia, as their candidate for President, polling 117,183
popular votes. Fourth, the platform of the Prohibition Party, adopted
at Indianapolis, June 3Oth, with Silas C. Swallow, of Pennsylvania,
as the nominee, who received 258,536 popular votes. Fifth, the plat-
form of the Socialist Party, adopted at Chicago May 5th, with
Eugene V. Debs, of Indiana, for the second time, at its head, and
receiving 402,283 popular votes. Sixth, the platform of the Socialist
Labor Party, adopted at New York in the month of July with Charles
Hunter Corrigan for President, for whom 31,249 popular votes were
cast. Seventh, the platform of the United Christian Party, adopted
at St. Louis May 2, 1904, and eighth, the Continental Party, which
met at Chicago and formed its platform August 31, 1904. The read-
ing of all these platforms is advisable to those who would compare
the last national issues, one with the other, and also with the plat-
forms of the present year.
A VOTER'S HAND-BOOK.
It is every voter's duty to study the issues and the men now before
the country. Every Democrat should be as familiar with the Repub-
lican issues and leaders as with his own. Every Republican should
be familiar with the Democratic claims and their champions. Every
Socialist, Populist, Prohibitionist, Independent, and members of all
political parties, should be familiar with the claims and the principles
of the other parties. It is a privilege that every man should avail
himself of as well as a duty that he owes to his country to study all
the platforms and all the issues, otherwise he cannot be informed and
do his duty as a patriot at the polls.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 19
No matter how insignificant the party or the candidate we have,
in this book, the platform of that party and the biography of that
candidate and the principles which that party stands for and advo-
cates in 1908.
In addition to the above we have an outline history of our
country, the administration of all the Presidents, and the story of
the great campaigns of the past from Washington to Roosevelt.
The book also presents varied statistics and information, that every
voter ought to have in book form, for ready reference.
A PORTRAIT GALLERY OF NATIONAL CELEBRITIES.
There are full-page portraits of all the Presidential candidates;
also portraits of the Vice-Presidential candidates. In addition to
these will be found portraits of all the former Presidents of the
United States, and portraits of all the Governors in the forty-six
states and two territories in America. The volume also contains the
portraits of many favorite sons together with illustrations of famous
events in our nation's history. Altogether there are considerably
more than one hundred portraits and other illustrations in the work.
A TIMELY WORK.
It is important that every voter should have such a book at this
critical period. The greatest educational campaign of American his-
tory is now facing our nation. The people are reading and thinking
more than they have ever done before. The lines are sharply drawn.
The leaders are men of marked ability. The contest is on; the battle
cry is heard in every village and hamlet throughout the nation; the
fight intensifies day by day, and will continue to do so until the sover-
eign people settle the contest by their ballots in November next. The
whole country is studying the issues and the men. Thousands of
young men will vote their first national ticket in 1908. There are
20 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
literally millions of citizens "on the fence," who do not know for
whom they will vote.
The American is noted for his patriotism. He desires to vote,
and he wants to vote right. He does not put his party above his
country, and he should not hesitate to leave his party when he finds
his party is wrong, or that another party is more right than his own.
This is the spirit of the true reformer; and never before was there
such a spirit of reform so universally abroad in our nation. Never
before were voters studying the questions and issues of the day so
intelligently as they are at present. Never before was there such a
demand as there is at present for a book that presents all parties, all
issues, all principles fairly and squarely before the American voter.
This book has come to meet that demand, in an independent and
unbiased manner.
The possessor of this volume will get his information on social-
ism from the socialist standpoint; on prohibition from the prohibi-
tionist standpoint; on populism from the People's Party standpoint;
on democracy from the democratic standpoint; on republicanism from
the republican standpoint. And he should be thereby better able to
make up his mind, as a patriot, to broadly assimilate all of the whole-
some principles from all of these parties, and to vote intelligently,
from the dictates of his own judgment, for the best interests of his
country at large.
A WORK OF PERMANENT VALUE.
This is a work that every patriot and voter may keep perma-
nently in his library. There will never come a time when its contents
will cease to be of interest. It contains a digest of political informa-
tion, the historical value of which will not cease to be useful. Here
are the platforms of all the parties of 1904 and the platforms of all
the parties of 1908. The lives of prominent men who will be prominent
in our active political history for a quarter of a century yet to come,
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 21
and many of whom will be prominent figures in history for all time,
are given in this work, for the first time in book form. The great
questions which have recently arisen in the politics of our country and
which will make much of our future history, appear here in a virgin
freshness that will throw light upon the records of any succeeding
record written after their maturity.
"THE DRAMATIC PASSAGES, TRICKS AND TURNING-POINTS IN
AMERICAN POLITICS" are made the subject of a special division of
this book, and will serve as an enlightening source of information for
politicians in all time. Another division of the work is entitled,
"THE GREAT CAMPAIGNS IN AMERICA." This presents in a racy and
convenient form the story of a century's contest for the Presidency.
"A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ADMINISTRATIONS" for
one hundred and twenty years, from Washington to Roosevelt, forms
a special department; and its treatment gives a digest of the great
political events which have happened in the administration of our
twenty-six Presidents. A chapter on "FOUR HUNDRED YEARS OF
AMERICAN GROWTH" presents in a striking manner an outline of the
great achievements and advances in civilization made in the New
World since its was first discovered by Columbus four centuries ago.
Thus, the work comprises not only a voter's guide for 1908 with
a biography of the leaders of all the political parties, but it is a
compendium of information on the growth and history of our country,
a digest of the administration of all our Presidents, and an outline
story of the great campaigns of the past that will be of permanent
value to every American citizen.
CHAPTER II.
HOW WE ELECT OUR RULERS AND MAKE OUR
LAWS.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION FOR EVERY VOTER.
To thoroughly comprehend the importance of a Presidential
election and the details attendant upon this important function and
privilege of the American citizens, we need to know with some degree
of accuracy the organization of our government and its equipment.
What we now have to say will lead up to a better understanding of
the election of a President and his duties, as well as the election and
duties of other national and state officials.
The Government of the United States is unique in three re-
spects: It is the largest and most successful democracy that has
ever existed, it is a federal system, and it has a written Constitution.
Perhaps it may be called unique in its methods also, for no other
government is made up of three separate and yet equal branches, each
in some sense the government, but all necessary to any complete action
of the nation; and still again those departments, the Legislative, the
Executive, and the Judiciary, have each their own peculiar and dis-
tinctive features. Legislation is representative and not democratic.
The Executive has not only the duty of executing the laws, but a
power of veto over them, and the Supreme Court stands alone in all
the world in its place and importance.
THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE PEOPLE.
The Government of the United States, in the expressive phrase
of Abraham Lincoln, is "A government by the people, of the people,
and for the people." It is this which is the great glory of our nation,
and it must not be forgotten in comparing it with others. It is often
claimed that England is more democratic in fact, Germany more
attentive to the needs of the people; but these advantages ignore the
(22)
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 23
great fundamental distinction of this republic, the fact that all power
is derived from the people. Briton and German alike hold, that
power comes from the throne and its reserved rights remain with the
throne. But every American believes that power comes from the
people, the Executive is in some sense an agent, and the reserved
rights remain with the people. The difference is not only funda-
mental, but there result from it doctrines and relations which run
through all our system and our methods as well. No amount of
superficial flexibility, as in England, or of temporary advantage, as in
Germany, can at all compensate for this great and far-reaching dis-
tinction, this confidence in and dependence upon the people.
THE CONSTITUTION OUR FUNDAMENTAL LAW.
Again, we have two kinds of law that made by Congress as
the needs of the time require, law which may be altered according to
occasion, and the great permanent Constitution, which only the people
and the States acting together can alter, and that after long and
careful process, and to which all other law must conform. This
Constitution is truly enough the bulwark of our liberties; no sudden
whims or changing passions can deprive us of the fundamental rights
guaranteed by it; the storm of battle has proved it strong enough to
stand against all assaults, and the stress of unequaled growth has
shown it broad enough for all demands. It seems, indeed, as if a
superhuman wisdom was given to the forefathers. Molded by Ham-
ilton, and Franklin, and the Adamses, and Madison, and Ellsworth,
and many another great man, it drew its inspiration from French
philosophers and Dutch methods, and mingled love and hate for
English practice. The government of a little Baptist church in Penn-
sylvania, and the Connecticut town-meeting, and the conflicting inter-
ests of different sections, and many other elements entered in to make
this great instrument what it is. Under it we have lived for one
hundred years, have stretched our boundaries from one ocean to the
other, from the frozen seas of the Arctic Circle to the tropical waters
of the Gulf and the islands of the distant Orient. We have endured
four wars, and are grown so strong that the great governments of
Europe hesitate to encounter us, and sit by our side in equal honor;
we have become eighty million people, and our riches are matched
with imperial treasuries, but our doors are ever open to the laborer
24 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
and we give him all opportunity, until he shall stand at the top, if it
pleases him. Side by side the rich and the poor, the learned and the
unlearned, the chief among us and the least of all, hold the great
gift of governing, and we count them each a man; and the whole
great and glorious structure rests on the firm and enduring rock of
the Constitution.
THE THREE GREAT BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT.
The government is carried on, according to the terms of this
Constitution and under its provisions, by three great branches: Con-
gress, which makes the laws ; the Judiciary, which interprets these laws
and decides whether they agree with the Constitution; and the Ex-
ecutive, which carries them out. And since this is a government of
the people, Congress, which represents the people and expresses their
will, is the center around which the whole government turns.
Congress is composed of two houses, the House of Representa-
tives and the Senate. The House of Representatives is elected every
two years, and each member of it represents nearly 200,000 people.
Each State sends as many Congressmen as are necessary to represent
its whole population, being divided into districts containing each a
population of 200,000, from among which the members of Congress
are chosen. The requirement that the representative shall live within
the State is an important distinction between our system and that of
England. An English district or borough may elect a member of
Parliament from any part of the nation, and thus it is believed the
House of Commons will be composed of the best men in the country ;
but it is our purpose to have every part of the country represented,
and, therefore, by an unwritten law, never disregarded, we require
that each Congressman shall reside in the district which chooses him.
Thus, so far as possible, every man in the country is represented. It
must always be remembered, however, that the government of the
United States is not a pure democracy, but a republic. It is first and
foremost a representative government. In every possible way en-
deavor is made that each man shall be represented, but he must act
through a representative. The short term of service insures that
these representatives shall reflect the changing will of the people, and
furnishes a remedy for all unjust or foolish action. He shows an
entire ignorance of our system who complains of the tyranny of gov-
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 25
ernment in the United States. The House of Representatives is its
chief governing power, and, remade as it is by the people themselves
once in two years, it is constantly controlled by the will of the people.
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SENATE.
This very fact, the fact that the House of Representatives can be
altered so readily, and always will reflect every passing change of
public sentiment, made it necessary and highly desirable to add some
more permanent element to Congress. For this, among other reasons,
a Senate was created. Senators are elected once in six years, and
represent the people of a whole State. Thus, because he is more per-
manent, and because he is chosen by a larger constituency, a Senator
represents the more stable elements of political thought, not so much
the passing feeling of the moment, but the deep underlying opinions
and wishes of a large number of people. Moreover, as the Senate is
so arranged that only one Senator from a State is elected at a time,
and only one-third of the Senators go out of office on any given year,
it becomes in some sense a stable body, and acts as a check upon the
excitements and lack of wisdom natural to such a body as the House.
Still another reason, and that of great importance, marks the
value of the Senate to the people. It is, in fact, more necessary to
the preservation of our system than the House itself. The Senators
represent the States directly, and each State has two Senators, no
more and no less. This places each State on an equal footing with
the other, a result obviously an important element in our political
system, and of the greatest practical importance to our liberties. By
reason of this provision in our Constitution, Delaware or Rhode
Island are of equal power in the Senate with Texas or New York,
furnishing a check upon the unregulated control of any one section.
If the Senate, like the House, represented the population and not
the States, shortly Congress would be controlled by the great cities,
or, perhaps, by the great States. The tyranny of New York or
Chicago would be replaced by the tyranny of California or Texas.
The immense mass of their people would always control the country,
and we should be at the mercy of a practical monarchy. The equal
power of the small States in the Senate goes far to prevent this
result and to preserve the rule of the whole people, an actual as well
as a nominal democracy. The Senate is altogether necessary to the
26 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
country, and he is a false friend who would persuade the country
to undermine it or destroy its relations to the States by making it a
popular body. So thoroughly was this understood by the men who
made the Constitution that a unique provision was inserted forbid-
ding any amendment which should deprive the States of their equal
representation in the Senate without their own consent, practically
a prohibition of such an amendment.
Congress has power to raise funds for our necessities by taxes,
to borrow money, if necessary, to establish postal facilities, to coin
or print our money, to regulate our foreign affairs, to make war, to
control many other matters, and to make all the laws relative to
these concerns.
THE PRESIDENT AS LAW MAKER.
It requires both houses of Congress to pass the laws that govern
us. A bill originates in the House or the Senate, according to its
nature, is debated and passed by that body, sent to the other, debated
and passed by that, and then sent to the President, who signs it, and
thereby it becomes a law. If any of these conditions fail it falls to
the ground. Either branch can refuse to pass a measure, and the
President may refuse to sign, or veto it. But in this latter case, since
the will of the people is the supreme power, the vetoed bill may be
passed again, over the head of the President, as the phrase goes, if
two-thirds of each House of Congress can be thereafter induced to
vote for it. All bills for furnishing money must originate in the
House of Representatives, that the people, by controlling the purse
strings, may still more thoroughly control the government. The
Senate, on the other hand, has the power to consider and pass upon
our treaties, and has also the duty of confirming or refusing all ap-
pointments of any importance.
The officers of the House of Representatives are a Speaker,
elected from among its members, who presides over its deliberations,
a clerk, a sergeant-at-arms, a doorkeeper, and several smaller offices
necessary to carry on its business. The Senate is presided over by
the Vice-President of the United States, and in his absence by one of
the Senators, chosen by themselves for that duty, and known as the
President pro tempore. This body has also a clerk and sergeant-at-
arms and minor officials. The business of Congress is largely done
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 27
by its committees, which consider all important subjects before they
are brought to the attention of either house. These committees are
appointed by the Speaker in the House of Representatives, and in the
Senate are selected by a committee of the Senators. Each Congress
lasts for two years, although not in session all of the time. Congress
meets in the Capitol at Washington on the first Monday in December
of every year. The first year the session lasts until both houses can
agree to adjourn, thus giving time for free and ample discussion of
every subject. These "long sessions" usually continue until July or
August, and sometimes until October. On the alternate years Con-
gress is directed by the Constitution to adjourn on the fourth day of
March, thus preventing the attempt to make any one Congress perma-
nent. All Congressmen are paid a salary, in order that poor men may
have an equal chance with the rich. This salary is $7,500 for both
Senators and Representatives, except in the case of the Speaker and
President of the Senate, each of whom receives $12,000. No religious
tests are allowed, and any man may belong to either house who is a
citizen of the United States, who resides in the State which elects him,
and who is of suitable age, twenty-five years in the House and thirty
years in the Senate.
When the laws are made they must be carried out; and this is
the business of the Executive Department of the government, a co-
equal branch with the legislative department. The President is the
chief executive officer of the nation, and as such is properly the chief
personage and principal officer in the land. It is no mistake to style
him the "chief ruler" of the United States, for, although the people
are our only rulers, they do this ruling through and by means of the
President and Congress, and thus depute him to rule over them for
the time being. The President is only in a limited sense the agent of
the people, but he is their chosen, although temporary, ruler, who is to
carry out their laws.
The President and Vice-President are chosen once in four years
and elected by the people, who vote by States and not directly as a
nation. On the second Tuesday in November the citizens of each
State vote for a body of men, equal in number to their Congressmen,
called electors, who in turn choose the President a few weeks later.
As a matter of fact, their choice is always known beforehand, as they
are elected on the distinct understanding of their preference. Although
28 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
the method is somewhat clumsy, the principle is most necessary. In
all our affairs, so far as possible, we must continue to act by States.
It is only thus that our federal system can be preserved, and in that
lies our safety and success.
The qualifications for President are that he shall be a native-
born American, who has resided in the country for fourteen years,
and who is thirty-five years old. He is inaugurated with much pomp
and ceremony on the fourth of March, every four years, and resides
at the Executive Mansion, or White House, in Washington, during
his term of office. He is paid a salary of $50,000, that he may keep
up a suitable dignity as our chief ruler. That of the Vice-President
is $12,000. If the President is guilty of treason, or other "high crimes
and misdemeanors," of such importance that his continuance in office
is dangerous to our liberties, he may be impeached by the House of
Representatives, tried by the Senate, and, if found guilty, deposed, in
which case his office would fall to the Vice-President. An effort was
made to impeach President Johnson in 1866, but there being no ade-
quate ground for such action, he was acquitted.
DUTIES OF THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
The duties of the Executive Department are mainly connected
with the administration of the laws. The President is Commander-
in-Chief of the Army and Navy, and he also represents the nation
in matters connected with foreign governments. To that end he
sends out foreign ministers to other governments, and consuls, to
conduct our business affairs in foreign ports. A large body of for-
eign ministers sent from other countries for a similar purpose reside
at Washington, and throughout our cities are scattered foreign con-
suls for the transaction of commercial business.
The President is assisted in his duties by a body of advisers,
known as the Cabinet. This consists of eight officers of great im-
portance, of his own selection and appointment, each of whom has
control of affairs of the government in his particular department.
The Secretary of State conducts our foreign relations ; the Secretary
of the Treasury our financial affairs ; the Secretary of War is over our
armies; the Attorney-General is the law officer of the government;
the Postmaster-General superintends the postal service; the Secretary
of the Navy commands our navy; the Secretary of the Interior is
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 29
concerned with patents, the Indians, the public lands, and many other
important matters; and the Secretary of Agriculture promotes the
farming interests of the country. Each of these secretaries has his
office in Washington, where he attends to the enormous business of
his department. Under him are an immense number of officers and
clerks, all appointed either by the President or the head of the depart-
ment, to carry on the business of government. Each department is
divided into bureaus, and much of the work is of the highest value
and importance.
In case of the death or inability of the President, the duties of
his office devolve upon the Vice-President, and after him would fall
to members of the Cabinet successively, in the order already named.
But should any member of the Cabinet be obliged to take this office,
he would fill it only until a new election could be held.
THE JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT.
An elaborate system of courts makes up our national judiciary,
and secures to the citizens protection and justice. In some respects
the most extraordinary feature of our government is the Supreme
Court, which is unique in its power and importance. It is the busi-
ness of this tribunal to construe the laws, to decide whether they
agree with the Constitution, to settle any question as to whether the
Constitution has been violated in deed, to decide upon suits between
the States and the nation, and to determine legal questions between
this and other countries. It is co-ordinate with Congress and the
Executive, and yet the highest power in the land, for both bow to
its decisions. Law and justice are preserved in its keeping, lest
either of the two great branches of the government usurp the power,
or transcend the Constitution. Any law the constitutionality of
which is questioned, may be brought before this court, and its de-
cision is final, confirming it against all opposition, or making it null
and void, and thus of no effect whatever. This court consists of
nine judges, or justices as they are called, appointed for life or good
behavior, by the President, and confirmed by the Senate. They are
paid $10,000 a year, with a pension after they become too old for
longer service. The head of the court, or the Chief Justice, ad-
ministers the oath to the President on his inauguration, and many
times stands next him in rank and position. Certainly no nobler
30 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
illustration of the might and majesty of law can be given than this
court, adjusting the affairs of the nation itself, to which President
and people alike bow, in token that righteousness and justice are
greater than power.
STATE SOVEREIGNTY THE SECRET OF OUR STRENGTH.
No account of our government would be in any sense complete,
nor indeed would it be intelligible, that did not take into account our
Federal system. The whole country is divided into forty-six States
and two Territories New Mexico and Arizona, in America proper
with the outlying Territories of Alaska, Porto Rico and Hawaii. Each
State is a separate and distinct government, having control of its
local affairs, and responsible to its own people. In all those larger
affairs which concern the whole country, it joins with its fellows in
the general government, but the power of this general government
comes from the States. The States are not given more or less power
by the United States, but the States give more or less power to the
United States and reserve the other rights to themselves. The United
States, however, has supreme control over all matters relating to the
nation, and will not allow any State to infringe upon the rights or
jeopardize the safety of any other. For that reason it will not permit
any State or States to secede, because the co-operation of them all is
necessary to the safety of the Union. We are States united into a
nation, but we are a nation, one and indissoluble.
The history of the country makes plain these relations. Thir-
teen colonies, settled by different peoples of different origins and
for widely different reasons, joined each other for the sake of com-
mon safety and national prosperity. Practical necessity and political
wisdom alike dictated that local affairs should continue under the
control of each colony or State, while matters of general interest were
decided by the whole acting together. To this end each colony gave
up to the nation its general rights, but reserved the power over its
internal affairs. It is this Federal system which makes it possible
for a Democratic government to rule such an immense country, and
it is only this. Therefore, while we are careful to retain the supreme
control to the general government, we must more and more relegate
sectional concerns, however large and important, to the States; and
we must guard against the centralizing of our affairs in the hands of
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 31
the National Government, however much to our temporary advantage
it may be. In the nature of the case we cannot govern territory of
such enormous extent, with so various a population and such varying
interest, by Democratic methods unless we keep strictly to the Fed-
eral idea. It is our only safety.
Each State has a Governor, Legislature, and Supreme Court of
its own; the Governor, Legislature, and, in some States, the Su-
preme Court, being elected by its own people. Different States re-
quire different qualifications in their voters; in some a man must be
able to read and write; in some be possessed of certain property;
in one there is no distinction between men and women; and various
other requirements are found in the different States. Whatever
makes a man a voter in his own State allows him to vote in that State
in national elections also.
The term of office of State officers varies greatly, some States
holding their Legislatures annually, and some biennially; some Gov-
ernors being elected for one year and some for longer terms. In all
these, its own affairs, the State is supreme. Each has its own courts,
under its Supreme Court, for the furtherance of justice. Local affairs
also are very variously administered, by townships, counties, parishes,
and other subdivisions, many of them very ancient, and in like manner
cities are governed in different ways. All this diversity in unity
serves to make one homogeneous nation of this heterogeneous multi-
tude of eighty million people.
The original thirteen States, little as ttiey dreamed of the great
territory over which the flag of the United States floats so proudly
to-day, had no narrow idea of a nation, and provided for its expan-
sion even better than they knew. The common land belonging to
the nation, and as yet largely unsettled, is held by the common gov-
ernment, in Territories. These are governed by officers, appointed
by the President, and are subject to United States laws only. Their
own Legislatures arrange their local affairs, and each sends a dele-
gate to Congress to look after its interests, but the law does not
allow him to vote. As soon as any Territory contains a population
large enough, Congress admits it to the Union as a State, with all
the right and privileges of its older sisters, the President proclaims
that fact to the world, and a new commonwealth is added to the sister-
hood, marked by the new star in the flag we honor. Thus one after
32 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
another we have already seen thirty-three new States added to that
little band of thirteen, some of them great and rich realms many
times as large as the whole nation at its beginning. The last State
created was Oklahoma, which was admitted November 16, 1907.
Oklahoma comprises both the Indian Territory, with its area
of 31,440 square miles, and Oklahoma Territory, with its area of
39,030 square miles, thus making the area of the new State 70,470
square miles, with a population approximating 1,600,000. Oklahoma,
while the youngest, is one of the most progressive of our States. Her
blind Senator, Thomas Gore, and also Senator Owen, are both making
themselves felt in the national capital. Mr. Gore is the first blind man
to sit in the National Legislature and Mr. Owen is one of the first of
prominent Indian blood to occupy a seat in the Senate. The State is
mainly agricultural, producing abundantly wheat, oats, corn, cotton
and flax. The western part is largely devoted to stock raising. The
mineral products consist of gypsum, granite, sandstone, limestone and
petroleum. There is also some natural gas, coal and copper. The
mineral output of the State in 1906 was estimated at nearly $11,000,-
ooo. The State has no navigable streams, but it has nearly 3,000
miles of railway within its borders.
CHAPTER III.
THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE.
The popular vote of the people of the country cast at the Novem-
ber balloting of every national campaign year generally decides who
shall be President and Vice-President of the United States. But this
is not always true. Each State settles its choice within itself, and
sends representatives to cast its final ballot. Thus the President and
Vice-President of the United States are chosen by officials termed
"Electors" in each State, who are, under existing State laws, chosen
by the qualified voters thereof by ballot, on the first Tuesday after the
first Monday of November in every fourth year preceding the year in
which the Presidential term expires.
The body composed of the Electors to cast the electoral vote is
known as the Electoral College.
The Constitution of the United States prescribes that each State
shall "appoint," in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct,
a number of electors equal to the whole number of Senators and Rep-
resentatives to which the State may be entitled in Congress; but no
Senator or Representative or person holding an office of trust or profit
under the United States shall be an elector. The Constitution requires
that the day when electors are chosen shall be the same throughout
the United States. At the beginning of our government most of the
electors were chosen by the legislatures of their respective States, the
people having no direct participation in their choice; and one State,
South Carolina, continued that practice down to the breaking out of
the Civil War. But in all the States now the electors are, under the
direction of State laws, chosen by the people on a general State ticket.
The manner in which the chosen electors meet and ballot for a
President and Vice-President of the United States is provided for in
Article XII of the Constitution, and is as follows:
"The electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by
ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall
* (33)
34 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
not be an inhabitant of the same State with themselves; they shall
name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct
ballots the person voted for as Vice-President ; and they shall make
distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons
voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each,
which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit, sealed, to the seat
of government of the United States, directed to the President of the
Senate."
The same article then prescribes the mode in which the Congress
shall count the ballots of the electors, and announce the result thereof,
which is as follows:
"The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate
and House of Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes
shall then be counted ; the person having the greatest number of votes
for President shall be President, if such number be a majority of the
whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have such
majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers, not
exceeding three, on the list of those voted for as President, the House
of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President.
But in choosing the President the votes shall be taken by States, the
representation from each State having one vote; a quorum for this
purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the
States, and a majority of all the States shall be necessary to a choice.
And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President,
whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth
day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as
President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability
of the President. The person having the greatest number of votes as
Vice-President shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a
majority of the whole number of electors appointed ; and if no person
have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list the
Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose
shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a
majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice."
The procedure of the two houses, in case the returns of the elec-
tion of electors from any State are disputed, is provided in the "Elec-
toral Count" act, passed by the Forty-ninth Congress. The act directs
that the Presidential electors shall meet and give their votes on the
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
35
second Monday in January next following their election. It fixes the
time when Congress shall be in session to count the ballots as the
second Wednesday in February succeeding the meeting of the electors.
The Constitution also defines who is eligible for President of the
United States, as follows :
"No person except a natural-born citizen or a citizen of the United
States at the time of the adoption of this Constitution shall be eligible
to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that
office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years."
The qualifications for Vice-President are the same.
THE ELECTORAL VOTE.
The following will be the electoral vote of the States in 1908 as based upon the Apportionment
act of 1900:
STATES.
Electoral
Votes.
STATES.
Electoral
Votes.
STATES.
Electoral
Votes.
Alabama
11
Maryland
8
Oregon
4
Arkansas
9
Massachusetts
16
Pennsylvania
34
California
10
Michigan
14
Rhode Island
4
Colorado .
5
11
South Carolina
9
Connecticut
7
Mississippi
10
South Dakota
4
3
Missouri
18
Tennessee
12
Florida
5
Montana
3
Texas. . .
18
Georgia ...
13
8
Utah
3
Idaho
3
Nevada
3
Vermont
4
Illinois . .
27
4
Virginia
12
Indiana
15
New Jersey
12
Washington
5
13
New York
39
West Virginia
7
Kansas
10
North Carolina
12
Wisconsin
13
Kentucky
13
North Dakota
4
Wyoming
3
g
Ohio
23
Maine
6
Oklahoma
7
Total
483
Electoral votes necessary to a choice 242
Oklahoma has been admitted to the Union since the last Presidential election with seven electoral
votes, which are included in the above enumeration. Arizona having at the election of 1906 rejected
joint statehood with New Mexico under the permissory act of Congress, neither will attain statehood
before the presidential election of 1908.
CHAPTER IV.
HOW NATIONAL PRESIDENTIAL CONVENTIONS ARE
CONDUCTED.
NATIONAL COMMITTEE MAKES ALL ARRANGEMENTS AND MAPS OUT
PROGRAM FOR DELEGATES TO FOLLOW.
THEY RE COSTLY AFFAIRS.
The average citizen, beyond the knowledge that nominations for
President and Vice-President are to be made at national conventions,
is probably totally unfamiliar with the machinery that controls them.
In the Coliseum, Chicago, where Taft was nominated there are
11,167 seats and much standing room. The acoustics of the vast
hall, which is situated on Wabash Avenue, between Fourteenth and
Sixteenth Streets, are good, and there are twelve large exits, con-
sisting of double doors. Six of these open upon a paved alley on
the east side and the other six on Wabash Avenue.
A correspondent present at the convention thus writes of it:
"The delegates, who number 980, have chairs stretching from the
platform out to a line bisecting the main floor east and west, and back
of this line, filling the space on the main floor, are the seats for the
alternates. Visitors have seats in the rising bank of chairs at the
north, east and west edges of the main arena. The seating capacity
is much larger than it was at the convention of 1904, when there were
only 8,600 chairs."
The Republican and Democratic National Conventions are run
in much the same manner, with the exception that in the former
a majority of the convention is sufficient to nominate, while in the
latter the successful candidate must have a two-thirds majority.
Each party has a National Committee, which has charge of the
campaign and continues in authority until succeeded by the action of
(36)
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 37
the next National Convention, for which it issues the call and makes
all arrangements.
The National Committee is made up of one member from each
State, and he is usually the party leader. This committee has a vast
amount of work to perform. The sergeant-at-arms and all minor
officials for the convention are selected by it and it starts its sessions
some time before the convention meets.
The National Committee hears the contests for seats in the con-
vention, passes on them and issues the delegate passes and badges to
those it considers have the prinm facie right to seats. A sub-com-
mittee distributes the tickets and badges, gets the names and addresses
of the delegates and makes up the temporary roll of a convention.
This roll, when approved by the National Committee, establishes the
right of those seated to participate in the convention until the report
of the Credentials Committee is received by the convention and
acted upon.
The delegates from the various States and Territories are fixed
upon the representation in the National Congress in both the Repub-
lican and Democratic conventions. A delegate-at-large is selected
for each United States Senator and two delegates for each Congress-
man to which the State or Territory is entitled.
Each State has its own headquarters at the convention, varying
in size from a few hotel rooms to an entire building. Here the dele-
gates will be found when the convention is not in session, and here, too,
many of the most important conferences take place.
If a State has a candidate for President or Vice-President its
headquarters are, of course, more prominent, and often hundreds of
politicians from that particular State make the headquarters their
camping ground and assist the boom with bands, fireworks, etc.
At the State headquarters meetings are held and chairmen and
honorary vice-presidents are chosen. The latter have seats on the
platform, while the chairman usually represents his delegates in all
conferences and plays an important part in the dealing before the
convention is called to order.
The National Committee is in practical command of the situation
up to the time the convention is called to order. It arranges nearly
everything from the election of the temporary chairman to the program
for the first session. Often, though not in every case, the committee
38 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
attends to the program for the entire convention, temporary and
permanent organizations, nominating, and platform building.
The chairman of the National Committee calls the convention to
order and when he strikes his gavel on the table at noon the great
body is in session.
First some prominent clergyman offers a prayer, then comes the
reading of the call for the convention by the Secretary of the National
Committee. Then the chairman says :
"Gentlemen of the convention, by direction of the National Com-
mittee, I nominate Mr. for temporary chairman of the con-
vention."
Should there be no opposition the motion is put and carried. If
other candidates are named the roll of the convention is called to
determine the temporary officers.
The temporary chairman is generally escorted with much for-
. mality to the platform while the band plays and the great crowd cheers
heartily.
The temporary chairman then, in an address, outlines the doings
of the party, its promises for the future and generally sounds the key-
note for the convention. This speech is always submitted to and
approved by the party leaders before delivery.
The calling of the roll is one of the longest and most important
happenings on the first day. Then comes another important matter
the appointment of various committees.
The Permanent Organization Committee selects and reports to
the convention for its sanction the permanent officers. The fact that
a majority of the States express favor through the committeemen for
the candidates of one faction for permanent officers bears great
weight, and as a rule the selections of the committee are indorsed by
the convention, although not infrequently a minority report is sub-
mitted and the battle is again fought upon the floor of the convention.
The importance of the Resolutions Committee is clearly under-
stood when it is known that the body drafts the party platform. The
members of these various committees are selected by the State and
Territorial caucuses, which are held at some time prior to the assem-
blage of the convention, often before the delegation has left its State.
The announcements are made by the chairman of the delegations, who
are also selected by these caucuses. Immediately after, all the com-
mittees are named the convention adjourns until the next day.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 39
At the second session of the convention the committees report.
The report of the Credentials Committee is first called for. The
report of the committee on contested seats often leads to long debates
on the floor. When all are decided the permanent roll of the con-
vention is made up and called. Then the Committee on Permanent
Organization reports. The permanent chairman is named and
escorted to the platform amid vociferous applause.
The permanent chairman's speech is always one of the oratorical
features of the convention. Then comes the report of the Committee
on Platform, and the usual roll call. There is always the possibility
of a fight after this report is made. Certain "planks" may please one
State and not another. When the matter of the platform is disposed
of the permanent chairman announces another recess, perhaps until
the next day or possibly until later that same day.
When the platform is finally adopted then follows the nomina-
tion of candidates. The roll of States is called alphabetically for nomi-
nations. When a State is reached that has a candidate to present the
man who is to deliver the nominating speech steps to the platform.
He is followed by others seconding the nomination.
The nominations being made, the roll of States is again called
alphabetically and the chairman announces the vote of each delega-
tion. If any member of the delegation challenges the vote, then the
secretary of the convention calls a roll of the State and the delegates
vote their preference. The first ballot often results in nothing because
so many complimentary votes are cast for "favorite sons." Some-
times a choice is made on the second ballot, but not always. When
the choice is finally made delegates and spectators let themselves
loose in wild enthusiasm.
The nomination for Vice-President is made in precisely the same
manner as that of President.
Next a national committee is selected and then follow a number
of less important resolutions. A committee is appointed officially to
notify the candidates and the convention is a matter of history.
The big conventions of the Republican and EJemocratic parties
usually cost more than $100,000. The Taft and Bryan conventions
in 1908 were each looked after by a sergeant-at-arms, with about
2,000 assistants, 500 ushers and 200 pages.
40 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
INSTANTANEOUS COMMUNICATION.
The telegraph and the telephone put the outside world almost
in attendance upon the great political conventions. Seventy-five years
ago it took weeks and even months for the news of national conven-
tions to reach the interior of the country. But since 1844, when the
telegraph was introduced, electricity has carried news.
At the end of the first day's session at Chicago it became apparent
that there is not a more significant illustration of the advance of
modern science than was witnessed in the transmission of the news
of the national convention to the great dailies of the country and also
to the high officials and interested parties. A half century ago it
was thought wonderful when the news of conventions was generally
flashed over the telegraph wires to large cities only. Then time and
space seemed to have been as nearly annihilated in the transmission
of news as the wildest dream could suggest. But the telephone and
the phonograph have now been brought into requisition; and, before
the telegraph can flash the merest outline of the transpiring events,
newsgatherers and those fortunate enough to have the proper tele-
phone connection have already heard it, actually as it transpired, over
the telephone.
Remarkable as this may seem, it is accounted for by the follow-
ing arrangement: Hanging ten feet above the heads of the delegates,
and immediately in front of the platform, are four black discs, looped
by wires and joined by a small central cable leading from the hall.
Many have wondered at these discs, believing them to be a part of
the system for electrical display. As a matter of fact, they are a
combination telephone and phonograph, taking up the proceedings as
they occur and transmitting each swell of oratory and each throb of
enthusiastic applause.
According to the reports of the two conventions, one of the
wires was cut into the White House at Washington and also into Mr.
Bryan's home in Lincoln, and the President in person, with the
receivers to his ear, caught the words of Lodge as he electrified the
vast assemblage and the echoing shouts which ebbed and flowed for
full forty-five minutes. Mr. Bryan likewise heard the speeches and
the one hour and twenty-six minutes demonstration for himself at
Denver, Ju'y loth.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 41
DENVER'S NEW CONVENTION HALL.
A BIG STONE AND STEEL BUILDING SPECIALLY ERECTED BY DENVER
FOR THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL ASSEMBLAGE OF 1908.
Denver not only contributed $100,000 toward paying the ex-
penses of the Democratic National Convention of 1908, but she built
the finest convention hall in the West for their use. This convention
hall is so unique in its arrangements that some description of it is
warranted here.
The first impression the stranger gets from a view of the building
is that of permanency. Granite and steel, brick and concrete have
been used without stint.
The building, of pale gray brick and granite, is a massive struc-
ture, effective in design and with a beauty of its own.
There is an entire absence of tawdry, "gingerbread" effects, and
the lines are simple and stately yet graceful and pleasing.
The decorations were more profuse than at Chicago, in a har-
monious scheme of national flags and red, white and blue streamers.
Masses of flags were placed at appropriate points, while the ceiling was
covered with red, white and blue stars, each bearing the name of a
State. Large artificial eagles also constituted a part of the decora-
tions.
Over the rostrum was an immense portrait of Washington, with
Jefferson on one side and Jackson on the other, while in the middle
of the opposite wall, facing the speakers, was another large portrait
of the late former President Cleveland.
A large number of incandescent electric lights were used in light-
ing the hall; the number being considerably more than 3,500, repre-
senting a total candle power above 56,000. These are in addition to a
system of "ceiling sunbursts," four in number, and each containing
eighty i6-candle lamps. A red light indicates the location of each
exit.
To the right and left of the rostrum a flight of stairs leads down
to the basement, where telegraph instruments and private telephone
booths were located. Beneath the rostrum is a tunnel connecting the
two divisions of the press section, so that if correspondents have occa-
sion to cross from one side to the other they need not pass between
the speaker and the audience. This passage was used also by mes-
sengers and pages.
CHAPTER V.
THE NATIONAL REPUBLICAN PARTY AND THE CON-
VENTION OF 1908.
The National Republican party was born fifty-two years ago,
when John C. Fremont, of California, was the first candidate nomi-
nated by the party for President at the convention in Philadelphia,
1856. Naturally the party did not achieve a victory the first year of
its inauguration, but it was victorious the next time; and for forty-
eight years, since Lincoln was inaugurated in 1861, it has held the
reins of government continuously, with the exception of eight years
of Democratic rule under President Grover Cleveland.
The second convention of the Republican party was held at
Chicago in 1860, and of the fourteen national conventions which
have been held in its history, seven one-half of them have con-
vened in the same city, the last being that which nominated William
H. Taft and James S. Sherman on June 18 and 19, 1908.
The following is a list of the nominations of the Republican
party since its organization and the result of their candidacy :
1856, at Philadelphia John C. Fremont, California, and Wil-
liam L. Dayton, New Jersey. Defeated.
1860, at Chicago Abraham Lincoln, Illinois, and Hannibal
Hamlin, Maine. Elected.
1864, at Baltimore Abraham Lincoln, Illinois, and Andrew
Johnson, Tennessee. Elected.
1868, at Chicago Ulysses S. Grant, Illinois, and Schuyler
Colfax, Indiana. Elected.
1872, at Philadelphia Ulysses S. Grant, Illinois, and Henry
Wilson, Massachusetts. Elected.
1876, at Cincinnati Rutherford B. Hayes, Ohio, and William
A. Wheeler, New York. Elected.
(42)
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 43
1880, at Chicago James A. Garfield, Ohio, and Chester A.
Arthur, New York. Elected.
1884, at Chicago James G. Elaine, Maine, and John A. Logan,
Illinois. Defeated.
1888, at Chicago Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, and Levi P.
Morton, New York. Elected.
1892, at Minneapolis Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, and White-
law Reid, New York. Defeated.
1896, at St. Louis William McKinley, Ohio, and Garret A.
Hobart, New Jersey. Elected.
1900, at Philadelphia William McKinley, Ohio, and Theodore
Roosevelt, New York. Elected.
1904, at Chicago Theodore Roosevelt, New York, and Charles
W. Fairbanks, Indiana. Elected.
1908, at Chicago William H. Taft, Ohio, and James S. Sher-
man, New York. .
THE CONVENTION OF TAFT AND THE CONVENTION OF LINCOLN
CONTRASTED.
Before entering upon the description of the Republican Conven-
tion held in Chicago in 1908 it will be interesting to refer to that
most momentous political gathering in American history, namely:
the Republican Convention which met in Chicago on May 16, 1860,
and which nominated Abraham Lincoln for President of the United
States, and which is thus described :
BY FREDERICK J. HASKIN.
As long as this republic endures, its citizens will praise that
convention for its wisdom in selecting Lincoln as its standard-
bearer. Yet the convention which nominated Lincoln did so against
its will, preferring another man, but bowing to a consideration of
expediency. Many of the leaders of the then young party were not
only opposed to Lincoln, but were absolutely disgusted when he was
nominated. Moreover, the convention probably could not have been
induced to accept Lincoln at all if it had not been for the packing of
the galleries with Lincoln shouters, who made so much noise that it
seemed that the very heavens were crying out for Lincoln.
The discipline of the Republican party was thus early brought
44 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
into play. The disgusted partisans of Seward, the angry partisans
of Bates, the aristocrats, to whom Lincoln was a most bitter pill all
these left the Chicago wigwam in anger to meet again in harmony at
the polling places.
The majority, perhaps two-thirds, of the delegates to the Chicago
convention of 1860 favored the nomination of William H. Seward,
of New York, for President. This preference was shared by two-
thirds of the Republicans of the country. Seward was their leader
in the Senate, he was their champion and their pride. But Seward
had been long in politics, he had declared that there was a "higher
law" than the Constitution, he had spoken of the "irrepressible con-
flict." Worse even than these, from the standpoint of political expedi-
ency, he had been allied with Roman Catholic influences in politics.
In the convention were Andrew G. Curtin, of Pennsylvania, and
Henry S. Lane, of Indiana. They were politicians and good ones,
and they accomplished Seward's defeat and Lincoln's nomination. At
that time the American party, the Know Nothings, still had great
strength in parts of the East and in Indiana. Without their votes
the Republicans could not hope to win. In Pennsylvania the Repub-
licans were so timid, and so sagacious, that they had dropped the name
"Republican" and Curtin was running for Governor as the nominee
of the "People's Party."
PULLING THE WIRES FOR FAVORITES.
In 1838 Seward had been elected Governor of New York. It
was charged that Archbishop Hughes, an able Catholic prelate, had
materially assisted in Seward's election. It was known that Seward
had sent a message to the Legislature approving the plan for a divi-
sion of the public school funds between Catholics and Protestants.
In the eyes of a Know Nothing, this attitude on the school question
was the one scarlet, unpardonable sin. The State elections in Indiana
and Pennsylvania in 1860 were held in October. Curtin and Lane
wanted to be elected, and they wanted to elect a Republican Presi-
dent. They knew that if they were beaten in October all hope of
Republican success in November would be gone. They had to have
that Know Nothing vote and they knew the nomination of Seward
would alienate it.
Seward's political manager was Thurlow Weed, the Albany
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 45
editor, one of the ablest political manipulators this country has known.
He fought for Seward to the last ditch. He went so far as to take
a drive with Lane and offer to send enough money into Indiana to
insure Lane's election in October if the Hoosier would desert Curtin
and support Seward. It is to be doubted if Curtin and Lane could
have succeeded in nominating Lincoln against Weed's management
and Seward's great popularity if it had not been for Horace Greeley.
Greeley had paved the way for the anti-Seward movement by coming
out against Seward in the Tribune. Greeley said Seward was unavail-
able, but, of course, the real reason was not revealed at that time.
The Tribune supported Edward Bates, of Missouri. It could not
win for Bates, but it had the effect of helping to destroy Seward.
WHOOPING IT UP FOR ABE.
When the convention was assembled, everybody saw there was a
great fight on. The Seward managers made a tactical error in having
a great Seward street parade. While the Seward people were march-
ing on the streets, the Illinois Lincoln managers Judd, Swett and
others packed the wigwam to the limit with men whose only instruc-
tions were to "Whoop it up for Abe." They did. Seward, the darling
of the party, had no friends in the galleries. His name was greeted
with silence, but for the few feeble cheers coming only from discour-
aged delegates. Every mention of Lincoln was cheered to the echo.
The clacquers served their purpose and served it well. The practical
politicians of the Curtin and Lane stripe convinced the convention
that Seward was unavailable. The rooters in the galleries convinced
it that Lincoln was the man. The political manager of to-day pays
a. great deal of attention to the galleries, and he packs them for his
candidate, if possible. He has a distinguished precedent.
SHORT NOMINATING SPEECHES.
The nominating speech had not attained its modern importance
at that time. Seward was placed in nomination by a speech thirty-
three words in length, and it required but twenty-five words to place
Lincoln before the convention. On the first ballot Seward had 173^2
votes and Lincoln 102. The others were cast for Bates, Cameron,
Chase and others. On the second ballot Seward gained eleven votes
and Lincoln gained seventy-nine. On the third ballot Lincoln went
46 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
ahead, having 231^ to Seward's 180. Then Ohio changed four
votes from Chase to Lincoln and gave him the necessary majority.
The packed galleries cheered and cheered until they were exhausted.
Joseph Medill, the Chicago editor and leader of the Lincoln forces,
rejoiced with his compatriots and with Lane and Curtin.
Thurlow Weed was disgusted and heartily sick. He refused to
suggest a man for Vice-President when a tender of that privilege was
made to the Seward forces. Hannibal Hamlin was nominated on
the second ballot over Cassius M. Clay, of Kentucky. The Seward
men were not only sore in defeat, but they were ashamed of their
party's newly selected leader. They measured him by the mud on
his brogans, and it was as if they had essayed to measure the walls
of space with a foot rule.
A LIVELY, FUN-LOVING BODY.
The convention itself was very like the last Republican conven-
tion in Chicago in 1908. Its organization was not so perfect, admis-
sion to the hall was easier to gain, and the convention did not have
such a sense of self-importance as it has to-day. The first business it
transacted was to accept an invitation to take an excursion on the lake,
which acceptance was afterward reconsidered. The convention
thought it necessary to adjourn one evening because the hall had
been previously engaged for an exhibition drill by a Zouave company.
It was a lively, fun-loving body. Horace Greeley was present as
a delegate from the then almost inaccessible State of Oregon and the
delegates twitted him as the "gentleman from Oregon." All the free
States were represented and there were delegations from five of the
slave States Kentucky, Missouri, Delaware, Texas and Virginia.
Only those States present were read out on the first roll call. A
delegate asked for a full roll call and the names of Tennessee, Ar-
kansas, Mississippi, Georgia, South and North Carolina and Florida
were called, while the delegates laughed, groaned, jeered and hissed.
There was a great fight on the report of the Committee on Credentials,
the question being whether the slave States present were entitled to a
full vote in the convention. Then began the wrangle over the Southern
States delegations which has continued through every Republican con-
vention from that day until this. The reason for the wrangling is
seldom the same, but the wrangle is a regular quadrennial affair.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 47
FIGHT OVER THE PLATFORM.
The convention had a fight over the platform, once actually voted
down a proposition to reassert the truths proclaimed by the Declara-
tion of Independence, and was never unanimous on any question.
The platform declared against the extension of slave territory, speci-
fically declared that it was the right of States to control their own
local institutions without interference, and denounced the armed
invasion of a State upon any pretext whatever as "the gravest of
crimes." This was a reference to John Brown's raid. The Repub-
lican party of 1860 knew full well that it could not countenance the
attitude of the extreme abolitionists. It was its purpose to free the
slaves in the South; it looked only to the issue of the moment, tne
prevention of the extension of slavery to the Territories and to new
States.
To-day it is easy to see that the attitude of the people of the
North which made the organization of the Republican party possible
was essentially an anti-slavery attitude. It was not so apparent at
that time, as the careful utterances of the early Republican leaders
give testimony. However, when the Republican convention in the
Chicago wigwam chose Abraham Lincoln as their nominee for Presi-
dent they knew they had selected a man who had said: "A house
divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot
endure permanently half slave and half free." Later he wrote to
Horace Greeley that if he could save the Union by freeing the slaves,
he would do it; that if he could save the Union by not freeing the
slaves, he would not free them; that it was his purpose to save the
Union. He did, and for that service not only the Republican party
which he led, but every man, woman and child who owns to the name
of American, calls him blessed.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONVENTION IN
It was a very different body meeting under very different circum-
stances from that which Mr. Haskin describes above that nominated
William H. Taft for President of the United States forty-eight years,
one month and two days after the nomination of Abraham Lincoln,
the first Republican President. Chicago was then a small city, not
one-quarter its present mammoth size. The Republican party was
then also small and even considered mean in the estimation of some
48 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
of its adherents. As Mr. Haskin has said, Governor Curtin, who ran
on its principles as Governor for Pennsylvania, had the name of his
party changed to the "People's Party." Was he ashamed of being
called a Republican ? Since that day both the city of Chicago and the
Republican party, like John Brown's spirit, have gone marching on.
Chicago to-day stands forth as the magic city of the earth. It is the
greatest railroad center in the world, and with its two million inhabi-
tants the fourth city of the globe in point of population.
Under the Republican party the United States has moved for-
ward from the position of an inferior power with a government
regarded as a dangerous experiment, sneered and scoffed at by the
monarchs of Europe to the recognized supremacy among the nations
of the earth, with a commerce the greatest, with education the most
universal, with a people the freest, with labor the best paid; and, in
all respects, industrial, commercial, social, and political, the leading
nation among all the great powers, looked up to by the weak as their
defender, courted and patronized by the strongest, who all seek her
alliance and friendship. There is no question to-day but that the
United States of America is the world power. And for the glory oi
it the Republican party, which has been in control during its marvel-
ous progress, claims the honor.
It was with a feeling of pride and confidence, suggested in the
above paragraph, that the fourteenth Republican National Convention
was called to order on the afternoon of June 16, 1908, by Harry S.
New, the national chairman.
The convention met in the Coliseum, the same hall where Roose-
velt was nominated in 1904. But, anticipating the large attendance,
the seating capacity of 1904 was increased from less than 9,000 to
over 11,000 for 1908.
That the gathering was not to be as peaceful as had been inti-
mated was evidenced in the eleventh-hour decision of the administra-
tion to sidetrack, temporarily, the Vice-Presidential question.
The talk of a stampede to Roosevelt, and the opposition to the
anti-injunction plank in the platform caused the Taft managers to
adopt methods of precaution.
The fight on the anti-injunction plank promised to be the most
serious struggle of the convention.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 49
Speaker Cannon and his followers were hot against it, and the
Taft men equally determined it should remain.
THE DOORS OPENED.
The doors of the cavernous convention hall were thrown open at
10.30 o'clock, and the first of the visitors, delegates and alternates
began to filter in. High up in the girders of the great arching roof a
band struck up "America," and the first scene of the 1908 gathering
was under way.
The decorative scheme in the hall was purely a patriotic one, with
gracefully draped flags predominating. The decorations were not
overdone, being confined practically entirely to the balcony and stage.
The floor showed only the delegate seats and the State standards
white bits of cardboard at the top of slender iron posts arising some
eight feet from the floor.
Women were largely represented in the first of the arriving
throngs, and took a lively interest in the incidents of the opening.
The band created great enthusiasm by playing patriotic airs,
"Dixie" calling out the first ripple of applause. Then came "The Red,
White and Blue," and in the excitement of the occasion the crowd
rose to its feet. The move was but a little previous, however, for the
strains of "The Star-Spangled Banner" were soon wafted from the
balcony and there was an outburst of applause and cheering.
ARRANGEMENT OF SEATS.
In locating the delegations in the body of the convention hall,
Ohio was given the front of the stage as compared to all others who
had candidates. The men from the home State of the Secretary of
War were placed immediately in front of the speaker's rostrum and
on the right of that official as he faced the convention. Directly across
the aisle was Indiana, on the right of the Hoosiers was Illinois and
just beyond was Wisconsin.
In the front row on the opposite side of the hall to the left of
Ohio was Pennsylvania, and on the extreme left came New York.
Directly behind Ohio were Minnesota, Connecticut, Colorado and
Maine, Nebraska and Michigan. Still further to the rear were
Oregon, Georgia, Idaho, North Dakota and Vermont. On the right
of the hall were placed the Territories Alaska, Hawaii, Porto Rico
and the Philippines.
50 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
Crowded close upon the seats of the Illinois men were Maryland,
Arkansas, Florida and Iowa. The last of all was placed Oklahoma,
her standard being further to the rear than that of any of the States
to the left of the hall, and on a line with the Territories on the right.
Fifteen minutes before the hour set for calling the convention to
order the delegate sections were not half filled, but the music of
marching bands in the street poured into the hall, and the parading
hosts were at hand. Fairly overwhelming the large and efficient corps
of doorkeepers and ushers, the delegates from a score of States
crowded into their places.
DIPLOMATS ARRIVE.
The notable guests on the speakers' platform were slow in arriv-
ing. The first to appear were Ambassador and Madame Jusserand,
of France, who soon were followed by other members of the Diplo-
matic Corps, to whom President Roosevelt had allotted twenty-five
seats. Mrs. Nicholas Longworth and Mrs. Timothy L. Woodruff
also occupied conspicuous places on the platform.
It was nearly twelve o'clock when Ambassador and Mrs. Bryce,
of Great Britain, reached the hall. Both Ambassadors and their wives
were the recipients of much attention. Conspicuous among the diplo-
mats was Minister Wu Ting-fang, of China.
Among the other distinguished people on the platform were Mr.
and Mrs. E. H. Gary, of New York ; Dan Ransdell, Sergeant-at-Arms
of the Senate; Mrs. Frank O. Lowden and the Right Rev. F. J.
Muldoon, Bishop of Chicago; Mrs. Julius C. Burrows, Mrs. Medill
McCormick, of Chicago; the Rev. Dr. John Wesley Hill and wife,
Chicago; Dr. Albert Shaw, former Secretary of the Treasury Leslie
M. Shaw, Mr. and Mrs. Donald McLean, of New York.
COMMENTS OF FOREIGN REPRESENTATIVES.
The manner in which the convention struck these visitors is illus-
trated by the following remarks, which were gathered from them at
the close of the first day's proceedings :
"I never saw anything quite like it," said James Bryce, Ambas-
sador from Great Britain, "and I must say it was a most impressive
affair. We have nothing like it in England, and I do not know of
any country that has. I was interested every moment. I look forward
to the rest of the convention with a great deal of interest."
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 51
Mr. Bryce, who is most careful of his speech, was enthusiastic
in talking of the convention to his fellow-diplomats, asserting that to
a student of government the trouble of a trip half way across the
continent was but slight cost.
Not less enthusiastic was J. J. Jusserand, Ambassador from
France.
"It is fine, it is splendid !" he exclaimed, as he watched the dele-
gates rise to their feet and cheer when the name of the President was
mentioned by Senator Burrows. "We have nothing like it in France.
My comment would be commonplace, because it is praise. I have
never seen a convention of American delegates before, although I
have heard of them. This surpasses my expectations. It is grand.
The men are all so interested. They are so keen and bright. They
know just what they are here for and they waste no time doing it.
"One is amazed at the remarkable good feeling. One cannot
help being astounded at the orderly fashion in which everything is
carried out. No one makes any trouble; all are in perfect accord.
Perhaps you are not quite so emotional, so demonstrative, we will say,
as we in France might be, but that may be because you have not yet
begun to make nominations. It is very impressive, though. It reflects
well upon American political methods."
Wu Ting-fang stood up during part of the proceedings and
exhibited profound interest in all that was done.
"What do you think of America's methods of nominating candi-
dates?" was asked of him.
"Oh, it is interesting," he replied. "Where do so many men
come from and how do they all get here?"
After being fully advised, the Chinese Minister pursued his quest
for knowledge.
"How long does it take to nominate President Roosevelt?" he
asked. "Why don't they have conventions in Washington? What
makes so many American men bald headed so young?"
Complete information was furnished.
"How can so many men from different States ever agree on one
man?" he asked.
On being told that that was something which President Roose-
velt is attending to on this particular occasion, he remarked :
"Your President is a great man."
52 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
"I should think from what I saw to-day," said Mr. Coro-Milas,
Minister from Greece, "that the convention later will be most inter-
esting. I was told to-day that it had only begun, but it was fine."
Colonel James, Military Attache of the British Embassy, declared
he never saw anything like it.
"We do not have conventions of this kind at home, you know,"
he said. "It is therefore novel to us and very interesting."
DEMOCRATS IN CAMP.
The foreign ambassadors and diplomats were not alone in the
"outside" representation present. Prominent Democrats were there
taking note. They had arrived the day before and were everywhere
present, not to say intrusive, in their interesting investigations.
While the Committee on Credentials marked time in the Coliseum
Annex, there was a storm of commotion when a squad of prominent
Democrats marched up the stairs.
The party included Thomas Taggart, of Indianapolis, Democratic
National Committeeman ; Norman E. Mack, of Buffalo; Roger C.
Sullivan, of Illinois, and Charles Boeschenstein, chairman of the Illi-
nois Democratic State Central Committee.
"Come in to surrender to Taft?" queried Frank H. Hitchcock,
who was among those standing in the corridors.
"Nope," returned Mr. Taggart, "we simply wanted to look over
that steam-roller which has been operated so successfully in these
parts."
"That machine is awaiting a run before the Credentials Com-
mittee," asserted Mayor F. C. Bryan, of Washington, of counsel for
the "Allies." "Sorry we can't accommodate you. We wish you had
arrived earlier and kidnapped the whole apparatus."
"Well, then, we'll take a look at the Convention Hall as a com-
promise," said Sullivan, "and the features of convenience there ob-
served will be followed in arranging the hall for the big Democratic
pow-wow in July."
CONVENTION CALLED TO ORDER.
The tap of the chairman's gavel fell at 12.18 o'clock, but it was
some little time before the desired quiet in the hall was secured. Part
of the delay was due to the timely arrival of a delayed portion of the
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 53
Ohio delegation, bearing a big blue satin banner, with a picture of
Secretary Taft lithographed in colors upon it. There was cheering
for a time, and then the band struck up "Hail to the Chief." The
demonstration was not a sustained one.
Charles P. Taft was one of the Ohio contingent, and with former
Governor Herrick had seats near the center aisle. Just across from
them was the Indiana delegation, with Senator Hemenway in the
aisle. Thus the Taft and Fairbanks booms were brought into close
proximity.
The Taft banner was not allowed to remain in the hall, and was
taken unostentatiously to one of the side rooms.
Chairman New's first utterance was: "The secretary will make
an announcement" Instantly John Malloy, of Ohio, who has a
marvelously strong voice, stepped to the front and informed the con-
vention that a flashlight was about to be taken, and urged that all
remain quietly in their seats, as there would be no danger. He indi-
cated the point of the convention hall at which the camera was located,
and as it was in the rear of the hall, the delegates made a scramble to
get into the picture with their faces instead of their backs.
After the photograph had been taken Mr. New addressed the
convention as follows :
"The hour has arrived for the representatives of the Republican
party to meet in its fourteenth National Convention at the end of
almost twelve consecutive years of the most brilliant administration
in the history of the world. There are those present in this audience
to-day who participated in the party's first convention, and the accom-
plishments of that party within so brief a span as the life of men yet
living are almost beyond belief.
"We are here to assert our pride in what has been done, to
approve the achievements of the past, and more especially to com-
mend and endorse the administration of Theodore Roosevelt and those
policies which under his splendid administration have become known
to the people of this land as the policies of the 'square deal.' '
CHEERS FOR ROOSEVELT.
The chairman's mention of the name of President Roosevelt was
greeted with an outburst of cheers which, however, continued but for
a few seconds.
54 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
Mr. New introduced Bishop Muldoon, of Chicago, who recited
with a clear, resonant voice, the Lord's prayer.
Malloy again advanced to the front and read the call for the
convention. As he finished he was greeted with applause, more for
the manner in which he had delivered his message to the convention
than for any interest excited by the document itself.
Malloy's pronunciation of Hawaii during the reading of the
call caused some merriment. He called it "Haw-waw" and every
time he said it the delegates expressed their approval by laughter and
a ripple of applause.
Chairman New announced that the National Committee had
recommended Senator J. C. Burrows, of Michigan, for temporary
chairman.
A cheer came from the Michigan delegation, in the midst of
which Mr. New recognized Representative M. E. Olmsted, of Penn-
sylvania, who moved that the recommendation of the committee be
adopted.
John W. Blodgett, chairman of the Michigan delegation, sec-
onded the motion, and it was unanimously adopted. Senator Bur-
rows was warmly received as he stepped to the front of the platform
extension arranged for the use of the speakers. He bowed his
acknowledgments and began his "keynote" address at just 12.34 p. M.
He had been speaking about six minutes when he came to the
first mention of President Roosevelt.
STUMPED BY ROOSEVELT.
Senator Burrows evidently felt just a little excited over the
mention of the President, for he had some little difficulty in pro-
nouncing the well-known name. He was referring to the convention
of four years ago, "when," he said, "invoking a continuance of public
favor, the party placed in nomination for the office of President of the
United States, Theo-Belt " "The-a-rose."
The Senator stopped, mumbled a moment and said :
"Theore " Again tie stopped and in the growing of applause
of those who recognized for whom the name was intended, he shouted :
"Theodore Roosevelt."
At once a demonstration began. Several of the delegates
jumped upon chairs and waved their hats, calling upon others to do
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 55
likewise. North Carolina, Texas, West Virginia and Alabama led
the cheering, while the applause was general on the floor and in the
gallery.
The cheering lasted nearly two minutes. Senator Burrows in
resuming mentioned Fairbanks's name and there was a round of
applause.
The name of Abraham Lincoln was received with general, but
brief, handclapping.
Reference to Secretary of State Root brought a cheer which was
emphasized by a friendly demonstration in the New York delegation.
Applause greeted the utterances approving President Roosevelt's
policy in relation to public lands and additional handclapping fol-
lowed the Senator's expressed regret that the ship subsidy had failed.
The mention of Elihu Root as "that matchless Secretary of State"
brought the New Yorkers to their feet with cheers and waving flags
and handkerchiefs.
The delegates of Ohio and Maine led in the applause following
that portion of the address which favored the establishment of a
merchant marine, and the praise given to the management of the
insular possessions was heartily appreciated by the convention as a
whole.
REPUBLICAN PRINCIPLES ENUNCIATED.
THE KEYNOTE OF THE CAMPAIGN SOUNDED.
Senator Julius Caesar Burrows, of Michigan, Temporary Chair-
man of the Republican National Convention, spoke as follows :
"Another chapter in our national history under Republican admin-
istration is soon to be concluded, and, conforming to party usage long
established, this convention of 980 delegates and their alternates,
chosen by the Republican electorate from every State and Territory
within the confines of the Republic, meets in this high council to
submit the record of its achievements to the critical review of the
American people and make fresh avowal of its faith in the principles
and policies of the Republican party.
"Four years ago the Republican party in national convention sub-
mitted the record of its achievements to the American people, an-
nounced its policies for the future, and, invoking continuance of public
56 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
favor, placed in nomination for the office of President and Vice-Presi-
dent of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt and Charles W. Fair-
banks, who were elected and the platform approved by a popular vote
of 7,623,485, a record unexampled in the history of political parties
since the foundation of the government, receiving the indorsement of
thirty-two States out of the forty-five, with but thirteen in opposition.
"In view of this indorsement it became pertinent and opportune
to inquire, What has the Republican party done in the last four years
of governmental control in many respects the most remarkable and
brilliant in the history of the party and the country to forfeit public
confidence or create distrust in its capacity for future administration?
Although some untoward and unforeseen conditions have beset the
Republic during the last four years, yet these have been met and over-
come with alacrity and courage, and the country has marched steadily
onward in its matchless course of industrial triumphs. The wise and
beneficent legislation of the Republican party during the long years
of its ascendancy and administration of national affairs laid the foun-
dation for the public weal so securely that no disquieting condition,
not even a temporary panic, which necessarily touches the mainspring
of all industrial life, could arrest the country's resistless advance.
PERIOD OF PROSPERITY.
"Since the last national Republican convention, four years ago,
our population has increased from 81,500,000 to 87,500,000, while
4,000,000 of immigrants from every quarter of the globe have found
welcome to our shores and protection under our flag.
"During the last four years our flocks and herds have increased
in value from $2,998,000,000 to $4,331,000,000.
"The value of our farm products from $5,917,000,000 to $7,412,-
000,000.
"The output of coal from 314,000,000 tons to 420,000,000.
"Our product of gold from $74,000,000 to $90,000,000.
"The accumulation in savings banks of $2,815,000,000 in 1903
was augmented to $3,495,000,000 in 1907.
"The deposits in all banks in 1903, aggregating $9,553,000,000,
reached the fabulous sum of $13,000,000,000 in 1907, an increase of
$3,546,000,000 in four years.
"Two millions of spindles in our cotton mills were added, and
WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT
In his office in the War Department, Washington.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 57
the domestic cotton used in our factories in 1907 amounted to over
5,000,000 bales, as against 3,924,000 bales in 1903.
"The importations of raw silk to supply our mills increased from
a little over 15,000,000 pounds in 1903 to nearly 19,000,000 pounds
in 1907.
"In spite of the disquieting conditions incident to the regulation
of rates on interstate railroads, 20,000 miles of new trackage have
been added in the past four years.
"The tonnage of vessels passing through the Sault Ste. Marie
Canal has increased from 28,000,000 in 1903 to 44,000,000 in 1907.
"The output of pig iron, the barometer of trade, in 1907 was
25,781,000 tons, as against a little over 18,000,000 tons in 1903, and
our exports of iron and steel increased from $96,642,000 in 1903 to
$181,531,000 in 1907.
"The cotton fabrics wrought in American mills from our domestic
fibre consumed in 1903 3,924,000 bales, while in 1907 they required
more than 5,000,000.
"Our exports of manufactures advanced from $468,000,000 in
1903 to $740,000,000 in 1907.
"Our imports of raw material for use in domestic manufacture
increased from $330,000,000 in 1903 to $477,000,000 in 1907, while
our exports in the calendar year of 1907 were nearly $2,000,000,000,
an increase of 30 per cent over those of four years ago.
INDUSTRIAL CONDITIONS.
"The mills and factories temporarily closed by reason of financial
disturbances are rapidly resuming operations, calling labor back to
profitable employment.
"This record of material activity in field and forest, factory and
farm, mines and mills during the last four years might be indefinitely
extended, but this is quite sufficient to show the development and
robust condition of our industrial life.
"The nine great executive departments of the government,
through which the head of the nation speaks and acts, have advanced
with steady and resolute steps within the sphere of their activities,
presenting a record of achievements during the last four years of
intelligent and progressive administration unexampled in the history
of the government.
58 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
"It is within bounds to say that no previous sessions of Congress
have displayed a more active or intelligent interest in the needs of the
wage-earners than the past three sessions, nor has there heretofore
in the same length of time been as much important and progressive
legislation in the interests of this class of our fellow-citizens.
"The work of reorganizing and promoting the efficiency of the
army has gone steadily forward until we have a military force not
only sufficient to maintain peace within our own borders, but capable
of resisting any possible force that could be sent against us. The
establishment of a general staff of the army has made action by it
more prompt and effective than ever before, and has served to give to
the policy of improvement in the army a prominent character.
"Most important progress has been made in the development of
the national militia as an aid to the regular army of the United States.
By well-directed legislation and by the activity of the proper bureaus
of the War Department, for the first time in the history of the country
adequate steps are being taken to bring about an approximation of
armament, equipment and discipline of the militia to those of the
regular army. The importance of this development for national de-
fense cannot be overestimated.
"Another and most remarkable instance of the efficiency of the
army has been the work done by it during the year of its stay in Cuba
as a force for the maintenance of the tranquillization of that island.
Not a single report of any abuse by officer or man has reached the
department during the entire time.
INSULAR POSSESSIONS.
"The management of our outlying possessions under Republican
administration has been attended with remarkable success. Under
American occupation and control the commerce of the island of Porto
Rico, which in the most prosperous days of Spanish rule aggregated
but $22,000,000, was, in 1907, $56,000,000. The production of
sugar has advanced from 109,000 tons to 204,000 tons, valued at
$15,000,000.
"When we took possession of the island there was but one school
building owned by the government. Now there are over eighty, built
and under construction, and the number of pupils in the public schools
is 70,000. Peace and order prevail throughout the island, and a repre-
sentative is accorded to the United States.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 59
"In the Philippine Islands the people have been given a legislative
body, the full power of conducting their own municipal and provincial
governments, the establishment of their own tariff system, the direc-
tion of the postal service, and indeed greater rights and powers than
those possessed by any other people subject to our sovereignty.
"A sound and reliable currency system has been established,
schools so enlarged that the number of primary schools now aggre-
gate between 3,000 and 4,000, with a total enrolment in March last
of 479,978. Post offices have been established throughout the archi-
pelago, a free delivery service in the city of Manila, practically 10,000
miles of telegraph and cable lines are in operation, and several hun-
dred miles of new railway are under construction or contract, while
less than 10 per cent of the government employees and municipal
officers are Americans, and of the police and constabulary force 98
per cent are Filipinos.
"The work of civilizing and uplifting the inhabitants of the
Philippine Islands has gone forward with remarkable progress.
"Our navy has been strengthened until to-day we hold a second
place among the naval powers in the world, and our fleet of battle-
ships rides triumphantly around the globe, receiving the friendly
salutations of the nations, conveying peace and good will to all the
people.
REVISION OF THE TARIFF.
"The Republican party stands for a revision and readjustment of
our customs laws as changed industrial conditions at home and abroad
may have made necessary, keeping steadily in view the cardinal prin-
ciples of protection to American industries and American labor.
"In this connection it can be safely promised that whatever re-
vision or readjustment takes place under the control of the Republican
party, it will give just and adequate protection to American industries
and American labor and defend the American market against unjust
and unequal aggressions, from whatever quarter they may come.
"Our recent financial disturbance challenged the soundness of our
monetary condition and brought to the fore the question of our bank-
ing and currency system, the consideration of which became and con-
tinues to be a subject of pressing and commanding importance.
"The recent panic called the attention of Congress to the necessity
60 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
of further legislation, and a measure has been passed providing for an
emergency currency of $500,000,000 to be issued under certain condi-
tions and limitations, an authorization, it is believed, which will pre-
vent the recurrence of any such disaster as befell the country last fall.
"In the meantime, however, the Republican party is not indiffer-
ent to the necessity of further and comprehensive revision of our
monetary and banking system, and to that end the Congress just
closed authorized the creation of a monetary commission, composed
of eighteen members of the two houses of Congress, clothed with
power to inquire into and report to Congress at the earliest date prac-
ticable what changes are necessary or desirable in the monetary system
of the United States or in the laws relating to banking and currency.
FOREIGN RELATIONS.
"In the broader field of the world's drama, where the nations are
actors, our country has taken a conspicuous and commanding part.
Having become a world power, our influence is world-wide and
always exerted in the interest of peace and the betterment of mankind.
"The crowning act in this drama was that in which the President
himself took the initiative, halted the armies of Russia and Japan,
bringing about an honorable, and, it is to be hoped, enduring peace.
"Yet nothing has added so much to his just fame as his persistent
and irrevocable refusal to break the unwritten law of the republic by
accepting a nomination for a third term. By this act of self-abnega-
tion he places his name and fame in the secure keeping of history by
the side of that of the immortal Washington.
"With this splendid record of the last four years in the manage-
ment of our domestic and foreign affairs, backed by the history of
nearly half a century of Republican policies, the public mind must
rest in the conviction that the continued ascendency of the Repub-
lican party will best promote the interest of the people and advance
the glory and stability of the republic.
"The Republican party confidently submits its record to the ap-
proving judgment of the American people and, upon its renewed
declaration of faith, invokes continuance of public favor."
TEMPORARY OFFICERS APPROVED.
When the applause and music following the conclusion of the
temporary chairman's address had subsided, the list of temporary
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 61
officers recommended by the National Committee was read by Lafay-
ette B. Gleason, of New York, chief assistant secretary. An old-
fashioned "Rebel yell" from Kentucky greeted the mention of an
appointee from that State. On motion of Charles H. Clark, of Con-
necticut, the list was approved.
Representative Payne, of New York, was recognized to offer a
resolution that until permanently organized the convention be guided
by the rules of the last national Republican assemblage. It was
adopted.
Senator Chester I. Long presented and moved the adoption of a
resolution directing that the roll of States be called for the presentation
of the names of the men selected for the various committees. The
resolution was unanimously adopted and the roll call began.
"Alabama," called the clerk, but Alabama could not respond,
having no list at hand, their one copy having been filed with the clerk
of the convention. The plan of having the names of committeemen
read from the delegations was then abandoned and the membership
of all the committees was called by the clerk.
LOUISIANA OUT OF COMMITTEES.
The reading of the list of names did not appeal to either spec-
tators or delegates and they commenced to leave. No names were
submitted from Georgia beyond that of the name for the Credentials
Committee because of contests in that State.
Indiana had been reached when Senator Lodge moved that fur-
ther reading be dispensed with and that the lists be handed in to the
secretary. The motion was carried and the reading ceased.
Senator Lodge's resolution was carried with reference to all the
States save Louisiana, whose interest had been temporarily passed
over and both delegations seated. It was reported that Louisiana had
submitted two lists, but Chairman Burrows announced an agreement
had been reached whereby the Louisiana delegations had agreed that
they would forego representation on the standing committees.
Secretary Malloy announced that the committees selected would
meet as soon as possible after the adjournment of the convention. He
declared that it would not be necessary for the Committee on Creden-
tials to leave the hall, as lunch had been provided in the Coliseum.
62 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
BURKE'S REPRESENTATION PLAN.
The following motion was submitted by J. Francis Burke, of
Pennsylvania, who requested that it be referred to the Committee on
Rules :
"Resolved, That the basis of representation in the Republican
National Convention hereafter shall be as follows :
"Each State shall be entitled to four delegates-at-large and one
additional delegate for each 10,000 votes or majority fraction thereof
cast at the last preceding Presidential election for Republican electors,
and two delegates from each Territory, the District of Columbia,
Hawaii, Alaska, Porto Rico and the Philippines, and that methods
necessary for the enforcement of this rule shall be provided by the
Republican National Committee chosen by the delegates of this con-
vention."
On motion of Senator du Pont the convention at 2.03 P. M.
adjourned until 12 o'clock next day.
THE SECOND DAY OF THE REPUBLICAN CONVENTION.
At 12.19 Senator Burrows brought down his gavel and an-
nounced in a voice inaudible less than ten feet distant :
"The invocation will be by the Rev. William O. Waters, of
Chicago."
Mr. Waters, a young and athletic looking clergyman, read his
prayer. His voice, one of the best yet heard in the convention, was
heard throughout the hall, and he was followed with deep attention.
As he closed with the Lord's Prayer many of the delegates followed
him.
CREDENTIALS REPORT READY.
Harry Daugherty, of Ohio, from the Committee on Credentials,
asked for recognition as soon as the prayer was ended. He announced
that the committee had been in continuous session throughout the
night, had completed its work and would be able to present its report
to the convention within an hour. There was no possibility of trans-
acting business until the report was presented and the convention
settled down to await its arrival.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 63
The Knox adherents, after taking their seats, opened and dis-
tributed a bundle of small flags of dark blue bearing the words "Key-
stone State" in white letters. They waved them briskly for a few
seconds, just to let the Ohio men next to them know that they, too,
were prepared for eventualities.
PARTY GRAYBEARDS CHEERED.
Chairman Burrows interrupted the regular order of business to
introduce to the convention Henry Baker, of Minnesota, and James
D. Conner, of Indiana, two gray-bearded veterans of the party, who
were delegates to the first Republican convention in 1856. Messrs.
Baker and Conner were greeted with continuous rounds of applause
as they stepped to the front of the platform and bowed their acknowl-
edgments.
It was next announced that while waiting for the report of the
Committee on Credentials there would be a parade through the hall
of visiting and local marching clubs. On motion of Mr. Warden, of
Michigan, the convention invited to a place on the platform A. G.
Proctor, of St. Joseph, Mich., who was a delegate to the Lincoln
convention in Chicago forty-eight years ago.
PHILADELPHIA LEADS MARCH.
As Secretary Malloy concluded his announcement of the Warden
resolution the tap of drums was heard outside the hall, the east door
opened and in came the band heading the parade. It halted in front of
the speaker's stand for an instant playing "America."
Numerous other Pennsylvania clubs followed cheering for Knox.
The last club wore tall white hats and carried small American
flags. Their appearance produced frenzy in the Ohio delegation. In-
stantly every man was on his feet, the red flags tossed up and cheer
after cheer rang through the hall. The blue banner, with the face of
Secretary Taft upon it, produced another outburst, and the Ohio men
screamed and danced about while the band in the gallery struck up
"Hail to the Chief," which it, by some coincidence, played every time
the blue banner was flung to the air.
Still other bands and clubs came roaring through the doorway
and thundering through the mighty auditorium, many of them declar-
ing their partisanship by bursting out into a song, more or less melo-
diously rendered, the burden of which was "I Yell for William Taft."
64 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
The demonstration of the marching clubs continued until 1.15
p. M., when the convention resumed its more serious work.
TAFT CONTESTANTS QUICKLY SEATED.
Senator C. W. Fulton, of Oregon, chairman of the Credentials
Committee, stepped to the platform and presented the report and per-
manent roll of the convention. It was adopted in quick order, with
only a few scattering "noes' to be heard after the storm of "ayes" that
followed the putting of the question.
"Your Committee on Credentials," said Senator Fulton, "met
immediately after adjournment yesterday and after fully hearing and
carefully considering all the cases that came before it, reached the
opinion that all delegates placed on the temporary roll by the National
Committee are in each instance entitled to their seats."
Cheering interrupted the speaker.
"In addition," said Senator Fulton, "the committee has seated all
three of the contesting delegations from New Mexico with one-third
vote each."
The report was adopted and there was no attempt at debate.
LODGE TAKES THE CHAIR.
The report of the Committee on Permanent Organization was
then presented by Chairman Charles F. Brooker, of Connecticut. The
announcement that Senator Henry Cabot Lodge had been chosen for
permanent chairman called out applause, especially from the Massa-
chusetts delegation. The report, save in this particular, made perma-
nent the temporary officers. It was adopted unanimously.
The chairman then announced :
"I appoint General Stewart L. Woodford, of New York, and
Governor Charles I. Deneen, of Illinois, a committee to escort the
permanent chairman to the platform."
General Woodford mounted the rostrum first, followed closely by
Senator Lodge, Governor Deneen bringing up the rear. Renewed
applause greeted their appearance, and, after the two chairmen had
bowed and shaken hands, Senator Burrows, advancing to the front
of the platofrm, said :
"Gentlemen of the convention, I have the honor to introduce to
you as your permanent chairman Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, of
Massachusetts."
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 65
LODGE IN COMMAND AROUSES PARTY PRIDE.
As Senator Lodge stepped forward to the speakers' table, manu-
script in hand, he was loudly cheered. In a voice which carried clearly
to the furthermost corners of the immense auditorium, he began at
1.25 o'clock by thanking the delegates for the honor of his selection
to preside permanently over the deliberations of the convention.
The address had a welcome touch of campaign atmosphere about
it and the cheers were not long in breaking forth in frequent and
constantly increasing enthusiasm. Senator Lodge's drawing of con-
trasts between the Republican and Democratic parties particularly
pleased the delegates. He declared amid laughter and cheers that the
great object of the Democrats was to keep their past a dark history,
while the Republicans were anxious to publish theirs to the world.
"If we refer to their past," he declared, "they accuse us of
calumny."
There was much laughter and cheering at this, which was renewed
when he said, "The Democrats now could only appeal, 'Judge us on
our undiscovered future.' We say," he continued, "read our record
and judge us there."
Turning from his taunting of the Democrats, Senator Lodge
seriously discussed the record of achievements under Republican ad-
ministrations of recent years, and it was in this connection that he first
mentioned the President not by name, but by the office. "The Presi-
dent has fearlessly enforced the laws as he found them upon the statute
books." Cheers came from many quarters of the hall at this, but their
duration was short, and Senator Lodge hastened to resume. In a few
minutes he came again to the President with the declaration that in
enforcing the law the bayonets of duty must hurt somebody.
"And the result," he went on, "is that the President is the best
abused and most popular man in the United States to-day."
ROOSEVELT DEMONSTRATION ON.
At this the first real demonstration broke loose. For a time the
cheering appeared desultory, but, after a minute or two, some of the
delegates from the Territories jumped to their chairs and a great roar
burst from all over the hall. As the cheers broke forth, Senator Lodge
remarked to friends on the platform:
66 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
"They said there was no Roosevelt feeling in this convention, but
I will show them that there is." He exhibited every sign of pleasure
at the demonstration.
PRESIDENT'S DAUGHTER SMILES.
Senator Lodge made several attempts to continue his speech, but
each time the cheering broke out afresh, and he finally gave up the idea,
and walked slowly back and forth, a pleased expression on his face,
waiting for the uproar to cease.
Representative Nicholas Longworth, son-in-law of the President,
and his wife, sat watching the spectacle with smiling countenances, but
neither participated.
The convention band added to the din from time to time, playing
"The Star-Spangled Banner" and other patriotic selections. "A Hot
Time in the Old Town To-night" caught a quick response from the
crowd.
After the demonstration had continued for half an hour Senator
Lodge again attempted to proceed with his speech, but the raps of
his gavel simply aded fuel to the flames, and the enthusiastic throngs
showed no disposition to relinquish their share in the noise and
excitement
Frank H. Hitchcock, manager for Taft, was on the convention
floor during the demonstration for Roosevelt. He expressed pleasure
at the uproar and said :
"It shows how popular the administration is, particularly how
President Roosevelt stands with the people. I am glad of this. It
will help Taft, for he is President Roosevelt's choice as his successor."
TEDDY BEAR HURLED ABOUT.
An enormous "Teddy bear" dragged up into the press seats and
held aloft by a group of yelling enthusiasts brought out frantic
screams of delight.
Shortly after the disappearance of the bear sharp hisses broke out
on the floor against the persistent disturbers in the gallery. Both
sides were persistent, but a yell is louder than a hiss and the delegates
were soon overwhelmed. The galleries weakened and again the
hissing broke out, only to be met by a renewed and vociferous out-
burst from the galleries, and again the delegates, anxious to continue
their work, were put into eclipse.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 67
Senator Lodge, after another long wait, attempted to be heard.
"Gentlemen," he said, "as I was trying to say when I was
interrupted
The cheering drowned his voice again and his gavel could
scarcely be heard. Determined to proceed in spite of the refusal of
the gallery crowd to follow the example of the delegates in restoring
order, Senator Lodge, in the midst of desultory cheering, resumed his
address.
The demonstration had proceeded unchecked for forty-eight
minutes.
CHEERS FOR THE COURTS.
The statement, "We believe in the support of the courts in all
their dignity," caused additional applause, as did the declaration in
favor of protection.
As Senator Lodge concluded, he was cheered to the echo, several
men pressing eagerly forward to extend congratulations for his
address and the manner in which it had been given to the convention.
Chairman Lodge called for the report of the Committee on Rules,
but it was not forthcoming, and he directed that the names of the
newly chosen members of the National Committee, and of the hon-
orary vice-presidents be read to the convention. This was done,
many of the spectators leaving the hall while the reading was in
progress.
Powell Clayton, of Arkansas, moved that the National Com-
mittee be empowered to fill vacancies occurring on the committee.
This brought out an amendment from a Michigan delegate, that the
State Committee of the respective States be empowered to fill vacan-
cies on the National Committee, should they occur. The amendment
was accepted by Mr. Clayton, and the motion adopted.
FIGHT ON BURKE'S RULE BEGINS.
The report of the Committee on Rules and Order of Business was
presented by Senator Warren, of Wyoming, chairman. He an-
nounced that, with only a few changes, the rules of the last National
Republican Convention were adopted. These changes provide for a
grouping of Arizona, New Mexico and Hawaii as Territories, with
a representation of six delegates each, and also give to the National
68 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
Committee authority to determine the mode of electing delegates to
national conventions.
When it came to the adoption of the report Representative Burke,
of Pennsylvania, who introduced a resolution the day before to cut
down representation in the national convention to a basis of Repub-
lican votes cast in the State, was recognized to present a minority
report. The committee had voted down the resolution, 23 to 17.
"As the representative of the seventeen States against the twenty-
three," said Mr. Burke, "I wish to present the following minority
report."
THE MINORITY REPORT.
Mr. Burke was cheered as he asked one of the clerks to read the
report, which was done.
The Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire
and Utah members of the committee joined in the minority report.
Representative Burke was recognized to speak in behalf of the
minority report. He asserted that, inasmuch as the Republican party
was founded upon the idea of equal justice to all, it could do no less
than adopt the minority report.
Ex-Governor Herrick, of Ohio, followed, and suggested that the
matter was one which called for the consideration of Congress as to
the elections in the South. He urged against hasty action for the
minority resolution, as it was too important to be passed upon so
short a deliberation.
Several Southerners spoke against the minority report and a
number of Northerners for it.
OHIO RESCUES THE SOUTH.
The vote went about equally divided for a long time, but the
final count gave the victory to the majority report by a vote of 506
to 471.
The majority report was then adopted by a viva voce vote.
The Southern delegations in their applause and cheering gave
credit to the Ohio delegation for saving them. Calls of "Ohio!"
rang from the delegates gathered under the Southern banners.
Senator Warren, of Wyoming, moved that a recess be taken
until nine o'clock at night. Governor Fort, of New Jersey, offered
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 69
an amendment making the hour ten o'clock the next morning. The
amendment was adopted and the convention adjourned until ten
o'clock on the morning of the i8th instant.
SENATOR LODGE LAUDS EVERY ROOSEVELT POLICY.
SPEECH OF THE PERMANENT CHAIRMAN OF CONVENTION,
JULY 17, IQOS.
Senator Lodge's speech as permanent chairman of the Repub-
lican National Convention, which stirred up such a demonstration of
enthusiasm for President Roosevelt and his policies as seldom if ever
has marked a Republican gathering, was looked upon as one of the
most important pronouncements in the campaign.
Declaring in forceful manner and with great oratorical effect that
the Republican party is the party of progress, the Massachusetts
Senator stirred up great partisan pride, only to cap the climax with
his reference to Roosevelt, and concluding with what was intended to
be a damper on the "third term" movement.
Senator Lodge said :
"I thank you most sincerely for the great honor you have done
me in choosing me to preside over your deliberations. For it is a
great honor to be the presiding officer of the Republican National
Convention.
"I can conceive of conventions I have, indeed, heard of con-
ventions where the honor of such a post as that now occupied by
me is dubious, and where, if excitement is present, pleasure is con-
spicuous by its absence. But to be the presiding officer of a Repub-
lican convention is ever a high distinction to which no man can be
insensible.
PARTY STANDS ON RECORD.
"No political party in modern times can show such a record of
achievement during the last fifty years as the Republican party. Upon
that record we can stand and challenge all comers to the lists.
"We do not go forth to contest the great prize with an ideal
party, which we sometimes see beautifully depicted by persons of self-
confessed superiority and chronic discontent. The glittering abstrac-
tion which they present never existed yet on sea or land. It gleams
upon us in printers' ink, but it has neither substance nor organization
70 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
nor candidates, for organizations and candidates must be taken from
the ranks of men and cannot be the floating phantoms of an uneasy
dream.
"The American people must choose next November between us
and the Democratic party. With the Democratic party and with that
alone must the comparison be made. We differ from that party in
some important particulars. We both, it is true, have a past and a
history, but we treat those possessions very differently.
"They wish to keep their past a profound secret. We seek by all
means to publish ours to the world. If we refer to their history they
charge us with calumny. We regard ours, truthful and undistorted,
as our greatest glory. To the youth of the country they say, 'Judge
us solely by our undiscovered future.' We say, 'Read our record,
judge us by our past and our present, and from these learn what we
are, what we have been and what we mean to be.'
DEMOCRATIC POLICIES DEAD.
"Recall the cries which have sounded from the lips of these two
parties during the last half century. On the one side, 'Slavery, seces-
sion, repudiation of the public debt, fiat money, free trade, free silver,
the overthrow of the courts and government ownership.'
*'On the Republican side 'free soil, free men; the Union; the
payment of the debt ; honest money ; protection to American industry ;
the gold industry ; the maintenance of law, of order and of the courts
and the government regulation of great corporations.'
"The old shibboleths of the Democrats are to-day the epitaphs
of policies which are dead and damned. They serve only to remind
us of dangers escaped or to warn us of perils to be shunned. The
battle cries of the Republicans have been the watchwords of great
causes. They tell of victories won and triumphs tasted they are
embodied in the laws and mark the stepping stones by which the
Republic has risen to ever greater heights of power and prosperity.
"In these latest years, as in the most remote, we have been true
to our traditions. In the process of development a point was reached
where the country was confronted by a situation more perilous than
any it has ever faced except in the Civil War, and we Republicans
were, therefore, obliged to deal with problems of the most complex
and difficult character.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 71
HAVE MET GRAVE TASKS.
"To our honor, be it said, we have not shrunk from the task.
Much has been done much, no doubt, still remains to do but the
great underlying principles have been established and upon them we
can build, as necessity arises, carefully and deliberately.
"I have spoken of the seriousness of the situation with which the
country was confronted. Its gravity can hardly be overestimated. It
grew out of conditions and was the result of forces beyond the con-
trol of men.
"Science and invention, the two great factors in this situation,
have not only altered radically human environment and our relations
to nature, but, in their application they have revolutionized economic
conditions. These changed economic conditions have, in turn, affected
profoundly society and politics.
"They have led, among other things, to combinations of capital
and labor on a scale and with power never before witnessed. They
have opened the way to accumulations of wealth in masses beyond the
dreams of avarice and never before contemplated by men.
PROBLEM OF MONOPOLIES.
"The social and political problems thus created are wholly new.
It is a fallacy to suppose that because the elements are old the problem
itself must, therefore, differ only in degree from those which have
gone before. The elements may be old, but the problem presented by
a change in the proportion of the elements may be, and, in this case,
is entirely new.
"Great individual fortunes and rich men are, it is true, as old as
recorded history. Nearly 2,000 years ago the tax farmers of Rome
formed a 'trust' for their own profit and protection; the English
people, three centuries ago, revolted against the patents and monop-
olies granted by Elizabeth and James to their courtiers and monop-
olists; forestallers and speculators in the necessities of life were a
curse in our Revolution and bitterly denounced by Washington.
"Yet, it is none the less true that the same things to-day present
questions different in kind as well as in degree from their predecessors.
"It is the huge size of private fortunes, the vast extent and
power of modern combinations of capital, made possible by present
conditions, which have brought upon us in these later years problems
72 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
portentous in their possibilities, and threatening, not only our social
and political welfare, but even our personal freedom, if they are not
boldly met and wisely solved.
RADICAL AND REACTIONARY STEPS REPELLED.
"To those who looked beneath the surface an ominous unrest
was apparent. The violent counsels of violent men, who aimed at the
destruction of property and the overthrow of law, began to be heard
and harkened to. The great order-loving, industrious masses of the
American people turned away from these advocates of violence, but at
the same time demanded that their government should give them, in
lawful and reasonable ways, the protection to which they were entitled,
against the dangers they justly apprehended.
"The great duty of fulfilling these righteous demands, like all
the great public services of the last half century, was imposed upon
the Republican party, and they have not flinched from the burden.
Under the lead of the President, the Republican party has grappled
with the new problems, born of the new condition.
"It has been no light task. Dangerous extremes threatened on
either hand. On the one side were the radicals of reaction, who
resisted any change at all; on the other side were the radicals of
destruction who wished to change everything. These two forms of
radicalism are as far apart at the outset as the poles, but when carried
out they lead alike to revolution. Between these two extremes the
Republican President and the Republican Congress were compelled
to steer, and while they advanced steadily, soberly and effectively,
they were obliged to repel the radical results on either hand.
PRESIDENT'S POLICIES POPULAR.
"Yet, notwithstanding all these difficulties, much has been accom-
plished. The response of the people to the policies urged by the
President has been so emphatic that it has been made clear, once for
all, that the Government of the United States is never to be domi-
nated by money and financial interests, and that the political party
which permits itself to be ruled by them is thereby doomed to defeat.
"The policy of the Republican party in dealing with these new
and formidable questions which have taken concrete form in enormous
combinations of capital and in great public service corporations has
Copyright, 1908, by Brown Bros.
WILLIAM H. TAFT'S HOME WHEN IN CINCINNATI.
Residence of Charles P. Taft.
On the golf course. Mr. Taft at his desk. Mr. Taft making a speech.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 73
been formulated and determined. That policy is to use government
regulation and supervision for the control of corporations and com-
binations so that these great and necessary instruments of commerce
and business may be preserved as useful servants and not destroyed
because they have threatened to become dangerous masters.
"This policy is the absolute opposite of government ownership
and all like measures, advocated by our opponents, which tend directly
to socialism and to all its attendant miseries and evils.
"It is in pursuance of this policy, shaped and settled during the
past few years, that old laws have been enforced and new ones enacted.
ROOSEVELT BEST ABUSED MAN.
"The President has enforced the laws as he found them on the
statute book. For this performance of his sworn duty he has been
bitterly attacked. It was to be expected.
"Vested abuses and profitable wrongs cry out loudly when their
entrenchments are carried, and some one is sure to be hurt when the
bayonets of the law are pushed home. In the great American elec-
torate money has few votes, but it can command many voices and
cause many birds to sing.
"The result is that the President is the best abused and most
popular man in the United States to-day. He has been more abused
than any President except Washington, Lincoln and Grant. He pos-
sesses the love and confidence of the American people to a degree
never equaled except by Lincoln and Washington. May it not be
said in sober truth that the fearless performance of a sworn duty is
not without its exceeding great reward?
ROOSEVELT'S REFUSAL TO RUN.
"The President, who has led his party and the people in this
great work, retires, by his own determination, from his high office
on the 4th of March next. His refusal of a renomination, dictated
by the loftiest motives and by a noble loyalty to American traditions,
is final and irrevocable.
"Any one who attempts to use his name as a candidate for the
Presidency impugns both his sincerity and his good faith, two of the
President's greatest and most conspicuous qualities, upon which no
shadow has ever been cast.
74
"That man is no friend to Theodore Roosevelt and does not
cherish his name and fame who now, from any motive, seeks to urge
him as a candidate for the great office which he has finally declined.
The President has refused what his countrymen would gladly have
given him; he says what he means and means what he says, and his
party and his country will respect his wishes, as they honor his high
character and great public service.
PLEDGED TO HIS POLICIES.
"But although the President retires, he leaves his policies behind
him. To those policies the Republican party stands pledged. We
must carry out as we have begun, regardless alike of the radicals of
reaction and the radicals of revolution. We must hold fast to that
which is good while we make the advances which the times demand.
"The great services of the President to the world's peace will
be continued by the party which he has led. We are a party fit to
rule and govern, to legislate and administer, and not a fortuitous
collection of atoms, whose only form of thought or motion is to
oppose.
"Above all, we are true to our traditions and to our past true
now as we were in the days of Lincoln. In this spirit we must
prevail ; by this sign we must conquer."
PLATFORM ADOPTED.
It was 10.17 o'clock, June i8th, when Chairman Lodge rapped
the convention to order and introduced Rev. Dr. John Wesley Hill,
of New York, who opened the session with prayer.
Immediately after the invocation Senator Fulton, of Oregon,
was recognized, to introduce to the convention George H. Williams,
the last member of President Grant's Cabinet. Mr. Williams is a
member of the Oregon delegation and was Attorney-General under
President Grant and is more than eighty years old.
LITTLE OF PLATFORM HEARD.
Senator Hopkins received the recognition of the chair, and there
was a wave of applause as he stepped to the stage. Representative
Cooper, of Wisconsin, selected to make a minority report on the plat-
form, at once went to the stage.
75
Chairman Lodge formally presented Senator Hopkins to the
convention.
Although Senator Hopkins is a speaker with excellent enuncia-
tion and a clear, resonant voice, the making himself audible through-
out the hall was a task that taxed his powers to the utmost. The
roar of conversation in the convention swelled steadily as the Senator's
voice grew a bit husky.
The noise of conversation increased steadily, and it was only a
short time before Senator Hopkins was virtually submerged in the
vocal struggle. A white-haired delegate from Colorado finally be-
came restless.
"Mr. Chairman," he called, "bring some order."
Bang went the chairman's gavel. The hall was instantly quiet
and Senator Hopkins went on with comparative ease.
"NO, NO/' FOR INJUNCTION PLANK.
When the anti-injunction plank was reached the words "integrity
of the courts" called forth applause. There were cries of "No, no!"
when the suggestion was made that necessity existed for a change in
the present manner of issuing injunctions. The conclusion of the
plank was generously applauded.
The planks immediately following received little attention and
were apparently unnoticed by the delegates.
Reference to the negro in the platform and the reiteration of the
party's demand for the enforcement of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth
and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution called forth some
applause.
DEBATE CUT SHORT.
The reading of the platform was concluded at 11.16.
"I move the previous question on the report I have just read and
the minority report which will be read by Representative Cooper."
It was Senator Hopkins who spoke. Kansas and Ohio seconded
the motion, and it was put to a viva voce vote and declared carried,
although there were many "noes" raised in opposition.
Representative Cooper, as he advanced to the front, was greeted
with cheers and cries of encouragement from the Wisconsin delega-
tion. None came from any other direction.
76 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
Chairman Lodge, before Mr. Cooper commenced the reading of
his report, announced that the debate on the question would be con-
fined within forty minutes, one-half to each side. Senator Hopkins,
he said, would have charge of the debate on the side of the majority,
and Representative Cooper would lead the fight on behalf of the
minority.
THE MINORITY REPORT.
"The minority of the committee being unable to agree," began
Representative Cooper, "with the majority in regard to the tariff, the
trusts, railroads, injunctions and trials in contempt cases, has felt
compelled to submit a minority report on those subjects."
Among other items, the minority report favored the enlargement
of the powers of the Interstate Commerce Commission; the physical
valuation of railroads; the appointment of a permanent tariff com-
mission; the prohibition of combination for the purpose of stifling
competition; the publication of campaign contributions and expendi-
tures, giving the names of contributors.
"We recommend," continued Mr. Cooper amid applause, "the
enactment of a law requiring the Interstate Commerce Commission
to make an exact inventory of the physical property of all railroads,
such valuation to be made the basis of just and reasonable railroad
rates."
The report also asked for the enactment of a law regulating the
rates and services of telephone and telegraph companies.
STRONG INJUNCTION PLANK.
The minority injunction plank demanded the enactment of a law
preventing the issuance of injunctions in labor disputes when such
injunctions would not have been asked had there been no labor element
involved. It was also asked that the issuance of injunctions should in
all cases be forbidden where the exigencies of the situation could be
covered by the ordinary processes of law.
This specification was extended so that it was an endorsement of
the plank that President Gompers, of the American Federation of
Labor, had urged before the committee for insertion in the platform.
Mr. Cooper argued shortly on the various planks offered in his
report, complaining that he had no idea his time was curtailed as
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 77
announced by the chairman. Mr. Cooper was followed by others
and a lively debate ensued.
SEPARATE VOTES DEMANDED.
Governor Hanly, of Indiana, rose to a question of personal
privilege, asking for a separate vote on the section relating to the
publication of campaign expenses. The chair stated the question
could be divided.
Separate ballots were also asked by Governor Sheldon, of Ne-
braska, on the section relating to the election of Senators, and by
Governor Crawford, of South Dakota, on the physical valuation of
railroads.
The first ballot taken was on the adoption of the minority report,
except on the three sections which were to be voted on separately.
The minority report was voted down by 952 to 28.
"The question now is on the plank relating to campaign con-
tributions," said Chairman Lodge.
"And upon that I demand a call of the roll," said Governor
Hanly.
"Wisconsin seconds the motion," came a shout.
"The call of the roll is ordered," said the chairman. "Those in
favor of inserting the publicity plank in the platform will vote aye,
those opposed no."
The final vote by which the publicity plank was lost was 94
ayes, 880 noes.
The third roll call was on the amendment covering the physical
valuation of railroads.
The physical valuation plank was lost by 917 to 63.
The final roll call on the amendments was on the section calling
for the election of Senators by the direct vote of the people.
"Nebraska asks a roll call," said the chairman.
The popular election plank for Senators went down and out by
866 to 114.
"The question now is on the adoption of the majority report,"
said Chairman Lodge. The adoption of the resolutions was by a
viva voce vote, no voice being raised in the negative.
78 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
CANNON FIRST CANDIDATE NAMED.
"The next business is the presentation of names of candidates
for the office of President of the United States," said Chairman
Lodge at 12.45 p - M v an ^ there was a storm of cheers.
The clerk ran rapidly down the list of States and there was no
response until Illinois was reached. Then Representative Boutell
swept to the platform to nominate Speaker Cannon. The enthusiastic
cheers were quickly hushed as Mr. Boutell held up his hand for
attention and began his address.
Just as Mr. Boutell began his address Chairman Lodge yielded
the gavel to Senator Heyburn, of Idaho.
The mention of the name of Cannon was the signal for an up-
rising of the Illinois delegation. They mounted their chairs, cheered
and sat down inside of a few seconds. Here and there throughout
the hall a flag or handkerchief was raised, six or seven of the New
York delegation joining in. Illinois cheered in loyal fashion, but its
following was scant, and the entire demonstration was over in less
than two minutes.
While Mr. Boutell was in the most impassioned periods of his
speech the Taft and Fairbanks men, who occupied seats almost at his
feet, were busy preparing for their turn. They brought in bundles
of small flags, distributing them throughout their own delegations
and to all others who would agree to wave them at the critical time.
Illinois was up again as Speaker Cannon was placed formally in
nomination, and Ohio and a few delegates from New York who
paid to Illinois the tribute of cheers and the waving of their flags.
Representative J. W. Fordney, of Michigan, made the seconding
speech for Speaker Cannon.
FAIRBANKS ORATORS JEERED.
"Indiana," called the clerk, and with an upshot of colored bunt-
ing the delegates of that State were on their feet with cheers for
Vice-President Fairbanks. A delegate in the Connecticut delegation
lent virtually all of the outside moral support that was given the
Hoosiers.
Governor J. Frank Hanly, of Indiana, who was to present the
name of the Vice-President, mounted the rostrum and was greeted
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 79
by Chairman Lodge, who asked him what his name was. The Gov-
ernor introduced himself and the chairman presented him to the
convention.
After Governor Hanly had been speaking fifteen minutes the
galleries again grew restive and began to cry :
"Nominate him name him."
Chairman Lodge said : "The gentleman presenting the name of
any candidate is entitled to as much time as he sees fit to use."
He closed with the announcement that unless respectful attention
was given the speakers the police would clear the galleries.
When Governor Hanly concluded his address by naming Mr.
Fairbanks and declaring, "Nominate him and victory in November
will be ours," there was a demonstration in the Indiana delegation,
in which several of the Ohio delegates participated.
Mayor Bookwalter, of Indianapolis, seconded Fairbanks' nomi-
nation, speaking extemporaneously.
HUGHES NEXT NAMED.
There was no further response until New York was reached.
Then General Stewart L. Woodford arose to nominate Governor
Hughes. He was cheered lustily by members of the New York dele-
gation, in which several other sections joined.
During the nominating speeches the Coliseum was filled from
wall to wall, every aisle, all the stairways and entrances being packed
to the utmost. So dense was the throng that the city building inspec-
tor was compelled to issue an order forbidding any more people to
enter the place.
DELEGATES WRANGLE.
Hot words emphasized with menacing gestures passed between
Ex-Governor Herrick, of Ohio, and Governor Hanly as the latter
took his seat. Governor Hanly complained that he had not been
treated right, and to the disclaimer of responsibility by Mr. Herrick
the Governor was heard to ejaculate:
"I can make it burn for you and I am going to do it."
The nomination of Governor Hughes was seconded from the
floor by H. T. Adams, delegate from the Fifth Virginia District.
Mr. Adams made no attempt at a speech.
8o GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
ACCLAIM FOR TAFT.
"North Dakota," called the clerk.
"North Carolina," and then, with extra emphasis, "Ohio!"
The response was electric. Ohio gave a yell, the neighboring
delegations, except Illinois and Indiana, followed, and for a short
period the uproar was deafening. The galleries joined in with en-
thusiasm and the cheering rang from end to end of the building.
Alice Roosevelt-Longworth and her husband joined in the tribute to
Secretary Taft. She mixed her enthusiastic tribute and waved a
blue Knox banner instead of the little red burgee bearing the name
of Taft which had been supplied for her use.
In the South Carolina delegation a little girl was held aloft by
T. L. Grant. She waved a small flag with each hand and caused a
renewed burst of cheers.
Representative Theodore E. Burton, of Cleveland, the orator
chosen to name Taft, walked to the front of the platform in the midst
of another wild demonstration from the Ohio delegation and their
friends.
Mr. Burton received most respectful attention throughout the
hall. He spoke rapidly and could be heard easily by the majority of
the throng.
Mr. Burton's reference to Taft as "the great War Secretary"
served to bring forth applause, which was renewed with greater vigor
when he reviewed Taft's career.
The first mention of the name of Taft by the speaker passed
almost without notice. The name was uttered and the orator swept
on before the convention seemed to realize that the name had been
uttered.
TWENTY-FIVE-MINUTE OVATION BEGINS.
As Mr. Burton neared the end of his speech, perfect stillness
pervaded the hall. He assured his hearers that whether in war or
in peace Secretary Taft, as Chief Magistrate, would guide the destinies
of the nation "with a strong hand and with a gentle, patriotic heart."
"And so," said he, "to-day, in the presence of 10,000 persons
and the inspiring thought of the well nigh 10,000 times 10,000 who
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 81
dwell within our borders, I name for the Presidency that perfect type
of American manhood, that peerless representative of the noblest
ideals in our national life William H. Taft."
The demonstration that followed the name of Ohio on the roll
was as a drop to a deluge as compared to the roar that broke out as
Mr. Burton concluded. On their chairs, with waving flags, hats and
handkerchiefs, stood the men from Taft's home State, shouting at
the top of their voices. Other delegations came in on the wave, and
a roar of laughter followed when a flagpole, to which was attached
the promised pair of angora goat trousers, of most generous propor-
tions, was held aloft by members of the Texas delegation, bearing
the inscription :
"As pants the hart for cooling streams, so Texas pants for
Taft."
The blue banner bearing the face of Taft was quickly raised, and
the Ohio delegation thronged about it, yelling and whooping. Then
they bore it onward down the aisle, cheering madly as they went.
The chairman of the Oklahoma delegation caught up the State stan-
dard and waved it high above the heads of the surrounding delegates.
"TAFT, TAFT; BIG BILL TAFT!"
The Ohio crowd began a chanting yell of "Taft! Taft! William
H. Taft!" which was caught up by delegates from Arkansas, Mis-
souri, South Carolina and Virginia, who began a parade around the
aisles. Connecticut, Oklahoma, Washington and other States soon
joined in the line. Alaska, Nebraska and Kentucky took up the
marching, and finally the crowd of pushing, parading delegations
included most of the State standards in the hall.
Charles P. Taft, brother of the Secretary, mounted the step-
ladder to the stage to see the surging, yelling crowds of delegates.
He waved a flag and his beaming face plainly told his pleasure.
"Taft ! Taft ! Big Bill Taft !" shouted the marchers.
When the demonstration had been under way twenty-five minutes
Chairman Lodge, with the Taft floor managers, managed to quiet the
delegates and introduced George A. Knight, of California, to second
the Taft nomination.
82 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
FORAKER NEXT IN LINE.
When the cheers following the speech of Mr. Knight were ended,
Chairman Lodge introduced C. B. McCoy, of Coshocton, Ohio, to
place in nomination the name of Senator Joseph B. Foraker.
"My speech will be the shortest of the convention," declared Mr.
McCoy, as he began a personal tribute and review of the career of
Senator Foraker.
W. O. Emery, of Macon, Ga., a negro, made the seconding
speech for Senator Foraker, and was liberally applauded.
ENTHUSIASM FOR KNOX.
"Oklahoma," droned the clerk, "Oregon," "Pennsylvania," and
the chance of the Knox men had come at last. Lieutenant-Governor
Robert S. Murphy came to the front amid cheers from Pennsylvania
and the galleries. He was cheerfully informed by the Pennsylvania
delegates that he was "all right."
Mr. Murphy strode back and forth on the rostrum setting forth
in loyal tones the merits of Senator Knox. Pennsylvanians cheered
wildly and waved their flags in the faces of the Ohio delegation who
sat immediately on their right. Ohio returned the compliment with
interest and the scene was pretty and filled with color.
The seconding speech in behalf of Senator Knox was made by
James Scarlet, of Danville, Pa.
LA FOLLETTE LAST IN LIST.
The call of the roll brought no further responding voice until
Wisconsin was reached and Henry F. Cochems, of Milwaukee, came
forward to nominate Senator La Follette. The applause and cheers
of the Wisconsin delegation followed him as he spoke.
Mr. Cochems spoke in behalf of Senator La Follette with a
vigor and manner that carried the convention with him. Once when
the impatient galleries broke in he said emphatically and pleasantly:
"I'm not going to cumber the record, gentlemen, but I'm going
to have my say in a decent way," and he went on with renewed vigor..
When a man standing near the rostrum urged him to "name
him" Cochems replied:
"That's all right, four-dollars-a-week."
"You're a four-flusher !" retorted the man on the floor, who was
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 83
threatened with a violent exit if he did not put a period to his
conversation.
"Back to Wisconsin !" called out a delegate in the third row.
Mr. Cochems weathered several more storms of protest from
the crowd before he reached the name of his candidate in a perora-
tion, the effectiveness of which was all but lost in a huskiness of voice,
the result of his battle with the taunting throngs.
The nomination of Senator La Follette was seconded by C. A.
McGee, of Wisconsin.
UPROAR FOR ROOSEVELT.
A wild cheer greeted Mr. McGee as he closed and the demon-
stration exceeded in intensity that which greeted the presentation of
any other candidate except Taft. The Wisconsin delegates and
alternates went frantic. The cheering rapidly increased when a mes-
senger in the United States Senate held up a picture of Roosevelt.
The uproar was so great at the time the picture was shown that
it was impossible to tell exactly where the La Follette enthusiasm
ended and the Roosevelt cheers began.
The Wisconsin men took full charge of the outburst, however,
and led it with vigor and increasing energy minute by minute.
Sergeant-at-Arms Stone directed that the picture of Roosevelt
be taken down. It was promptly done, but the cheering went on
undiminished, the tumult being so great that no voice, nor the lusty
strokes of the chairman's gavel were able to penetrate it. The excite-
ment was entirely in the galleries, the delegates, with the exception
of Wisconsin, remaining quiet.
The cheering developed definitely into a Roosevelt demonstration
and again the lithograph of the President was raised. Then in the
balcony there appeared an immense American flag bearing the picture
of the President.
Two men marched across the balcony platform in the rear of the
stage and the cheering was taken up anew, mingled with cries of
"Four, four, four years more."
Chairman Lodge, abandoning all efforts to still the crowd, or-
dered Secretary Malloy to continue the call. This was done in the
midst of a terrific uproar. The chairman then announced in a tone
84 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
which, although strained to the utmost, could be heard only a few
feet away:
"That completes the roll of States and the roll call will now be
had for the vote. We will not wait a minute longer."
VOTE TAKEN IN STORM OF CHEERS.
The scene was absolutely unique in American political history,
the vote being taken during a terrific uproar in behalf of a man whose
name was not before the convention.
There had been 469 votes cast for Taft when Ohio was reached
and the nomination was made. The forty-two votes of Ohio gave
Taft 511, whereas only 491 were required. A roar greeted the final
announcement of the total Taft vote as 702, thus giving him the
nomination on the first ballot, but the wearied delegates and spec-
tators were not equal to a sustained effort, and the enthusiasm soon
spent itself.
Representative Boutell, who nominated Cannon, was one of the
first delegates to mount a chair and call, "Hurrah for Taft !"
The band played "The Star-Spangled Banner," and many joined
in singing the national anthem. A large crayon portrait of Taft was
brought to the stage and prominently placed.
General Woodford, of New York, was recognized, and said :
"Mr. Chairman, on the request of Governor Hughes and of the
united New York delegation, I move that the nomination of William
H. Taft be made unanimous."
Senator Penrose, of Pennsylvania, and Representative Boutell,
of Illinois, both clamored for recognition. The former was recog-
nized, and moved to make the nomination unanimous. Mr Boutell
seconded the motion, and Indiana, Wisconsin and the Foraker dele-
gates followed suit. The motion was put by the chairman and carried
with a shout.
"I declare the vote to be unanimous," said the chairman, and the
last cheer of the day was given in response.
On motion of Senator Fulton, the convention took a recess at
5.22 P. M. until 10 A. M. the next day.
VOTE ON PRESIDENCY.
The following was declared the official vote at the next session :
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
For Taft.
Alabama 22
Arkansas 18
California 20
Colorado 10
Connecticut 14
Delaware 6
Florida 10
Georgia 17
Idaho 6
Illinois 3
Iowa 26
Kansas 20
Kentucky 24
Louisiana 18
Maine 12
Maryland 16
Massachusetts 32
Michigan 27
Minnesota 22
Mississippi 20
Missouri 36
Montana 6
Nebraska 16
Nevada 6
New Hampshire 5
New Jersey 15 >
New York 10 Total 702
Cannon Illinois, 5 1 ; Michigan, i ; New Jersey, 3 ; New York,
3 -total 58.
Fairbanks Georgia, i ; Indiana, 30 ; Kentucky, 2 ; New Hamp-
shire, 3 ; New Jersey, 2 ; South Carolina, 2 ; total 40.
Hughes New York, 65 ; Virginia, 2 ; total 67.
Foraker Georgia, 8 ; Ohio, 4 ; South Carolina, 2 ; Virginia, I ;
District of Columbia, i ; total 16.
Knox New Jersey, 4; Pennsylvania, 64; total 68.
La Follette Wisconsin, 25.
Roosevelt Pennsylvania, 3.
North Carolina 24
North Dakota 8
Ohio 42
Oklahoma 14
Oregon 8
Pennsylvania I
Rhode Island 8
South Carolina 13
South Dakota 8
Tennessee 24
Texas 36
Utah 6
Vermont 8
Virginia 21
Washington 10
West Virginia 14
Wisconsin I
Wyoming 6
Alaska 2
Arizona 2
District of Columbia i
Hawaii 2
New Mexico 2
Philippine Islands 2
Porto Rico . 2
86 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
Absent South Carolina, i.
Total number of delegates, 980.
Majority, 491.
BURTON'S SPEECH NOMINATING TAFT.
While all the speeches placing favorite sons of different States
in nomination were creditable, naturally the greatest interest centred
in the speech of Representative Theodore E. Burton, of Ohio, in
placing Scretary Taft before the convention. Mr. Burton said :
"This convention enters upon the grave responsibility of select-
ing a Presidential candidate with the serene assurance that the Repub-
lican party will continue to rule this people. What assembled
multitude in any land has ever pointed the way to such beneficent
results for home and for the progress of the whole human race as
the recurring conventions of this grand old organization? Yet we
do not rely alone upon the record of that which it has accomplished.
We emphasize, even more, its supreme qualifications to solve the
problems of the present.
"It is especially appropriate that this gathering should be held
in this marvelous city of Chicago, whence the steel bands of com-
merce reach out in every direction, over plain and river and mountain,
to almost boundless distance, bringing the richest treasures of a
continent to lay them at your feet. Here it was that the righteous
uprising against slavery and Bourbonism, sprung from the nation's
conscience, raised its first triumphant voice when Abraham Lincoln
was nominated. And here, again, with notes of thunderous acclaim,
enraptured throngs greeted the naming of Garfield, of Blaine, of
Harrison and of Roosevelt.
OHIO AGAIN PRESENTS CANDIDATE.
"Again Ohio presents a candidate to the National Republican
Convention. In seven stubbornly contested Presidential campaigns
sons of her sacred soil have led the embattled Republican hosts to
victory. The Buckeye State has assuredly contributed her share of
statesmen and generals for the upbuilding of the nation. But that
of which we are prouder still is her stalwart citizenship the mightiest
bulwark of the Republic in every commonwealth made up of
America's free yeomen, ever ready to respond to the tocsin of alarm
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 87
in days of peril, or to crush corruption whenever it raises its menacing
head.
"From this citizenship Ohio, in the supreme emergency of the
Civil War, sent forth more than 200,000 soldiers for our country's
defense, a formidable array easily surpassing in numbers the world-
conquering legions of imperial Caesar, and even larger than any army
ever mustered by Britain for the tented field. But transcendent above
all is the fact that Ohio is one of a matchless union of States linked
together in everlasting bonds of amity and constituting an empire
wonderful in power and almost immeasurable in extent.
"Each sovereign State alone would occupy but a subordinate
place in the great current of the world's events, but when represented
by one of forty-six bright stars on a field of stainless blue, every one
forms part of an emblem of union and of strength more beautiful far
than the most brilliant constellation in the heavens.
"We welcome the friendly rivalry of candidates from other
States from the great Empire State, the Keystone State, Indiana,
Illinois and Wisconsin, forming with Ohio a broad expanse extending
in unbroken sweep from old ocean to the uppermost bound of the
greatest of inland seas. Each of these presents a leader among leaders,
whose achievements and renown are not confined to the narrow limits
of a single commonwealth. To-day with fervid earnestness we wage
a contest for the prize. To-morrow united for the fray and quickened
by a common fiery zeal, the champions of all the candidates will go
forth with mounting enthusiasm to vanquish the foe.
PERPLEXING QUESTION OF WEALTH.
"The most perplexing questions of to-day arise from the bounti-
ful development of our material wealth. Such a development cannot
occur without the creation of inequalities and dangers to the social
fabric. I most strenuously deny that the American business man or
the American citizen cherishes lower standards than the citizens of
any other country. The American people are by no means depraved.
But by reason of their busy absorption in varied pursuits and of the
glamor which attends success in great undertakings, questionable
methods have been able to engraft themselves upon the business of
the country. Rich rewards have too frequently been gained by some
88 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
who are none too scrupulous. Monopoly, dishonesty and fraud have
assumed a prominence which calls for the earnest attention and con-
demnation of every man who truly loves the Republic.
"Against all these abuses and in the work for restoring old ideals
of honesty and equality, as well as for higher standards of civic duty,
one man has stood pre-eminent, and that man is Theodore Roosevelt.
Against corruption in every form he has set his face with grim deter-
mination, prompt and fearless in action and with that intelligent
leadership which has assured the establishment of a better era in
which the strong and the weak alike must submit themselves to the
impartial execution of the law. There was need of a strong, cour-
ageous spirit to restrain those destructive forces which have asserted
themselves in this time of growth and plenty. The story of his
achievements will make up one of the brightest pages in the history
of this or any age and will prove that to-day, as in any critical hour
of social unrest or of danger, the man will appear who can grapple
with the emergency.
"Who so fit to take up the tasks which this wondrous generation
demands should be wisely and impartially performed as his great
War Secretary? Since the day when, in Benjamin Harrison's ad-
ministration, these two first met the one as Solicitor-General, the
other as a member of the Civil Service Commission they have been
bound together by like ideals and aims, by close ties of friendship,
and by the exchange of mutual counsel, each with his own indi-
viduality and characteristics keeping constantly in view the ennobling
vision of a better and a greater America. They have not been satis-
fied that the Temple of Prosperity should be decked alone by the
jewels of the fortunate and the opulent, but have insisted that it
should still more abound in trophies which commemorate the enforce-
ment of even-handed justice and the maintenance of that equal oppor-
tunity which spreads hope and blessing even to the humblest home.
Since the day when, less than thirty years of age, Mr. Taft denounced,
with burning words, a member of his profession who had been guilty
of flagrantly vicious practices and had demoralized the community,
he has ever been associated with the cause of true reform with that
reform which will not content itself with academic dissertation or
hollow words.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 89
MAN OF ACTION.
"He has been imbued with the spirit of action. His advocacy
of sounder conditions has never arisen from a desire for the exploita-
tion of himself. It has always been based upon unswerving integrity
and the courage to speak the truth, as he understands it, on all occa-
sions, no matter how influential or powerful the evils which he may
attack.
"No one has ever yet assumed the Presidential chair who had
received a more ideal preparation for the duties of that great office.
As Judge in State and Federal courts, as Solicitor-General, as Gov-
ernor of the Philippines, as Secretary of War, which has included the
work of Colonial Secretary and Director of National Public Works,
he has received his training and has always shown himself master of
the situation and competent to make more honorable and beloved the
American name. There have been no years of inaction in his career.
He has been continuously engaged in weighty tasks and each suc-
cessive service has been characterized by an increasing influence upon
most vital questions.
"In our domestic affairs, in whatever position he has held, he
has displayed the rare union of a judicial temperament with an
unsurpassed gift for administrative management. To him belongs
the extremely valuable faculty of eliminating the nonessential from
complicated problems and going directly to their substance. His
capacity for work is enormous, yet quite as helpful is his equable
temperament, which will not allow the annoyances of life to distract
or hamper him.
"Although of an aggressive personality, he possesses an infinite
good nature, a charm of manner and a poise which have made him
a model for exalted station. In the final analysis even the highest
officials must be judged as men, and under this criterion Secretary
Taft is now and will ever be known for his broad sympathies with
every grade of humanity and as one invariably actuated by that demo-
cratic spirit which should characterize a progressive American. And
yet no one can for a moment hesitate to recognize his severity in
dealing with wrong-doing. While no honest enterprise need fear him,
no dishonest scheme could hope to hide its face from the light or to
escape punishment.
90 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
"FATHER OF THE PHILIPPINES."
"More than any other of our public men he has had to do with
our outlying dependencies and colonial relations. It was he who
took in charge the prosecution of that colossal enterprise on the
Isthmus, the canal uniting the lesser and the greater oceans, and
under his directing hand the completion of this most stupendous of
public works is no longer a vague and distant hope, but an imminent
reality. With his ever-ready skill as a pacificator, he restored tran-
quillity in the fertile Island of Cuba, so often distracted by civil strife.
In the far-off Philippines, under a blazing tropical sky, he found a
people of many races and tribes, degraded by centuries of misrule
and oppression; and there, too, he not only established the rule of
law and local control in place of confusion and bloody strife, but
showed the way to self-government and a new recognition of the
rights of man. For peoples and races, like individuals, under the
inspiration of a friendly guide, may lift their faces heavenward and
seek to climb the great world's altar stairs to nobler heights of liberty
and opportunity.
"It is to his lasting honor that his desire was not to be known as
'Taft, the Pro-Consul,' but as 'Taft, the Father of the Filipinos,' who
brought to them the light of modern civilization.
"In the larger sphere of world politics we are entering into new
and closer bonds with all the nations of the earth. Who is better
qualified than he to lead America to her true position in this later day
when the boundaries established in the centuries past are becoming
less distinct and kingdoms and races are beginning to realize that
they have all one common destiny?
ARMED TO MEET BIG ISSUES.
"Secretary Taft has exceptional familiarity with conditions in
the distant Orient in Japan, in China. We may rest assured that
our traditional friendship with Japan will continue. Moreover, the
future promises that the slumbering millions of China will awake from
the lethargy of ages, and she then will realize that the morning dawn
of fresher life and wider outlook comes to her across the broad
Pacific from free America, her truest friend and helper. We covet
no portion of her territory. We desire from her, as from all nations,
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 91
increased good will and that mutual respect which knows neither
bluster nor cringing on either side.
"Thus in this new era of larger relations Secretary Taft, with
his comprehension of national and international subjects, would fur-
nish a certainty of peace and sustained prestige. Under him, at home
and everywhere, this mighty people would have an assured confidence
in the secure development and progress of the country and would rest
safe in the reliance that a Chief Executive was at the helm who, in
peace or in war, would guide the destinies of the nation with a strong
hand and with a gentle, patriotic heart.
"And so to-day, in the presence of more than ten thousand, and
with the inspiring thought of the well-nigh ten thousand times ten
thousand who dwell within our borders, I nominate for the Presi-
dency that perfect type of American manhood, that peerless represen-
tative of the noblest ideals in our national life, William H. Taft, of
Ohio."
THE LAST DAY OF THE CONVENTION.
It was 10.18 o'clock Friday morning, June iQth, when the gavel
began to pound for order. There were scores of empty seats on the
floor and in the balconies as Rabbi Tobias Schanfaber, of Chicago,
made the opening prayer. The ever-increasing crash of marching
bands outside threatened to drown the invocation, but the music was
finally stilled. The closing sentence of the prayer was as follows :
"May at length all racial and religious hatreds pass away and all
national antipathies be forgotten and the cords of fraternal fellow-
ship bind the nations of the world into one indissoluble tie of brotherly
love and devoted friendship, so that Thy kingdom may soon be estab-
lished on earth and all mankind live together in peace and harmony.
Amen."
CHEERS FOR NEW YORK MAN.
Chairman Lodge at the conclusion of the prayer said that he
desired to make a formal announcement which had been overlooked
the day before.
"It is my pleasure to announce to you," he said, "that you have
nominated for the Presidency for the term beginning March 4 next
William Howard Taft, of Ohio."
92 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
The announcement was greeted with cheering, which was soon
interrupted by a delegate from Michigan, who offered a motion pro-
viding that all nominating speeches for Vice-Presidential candidates
be limited to ten minutes.
The call of the roll for nominations then was in order and there
was no response until Delaware was reached when Senator du Pont
rose and declared:
"Delaware yields to New York."
WOODRUFF NAMES SHERMAN.
This was the beginning of the Sherman wave and there was
another outburst of cheering. Timothy L. Woodruff had been chosen
to make the Sherman nominating speech and was met with another
vociferous outburst.
Mr. Woodruff called attention to the fact that New York, the
foremost of the commercial and industrial commonwealths of the
nation, "was the pivotal State in the country." The New York dele-
gation felt that "unless you accord our great State, which has unsuc-
cessfully presented to you a candidate for President, the second place
upon the ticket we will be compelled to return to our vast constituency
without that essential with which there will be no question as to the
certainty of success for the ticket."
No Republican ticket, he said, had ever been defeated with a
New York Republican on it, except once, "and that was when our
opponents were wise enough to select a New York Democrat to head
the Democratic ticket."
Mr. Sherman, he asserted, was not only known in every portion
of the State of New York, "but is known and respected in every
congressional district represented in this convention."
"Even in the Democratic districts," he continued, "there will not
be a man to say aught against him, no matter how deep or bitter will
be his partisan prejudice. His industry is proverbial. He is recog-
nized throughout the land as one of the best qualified men in either
branch of Congress for the discharge of legislative duties. He is the
best parliamentarian in the United States.
"Through his long career in Congress, he has become particu-
larly conversant with all the diversified commercial and industrial
interests of the land. He has been largely responsible for much of
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 93
the legislation during the last few years which has had so much to
do with the marvelous growth and unparalleled prosperity of the
United States.
"On behalf of the united and solid delegation of the great Empire
State, for as New York goes so goes the Union, I take the greatest
pleasure in presenting to you for what we of New York believe must
be your favorable consideration, Congressman James S. Sherman,
of New York."
OVATION FOR CANNON.
Speaker Cannon as he went forward to second the nomination of
Sherman received one of the most enthusiastic receptions accorded
to any man during the convention. He repeatedly waved his hand to
the convention, motioning them to resume their seats, but it was
several minutes before he was able to begin.
"I would rather be a doorkeeper in the House of the Lord than
to dwell in the tents of wickedness," he began, and cheers and
laughter greeted the remark.
"The Republican party," he continued, "true to its policies since
its organization, keeping step with the advance of civilization, has
met in its great national convention and has made a platform that is
true to the policies, the hopes, the aspirations, the progress of the
country. It has nominated for its standard-bearer and its great leader
Ohio's son, William H. Taft.
"A broad, cultured, judicial minded executive official, who has
never failed to answer every draft that has been drawn upon him in
the equivalent of the fullest payment with fidelity to the public service,
for the good of the republic and all the people therein. I most heartily
and cheerfully, without mental reservation, say that William H. Taft
is my candidate, and congratulate this great convention in having
made no mistake in nominating this great man.
"The Middle West that stands first in population, first in agri-
culture, first in manufacture, first in mineral wealth, has the first
place upon the ticket. The great Empire State honors itself when
it honors James S. Sherman in presenting him to this convention. I
believe, with the great Middle West, recognizing the importance of
the Empire State, recognizing the best interests of your party and of
my party from every standpoint, not alone because he is from the
94 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
State of New York, but because he is big enough, able enough, indus-
trious enough, patriotic enough to fill the great office of the Vice-
Presidency; and if, in the chapter of happenings, which God forbid,
the President should be called upon to cross the river, measuring my
words, there is no man of my acquaintance that I would sooner trust
from all the tests of good citizenship and ability to worthily fill the
first place instead of the second place in the republic.
"Tried by test William H. Taft and James S. Sherman will fill
the measure; and I believe that I can confidently predict that they
will walk over the track, and by the overwhelming majority of an
intelligent constituency will be our President and our Vice-President
for the coming four years."
Then, waving both arms at the delegates, he snapped out "Good-
by," and strode to the rear, followed by a roar of laughter and
applause.
Governor Willson, of Kentucky, seconded the nomination of Mr.
Sherman from the floor. "The knocking is all over now," he ex-
claimed, "and we are solid and united."
LODGE FOR GUILD.
Chairman Lodge surrendered the chair to Franklin A. Denison,
of Illinois, as Massachusetts was reached and nominated Governor
Curtis Guild, Jr., of Massachusetts, for the Vice-Presidency.
The seconding speech for Governor Guild was made by Chase
S. Osborn, of Michigan.
NEW JERSEY'S FAVORITE.
New Jersey sent to the platform Thomas N. McCarter to place
in nomination former Governor Franklin Murphy, of that State.
PENNSYLVANIA FOR SHERMAN.
New Jersey's delegates loyally cheered their favorite and nearby
delegations swelled the chorus.
North Carolina and Oklahoma seconded Sherman from the floor,
and then Pennsylvania's seconding of Mr. Sherman called out great
cheering from the New York delegation, as they regarded this as
conclusive promise of victory for their candidate. Representative
Olmsted made the speech for Pennsylvania.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 95
Tennessee and Virginia seconded Sherman, and Louisiana sought
to, but was too late. Then the vote was taken by States.
The vote on the Vice-Presidential nomination resulted as fol-
lows: Total vote cast, 979 out of 980. For Sherman, 816; for
Murphy, 77; for Guild, 75; for Sheldon, 10; for Fairbanks, I.
MADE UNANIMOUS.
The large picture of Sherman was upraised instantly the result
was announced, and for five minutes the convention was in an uproar.
"Shall the nomination be made unanimous?" said Chairman
Lodge, and he recognized Senator Crane, of Massachusetts, who made
a motion in accordance with the chairman's question, in behalf of
Governor Guild. New Jersey and Nebraska quickly trailed on. and
when the motion was put it was carried with a shout.
NOTIFICATION COMMITTEE APPOINTED.
Senator Gallinger, of New Hampshire, offered the usual resolu-
tion to appoint the permanent chairman, Senator Lodge, as chairman
of the committee to notify the Presidential nominee, and that the
temporary chairman, Senator J. C. Burrows, be appointed to head the
committee to notify the Vice-Presidential nominee.
Chairman Lodge, who is going abroad this summer, requested
that Senator William Warner, of Missouri, past commander-in-chief
of the Grand Army of the Republic, be substituted in his place. The
resolution was unanimously adopted with this amendment.
The usual resolutions of thanks were adopted and the convention
adjourned permanently, with the band playing, "The Star-Spangled
Banner."
CHAPTER VI.
THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM, 1908.
The text of the platform as adopted by the Republican Conven-
tion is as follows :
Once more the Republican party, in national convention assem-
bled, submits its cause to the people. This great historic organization,
that destroyed slavery, preserved the Union, restored credit, expanded
the national domain, established a sound financial system, developed
the industries and resources of the country and gave to the nation
her seat of honor in the councils of the world, now meets the new
problems of government with the same courage and capacity with
which it solved the old.
REPUBLICANISM UNDER ROOSEVELT.
In this case, the greatest era of American advancement, the
Republican party, has reached its highest service under the leadership
of Theodore Roosevelt. His administration is an epoch in American
history.
In no other period since national sovereignty was won under
Washington, or preserved under Lincoln, has there been such mighty
progress in those ideals of government which make for justice,
equality and fair dealing among men.
The highest aspirations of the American people have found a
voice. Their most exalted servant represents the best aims and worthi-
est purposes of all his countrymen. American manhood has been
lifted to a nobler sense of duty and obligation.
Conscience and courage in public station and the higher standards
of right and wrong in private life have become* cardinal principles of
political faith; capital and labor have been brought into closer rela-
tions of confidence and inter-dependence ; and the abuse of wealth, the
tyranny of power and all the evils of privilege and favoritism have
been put to scorn by the simple, manly virtues of justice and fair play.
(96)
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 97
The great accomplishments of President Roosevelt have been,
first and foremost, a brave and impartial enforcement of the law ; the
prosecution of illegal trusts and monopolies ; the exposure and punish-
ment of evil-doers in the public service ; the more effective regulation
of the rates and service of preferences, rebates and discriminations;
the arbitration of labor disputes; the amelioration of the condition of
wage-workers everywhere, the conservation of the natural resources
of the country; the forward step in the improvement of the inland
waterways, and always the earnest support and defense of every
wholesome safeguard which has made more secure the guarantee of
life, liberty and property.
These are the achievements that will make for Theodore Roose-
velt his place in history ; but more than all else the great things he has
done will be an inspiration to those who have yet greater things to
do. We declare our unfaltering adherence to the policies thus inaugu-
rated and pledge their continuance under a republican administration
of the Government.
EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY.
Under the guidance of Republican principles the American people
have become the richest nation in the world. Our wealth to-day
exceeds that of England and all her colonies, and that of France and
Germany combined.
When the Republican party was born the total wealth of the
country was $16,000,000,000. It has leaped to $110,000,000,000 in
a generation, while Great Britain has gathered but $60,000,000,000
in five hundred years. The United States now owns one-fourth of
the world's wealth and makes one-third of all modern manufactured
products.
In the great necessities of civilization, such as coal, the motive
power of all activity; iron, the chief basis of all industry; cotton, the
staple foundation of all fabrics; wheat, corn and all the agricultural
products that feed mankind, America's supremacy is undisputed.
And yet her great national wealth has been scarcely touched.
We have a vast domain of 3,000,000 square miles, literally bursting
with latent treasures, still waiting the magic of capital and industry
to be converted to the practical uses of mankind; a country rich in
soil and climate, in the unharnessed energy of its rivers and in all the
98 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
varied products of the field, forest and the factory. With gratitude
for God's bounty, with pride in the splendid productiveness of the
past, and with confidence in the plenty and prosperity of the future,
the Republican party declares for the principle that in the develop-
fhent and enjoyment of wealth so great and blessings so benign there
shall be equal opportunity for all.
REVIVAL OF BUSINESS.
Nothing so clearly demonstrates the sound basis upon which our
commercial, industrial and agricultural interests are founded and the
necessity of promoting their continued welfare through the operation
of Republican policies, as the recent safe passage of the American
people through a financial disturbance which, if appearing in the
midst of Democratic rule or the menace of it, might have equaled the
familiar Democratic panics of the past.
We congratulate the people upon this renewed evidence of Ameri-
can supremacy and hail with confidence the signs now manifest of a
complete restoration of business prosperity in all lines of trade, com-
merce and manufacturing.
RECENT REPUBLICAN LEGISLATION.
Since the election of William McKinley, in 1896, the people of
this country have felt anew the wisdom of entrusting to the Repub-
lican party through decisive majorities the control and direction of
national legislation.
The many wise and progressive measures adopted at recent ses-
sions of Congress have demonstrated the patriotic resolve of Repub-
lican leadership in the legislative department to keep step in the for-
ward march toward better government.
Notwithstanding the indefensible filibustering of a Democratic
minority in the House of Representatives during the last session,
many wholesome and progressive laws were enacted, and we espe-
cially commend the passage of the emergency currency bill; the
appointment of the national monetary commission ; the employers and
Government liability laws; the measure for the greater efficiency of
the army and navy ; the widows' pension bill ; the child labor law for
the District of Columbia; the new statutes for the safety of railroad
engineers and firemen, and many other acts conserving the public
welfare.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 99
REPUBLICAN PLEDGES FOR FUTURE.
TARIFF. The Republican party declares unequivocally for a
revision of the tariff by a special session of Congress immediately fol-
lowing the inauguration of the next President, and commends the
steps already taken to this end in the work assigned to the appro-
priate committees of Congress which are now investigating the opera-
tion and effect of existing schedules.
In all tariff legislation the true principle of protection is best
maintained by the imposition of such duties as will equal the differ-
ence between the cost of production at home and abroad, together
with a reasonable profit to American industries.
We favor the establishment of maximum and minimum rates to
be administered by the President under limitations fixed in the law,
the maximum to be available to meet discriminations by foreign
countries against American goods entering their markets and the
minimum to represent the normal measure of protection at home ; the
aim and purpose of the Republican policy being not only to preserve
without excessive duties that security against foreign competition to
which American manufacturers, farmers and producers are entitled,
but also to maintain the high standard of living of the wage earners
of this country, who are the most direct beneficiaries of the protective
system.
Between the United States and the Philippines we believe in a
free interchange of products with such limitations as to sugar and
tobacco as will afford adequate protection to domestic interests.
CURRENCY.
We approve the emergency measures adopted by the Govern-
ment during the recent financial disturbance, and especially commend
the passage by Congress at the last session of the law designed to
protect the country from a repetition of such stringency.
The Republican party is committed to the development of a perma-
nent currency system, responding to our greater needs, and the
appointment of the national monetary commission by the present
Congress, which will impartially investigate all proposed methods,
insures the early realization of this purpose.
The present currency laws have fully justified their adoption, but
an expanding commerce, a marvelous growth in wealth and popula-
tion, multiplying the centers of distribution, increasing the demand
for the movement of crops in the West and South, and entailing peri-
odic changes in monetary conditions, disclose the need of a more
elastic and adaptable system.
Such a system must meet the requirements of agriculturists, man-
ufacturers, merchants and business men generally, must be automatic
in operation, minimizing the fluctuations in interest rates, and above
all, must be in harmony with that Republican doctrine which insists
that every dollar shall be based upon and as good as gold.
POSTAL SAVINGS.
We favor the establishment of a postal savings bank system for
the convenience of the people and the encouragement of thrift.
TRUSTS.
The Republican party passed the Sherman anti-trust law over
Democratic opposition and enforced it after Democratic dereliction.
It has been a wholesome instrument for good in the hands of a wise
and fearless administration.
But experience has shown that its effectiveness can be strength-
ened and its real objects better attained by such amendments as will
give to the Federal Government greater supervision and control over,
and secure greater publicity in, the management of that class of cor-
porations engaged in interstate commerce having power and oppor-
tunity to effect monopolies.
RAILROADS.
We approve the enactment of the railroad rate law and the
vigorous enforcement by the present administration of the statutes
against rebates and discriminations, as a result of which the advan-
tages formerly possessed by the large shipper over the smaller shipper
have substantially disappeared, and in this connection we commend
the appropriation by the present Congress to enable the Interstate
Commerce Commission to thoroughly investigate, and give publicity
to, the accounts of interstate railroads.
We believe, however, that the interstate commerce law should
be further amended so as to give railroads the right to make and
publish traffic agreements subject to the approval of the commission,
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 101
but maintaining always the principle of competition between naturally
competing lines and avoiding the common control of such lines by
any means whatsoever.
We favor such national legislation and supervision as will prevent
the future overissue of stocks and bonds by interstate carriers.
RAILROAD AND GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES.
The enactment in constitutional form at the present session of
Congress of the employers' liability law ; the passage and enforcement
of the safety appliance statutes, as well as the additional protection
secured for engineers and firemen ; the reduction in the hours of labor
of trainmen and railroad telegraphers; the successful exercise of the
powers of mediation and arbitration between interstate railroads and
their employees, and the law making a beginning in the policy of
compensation for injured employees of the government, are among
the most commendable accomplishments of the present administration.
But there is further work in this direction yet to be done, and the
Republican party pledges its continued devotion to every cause that
makes for safety and the betterment of conditions among those whose
labor contributes so much to the progress and welfare of the country.
WAGE-EARNERS GENERALLY.
The same wise policy which has induced the Republican party
to maintain protection to American labor; to establish an eight-hour
day in the construction of all public works, to increase the list of
employees who shall have preferred claims for wages under the bank-
ruptcy laws; to adopt a child labor statute for the District of Colum-
bia; to direct an investigation into the condition of working women
and children, and later of employees of telephone and telegraph com-
panies engaged in interstate business; to appropriate $150,000 at the
recent session of Congress in order to secure a thorough inquiry into
the causes of catastrophes and loss of life in the mines ; and to amend
and strengthen the law prohibiting the importation of contract labor,
will be pursued in every legitimate direction within Federal authority
to lighten the burdens and increase the opportunity for happiness and
advancement of all who toil.
The Republican party recognizes the special needs of wage-
workers generally, for their well being means the well being of all.
102 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
But more important than all other considerations is that of good citi-
zenship, and we especially stand for the needs of every American,
whatever his occupation, in his capacity as a self-respecting citizen.
THE ANTI-INJUNCTION PLANK.
The Republican party will uphold at all times the authority and
integrity of the courts, State and Federal, and will ever insist that
their powers to enforce their process and to protect life, liberty and
property shall be preserved inviolate. We believe, however, that the
rules of procedure in the Federal courts with respect to the issuance
of the writ of injunction should be more accurately defined by statute
and that no injunction, or temporary restraining order, should be
issued without notice, except where irreparable injury would result
from delay, in which case a speedy hearing thereafter should be
granted.
THE AMERICAN FARMER.
Among those whose welfare is as vital to the welfare of the
whole country as is that of the wage-earner is the American farmer.
The prosperity of the country rests peculiarly upon the prosperity of
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 advancing
agriculture itself, but in increasing the conveniences of rural free
delivery.
Free rural mail delivery has been established; it now reaches
millions of our citizens, and we favor its extension until every com-
munity in the land receives the full benefit 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 the 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 construction.
RIGHTS OF THE NEGRO.
The Republican party has been for more than fifty years the
consistent friend of the American colored man. It gave him freedom
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 103
and citizenship. It wrote into the organic law the declarations that
proclaim his civil and political rights, and it believes to-day that his
noteworthy progress in intelligence, industry and good citizenship
has earned the respect and encouragement of the nation.
We demand equal justice for all men, without regard to race or
color ; we declare once more, and without reservation, for the enforce-
ment in letter and spirit of the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth
amendments to the Constitution which were designed for the protec-
tion and advancement of the colored man, and we condemn all devices
that have for their real aim his disfranchisement for reasons of color
alone, as unfair, un-American and repugnant to the supreme law of
the land.
NATURAL RESOURCES AND WATERWAYS.
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 commend the work now going on
for the reclamation of arid lands, and- reaffirm 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 blessings to posterity.
In line with this 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 waterways,
harbors, and great lakes, whose natural adaptability to the increasing
traffic of the land is one of the greatest gifts of a benign providence.
THE ARMY AND NAVY.
The Sixtieth Congress passed many commendable acts increasing
the efficiency of the army and navy ; making the militia of the States
an integral part of the national establishment; authorizing joint
maneuvers of the army and militia; fortifying new naval bases and
completing the construction of coaling stations; instituting a female
nurse corps for naval hospitals and ships, and adding two new battle-
ships, ten torpedo-boat destroyers, three steam colliers, and eight sub-
marines to the strength of the navy.
Although at peace with all the world, and secure in the con-
sciousness that the American people do not desire and will not pro-
104 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
voke a war with any other country, we nevertheless declare our un-
alterable devotion to a policy that will keep this republic ready at all
times to defend her traditional doctrines and assure her appropriate
part in promoting permanent tranquillity among the nations.
PROTECTION OF AMERICANS ABROAD.
We commend the vigorous efforts made by the administration to
protect American citizens in foreign lands and pledge ourselves to
insist upon the just and equal protection of all our citizens abroad.
It is the unquestioned duty of the government to procure for all
our citizens, without distinction, the rights of travel and sojourn in
friendly countries, and we declare ourselves in favor of all proper
efforts tending to that end.
EXTENSION OF FOREIGN COMMERCE.
Under the administration of the Republican party the foreign
commerce of the United States has experienced a remarkable growth
until it has a present annual valuation of approximately $3,000,000,-
ooo, and gives employment to a vast amount of labor and capital
which would otherwise be idle.
It has inaugurated, through the recent visit of the Secretary of
State to South America and Mexico, a" new era of pan-American
commerce and comity which is bringing us into closer touch with our
twenty sister American republics, having a common historical heritage,
a republican form of government and offering us a limitless field of
legitimate commercial expansion.
ARBITRATION.
The conspicuous contributions of American statesmanship to the
great cause of international peace, so signally advanced in The Hague
conferences, are an occasion for just pride and gratification.
At the last session of the Senate of the United States eleven
Hague conventions were ratified, establishing the rights of neutrals,
laws of war on land, restriction of submarine mines, limiting the use
of force for the collection of contractual debts, governing the opening
of hostilities, extending the application of Geneva principles and in
many ways lessening the evils of war and promoting the peaceful
settlement of international controversies.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 105
At the same session twelve arbitration conventions with great
nations were confirmed, and extradition, boundary and neutralization
treaties of supreme importance were ratified. We indorse such
achievements as the highest duty a people can perform and proclaim
the obligation of further strengthening the bonds of friendship and
good will with all the nations of the world.
MERCHANT MARINE.
We adhere to the Republican doctrine of encouragement to
American shipping and urge such legislation as will revive the mer-
chant marine prestige of the country, so essential to national defense,
the enlargement of foreign trade and the industrial prosperity of our
own people.
VETERANS OF THE WARS.
Another Republican policy which must be ever maintained is that
of generous provision for those who have fought the country's battles
and for the widow and orphans of those who have fallen. We com-
mend the increase in the widows' pensions made by the present Con-
gress and declare for a liberal administration of all pension laws, to the
end that the people's gratitude may grow deeper as the memories of
heroic sacrifice grow more sacred with the passing years.
CIVIL SERVICE.
We reaffirm our former declarations that the civil service laws,
enacted, extended and enforced by the Republican party, shall con-
tinue to be maintained and obeyed.
PUBLIC HEALTH.
We commend the efforts designed to secure greater efficiency in
national public health agencies and favor such legislation as will effect
this purpose.
BUREAU OF MINES AND MINING.
In the interest of the great mineral industries of our country we
earnestly favor the establishment of a Bureau of Mines and Mining.
106 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
THE COLONIES AND PANAMA.
The American Government, in Republican hands, has freed Cuba,
given peace and protection to Porto Rico and the Philippines under
our flag, and begun the construction of the Panama Canal. The
present conditions in Cuba vindicate the wisdom of maintaining be-
tween that republic and this imperishable bonds of mutual interest,
and the hope is now expressed that the Cuban people will soon again
be ready to assume complete sovereignty over their land.
In Porto Rico the Government of the United States is meeting
loyal and patriotic support ; order and prosperity prevail and the well-
being of the people is in every respect promoted and conserved.
We believe that the native inhabitants of Porto Rico should be at
once collectively made citizens of the United States, and that all
others properly qualified under existing laws residing in said island
should have the privilege of becoming naturalized.
In the Philippines insurrection has been suppressed, law estab-
lished and life and property made secure. Education and practical
experience are there advancing the capacity of the people for govern-
ment, and the policies of McKinley and Roosevelt are leading the
inhabitants step by step to an ever increasing measure of home rule.
Time has justified the selection of the Panama route for the
great isthmian canal, and events have shown the wisdom of securing
authority over the zone through which it is to be built. The work
is now progressing with' a rapidity far beyond expectation, and already
the realization of the hopes of centuries has come within the vision
of the near future.
NEW MEXICO AND ARIZONA.
We favor the immediate admission of the Territories of New
Mexico and Arizona as separate States in the Union.
CENTENARY OF THE BIRTH OF LINCOLN.
February 12, 1909, will be the one hundredth anniversary of the
birth of Abraham Lincoln, an immortal spirit whose fame has bright-
ened with the receding years, and whose name stands among the first
of those given to the world by the great republic. We recommend
that this centennial anniversary be celebrated throughout the confines
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 107
of the nation, by all the people thereof; and especially by the public
schools, as an exercise to stir the patriotism of the youth of the land.
DEMOCRATIC INCAPACITY.
We call the attention of the American people to the fact that none
of the great measures here advocated by the Republican party could
be enacted and none of the steps forward here proposed could be
taken, under a Democratic administration or under one in which party
responsibility is divided.
The continuance of present policies, therefore, absolutely requires
the continuance in power of that party which believes in them and
which possesses the capacity to put them into operation.
FUNDAMENTAL DIFFERENCES.
Beyond all platform declarations there are fundamental differ-
ences between the Republican party and its chief opponent which make
the one worthy and the other unworthy of public trust.
In history, the difference between Democracy and Republicanism
is that the one stood for debased currency, the other, for honest cur-
rency; the one for free silver, the other for sound money; the one for
free trade, the other for protection; the one for the contraction of
American influence, the other for its expansion; the one has been
forced to abandon every position taken on the great issues before the
people, the other has held and vindicated all.
In experience, the difference between Democracy and Repub-
licanism is that one means adversity, while the other means prosperity ;
one means low wages, the other means high; one means doubt and
debt, the other means confidence and thrift.
In principle, the difference between Democracy and Repub-
licanism is that one stands for vacillation and timidity in govern-
ment, the other for strength and purpose; one stands for obstruction,
the other for construction; one promises, the other performs; one
finds fault, the other finds work.
The present tendencies of the two parties are even more marked
by inherent differences. The trend of Democracy is toward socialism,
while the Republican party stands for a wise and regulated indi-
vidualism.
Socialism would destroy wealth. Republicanism would prevent
io8 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
its abuse. Socialism would give to each an equal right to take,
Republicanism would give to each an equal right to earn; Socialism
would offer an equality of possession which would soon leave no one
anything to possess, Republicanism would give equality of oppor-
tunity which would assure to each his share of a constantly increasing
sum of possessions.
In line with this tendency the Democratic party of to-day believes
in government ownership, while the Republican party believes in
government regulation. Ultimately Democracy would have the nation
own the people, while Republicanism would have the people own
the nation.
Upon this platform of principles and purposes, reaffirming our
adherence to every Republican doctrine proclaimed since the birth of
the party, we go before the country, asking the support not only of
those who have acted with us heretofore, but of all our fellow-citizens
who, regardless of past political differences, unite in the desire to
maintain the policies, perpetuate the blessings and make secure the
achievements of a greater America.
CHAPTER VII.
WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT,
PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, 1908.
"Bio, BRAWNY AND BRAINY" is a characteristic phrase that has
often been applied to William H. Taft by his friends and admirers.
Dr. Lyman Abbott, in the "Outlook," improves upon this statement by
adding- to the above that very important "heart quality" for which the
Republican candidate is equally noted "BIG OF BODY, BIG OF BRAIN,
BIG OF HEART." This is the phrase that best characterizes the standard-
bearer of his party, and the long-time personal friend and choice of
President Roosevelt.
Mr. Taft was nominated on the first ballot by the convention in
Chicago, June i8th, receiving 702 votes the highest number received
by any opposing candidate being less than 100. His nomination was
promptly made unanimous. A general expression of satisfaction on
the part of those who opposed him was immediately and enthusias-
tically spoken. Those who were his opponents one hour before were
now, in their party loyalty, his friends. Abounding confidence was
universally expressed that he would triumphantly carry the Republican
banner to victory in November.
Perhaps no candidate ever came before the nation for the Presi-
dency with a more pleasing personality than William H. Taft. This,
coupled with his long training, his familiarity with all subjects now
confronting the nation, his broad-mindedness and the confidence
which the people have both in his integrity and his ability, augment
his prospects for election by making certain a large vote, outside of the
strict partisan following which he commands.
Regardless of party, and even regardless of Mr. Roosevelt's com-
plimentary statement, the people know that William H. Taft is an
American of Americans ; and that, both by native ability and training,
(109)
i io GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
he is peculiarly enabled to grapple with the problems of American life
and American policy. He is Western by birth, but a New Englander
by ancestry, and a whole American, without sectionalism, by practice.
He is a patriot, rather than a partisan. He is a friend of labor and a
friend of capital opposed to injustice from either side. Those who
know him best believe he will stand as a bulwark between labor and
capital, administering the laws of the land, with favor toward none
and with justice toward all, and that his well-known diplomatic skill
and ability will do much to allay the strife and bitterness between
employer and employee, to reconcile them as necessary to one another,
and to unite them in a permanent co-operation and friendship.
The progressive spirit was born with William H. Taft, and his
career has been one of steady and substantial progress and growth.
His father, Alphonso Taft, was one of those early pioneers who left
New England for the Middle West some seventy years ago and carried
into the then wilderness the standards of learning and civilization.
The elder Taft was graduated from Yale in 1833, and soon after
went to Ohio and settled in Cincinnati. His rise at the bar was rapid.
He became one of the recognized leaders of his profession, so that in
1865 he was made a judge of the Superior Court of the State of
Ohio. He became Secretary of War, under President Grant, in 1875,
and the following year he was made Attorney-General of the United
States. He represented his country at the capital of Austria from
1883 to 1885, when he was appointed Minister to Russia. In these
high offices, Alphonso Taft acquitted himself with distinction and
proved his usefulness to his country. The son, then, comes by legiti-
mate birthright to his high legal and executive talents.
For carrying out and enforcing the anti-trust laws of 1890,
William H. Taft has been through an especially competent fitting-
school, as it were, ever since his boyhood. He was a Yale man of
the class of 1878, where he stood second in scholarship and was the
salutatorian and class orator. His warm personality, his keen sense
of justice, his genial love for his fellows are duly remembered at New
Haven, especially now that these qualities are again necessarily to the
front, through his commanding position as the leading candidate for
the Presidency of the United States.
Having the blood of his father in his veins, it was natural that
the law should call young Taft with an irresistible command. Indeed,
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS in
it was quite a matter of course that he should study the profession
which had so long interested him, and we find him admitted to
the bar of the Superior Court of Ohio in 1880. His intellect, his
vigor and his keenness brought him to the front with great rapidity.
Only a year after his admission he was appointed assistant prosecuting
attorney for the County of Hamilton. He was made collector of
internal revenue for the first district of Ohio by President Arthur,
but not even political preferment could swerve him from his chosen
profession of law, and within the next half decade he had become one
of the leading attorneys of his State and district.
Then came the appointment as judge of the Superior Court of
Ohio to fill a vacancy caused by the resigation of Judson Harmon,
and, although Mr. Taft made financial sacrifices in so doing, he
accepted the position. It has always been his attitude that public
service and the honor that attaches thereto should be more to an
American citizen than a mere question of gain. He did not finish
this term, however, for President Harrison appointed him Solicitor-
General of the United States in 1890.
William H. Taft's career in this position of extending influence
was remarkably brilliant. As a special pleader for "Uncle Sam" he
won triumphs in different cases and against odds such as raised him
to fame within a brief period. There was the Behring Sea fisheries
case, for instance. Although the vast majority of our people may
have forgotten the principles involved therein, it is sufficient to say
that the battle won by William H. Taft, against lawyers of great
eminence both of this country and England, stands to-day as one of
the notable achievements of American jurisprudence. And Mr. Taft
had many other successes, perhaps not as widely famed nor as im-
portant, but still sufficient to bring out the mettle of the man and to
show the high order of legal mind he possessed. After two years in
this position Mr. Taft was appointed by President Harrison as judge
of the United States Circuit Court in the sixth judicial district. Here,
as in other positions, he acquitted himself with great credit, and won
the confidence and respect of the bar. Many of his opinions stand
to-day as models of lucidity, research, learning and a keen sense of
justice. We cite the following as illustrative of this fact:
"In considering Mr. Taft's admirable qualifications for carrying
out the 'square deal' policy of Roosevelt's administration, it is inter-
112 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
esting to know that as judge of the sixth judicial district he made
one of the earliest and most effective decisions given by an American
judge against a trust. This was against the Addyston Pipe and Steel
Company, et al. The facts of the case were these : six corporations,
with plants for manufacturing cast-iron pipes in four States in the
South and Middle West, had entered into a conspiracy in restraint
of trade and contrary to the provisions of the Act of Congress of
1890, "protecting trade and commerce against unlawful restraint and
monopolies." Judge Taft's careful and exhaustive decision reviewed
the antecedent case, explained the Act of 1890 in so far as it applied
to the case at bar, which he brought strongly under the statute and
destroyed the combination while enjoining the parties from carrying
out their illegal contracts.
That was but one of the several highly important cases decided
by Judge Taft bearing upon the great question of restraint of monop-
olies, which now seems to be and is one of the fundamental issues of
the day. Surely a man with such training, with such temperament,
with such a sense of the justice due high and low alike, is above all
fitted for the carrying forward of the present policies in a calm, digni-
fied and wholly impartial way.
Mr. Taft's alma mater, recognizing the distinguished services
and conspicuous ability as a lawyer and judge, of one of her sons,
conferred upon him in 1893 the degree of Doctor of Laws. In 1896
he was made professor and dean of the Department of Law in the
University of Cincinnati.
It is a notable fact that since 1900 Mr. Taft has three times been
offered a seat on the Supreme Bench of the United States, the highest
judicial honor in the nation; but, because of public duties, that he had
then undertaken and could not conscientiously dismiss at the time, he
felt it his duty to decline.
MR. TAFT'S POLITICAL CAREER.
There is no more natural step in public life than that which is
taken by the lawyer when he turns to statesmanship. The very nature
of his calling fits him for it; his ambition too often prompts him to
it ; and those who love their profession above all else, and would, from
choice, adhere to it, are often induced by their countrymen or high
officials to surrender a lucrative practice to take upon themselves some
political duty in answer to what is urged as their country's service.
Such was the case with Mr. Taft.
MADE GOVERNOR OF THE PHILIPPINES.
In 1900, President McKinley, who well knew Mr. Taft's qualities
of mind and heart, asked him to leave his judgeship and deanship to
become president of the United States Philippine Commission. It
was the demanding of a great sacrifice. A pleasant and profitable life
in his native land must be abandoned and a career of extraordinary
difficulty and delicacy must be taken up. There were the hard prob-
lems of organizing a civil government and developing civilization
among the Filipinos, with their multitudinous tribes and dialects,
their eighty per cent illiteracy and their undemocratic habits born of
many years' subjection under a despotic government. For a year he
studied exhaustively every detail of the gigantic task allotted him,
planned the work of organizing and civilizing the people, with con-
summate tact and far-sighted statesmanship, and the following year
was made the first Civil Governor of the islands. He succeeded in
establishing a civilization and a government that outclass the work of
any one governmental administrator ever sent from Europe into the
Far East. Here were seen for the first time his unsurpassed powers as a
wise administrator, a constructive statesman, and a diplomat of the
highest order. A mere cataloguing of the results under the adminis-
tration he instituted and moulded surpasses the record of any similar
achievements of any living man in the same period of time. The list
is too long for insertion here. Mr. Taft's report of April 23, 1904,
states succinctly the work done in the Philippines up to the time and
contains thirty-six pages of printed matter in public document form,
each page crammed with the facts of achievements, in all of
which he had the leading responsibility and a commanding part.
Under him were established a central government, forty provincial
governments, 623 municipal governments, a complete judicial system,
an efficient civil service, new educational facilities that to-day care for
over half a million scholars with over five thousand Filipino teachers
and less than one thousand American teachers, an independent and
stable monetary system, additional banks, a constabulary of seven
thousand men, well organized, adapted and competent, an enlarged
postal and telegraph service, new and better roads, a revenue-produc-
H4 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
ing forestry service, a mining bureau, and an agricultural bureau that
are fast developing these resources of the islands; a weather bureau
service, and in short every factor of governmental activity that makes
for the advancement of a people in civilization. Tariff laws and cus-
toms were instituted, a census was taken, foreign commerce was
increased over one hundred and fifty per cent during the first five
years of American occupation, harbor improvements started on an
extensive scale, sanitation of the centers of population was vigorously
enhanced and the general health improved.
THE PURCHASE OF THE FRIARS* LANDS.
Governor Taft returned to the United States in 1901, at the
request of the Secretary of War, and for six weeks gave his testi-
mony as to the conditions then existing in the islands, before the
Senate Committee on the Philippines and the House Committee on
Insular Affairs. In the spring following, by request of the Presi-
dent and Secretary of War, he sailed for Rome to confer with Pope
Leo XIII concerning the agricultural lands of religious orders in
the Philippines. Out of that conference came the settlement of what
at one time threated to be a most difficult and perplexing question.
The friars' lands were purchased and devoted to industrial uses.
Some four hundred and ten thousand acres of agricultural lands
were transferred to the Philippine Government. The church and
the friars were satisfied, the people of the Philippines were pleased,
a complex problem had been solved, a delicate situation had been
removed, and an American statesman had done a great service and
won a diplomatic triumph.
BECOMES SECRETARY OF WAR AND PROVINCIAL GOVERNOR OF CUBA.
He returned to the Philippines in 1902 and resumed the duties
of his office as Governor. The following year President Roosevelt
appointed him Secretary of War, and he entered on his work as a
member of the Cabinet in February, 1904. In the fall he visited
Panama to confer with the Panama authorities upon questions arising
with reference to the government of the Canal Zone, and two years
later, under the direction of the President, he visited Cuba for the
purpose of arranging peace, and acted for a short period as the Pro-
vincial Governor of that island. The ability to grasp a situation cor-
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 115
rectly, to see things in their right proportions, to induce men to forget
fancied wrongs and to act for the promotion of the common interest,
which was so strongly characteristic of Mr. Taft's administration in
the Philippines, was again exhibited during his short administration
in Cuba, which resulted in securing peace and continued prosperity
to that new republic.
Besides the peaceful settlement of an incipient revolution in
Cuba, the adjustment of relations with the new government of
Panama, and the routine of the War Department, he has been con-
cerned in the improvement of rivers and harbors, the development of
Porto Rico, the policy to be pursued in regard to Hawaii and the
temporary administration of the State Department. Incidentally he
was the real power that smashed one of the most perfect of the cor-
rupt political rings in any city in America.
TOUR ROUND THE WORLD.
Last year he went on a special mission to Japan, China, Russia
and the Philippines, and made a tour of the world, being everywhere
received with enthusiastic manifestations of admiration and esteem.
His second report on the Philippines, published in January, 1908, is
a monument of painstaking and effective investigation, and the facts
brought down to date afford a new demonstration of the strength and
wisdom of the work he did as Commissioner and Governor in devel-
oping civilization, preparing the people for self-government, training
them in the exercise of its rights and duties, and laying the founda-
tions of the new republic of the Pacific, the history of which marks an
epoch in the dealings of the stronger nations with the weaker and
sets a new and higher standard which, sooner or later, as the senti-
ments of justice and humanity develop in the world, the Powers
will be compelled to follow.
Thus we have briefly outlined a bird's-eye view of William
H. Taft in professional and public life, that will enable the voter to
estimate the power and capacity of the candidate for the taking up
and successfully carrying of the burden, soon to be laid down by the
strenuous and aggressive Theodore Roosevelt, whose -policy and
measures he is expected by the people to carry out; and which he is
personally desirous of doing so far as the interests of the country
at large shall demand. For further information concerning Mr. Taft
see account of "The Republican Convention" and the speeches.
CHAPTER VIII.
JAMES SCHOOLCRAFT SHERMAN,
REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE FOR VICE-PRESIDENT, 1908.
The final session of the Republican National Convention was
held on the morning of June iQth for the purpose of nominating a
candidate for Vice- President It was a short session, lasting only one
hour. The selection for the Vice-President had been agreed upon by
the party leaders the night previous. The two most prominent aspirants
for the office were Governor Cummins, of Iowa, and Hon. James S.
Sherman, of New York. The minority, "favorite son" forces of the
convention, pleaded that as the Taft supporters had nominated the
President and had everything practically their own way thus far,
they should allow them to name the Vice-President. The administra-
tion force, in the interest of harmony, gracefully yielded to the
minority, and Mr. Sherman was nominated on the first ballot with a
vote of 816 being larger than that which Secretary Taft himself
had received. Others who received votes were Governor Guild, of
Massachusetts, seventy-five, and ex-Governor Franklin Murphy, of
New Jersey, seventy-seven.
Mr. Sherman, the Republican candidate for the Vice-Presidency,
has long and faithfully served the party in New York in various
capacities, as well as in the Congress of the nation for more than
twenty years. He is a noted lawyer, a politician of shrewdness and a
statesman of ability. One of the interesting facts in Mr. Sherman's
history is that he was a Democrat until about 1876, when, after going
as a delegate from Oneida County to a Democratic state convention,
he renounced Democracy and embraced the tenets of Republicanism.
All of his brothers are Democrats still ; but for more than thirty years
the Vice-Presidential nominee has been a staunch Republican and
yielded yeoman service continually in the ranks of his party. He
("6)
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 117
was seriously considered for the Vice-Presidency in 1900 by Mark
Hanna and other leaders.
Like the head of the ticket, Mr. Sherman is a man of large
physical proportions. He is not so tall as Mr. Taft, but his circum-
ference is ample. He gives the impression of weighing perhaps 225
pounds.
The running mates are nearly the same age (Mr. Taft was born
September 17, 1857), M r - Sherman being graduated from Hamilton
College, New York, the same year that Mr. Taft was graduated from
Yale.
Like Mr. Taft, Mr. Sherman has been in politics from his youth.
He, too, is a lawyer, but he has never held judicial office. He has,
however, been almost continuously an officeholder for twenty-four
years, having started as Mayor of Utica, N. Y., two years before Mr.
Taft was married out in Cincinnati, although Mr. Sherman had then
been married three years.
Both when in office and when temporarily out of it, he has been
almost constantly mentioned for some other office until the process
culminated with the mention of his name for the Vice-Presidential
candidacy in the spring of 1908 and his nomination at the Chicago
convention.
Mr. Sherman was born on October 24, 1855, at Utica, where he
has lived ever since. His father was Richard U. Sherman. He was
graduated from Hamilton College in 1878, and two years later was
admitted to the bar. In 1881 he married Miss Carrie Babcock, of
New York. He has continued his law practice throughout his political
career, and in addition he is now president of the Utica Trust and
Deposit Company and of the New Hartford Canning Company.
WAS MAYOR OF UTICA.
He was elected Mayor of Utica in 1884, and in 1892 was sent
as a delegate to the Republican National Convention. He was chair-
man of the Republican State Conventions of 1895, 1900 and 1908.
Previously, in 1887, he had been elected to the Fiftieth Congress, and
he has been since a member of the Fifty-first, Fifty-third, Fifty-fourth,
Fifty-fifth, Fifty-sixth, Fifty-seventh, Fifty-eighth, Fifty-ninth and
Sixtieth Congresses. In 1903 Hamilton College conferred upon him
the degree of Doctor of Laws.
While Sherman was chairman of the State convention in 1900 he
1 18 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
was for several days a close rival of Theodore Roosevelt for the
nomination to the Vice-Presidency, and Mark Hanna at one time
looked favorably upon the suggestion of his name for the nomination.
Mr. Sherman came most widely into national repute when, in
1906, he became chairman of the Republican Congressional Committee
in charge of the campaign.
WAS CAMPAIGN ''COLLECTOR/'
It was in that campaign that he earned the sobriquet "Send Your
Dollar Jim," or "Dollar Jim," as the solicitor and recipient of the
dollar contributions, which, at President Roosevelt's suggestion, were
sought among the people generally at that time, when so much was
being said in criticism of great campaign contributions by the big
corporations. Sherman succeeded in the chairmanship of that com-
mittee Representative Babcock, of Wisconsin.
IS FRIEND OF ROOSEVELT.
Mr. Sherman has long been prominent in national campaigns. He
Was a warm and admiring friend of Thomas B. Reed, and during Mr.
Reed's speakership Mr. Sherman presided over the House of Repre-
sentatives oftener than any other member. Mr. Sherman has also for
years been a stout friend and admirer of President Roosevelt, and he
was recorded as one of the most urgent of third termers.
It was to him that the President's "My Dear Sherman" letters
were addressed, in which Mr. Roosevelt seated Edward H. Harriman
in the front row of the Ananias Club.
Representative Malby, of New York, in booming Sherman for
the place on the ticket which he now holds, said of him : "Sherman
would be popular with the boys the fellows who do the work at the
polls. Both he and Taft are of gentle temperament, magnetic and
good speakers."
CHAPTER IX.
WHY TAFT SHOULD BE ELECTED.
BY HON. SAMUEL L. POWERS.
One of the Massachusetts Senators issued before the Republican
Convention of 1908 a statement in which he made use of the following
expression : "The next Republican National Convention will, without
doubt, be the most important convention held since 1864."
We all know the real issue at stake then, that it was the renomi-
nation of President Lincoln; that his renomination would be the
endorsement of his policies for the preservation of the Union, what-
ever the cost of blood and treasure, and the permanent settlement of
the right of any State to secede from the Union. If the Senator was
right in his opinion that the latest Presidential convention of the
Republican party had a similar responsibility to that of 1864, we are
indeed at one of those historic cross-roads in public affairs.
The real issue of this Presidential campaign seems to be, as in
1864, whether the policies of the present administration are to be
substantially carried out for the next four years. If such is the will
of the American people it is for them to select a candidate whom they
deem best qualified to carry on the work. In fact, this is the main
issue "Shall these policies be carried out?" In the presence of this
momentous question we should not allow personal preferences to guide
us or to warp our judgment ; we should look entirely to this paramount,
main issue.
It will, without doubt, be conceded that no candidate can be
elected by either party who does not stand in the main for the policies
of the present administration.
Now, what are the main policies of the present administration,
the continuance of which the American people insist upon? They
may be divided into two classes: first, those policies which relate to
the enforcement of the provisions of the Act of Congress of 1890,
("9)
120 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
"protecting trade and commerce against unlawful restraint and mo-
nopolies," and enforcement of the statutes relating to the same subject
which have subsequently been enacted by Congress; second, the con-
tinuance of what is commonly called our "Philippine policy," but
which should properly be termed our "Pacific policy."
The first class has been termed the "square deal" policy and has
for its purpose the enforcement of law without discrimination, against
both the strong and the weak, the rich and the poor. In other words,
it has for its purpose the enforcement of law in such manner that all
shall stand alike before the majesty of the law and that all shall receive
equal protection and be subject to equal restraint.
The second class, or our "Pacific policy," did not originate with
the present administration. It dates back more than forty years to
the acquisition of Alaska. No American statesman is more respon-
sible for the inauguration of that policy than Secretary Seward. This
policy, accurately forecast and inaugurated by Secretary Seward as
our "Pacific policy," forty years ago, has been steadily pursued as
circumstances have arisen since that time: the commercial reciprocity
treaty with Hawaii, followed by its annexation to the United States ;
the development of Alaska and the settlement of its boundaries; the
acquisition of Samoa for our navy in the South Pacific ; the acquisition
of the Philippines ten years ago, and of Guam as a naval station mid-
way from Hawaii these are the monumental milestones planted along
the line of our "Pacific policy," which has for its purpose the control
of the Pacific in the twentieth century.
If there had been no Asia beyond the Pacific, this policy would
never have been adopted, nor would there have been any undertaking
upon the part of the United States to construct the Panama Canal and
to control the Atlantic approaches by our position at Porto Rico and
Cuba. In a word, this "Pacific policy" has compelled us to abandon
our international isolation and to become a world-power.
The American people to-day stand committed to all these policies.
In the first place, they insist upon the reasonable enforcement of exist-
ing statutes, to the end that all persons shall have equal protection of
the laws and that there shall be no discrimination, by reason of non-
enforcement, in the real activities of commercial life. Our people also
believe that the welfare and the prosperity of this country during the
coming century are largely dependent upon the position which we are
to take in the Far East.
WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT
Republican Nominee for President of the United State*.
.TAMF.S Srnoor.CTJAFT PTTEHMAN*
I!>p'il>lloan Nominee for Virf-l'reslelent of the I'nlfp'l States.
Copyright I9o8j by Harris & Ewing.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 121
We have become one of the great manufacturing nations of the
world. By the census of 1890 our manufactured production was
approximately $9,000,000,000; by the census of 1900 it had increased
to $13,000,000,000. Since 1900 our manufactured production has
increased at a rate heretofore unprecedented, and probably at the
present time it amounts to about $18,000,000,000 a year. This pro-
duction is far beyond what is required by our people for their own
consumption. It therefore follows that we must have foreign markets
for our surplus manufactures, and, failing to obtain such markets,
we are confronted by one of two alternatives, either to reduce the
manufactured production or reduce the wages of the operative. This
brings us face to face with the conflict between labor and capital, the
conflict which faces every manufacturing country of Europe more
acutely than as yet it has come to us. One of the main purposes of
our Pacific policy is to obtain our share of the unappropriated foreign
markets in China and the Far East. As Secretary Taft recently
defined our position in the Pacific, "We are temporarily, it may be,
and still are an Asiatic power. . . . That puts us in a position
where our voice in Asia becomes much more influential than ever
before; we have in Asia interests for our commerce that we must
stand by."
I sincerely believe that no well-informed American, even he who
comes from within one of the charmed circles of "favorite sons,"
would deny that in experience, temperament and ability or perhaps
in a combination of all three no other aspirant for the Presidency
can compare with Mr. Taft. To the highest degree he possesses these
qualifications. A part of them, indeed, are the gifts of nature and
personality, and another and fully as important a part has been
obtained in the effective school of experience. It has been said that
no one since John Quincy Adams has possessed in such full measure
the mental requisites and the varied training and experience calcu-
lated and best fitted for the conduct of the highest office in the gift of
the nation. That is a long look backwards, and yet it is in no sense
an exaggeration of the facts.
In the first place, William H. Taft is an American of Americans,
and thus is he peculiarly enabled to grapple with the problems of
American life and American policies. The good blood of New Eng-
land, the staunch stock that came down from Puritan days, through
122 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
the Revolutionary and the later wars, is his by inheritance. An
ancestor on his mother's side was colonel of a regiment in the battle
of Saratoga, and there are other collateral forefathers who distin-
guished themselves in the service of their country on the field.
(Mr. Powers here reviews the remarkable foreign diplomatic
service of Mr. Taft as well as important judicial decisions at home,
which we omit because the same ground is covered in the life sketch
found in Chapter VII.)
I have stated my belief that no man in America, surely no man
from out the galaxy of the Republican aspirants, is so magnificently
fitted for the carrying forward of our "Pacific" policy as is William
H. Taft. I can conceive of no possible dispute on this subject. His
record speaks for itself. ... In the face of such a record, with
success writ large upon its every achievement, who can possibly doubt
that Mr. Taft is the man, not only for the day at hand, but for the
days that are to come? With his vast knowledge of Oriental traits
and desires, with his kindly sense of justice, with his firm insistence
upon the rights and dignity of the American nation, it seems to me
he is the one man for the handling of the highly delicate problems
which must confront us along our western coast and far into the
islands of the Pacific. No American of the present has had so varied
and complete a training in that diplomacy and statecraft that are
bound to count for so much during the next four years. No man who
has not actually been President has ever had so direct and definite,
so specific an acquaintance and preparation for the duties of that office.
I do not think that Mr. Taft seeks the high office of President
merely for the glory and power that inhere in that exalted position.
His ambitions now, as they ever have been, are of the highest type.
From the earliest point of his career he has manifestly striven to
serve the public rather than to exalt himself. He has several times
deliberately chosen to remain in a humble position and at small pay
rather than to give his splendid intellect to the service of private
interests at many times the financial returns. Time and again he has
declined offers of legal partnership wherein a certain road to wealth
was opened up. Time and again have his legal talents been sought
by great aggregations of brains and capital, but he has ever put the
temptation behind him with the single thought that the service of one's
country is, after all, the highest duty of its citizens. Twice has he
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 123
received an offer of a seat on the Supreme Bench of the United
States, a position which only a few, even from out the most eminent
of the lawyers and judges of the land, can ever hope to reach; but
in spite of the fact that a judgeship in that exalted court has been one
of his cherished life ambitions, Mr. Taft put it aside because his sense
of duty called him at the time to a different service, which he believed
the public interest demanded of him. That is the kind of man whom
the people of this country may well delight to honor.
Discussing Mr. Taft's adaptability for the carrying out of our
policies in the Far East, one predominant trait of his must not be
forgotten, and that is his kindly and highly judicial temperament.
Although he will maintain to the fullest degree the proper rights of
the United States in whatever international question may arise, yet
it must also be considered that he will not rush into difficulties; that
he will not antagonize statesmen of other powers; that he will not
furnish even the slightest pretext for the belligerently inclined to
work upon. He will still have the mailed fist, but its grip will ever
be concealed under the glove of velvet. William H. Taft is "safe"
in all that the word implies. Furthermore, his personal acquaintance
with so many of the great men of foreign countries, his popularity in
the chancellories of Europe, is in itself a guarantee against foreign
entanglements of any sort.
I believe that William H. Taft is one of the truest friends in
high position the wage-earners in this country possess. To be sure,
he is a foe to law-breaking, whether it be done in the name of labor
or of capital, but in so far as the rights and advantages of the work-
ingman of this country are concerned he is and always has been
found upon the side of those who toil when that side could be taken
with justice. I have heard it hinted that Mr. Taft is hostile to the
best interests of the wage-earner. No man who has followed his
legal career, no man who has read his luminous and justice-dealing
decisions as a judge, no man who has read his recent Cooper Union
speech in New York could possibly make such a charge as that with-
out a feeling of insincerity. Everything that Mr. Taft has said and
written shows that he realizes that law-abiding labor has its proper
prerogative and that the happiness of the great mass of the working
people of this country is absolutely necessary for the advancement and
best interests of our land.
124 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
It is Mr. Taft's eminence as a harmonizer which will, I believe,
make him one of the great and useful Presidents of the United
States. His temperament is beautifully adapted to the holding of the
high office which his friends believe he is destined to fill. There can
be no question that where William H. Taft sits will be the head of
the table, and though he may surround himself with a cabinet of
exalted ability and with advisers of power, there will and must be
no doubt that Mr. Taft will be his own President. And yet, a's I
have stated, the genial and gracious nature of the man will make all
his dealings with the thousands of other men who must come in
contact with him so gracious and so void of offense that there can
be little possibility of friction in the carrying on of the national gov-
ernment and only the highest liking and respect for the man who
will have been chosen servant, and not the "ruler," of our eighty
millions of citizens.
One striking peculiarity of the adaptability of Mr. Taft is that
he is endorsed by so many various interests of the land. There is no
secret, of course, that President Roosevelt regards him as the man
best calculated to carry on the past policies for which the name of
our great President stands. So he is naturally liked, therefore, by
all the tremendously powerful elements of our citizens that hold up
the hands of Mr. Roosevelt and bid him godspeed in whatever he
undertakes. On the other hand the great financial interests favor
him. It is recognized that while he is already committed to the
prosecution of those reforms that have already taken some of the
unworthy combinations of capital by the throat, he is not the man
to make any unjust attack upon those financial and industrial interests
which are maintained with honesty and good faith. People believe
in him because they know that he will honestly and energetically
enforce the laws against evil wherever found ; the vital financial inter-
ests of the country believe in him because they are sure that his
enforcement of law will be reasonable and just and all that the best
interests of our whole nation demand. Hence it may be said that the
moral forces of the land are with Mr. Taft ... If elected he
will, without question, prove himself, as he has proved himself upon
all other occasions, to be a typical American, high minded, able and
serving the people with their single interest before his eyes.
CHAPTER X.
THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION OF 1908.
July 7, 1908, at Denver, marked the opening of the National
Convention of the Democratic party. In the rightful possession of its
name, the Democratic party is the oldest active party now in existence.
By this is meant that along the lines forming the basis of its policy
it reaches back farther into the years than any of the present-day
parties. It has taken especial pride in calling itself the Jeffersonian
Party, the States' Rights Party, and, as its name indicates, the party
which believes supremely in the rule of the people. It is very nearly
the same party in principle that supported Andrew Jackson in 1828
and 1832, Martin Van Buren in 1836, James K. Polk in 1844, Franklin
Pierce in 1852 and James Buchanan in 1856, who was the last Demo-
cratic President until the election of Grover Cleveland in 1884 and
again in 1892. Cleveland made "free trade" the great slogan of
modern democracy and fought for it as the one potent anti-trust
remedy of which the country stood in greatest need up to the date of
his death, June 24, 1908.
In ante-bellum days the watchword of the Democratic party was
States' rights. With this cry they waged a continual war against the
encroachments of the federal government upon the sovereignty of the
individual States. Under such leaders as John C. Calhoun it was
practically insisted that the sovereignty of the State was superior to
the sovereignty of the nation. That, as the States voluntarily entered
the Union for mutual protection and benefit, so each State had a right
to withdraw from the Union, when its own constitution or the best
interest and happiness of its people should dictate the wisdom of such
a policy. Such leaders as Andrew Jackson, while holding strong to
the States' rights principles as they are understood to-day, did not
sympathize with the Calhoun wing of the party in these extreme views.
In fact, when secession was threatened during the administration of
126 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
Jackson, he delivered expressions indicative of the sentiment that the
government had a right to force seceding States back into the Union.
It therefore appears that the doctrine of the right of States to
secede, which finally resulted in the great Civil War, while it may
have been implied and was certainly not forbidden in the Constitution,
while it was a tenet of a large portion of the Democratic party, and
was held in the North (where the first threat of secession really
occurred), was not a universally accepted or advocated principle among
Democrats of olden times. The Democratic party cannot therefore be
successfully charged with being the party of secession any more than
the Republican party can be accredited with having been formed for
the purpose of preventing secession. In later times it is almost
universally acknowledged among the greatest of our historians that
slavery, while it was not the direct cause, was certainly the indirect
cause of the great civil strife, on both sides of which leading Demo-
crats and Republicans allied themselves according to the dictates of
their patriotic duty, as they saw it.
The only reason why the South should have remained so solidly
Democratic and the Republican party should have predominated in
the North was due to the fact of the sectional animosity which grew
out of the war and the days of reconstruction which succeeded it. The
North having been victorious under a Republican administration,
naturally turned its loyalty, in the flush of its success, toward that
party, much more largely than it would otherwise have done. The
South having been defeated and subsequently suffering so severely, in
the reconstruction days under Republican rule, naturally regarded that
party as its enemy; and (with the exception of the blacks, who became
almost universally Republican out of a spirit of gratitude for their
freedom to the party of Abraham Lincoln) the South became solidly
Democratic and has so remained.
Almost half a century has elapsed since the great fraternal strife
of 1 86 1 to 1865, and patriotic voters of both North and South are
rapidly dismissing the war from their political consideration, and are
studying the issues at stake the principles and platforms of the
parties as they are to-day in the light of modern requirements, and
are patriotically casting their votes upon principle to a greater extent
than has been done at any time since the old days when Andrew Jack-
son was the popular hero of both North and South.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 127
It must be said that,^with all the sectionalism which may have
been forced into the Southern vote by the conditions above referred
to, the South has always caried with it the true Jeffersonian prin-
ciples of democracy. And now, that the days of slavery are so long
past, and that interstate commerce and the facilities of transportation
have bound the country so closely and intimately together, that every
State regards itself as a part of the great Union with no desire for
separation whatever its constitutional rights may be; since the Span-
ish-American War has revealed the fact to every voter of the North
that the loyalty of the South to the flag of the nation equals, in every
respect, if indeed it does not excel, the loyalty of the North; since
these things are true, sectionalism may be moved largely if not
entirely out of the way of the principles of Democracy, leaving them
free and undisturbed to permeate the mind and heart of the nation.
Much has already been accomplished in that direction. Perhaps more
than one-half of the staunch Democrats of the United States are to-
day found north of the Mason and Dixon Line. The discussion of
the great industrial questions of the day brings the principles of real
democracy prominently and intelligently to the knowledge of all
voters, and in this lies the hope of the ultimate triumph of the Demo-
cratic party.
THE CONVENTION.
The exact number of delegates to the convention was 1,002, but
in the section reserved for the delegates, which was in front of the
rostrum, there were 1,072 seats. This is accounted for by the fact
that several States selected twice their allotted number of dele-
gates, giving each a half vote. The section for alternates had 1,002
seats, no additions having been made by States that doubled their
delegations.
Admission to the convention was only by ticket. Officers and
attaches of the convention and newspaper correspondents were re-
quired to wear badges and present tickets. Tickets admitted only at
entrances designated. Upon each was printed the letter of an en-
trance, and for the public, the number of the section where the holder
must sit.
In the location of the delegations, Nebraska, the State of W. J.
Bryan, was squarely in front of the rostrum, with Indiana and Texas
in front at the left and Alabama at the right. New York was right
behind Nebraska and Illinois behind Indiana and Texas.
128 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
THE FIRST DAY OF THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION.
Amid carloads of beautiful snow brought down from the moun-
tains and piled in heaps around the convention hall and in the new
mammoth auditorium, the best in the world for its purpose, with
cheers from 12,000 throats, with political oratory and the inspiring
spectacle of a vast multitude, the Democratic National Convention
began its deliberations at noon, July 7th.
The first session, lasting a little more than two hours, was notable
for its impressive magnitude and spectacular effects. It gave, how-
ever, the opportunity for the awakening echoes of convention enthu-
siasm, the keynote speech of the temporary presiding officer, Theodore
A. Bell, of California; a heated skirmish incidental to the contest in
the Pennsylvania delegation and finally a unanimous tribute of homage
and respect to the memory of the late Grover Cleveland.
But the enthusiasm of the opening session was comparatively
brief. The day was devoted chiefly to the primary formalities, and
the committees were appointed for perfecting the permanent organiza-
tion.
The doors of the hall were unbarred at 11.10 o'clock, fully one
hour before the gavel of National Chairman Taggart was scheduled
to fall as the signal for the beginning of the initial session.
A new feature of the convention arrangements was a battery of
four automatic adding machines such as banking and large business
establishments use. These were provided for the tallying and speedy
and accurate result of the balloting.
An oil painting of Mr. Cleveland faced the rostrum, having a
position of honor second only to that of Thomas Jefferson.
A feature of the seating arrangements, new in political conven-
tions, was the labeling of all seats. Every chair carried on its back
a small placard bearing the name of the State in large black capitals
with the word "delegates" beneath it. This small detail did away
with much of the confusion inside, as it showed where the territory
of every State ended and where that of its neighbors began, and there
was no good natured "scrapping" over boundary lines, as is gen-
erally the case.
MUSIC BY THE COWBOY BAND.
At 11.30 o'clock, when the hall was less than one-fourth filled,
the first music of the convention crashed from the upper balcony. This
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 129
music was by the famous cowboy band which came from Alamosa, a
little town in Colorado, and there is not a band in the country or in
any other country that could have outplayed it. The band was
dressed in cowboy costumes variegated handkerchief about the neck,
all sorts of colored flannel shirts and leather breeches, with the leather
trimmings, and the only thing lacking was the ferocious pistol which
is seen in every picture of a cowboy. That band was a glory and a
delight to the 10,000 who were able to get into the hall.
For two hours the band discoursed beautiful, familiar and stirring
airs, switching off from time to time to "Dixie," and frequently would
give the sweetest melody from the South and the ditties of the West-
ern plains. Then, in solemn cadence, the band would break in with
something like a dirge, and this great audience turned its eyes to a
huge canvas, upon which was portrayed the features of Grover Cleve-
land. Mr. Cleveland's portrait was adorned by the American colors
veiled in mourning.
It was a great scene. It was so different from the customary and
conventional scene at a Democratic or a Republican national conven-
tion the beauty of the flowers, the fine idea of the plants, the geniality
of the band, the good feeling that seemed to prevail, the spontaneous
outbursts for everything and everybody demonstrated what has
already been said, that the whole represented the efforts of the people
that had never before had a national convention.
Chairman Tom Taggart arrived with Temporary Chairman Bell
at 11.45 o'clock, and they were liberally applauded. While Taggart
was waiting for order the delegates came in, many with banners.
The Bryan volunteers, of Nebraska; the Californians and dozens of
other delegations came in with banners of all colors. Cheers greeted
the advent of every Bryan banner.
THE PRESIDENT'S AND BRYAN'S DAUGHTER THERE.
In a box to the left of Chairman Taggart's platform was Mrs.
Nicholas Longworth and her husband and the other members of the
Longworth-Roosevelt party, among which was Senator Julius Caesar
Burrows, temporary chairman of the Republican National Conven-
tion at Chicago. Mrs. Longworth's box was a bower of roses and
ferns. The pink, crimson and bright red of the roses were charm-
ingly mingled. Within twenty feet in another box was Mrs. Ruth
I 3 o GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
Bryan Leavitt and the other children of William J. Bryan. The
Bryan box also was enveloped and almost hidden with beautiful roses,
pinks, lilies and ferns.
On the floor in the sections devoted to the delegates sat Mrs.
Mary C. C. Bradford, one of the four delegates-at-large for Colorado.
She sat behind the Colorado standard. In the Utah delegation, sitting
as another delegate, was Mrs. H. J. Hayward, president of the
Woman's Democratic Club, of Salt Lake City. Both of these women
are the keenest talkers, and when it is said that they are talkers and
talkers for fair, it is but a mere record of the fact.
The Michigan delegation, which had marched to the convention
hall carrying a large silk banner, bore it into the hall and were
promptly ordered by the sergeant-at-arms to bear it out again. The
Wolverines compromised by laying it on the floor beneath their seats.
After all the delegations had been seated with the exception of
Nebraska the delegation from that State made a spectacular entrance.
They came marching in a solid column down the center aisle holding
high a large banner of red, white and blue silk on which was painted
a portrait of Mr. Bryan. Above the picture were the words "Bryan
Volunteers" and beneath it. "of Nebraska." The sight of the banner
and the march of the Nebraskans created great enthusiasm for a few
minutes, many of the delegates and alternates leaping upon their
chairs and waving their hats and handkerchiefs.
California followed Nebraska into the hall and vied with that
delegation in the splendor of a banner in white, blue and gold which
also bore a likeness of Mr. Bryan. The Californians carried palm
leaf fans and small national flags which they waved in enthusiastic
acknowledgment of the cordial greetings accorded them by the dele-
gations already in the hall.
It was just at 12.20 o'clock when Chairman Thomas Taggart, of
the National Committee, brought down his gavel with a resounding
whack and called the convention to order. Cheers followed the blow
of the gavel and Chairman Taggart, as soon as they had subsided,
spoke as follows:
"As chairman of the Democratic National Committee, it becomes
my pleasing duty to call this convention to order, and in so doing I
cannot refrain from the suggestion that in numbers, in the personnel
of the delegates, in enthusiasm and in the determination of victory,
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 131
it is the greatest political convention ever assembled in the United
States. It is certainly appropriate that such a convention should meet
in this great Western city, whose citizens have shown their generous
hospitality on every hand and whose enterprise and energy is attested
by the erection of this magnificent auditorium.
"In this connection I desire to express the thanks of the members
of the National Committee to the people of Denver and especially to
the members of the Denver Convention League, whose unselfish and
untiring work has contributed so much to this successful and happy
opening of the campaign of 1908."
Following Mr. Taggart's remarks the secretary read the official
call of the convention.
Bishop John J. Kean, of Wyoming, delivered the invocation,
delegates and spectators rising to their feet. Mr. Taggart then an-
nounced that Theodore A. Bell had been chosen as temporary chair-
man and named the committee who would escort him to his seat.
The name of Mr. Bell was greeted with an outburst of applause,
as was that of Urey Woodson, the secretary.
"Gentlemen of the convention," said Mr. Taggart, as the com-
mittee of three appeared on the platform with Chairman Bell, "I take
pleasure in introducing to you your temporary chairman, Theodore
A. Bell."
An instant shout of applause greeted the words of the chairman,
and as the temporary chairman advanced to the front to deliver his
address the cheers were redoubled. Mr. Bell is about five feet ten
inches in height, slender, clean shaven, brown eyed and brown haired.
He was garbed in the conventional afternoon attire. His voice is
clear and penetrating and he had no difficulty in commanding the
close and instant attention of the convention.
The delegates were prone to applaud from the utterance of Mr.
Bell's first sentence. His manner of delivery lent emphasis to his
points, and there was spontaneous handclapping at the conclusion of
each of his gracefully rounded periods. Galleries, too, joined liberally
in the applause bestowed upon the speaker.
Cheers mingled in the outburst of applause when Mr. Bell as-
serted that the Democratic party would always stand unalterably
opposed to a monopoly of production.
At the conclusion of the speech the delegates rose to their feet
and cheered the orator for many minutes.
132 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
The speech made a profound impression, not only on the con-
vention, but throughout the country, as the following editorial from
a loading liberal Republican daily will evince:.
BELL STATES BIG ISSUES.
"The Democratic party as represented in its national convention
was raised on the first day to a plane of patriotic purpose, based upon
an intelligent understanding of the needs of the American people and
the questions which must be decided in the coming campaign, by the
speech of one man. That man was Theodore A. Bell, the temporary
chairman of the convention, and unquestionably the best man who
could have been selected to make the keynote speech. It was a speech
that held the attention of the convention as even keynote speeches
seldom do, and one that brought home to the delegates a keen sense of
Democratic responsibility. It was a speech, too, that pointed out the
weak spots in the forces upon which William H. Taft must rely and
the platform which was forced upon him, with a clearness and force
that will be hard to obscure, even when the battle between the parties
has inflamed the country.
"It was a trumpet to which many Republicans would like to
respond, for it sounded opposition to all that sordid reactionary
influence which has fought the policies of even its own President,
Roosevelt, and exercised sufficient control over the Republican Na-
tional Convention to prevent the adoption of so strong a platform as
Taft and Roosevelt wanted, and forced the nomination of James S.
Sherman, of New York, to serve as a deadweight handicap to the
more progressive and independent man who heads the Republican
ticket.
"This speech of Bell's will probably not be excelled by anything
Bryan may say or by any replies that may be made from the Repub-
lican side.
"It presented the true issues of the campaign issues not between
the Republican and Democratic parties, but issues between the pro-
gressive, independent citizens of the country and the horde of grasp-
ing corruptionists who stand as obstructionists; the Cannons, Sher-
mans, Aldriches and Penroses of the Republican organization; the
Guffeys, Charles F. Murphy and Roger Sullivan, of the Bryan
Democracy.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 133
BELL'S ANALYSIS TRUE.
"Bell's analysis of the Republican platform as a confession of
guilt was not an exaggeration. His criticism of the party for its
failure to enact into law the most important recommendations of
President Roosevelt did no injustice to any one. He spoke the truth,
a truth the American people understand and appreciate, and a truth
which must figure in the campaign because Cannon dominates the
action of the House of Representatives and Aldrich controls Repub-
lican action in the United States Senate, and both, of them and all
the tools they rely upon to aid them in preventing legislation for the
promotion of the general welfare are but the tools of predatory com-
binations that have been branded by President Roosevelt as public
enemies."
The importance and significance of Bell's speech lie in the fact
that it indicated just what character of attack is to be made upon the
Republican ticket by the Democratic hosts.
There was not a word of criticism directed against President
Roosevelt, or anything he has accomplished or tried to accomplish.
There was no word against William H. Taft except such as is justified
by the patent fact that, as a candidate of the Republican party, Taft
must be regarded as, in part at least, the representative of that element
of the Republican party which all public-spirited Republicans have
been fighting, and yet which was strong enough to gain a compromise
in the conflict of the factions at Chicago.
The text of the speech follows:
THE "KEYNOTE" SPEECH OF DEMOCRACY.
BY TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN THEODORE A. BELL.
"We have assembled at a time when the public conscience is
demanding honesty of purpose in the men who undertake to direct
the affairs of state. The public eye is keenly sensitive to every political
movement, and our proceedings here will be approved according to
the degree of sincerity appearing in the work of this convention.
"There is a widespread belief, founded upon evidence of a con-
vincing character, that the party in power has not been true to its
trust, that it has betrayed the common interests into the hands of the
enemies of good government, thereby forfeiting its right and destroy-
ing its ability to rule in the name of the people.
134 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
"Apparent to every one is the fact that way down deep in the
heart of the Republican convention at Chicago there was a feeling of
anger and resentment over the popular clamor for reforms, and it is
equally patent that there is no bonafide intention on the part of the
Republican party of granting any reforms, if the machinery of that
party can be retained in present hands.
"Its paper platform, divided like ancient Gaul into three parts
barren promises, makeshifts and evasions it is hoped will make a
good campaign transparency, but no one seriously believes the Repub-
lican party indorses that neutral manuscript which held the conven-
tion together until it could ratify the nomination of a Presidential
candidate.
"Approaching our great task in a manly, dignified manner, im-
bued with the loftiest sentiments of patriotism, ambitious to throw
every safeguard around the liberties of our people, determined to
stamp out the abuses that are consuming the substance of the nation,
let us proceed to our appointed duty with the sustaining consciousness
that we are responsible alone to God and to our country for the justice
of our cause.
AN APPEAL TO COMMON SENSE.
"There are three things that this convention should do :
"It ought to present in a plain and intelligent manner the serious
industrial conditions that are disturbing the peace and happiness of
our country.
"We should then proceed to a courageous exposure of the Re-
publican policies that are co-operating with private greed in the gen-
eral oppression of the people.
"Most important of all, we must exhibit a readiness and an ability
to grasp the problems of the hour and to effect their solution in a
manner that will satisfy the sober, common sense of the multitudes
whose interests are at stake.
"Among the great evils that afflict the country at the present
time is the abuse of corporate power. At first the advancing aggres-
sions of the corporations are not discernible to the common eye, for
every move is carefully covered up until sufficient political strength is
attained to defy the protests of the people.
"Thus the constant and insidious invasion of the people's rights
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 135
finally results in a species of arrogance and defiance so formidable in
its appearance that the body of the people, in fear of even worse
aggressions, hesitate to exercise their rightful authority over these
colossal enemies of the commonwealth.
"And so we behold a subversion of our free institutions, a govern-
ment voluntarily subordinating itself to selfish, private ends, special
privilege resorting to cunning, bribery and intimidation to maintain
its unholy power.
"Whenever the mutterings of the people become too threatening
the cry of confiscation goes up and appeals are frantically made to the
sacred rights of party. This is intended to affright the ears of honest
men in the enjoyment of the fruits of their industry and thrift, and
thus, by playing upon their prejudices and fears, to deter them from
casting their influence on the side of wholesome reforms. The cry of
confiscation is the historic defense of usurpation. Let the people take
warning. Whenever the wrongs of to-day become the vested right
of to-morrow the nation is in deadly peril.
"The Democratic party is not the enemy of property; but to the
contrary, it has always stood and will continue to stand firmly against
every species of aggression that would destroy or weaken the right
of any man to enjoy the rewards to which his patience, his skill, his
industry and his economy entitle him.
"Our party approves that feeling of pride which always accom-
panies the possession of purity, and it commends an individual owner-
ship in the soil that will bring to the homes of America more of the
convenience, comforts and luxuries of life. Against the evils of
special privilege we urge the benefits of equal opportunity, in order
that there may be more landowners, more homes and more happiness
among the masses.
"The Democratic party is not an enemy of all corporations. It
recognizes their great value in the industrial world. Through the
agency of incorporation scattered wealth is brought together and
given a driving force that it would not otherwise possess. Great
enterprises are thereby undertaken and the undeveloped resources of
the country added to the wealth of the world.
"No rational man can be opposed to corporations as such, and
the assertion that the Democratic party is waging an indiscriminate
was against this convenient form of transacting business has no foun-
136 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
dation in fact. It is the abuse only of corporate power that we seek
to eliminate.
"Our party is not opposed to production on a large scale, but it
is unalterably opposed to monopoly in production. It is easier to
prevent monopoly than it is to control it after being established. An
ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and the withdrawal of
special privileges will take away the meat upon which the trusts are
fed. If this be followed by a criminal prosecution and an imprison-
ment of the directors and officers of the guilty corporations, monopoly
will be shorn of many of its terrors.
"Viewed in the light of a great moral institution, the control of
corporations should remain a question of common concern rather than
a political one, but the shameful complacency of the Republican party
in permitting its forces to be controlled and operated by the most
offending corporations of the country throws the problem into the
political arena and compels the public to choose between the Demo-
cratic party that will and the Republican party that will not place
some restrictions on incorporated greed.
SAYS RIVAL PARTY IS INSINCERE.
"We are confronted with the inquiry, What assurance has the
Republican party given that it will use the forces at its command to
restore the people to their rights? In its Chicago platform it did not
make even a decent pretense of championing the people's cause, and
the proceedings of that convention are glaringly insincere.
"It was noted that two elements were present in that gathering
one with sufficient votes to adopt a platform and name its candidate
for President, the other powerful enough to underwrite that platform
and tie the hands of the nominee.
"The distinguishing feature of the Chicago platform is its oft-
repeated promise to do a lot of things that the Republican party has
heretofore failed to do.
"Some one suggested that this convention should publish an
indictment against the Republican party. We can probably expedite
the proceedings by entering the plea of guilty that is contained in the
Chicago platform, simply changing the words 'we will' to the words
'we did not' to conform to the admitted facts. We then have the
following Republican confession of guilt:
PRESIDENTS OP THE UNITED STATES FROM 1850 TO 1877.
PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES FROM 1877 TO 1901.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 137
" 'We did not revise the tariff.
" 'We did not amend the anti-trust laws to secure greater effect-
iveness in the prosecution of criminal monopolies.
" 'We did not add a single line to the interstate commerce law,
giving the Federal Government supervision over the issues of stocks
and bonds by interstate carriers.
" 'We did not exact a currency measure that would mitigate the
evils of a financial panic such as has recently prostrated the country
under a Republican administration.
" 'We did not limit the opportunities for abusing the writ of
injunction.
" 'We did not establish postal savings banks.
" 'We did not establish a bureau of mines and mining.
" 'We did not admit into the Union the Territories of New
Mexico and Arizona as separate States.'
"The last Congress was in session during a financial crisis, when
innumerable banking institutions, preferring a holiday to a funeral,
closed their doors and rilled the minds of the millions of depositors
with anxiety and fear. The sentiment in favor of postal savings banks
which had been steadily growing in this country became almost uni-
versal during the recent panic. So insistent became the voice of the
people that the President sent a special message to Congress urging
the establishment of postal savings banks where the earnings of our
people might be safely deposited under the direct control and respon-
sibility of the Federal Government.
"The United States Senate showed its hearty sympathy with this
popular demand and its profound respect for the President by ad-
journing while the message was being read, while over in the House
they refused to suspend the roll call to receive the communication.
"The Chicago platform points with pride to the passage of a
child-labor law for the District of Columbia. Let the Republican
party go further than the enactment of penal laws and in the name of
humanity use its vast energies for the removal of the conditions that
are forcing our children into the labor market.
ONE EVIL OF MONOPOLY.
"It is the reign of monopoly that is emptying our school houses
and filling the sweat shops with child labor, and this same system of
138 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
monopoly is fast limiting the opportunities for independent livelihood
among those who are forced into the industrial field.
"The most palpable instance of the insincerity of the Chicago
platform is found in its declaration respecting the issuance of injunc-
tions. It would have been entitled to more respect if it had omitted
all mention of it. The oligarchy in House and Senate has decided
that nothing shall be done to weaken any advantage that corporations
have gained in labor disputes.
"The fact is that all our citizens, without respect to station or
occupation in life, have a genuine respect for the courts and desire to
maintain their integrity. The charge that the courts are being assailed
is simply made for the purpose of diverting attention from the real
issue. Heretofore it has not been considered treason or an unwar-
rantable attack upon the honor of the courts to define their jurisdic-
tion, prescribe their procedure, restrict their processes and generally
to fix the bounds within which judicial functions shall be exercised.
"It makes no difference whether the courts are acting in excess
of their jurisdiction or strictly within their delegated powers. In
either case the people have a right to throw additional safeguards
around human liberty. There can be no reflection upon the 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 govern-
ment, may determine.
"This Democratic convention must formally and unequivocally
pledge itself to such legislation as will prevent the writ of injunction
from being converted into an instrument of oppression.
"We have something to do in this convention besides pointing
out evils and taking the Republican party to task for the part it has
played in creating and perpetrating abuses.
PARTY'S INTERNAL POLICIES.
"In recent years our party has given signal proof of its ability to
grasp the opportunity of building up an internal policy, of developing
the natural resources of America and converting them to the use and
benefit of all that will share in their blessings.
"This policy of domestic development, which was strongly urged
in former Democratic national platforms, and, so earnestly advocated
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 139
by Democratic members in both houses of Congress, stands in bril-
liant contrast with the imperial policy of the Republican party in the
exploitation of distant territory for the benefit of a favored few.
"Witness the beneficent operation of national irrigation, which
had its origin in the Newlands bill, and which owes its place upon
our statute books, not to the initiative of Republican leaders in
Congress, but to Francis G. Newlands and his Democratic colleagues,
who labored in and out of season for the reclamation of our arid
lands under federal aid and supervision.
"The preservation of our forests and the conservation of all our
natural resources were taken up by a Republican President only after
years of agitation by the Democratic party.
"Is it not the Democratic party to-day that is leading the fight
for the improvement of our inland waterways along comprehensive
and scientific lines? The last Republican Congress turned a deaf ear
to the appeals of the President and refused to organize an inland
waterways commission to examine and report upon the subject. The
opposition of the Republican party to the policy of preserving and
developing our national wealth in the interests of the whole people
had its origin in that unholy alliance between the Republican party
and the land transportation monopolies of the country.
MUST REVISE THE TARIFF.
"With the power and opportunity to carry out Democratic prin-
ciples, we will be called upon to revise our tariff laws in the interests
of the whole people. This issue cannot be disposed of by the assertion
that the Republican party also stands for tariff reform. Republican
revision and Democratic revision are two different things.
"The Democratic idea is 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 be-
tween the protection of American industries and the protection of
criminal monopolies.
"The expenses of our government, even when most economically
administered, will always require substantial tariff rates, for the cus-
toms duties will always be our chief source of revenue.
"The distribution of tariff rates must always be established with
T40 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
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 Democratic idea is that the collection of sufficient revenue
to meet the necessities of government must be the basis for tariff
regulations, and that the Republican policy of excluding competition
by a tax on the American consumer which requires him to pay
greater prices at home than was 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. In the Chicago convention a minority report of the Committee
on Resolutions, containing a declaration in favor of publicity for cam-
paign gifts, was overwhelmingly defeated upon a roll call of the
convention, 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 52 to I in the committee,
and a vote of more than 10 to I in the body of the convention, they
confessed their guilt.
"They thus admitted the charge so frequently made by our party
that Republican success 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.
"An election is a party affair and the people 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 elec-
tion purposes are being made from the treasuries of the corporations
without an express or implied promise that the contributors shall
receive special benefits in consideration of their subscriptions. Upon
this subject has the Republican party such utter contempt for the
wishes of the people and its refusal to use a cash register in its
political affairs, clearly exhibits a crookedness and dishonesty that will
not bear the light of day.
"It is eminently proper that this convention should define the
Democratic attitude toward the regulation of transportation com-
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 141
panics 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 and unreasonable.
"The national platforms 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 the Federal Govern-
ment supervision over the issuance of railroad stocks and bonds is
demanded.
"The fixing of transportation charges and the control of issu-
ances of railroad securities are inseparably connected with the actual
valuation of 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 com-
panies. While, on the other hand, the Republican party, on a roll call
in the convention, by an overwhelming vote took an unequivocal stand
in favor of a system of water rates without 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 reforms ; and it is
no mere coincidence that has given us a billion-dollar session of Con-
gress on the eve of a national election and the possible revision of the
tariff.
"On five different occasions the House of Representatives 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 institu-
tions.
FOR DIRECT ELECTION.
"The Democratic party will continue to labor for the direct elec-
tion of United States Senators, and it appeals to the voters of all
142 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
America to elect members of the different State Legislatures who will
pledge themselves to vote for no candidate for the United States Sen-
ate that is not in favor of this reform.
"On the bosom of the Pacific will be enacted the mighty commer-
cial struggles of the future, and the interests of American commerce
will demand that an adequate naval strength be maintained in the
waters of the Pacific to protect our expanding commerce."
"This magnificent western country of ours has not only proved
attractive to our own people and the other white nations of the earth,
but it has likewise proved alluring to the brown and yellow races of
the East. Some protection has been afforded by the exclusion of
Chinese labor ; but the evil is but half met if the Asiatic people are not
excluded from our shores.
"Not only the white toilers of America, but all our people without
respect to class or residence are vitally interested in this menace to our
social and industrial life from Oriental quarters.
"The Democratic party realizes the weight that America must
inevitably exert in the affairs of the world, and will demand that her
influence ever be cast on the side of peace, on the side of justice, on
the side of the oppressed, and, if the will of the people shall commit
to Democratic hands the sceptre of power, it will be used for the
realization of those high American ideals that lift our own people
to loftier and better things, and through our precepts and examples
contribute to the well-being and happiness of all mankind."
There was enthusiastic and liberal applause following Mr. Bell's
splendid oration. The convention evidently agreed with the editorial
previously quoted, that the one man for the place was in the chair,
and had spoken the sentiments and sounded the "keynote" of his party.
As the first order of business after closing his address Mr. Bell
recognized John E. Lamb, of Indiana, who offered a motion for all of
the States for membership on the various standing committees of the
convention.
The reading clerk, when he came to Arkansas, pronounced the
name of the State like Kansas, and there immediately came a shout of
protest from the delegation, whose members shouted back "Ar kan
saw."
Amid laughter the clerk corrected his pronunciation.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 143
''Indian Territory," called the clerk, "Indian Territory." There
was no response. The clerk called the name a third time.
"She's married !" yelled a delegate.
"I mean Oklahoma," said the clerk, and the list went up to the
chairman's stand amid much laughter.
The calling of the States soon ceased and the names of the com-
mittees were sent up by the pages while other business was in progress.
THE CONVENTION HONORS CLEVELAND.
The chair recognized I. J. Dunn, of Omaha, Neb., who presented
the following resolutions of respect to the memory of the late Grover
Cleveland :
"As it has pleased the Ruler of the universe to remove from its
midst Grover Cleveland, late President of the United States, who was
three times the candidate of the Democratic party ; be it
"Resolved, That we, the delegates of the party in national conven-
tion assembled, recognize in him one of the strongest and ablest char-
acters known to the world's statesmanship, who possessed to an extra-
ordinary degree the elements of leadership, and by his .able, consci-
entious and forceful administration of public affairs reflected honor
upon his country and upon his party ; and
"Resolved, That we hereby express our deep sorrow at his death
and extend our warmest sympathy and condolence to his family, and
that this resolution be spread upon the records of the convention and
a copy be forwarded to Mrs. Cleveland ; and
"Resolved, As a further mark of respect to his memory, the con-
vention do now adjourn until twelve o'clock (noon) to-morrow."
Mr. Dunn, mounted upon a chair, moved the adoption of his
resolution, and the chair recognized ex-Governor David R. Francis,
of Missouri, who seconded the resolution and spoke briefly in eulogy
of Mr. Cleveland.
The address of ex-Governor Francis was punctuated with fre-
quent applause, and a terrific shout greeted the words, "Let us now
bury all dissensions of the past."
Many of the delegates rose to their feet and cheered lustily. At
the conclusion of Governor Francis' address the chair recognized
Colonel W. A. Haldeman, of Kentucky.
"Speaking for Kentucky and for Kentuckians," said Colonel Hal-
144 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
deman, "and as the personal and political friend of Mr. Cleveland, I
wish to second the motion of the gentleman from Nebraska and to
indorse every word that Governor Francis has said."
"It is moved and seconded," began Chairman Bell, but he was at
once interrupted by cries of "Parker, Parker," which came from all
parts of the hall.
Judge Alton B. Parker, of New York, arose and said : "It was
my purpose, had I been fortunate enough to first secure the attention
of the chairman, to offer my resolutions."
The former standard bearer of the Democratic party read his
resolution in a ringing voice, and he was accorded the most careful
attention throughout the reading, frequent applause compelling him
to halt the delivery.
At the ending of his reading Judge Parker joined in the Dunn
resolution by saying: "And, therefore, I beg leave to second the
motion of the gentleman from Nebraska."
Repeated cheers followed the distinguished speaker as he returned
to his seat in the New York delegation.
The question of adopting the Nebraska resolution was put and
concurred in by a rising vote.
THE PENNSYLVANIA SQUABBLE.
The chairman stated that two sets of committee appointments
had been sent to the chair from Pennsylvania, evidencing a dispute or
misunderstanding in that State.
Ollie James was recognized to move that all matters in dispute
as to contest, etc., be referred to the Committee on Credentials.
Governor Haskell seconded the motion, but John M. Garman, of
Pennsylvania, was on his feet clamoring for recognition, which he
finally received. He desired to have the question of the regularity
of the contesting Pennsylvania delegation threshed out on the floor
at once.
Mr. Garman was interrupted by cries of "order" and "question,"
but was allowed to conclude when Colonel J. M. Guffey went down the
aisle asking for recognition. A dozen other delegates were on their
feet when Mr. Bell declared the convention must proceed in regular
order, the only question being as to whether or not the matter should
be sent to the Committee on Credentials.
145
"Don't you want a ruling?" said the chairman, and then he gave
it without waiting for a reply, saying: "The point of order is not
well taken." Mr. Carman moved as a substitute to the motion of Mr.
James that the list sent to the desk by the majority of the delegates
from Pennsylvania be accepted as the only proper list of committee-
men. The chairman, however, refused to entertain the amendment,
and declared the motion of Mr. James the only matter before the
convention.
Colonel Guffey secured recognition finally and spoke briefly, and,
as he concluded his address, he turned back down the aisle and when
the chair called for the ayes and noes he turned, and with a face white
with wrath shouted :
"We demand a roll call," and the cry was taken up by other
members of the Pennsylvania delegation and seconded from a dozen
parts of the hall. The chairman, however, called for the vote amid
great confusion and cries of "roll call" from the Guffey people and
shouts of "sit down," which were hurled at them from all sides of the
hall.
The viva voce vote seemed overwhelmingly in favor of the motion
of Mr. James, and the chairman so declared, while Colonel Guffey, Mr.
Carman and others of his friends shouted derisively. After the
announcement by the chairman of the meeting places of the various
committees, all of which were ordered to assembly at 5 P. M., the
convention adjourned until twelve o'clock the following day in respect
to the memory of Mr. Cleveland.
SECOND DAY'S PROCEEDINGS.
The Democratic National Convention was called to order for the
second day at 12.26 o'clock Wednesday, July 8th.
Prayer was offered by Rev. Christian F. Reisner, of Denver.
W. H. Martin, of Arkansas, presented on behalf of the National
Committee a resolution of regret and tribute to the late James K.
Jones, former chairman of the committee. It was adopted by a rising
vote, and a motion to adjourn until eight o'clock in the evening was
lost. The convention called for Senator Taylor, who was absent, then
for Senator Gore, of Oklahoma. Taylor and Towne were both
absent.
"We shall hear from Senator Gore," finally announced Mr. Bell,
amid great cheering.
146 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
The delegates of Oklahoma went into a spasm of delight. They
whooped and yelled as the blind Senator was led to the platform.
His first utterances were happy and he caught the convention
immediately. Loud cheers and applause greeted his declaration that
Oklahoma is the most democratic State in the Union.
The cheers were repeated later when he said : "The President
of the United States has said that his opinion of our constitution is
unfit for publication. That is true of many of the opinions of the
President of the United States."
"Fellow delegates, the great Secretary of War came to Oklahoma
and waged war against our constitution. He asked us to give up our
right of liberty and self-government, but by a vote of thousands upon
thousands Oklahoma rejected the advice of Taft and accepted the
advice of Bryan."
GREAT BRYAN DEMONSTRATION.
The mention of the name brought out great applause, and many
members of the New York delegation joined in the cheering, but a
majority remained seated. Minnesota and Delaware were the con-
spicuous exceptions to the general celebration.
A Bryan banner, which had been lurking in the rear, was rushed
to the stage and waved above the heads of the chairman and speaker.
The point of the flagstaff caught one of the suspended eagles over the
chairman's desk and brought it crashing to the floor. It was quickly
caught up, however, and held above Senator Gore's head. The band
joined in the demonstration with lively music.
Sergeant-at-arms Martin, after he had thoroughly mussed the
Senator's hair with the eagle's tail, waved the great stuffed bird so
close to the Senator's nose that he must have started back had he been
able to see what was going on two inches from his face.
BAND POURS OIL ON THE FIRE.
The applause was relaxing somewhat when the band poured oil
on the fire by striking up "Dixie," and instantly the flame was burning
fiercely, and brighter than before. The young man with the Bryan
banner held his place on the speaker's stand by the side of the Senator,
waving his banner to and fro.
Senator Gore, who had caused the terrific outburst, waited for a
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 147
time for the noise to cease and then quietly turned and seated himself
against the railing of the platform, waiting for the uproar to subside.
Georgia's delegation, in the midst of the cheering, was also con-
spicuous for its absolute silence. When the demonstration had pro-
ceeded for some fifteen minutes a delegate from Iowa caught up the
standard of that State and led a march to the stage, where there was
a grouping of the States. It was a wild rush to the platform in
Avhich there was much confusion. Delegates other than those carry-
ing the heavy standards joined in the surging crowd, invading the
space set aside for working newspaper men and seriously interfering
with their labors.
The only standards that finally were left in their places were
Georgia, New York, Delaware, Minnesota, Maryland, Connecticut and
New Jersey.
After ten minutes of yelling the perspiring, scrambling delegates
with their State standards left the platform and started on a parade
around the hall. Back and forth the aisle in front of the press seats
the excited, shouting Bryan men carried their standards.
California's Bryan banner, heavy with gold tassels and fringe,
was carried to the stage while the cheering continued unabated, and
cries of "Whoop 'er up" came from the delegates in the front row.
Maryland at last deserted from the "stay at homes" and its ban-
ner was taken into the midst of the parade.
Many of the standard bearers formed a circle about the New
York delegation and cheered their lustiest.
In the midst of the riot of noise and the confusion of marching
delegates the constant boom flashlight explosions from the photog-
rapher added to the pandemonium.
The standard bearers finally invaded the galleries, Maine and
Alabama leading the climb to the second tier.
The galleries already had taken their full share of the demon-
stration.
The band kept up a continuous flow of music, which finally started
all the delegates to sing, when "Hail, Hail, the gang's all here," was
struck up.
The band in the gallery struck up "Marching Through Georgia."
While the latter air was ringing through the hall a determined assault
was made by the frenzied Bryan shouters upon the Georgia standard,
148 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
which up to this time had been kept firmly rooted in its place. The
delegation showed in firm fashion that it was dangerous to "march
through Georgia," as ever it had been in the days of the war.
They rallied around their little yellow pole, bearing the name of
their State in white against a background of blue, and they stuck
staunchly to their guardianship. It was the only Southern standard
that remained unrooted, and where it was planted it stayed.
The cowboy band at last left its place in the galleries and
joined the parade through the aisle, playing "Marching Through
Georgia." The man with the big bass horn had troubles which were
only equalled by the bass drummer in getting through the crowd. The
band was finally separated, and in groups and singly the members
played as they pleased. It was a weird medley.
Pennsylvania's standard was the first returned to its place, but
the example apparently had little effect upon the other States. After
the uproar had continued for fifty minutes Maine joined in the parade,
which was constantly swinging up and down the aisles. Kentucky
and Pennsylvania, however, had returned to their places, and the
demonstration seemed for the time to be dying down. The band,
now united, again woke the echoes with "A Hot Time," and the
ocean of cheers was again in flood tide. Sergeants-at-arms, carried
away by the frenzy of the occasion, left their posts and joined in the
yelling, exultant throng. Men, however, cannot yell forever, nor is
their strength inexhaustible, and the signs of a let down were unmis-
takable and more frequent.
At 2.36 o'clock Chairman Bell made his first effort to stop the
tumult.
At 2.47 o'clock, one hour after Senator Gore had mentioned the
name of Bryan, a majority of the State standards were in the proper
places, and Senator Gore resumed his speech.
"My countrymen," he said, "to the greater and older States of
this great republic Oklahoma has only this to say : 'Go thou and do
likewise.' "
Cheers and applause greeted Senator Gore as he made his way
from the platform.
The chair again recognized Mr. James, of Kentucky, who again
moved that a recess until 8 P. M. be taken.
Mr. Bell put the motion, and without waiting for a negative vote,
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 149
declared it carried and the session ended. The Bryan demonstration
was a record breaker, the longest ever known in a Presidential con-
vention.
THE NIGHT SESSION.
The convention was called to order for the evening session at 8.37
o'clock. As the Credentials Committee was not ready to report, Mr.
Callahan requested the chairman to fill in the time.
Mr. Ormond, of Florida, was recognized to move that Repre-
sentative Richmond P. Hobson, of Alabama, be invited to address
the convention. The motion prevailed.
HOBSON'S ADDRESS.
In the course of his thirty-minute address Congressman Hobson
declared that if the Democratic party was successful in the election,
he believed that it would, before the end of the four years, "have a
great foreign war on its hands."
Instantly there came from the convention a chorus of mingled
groans, catcalls, hisses and cries of "No, no." There were many inter-
ruptions during the next few minutes.
"I want to say to you," went on Hobson, gritting his teeth in
determination, "that not so very long ago the President of the
United States said in my presence that there exists the greatest pos-
sibility of a war with Japan."
"No, no, come off," shouted the crowd, and there was an outburst
of cries which continued for several minutes.
"Gentlemen," said Chairman Bell, "this speaker will be allowed
to finish, and if he is interrupted again by the galleries, the sergeant-
at-arms will be directed to clear them."
This announcement was greeted with cheers, which sprang from
the coast delegations. He was for a time heard in silence, but a roar
of laughter went up when a voice far in the rear shouted, "Hurrah for
the Merrimac!"
Mr. Hobson finally closed with a plea that even if the Democrats
succeeded in power in the nation they should prepare for war so as
to bring peace and good will toward man throughout all the world.
Colonel Haldeman, of Kentucky, was then recognized by the
chair, and, standing at his place in the center aisle, he asserted that the
150 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
convention had business to transact and ought to proceed to it with-
out further flights of oratory. Colonel Haldeman then proceeded to
take issue with Mr. Hobson, declaring that the United States has
twenty-two first-class battleships and Japan but sixteen. "And I want
to say that we are not afraid of Japan or anybody else on the face
of the globe," concluded Colonel Haldeman, amid applause.
Chairman Bell announced that the Committee on Credentials
would not be ready to report for several minutes.
SENATORS TOWNE AND TAYLOR ADDRESS THE CONVENTION.
"This afternoon," said Chairman Bell, "I sent a committee down
into the New York delegation to escort to the platform Senator
Charles A. Towne " This was as far as the chairman was allowed
to proceed, and Mr. Towne took the rostrum amid much applause.
His address was brief, and he left the platform with the distinctly
expressed good will of the convention.
"Taylor, Taylor," cried many of the delegates, remembering the
invitation of the afternoon to the Tennessee Senator.
Mr. Callahan, of Massachusetts, chairman of the Committee on
Credentials, was in the aisle clamoring for recognition when Senator
Taylor was escorted to the stage by a number of his constituents. He
was introduced by Chairman Bell amid cheering, and made a charac-
teristic speech.
As Senator Taylor retired the chairman announced : "Gentle-
men of the convention, we are now going to get down to hard work.
The Committee on Credentials is ready to report. The chair recog-
nizes Mr. Christopher G. Callahan, chairman of the committee."
Mr. Callahan then read the report, the details of which would
hardly interest the general reader.
FINAL FIGHT OF GUFFEY DELEGATES.
When Chairman Callahan read the decision of the committee in
favor of the contestants against Guffey in Pennsylvania there were
a few r hisses and some applause. The interruption was of brief dura-
tion, however, and the reading of the report was continued.
Mr. Callahan concluded by moving the adoption of the report.
"I second that motion," shouted a delegate from Indiana. The
chairman stated the question and then recognized L. L. Straus, of
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 151
Maryland, who read the minority report, which recommended that the
contestees in the Pennsylvania case be seated.
"The action of the majority of the committee," declared Mr. Straus,
"is a staggering blow at the independence of the democracy of a sov-
ereign State. This convention can rest upon no other foundation
than the supremacy within State lines of the party organization of
every State. We therefore recommend that the said contestees
retain their seats heretofore ordered them by a legalized Democratic
committee."
The statement made by Mr. Straus that the action of the majority
of the committee was a staggering blow at the democracy of a sover-
eign State called forth cheers. He asked the chairman for permis-
sion to make a few remarks in support of his motion to substitute the
minority for the majority report.
"Now," said Chairman Bell, "put your motion and I will state
the resolution." On motion of Governor Haskell, a limit of thirty
minutes to each side was put on the debate.
The chair then recognized Chairman Callahan, of the Credentials
Committee, as the first speaker in behalf of the majority report.
Before Mr. Callahan began Mr. Straus claimed that, as he carried
the affirmative, he should have the right to open and close the debate.
The chair ruled that the chairman of the committee, as he represented
the majority, should have the right to open and close. Thus he again
recognized Mr. Callahan.
Mr. Callahan began by saying that the time allotted to the
majority would be divided between himself and Governor Haskell,
of Oklahoma, the latter closing the debate.
Mr. Straus, who spoke with great fervor and earnestness, was
given an ovation as he left the stand, after making an impassioned
appeal for the adoption of the minority report.
To conclude the argument in behalf of the minority report, the
chair recognized John D. Bellamy, of North Carolina, who argued
that the Democratic party was ready to open its doors to any one who
desired to adopt its principles. There was some applause at this and
the speaker brought his address to a close.
The closing speaker for the majority and the last of the debate
was Governor Haskell, of Oklahoma. Governor Haskell charged the
152 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
Pennsylvania contestees with being the tools of the Standard Oil
Company.
The roll call was ordered on the substitution of the minority for
the majority report.
When the roll call was closed Chairman Bell said : "Upon this
question the ayes have 387 votes and the noes 615."
The announcement was greeted with great cheering. The
majority report then was adopted by a viva voce vote.
Great confusion followed the announcement of the result of the
roll call, but through the uproar filtered a motion to adjourn until
eleven o'clock the next morning. It was seconded in a flash, and
carried with a shout, and the delegates made for the doors.
THIRD DAY OF THE CONVENTION.
At 11.30 A. M V Thursday, July pth, Chairman Bell called the
convention to order. The proceedings were opened with prayer by
Rabbi Samuel Koch, of Seattle, who closed impressively as follows :
"One hundred and thirty-three years of notable history are look-
ing down upon us. The makers of our nation in the century past
pass in array before us. Whatever their party affiliation, they had
this in common a representative Americanism.
"Grant, O God, that our political selves may be touched to
higher issues by these national memories. Lest we forget, be these
the monitors that tell us of the magnificence in political life of fealty
to principle, of honor and character and sincerity in manhood. In
keeping close to these, when the day's work is ended, be ours the con-
sciousness that Thou, judge of nations, art with us yet."
As chairman of the Committee on Permanent Organization,
Senator McCreary, of Kentucky, presented the report of that body.
It recommended Henry D. Clayton, of Alabama, for permanent chair-
man ; Urey Woodson, of Kentucky, for secretary, and John L. Martin,
of Missouri, as sergeant-at-arms. In all other respects the temporary
organization was made permanent.
The chair, after the unanimous adoption of the report, appointed
Senator McCreary, Lewis Nixon, of New York, and J. E. Baker, of
California, members of a committee to escort the permanent chairman
to the platform.
WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN
For Twelve Years Leader of the Democratic Party.
JOHN A. JOHNSON, OF MINNESOTA.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 153
CLAYTON KISSES THE GIRLS.
Chairman Clayton, as soon as he was seen advancing toward the
platform, was cheered to the echo, and the uproar was redoubled as
he was introduced to the convention by Temporary Chairman Bell.
Three little girls, in red, white and blue dresses, were helped
to the platform before Mr. Clayton, began to speak. In their arms
were large bunches of American Beauty roses that almost smothered
the little tots. The roses were presented to the permanent chairman
amid much cheering, and then, one by one, the children were lifted
to the desk and Mr. Clayton kissed them in turn. Cheering and
laughter continued during the little ceremony, and a gale of merriment
swept the hall when some one in the midst of the kissing called out,
"Hobson! Hobson!"
THE PRESIDENT'S DAUGHTER.
It is an incident worth remarking that Mrs. Alice Longworth,
the daughter of President Roosevelt, and Mrs. Ruth Leavitt, Mr.
Bryan's daughter, were interested visitors at almost every session of
the convention. During Chairman Clayton's speech, which follows,
Mrs. Longworth manifested great indignation at the orator's violent
attack on her father's administration. Finally, however, she caught
the twinkling eyes of her husband, Congressman Nicholas Longworth,
who was much amused at his wife's perturbation. They both burst
into a fit of laughter ; and thereafter, when her temper rose in resent-
ment, the same look of "all's fair in love and war" or "don't mind, it's
the game," provoked a similar restoration of her equanimity. It is said
that even Mrs. Leavitt sympathized, and thought Mr. Clayton should
not have been so severe.
THE DEMOCRATIC SLOGAN OF WAR.
CHAIRMAN CLAYTON'S ADDRESS.
Chairman Clayton's address in its entirety constitutes a Demo-
cratic slogan of war. It criticised the Republican administration of
President Roosevelt in strongest terms. The great length of Mr.
Clayton's speech prevents its insertion in full. He said in part :
"This is a Democratic year. Democratic ideas are now popular.
Doctrines always taught by our party and scoffed at by our opponents
154 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
are now urged as a gospel of their own. Measures and policies of
Democratic origin are now pretendedly advocated by the leaders of
the Republican party. It is no longer anarchistic to declare private
monopoly to be indefensible, or that the great transportation com-
panies should be governed and controlled by law. Former questioning
of the decision of a bare majority of the Supreme Court in the income
tax case cannot now be heard, because of the greater noise of the
vehement and embroidered denunciation of judges and judicial acts
that have shocked the country. A demand for revision of the tariff
is no longer a threat to destroy our industrial system. Trusts are not
to be tolerated even by the Republican party. We need not now
enlarge on the list of Republican admissions and promises for election
purposes only. The Republican party has made marked progress in
promises to the people, and much greater progress in aiding selfish
interests and special privileges. This party, guided by expediency and
campaign necessity, would camp this year on Democratic ground.
"The Republican party, having had full control of the federal
government for more than a decade, must give an account of its stew-
ardship. Its pretentious claims, largely without foundation and largely
exaggerated, will not suffice. Let honest investigation reveal the bad
and defective laws passed by that party, vicious policies maintained,
reforms rejected, the recent panic and its consequences, promises
broken, dissimulation practiced, incompetency confessed by its fail-
ures to meet urgent public needs, and exhibiting this incompetency
by the appointment of junketing commissions for the alleged purpose
of advising that party, so long in control and of such boasted extreme
wisdom, what legislation is required by the country. Against the
Republican party, so degenerate and crafty, is a capable, determined,
honest Democracy, in sympathy with all just public demands, and ask-
ing in its behalf candid public judgment. To that judgment the issues
must be committed, and we unhesitatingly submit our cause to that
line and true sense for the right which we know distinguishes the
American people.
"In this quadrennial contest Mr. Roosevelt has identified himself
with Mr. Taft. Mr. Taft has identified himself with Mr. Roosevelt.
The Republican party has inseparably identified the two together. To
praise one you must praise the other ; to criticise one is to criticise his
pursuing shadow. And so, I must say, if it should appear to any one
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 155
that in noting and denouncing abuses and favors on the part of the
present administration any license is assumed, I urge the impossibility
of separating the present occupant of the White House from his own
anointed one.
"It has been made evident in the pending campaign that the
Republicans will seek to conjure with the name of Roosevelt and will
rely upon the President's policies as a treasured asset. The President
has advertised himself and his policies with a frequency and an ability
that surpass the best efforts of the shrewdest press agent. A dis-
tinguished Republican, a former cabinet officer, once publicly pro-
claimed the President to be the greatest exponent of the art of advertis-
ing the world has ever known. The country has been told and not
allowed to forget that in his opinion his energies have been devoted
to the accomplishment of many high purposes, and that his work is
yet incomplete. It is so only because his undertakings were too vast
to be carried to success during his term of office. "My policies" must
continue. So the champion of these would transfer office and power
to his favorite cabinet minister, and his spear is to have a fellow. The
pretense is that the fight must go on under the leader designated by
him until the last foe shall have surrendered or lies inglorious in the
dust. The nomination of his would-be successor was largely accom-
plished by the use of official patronage and coarse machine methods,
and has delighted the chief apostle of strenuosity and at the same
time has not perturbed the conscience of the one time civil service
reformer, now the boss and adept in the bestowal of public plunder
and forgetful of all his resounding moral commonplaces. No fair-
minded American could read the daily account of the recent political
doings at Chicago without feeling mortification and regret mortifica-
tion that the President should have so abused his power in indicating
to a great party his choice as his successor, and regret that the party
should have submitted to a humiliation that was as manifest as it was
degrading.
"What are the policies that constitute the capital of the Repub-
lican party in this campaign and that are relied upon to support the
candidacy of Mr. Taft ?
"To recall Democratic platforms, speeches and measures is to
convince any man that many of the President's public utterances were
derived from an avowed familiarity with the teachings of our party.
156 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
His utterances that are Democratic have given him his only claim
to be a reformer, and have contributed more than all else to the popu-
larity he has enjoyed. The heir and the party are committed to
unfaltering adherence to the policies of the President. What are
these policies and what are the achievements of the President and the
party?"
Mr. Clayton then reviewed unfavorably the administration of
President Roosevelt, and continued :
"If the love of country and liberty is still strong in the hearts of
the American people; if an oath to support the Constitution is now con-
sidered by them as binding; if the people are earnest in their pro-
tests against the rule of insolent wealth, the unauthorized and baleful
influence of corporations and the exactions of the trusts ; if the manli-
ness of the fathers has been transmitted to the sons, the fourth of
next March will mark the advent of the gladsome light of Democracy
and the beginning of the return to constitutional government, hon-
estly and economically administered."
Loud cheers of approval greeted Chairman Clayton as he finished,
and the applause was continued for several minutes. The delegates
stood on their chairs and tossed hats and handkerchiefs into the air.
John W. Kern, of Indiana, offered a motion providing for the
appointment of a committee of three, to ascertain when the Committee
on Resolutions would be ready to report the platform. The motion
was adopted, and the chair appointed as the committee Messrs. Kern,
of Indiana ; Pace, of Alabama, and Mack, of New York.
RAYMOND ROBINS INVITED TO SPEAK.
"Pending the investigation and report of the committee," said
Mr, Clayton, "the chair takes the liberty of inviting to address the
convention Mr. Raymond Robins, of Chicago." After this address
a motion was made by an Oklahoma delegate that "George" W. Lit-
tleton, of New York, be invited to address the convention.
The members of the New York delegation accepted the invitation
to Mr. Littleton as a compliment which they shared, and they cheered
him lustily as he mounted the rostrum.
"I believe it is time for us to be tolerant of each other's opinions,"
he said, "so that we may all unite to restore the government to the
hands of the Democratic party. Let us bury forever the differences
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 157
that have embittered us. I bespeak a closer union of Yankee Doodle
and Dixie, of Maine and California, that victory may be ours."
Mr. Littleton's address was loudly cheered. John W. Kern, of
Indiana, announced that the Committee on Resolutions would be ready
to report not later than seven o'clock, and that its sessions were
entirely harmonious.
Senator Grady, of New York, moved a recess until 7 p. M. The
motion was carried with a whoop.
THE NIGHT SESSION.
THURSDAY, JULY QTH.
DUNNES NOMINATING SPEECH FOLLOWED BY DEMONSTRATION.
A small American flag had been placed on every delegate's chair
prior to the beginning of the evening session. This was the unmis-
takable evidence of the nominating session of the convention, and
quickened the interest of the spectators, who early made a rush for the
galleries, filling them to overflowing.
A male quartette was an added feature of the musical programme
of the night session. They sang their first selection through mega-
phones and got a royal reception.
A Chicago band relieved the cowboy musicians, who had served
so loyally since the opening of the convention on Tuesday. The
bandsmen of the plains, it was generally agreed, had earned their
rest.
At 7.30 o'clock it was whispered through the hall that the Com-
mittee on Resolutions had finished its work, and would in a short time
be prepared to present its report to the convention. It was just 7.50
o'clock when Chairman Clayton began to rap for order, which he
secured within the minute.
Mr. Clayton recognized Mr. McQuisten, of Pennsylvania, who
announced the selection of James Kerr as member of the National
Committee from that State, in place of James M. Guffe-y, who was
selected before the Pennsylvania contests were settled.
"Without objection the selection of Mr. Kerr will be considered
as ratified," said the chairman, and a moment later added: "The
chair hears none, and the selection of Mr. Kerr is ratified."
"In November next," said Chairman Clayton, "we will witness
158 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
in New York the Tammany tiger devouring the Republican elephant.
Therefore, I invite to the stand for a speech from a Democrat to a
Democratic convention Senator Thomas F. Grady, of New York."
Senator Grady received an enthusiastic welcome as he appeared
on the rostrum. When he declared that the convention could nominate
no candidate and adopt no platform that would not receive the united
and enthusiastic support of the New York Democracy he received
still greater applause, and returned to his seat amid cries of "Grady !"
"Hurrah for Grady!"
Following Senator Grady. Chairman Clayton introduced Judge
Wade, of Iowa, "a representative of the great corn State."
"Whoever the candidate is, whatever the platform of this con-
vention," he declared, "the thought goes out from this convention
that honesty must be enthroned as the dominating influence of public
life. It must be manifest on the part of public officers and on the part
of every individual dealing with the public, with corporations or with
their fellow-men."
"I am sure the convention will be glad to concur in the request
of Missouri to hear from old Champ Clark, of that State, one of the
knightliest Democrats who ever drew a glittering blade in defence
of the party." __
It was in these words that Chairman Clayton introduced the
next speaker, whose appearance on the platform was a signal for great
cheering.
Mr. Clark predicted that the Democrats would sweep the country
from sea to sea; that on March 4th next a Democratic President
would be inaugurated, backed by a Democratic house, and the people
then would come into their rights.
"Together all over the land," he continued, "and the Republican
party is presenting to the country the effect of a dissolving view. At
Chicago Roosevelt forced on the convention a candidate for President
that it did not want, and the convention forced on him a candidate
for Vice-President that he did not want."
Mr. Gark closed with a tribute to Mr. Bryan as "the greatest
living American."
Mr. James reported that the Committee on Resolutions would
not be ready to report before midnight. He then made a motion that
the rules be suspended and that the nominating speeches for Presi-
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 159
dential candidates be made, with the understanding, however, that no
ballot should be taken until after the report of the committee had been
received.
The motion was adopted and the rules were declared by the chair
to be suspended, and nominations to be in order.
PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS.
"The Secretary will now proceed to call the roll of States for
nominations for the office of President of the United States," shouted
Chairman Clayton.
"Alabama," called the clerk.
The chairman of that delegation arose and was recognized.
"Knowing that Nebraska will make no mistake in nominating
the right man," he said, "Alabama yields to Nebraska."
"I. J. Dunn, of Omaha, will speak for the Nebraska delegation,"
announced the chairman of that State, while the cheering which fol-
lowed the first statement from Alabama continued unabated.
Mr. Dunn, who was to make the speech of the convention, in
which the greatest interest was felt by the delegates and the spec-
tators, is scarcely of middle age. He spoke clearly and with a pleas-
ing manner of delivery.
I. J. DUNN'S SPEECH.
NOMINATING BRYAN FOR PRESIDENT.
"Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Convention : Crises arise
in the life of nations which endanger their institutions and, at times,
imperil the advance of civilization. Every people that has left its
impress upon history has faced such crises.
"In most instances, where grave dangers have threatened the
safety of the State, some great character, some master mind, has been
found, produced, as it were, by the conditions themselves, with capacity
to direct aright the energies of the people. This was true of the
ancient world ; it has been true of the modern world ; it is true of this
republic. We have such a crisis to meet to-day. The favor seeking
corporations have gradually strengthened their hold upon the Govern-
ment, until they now menace popular institutions.
"The question is, whether this government shall be restored to the
control of the people and be administered in the interest of all, or
160 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
whether it shall remain an instrument in the hands of the few for
levying tribute upon all the rest.
"In his special message to Congress last winter President Roose-
velt declared, substantially, that certain wealthy men, who have become
enormously rich by oppressing the wage earner, defrauding the public
and practicing all forms of iniquity, have banded together, and by
the unlimited use of money endeavor to secure freedom from restraint
and to overthrow and discredit all who honestly administer the law.
"That the methods by which these men have acquired their great
fortunes can only be justified by a system of morality that would
permit every form of criminality, every form of violence, corruption
and fraud.
"For many years, and especially during the last twelve years,
these very men have been in control of the Republican party; they
have financed every campaign of that party for a quarter of a century.
These exploiters of the people, whom the President has so scathingly
denounced, have given their enthusiastic support to the Republican
candidates and policies. They laid their hands upon the trust funds of
insurance companies and other corporations and turned the plunder
over to the Republican committee. The money thus filched from the
innocent and helpless, to purchase Republican victory, has not been
repaid.
"And where do we find these men to-day? Where are the
'swollen fortunes' of which we have heard so much? Just where we
would expect to find them supporting the Republican ticket and fur-
nishing the sinews of war for the Republican committee as usual.
"The platform adopted by the late convention shows what the
Republican party in truth represents. In framing the platform every
genuine reform which the President had advocated was scorned and
repudiated. The Wisconsin delegation asked that one or two reform
planks be placed in the platform, and for its pains was denounced as
Democratic. The convention by a vote of eight to one refused to
approve those policies which the President for four years has been
urging upon his party. The mask of hypocrisy has been torn from
the face of those who pretend to favor the reforms advocated by the
President, and it is now apparent why the "system" admires Taft and
hates the Senator from Wisconsin. When compelled to choose
between an appeal to the conscience of the nation in defence of its
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 161
platform and candidates on the one hand and the millions that the
special interests may be depended upon to contribute on the other,
that convention rejected the people and continued its alliance with
Mammon.
"If the charges made by the President are true and they are
true we are indeed face to face with a situation as grave as any
in our history. How shall it be met? The good sense, patriotism
and united action of the people alone can remedy present evils.
"To wage a successful fight we must have a leader. The Repub-
lican party, dominated by the seekers of special privileges, cannot
furnish him. Republicans who really desire reform are powerless;
the efforts of the President have been futile.
BRYAN IDEAL LEADER.
"The Democratic party must furnish the leader which present
conditions demand, and he must be a man known to be free from the
influences that control the Republican party. He must be a man of
superior intellect, sound judgment, positive convictions and moral
courage one who will meet the forces of plutocracy with the naked
sword of truth one who knows no surrender. He must have a
genius for statecraft; he must be a man of wide experience in public
affairs, he must have ability to formulate policies and courage to
defend them.
"But, above all, he must have faith in the people. He must not
only believe in the right of the people to govern, but in their capacity
to do so. And he must be a man whom the people know and trust.
"The Democratic party has many distinguished men who might
be chosen as our standard bearer, but it has one man who, above all
others, possesses the necessary qualifications and is eminently fitted for
this leadership.
"He is a man whose nomination will leave no doubt as to where
our party stands on every public question. His genius for statecraft
is shown by the constructive work he has done in proposing reforms
and by the ability with which he has fortifiad his position. But we
may go further.
"A few months since he visited the principal nations of the
world. He came in contact with the leading minds of Christendom,
and the world abroad recognized his greatness and paid him that
tribute justly due to men of high attainments.
162 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
"In the most distinguished peace convention that has assembled
in recent years he proposed a plan which, if adopted, would prove
more effective than any arbitration treaty that has yet been made, and
by his influence he secured its approval by the representatives of the
twenty-six leading nations there assembled.
"Is he thoroughly informed regarding the issues of this cam-
paign? Read his speeches and his writings, which for nearly twenty
years have been a part of the political literature of the nation. Is he
sincere, brave and determined? Even his political opponents now
admit that he is.
"I have had a close personal and political acquaintance with this
man, whose name Nebraska presents, since he entered political life.
I can testify from observation as to his political conduct before he
was known to fame. He was honest, brave and unyielding then ; he is
honest, brave and unyielding now.
"Honesty is inherent in him. He was an honest lawyer before
he entered politics. He was honest in his political methods before his
statesmanship was recognized by the nation, and he has been honest
throughout his political career.
"His convictions have been his political creed. He has impressed
these convictions upon others, not by dictation, but by arguments
addressed to the judgment and the conscience.
"Believing in the ultimate triumph of the right, he has never
examined questions from the standpoint of expediency. He has never
inquired whether a political principle was popular; it has been suf-
ficient for him to believe that it was right.
"He has been a consistent champion of the reserved rights of the
States. He favored the election of Senators by direct vote before the
House of Representatives ever acted favorably upon the subject. He
championed tariff reform when the West was the hotbed of protec-
tion.
"He favored an income tax before the income tax law was
written. He attacked the trusts when Republican leaders were denying
that any trusts existed. He advocated railroad regulation before the
crusade against rebates and discrimination began.
"He has always been the friend of labor, and was among the
first to urge conciliation between labor and capital. He began to
oppose government by injunction more than a decade ago. He
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 163
announced his opposition to imperialism before any other man of
prominence had expressed himself on the subject and without waiting
to see whether it would be popular
"When a Wall Street panic burst upon us a few months ago he
promptly proposed as a remedy the guarantee of bank deposits, and
so popular has this plan become that it is to-day a national issue and
supported by the masses of the people. He has long advocated legis-
lation which will secure publicity as to campaign contributions.
"He believes in peace in universal Christian peace. He believes
the destiny of nations should be determined not by wars but by
applying the principles of justice and humanity.
"Though these principles have met with uncompromising opposi-
tion from the special interests, he has remained true to the cause of
the people. With clear vision and with unfaltering trust, seeing and
knowing the truth, he has never lost faith in its final victory.
"Through years of unparallelled warfare his loyalty to his ideals
and to his fellow-men has been abundantly shown. His refusal to
surrender his convictions, though subjected to abuse, denunciation and
vindictive opposition such as few public men in all history have been
compelled to withstand, is ample proof of his superb courage.
NOT DISCOURAGED BY FAILURES.
"His career proves that successful leadership is determined by the
success or failure of great principles rather than by election to high
office.
"We have met to plan the campaign and to commission the com-
mander under whom the masses will enlist. We are not here in
response to the voice of expediency; neither political bosses nor cor-
porate masters sent us here. We are here at the summons of the
rank and file of that political organization which is the special defender
of the rights of the common people.
"We are here representing all that is best in the traditions of our
party; we feel again the spirit that animated the Democracy in the
days of Jefferson and Jackson.
"The voters have spoken, and we assemble to give expression of
their will. The voice for the third time calls Nebraska's favorite son
to be the standard bearer of his party in this gigantic contest.
"Since time began no grander tribute was ever paid to any man
164 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
by a free people. He is recognized to-day as the most representative
citizen of the nation, the peer of any living man.
"Friends and foes have learned that he was shaped in that heroic
mould in which the world's great patriots, statesmen and leaders have
been cast.
"First nominated when ten years younger than any other Presi-
dential candidate ever chosen by a prominent party, living in a State
five hundred miles further west than that in which any President has
ever lived, he has grown in the affections of the people as the years
have passed.
"Speaking and writing freely on all subjects, his heart has had no
secrets, and his friends have increased in numbers and in confidence.
"Without an organization to urge his claims, without a campaign
fund to circulate literature in his behalf, without patronage to bribe a
single voter, without a predatory corporation to coerce its employees
into his support, without a subsidized newspaper to influence the public
mind, he has won a signal victory at the primaries and has become the
free choice of the militant Democracy of the nation.
"Forming in one unbroken phalanx, extending from Massachu-
setts to California, and from Michigan to the Everglades, the yeo-
manry of the party have volunteered their services to make him the
party candidate, and they will not lay down their arms until they
have made him the nation's Chief Executive.
"Nebraska's Democracy, which saw in him when a young man the
signs of promise, places in nomination as the standard bearer of our
party the man who in the thrilling days of 1896 and 1900 bore the
battle-scarred banner of Democracy with fame as unsullied and fidelity
as spotless as the Crusaders of old. Nebraska presents his name
because Nebraska claims his dwelling place and proudly enrolls him
among her citizens, but his home is in the hearts of the people.
"I obey the command of my State and the mandate of the
Democracy of the nation when I offer the name of America's great
Commoner, Nebraska's gifted son, William Jennings Bryan."
DEMONSTRATION FOR BRYAN.
As Mr. Dunn proceeded, almost every allusion he made to the
character of Mr. Bryan was enthusiastically applauded, although he
had not yet mentioned the name of the Nebraska candidate.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 165
When Mr. Dunn declared that his candidate was the choice of the
militant Democracy of the country the convention broke in with wild
cheers. The ever-ready flags were tossed aloft, and a roar of applause
swept through the hall. While the cheering was at its height a white
dove was let loose from the gallery, and it flew across the convention
hall, while the delegates hailed it with great enthusiasm and cheered
as long as it was in sight.
Mr. Dunn brought out the name of "William Jennings Bryan"
with intense dramatic force, and the response from the great throng
was electric. The delegates sprang up, the galleries followed suit, and
the demonstration was under way.
It was not long then before the scenes of Tuesday's prolonged
demonstration of one hour and twenty-six minutes were being rivalled.
The delegates poured from the convention floor on to the already
overcrowded stage. James Dahlman, of Omaha, a Bryan leader,
jumped to the secretary's desk and urged the throng forward. The
State standards were grouped about the platform. Galleries and dele-
gates were on their feet, waving the thousands of flags and cheering
themselves hoarse. Many of the New York delegates stood and
cheered with the others, but the majority remained seated.
Only six banners were missing from the States in the parade
through the aisles after the grouping at the stage had broken into a
procession. They were Maryland, Minnesota, New York, Georgia,
New Jersey and Delaware.
Many Bryan banners which had been brought into the hall were
quickly caught up by the marching delegates and carried through the
aisles, one of the largest being from the Monroe Club, of St.
Joseph, Mo.
The band in the balcony lent its share to the celebration of the
Bryan followers, and the blare of the horns, the beat of drums and
crash of cymbals could be heard above the din of the shouting hun-
dreds on the floor and the thousands in the galleries.
To describe the scene is well nigh impossible. Many of the
delegates in the turmoil lost their hats, some their coats, and numbers
stripped off their collars and ties. The demonstration lasted for
nearly an hour.
166 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
MEMORABLE NIGHT SESSION.
GOVERNOR JOHNSON AND JUDGE GRAY NOMINATED.
At 10.20 P. M., when the demonstration's last cry had died away,
Chairman Clayton directed the Secretary to continue calling the roll
of States. Arkansas passed and California yielded to Oregon.
Former Senator Gearin, of that State, was then introduced to second
the nomination of Mr. Bryan.
Senator Gearin mentioned the name of Bryan in his first sen-
tence, but it received but a ripple of applause, the enthusiasm having
completely spent itself. The Senator spoke but a few minutes and
left the stand with liberal applause.
Governor Glenn, of North Carolina, followed Senator Gearin,
making a telling speech, which may be taken as a representation of
many others seconding Mr. Bryan's nomination.
GOVERNOR GLENN'S SPEECH.
Governor Robert B. Glenn, of North Carolina, in seconding
Bryan's nomination, said :
"Republicanism fosters crime, breeds corruption and protects only
the powerful and great.
"Democracy denounces vice, prosecutes crime and shields all alike.
"Republicanism arrogates to itself almost the power of Divinity
and boastfully professes to do all things good, while Democracy, ask-
ing help from a Supreme Ruler and vaunting not itself, points to its
past history of a hundred years as a guarantee of its record for the
future.
"Then, with such principles and so great a leader, coupled with
the mistakes of our opponents bringing into our nation suffering
instead of rejoicing and poverty instead of prosperity, how can we
lose the victory this year ?
"It is true that the Democratic party has twice placed its banner
in Mr. Bryan's hands, and it is likewise true that he did not carry it
to victory, but as he said of himself, he kept the faith and returned
that banner to us four years ago unstained and unsullied ; and to-day,
though twice defeated, has arisen stronger and grander than before,
and is remembered and beloved, while his traducers have long been
forgotten. The very fact that from every section comes the cry,
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 167
'Bryan! Give us Bryan!' shows he is not dead, but still lives deep in
the affectionate hearts of a grateful people, who are more determined
than ever to nominate and elect him President of the nation.
"If you want a man pure yet strong, brave but tender, generous
and still patriotic; the very highest type of American manhood,
against whom can be charged no act of disloyalty, dishonor or cor-
ruption, but who stands fearlessly the champion of the poor and
needy, proclaiming to the oppressor, 'You shall not press down upon
the brow of labor this crown of thorns ; you shall not crucify mankind
upon a cross of gold' that man is Mr. Bryan.
"Nominate him, and he will certainly be elected. The read-
ing of the stars, the signs of the times, the needs of the hour, the
demands of the people all predict and declare it ; and when he comes
to his own, as he will next March, he will make the greatest President
of the grandest nation the world has ever known.
"Mr. Chairman, a man who is faithful and true to his private
life will be honest and just in his public career. A man who believes
in humanity and truly serves his God will never be false to his country
or unjust to his people. Such a man is Mr. Bryan.
"And now, once more voicing the wishes of the nation, as well as
my own State, that first had the honor of suggesting him for President,
in 1896, and has remained loyal to him ever since, I again second and
urge the nomination of this peerless, brainy, towering, intellectual
giant and statesman, beloved at home and honored and respected
abroad, the great Commoner of the world William Jennings Bryan,
of Nebraska."
Fred. J. Kern, of Indiana, made a motion that all seconding
speeches be limited to five minutes. The motion was carried with a
wild yell of approval. Governor Swanson, of Virginia, was the next
to second the nomination of Bryan. Among others who made ringing
speeches in seconding the nomination of Bryan were Augustus
Thomas, of Minnesota; Congressman Olie M. James, of Kentucky;
James T. Heflin and J. B. Sullivan, of Iowa.
The opportunity of the Johnson supporters came when the roll
call reached Connecticut and that State gave way to Minnesota. Win-
field S. Hammond, of the latter State, took the stand amid much
applause to place in nomination Governor John A. Johnson, of Min-
nesota.
i68 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
Mr. Hammond made a most favorable impression on the con-
vention for himself and his candidate. His speech was heard with
marked attention.
WATER SELLS HIGH.
The heat in the hall and the thick dust stirred up during the
Bryan demonstration and the dense clouds of flash powder caused
intense thirst to nearly everybody in the hall, and water was in great
demand.
Selling early in the night at five cents per glass, water at eleven
o'clock was selling at twenty-five cents for two small glasses. Several
small boys busied themselves in supplying the demand and reaped a
harvest of profit.
By the time that Govarnor Johnson had been placed in nomina-
tion the crowds in the galleries had materially dwindled. The aisles
no longer were filled and there were many empty chairs.
A liberal amount of applause came down from the galleries, but
the noise was but a whisper compared with the terrific roar of the
Bryan demonstration.
Some of the Georgia delegates added their voices to those of the
Minnesota men.
Chairman Clayton began to rap for order while Minnesota was
still on its chairs and in the flood tide of enthusiasm.
The band also failed to respond to Johnson's name and sat silent,
much to the wrath of the Minnesota delegation, who sent to Chair-
man Clayton a complaint of partiality in favor of the Nebraska can-
didate. The chairman promptly signaled the band, which played two
airs.
Order was restored after twenty-five minutes.
The house electricians, who had dimmed the lights to help stop
the Bryan demonstration, again tried the device on the Johnson out-
burst, amid hissing.
CHEERS FOR JUDGE GRAY.
L. Irving Handy, of Delaware, went to the rostrum to name as
Presidential candidate Judge George Gray, of his State. When Mr.
Handy had spoken for a few minutes, eliciting cheers, he was inter-
rupted by the appearance of the long-awaited Committee on Resolu-
tions.
INAUGURATION OF WASHINGTON
The first President of the Republic in the act of taking the
oath of office, April 30, 1789. on the site of the present Treas-
ury Building. Wall Street, New York City.
* a
?- a
K
V. .3
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 169
REPORT ON PLATFORM.
"Gentlemen of the convention," said the chairman, "I now have
the pleasure of presenting to you the chairman of the Committee on
Resolutions, Governor Haskell, of Oklahoma."
The Governor called forth loud cheers from the convention when
he announced that there was no division among the members of the
committee, and that he represented them all in presenting his report.
He then read the platform.
Scattering applause greeted the various planks as they were read
by Governor Haskell. The portion of the plank on finance referring
to the guarantee of bank deposits, one of Mr. Bryan's favorite poli-
cies, elicited the warmest applause given up to that time.
The reading of the injunction plank was heard with the deepest
attention, and the declaration in favor of "a revision of the injunction
law" was first applauded and other sections were warmly approved,
and when the plank was finished the convention broke into cheers.
The declaration in favor of the election of Senators by direct
vote was heartily applauded, as was the plank on waterways, and that
in favor of the independence of the Philippines.
The reading of the platform was finished at 12.56, Governor
Haskell having read for a few minutes less than one hour.
"Mr. Chairman, I move the adoption of the report," said Gov-
ernor Haskell, turning to the chairman.
"The question is on agreeing to the report of the Committee on
Platform. All in favor of the platform as read will signify by saying
'Aye/ " announced Chairman Clayton.
The chorus of affirmative votes was unanimous and the adoption
of the platform was loudly cheered.
John E. Lamb, of Indiana, reported from the Committee on
Resolutions a recommendation that the one hundredth anniversary of
the birth of Abraham Lincoln be appropriately observed throughout
the country.
After the ayes had chorused their approval Chairman Clayton
declared the vote unanimous.
When the call of the roll of the States for Presidential nomina-
tions was resumed Florida yielded to Augustus Thomas, of Missouri,
who made one of the most eloquent seconding speeches in behalf of
Mr. Bryan.
170 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
The roll call continued until all the States had expressed them-
selves by a speech or remained silent.
The Territories of the District of Columbia, Hawaii and Porto
Rico all seconded Mr. Bryan, and the list was complete.
"If there are no other nominations," said Chairman Clayton,
"the secretary will call the roll of States," and the vote was begun.
ROLL OF STATES BEGINS.
Thomas F. Smith, secretary of Tammany Hall, was selected as
the clerk to read the roll of the States, which was done, each State
voting as called, and the votes were recorded by the clerk.
When Oklahoma was called the chairman announced, "Oklahoma
casts her eigljteen maiden votes for William Jennings Bryan."
When Pennsylvania was reached Bryan needed only forty-eight
votes to make his nomination sure, and Pennsylvania giving him
forty-nine and one-half, made him the party nominee.
Before the vote was announced Mr. Hammond, who had placed
Mr. Johnson in nomination, moved to make unanimous the nomina-
tion of Mr. Bryan, saying Minnesota knew how to lose well, as it
did how to fight well.
A great cheer broke from the throng.
For Judge Gray, Murray Vandiver, of Maryland, and a delegate
from Delaware seconded the motion of Mr. Hammond. There came
cries of "Georgia!" "Get Georgia in!" That State, after a short
pause, declared that it also seconded the motion, which on being put
by the chairman, was carried with a roar. H. H. Elders, of Georgia,
alone voted in the negative.
"I now declare William J. Bryan to be the nominee of the Demo-
cratic party for President of the United States," said Chairman Clay-
ton, and the delegates gave one wild cheer and began to move toward
the doors. A motion to adjourn until I p. M. Friday was carried
with a whoop, and at 3.42 A. M. the convention adjourned. The
big clock in the balcony, however, still marked the hour of midnight
Thursday. It had been stopped by the sergeant-at-arms, to avoid the
appearance of nominating the candidate on Friday.
The detailed vote was not announced that night, but it stood as
follows : Bryan, 892^ ; Gray, 59^2 ; Johnson, 46 ; absent and not
voting, 8.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 171
The following table shows the vote by States :
DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION VOTE FOR PRESIDENT BY STATES.
Not
Votes. States. Bryan. Gray. Johnson. Voting.
22 Alabama 22
18 Arkansas 18
20 California 20
10 Colorado 10
14 Connecticut 9 . . 5
6 Delaware 6
10 Florida . 10
26 Georgia 4 20 2
6 Idaho 6
54 Illinois 54
30 Indiana 30
26 Iowa 26
20 Kansas 20
26 Kentucky 26
18 Louisiana 18
12 Maine 10 .. I I
16 Maryland 7 . . 9
32 Massachusetts 32
28 Michigan 28
22 Minnesota . . 22
20 Mississippi 20
36 Missouri 36
6 Montana 6
16 Nebraska 16
6 Nevada 6
8 New Hampshire 7 . . i
24 New Jersey 24
78 New York 78
24 North Carolina 24
8 North Dakota 8
46 Ohio 46
18 Oklahoma 18
8 Oregon 8
172 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
68 Pennsylvania 49*4 9 l /> 3
8 Rhode Island 5 . . 3
18 South Carolina 18
8 South Dakota 8
24 Tennessee 24
36 Texas 36
6 Utah 6
8 Vermont 7 . . . .
24 Virginia 24
10 Washington 10
14 West Virginia 14
26 Wisconsin 26
6 Wyoming 6
6 Alaska 6
6 Arizona 6
6 District of Columbia ... 6
6 Hawaii 6
6 New Mexico 6
6 Porto Rico . 6
1,006 Total 892^ 5$y 2 46 8
LAST DAY'S PROCEEDINGS.
NOMINATION OF JOHN W. KERN FOR VICE-PRESIDENT MADE BY
ACCLAMATION.
The Democratic National Convention reassembled to nominate
a candidate for Vice-President at 1.40 o'clock Friday afternoon, July
loth, when Chairman Clayton rapped for order. Vice-Presidential
conferences were in progress all over the hall. Rev. Martin Corbett,
of Westfield, N. Y., delivered the invocation.
OLLIE JAMES PRESIDES.
Ollie James, of Kentucky, took the gavel.
On motion of Senator Stone, of Missouri, nominating speeches
were limited to ten minutes and seconding speeches to five minutes.
Mr. James directed the call of States to proceed. "Alabama!"
came the call.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 173
"Alabama yields to Indiana," replied the chairman of the delega-
tion. The followers of John W. Kern cheered lustily as T. R.
Marshall, Democratic candidate for Governor of Indiana, was sent to
the platform to offer Mr. Kern's name as the head of the list. Mr.
Marshall paid tribute first to the platform of the convention, next to
Mr. Bryan, then to Indiana, and last to Mr. Kern. A convention
which had begun well should end well, he said. He asserted that Mr.
Kern had all the qualifications that could be desired and would be a
standard bearer worthy of a united Democracy.
When Colorado was reached on the roll ex-Governor Charles S.
Thomas, of that State, took the platform to place Charles A. Towne,
of New York, in nomination.
Connecticut was next to place its candidate in nomination, send-
ing J. J. Walsh to the platform to name Archibald McNeil, of Bridge-
port.
Delaware yielded her place on the roll call to Georgia, and L. I.
Hill, from the latter State, in a few words placed Clark Howell, of
Atlanta, in nomination.
Mr. James yielded the gavel to James Hamilton Lewis, of Chi-
cago, who recognized Frederick Kern, of Illinois, as his first official
act, and when Kentucky was called seconded the nomination of Mr.
Kern as "one of the knightliest Democrats in the world."
State after State was called, and no new candidates were pre-
sented. Many of the spokesmen named a favorite they had intended
to champion, but all came together in seconding the nomination of
Mr. Kern.
Finally Chairman Clayton, who had now resumed the gavel,
caused a surprise by announcing the recognition of Mr. Towne.
TOWNE RETIRES IN KERNES FAVOR.
"It has become abundantly apparent what is the desire of this
convention as to its Vice-Presidential nomination," said Mr. Towne,
after the applause had subsided, "and I desire, while earnestly thank-
ing the friends who have complimented me by placing my name before
you, to release you from its further consideration and leave you free
to vote for that splendid old Democratic war horse from Indiana,
John W. Kern."
Mr. Towne closed by pledging loyal support to Bryan and Kern.
174 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
Other candidates were hastily withdrawn and allegiance pledged
to Kern.
NEW YORK PROMISES SUPPORT.
Senator Grady, of New York, asked that the State be called again.
The request was granted, and Daniel F. Cohalan went to the plat-
form.
"New York," said Mr. Cohalan, "came to the convention without
a candidate either for the Vice-Presidency or the Presidency. We
were under instructions from our State convention to consult with
leaders from all parts of the country to see what best might be done
for the party. We are convinced that the voice of the party in no
uncertain terms called for the nomination of William Jennings Bryan,
and we now feel there is the same call for Mr. Kern. New York,
therefore, desires to second Mr. Kern, and in behalf of the militant
Democracy of the Empire State I desire to pledge our earnest support
and to say to you that all that can be done by harmony, intellect,
energy or force to bring about victory in November for our ticket
will be done."
Mr. Cohalan was loudly cheered.
A motion was made and seconded that Kern be nominated by
acclamation.
"Gentlemen of the convention," said Mr. James, who was again
in the chair, "you have just heard the motion. Are you ready for the
question ?"
"Question," "question," came from all parts of the hall.
Mr. James stated it, and at 4.05 o'clock a roar of ayes made
John W. Kern, of Indiana, the nominee for Vice-President of the
Democratic party.
The convention was instantly in great confusion, and was brought
back to order with difficulty.
A large number of resolutions and motions were offered, and by
their adoption the national committee was directed to fill any vacancies
that may occur on the national ticket just nominated, and the various
central and State committees were empowered to fill any vacancies
from their States on the national committee.
A motion was adopted tendering the thanks of the convention
to Thomas Taggart, the retiring chairman of the national committee,
for his work.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 175
Other resolutions expressed the thanks of the convention to the
city of Denver because of the manner in which it had entertained the
delegates, and to Permanent Chairman Clayton and Temporary Chair-
man Bell for the ability with which they had conducted the sessions
of the convention.
Another resolution, adopted with a cheer, appointed Mr. Clayton
chairman of the committee selected to inform Mr. Bryan of his nomi-
nation, and Mr. Bell chairman of the committee to inform Mr. Kern.
Each committee consisted of one member from each State and Ter-
ritory.
The Rev. P. T. Ramsey, of Denver, was invited to offer a bene-
diction before a motion to adjourn should be put.
The adjournment occurred at 4.23 p. M. The crowd made a
rush for the door, and the convention ended.
CHAPTER XL
PLATFORM OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY, ADOPTED AT
DENVER, JULY 9, 1908.
The following resolutions, constituting the platform of the Demo-
cratic party, were presented to the convention at midnight, July 9th,
and adopted unanimously:
We, the representatives of the Democrats of the United States,
in national convention assembled, reaffirm our belief in and pledge our
loyalty to the principles of the party.
We rejoice at the increasing signs of an awakening throughout
the country. The various investigations have traced graft and po-
litical corruption to the representatives of predatory wealth, and laid
bare the unscrupulous methods by which they have debauched elec-
tions and preyed upon a defenseless public through the subservient
officials whom they have raised to place and power.
The conscience of the nation is now aroused to free the govern-
ment from the grip of those who have made it a business asset of the
favor-seeking corporations; it must become again a people's govern-
ment, and be administered in all its departments according to the
Jeffersonian maxim of "egual rights to all and special privileges to
none."
"Shall the people rule?" is the overshadowing issue which mani-
fests itself in all the questions now under discussion.
ANTI-INJUNCTION.
I
The courts of justice are the bulwark of our liberties, and wt
yield to none in our purpose to maintain their dignity. Our party has
given to the bench a long line of distinguished judges, who have
added to the respect and confidence in which this department must be
jealously maintained. We resent the attempt of the Republican party
to raise false issues respecting the judiciary. It is an unjust reflection
(176)
JOHN WORTH KERN
Democratic Nominee for Vice-President of the United Statea.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 177
upon a great body of our citizens to assume that they lack respect for
the courts.
It is the function of the courts to interpret the laws which the
people create, and if the Jaws appear to work economic or political
injustice it is our duty to change them. The only basis upon which
the integrity of our courts can stand is that of unswerving justice
and protection of life, personal liberty and property. If judicial
processes may be abused, we should guard them against abuse.
Experience has proven the necessity of a modification of the
present law relating to injunctions, and we reiterate the pledge of our
national platforms of 1896 and 1904 in favor of the measure which
passed the United States Senate in 1896, but which a Republican
Congress has ever since refused to enact, relating to contempts in
Federal courts and providing for trial by jury in cases of indirect
contempt.
Questions of judicial practice have arisen, especially in connection
with industrial disputes. We deem that the parties to all judicial
proceedings should be treated with rigid impartiality, and that injunc-
tions should not be issued in any cases in which injunctions would not
issue if no industrial dispute were involved.
The expanding organization of industry makes it essential that
there should be no abridgment of the right of wage-earners and
producers to organize for the protection of wages and the improve-
ment of labor conditions, to the end that such labor organizations and
their members should not be regarded as illegal combinations in
restraint of trade.
We favor the eight-hour day on all government work.
We pledge the Democratic party to the enactment of a law by
Congress, as far as the Federal jurisdiction extends, for a general
employers' liability act, covering injury to body or loss of life of
employees.
We pledge the Democratic party to the enactment of a law
creating a department of labor, represented separately in the Presi-
dent's Cabinet, which department shall include the subject of mines
and mining.
TARIFF.
We welcome the belated promise of tariff reform now affected
by the Republican party in tardy recollection of the righteousness of
178 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
the Democratic party on this question, but the people cannot safely
intrust the execution of this important work to a party which is so
deeply obligated to the highly protected interests as is the Repub-
lican party.
We call attention to the significant fact that the promised relief
was postponed until after the coming election an election to succeed
in which the Republican party must have that same support from the
beneficiaries of the high protective tariff as it has always heretofore
received from them; and to the further fact that during years of
uninterrupted power no action whatever has been taken by the Repub-
lican Congress to correct the admittedly existing tariff iniquities.
We favor immediate revision of the tariff by the reduction of
import duties. Articles entering into competition with trust con-
trolled products should be placed upon the free list; and materiil
reductions should be made in the tariff upon the necessities of life,
and especially upon articles competing with such American manu-
factures as are sold abroad more cheaply than at home; and graduate
reductions should be made in such other schedules as may be neces-
sary to restore the tariff to a revenue basis.
Existing duties have given to the manufacturers of paper a
shelter behind which they have organized combinations to raise the
price of pulp and of paper, thus imposing a tax upon the spread of
knowledge. We demand the immediate repeal of the tariff on pulp,
print paper, lumber, timber and logs, and that these articles be placed
upon the free list.
RAILROADS.
We assert the right of Congress to exercise complete control over
interstate commerce and the right of each State to exercise like control
over commerce within its borders.
We demand such enlargement of the powers of the Interstate
Commerce Commission as may be necessary to compel railroads to
perform their duties as common carriers and prevent discrimination
and extortion.
We favor the efficient supervision and rate regulation of railroads
engaged in interstate commerce, and to this end we recommend the
valuation of railroads by the Interstate Commerce Commission, such
valuation to take into consideration the physical value of the property,
the original cost and cost of reproduction and all elements of value
that will render the valuation fair and just.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 179
We favor such legislation as will prohibit the railroads from
engaging in business which brings them into competition with their
shippers; also legislation which will assure such reduction in trans-
portation rates as conditions will permit, care being taken to avoid
reductions that would compel a reduction of wages, prevent adequate
service or do injustice to legitimate investments.
We heartily approve the law prohibiting the pass and the rebate,
and we favor any further necessary legislation to restrain, control and
prevent such abuses.
We favor _such legislation as will increase the power of the Inter-
state Commerce Commission, giving to it the initiative with reference
to rates and transportation charges put into effect by the railroad
companies, and permitting the Interstate Commerce Commission, on
its own initiative, to declare a rate illegal and as being more than
should be charged for such service. The present law relating thereto
is inadequate by reason of the fact that the Interstate Commerce Com-
mission is without power to fix or investigate a rate until complaint
has been made to it by the shipper.
We further declare that all agreements of traffic or other asso-
ciations of railway agents affecting interstate rates, service or classi-
fication shall be unlawful unless filed with and approved by the
Interstate Commerce Commission.
We favor the enactment of a law giving to the Interstate Com-
merce Commission the power to inspect proposed railroad tariff rates
or schedules before they shall take effect, and if they be found to be
unreasonable to initiate an adjustment thereof.
TRUSTS.
A private monopoly is indefensible and intolerable. We there-
fore favor the vigorous enforcement of the criminal law against
guilty trust magnates and officials, and demand the enactment of such
additional legislation as may be necessary to make it impossible for n
private monopoly to exist in the United States. Among the addi-
tional remedies we specify three:
First, a law preventing a duplication of directors among com-
peting corporations; second, a license system which will, without
abridging the right of each State to create corporations or its right
to regulate as it will foreign corporations doing business within its
180 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
limits, make it necessary for a manufacturing or trading corporation
engaged in interstate commerce to take out a Federal license before
it shall be permitted to control as much as twenty-five per cent of the
product in which it deals, the license to protect the public from
watered stock and to prohibit the control by such corporation of more
than fifty per cent of the total amount of any product consumed in the
United States, and third, a law compelling such licensed corporations
to sell to all purchasers in all parts of the country on the same terms,
after making due allowance for costs of transportation.
BANKING.
The panic of 1907, coming without any legitimate excuse, when
the Republican party had for a decade been in complete control of
the Federal Government, furnishes additional proof that it is either
unwilling or incompetent to protect the interests of the general public.
It has so linked the country to Wall Street that the sins of the specu-
lators are visited upon the whole people.
While refusing to rescue wealth producers from spoliation at
the hands of the stock gamblers and speculators in farm products,
it has deposited treasury funds, without interest and without com-
petition, in favorite banks. It has used an emergency for which it is
largely responsible to force through Congress a bill changing the
basis of bank currency and inviting market manipulation, and has
failed to give to the fifteen million depositors of the country protec-
tion in their savings.
We believe that, in so far as the needs of commerce require an
emergency currency, such currency should be issued, controlled by
the Federal Government and loaned on adequate security to national
and State banks.
We pledge ourselves to legislation under which the national
banks shall be required to establish a guaranty fund for the prompt
payment of the depositors of any insolvent national bank under an
equitable system which shall be available to all State banking institu-
tions wishing to use it.
We favor a postal savings bank if the guaranteed bank cannot
be secured, and that it be constituted so as to keep the deposited money
in the communities where it is established. But we condemn the
policy of the Republican party in proposing postal savings banks
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 181
under a plan of conduct by which they will aggregate the deposits of
rural communities and redeposit the same while under government
charge in the banks of Wall Street, thus depleting the circulating
medium of the producing regions and unjustly favoring the specu-
lative market.
STATE'S RIGHTS.
Believing, with Jefferson, in "the support of the State govern-
ments in all their rights as the most competent administration for our
domestic concerns and the surest bulwark against anti-republican ten-
dencies," and in "the preservation of the general government in its
whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet anchor of our peace at home
and the safety abroad," we are opposed to the centralization implied
in these suggestions, now frequently made, that the powers of the
general government should be extended by judicial construction.
There is no twilight zone between the nation and the State in
which exploiting interests can take refuge from both; and it is as
necessary that the Federal Government shall exercise the powers
delegated to it as it is that the State governments shall use the author-
ity reserved to them, but we insist that Federal remedies for the
regulation of interstate commerce and for the prevention of private
monopoly shall be added to, not substituted for, State remedies.
CAMPAIGN PUBLICITY.
We demand Federal legislation forever terminating the partner-
ship which has existed between corporations of the country and the
Republican party under the expressed or implied agreement that in
return for the contribution of great sums of money wherewith to
purchase elections they should be allowed to continue substantially
unmolested in their efforts to encroach upon the rights of the people.
Any reasonable doubt as to the existence of this relation has been
forever dispelled by the sworn testimony of witnesses examined in
the insurance investigation in New York and the open admission un-
challenged by the Republican National Committee of a single indi-
vidual that he himself, at the personal request of the Republican
candidate for the Presidency, raised over a quarter of a million of
dollars to be used in a single State during the closing hours of the
last campaign.
1 82 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
In order that this practice shall be stopped for all time we
demand the passage of a statute punishing with imprisonment any
officer of a corporation who shall either contribute on behalf of or
consent to the contribution by a corporation of any money or thing
of value to be used in furthering the election of a President or Vice-
President of the United States or of any member of the Congress
thereof.
We denounce the action of the Republican party having complete
control of the Federal Government for its failure to pass the bill,
introduced in the last Congress, to compel the publication of the
names of contributors and the amounts contributed toward campaign
funds, and point to the evidence of their insincerity when they sought
by an absolutely irrelevant and impossible amendment to defeat the
passage of the bill.
As a further evidence of their intention to conduct their cam-
paign in the coming contest with vast sums of money wrested from
favor-seeking corporations, we call attention to the fact that the recent
Republican National Convention refused, when the plank was pre-
sented to it, to declare against such practices.
We pledge the Democratic party to the enactment of a law pre-
venting any corporation contributing to a campaign fund and any
individual from contributing an amount above a reasonable minimum,
and providing for the publication before election of all such contribu-
tions above the reasonable minimum.
INCOME TAX.
We favor an income tax as part of our revenue system, and we
urge the submission of a constitutional amendment specifically author-
izing Congress to levy and collect a tax upon individual and corporate
incomes, to the end that wealth may bear its proportionate share of
the burdens of the Federal Government.
ECONOMY.
The Republican Congress, in session just ended, has made ap-
propriations amounting to $1,008,000,000, exceeding the total expend-
itures of the past fiscal year by $90,000,000, and leaving a deficit of
more than $60,000,000 for the fiscal year. We denounce the needless
waste of the people's money which has resulted in this appalling
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 183
increase as a shameful violation of all prudent conditions of govern-
ment, and as no less than a crime against the millions of workingmen
and women from whose earnings the great proportion of these co-
lossal sums must be extorted through excessive tariff exactions and
other indirect methods.
It is not surprising that, in the face of this shocking record, the
Republican platform contains no reference to economical administra-
tion or promise thereof in the future. We demand that a stop be put
to this frightful extravagance and insist upon the strictest economy
in every department compatible with frugal and efficient adminis-
tration.
SPEAKER.
The House of Representatives was designed by the fathers of
the Constitution to be the popular branch of our government, respon-
sible to the public will.
The House of Representatives, as controlled in recent years by
the Republican party, has ceased to be a deliberative and legislative
body, responsive to the will of a majority of its members, but has
come under the absolute domination of the Speaker, who has entire
control of its deliberations and powers of legislation.
We have observed with amazement the popular branch of our
Federal Government helpless to obtain either the consideration or
enactment of measures desired by a majority of its members.
Legislative government becomes a failure when one member in
the person of the Speaker is more powerful than the entire body.
We demand that the House of Representatives shall again become
a deliberative body, controlled by a majority of the people's repre-
sentatives and not by the Speaker, and we pledge ourselves to adopt
such rules and regulations to govern the House of Representatives
as will enable a majority of its members to direct its deliberations and
control legislation.
OFFICEHOLDERS.
Coincident with the enormous increase in expenditures is a like
addition to the number of officeholders. During the past year 23,784
were added, costing $16,156,000, and in the past six years of the
Republican administration the total number of new ones created,
aside from many commissions, has been 99,319, entailing an addi-
1 84 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
tional expenditure of nearly $70,000,000, as against only 10,279 new
offices created under the Cleveland and McKinley administrations,
which involved an expenditure of only $6,000,000.
We denounce this great and growing increase in the number
of officeholders as not only unnecessary and wasteful, but also as
clearly indicating a deliberate purpose on the part of the administra-
tion to keep the Republican party in power at public expense by thus
increasing the number of its retainers and dependents. Such pro-
cedure we declare to be no less dangerous and corrupt than the open
purchase of votes at the polls.
WATERWAYS.
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 im-
mediate adoption of a liberal and comprehensive plan for improving
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 navigated 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 favor 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.
MERCHANT MARINE.
We believe in the upbuilding of the American and merchant
marine without new or additional burdens upon the people and with-
out bounties from the public treasury.
PROTECTING AMERICANS.
We pledge ourselves to insist upon the just and lawful protection
of our citizens at home and abroad, and to use all proper methods to
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 185
secure for them, whether native born or naturalized and without
distinction of race or creed, the protection of law and the enjoyment
of all rights and privileges open to them under our treaty; and if,
under existing treaties, the right of travel and sojourn is denied to
American citizens or recognition is withheld from American passports
by any country on the ground of race or creed we favor prompt
negotiations with the governments of such countries to secure the
removal of these unjust discriminations.
We demand that all over the world a duly authorized passport
issued by the Government of the United States to an American citizen
shall be proof of the fact that he is an American citizen and shall
entitle him to the treatment due him as such.
PATRONAGE.
We condemn, as a violation of the spirit of our institutions, the
action of the present Chief Executive in using the patronage of his
high office to secure the nomination of one of his Cabinet officers. A
forced succession in the Presidency is scarcely less repugnant to public
sentiment than is life tenure in that office. No good intention on the
part of the Executive and no virtue in the one selected can justify the
establishment of a dynasty. The right of the people to freely select
their officials is inalienable and cannot be delegated.
PHILIPPINES.
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 government can be established, such independence to be guar-
anteed 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 govern-
ment should retain such land as may be necessary for coaling stations
and naval bases.
186 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
THE NAVY.
The constitutional provision that a navy shall be provided and
maintained means an adequate navy, and we believe that the interests
of this country would be best served by having a navy sufficient to
defend the coasts of this country and protect American citizens wher-
ever their rights may be in jeopardy.
IMMIGRATION.
We favor full protection, by both national and State governments
within their respective spheres, of all foreigners residing in the United
States under treaty, but we are opposed to the admission of Asiatic
immigrants who cannot be amalgamated with our population or
whose presence among us would raise a race issue and involve us in
diplomatic controversies with Oriental powers.
GRAZING LANDS.
The establishment of rules and regulations, if any such are
necessary, in relation to free grazing upon the public lands outside
of forest or other reservations, until the same shall eventually be
disposed of, should be left to the people of the States respectively in
which such lands may be situated.
AGRICULTURE.
The Democratic party favors the extension of agricultural,
mechanical and industrial education. We therefore favor the estab-
lishment of district agricultural experiment stations, the secondary
agricultural and mechanical colleges in the several States.
HEALTH BUREAU.
We advocate the organization of all existing national public
health agencies into a national bureau of public health, with such
power over sanitary conditions connected with factories, mines, tene-
ments, child labor and such other subjects as are properly within the
jurisdiction of the Federal Government and do not interfere with the
power of the States controlling public health agencies.
.,., NATURAL RESOURCES.
We repeat the demand for international development and for the
conservation of our natural resources contained in previous platforms,
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 187
the enforcement of which Mr. Roosevelt has vainly sought from a
reluctant party, and to that end we insist upon the preservation, pro-
tection and replacement of needed forests, the preservation of the
public domain for homeseekers, the protection of the national re-
sources 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 reclamation of
swamp lands, the clarification of streams, the development of water
power and the preservation of electric power generated by this natural
force from the control of monopoly, and to such end we urge the
exercise of all powers, national, State and municipal, both separately
and in co-operation.
We insist upon a policy of administration of our forest reserve
which shall relieve it of the abuses which have arisen thereunder, and
which shall, as far as practicable, conform to the police regulations
of the several States where they are located which shall enable home-
steaders 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 large manufacturer and consumer.
TELEGRAPH J TELEPHONE.
We pledge the Democratic party to the enactment of a law to
regulate the rates and services of telegraph and telephone companies
engaged in the transmission of messages between the States, under
the jurisdiction of the Interstate Commerce Commission.
POST ROADS.
We favor Federal aid to State and local authorities in the con-
struction and maintenance of post roads.
CIVIL SERVICE.
The laws pertaining to the civil service should be honestly and
rigidly enforced to the end that merit and ability shall be the stan-
dard of appointment and promotion rather than services rendered to
a political party.
1 88 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
PENSIONS.
We favor a generous pension policy, both as a matter of justice
to the surviving veterans and their dependents, and because it tends
to relieve the country of the necessity of maintaining a large standing
army.
FOREIGN PATENTS.
We believe that where an American citizen holding a patent in
a foreign country is compelled to manufacture under his patent within
a certain time, similar restrictions should be applied in this country to
the citizens or subjects of such a country.
SENATORS.
We favor the election of United States Senators by direct vote
of the people and regard this reform as the gateway to other national
reforms.
ARIZONA; NEW MEXICO.
The national Democratic party has for the last sixteen years
labored for the admission of Arizona and New Mexico as separate
States of the Federal Union, and, recognizing that each possesses
every qualification to successfully maintain separate State govern-
ments, we favor the immediate admission of these Territories as
separate States.
OKLAHOMA.
We welcome Oklahoma to the sisterhood of States and heartily
congratulate her on the auspicious beginning of a great career.
ALASKA ; PORTO RICO.
We demand for the people of Alaska and Porto Rico the full
enjoyment of the rights and privileges of a territorial form of govern-
ment and the officials appointed to administer the government of all
Territories and the District of Columbia should be thoroughly quali-
fied by previous bona fide residence.
HAWAII.
We favor the application of principles of the land laws of the
United States to our newly acquired territory, Hawaii, to the end that
the public lands of that Territory may be held and utilized for the
benefit of bona fide homesteaders.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 189
PANAMA CANAL.
We believe the Panama Canal will prove of great value to our
country and favor its speedy completion.
PAN-AMERICA.
The Democratic party recognizes the chances and advantages
of developing closer ties of American friendship and commerce
between the United States and her sister nations of Latin America,
and favors the taking such steps, consistent with Democratic policies,
for better acquaintance, greater mutual confidence and larger exchange
of trade, as will bring lasting benefit not only to the United States,
but to this group of American republics having constitutions, forms
of government, ambitions and interests akin to our own.
CONCLUSION.
The Democratic party stands for democracy; the Republican
party has drawn to itself all that is aristocratic and plutocratic. The
Democratic party is the champion of equal rights and opportunities
to all; the Republican party is the party of privilege and private
monopoly. The Democratic party listens to the voice of the whole
people and gauges progress by the prosperity and advancement of
the average man; the Republican party is subservient to the com-
paratively few who are the beneficiaries of governmental favoritism.
We invite the co-operation of all, regardless of previous political
affiliation or past differences, who desire to preserve a government "of
the people, by the people and for the people," and who favor such an
administration of the government as will insure, as far as human
wisdom can, that each citizen shall draw from society a reward com-
mensurate with his contribution to the welfare of society.
CHAPTER XII.
\\TLLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN,
DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT, 1908.
William Jennings Bryan is perhaps the foremost orator among
American statesmen of the day. He is regarded by a large following
to be the most wonderful man who has appeared in the public life of
our country in the past forty-five years. If this strong assertion be
denied by those who have not kept pace with his career since he arose
with a suddenness that startled the country in 1896, to a pre-eminent
command which he has since maintained, let us ask : When in political
history have we seen another man lead a hopeless cause twice to defeat
against extraordinary odds and, after being twice defeated in national
elections, not only survive the defeat but maintain the leadership
and gather unto himself the growing respect of his party and come
a third time stronger than ever before the public ?
William J. Bryan's career has no parallel in American history.
Elaine came closer to the Presidency than he ; Webster and Clay were
almost or quite as near the goal. Blaine lost it by scarcely a thousand
votes. The defeat of these men, however, cost them their prestige,
embittered their lives and quickened their departure from life's activi-
ties. Not so with Mr. Bryan. He has arisen stronger from each
defeat. His mental activities seem to be invigorated by each losing
contest, and his genial love for his fellowman and cheerful hopefulness
were augmented rather than diminished, so that to-day he stands
before the country at once the prophet of his party, and the leader, to
whom all eyes instinctively turn from the heads, of seven or eight
million families in the United States. The loyalty of his adherents is
truly wonderful and his fame is spread far beyond the bounds of his
own political camp. Those who came in 1896 to scoff, stand at
respectful attention in 1908, and political friends and foes alike agree
in saying, if the Democrats win the victory in this contest it will be
due more largely, than to any other man or combination of men, to
the personal influence and power of William Jennings Bryan.
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GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 191
BRYAN'S PERSONAL POPULARITY.
However wide the diversity of opinion about Bryan the states-
man, it is balanced by an almost unanimous judgment favorable to
Bryan the man.
From every standpoint from which manhood can be judged, Mr.
Bryan shows up to superb advantage. No man who has been in the
scorching glare of the limelight for so long a time presents to the
country a character more spotless. Straightforward in his public
utterances and positions, irreproachable in his private life, a total
abstainer who never hesitates to proclaim it even to his personal dis-
advantage, taking his religion into his daily life and making it a
practice to sacrifice something for it, Mr. Bryan stands as one of the
very best representatives of true American manhood. Hundreds of
thousands of men believe that some of the policies which he has advo-
cated would ruin the country. Hundreds of thousands of others
believe his policies would save the country. However that may be,
no one whose eyesight is not blurred by partisan hate can look at him
without feeling that he is a man of whom the country should be proud.
BIRTH AND ANCESTRY.
William Jennings Bryan was born at Salem, 111., March 19,
1860. His ancestry is a mixture of English and Irish stock, but resi-
dent in America for many generations. On his mother's side he gets
from the Jennings family the bull-dog tenacity of the English, from
his father the strength, the wit, the humor and the eloquence that dis-
tinguishes the Irishman.
The influence of his father, Judge Silas L. Bryan, contributed
much to forming the character of his son. He was a Virginian, born
November 4, 1822, as one of a family of ten children. When a boy
he removed to Illinois, and by working on the farm and teaching
school made his way through McKendre College, graduating at the
age of twenty-seven. At twenty-nine he was admitted to the Bar
and began the practice of law. At thirty he married Maria Elizabeth
Jennings, one of his former pupils. The same year he was elected to
the State Senate, in which he served eight years, being occasionally
associated with Abraham Lincoln. In 1860, the year Lincoln was
elected President and the year this now famous son was born, Silas
192 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
Bryan became Circuit Judge, which position he held for twelve years,
resigning to accept the Democratic nomination to Congress in 1872.
He was also endorsed by the Greenback Party, but was defeated by a
small majority. The same year he went as a delegate to the conven-
tion that framed the present constitution of Illinois. He urged before
the convention the adoption of measures providing for the election
of all legislative and judicial officials by the direct vote of the people.
The disposition to trust the people and the very liberal and very
radical democratic doctrines that the elder Bryan urged at that time,
modified to fit the present conditions, are very like those proclaimed
and urged by his son to-day.
The boy, William J. Bryan, was at that time twelve years of age.
He was a great admirer of his father, and had already determined
to follow his footsteps in the law. He took a deep interest in the
constitutional convention, and this and the excitement of the race for
Congress gave him his first political awakening; and he then posi-
tively decided to enter public life, as soon as he could win a reputa-
tion and a competency at the bar. Other characteristics of the elder
Bryan were his deep religious convictions, upright personal life and
piety. His church membership was with the Baptists, but his liber-
ality, it is said, gave him the friendship of all the ministers in Salem,
and he contributed to the support of them all. His wife was as loyal
a Methodist as he was a Baptist. They left the boy to consult his
own wishes as to church association, and at the age of fourteen he
"split the difference" by joining the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.
While in college at Jacksonville a few years later he united with the
regular Presbyterians, and his membership is with that church now
at Lincoln, Neb., but he most frequently worships with his family at
the little Methodist church near his home, "Fairview."
From the above sketch of his parents, briefly outlined, one may
surmise that the political principles of William J. Bryan are his, if not
by inheritance at least by education and training from the cradle
stamped and woveft into the very fabric of his being, during the forma-
tive years of childhood and youth. His deep religious convictions,
as well as his liberality in religious matters, are doubtless traceable
to the same source.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 193
EDUCATION AND EARLY TRAINING IN ORATORY.
Bryan was educated in the Salem, 111., public schools, at Whip-
pie Academy, and in Illinois College, at Jacksonville. He began
his political career in 1880 while a student in college. During
that year he made four speeches in favor of Hancock and English,
the Democratic nominees for President and Vice-President. For
years previous he had been assiduously practicing the art of public
speaking. At the age of eighteen he won first prize at college with an
oration on "Labor," which indicates his early interest in that subject.
Two years later, in 1880, in an intercollegiate contest, he won a
fifty-dollar prize with an oration on "Justice." When he graduated,
in June, 1881, he was elected class orator, and by virtue of holding
the highest standing in his class was made also valedictorian. His
address was on the subject of "Character," illustrated with incidents
from the lives of great men of sacred and secular history, manifest-
ing a far deeper study and thought than young men are accustomed
to make on these subjects. The address, while not without certain
faults of composition, clearly sets forth the supreme value of char-
acter, and suggested that the young man had already adopted the
principles and chosen the models, the following of which have made
him great.
STUDY AND PRACTICE OF LAW.
Mr. Bryan received his legal education in Union College of
Law at Chicago, where he took special interest in constitutional law
and was always active in debating societies. On July 4, 1883, Bryan
began the practice of law in Jacksonville, 111., and in October, 1884,
was married to Miss Mary Baird, who has been his helpful companion
in the true sense of the word. Aside from her duties as wife and
mother, in order that she might help her husband she studied law, and
was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court. Thus qualified
to assist her distinguished husband, she enters enthusiastically into his
work. She is a stenographer and typewriter and acts as his corres-
pondent and secretary in important matters.
REMOVED TO NEBRASKA.
In 1887 Mr. Bryan removed from Illinois to Lincoln, Neb., and
formed a partnership with his former law classmate and friend, A.
194 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
R. Talbot. In a few months he had a practice sufficient to support his
family, and they joined him in Lincoln, where they have since resided.
Mr. Bryan promptly connected himself with the Democratic organiza-
tion. In 1888 he made his first political speech, and was sent as dele-
gate to the State convention. Thus he was drawn into the political
arena. In that fall's campaign, which he entered, speaking for J.
Sterling Morton, Democratic candidate for Congress, Mr. Morton
was defeated, but Bryan won lasting laurels by the brilliancy and
originality of thought and oratory.
ELECTED TO CONGRESS.
Two years later, 1890, Bryan himself was the party's nominee for
Congress. He boldly challenged his Republican opponent, the Hon.
W. J. Connell, who then represented the district, to a joint debate, and
the challenge was confidently accepted by the older man. The con-
test was held at Lincoln. The auditorium was packed with friends
of both speakers. In the summing up Bryan showed his skill as a
debater, as well as his superb art as an orator. Each graceful sen-
tence contained a clinching argument. The audience from surprise
showed their pleasure, and finally their uncontrollable enthusiasm
burst forth. From the end of that debate it became evident that the
Republican majority was in danger of going over to the young aspir-
ant, and when the count of votes was finally made, it was found that
he had actually been elected by 6,713 ballots. Thus at the age of thirty
years ended the active career of Bryan, the lawyer, and began the
career of Bryan, the statesman. For four years he served his district
in the national Congress at Washington, being one of the youngest
and most prominent members in the House of Representatives.
NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT.
In 1893-1894 the Democrats in the Legislature of Nebraska
supported Mr. Bryan for United States Senator, but he was
defeated, as the Legislature had a Republican majority. During 1895
and 1896 Mr. Bryan served as editor-in-chief of the Omaha-Nebraska
World. His editorials in this paper gave him an opportunity to
express himself on the various political issues of the day, and they
attracted wide attention. He was sent as a delegate to the National
Democratic Convention, which met in Chicago in 1896. He was the
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 195
author of the free-coinage-of-silver plank inserted in that platform,
and in its defence made the famous speech commonly known by the
title of "The Cross of Gold." The effect of this speech was so pro-
found that he was nominated by the convention for President of the
United States. The convention of the People's Party also made him
its nominee, and the Silver Republican Party did likewise. Mr. Bryan
was then thirty-six years of age, remarkably strong and athletic. He
at once began a political campaign, in which he covered most of the
country east of the Rocky Mountains.
A WHIRLWIND CAMPAIGN.
He traveled over eighteen thousand miles during the campaign,
speaking at almost every stopping of the train, and making a record
unequaled by any orator of the world in point of distance trav-
eled, and the number of speeches made in the same space of time.
Perhaps never did the prominent candidate for any office conduct a
campaign so nearly single handed and alone. The conservative and
wealthy element of the Democratic Party, opposed to the free coin-
age of silver, held another convention and put a gold-standard ticket
in the field, otherwise he would doubtless have been elected. The
influential press of the country was almost solidly against him. No
prominent newspaper in all the North and but few in the South gave
him their support. Notwithstanding this Mr. Bryan received a larger
popular vote than any defeated candidate up to that time had ever
polled, but he was badly beaten in the Electoral College by McKinley,
the Republican nominee.
In 1897 Mr. Bryan published his book entitled "The First Bat-
tle," which had an enormous sale and yielded him a royalty larger
than the President's salary for a year. During this year and the next
spring he also lectured extensively throughout the country, and wrote
much for the magazines. In May, 1898, he organized the Third
Nebraska Regiment of Volunteers for the Spanish-American War,
became their colonel, and took them to Florida, where he remained in
camp with them, but was not ordered to Cuba.
SECOND NOMINATION FOR THE PRESIDENCY.
In 1900 Mr. Bryan was again nominated for the Presidency by
the Democratic, the Populist and the Silver-Republican Conventions.
He and other leading Democrats, as well as many Republicans, had
196
vigorously opposed the purchase or at least the holding of the Philip-
pine Islands, taken from Spain as a result of the war. Therefore
anti-imperialism was the keynote of the platform and the paramount
issue of the campaign. The Democratic ticket was again defeated by
William McKinley with a larger plurality both in the popular and
electoral vote.
After this second defeat many of Mr. Bryan's friends supposed
him to be, in the parlance of slang, "done for," but the spirit of Bryan
was undaunted. Conscious of his own honesty and confident of the
correctness of his views and logic, he determined to keep up the fight.
He had seen a vision of the "Ideal Republic," and he felt that he had
a message for his countrymen that must be delivered. His old pro-
fession of the law held out her hands to tempt him with promises of
sure and great reward. For a time he yielded, but found that it
fettered him. Editorial positions were offered him, but connection
with any paper belonging to another meant the curtailing of com-
plete freedom of speech. He must speak untrammeled, out of his
honest convictions, and, at great financial risk, he founded his own
magazine, The Commoner, which he has since continued as sole
proprietor and editor. As this paper has steadily grown and pros-
pered its cognomen, "The Commoner," has attached itself as a nick-
name to William Jennings Bryan, for whom it stands as an appropri-
ate descriptive title.
SUPPORTED JUDGE ALTON B. PARKER.
When the National Convention met in 1904 at St. Louis Mr.
Bryan acquiesced in the naming of a candidate from the conservative
wing of the party, and he entered the campaign as a speaker in behalf
of Judge Alton B. Parker, the nominee, though it was well known
that he personally objected to the conservatism of the platform adopted
at that time. The result of the election justified Mr. Bryan's fear of
conservatism. Judge Parker was defe-ated worse than Mr. Bryan had
been, and, after making all allowance for Mr. Roosevelt's unusual
popularity, the decadence of the Democratic Party seemed imminent.
BRYAN'S TOUR ABROAD.
Mr. Bryan went abroad, making a tour of the world, that he
might study the governments and the peoples of other countries.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 197
Notwithstanding his two defeats in the race for the Presidency,
and the recent defeat of his party, his doings and his sayings were
advertised perhaps more extensively than those of any other promi-
nent American with the exception of President Roosevelt. By the
force of his utterance while abroad and, in fact since 1896, without the
aid of public office, he has been kept continually in the limelight and
under the scrutiny of the national eye. His tour around the world
received more attention perhaps than that of any other American
except General Grant, made on his retirement after the end of his
second term as President.
The rulers and dignitaries of the nations he visited showed
Mr. Bryan honor befitting the highest national official, rather than
a private citizen. They recognized in him, without office, the greatest
individual leader of advanced thought on political reform in the New
World, and they plied him with questions and besought him for inter-
views wherever he went. This attention abroad, and that shown him
universally after his return, opened the eyes of friends and foes
alike among his countrymen, and reconciled many who were estranged
in his party, and stamped him at once as the leader and strongest can-
didate for the Democracy in 1908. Those who would get a more
extended statement of the public services and career of Mr. Bryan are
referred to the chapter on the "Democratic National Convention of
1908," in which will be found the speeches of I. J. Dunn placing him
in nomination and of Governor Glenn, of North Carolina, seconding
the same.
THE HOME AT FAIRVIEW.
Though only forty-eight years of age Mr. Bryan is a grand-
father. His home life at "Fairview," Nebraska, is enlivened part of
the time by the presence of the two children of his oldest daughter,
Mrs. Ruth Bryan Leavitt, of whom the great commoner is very fond.
Mr. and Mrs. Bryan are very popular in Lincoln and take delight in
entertaining their friends at their "Fairview" country home. The
son, William Jennings Bryan, Jr., and youngest daughter, Grace
Dexter Bryan, just coming to maturity, are objects of much concern
and interest to their parents, who are carefully educating them along
practical lines. Mrs. Bryan says the oldest daughter is like her, the
youngest daughter more like the father, and the son a good combina-
tion of both his parents.
CHAPTER XIII.
JOHN WORTH KERN,
DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE FOR VICE-PRESIDENT, 1908.
While one of the most serious of men, one of the most logical
speakers and one of the most formidable debaters, John W. Kern,
like Abraham Lincoln, is a great story-teller. He was sitting in his
shirt sleeves at the Indiana headquarters in Denver telling stories to
a few friends when his admirers and supporters rushed in from the
convention hall, Friday evening, July loth, and informed him that
he had been nominated as the running mate with William Jennings
Bryan and greeted him as the next Vice-President of the United
States.
"You were my candidate for this office fourteen years ago, and
I've been for you ever since, John," said his old-time friend and
schoolmate, Judge E. V. Long, as he wrung the hand of his boyhood
friend. "We'll carry Kansas for you!" shouted some of the Kansas
men who came marching up. "And we'll carry Indiana," replied
Mr. Kern with a pleasant smile. "The chances for Democratic suc-
cess are excellent. If the people in the other States feel as they do
in Indiana we shall win easily. I feel very much gratified at my
nomination," and no one who looked into the kindling eye of the
Vice-Presidential candidate doubted that he meant every word he said,
both as to his confidence in carrying the country for the Democratic
ticket and his personal gratification at the part assigned to him in
the contest.
The warmest personal friendship exists between Mr. Bryan and
the Vice-Presidential candidate. Although he never agreed with
Mr. Bryan on the "free silver" question, he was and is with him in
everything else, and in some respects is even more of a reformer. He
supported the Nebraskan vigorously in both his former contests for
the Presidency.
It was in the campaign of 1896, when so many Democrats of
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GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 199
prominence were opposed to Bryan on account of the silver question,
that Kern won the esteem of Mr. Bryan and received many marks of
his favor.
Though not a polished orator, John W. Kern is a forcible and
logical speaker and a campaigner of extraordinary tact and ability^
He tells a story illustrative of his position on any question well, and
has the faculty of getting a crowd in sympathy with him wherever he
speaks. He is thoroughly acquainted in Indiana and has made two
creditable though losing campaigns as the party's nominee for Gov-
ernor. In each election, however, he led his ticket, and both the
campaign and the casting of the ballots showed that he had strength
outside of his party.
LOYALTY TO HIS PARTY.
Mr. Kern always has been a staunch party man. In the pre-
liminary campaign of 1896, when there was such a determined free
silver sentiment and it seemed inevitable that the approaching Demo-
cratic State convention would indorse free silver, he opposed it.
When State and national conventions had spoken on the subject
he declared his allegiance to the party and went into the campaign
that followed and did his utmost to elect Bryan. His preconvention
utterances were hurled at him by the opposition press and by orators.
He answered that the highest law in a party is its platform utter-
ances and that it was the duty of a man to obey its voice or get out.
As he was a Democrat he yielded cheerfully his individual opinion,
before the larger and more potent voice of the organization of which
he was a member.
Briefly outlined in statistical form, the life of John W. Kern is
as follows :
John W. Kern was born in Howard County, Indiana, December
20, 1849. His father was a country physician, and it is said the
pecocious boy John was so far advanced at the age of seven years
that he read his father's medical books with ease and a fair under-
standing. He always easily led his classes at school. He graduated
at the University of Michigan when he was twenty years old in
1869. He was a reporter of the Supreme Court of Indiana from
1869 to 1885. In 1892 he was made a State Senator and served in
that position until 1896. From 1897 to I 9 I ne was City Attorney
300 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
of Indianapolis. It was while he occupied the position of City Attor-
ney that he was first nominated for Governor, in 1900, on the Demo-
cratic ticket. He was again nominated for the same office in 1904.
As has already been said, Mr. Kern; was unsuccessful in both these
campaigns, but his personal vote ran ahead of hig ticket. In 1905 he
received the complimentary vote of the Democratic Party for United
States Senator, but the Legislature being Republican he was, of
course, defeated.
From his youth John W. Kern has fought his way up, and to
know him has always been to trust him. The story of his life is not a
romance unless the story of the lives of thousands of poor common-
place boys who, by dint of hard work and persistent honest effort,
have risen to prominence can be termed romantic. All his contests
and competitions for advancement and honor have been character-
ized by the fact that he has been eminently fair to his competitors,
and in rising himself he has always been overcareful not to pull
another down. There have been times in his career when he has lost
opportunities for personal advancement by scrupulous consideration
of fairness to his opponent. But such characteristics have made such
competitors his lasting personal friends. This characteristic of fair-
ness without compromise of principle has made Mr. Kern many warm
friends among Republicans, as was instanced by his presiding at
the reception given the Republican Vice-Presidential candidate, Fair-
banks, in 1904, and the return of the courtesy by Mr. Fairbanks, who
presided at the reception given Mr. Kern in 1908 at Indianapolis.
Mr. Kern comes of the best Indiana stock. His family are plain,
unassuming people. As he is not rich, he lives modestly in one of the
best neighborhoods in the city of Indianapolis, surrounded by friends,
who come to love him and his family for their real worth. His
wife and four children are his constant companions in leisure hours.
He cares little for clubs. The home, with its friends and entertain-
ments, he declares to be a man's best diversion. The Kerns and the
Bryans are the warmest personal friends, and whenever either man
has visited the town of the other during the past ten years, Mr. Bryan
has been Mr. Kern's guest or Mr. Kern has been Mr. Bryan's guest
at the family home. This close personal friendship led to the joke
in which Mr. Bryan offered Mr. Kern a part of the White House
as a residence, in case of their election.
CHAPTER XIV.
WHY THE DEMOCRATS SHOULD WIN IN 1908.
BY WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN AND HENRY WATTERSON.
After the adoption of the Republican platform at Chicago, Mr.
Bryan declared that the Republican party had shown the "white
feather by retreating from the advanced position taken by the Admin-
istration in its reform movements, and that thus it had again placed
itself on record as favoring the monopolists against the masses, in
the enunciation of the principles which the people would condemn at
the polls in November, 1908. In discussing the Republican platform
Mr. Bryan says:
"The Republicans who attended the national convention as spec-
tators and joined in the demonstration in favor of President Roose-
velt and Senator La Follette must have felt indignant as they watched
the panicstricken delegates running over each other in their effort to
get away from the La Follette reforms, some of which have been
indorsed by the President himself.
"Congressman Cooper, of Wisconsin, representing the La Fol-
lette men, brought in a minority report signed by himself alone. Fifty-
two members of the committee signed the majority report and one
signed the minority report. The Republican party will find the ratio
of fifty-two to one a very embarrassing one to deal with in the coming
campaign.
"Mr. Cooper's report contained a declaration in favor of publicity
as to campaign funds. It was lost by a vote of 880 to 94, more than
nine to one, and yet the President has been advocating legislation in
favor of publicity as to campaign contributions and Secretary Taft
wrote a letter to Mr. Burrows advocating the passage of a publicity bill.
"How fortunate it was that Secretary Taft's letter was finally
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202 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
discovered and published! Senator Burrows, the man to whom the
Taft letter was addressed, was the temporary chairman of the conven-
tion, and the convention over which he presided turned down the
publicity plank by a vote of 9 to I ! Who will deny that, on this sub-
ject, the Republican party is retreating?
"Another plank of the La Follette platform authorized the ascer-
taining of the value of the railroads. This plank was lost by a vote
of 917 to 66, nearly 15 to i, and yet President Roosevelt has advocated
this very proposition. Here is a retreat on the railroad question.
"RETREAT ON INJUNCTION."
"In another column reference is made to the injunction plank.
The injunction plank adopted by the Republican convention is a
retreat from the position taken by the President and from the position
taken by Secretary Taft in his speeches, although neither of them went
as far as they ought to have gone in their effort to prevent what is
known as 'government by injunction.' Here is the third retreat.
"The President has advocated the income tax as a means of
preventing swollen fortunes and of equalizing the burdens of govern-
ment. The Republican platform is silent on the subject. Was the
President right in the position he took? If so, then the convention
was wrong in not indorsing him. Will the Republican voters follow
the President in this just demand, or will they follow the Republican
organization in retreating from it ?
"The President advocated an inheritance tax, but the Republican
convention is silent on that subject. Was the President ahead of the
Republican party in advocating this reform, or has the Republican
party receded from the President's position? Did the President give
false alarm on this question, or has the party sounded a retreat ?
"In the President's message to Congress last spring he presented
an indictment against the conspiracy formed among the great law-
breakers to prevent the enforcement of the law and to evade the pun-
ishments 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, they are unconscious of them.
"Was the President mistaken when he issued his defiance, or are
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 203
the Republican managers deceived when they think that an aroused
public will calmly contemplate the encroachments of predatory wealth ?
This is retreat No. 6.
"The convention by vote of 866 to 1 14 more than seven to one
voted down the plank in favor of the popular election of United States
Senators. It is true that the President and Secretary Taft have never
advocated the popular election of Senators. They seem to take the
Hamiltonian rather than the Jeffersonian view, but the most popular
reform in the United States to-day is the reform that has for its object
the election of United States Senators by direct vote.
"It has been indorsed five times by the National House of Repre-
sentatives three times when the House of Representatives was Repub-
lican. It has been indorsed by nearly two-thirds of the States of the
Union, and there is probably not a State in the Union in which it
would not be indorsed at a popular election, and yet, in spite of the
record made in the houses, and by the various States, this reform is
rejected by a seven to one vote in a Republican national convention.
ROOSEVELT'S REFORMS.
"Here are seven propositions upon which the Republican party
in national convention assembled, has retreated from the position taken
by that party in Congress or from the position taken by the President.
What have Roosevelt Republicans to say?
The President has awakened a spirit of reform within his party,
he has at last revealed to the world that there are reformers in the
Republican party. Can that spirit now be quelled by a stand-pat
convention? Millions of Republicans have enlisted at the President's
call to arms, and are ready to march forward; will they furl their
banners and turn back merely because the President acquiesces in the
sounding of a retreat?"
To sum up, Mr. Bryan argues that, since the Republican Party
by its platform has refused to endorse the reforms begun and recom-
mended by President Roosevelt but on the contrary has actually
declared against some of them, and since the Democratic Party in its
platform now and through its leaders for years has declared for them
and promised them, therefore the logical course for reform Repub-
licans is to vote the Democratic ticket.
204 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
BRYAN DISCUSSES THE INDEPENDENCE PARTY PLATFORM.
"It contains a number of planks which are identical with or sub-
substantially similar to the planks of the Democratic platform. For
instance, it demands the election of Senators by direct vote of the
people, as the Democratic platform does; its tariff plank is quite like
our tariff plank; its plank on the trusts, while opposing private
monopoly, is not as specific as ours ; its railroad plank does not differ
much from ours; its plank on Asiatic immigration is quite similar,
and its labor plank, like ours, contains a declaration in favor of trial
by jury and in regard to the exemption of labor organizations from
the operation of anti-trust laws. Like our platform it condemns the
extravagance of the Republican Party and demands greater economy.
It does not advocate, however, establishment of a Department of
Labor, with a Secretary in the Cabinet ; it does not oppose imperialism,
which has been used to justify the increase in our standing army, and
its plank as to publicity of campaign contributions is not nearly so
strong as ours.
WHY INDEPENDENTS SHOULD VOTE DEMOCRATIC TICKET.
"The question that must confront each member of the Independ-
ence Party is this: Will he assist in the defeat of the Democratic
Party, which stands for so much that he favors, merely because he
cannot get all that he would like ? Either the Democratic Party or the
Republican Party will win, and the voter who, preferring the Demo-
cratic platform to the Republican platform, joins with the Independ-
ence Party merely assists the Republican Party, and thus defeats sev-
eral of the reforms in which he is interested. Take, for instance, the
plank in favor of the election of Senators by the people. The Demo-
cratic Party has indorsed that reform in three campaigns. The Repub-
lican convention defeated the proposition by an overwhelming vote.
If the Democratic Party succeeds, its members are pledged to this
reform. The Republican Party is not pledged to it, and the Repub-
lican candidate has gone no further than to say that he is personally
inclined toward it. This reform is necessary before any other reform
can be secured. Is not the Independence voter justified in helping
the Democratic Party to secure this reform ?
"So in regard to the labor questions. The Democratic Party is
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 205
in favor of remedies demanded by wage-earners, and a wage-earner
who votes with the Independence Party simply defeats the reforms
in which he is interested. And the same argument might be made in
regard to those who favor tariff reform, the extermination of the
principle of private monopoly and the remedy of other evils which
have grown up under Republican administrations. The question is
not whether one can get all the reforms that he wants, but how he
can get the most reform. The Democratic Party offers him the best
opportunity to secure that which is obtainable at this time."
"A UNITED DEMOCRACY TO THE RESCUE OF THE REPUBLIC."
BY HENRY WATTERSON.
"Hurrah for Bryan and Kern! It is a strong ticket. It is an
honest, sound and Democratic declaration of principles. The party
will accept both the ticket and the platform with enthusiasm, and the
voters will ratify them at the polls in November. Henceforward the
word shall be 'Faction to the rear united we stand/
"Upon the eve of this great movement for popular emancipation
from organized and lawless wealth, for the recovery of the Constitu-
tion from the hands of its mutilators, and the restoration of the Gov-
ernment to the people, we desire, with the completed work at Denver
before us, to speak with earnest but becoming candor, addressing our-
selves to those who have no other master or interest to serve than
that of their country, their whole country and nothing but their
country.
"We shall begin at the beginning of the Democratic battle for
the rescue of the masses from the classes, which, during and after
the sectional war, had, in the person and through the ministrations
of the Republican Party, taken possession of the whole fabric of
society and law.
"This carries us back to the national platform and campaign of
1876 under the inspiration and leadership of the immortal Tilden.
The keynote of that life-giving struggle was reform, the reform of
the whole federal system. Reform not written in glittering generalities
but specific and specified; the reform of the public service, dragged
through the mire of official delinquency.
206 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
"On that platform of reform principles set forth by the Demo-
cratic Party in 1876 Mr. Tilden carried the country by a popular
majority of nearly three hundred thousand. He, the Democratic
Party and the people, were counted out of the fruits of their victory
by a process of fraud as palpable as it was extraordinary; but, from
1876 to 1896, the issue uppermost in the minds of thinking Democrats
was that created by the legalized enrichment of the few at the cost of
the many; the encroachments of lawless wealth and arbitrary power;
the progress of the plutocracy; the impositions, impostures and antics
of the money devil.
"It was in this latter year that Mr. Bryan arrived upon the
scene. His coming made an epoch. By some hokus-pokus, evolved
from his inner consciousness, this comparatively obscure young man
contrived to lift himself into leadership, and has kept himself there,
to the end that, for a third time, he is made the Democratic nominee
for President. Were it not the part of wisdom and justice and is
it not time that those of us who have consistently opposed him
should look into the whys and wherefores, should take stock of our
antecedents and the party's assets that is, in case we be Democrats
and not Republicans, or nondescripts with the purpose of reviewing
the past, of revising the present, and of casting some kind of balance
sheet upon the ledger of our individual conduct, our actual opinions,
and our reasonable aims?
"Whatever free silver was, or was not, as an economic issue, it
is no longer here to divide us. Those who contended for it, led by
Mr. Bryan right or wrong as to the fiscal proposition thought they
were fighting for the masses against the classes, for the people against
prerogative, and against the same old money devil we had all fought
under the leadership of Mr. Tilden. That question out of the way,
what is there now to divide us? Is it Mr. Bryan? 'Having been
twice beaten he can never be elected,' says Sir Oracle. 'Having been
twice beaten he can never be elected,' echoes the unthinking Demo-
crat. Yet it is this twice-beaten candidate whom the rank and file
of Democracy cling to and the Republican leaders and newspapers
most savagely abuse. Why ? In our opinion it is because there is in
the people a discerning instinct and in Mr. Bryan a reflecting spirit
which make for mutual truthfulness, each turning to the other, as
both turn to God, with child-like confidence. The Republican leaders
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 207
and newspapers know this and they dread it. They are superbly
equipped. They are supremely confident. Yet they largely rely upon
the bluff they are playing upon our supposed credulity and cowardice.
"We entreat every thinking and loyal Democrat in the land to
study the situation. Mr. Bryan is merely an instrument under heaven,
indicating the popular volition.
"There is but one real underlying and paramount question in
this campaign, and that is, Can the people by their own unaided
strength change their government against the marching army of
federal office holders supported by unlimited supplies, either wrung
from or contributed by .the corporations? Is the money devil an
overmatch for the American voter ? That is all there is to it, fellow-
Democrats and fellow-countrymen; no more and no less.
"Flying the flag of Roosevelt the Republican leaders have already
made their peace with the system, that is with perdition, Pittsburg
and Wall Street. From Rockefeller to Carnegie, from Harriman to
Morgan, every chieftain of lawless riches is well content with Taft
and Sherman. They foretoken and imply the old order of special
privilege to the few, impositions of every sort to the many; high
finance rampant; high tariff, 'revised by its friends,' rampant; the
end of Rooseveltism and agitation 'for the good of business' business
only organizel capital and licensed monopoly; the same old story,
the same old song, the same old gang, slicked over with goose-grease
from the Roosevelt larder, but meaning four years more of the rascal-
dom which Roosevelt has unmasked but now downed; which Roose-
velt has exposed, but left intact; which, in spite of Roosevelt and all
his works, stands to-day as impudent and defiant as ever it stood.
Can any thoughtful Democrat, can any patriotic American, balk of his
duty before a lay-out so menacing and obvious ?
THE PEOPLE DEMAND THE ELECTION OF BRYAN.
"The Anti-Bryan habit is self-deceptive and a pure delusion,
where it is not a form, often an unconscious form, of treasonable
infidelity. There is no reason for its existence in the mind of any
true Democrat. The old-line Whigs, to whom Mr. Clay stood where
Mr. Bryan now stands to the modern Democrats, the old-line
Whigs who preferred Mr. Clay in 1840 and in 1848, sacrificed their
favorite to the superstition that having been twice beaten he could
208 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
never be elected. Yet they could and would have elected him had
they nominated him in either of those years. The intuitions of the
people, let us repeat, are more trustworthy than the best-laid plans of
the politicians. Perhaps in our day the people are better educated
than they were sixty years ago. Whatever it be, they, and not the
politicians, have prevailed at Denver. They have prevailed against
a great deal of manceuvering, and not a little money ; they have pre-
vailed over the doubts and fears of many, the prejudices of others; but
prevailed they have distinctly and absolutely. In standing to Mr.
Bryan, as the Whigs should have stood to Mr. Clay, they take the
responsibilities into their own hand, choosing their ticket as wise
women choose their husbands, to suit themselves, saying to one
another now, and ready to say to the world and to the bitter end, if
that be the will of the Lord as please God it shall not be
" ' Tis better to have loved and lost,
Than never to have loved at all.'
better, yea, a thousand times better, the old faith and the old flag,
so that if we must go down, we shall go down shouting \
"That is the soul of Democracy, unterrified and undefiled. That
is the spirit which snatches brands from the ashes and sets them blaz-
ing upon the altars of truth. That is the fellowship that binds men
and wins battles even with pebbles against mail-clad giants, though
hell should belch forth millionaires and Satan bar the way !"
CHAPTER XV.
CONVENTION OF THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF
AMERICA, 1908.
The second National Convention of the Socialist Party of
America met at Brand's Hall, Clarke and Erie Streets, Chicago, May
10, 1908, at 12.30 o'clock and continued for eight days, ending on
the Sunday following. Morris Hillquit, of New York, was elected
temporary chairman, and Frederick Heath, of Wisconsin, temporary
secretary. The Committee on Rules, which had previously been
appointed by the National Committee, recommended the creation of
the following committees for the convention, which recommendations
were adopted : Committee on Platform, Committee on Resolutions,
Committee on Constitution, Committee on Women and Their Rela-
tion to the Socialist Party, Auditing Committee, Ways and Means
Committee, Farmers' Programme Committee, Committee on Rela-
tion of Foreign-Speaking Organizations, Committee on Labor Or-
ganizations, Committee by Government Commissions. There was
considerable wrangling over the report of the Committee on Creden-
tials, which was finally settled in a harmonious and generally satis-
factory manner and the delegates were seated.
On Monday James F. Carey, of Massachusetts, was elected chair-
man. The day session was opened by discussing a proposed telegram
to the Western Federation of Miners, which was finally referred to
the Committee on Resolutions. The remainder of the day was taken
up by discussion of the report of the Committee on Rules, the election
of the Platform Committee and the nomination of the delegates to
serve on the remaining committees. The tickets for the election of
these committees were ordered printed and to be placed in the hands
of the delegates on the following day.
At Tuesday's session, J. W. Slayton was elected chairman. The
members of all the standing committees were next elected, with the
exception of the Platform Committee, which was fixed on Monday.
14 (209)
210 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
A notable fact in this connection is that the entire Committee on
Women and Their Relationship to the Socialist Party was composed
of women delegates to the convention. Women also figured on the
other committees, but this particular committee had no mle mem-
bers on it.
At the Wednesday session, Seymour Steadman, of Illinois, was
elected chairman. It was devoted mainly to the report of the Com-
mittee on Resolutions. The convention decided to send a telegram,
proposed at Monday's session, to the Western Federation of Miners.
The text of the message is as follows :
"Ernest Mills, Secretary, Western Federation of Miners,
"605 Railroad Bldg., Denver, Colo. :
"The Socialist Forty, in convention assembled, sends greetings to
the Western Federation of Miners. We congratulate you upon the
splendid battle and final vindication of your organization. We con-
demn with you the use of Federal troops to destroy a labor organiza-
tion as in Alaska. We are with you until Adams and the last of the
victims of the Pinkertons are out from the prison pens of poverty into
the sunlight of economic freedom."
The convention also expressed itself on the temperance question
by adopting the following resolution unanimously :
THE ALCOHOL QUESTION.
"We recognize the evils that arise from the manufacture and sale
of alcoholic and adulterated liquors and we declare that any excessive
use of such liquors by the working class postpones the day of the final
triumph of our cause. But we hold that these evils cannot be cured
by an extension of the police power of the capitalist state. Alcoholism
is a disease and can best be remedied by doing away with the under-
feeding, overwork and overworry which result from the capitalist
system."
At Thursday's session Stanley J. Clark, of Texas, was elected
chairman. The Committee on Organized Labor presented the follow-
ing address, which succinctly sets forth the relations of socialism to
organized labor and presents the party's claim for the labor vote :
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 211
SOCIALISM AND ORGANIZED LABOR.
"The movement of organized labor is a natural result of the
antagonism between the interests of employers and wage-earners under
the capitalist system. Its activity in the daily struggle over wages,
hours and other conditions of labor is absolutely necessary to counter-
act the evil effects of competition among the working people and to
save them from being reduced to material and moral degradation. It
is equally valuable as a force for the social, economic and political
education of the workers.
"The Socialist Party does not seek to dictate to organized labor
in matters of internal organization and union policy. It recognizes
the necessary autonomy of the union movement on the economic field,
as it insists on maintaining its own autonomy on the political field. It
is confident that in the school of experience organized labor will as
rapidly as possible develop the most effective forms of organization
and methods of action.
"In the history of the recent Moyer-Haywood protest, partici-
pated in by unions of all sorts and by the Socialist Party, it finds
reason to hope for closer solidarity on the economic field and for more
effective co-operation between organized labor and the Socialist Party,
the two wings of the movement for working-class emancipation.
"The Socialist Party stands with organized labor in all its strug-
gles to resist capitalist aggression or to wrest from the capitalists any
improvement in the conditions of labor. It declares that it is the duty
of every wage-worker to be an active and loyal member of the organ-
ized labor movement, striving to win its battles and to strengthen and
perfect it for the greater struggles to come.
"Organized labor is to-day confronted as a class by a great crisis.
The capitalists, intoxicated with wealth and power and alarmed by
the increasing political and economic activity of the working class,
have undertaken a crusade for the destruction of the labor organiza-
tions. In Colorado, Nevada, Alaska, and elsewhere, law and con-
stitution have been trampled under foot, military despotism set up,
and judicial murder attempted with this aim in view. Where such
violent methods have not seemed advisable, other means have been
used to the same end.
"The movement for the so-called open shop but thinly veils an
attempt to close the shops against organized workingmen ; it is backed
212 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
by powerful capitalist organizations, with millions of dollars in their
war funds.
"The courts, always hostile to labor, have of late outdone all
previous records in perverting the laws to the service of the capitalist
class. They have issued injunctions forbidding the calling of strikes,
the announcement of boycotts, payment of union benefits, or even any
attempt to organize unorganized workingmen in certain trades and
places. They have issued arbitrary decrees dissolving unions under
the pretense of their being labor trusts.
"They have sustained the capitalists in bringing damage suits
against unions for the purpose of tying up or sequestrating their funds.
They have wiped off the statute books many labor laws laws pro-
tecting little children from exploitation in the factory, laws making
employers liable for damages in case of employees killed or injured
at their work, laws guaranteeing the right of workingmen to belong
to unions.
"While affirming the right of employers to bar organized work-
ingmen from employment, they have declared it unlawful for work-
ingmen to agree not to patronize non-union establishments. The only
consistent rule observed by the courts in dealing with the labor ques-
tion is the rule that capitalists have a sacred right to profits and that
the working class has no rights in opposition to business interests.
"In the Danbury hatters' case the United States Supreme Court
has rendered a decision worthy to stand with its infamous 'Dred Scott
decision' of fifty years ago. It has stretched and distorted the Anti-
Trust law to make it cover labor organizations, and has held that the
peaceful method of the boycott is unlawful, that boycotted employers
may recover damages to the amount of three times their loss, and that
the property of individual members, as well as the union treasuries,
may be levied upon to collect such damages.
"By this decision the Supreme Court has clearly shown itself to
be an organ of class injustice, not of social justice. If this and other
hostile decisions are not speedily reversed, organized labor will find
itself completely paralyzed in its efforts toward a peaceful solution of
the labor question. The success of the capitalists and their courts in
this assault upon the labor movement would be a disaster to civiliza-
tion and humanity. It can and must be defeated.
"At this critical moment the Socialist Party calls upon all organ-
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 213
ized workingmen to remember that they still have the ballot in their
hands and to realize that the intelligent use of political power is abso-
lutely necessary to save their organizations from destruction. The
unjust decisions of the Supreme Court can be reversed, the arbitrary
use of the military can be stopped, the wiping out of labor laws can be
prevented by the united action of the workingmen on election day."
The question of unity with the Socialist Labor Party was dis-
cussed and encouraged, but the convention decided not to attempt to
take any steps toward organic unity at this time, but invited members
of the other socialist organizations to join the Socialist Party as
individuals. At the evening session of this day the national platform
was presented and discussed by the convention, and generally ap-
proved, but before becoming positively the platform of the party it
was necessary, under the rules of the Socialists, to submit it to the
different local organizations throughout the country and have it
adopted by a referendum vote. The convention next voted to proceed
with the nomination of candidates for President and Vice-President.
P. H. Gallery, of Missouri, in a stirring speech, placed Eugene V.
Debs in nomination for President. Several others were nominated,
and the vote, which was taken immediately, resulted as follows :
Debs 152
James F. Carey, of Massachusetts 17
Carl D. Thompson, of Wisconsin 16
A. Simons, of Illinois 9
On motion the nomination was made unanimous, which action
was followed by great applause. Several nominations for Vice-Presi-
dent were made. Benjamin Hanford, of New York, received 106
votes, which gave him the majority, and on motion his nomination
was made unanimous. The convention adjourned at 2 A. M., weary,
but enthusiastic.
Thursday's session was devoted largely to the discussion of the
immigration question. The recommendations of the Committee on
Resolutions is too long to insert here, but the declaration was against
the introduction of foreign labor, and it was recommended that a
special committee of five members be elected to carefully study and
investigate the whole subject of immigration in all its aspects, and to
publish, from time to time, such data as they may gather and make a
214 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
report of the same at the next convention of the party. The Com-
mittee on Fanners' Program recommended that the farmers study
the economics of the co-operative social system, and that efforts be
made to convince the farmer that his interests are bound up with the
interests of the whole working class. There were warm debates on
many planks of the platform proposed, and many earnest and eloquent
addresses were made. The most exciting time of the convention
occurred on Friday afternoon in discussing the question of socialism
and religion. This debate extended into the evening, and the day was
closed by the discussion of the plank providing for the relief of the
unemployed.
At Saturday's session Frank I. Wheat, of California, was elected
chairman, and the report of the Committee on Platform was again
taken up and the platform was formally approved by the convention as
a whole. A committee of three was elected to revise its literary style
before publication. The report of the Committee on the Constitution
was then taken up and acted on section by section. The constitution
adopted was substantially the same as the present constitution of the
party, the only important changes being that a clause was added pro-
viding that every applicant for membership in the Socialist Party
shall sign a pledge recognizing the class struggle and endorsing the
platform and constitution of the party. An amendment was also
adopted by the convention to read as follows :
"Any person who opposes political action as a weapon of the
working class to aid in its emancipation shall be expelled from the
party."
Carl D. Thompson, of Wisconsin, was chairman of the Sunday
session. On this day the convention expressed itself as follows on the
woman suffrage question. The Committee on the Relation of Women
to the Socialist Movement then presented its report by Mila Tupper
Maynard, the chairman. She explained that the plank on woman
suffrage in the platform already adopted had been drafted by the
Women's Committee and that this was the only official declaration
thought desirable. She then read the text of the report as follows :
"The National Committee of the Socialist Party has already
provided for a special organizer and lecturer to work for equal civil
and political rights in connection with the socialist propaganda among
women, and their organization in the Socialist Party.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 215
"This direct effort to secure the suffrage to women increases the
party membership and opens up a field of work entirely new in the
American Socialist Party. That it has with it great possibilities and
value for the party, our comrades in Germany, Finland and other
countries have abundantly demonstrated.
"The work of organization among women is much broader and
more far-reaching that the mere arrangement of tour for speakers.
It should consist of investigation and education among women and
children, particularly those in the ranks of labor, in or out of labor
unions, and to the publication of books, pamphlets and leaflets, espe-
cially adapted to this field of activity.
"To plan such activity requires experience that comes from direct
contact with an absorbing interest in the distinct feature of woman's
economic and social conditions, and the problem arising therefrom.
"For this reason the committee hereby requests this convention
to take definite action on this hitherto neglected question. We ask
that it make provision to assist the socialist women of the party in
explaining and stimulating the growing interest in socialism among
women and to aid the women comrades in their efforts to bring the
message of socialism to the children of the proletariat, we recommend
the following:
"First. That a special committee of five be elected to care for and
manage the work of organization among women.
"Second. That sufficient funds be supplied by the party to that
committee to maintain a woman organizer constantly in the field as
already voted.
"Third. That this committee co-operate directly with the national
headquarters and be under the supervision of the national party.
"Fourth. That this committee be elected by this national conven-
tion, its members to consist not necessarily of delegates to this con-
vention.
"Fifth. That all other moneys needed to carry on the work of
the woman's committee outside of the maintenance of the special
organizers, be raised by the committee.
"Sixth. That during the campaign of 1908 the women appointed
as organizers be employed in States now possessing the franchise."
It was decided to continue the present arrangement of paying
the traveling expenses of delegates to all national conventions from
216 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
the national treasury and to raise this money by a special assessment
levied equally on all members. It was furthermore provided that no
delegate hereafter shall be allowed voice or vote in the convention
until the assessments from his State shall have been paid in full.
The entire constitution as adopted by the convention is to be
submitted section by section to a referendum by the membership of the
party and if adopted the new constitution is to go into effect the first
of January, 1909.
Before the motion to adjourn sine die was made, Spargo, of New
York, said : "I suppose we are all agreed that we want to go home.
It is well that, having worked hard for eight days, we should end our
convention in as good spirits as that with which we began. I am
satisfied that when we get back home and have time to forget our
tired nerves and have had time to think more calmly of our personal
differences here, that each of us will look back to this convention as
one of the greatest privileges in each of our lives.
"I believe sincerely, and I am not making the conventional state-
ment usual to such occasions, that we shall admit ten years from now
that the convention of 1908 practically marked the birth of the socialist
movement as a political party of the working class in this country. I
am not going to ask you to listen to any sort of an address now, but
I ask you, comrades, to rise and join in three cheers for socialism and
the Socialist Party."
The convention then adjourned sine die, after three rousing cheers
for socialism.
EUGENE VICTOR DEBS
Socialist Party Candidate for President of the United States.
THOMAS B. WATSON
Leader of the People's Party as Candidate for President
CHAPTER XVI.
PLATFORM OF THE SOCIALIST PARTY FOR 1908.
ALSO PLATFORM OF THE SOCIALIST LABOR PARTY AND PRINCIPLES
OF THE CHRISTIAN SOCIALIST FELLOWSHIP.
PRINCIPLES.
Human life depends upon food, clothing and shelter. Only with
these assured are freedom, culture and higher human development
possible. To produce food, clothing or shelter, land and machinery
are needed. Land alone does not satisfy human needs. Human labor
creates machinery and applies it to the land for the production of raw
materials and food. Whoever has control of land and machinery
controls human labor, and with it human life and liberty.
To-day the machinery and the land used for industrial purposes
are owned by a rapidly decreasing minority. So long as machinery
is simple and easily handled by one man, its owner cannot dominate
the sources of life of others. But when machinery becomes more
complex and expensive and requires for its effective operation the
organized effort of many workers, its influence reaches over wide cir-
cles of life. The owners of such machinery become the dominant
class.
In proportion as the number of such machine owners compared
to all other classes decreases, their power in the nation and in the
world increases. They bring ever larger masses of working people
under their control, reducing them to the point where muscle and
brain are their only productive property. Millions of formerly self-
employing workers thus become the helpless wage slaves of the indus-
trial masters.
As the economic power of the ruling class grows it becomes less
useful in the life of the nation. All the useful work of the nation falls
upon the shoulders of the class whose only property is its manual and
mental labor power the wage worker or of the class who have but
little fand and little effective machinery outside of their labor power
the small traders and small farmers. The ruling minority is steadily
becoming useless and parasitic.
(217)
218 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
A bitter struggle over the division of the products of labor is
waged between the exploiting propertied classes on the one hand and
the exploited, propertyless class on the other. In this struggle the
wage-working class cannot expect adequate relief from any reform
of the present order at the hands of the dominant class.
The wage-workers are therefore the most determined and irrec-
oncilable antagonists of the ruling class. They suffer most from the
curse of class rule. The fact that a few capitalists are permitted to
control all the country's industrial resources and social tools for their
individual profit, and to make the production of the necessaries of life
the object of competitive private enterprise and speculation, is at the
bottom of all the social evils of our time.
In spite of the organization of trusts, pools and combinations, the
capitalists are powerless to regulate production for social ends. In-
dustries are largely conducted in a planless manner. Through periods
of feverish activity the strength and health of the workers are merci-
lessly used up, and during periods of enforced idleness the workers
are frequently reduced to starvation.
The climaxes of this system of production are the regularly recur-
ring industrial depressions and crises which paralyze the nation every
fifteen or twenty years.
The capitalist class, in its mad race for profits, is bound to exploit
the workers to the very limit of their endurance and to sacrifice their
physical, moral and mental welfare to its own insatiable greed. Capi-
talism keeps the masses of workingmen in poverty, destitution, physical
exhaustion and ignorance. It drags their wives from their homes
to the mill and factory. It snatches their children from the play-
grounds and schools and grinds their slender bodies and unformed
minds into cold dollars. It disfigures, maims and kills hundreds of
thousands of workingmen annually in mines, on railroads and in fac-
tories. It drives millions of workers into the ranks of the unemployed
and forces large numbers of them into beggary, vagrancy and all forms
of crime and vice.
To maintain their rule over their fellow-men, the capitalists must
keep in their pay all organs of the public powers, public mind and
public conscience. They control the dominant parties and, through
them, the elected public officials. They select the 'executives, bribe the
legislature and corrupt the courts of justice. They own and censor
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 219
the press. They dominate the educational institutions. They own the
nation politically and intellectually just as they own it industrially.
The struggle between wage-workers and capitalists grows ever
fiercer, and has now become the only vital issue before the American
people. The wage-working class, therefore, has the most direct interest
in abolishing the capitalist system. But in abolishing the present
system, the workingmen will free not only their own class, but also
all other classes of modern society: the small farmer, who is to-day
exploited by large capital more indirectly but not less effectively than
is the wage laborer; the small manufacturer and trader, who is
engaged in a desperate and losing struggle for economic independence
in the face of the all-conquering power of concentrated capital; and
even the capitalist himself, who is the slave of his wealth rather than
its master. The struggle of the working class against the capitalist
class, while it is a class struggle, is thus at the same time a struggle
for the abolition of all classes and class privileges.
The private ownership of the land and the means of production
used for exploitation is the rock upon which class rule is built;
political government it its indispensable instrument. The wage-
workers cannot be freed from exploitation without conquering the
political power and substituting collective for private ownership of the
land and the means of production used for exploitation.
The basis for such transformation is rapidly developing within
present capitalist society. The factory system, with its complex ma-
chinery and minute division of labor, is rapidly destroying all vestiges
of individual production in manufacture. Modern production is
already very largely a collective and social process. The great trusts
and monopolies which have sprung up in recent years have organized
the work and management of the principal industries on a national
scale, and have fitted them for collective use and operation.
The Socialist Party is primarily an economic and political move-
ment. It is not concerned with matters of religious belief.
In the struggle for freedom the interests of all modern workers
are identical. The struggle is not only national, but international. It
embraces the world and will be carried to ultimate victory by the
united workers of the world.
To unite the workers of the nation and their alfies and sympa-
thizers of all other classes to this end, is the mission of the Socialist
220 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
Party. In this battle for freedom, the Socialist Party does not strive
to substitute working class rule for capitalist class rule, but by work-
ing class victory, to free all humanity from class rule and to realize
the international brotherhood of man.
PLATFORM FOR
The Socialist Party, in national convention assembled, again de-
clares itself as the party of the working class, and appeals for the
support of all workers of the United States and of all citizens who
sympathize with the great and just cause of Labor.
We are at this moment in the midst of one of those industrial
breakdowns that periodically paralyze the life of the nation. The
much boasted era of our national prosperity has been followed by one
of general misery. Factories, mills and mines are closed. Millions
of men, ready, willing and able to provide the nation with all the
necessaries and comforts of life, are forced into idleness and starvation.
Within recent times the trusts and monopolies have attained an
enormous and menacing development. They have acquired the power
to dictate the terms upon which we shall be allowed to live. The
trusts fix the prices of our bread, meat and sugar, of our coal, oil
and clothing, of our raw material and machinery, of all the necessities
of life.
The present desperate condition of the workers has been made
the opportunity for a renewed onslaught on organized labor. The
highest courts of the country have within the last year rendered
decision after decision depriving the workers of rights which they
had won by generations of struggle.
The attempt to destroy the Western Federation of Miners,
although defeated by the solidarity of organized labor and the socialist
movement, revealed the existence of a far-reaching and unscrupulous
conspiracy by the ruling class against the organizations of labor.
In their efforts to take the lives of the leaders of the miners the
conspirators violated State laws and the Federal Constitution in a
manner seldom equaled even in a country so completely dominated by
the profit-seeking class as is the United States.
The Congress of the United States has shown its contempt for
the interests of labor as plainly and unmistakably as have the other
branches of government. The laws for which the labor organizations
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 221
have continually petitioned have failed to pass. Laws ostensibly en-
acted for the benefit of labor have been distorted against labor.
The working class of the United States cannot expect any remedy
for its wrongs from the present ruling class or from the dominant
parties. So long as a small number of individuals are permitted to
control the sources of the nation's wealth for their private profit in
competition with each other and for the exploitation of their fellow-
men, industrial depressions are bound to occur at certain intervals.
No currency reforms or other legislative measures proposed by capi-
talist reformers can avail against these fatal results of utter anarchy
in production.
Individual competition leads inevitably to combinations and
trusts. No amount of government regulation, or of publicity, or of
restrictive legislation will arrest the natural course of modern indus-
trial development.
While our courts, legislatures and executive offices remain in the
hands of the ruling classes and their agents, the government will be
used in the interests of these classes as against the toilers.
Political parties are but the expression of economic class interests.
The Republican, the Democratic, and the so-called Independence par-
ties and all parties other than the Socialist Party, are financed, directed
and controlled by the representatives of different groups of the ruling
class.
In the maintenance of class government both the Democratic and
Republican parties have been equally guilty. The Republican party
has had control of the national government and has been directly and
actively responsible for these wrongs. The Democratic party, while
saved from direct responsibility by its political impotence, has shown
itself equally subservient to the aims of the capitalist class whenever
and wherever it has been in power. The old chattel slave-owning
aristocracy of the South, which was the backbone of the Democratic
party, has been supplanted by a child-slave plutocracy. In the great
cities of our country the Democratic party is allied with the criminal
element of the slums as the Republican party is allied with the pre-
datory criminals of the palace in maintaining the interest of the pos-
sessing class.
The various "reform" movements and parties which have sprung
up within recent years are but the clumsy expression of widespread
222 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
popular discontent. They are not based on an intelligent under-
standing of the historical development of civilization and of the
economic and political needs of our time. They are bound to perish
as the numerous middle class reform movements of the past have
perished.
PROGRAM.
As measures calculated to strengthen the working class in its
fight for the realization of this ultimate aim, and to increase its power
of resistance against capitalist oppression, we advocate and pledge
ourselves and our elected officers to the following program :
GENERAL DEMANDS.
i The immediate government relief for the unemployed workers
by building schools, by reforesting of cutover and waste lands, by
reclamation of arid tracts, and the building of canals, and by extend-
ing all other useful public works. All persons employed on such
works shall be employed directly by the government under an eight-
hour work-day and at the prevailing union wages. The government
shall also loan money to States and municipalities without interest
for the purpose of carrying on public works. It shall contribute to
the funds of labor organizations for the purpose of assisting their
unemployed members, and shall take such other measures within its
power as will lessen the widespread misery of the workers caused by
the misrule of the capitalist class.
2 The collective ownership of railroads, telegraphs, telephones,
steamship lines and all other means of social transportation and com-
munication, and all land.
3 The collective ownership of all industries which are organized
on a national scale and in which competition has virtually ceased
to exist.
4 The extension of the public domain to include mines, quarries,
oil wells, forests and water power.
5 That occupancy and use of land be the sole title to possession.
The scientific reforestation of timber lands, and the reclamation of
swamp lands. The land so reforested or reclaimed to be permanently
retained as a part of the public domain.
6 The absolute freedom of press, speech and assemblage.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 223
INDUSTRIAL DEMANDS.
7 The improvement of the industrial condition of the workers.
(a) By shortening the work-day in keeping with the in-
creased productiveness of machinery.
(&) By securing to every worker a rest period of not less
than a day and a half in each week.
(c) By securing a more effective inspection of workshops
and factories.
(d} By forbidding the employment of children under six-
teen years of age.
(e~) By forbidding the interstate transportation of the
products of child labor, of convict labor and of all uninspected
factories.
(/) By abolishing official charity and substituting in its place
compulsory insurance against unemployment, illness, accidents,
invalidism, old age and death.
POLITICAL DEMANDS.
8 The extension of inheritance taxes, graduated in proportion
to the amount of the bequests and to nearness of kind.
9 A graduated income tax.
10 Unrestricted and equal suffrage for men and women, and we
pledge ourselves to engage in an active campaign in that direction.
ii The initiative and referendum, proportional representation
and the right of recall.
12 Abolition of the Senate.
13 The abolition of the power usurped by the Supreme Court
of the United States to pass upon the constitutionality of legislation
enacted by Congress. National laws to be repealed or abrogated only
by act of Congress or by a referendum of the whole people.
14 That the Constitution be made amendable by majority vote.
15 The enactment of further measures for general education
and for the conservation of health. The Bureau of Education to be
made a department. The creation of a Department of Public Health.
1 6 The separation of the present Bureau of Labor from the
Department of Commerce and Labor, and the establishment of a
Department of Labor.
224 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
17 That all judges be elected by the people for short terms, and
that the power to issue injunctions shall be curbed by immediate
legislation.
1 8 The free administration of justice.
Such measures of relief as we may be able to force from capital-
ism are but a preparation of the workers to seize the whole powers of
government, in order that they may thereby lay hold of the whole
system of industry and thus come to their rightful inheritance.
THE SOCIALIST LABOR PARTY.
This older branch of the Socialist movement holds certain dis-
tinctive views advocating the general federation of labor all over the
world, without discrimination against foreign labor, and making it
practically impossible for one branch of labor to "scab" on another
branch. It is the attitude of the Socialist Labor Party toward the
trade unions that has prevented its uniting with the Socialist Party,
of which Eugene V. Debs is the candidate.
The Socialist Labor Party met in its fifth national Presidential
convention in New York on the morning of July 2d at half-past ten
o'clock. The first meeting of the organization in convention was in
1892 in New York. They went through the usual formalities of con-
venions, in appointing committees and conducting their affairs.
They remained in session until July 5th and adjourned after nominat-
ing for Presidnt Martin R. Preston, of Nevada, by trade a miner,
who is debarred from becoming President of the United States by
the double disqualification of being a foreigner by birth and because
he would be under thirty-five years of age at the date of the
next inauguration, March 4, 1909. This age limit would prevent
anyone from being inaugurated as President, as would also the fact
of foreign birth. Another singular fact in connection with the nomi-
nation of Martin R. Preston is that at the time of his nomination he
was in prison in Nevada under an indictment for manslaughter. He
killed a restaurant keeper, as he and his party claim, in self-defence,
while defending a waitress against the insults of the man he slew.
The nominee for Vice-President is Donald L. Munro, a machinist, of
Portsmouth, Va. No biographical sketches of these candidates could
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 225
be obtained. The party's platform in 1904 was readopted without
change for 1908.
The regular Socialist Party through their "Unity League" made
overtures to the Socialist Labor Party Convention to endorse their
candidates, and, laying aside the technical differences which separated
them, join in a united effort for the advancement of the common cause
of socialism. The Socialist Labor Party replied in part as follows :
"Comrades : We find the working class in such a state of pov-
erty, besides confusion, that the Socialist Labor Party, in convention
assembled, would gladly shut its eyes and ears to the technical
objections that there are in your request to endorse Mr. Debs, the
Presidential nominee of your party. But there are serious objections
to such action. The national convention of the Socialist Party has
violated the principles of the International Socialist Movement. To
the slogan of 'the hordes of Europe,' used without protest from the
convention by Guy Miller, a prominent national organizer and mem-
ber of your national committee, the Socialist Party national conven-
tion took a 'backward races' position on the immigration question,
thereby setting workingmen of one race against those of another.
Such a position is not only contrary to the declaration of the Stutt-
gart Congress, but a slap in the face of the foreign speaking element
in America.
"The Socialist Labor Party tendered an offer of unity to the
Socialist Party, in compliance with the resolution of the International
Socialist Congress. This offer was rejected.
"The Socialist Party national convention rejected a recommenda-
tion in favor of revolutionary unionism. It thereby shielded the craft
union principle which keeps the working class divided, and compels,
as a principle of unionism, the scabbing of one craft upon another,
and even compels locals of the same craft to act as strike breakers
against each other. In an article on this subject, which appeared in
The Miners' Magazine, Mr. Debs stated that 'association with the
American Federation of Labor is contamination/
"The Socialist Party convention, not satisfied with committing
these acts, emphasized its iniquitous position by nominating as its
Vice-Presidential candidate Ben Hanford, the incarnation of these
iniquities. Hanford is a member of Big Six, the typographical union,
226 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
which is itself the incarnation of the theory of craft unionism, which
under the pretext of 'keeping its contracts' has often scabbed on its
allied trades, from the little newsboys up.
"The nomination under such circumstances of Eugene V. Debs
for President by your convention is not a denial of the Hanford craft
union principle. The nomination under such circumstances of Debs
is an attempt to sugar-coat the Hanford scabbery.
"To endorse Debs would, therefore, be to endorse Hanford's
scabbery; it would be, not a step that would promote the unification
of the workers, it would be a step that would promote their further
disruption; it would be a blow to the revolutionary element that is
taking shape in your own party, and that justly looks upon the Social-
ist Labor Party for guidance.
"For these reasons, while appreciating your motives, the conven-
tion of the Socialist Labor Party must decline to accept your invita-
tion.
"The Socialist Labor Party having nominated for President
Martin B. Preston, the wrongfully imprisoned and persecuted Nevada
miner workingman, we suggest to you that your organization cause
Mr. Debs to realize the propriety of declining in favor of Preston for
the best interests of the working class and of all around unity.
"PATRICK E. DE LEE,
"HENRY O'NEIL,
"H. J. SCHADE."
The real difference can be seen by consulting the principles
enunciated in their respective platforms. The platform of the Social-
ist Labor Party follows :
PLATFORM OF THE SOCIALIST LABOR PARTY, ADOPTED AT NEW YORK
JULY, 1904, AND AGAIN JULY, 1908.
The Socialist Labor Party, in convention assembled, reasserts
the inalienable right of man to life, liberty, and the pursuit of hap-
piness.
We hold that the purpose of government is to secure to every
citizen the enjoyment of this right; but, taught by experience, we hold
furthermore that such right s is illusory in the majority of the people,
to wit, the working class, under the present system of ecomonic
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 227
inequality that is essentially destructive of their life, their liberty, and
their happiness.
We hold that the true theory of politics is that the machinery of
government must be controlled by the whole people ; but again, taught
by experience, we hold, furthermore, that the true theory of economics
is that the means of production must likewise be owned, operated
and controlled by the people in common. Man cannot exercise his
right of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness without the owner-
ship of the land on and the tool with which to work. Deprived of
these, his life, his liberty, and his fate fall into the hands of the class
that owns those essentials for work and production.
We hold that the existing contradiction between the theory of
democratic government and the fact of a despotic economic system
the private ownership of the natural and social opoprtunities divides
the people into two classes the capitalist class and the working class ;
throws society into the convulsions of the class struggle, and perverts
government to the exclusive benefit of the capitalist class.
Thus labor is robbed of the wealth which it alone produces, is
denied the means of self-employment, and, by compulsory idleness in
wage slavery, is even deprived of the necessaries of life.
Against such a system the Socialist Labor Party raises the banner
of revolt, and demands the unconditional surrender of the capitalist
class.
The time is fast coming when, in the natural course of social
evolution, this system, through the destructive action of its failures
and crises on the one hand and the constructive tendencies of its trusts
and other capitalist combinations on the other hand, will have worked
out its own downfall.
We, therefore, call upon the wage-earners of America to organize
under the banner of the Socialist Labor Party into a class-conscience
body, aware of its rights and determined to conquer them.
And we also call upon all other intelligent citizens to place them-
selves squarely upon the ground of working-class interests, and join
us in this mighty and noble work of human emancipation, so that we
may put summary end to the existing barbarous class conflict by plac-
ing the land and all the means of production, transportation and dis-
tribution into the hands of the people as a collective body, and sub-
stituting the co-operative commonwealth for the present state of plan-
228 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
less production, industrial war and social disorder a commonwealth
in which every worker shall have the free exercise and full benefit of
his faculties, multiplied by all the modern factors of civilization.
THE CHRISTIAN SOCIALIST FELLOWSHIP (OR PARTY).
The Christian Socialists endorse the candidates of the Socialist
Party Debs for President and Hanford for Vice-President. They
are really a branch of the Socialist Party, organized for the purpose
of propagating socialism among all Christian church organizations,
emphasizing the teachings of Christ as the keynote of socialism, and
for that reason to urge Christians of all creeds to espouse the cause of
socialism. The following is their declaration of principles and policy,
adopted at New York, May 30, 1908 :
The Christian Socialist Fellowship is instituted and maintained
for the sole purpose of spreading knowledge of the principles of
socialism, especially among persons of religious belief and affiliation.
In view of the traditional and political significance of the term
"Christian Socialism" in European countries, it is necessary to empha-
size the fact that the Fellowship differs wholly in its spirit and pur-
pose from the so-called Christian socialist parties in Germany and else-
where. It must be distinguished from the semi-philanthropic and
social reform movements which are sometimes designate! as "Chris-
tian Socialism." It has no connection with, but on the contrary con-
demns, the so-called Christian socialist movement of Germany, Aus-
tria and other continental countries, which carries on a violent anti-
social and un-Christian propaganda of anti-Semitism, and antagonizes
the Social Democracy, the political movement of the working class.
The Fellowship believes in and advocates socialism without any
qualifying adjectives whatever. It does not offer any special form of
socialism, distinctly Christian. The socialism it preaches differs in
no way from that of the international socialist movement.
The Fellowship does not aim to create a new political party, but
endorses and supports the platform and principles of the Socialist
Party. Most of the members of the Fellowship are members also of
the party, and the influence of the Fellowship is unreservedly given to
the party.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 229
No religious or creed test is imposed as a condition of mem-
bership in the Fellowship. The reason for its existence as a special
organization is the need for carrying on socialist propaganda among
the members of churches and other religious institutions. The Fel-
lowship welcomes to membership adherents of every faith without
discrimination, urging them to propagate socialism in their congrega-
tions through the Fellowship.
The Fellowship will confine its efforts to the special work above
described. It will not seek to influence the policy of the Socialist
Party, but will maintain an attitude of strict neutrality upon all ques-
tions of party organization and policy.
The above resolution was adopted unanimously except the part
"welcoming adherents of every faith." Strobell, Vail, Bliss, Weeks
and Carr voted against that part.
As a mere resolution the matter does not go to referendum ; and,
moreover, no resolution can nullify the constitution, which provides
that the members of the Christian Socialist Fellowship shall consist
of those who agree to "the racial message of Jesus" and recognize
that "Socialism is the necessary economic expression of the Christian
life," etc. In other words, while the fellowship has no theological
test, not asking a prospective member whether he believes in one
God, three Gods in one, or no God, he is required to commit himself
to Christianity so far as the statement of object goes. The Fellow-
ship is distinctly Christian in ethics and sociology, and will probably
become more so.
CHAPTER XVII.
EUGENE VICTOR DEBS,
SOCIALIST CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT IN 1908.
In the estimation of the average Democrat and Republican
Eugene V. Debs stands next to the anarchist. As a matter of fact,
the socialists claim that there is no political creed formulated which
is farther from anarchy than their own; no man farther from it than
their champion. The candidate for President on the Socialist ticket
is a man of most charming and pleasing personality, as well as one of
the most pleasing, convincing and powerful orators of our country.
It is the heart of the man that makes him a Socialist. Great as is his
mind, it follows the prompting of a love for his fellow-man; and, if
he fights at all he fights for his brothers and sisters in human flesh,
whom he believes should be alike free and equal in all opportunities to
make the most of themselves and their children.
THE POETS LOVE HIM.
It is said that the poets love Eugene V. Debs, because in him they
detected the true spirit of the brotherhood of man with equal rights
to all, about which the greatest poets from Whittier to Edwin Mark-
ham love to sing. James Whitcomb Riley and Eugene Field were his
personal friends. Perhaps Mr. Debs has no more enthusiastic admirer
than the famous "Hoosier poet." In his characteristic way Mr. Riley
declares : "God was feeling mighty good when he created 'Gene Debs."
Eugene Field, the famous child poet said to be extremely discrimi-
nating in his friendship and very sparing of compliments thus wrote :
" 'Gene Debs is the most lovable man I ever knew. Debs is sin-
cere. His heart is as gentle as a woman's and as fresh as a mountain
brook. If Debs were a priest, the world would listen to his eloquence,
and that gentle, musical voice and sad, sweet smile of his would soften
the hardest heart."
(23)
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 231
Probably enough tender tributes in verse have been paid to Debs
by the poets to fill a volume. One of them declared, "The mind of
'Gene Debs is a garden in bloom and his soul is filled with fragrance."
At one time when Riley was confined to his room by illness, Debs
sent him a bouquet of the poet's favorite flowers, which called forth
the following appreciation:
THEM FLOWERS.
(To My Good Friend, Eugene V. Debs.)
Take a feller 'ats sick, and laid up on the shelf,
All shaky, and ga'nted and pore,
And all so knocked out he can't handle hisself
With a stiff upper-lip any more;
Shet him up all alone in the gloom of a room,
As dark as the tomb, and as grim,
And then take and send him some roses in bloom,
And you kin have fun out o' him !
You've seed him, 'fore now, when his liver was sound,
And his appetite notched like a saw.
A chaffin' you, mebby, for romancin' round
With a big posey bunch in yer paw.
But you ketch him, say, when his health is away,
And he's flat on his back in distress,
And then you can trot out your little bokay
And not be insulted, I guess !
You see, it's like this, what his weaknesses is,
Them flowers makes him think of the days
Of his innocent youth, and that mother o' his,
And the roses she used to raise;
So here all alone with the roses you send,
Bein' sick and all trimbly and faint;
My eyes is my eyes is my eyes is old friend,
Is a-leakin' I'm blamed ef they ain't!
And in the "Hoosier Bard's" poem "Regardin' Terry Hut,"
appear these lines :
232 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
And there's 'Gene Debs a man 'at stands
And jest holds out in his two hands
As warm a heart as ever beat
Betwixt here and the Jedgement Seat!
At a reception given to Debs by the Denver Press Club, Walter
Juan Davis recited these lines, written for the occasion :
DEBS.
It is not his craft or creed,
It is not the winged word
That springs from his soul to his lips, at need,
And, flying, is felt and heard;
But something down in us all
That makes us respect the man
Who says unto great and small :
"You've a right to do what you can ;
You've a right to preserve and keep
Such things as the gods gave you ;
You've a right to your hours of sleep,
And the worth of the things you do ;
You've a right to the million or dime
That your brain or your brawn has won ;
But not in the length of time,
In the light of the moon or sun,
Have you a right to a thing
That you steal or wring
From me, or from any one."
That picturesque genius, Captain Jack Crawford, renowned as
'The Poet-Scout," wrote of Debs :
The same old pard of long ago,
The whole-souled 'Gene that I used to know ;
With the love of Truth writ on Justice's scroll,
With a woman's heart and a warrior's soul.
PRESIDENTS OP THE UNITED STATES PROM 1789 TO 1829.
PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES PROM 1829 TO 1850.
233
DEBS THE WARRIOR.
As the last quotation above suggests, while Debs has a heart as
tender as a woman's for those in distress, he has the courage of a lion
and the spirit of a warrior to punish those who would oppress their
fellows. With all of his tenderness, he is in every sense a man's man.
He is a writer, a lecturer and an organizer. Born in Terre Haute,
Indiana, November 5, 1855, he is now in the prime of his manhood
at fifty-two years of age. His parents were Daniel and Marguerite
Debs. He had a common school education and early in life entered
the ranks of the toilers. From 1871 to 1874 he was a locomotive
fireman on the Terre Haute and Indianapolis Railroad. From this
position he went for the next four years to work in a wholesale
grocery house and later became the oity clerk of Terre Haute, In-
diana, in which position he served from 1879 to 1883. This was the
beginning of his political career. In June of 1885 he was married to
Katherine Metzel and the same year was elected to the Indiana
Legislature.
It was while he was yet city clerk in Terre Haute that his per-
sonal qualities, coupled with his recognized ability and enthusiasm in
the labor movement, won him the position of secretary and treasurer
of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, which position he held
until 1893, when he became president of the American Railway Union.
In this capacity he acted for four years and gave it up to become
chairman of the Council of the Social Democracy in 1897. In 1900
he was made the Socialist Party candidate for President. For this
office he was again nominated by his party in 1904 and 1908.
Perhaps no partisans know the history of their candidates better
than the socialists know the history of Eugene V. Debs. While
president of the American Railway Union he won a victory for labor
in the Great Northern Railway strike, and it was while he was man-
aging a still larger strike on Western roads that he was charged with
conspiracy. He was acquitted of this charge, but later he was charged
with violation of an injunction and sent to jail for six months for
contempt of court. It was this imprisonment which gave rise to his
opponents contemptuously dubbing him "the jail-bird." This sobri-
quet has been accepted by the followers of his party as an honor.
They claim that he went to jail as Christ went to the cross, in the
interest of humanity.
234 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
It is hardly to be doubted that the imprisonment of Debs awak-
ened a greater interest in the movement he was leading. Since that
time the socialist movement in America has grown with leaps and
bounds, as will be shown by the fact that in 1900 the party polled
96,931 votes and four years later more than four times as many, the
total being 409,230. Succeeding 1904 numerous socialist papers, both
weekly and daily, were started in various parts of the country; and it
is confidently predicted by the leaders of the party that the vote in
1908 will double that of 1904. Some of the more optimistic journals
of the party claim they will reach at least 1,000,000 votes. Others
place the figures in advance of the million mark. Both Debs and
Hanford are powerful campaigners. They are profound students and
deep thinkers, strong debaters, and as orators compare favorably with
either the Democratic or Republican spellbinders.
THE STORY OF DEBS'S IMPRISONMENT.
Inasmuch as the Anti-injunction question became so great an
issue in the campaign of 1908 it is well to give more in detail the story
of Debs's imprisonment under an injunction, especially since that act
practically resulted in the introduction of the Socialist Party into
American politics.
In May, 1894, the famous Pullman strike occurred. Unable to
effect a settlement by arbitration, the A. R. U. took up the matter in
the national convention in session at Chicago in June. As a result
a boycott was declared against the Pullman cars, to take effect June
26th. Within a few days the entire railroad system of the country
extending from Chicago West and South to the Gulf and Pacific
coast was tied up and the greatest labor war in the country's history
was on.
On July 2, 1894, Judges Woods and Grosscup, at Chicago, issued
a sweeping "omnibus" injunction. Mr. Debs and associates were
arrested for contempt of court, on alleged violation of the injunction.
They were tried in September, but Judge Woods did not render a
verdict until December, when he condemned Mr. Debs to six months'
imprisonment, and his associates to three. The case was carried to
the Supreme Court, which sustained the lower court, and in May,
1895, the imprisonment in Woodstock jail began. The term ex-
pired on November 22, 1895, and on the evening of that day the
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 235
prisoner was tendered a reception in Chicago, the like of which that
city had seldom seen.
Debs and associates were also indicted and placed on trial for
conspiracy, and the trial continued until the evidence of the prosecu-
tion had all been heard, but suddenly, when the defense began to
testify, a juror was taken ill during a temporary adjournment and the
trial abruptly terminated in spite of all efforts of the defendants to
have it continued. They were anxious to bring the General Mana-
gers' Association into court and show who were the real law breakers
and destroyers of property. An acquittal by a jury upon substantially
the same charge as that upon which they were imprisoned for con-
tempt, the Socialists claim, would have been fatal to Judge Woods.
However that may be, it is undoubtedly due to this incident and the
agitation which followed in the Socialist Party that the Anti-injunc-
tion issue in all the other parties has been made a feature of the plat-
forms in 1908.
SOCIALISM VERSUS CAPITALISM PROCLAIMED.
On January i, 1897, Debs issued a circular to the members of
the A. R. U., entitled "Present Conditions and Future Duties," in
which he reviewed the political, industrial, and economic conditions,
and came out boldly for Socialism. Among other things he said :
"The issue is Socialism vs. Capitalism. I am for Socialism because
I am for humanity. The time has come to regenerate society we
are on the eve of a universal change."
When the A. R. U. met in national convention in Chicago, in
June, 1897, that body was merged into the Social Democracy of
America, with Debs as chairman of the National Executive Board.
The following year (1898) the Social Democratic Party was started
as the result of a split in the Social Democracy. In 1900 Debs was
nominated for President as candidate for the Social Democratic Party,
which was afterward merged into what is now the Socialist Party,
and Debs has been its candidate in each successive election.
During the past seven years Mr. Debs has devoted all his time
to lecturing and writing for Socialism, and has also taken part in some
notable strikes in the industrial and mining centers of the East and
West. He has visited every State during his travels and carried the
Socialist message into more places than probably any other man in
America.
CHAPTER XVIII.
BENJAMIN HANFORD,
SOCIALIST CANDIDATE FOR VICE-PRESIDENT.
Like Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Hanford is a self-made man,
and, like Lincoln, he claims to owe much of the inspiration that finally
shaped his life for whatever good there may be in it to a wise, devoted
and helpful stepmother.
Benjamin Hanford was born in Indiana in the year 1858, and
grew up in a humble home until he was thirteen years of age, at which
date, notwithstanding the strong affection he had for his stepmother^
he yielded to a disposition which takes possession of many boys, some-
times in the most refined homes, and "ran away," to try his fortune in
the booming city of Chicago just before the great conflagration re-
duced the business portion of the Western metropolis to ashes. Penni-
less and friendless, but, even then manifesting that natural resource-
fulness that has since stood him well in hand and carried him to fame
in his party, he quickly found work as a printer's devil in a small shop.
Thus he began a career which he followed until he mastered the
printer's art, through which he made his living until he abandoned it
to step into higher circles in the Socialist movement. He worked, in
his time, for some of the leading dailies of the great cities of America.
Leaving Chicago, he became connected with a country newspaper,
where he set type and did anything and everything to be done about
the place. It was as a printer that he first became interested in the
labor movement, as early, perhaps, as 1885, when he joined the
Printers' Union. About this same time he came to work in the Gov-
ernment Printing Office at Washington, D. C. After following his
trade for a time in the service of "Uncle Sam," at the national capital,
he drifted (in that proverbial way in which journeymen printers drift)
to Philadelphia and became a compositor on the Record.
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GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 237
MEETS FRED LONG.
Many prominent men, as well as men in ordinary circumstances
of life, trace their later careers to the day when they met a certain
individual. A conversation with a chance acquaintance often shapes
the destiny of a man's life. Such was. the case with Benjamin Han-
ford. The turning point came when he met Frederick Long, who was
at that time a printer in Philadelphia, and is generally regarded as
the father of Socialism in the City of Brotherly Love. The old man,
Frederick W. Long, is known to every noted socialist in the country.
At this writing, June, 1908, he lies upon a sick bed in the City of
Philadelphia, where he has long been confined, and his socialist breth-
ren contribute to his support. Eugene V. Debs says of him: "The
socialists of this day owe Frederick Long a debt they can never pay.
All they can do is to contribute of their means without stint to nurse
him in comfort and to win him back to life and strength again.
. . He will indeed be a power of strength in the movement."
John Spargo says: "As a teacher, Comrade Long has been signally
successful. Some of the most learned and brilliant men in our ranks
owe their conversion to his lucid and logical statements of the social-
ist's position." Benjamin Hanford thus attributes his own success to
his friend and teacher: "Personally, my regard for Frederick Long
is more than tongue can tell or heart can hold in silence. He was my
beloved teacher. He gave words to my tongue, thought to my brain
and cleared the understanding of my clouded mind. Such strength
as is mine shall be devoted to the great cause that is his."
Since the day that Hanford met Long he has been an active
socialist. How well his precept or teaching have taken root, flowered
and fructified may be understood when we see that Hanford (the self-
educated runaway boy and wandering printer) has three successive
times been named by his party and ran on the socialist ticket for
Governor of New York. Three years after his conversion by Long
he was named as the socialist candidate for Vice-President and ran
with Debs in 1904. How well his services counted may be estimated
from the general statement that in 1900 the socialists polled 96,931
votes. Four years later they more than quadrupled that number, the
exact count being 409,230 votes.
238 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
A WIT AND A ORATOR.
Hanford is an original wit and humorist, and the friends of the
Vice-Presidential candidate claim that his great forte is in putting in
a witty and a chatty style the most telling points of socialism. He is
a master also of sarcasm; and the contrast between his easy, chatty
manner and his occasional rise to the heights of eloquence in serious
passages rivets the attention of the audience to whatever subject he
may address himself. He builds up a logical argument and invariably
touches the mind of his listeners in a way that leaves a lasting im-
pression. In one of his speeches he thus answers the capitalist press
in its attack on Debs: "The capitalist press say Debs is a jail-bird.
Debs will be known when the judge that sent him to jail will be
forgotten. Like John Brown, when Debs lies moldering in the grave
his spirit will go marching on until the slave labor or predatory
wealth will be freed by the spirit of Debs, even as the black slaves of
the South were freed by the spirit of John Brown. Who now hears
of the judge that sentenced John Brown to hang? Who now knows
or will hereafter inquire of the judge who sentenced Eugene V. Debs
to jail? I am proud to be the running mate of the jail-bird who
deemed it an honor to suffer in prison that those who come after him
might have greater liberty."
CHAPTER XIX.
THE SOCIALIST MOVEMENT AND WHAT IT STANDS
FOR.
BY EUGENE V. DEBS, LYMAN ABBOTT, CHARLES H. PARKHURST,
FRANCES WILLARD AND OTHERS.
Socialism, as defined by the dictionary, is "a theory of civil
polity that aims to secure the reconstruction of society, increase of
wealth, and a more equal distribution of the products of labor through
the public collective ownership of labor and capital (as distinguished
from property) and the public collective management of all indus-
tries." Standard Dictionary.
The Socialist Party's platform sets forth the principles which it
espouses and advocates in the campaign of 1908. It is the party of
labor ownership and operation for the laborer's benefit, as against
capitalist ownership and operation for the exploitation of labor to the
profit of the capitalist. It aims ultimately at the destruction of capital-
ism and a revolution of our economic system, by abolishing the pres-
ent competitive basis of doing business. It would establish in its
stead collective ownership of all enterprises upon which the masses
depend, thus equalizing the rights of men giving employment to all
and making great riches or great poverty, with their attendant evils,
impossible. It would establish finally the "golden rule of the peo-
ple," under a system of ethics which Christian socialists claim were
taught by Christ, culminating in the realization of the universal
brotherhood of man under a system of law and government that will
permit none to exploit or take advantage of his fellow-man.
Such a condition the socialists claim is not only the ideal one,
but entirely possible of realization, if the capitalist system is destroyed
and the collective ownership and co-operative system shall be estab-
lished. Under this system alone, the socialist claims, can the tyranny
of selfishness be fettered so that the human race may progress to
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240 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
that individual development of body, mind and soul required to fulfill
the mission and attain the happiness for which it was created.
In speaking on this subject Mr. Debs says :
HEADS AND HANDS, HEARTS AND SOULS, ARE THE HERITAGE OF ALL-
"Full opportunity for full development is the unalienable right
of all. He who denies it is a tyrant; he who does not demand it is a
coward ; he who is indifferent to it is a slave ; he who does not desire
it is dead.
"The earth for all the people. That is the demand. The machin-
ery of production and distribution for all the people. That is the
demand. The collective ownership and control of industry and its
democratic management in the interest of all the people. That is the
demand. The elimination of rent, interest and profit and the produc-
tion of wealth to satisfy the wants of all the people. That is the
demand. Co-operative industry in which all shall work together in
harmony as the basis of a new social order, a higher civilization, a
real republic. That is the demand. The end of class struggles and
class rule, of master and slave, of ignorance and vice, of poverty and
shame, of cruelty and crime the birth of freedom, the dawn of
brotherhood, the beginning of man. That is the demand.
"This is socialism!
"Since the race was young there have been class struggles. In
every state of society, ancient and modern, labor has been exploited,
degraded and in subjection. Civilization has done little for labor
except to modify the forms of its exploitation. Labor has always been
the mudsill of the social fabric is so now and will be until the class
struggle ends in class extinction and free society.
"Society has always been and is now built upon exploitation
the exploitation of a class the working class.
"Yet through all the centuries the enslaved toilers have moved
slowly but surely toward their final freedom. The call of the Socialist
Party is to the exploited class, the workers in all useful trades and
professions, the minister, the lawyer, the teacher all honest occupa-
tions, from the most menial service to the highest skill, to rally
beneath their own standard and put an end to the last of the bar-
barous class struggles by conquering the capitalist government, taking
possession of the means of production and making them the common
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 241
property of all, abolishing wage-slavery and establishing the co-opera-
tive commonwealth. The first step in this direction is to sever all
relations with capitalist parties.
THE HOPEFUL GROWTH OF SOCIALISM.
"There will be a change one of these days. The world is just
beginning to awaken, and is soon to sing its first anthem of freedom.
All the signs of the times are cheering. Twenty-five years ago there
was but a handful of socialists ; to-day there are a half million. When
the polls are closed next fall you will be astounded. The socialist
movement is in alliance with the forces of progress. We are to-day
where the abolitionists were in 1858. They had a million and a
quarter of votes. There was dissension in the Whig, Republican and
Free Soil parties, but the time had come for a great change, and the
Republican Party was formed in spite of the bickerings and conten-
tions of men. Lincoln made the great speech in that year that gave
him the nomination and afterward made him President of the United
States.
"If you had said to the people in 1858, 'In two years from now
the Republican Party is going to sweep the country and seat the Presi-
dent,' you would have been laughed to scorn. The Socialist Party
stands to-day where the Republican Party stood fifty years ago.
It is in alliance with the forces of evolution, the one party that has a
clear-cut, overmastering, overshadowing issue; the party that stands
for all the people. In this system we have one set who are called
capitalists, and another set who are called workers; and they are at
war with each other over the division of the product.
HOW SOCIALISM WILL HELP ALL.
"Socialists propose that society in its collective capacity shall
produce, not for profit, but in abundance to satisfy human wants ; that
every man shall have the inalienable right to work, and receive the
full equivalent of all he produces ; that he who does not work, neither
shall he eat; that all may be workers and none shall be robbed of
the fruit of his labor; that every man may stand fearlessly erect
in the pride and majesty of his own manhood. Every man and
every woman will be economically free. They can, without let
or hindrance, apply their labor, with the best machinery that can
16
242 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
be devised, to all the natural resources, do the work of society and
produce for all; and then receive in exchange a certificate of value
equivalent to that of their production. Then society will improve its
institutions in exact proportion to the progress of invention. Whether
you work in city or on farm, all things productive will be carried for-
ward on a gigantic scale. All industry will be completely organized.
Society for the first time will have a scientific foundation. Every
man, by being economically free, will have some time for himself.
He can then take a full and perfect breath. He can go to his wife
and children because then he will have a home.
WILL ESTABLISH PRIVATE PROPERTY.
"We are not going to destroy private property. We are going
to introduce and establish private property all the private property
that is necessary to house man, keep him in comfort and satisfy all
his physical wants. Eighty per cent of the people in the United States
have no property of any kind to-day. A few have got it all. They
have dispossessed the people, and when we get into full power we
will dispossess them. We will reduce the workday and give every
man a chance. We will go to the parks, and we will have music because
we will have time to play music and inclination to hear it. Is it not
sad to think that not one in a thousand knows what music is? Man
has all of the divine attributes. They are in a latent state. They are
not yet developed. It does not pay now to love music. Keep your eye
on the almighty dollar and your fellow-man. Get the dollar and keep
him down. Make him produce for you. You are not your brother's
keeper in this present system. Suppose he is poor! Suppose his
wife is forced into sin! Suppose his child is deformed! And
suppose he shuffles off by destroying himself! What is that to you?
But you ought to be ashamed. Take the standard home and look it
in the face.
WICKEDNESS OF PRESENT BUSINESS ETHICS.
"Our conduct is determined by our economic relations. If you
and I must fight each other to exist, we will not love each other very
hard. We can go to the same church and hear the same minister tell
us in good conscience that we ought to love each other, and the next
day we approach to the edge of some business transaction. Do we
remember what the minister told us ? No, it is gone until next Sun-
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 243
day. Six days in the week we are following- the Golden Rule
reversed. Now, when we approach the edge of a business transaction
in competition, what is more natural than that we should try to get
the better of the transaction? get the better of our fellow-man?
cheat him if we can ? And if you succeed, that fixes him as a success-
ful business man. Yjou have all the necessary qualifications. Don't
let your conscience disturb you that would interfere with business.
This wickedness comes from the competitive system.
HUMANITY AND THE FUTURE.
"I am not a prophet, but I do study the forces that underlie society
and the trend of evolution. I can tell by what we have passed through
about what we will have in the future; and I know that capitalism
can be beaten, and the people put ultimately in possession. Now, then,
when we have taken possession, and we jointly own the sources and
means of production, we will no longer have to fight each other to
live; our interests, instead of being competitive, will be co-operative.
We will work side by side. Your interest shall be mine and mine will
be yours. That is the economic condition from which will spring
the humane social relation.
"When we are in partnership and have stopped clutching each
other's throats, when we have stopped enslaving each other, then we
will stand together, hands clasped, and we will be friends. We will
be comrades, we will be brothers, and we will begin the march to the
Grandest civilization that the human race has ever known."
OPINIONS OF EMINENT PERSONS ON SOCIALISM.
The most promising outlook for the progagation of socialism
is in the friendly attitude of eminent writers, speakers and teachers
to its doctrines. Edward Bellamy's "Looking Backward" and
"Equality" were widely read, and accentuated 'the movement in
America mightily during the closing years of the last century. Edwin
Markham's poems have sung its themes and Tolstoi's and Sinclair's
books have pressed its teachings home in thousands of minds uncon-
sciously to the reader ; and these are but a few prominent ones among
many strong writers whose influence is making itself felt. The fol-
lowing quotations are suggestive of its hold upon leaders in various
walks of life :
244 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
"The labor problem can never be solved as long as one set of
men own the tools and another set uses them. When all those con-
nected with one industry become together owners and users, then will
come the harmony and unison so long striven for." Lyman Abbott,
D.D., LL.D., editor of the "Outlook."
"Socialism has nowadays too many, too honest and too thought-
ful devotees to be ignored. . . . It is stronger at this moment
than ever before, and is rapidly growing." Prof. E. Benjamin An-
drews, late President University of Nebraska, "Wealth and Moral
Law," pi.
"Socialism being the product of social evolution, the only danger
lies in obstructing it." Rev. F. M. Sprague.
"Socialism is simply applied Christianity; the Golden Rule
applied to everyday life. . . . The present need is growth in
that direction." Prof. R. T. Ely.
"Government and co-operation are, in all things and eternally,
the laws of life; anarchy and competition, eternally and in all things,
the laws of death." John Ruskin.
"I have looked at the socialist claim by the light of history and
my own conscience, and it seems to me so looked at to be a most just
claim, and that resistance to it means nothing short of a denial of the
hope of civilization.
"Turn that claim about as I may, think of it as long as I can, I
cannot find that it is an exorbitant claim ; yet if society would or could
admit it, the face of the world would be changed; discontent and
strife and dishonesty would be ended. To feel that we were doing
work useful to others and pleasant to ourselves, and that such work
and its due reward could not fail us! What serious harm could
happen to us then ? And the price to be paid for so making the world
happy is revolution." William Morris.
CHRIST A SOCIALIST.
"Christ was a socialist. He generated the impulse which has
since then been seeking to materialize itself into concrete forms of
social relation. And let it be said just at this point that any man who
does honest and serious experimenting along that line is a contributor
to the final result, and is to be encouraged, not vituperated. Bigotry
is no more commendable in economics than in religion. The heresy
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 245
of to-day always stands a chance of being the orthodoxy of to-
morrow. . . .
"All human ownership begins in a grab, in assuming that to be
ours which is not ours, and continues as long as we can maintain
the assumption successfully. . . .
"This, then, is what we understand by Christian socialism. It
is not communism; it is not the negation of wealth. It is not the
denial of individualism, but it is the insistence upon individualism
considered as means to a wholesome collectivism." Rev. Dr. Charles
H. Parkhurst, noted reformer of New York, "Munsey's," September,
1906.
FRANCES WILLARD'S VIEWS ON SOCIALISM.
Frances E. Willard, late president of the National Women's
Christian Temperance Union, shortly before her death wrote :
"I believe the things that Christian socialism stands for. . . .
It is God's way out of the wilderness into the promised land. It is
the very marrow and fatness of Christ's gospel. It is Christianity
applied. Oh ! that I were young again, and it should have my life.
"I would take, not by force, but by the slow process of lawful
acquisition through better legislation as the outcome of a wiser ballot
in the hands of men and women, the entire plan that we call civiliza-
tion . . . and make it the common property of all the people,
requiring all to work enough with their hands to give the finest
physical development, but not enough to become burdensome in any
case, and permitting all to share the advantages of education and
refinement. I believe this to be perfectly practicable indeed, that any
other method is simply a relic of barbarism. I believe that competi-
tion is doomed. . . . What the socialist desires is that the cor-
poration of humanity should control all production. Beloved com-
rades, this is the frictionless way; it is the higher law; it eliminates
the motives for a selfish life; it enacts into our everyday living the
ethics of Christ's gospel. Nothing else will do it; nothing else can
bring the glad day of universal brotherhood."
CHAPTER XX.
THE PEOPLE'S PARTY AND THE CONVENTION OF 1908.
The People's party became a factor in American politics in 1892.
The national convention of the party met that year at Omaha, Ne-
braska, and enunciated principles of a platform which have been
practically reiterated and endorsed from that time forward. Under
the leadership of Thomas E. Watson, a noted writer on historical and
political subjects, the People's party claims to hold to the key-note of
the Declaration of Independence, that declared every man equal in
a political sense. It was the claim of the organizers of the People's
party that both the Republican and Democratic parties had wandered
so far from this fundamental truth that it became necessary for those
who believed in the Jeffersonian principle to unite in the forming of
a new party which should be conducted in the interests of the common
people. In other words, in the language of Abraham Lincoln, admin-
ister "the government of the people, by the people and for the people."
They claim that the Democratic and Republican parties in departing
from that principle, emphasized by the first Republican President, are
responsible for the ills from which we suffer as a nation. They charge
the old parties so far as they have been in power with giving special
privileges to the few that has enabled them to dominate the many,
thereby tending to destroy the political equality which is the corner-
stone of democratic government.
The People's party calls for a return to the truths enunciated,
and the simplicity of government recommended, by the fathers of our
republic; and they vigorously protest against the spirit of mammon-
ism and of the thinly veiled spirit of monarchy which they declare
is invading sections of our national life and laying hold upon the
administration itself. They have objected to the spirit of militarism,
stoutly opposed the building up of great armies and navies. They
claim that a political democracy and an industrial despotism cannot
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GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 247
exist side by side. They insist that this is shown in the history of the
gigantic monopolies, which have bred all sorts of kindred trusts and
permeated the governments of the States and of the nation itself.
They declare that the present system of railroad monopoly and power
will eventually own the government and practically enslave the people ;
therefore, they insist upon government ownership of railroads, on the
ground that it is better the government should own the railroad than
that the railroads and other trusts should own the government. They
claim that the issuing of money must be done directly by the govern-
ment and not delegated to banks. They defend the right of labor to
organize, and recommend the abolition of child labor, the suppression
of sweat shop and the exclusion of foreign labor from American
shores.
The foregoing are some of the principles of the People's Party
as advocated by them from the beginning. It will be observed in
many of these principles as well as in the platforms of the party for
1908, which follows, they do not differ materially from the enuncia-
tions of the Democratic party; and, in some, they closely resemble
the Socialist Party. In fact, it has been charged that Mr. Bryan, the
Democratic leader, belongs in principle as much to the People's Party
as he does to the Democratic party. From Mr. Bryan's attitude in
1896 this sentiment prevailed so strongly that the People's Party
leaders in their convention placed Mr. Bryan at the head of their
ticket as Presidential candidate.
The strongest showing made by the People's Party was when
James B. Weaver, of Iowa, was their candidate in the campaign of
1892, when they polled 1,041,000 votes. Mr. Bryan, as the joint
candidate of the People's and the Democratic parties in 1896, polled
6,502,925 votes. In 1900 the party split, holding two conventions,
both on May loth one at Sioux Falls, S. D., nominated William J.
Bryan, the other at Cincinnati nominated Wharton Barker, of Phila-
delphia. Mr. Barker received only 50,373 votes. After this the party
suffered material diminution in its following, which drifted largely
back to the Democrats or went into other parties. In 1904 Thomas E.
Watson, the strongest individual candidate that the party had yet
nominated independently, received only 117,183 popular votes. Hence
the People's Party stands to-day rather in the light of an organized
protest against what it considers wrong in both the Democratic and
248 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
the Republican parties. It seems entirely fair to say that if the
Democratic party should become a little more populistic, it might
practically absorb into itself the entire constituency of the People's
Party without doing serious violence to the principles of either.
THE NATIONAL CONVENTION.
The People's Party National Convention of 1908 was held at
St. Louis, Missouri, on April 2d and 3d.
The details of the proceedings are omitted for the reason that
they are in their generalities a counterpart of those of other conven-
tions with the exception that the extravagant expenditure of money,
and but little spread-eagle oratory was indulged in.
It was a quiet, orderly body of serious, sensible men, who had
the courage and patriotism to meet and express their theory of gov-
ernment in a formulated platform, and to put in nomination strong
men to champion the principles which they espoused.
Thomas E. Watson, the standard bearer for the party in 1904,
was nominated for President, and Hon. Samuel W. Williams, of
Indiana, for Vive-President. Mr. Watson was formally notified of
his nomination at Atlanta, Georgia, on July 9th, and Mr. Williams
was notified on July I5th at his home in Vingennes, Indiana. Both
candidates made ringing and patriotic speeches in response to the
notification, sounding the keynote principles of the party.
The platform, as unanimously adopted, follows in the next
chapter.
SAMUEL w. WILLIAMS
People's Tarty Candidate for Vice-President.
GOVERNORS OF GEORGIA, VERMONT, NEW MEXICO, WYOMING,
NORTH DAKOTA, OHIO.
Hoke Smith, Georgia.
Fletcher D. Proctor, Vermont.
George Curry, New Mexico.
Bryant B. Brooks, Wyoming.
John Burke, North Dakota.
Andrew L. Harris, Ohio.
CHAPTER XXL
PEOPLE'S PARTY PLATFORM, 1908.
ADOPTED AT THE NATIONAL CONVENTION HELD AT ST. Louis, APRIL
2 AND 3, 1908.
PREAMBLE.
The People's Party of the United States in convention assembled
at St. Louis, Missouri, this second day of April, 1908, with increased
confidence in its contentions, reaffirms the declarations made by its
national convention at Omaha.
The adomonition of Washington's farewell; the State papers of
Jefferson and the words of Lincoln are the teachings of our greatest
apostles of human rights and political liberty. There has been a
departure from the teachings of these great patriots during recent
administrations. The Government has been controlled so as to place
the rights of property above the rights of humanity and has brought
the country to a condition that is full of danger for our national well-
being. Financial combinations have had too much power over Con-
gress and too much influence with the administrative departments of
the Government.
Prerogatives of government have been unwisely and often cor-
ruptly surrendered to corporate monopoly and aggregations of pre-
datory wealth. The supreme duty of the hour is for the people to
insist that these functions of government be exercised in their own
interests. Not the giver of the "thirty pieces" of silver has been
condemned, but the "Judas" that received them, execrated through
the ages ; the sycophants of monopoly deserve no better fate.
MONEY.
The issuance of money is a function of government and should not
be neglected to corporations or individuals. The constitution gives
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250 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
Congress alone the power to issue money and regulate the value
thereof. We therefore demand that all the money shall be issued
by the Government direct to the people without the intervention of
banks and shall be a full legal tender for all debts, public and private,
and in quantity sufficient to supply the needs of the country.
The issue and distribution of full legal tender money from the
Treasury shall not be through private banks, preferred or otherwise,
but direct to the people without interest for the construction and pur-
chase of Federal and internal improvements, utilities and employment
of labor.
LAND.
The public domain is the sacred heritage of all the people and
should be held for homesteads for actual settlers only. Alien owner-
ship should be forbidden, and lands now held by aliens or by corpo-
rations who have violated the conditions of their grants should be
restored to the public domain.
TRUSTS AND MONOPOLY.
To prevent unjust discrimination and monopoly the Government
should own and control the railroads and those public utilities which
in their nature are monopolies. To perfect the postal service the
Government should own and operate the general telegraph and tele-
phone systems and provide a parcels post.
As to those trusts and monopolies which are not public utilities
or natural monopolies we demand that these special privileges which
they now enjoy and which alone enable them to exist should be imme-
diately withdrawn.
Corporations being the creatures of government should be sub-
jected to such governmental regulation and control as will adequately
protect the public.
We demand the taxation of monopoly privileges while they re-
main in private hands to the extent of the value of the privilege
granted.
We demand that Congress shall enact a general law uniformly
regulating the powers and duties of all incorporated companies doing
interstate business.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 251
INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM.
As a means of placing all public questions directly under the con-
trol of the people we demand that legal provision be made under which
the people may exercise the initiative, referendum and proportional
representation, and direct vote for all public officers with the right
of recall.
We recommend a federal statute that will recognize the principle
of the initiative and referendum, and thereby restore to the voters
the right to instruct their national representatives.
SAVINGS BANKS.
We demand that postal savings banks be established by the Gov-
ernment for the safe deposit of the savings of the people.
LABOR.
We believe in the right of those who labor to organize for their
mutual protection and benefit, and pledge the efforts of the People's
Party to preserve this right inviolate.
We condemn the recent attempt to destroy the power of trades
unions through the unjust use of Federal injunction, substituting
government by injunction for free government.
W T e favor the enactment of legislation looking to the improve-
ment of conditions for wage-earners.
We demand the abolition of child labor in factories and mines,
and the suppression of sweatshops.
We oppose the use of convict labor in competition with free labor.
We demand the exclusion from American shores of foreign
pauper labor imported to beat down the wages of intelligent American
workingmen. "
We favor the eight-hour workday, and legislation protecting the
lives and limbs of workingmen through the use of safety appliances.
We demand the enactment of an Employer's Liability Act within
constitutional bounds.
We declare against the continuation of the criminal carelessness
of the operation of mines through which thousands of miners have
lost their lives to increase the dividends of stockholders and demand
252 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
the immediate adoption of precautionary measures to prevent a repe-
tition of such horrible catastrophes.
We declare that, in times of depression when workingmen are
thrown into enforced idleness, works of public improvement should be
at once inaugurated and work provided for those who cannot other-
wise secure employment.
We especially emphasize the declaration of the Omaha platform
that "Wealth belongs to him who creates it and every dollar taken
from labor without a just equivalent is robbery."
We congratulate the farmers of the country upon the enormous
growth of their splendid organizations and the good already accom-
plished, through them, bringing higher prices for farm products and
better conditions generally for those engaged in agricultural pursuits.
We urge the importance of maintaining these organizations and ex-
tending their power and influence.
COURTS.
We condemn all unwarranted assumption of authority by inferior
federal courts in annulling by injunction, the laws of the States, and
demand legislative action by Congress which will inhibit such usur-
pation and will restrict to the Supreme Court of the United States
the exercise of such power in cases involving State legislation.
We are opposed to gambling in futures.
We present to all people the foregoing declaration of principles
and policies as our deep, earnest, abiding convictions ; and now, before
the country and in the name of the great moral but eternal power in
the universe that makes for right thinking and right living, and
determines the destiny of nations, this convention pledges that the
People's Party will stand by these principles and policies in success
and in defeat; that never again will the party by the siren songs and
false promises of designing politicians be tempted to change its course
or be again drawn upon the treacherous rocks of fusion.
CHAPTER XXII.
THOMAS E. WATSON,
PEOPLE'S PARTY CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT, 1908.
Like most reformers, Thomas E. Watson, feels himself called
upon to battle with a small minority for what he believes to be the
good of the great majority. That he is an honest man, sincere in his
convictions and patriotic in his motives, his worst enemies would
hardly gainsay. That he is a deep student of political economy, of
the history of the government and of the history of nations, and of the
biographies of great leaders, no one will fail to recognize who reads
his books or who follows him in his magazine articles which have
appeared in Tom Watson's Magazine, of New York, and later in his
Jeffersonian Magazine and his Weekly Jeifersonian, published at
Thomson, Georgia.
Mr. Watson is one of those who will probably never reap the
fruit of his sowing. That he is scattering the seeds of truth in fertile
soil where it will spring up and bring forth a useful harvest cannot be
doubted; but that harvest will be gathered into the garner of the
Democratic and Republican parties, who, attracted by his writings
and the power he exercises over the people, will gradually incorporate
those things that he has talked and which the people shall indorse and
demand into their respective items of policy. It is hardly to be
expected that anything like the full fruition of Watson's efforts will be
realized during his lifetime. There is little doubt that his opponents,
in many respects, are right in regarding his views as illogical or
untimely; but it is also entirely probably that, fifty years from now,
the next generation will find in the archives of the political writings of
early decades of the twentieth century more than one item of import-
ance credited to Thomas E. Watson. The shrine at which Mr. Wat-
son has paid his political devotion and whence he has drawn his
greatest inspiration is that of Thomas Jefferson. It is doubtful if
254 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
there is a more profound Jeffersonian scholar in America to-day than
Tom Watson, of Georgia. His life of Jefferson is likely to stand as
one of the greatest works in American biography, even as his life of
Napoleon will stand as one of the truest character portraits of the
great Frenchman.
Thomas E. Watson was born in Columbia County, Georgia,
September 5, 1856. He attended Mercer College, Georgia, for two
years. 'Afterwards taught school, and was admitted to the bar in
1875. He began practice in Thomson, Georgia, which is his present
home. In 1882 to 1883 ne was a member of the Georgia Legislature
and in 1888 was made Democratic elector-at-large. In 1891 he joined
the People's Party and was elected to Congress. He ran again for
the next term and claimed election (on an honest count), but his
opponent was counted in and given the seat in the National Congress,
and Watson resumed the practice of law in 1895. During Mr. Wat-
son's term in Congress he secured the first appropriation for free
delivery of mails in rural districts that Congress ever passed. In
1896 he was prominently considered as a candidate of the People's
Party for_President of the United States, but the convention con-
cluded to endorse Mr. Bryan, the Democratic nominee, and Mr.
Watson was nominated as his running mate for Vice-President.
In 1904 he was nominated as the Presidential candidate of the Peo-
ple's Party and made an active campaign, polling 117,183 votes.
Reference has already been made to Mr. Watson's literary work.
To be more specific, he is the author of "The Story of France," which
was published in 1898; "The Life of Thomas Jefferson," 1900; "The
Life of Napoleon," 1902; "The Life and Times of Thomas Jefferson,"
1903 ; "Bethany, a Study and Story of the Old South," 1904. In
1905 he began the publication of Tom Watson's Magazine in New
York, but, unfortunately for himself, formed a stock company to
finance the paper, and the board undertook to dictate the policy, and,
as Mr. Watson claims, attempted to censor his articles in such a way
as to thwart the purpose of the writer. This he rebelled against, and
disposed of his stock in the company, gave up the magazine, and went
home to Thomson, Georgia, where he established Watson's Jeffer-
sonian Magazine and the Weekly Jeffersonian, which he has con-
tinued to publish. These two periodicals are accepted as the chief
organs of the People's Party. They are written and edited in Mr.
Watson's characteristic forceful style.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 255
Those who would know the People's Party candidate better we
would refer to his book, "The Life and Speeches of Thomas E. Wat-
son." This work contains a biographical sketch written by himself
and a careful selection of addresses made by him during the last
thirty years. These speeches cover a great variety of subjects, and
reveal the man outside and inside the political arena. They contain
even some of his commencement speeches and his oft-quoted eulogy
on Alexander Stephens, delivered before the Georgia Legislature.
Here will be found also his Labor Day speech, and many of his
political and economic addresses, which represent the crystallization
of years of research and closest study. These speeches cover child
labor, tariff, Government ownership, national finance and banking,
etc. Watson's "Hand-Book of Politics and Economics" may also be
consulted with profit. It gives a history of political parties in America
and devotes special attention to that class of legislation which he
declares oppresses the common people. It shows the growth of those
unsettled conditions in finance which, beginning with the Civil War,
culminated in repeated panics, including that of 1907. It also dis-
cusses socialism and its causes, the encroachment of the federal judi-
ciary, the injustices suffered by the farming classes, etc. of course
from his own partisan standpoint, but, withal, in the light of
history and with the experience of a student and the vision
of a statesman who is able to formulate and project from out the
laboratory of fair reasoning a logical picture upon the canvas of
the future. Mr. Watson has been a profound investigator and student
of history from ancient times. His "Sketches from Roman History"
shows his analytical familiarity with the leading characters of that
first great republic. From the lives of these old Romans he draws the
lessons that clearly set forth the ruinous workings of class legislation
in ancient times, some of which cast their ominous shadows through
the ages, like warning clouds, upon the horizon of our own time and
country.
CHAPTER XXIII.
SAMUEL W. WILLIAMS,
PEOPLE'S PARTY CANDIDATE FOR VICE-PRESIDENT, 1908.
Samuel W. Williams, the People's Party candidate for Vice-
President, has been twice honored with the nomination to that office.
The People's Party convention of 1904 tendered it to him, but he
declined. Mr. Williams was born at Mt. Carmel, 111., February 7, 1851.
He received his education in the public schools and later attended the
Friendsville Academy, at Friendsville, 111., with a view to preparing
himself for the Presbyterian ministry. He graduated at this academy
in 1869. Instead of entering the ministry, however, he studied law,
was admitted to the bar in 1874, and has been an active practitioner
down to the present time. As a trial lawyer and judge, Mr. Williams
takes front rank. He has been engaged in many noted jury cases
during the last thirty years.
AN OLD-TIME DEMOCRAT.
In politics, up to the time he became a Populist, he was an ardent
Democrat. He served as deputy clerk of Wabash County for the
term of one year, and was elected in 1876 prosecuting attorney of
Knox County, serving two years. In 1882 he was elected on the
Democratic ticket as a member of the State legislature from Knox
County, in which capacity he served four years. Mr. Williams was
also for a time president of the Knox County Bar Association.
As a Populist Mr. Williams is one of the originators of the party.
It was during Mr. Cleveland's first term that he left the Democratic
Party. Prior to the organization of the People's Party he removed
to the State of Indiana and has always been a leader of the Populists
in that State, as well as a prominent figure in the National Council
of the People's Party. He has served as a delegate to every national
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GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 257
convention which the party has held, and was chairman of the first
Indiana State convention.
A SINGLE TAX ADVOCATE.
Mr. Williams is a "Single Tax" advocate of ability. He was the
personal friend of the late Henry George and of Father McGlynn.
He stumped the State of New York for Mr. George in 1887 when the
latter was a candidate for Secretary of State against Grant and
Murphy. While a member of the legislature he introduced and
secured the passage of a bill fixing the maximum rate of toll and rental
for telephone companies. He also introduced and advocated bills
limiting land-holding.
Mr. Williams has always favored the direct vote of the people
in the election of United States Senators, and he is one of the earliest
advocates of this measure in the country. He proposed a bill to that
effect many years before it became a popular doctrine of the Demo-
cratic Party.
NOTIFICATION COMMITTEE^ VISIT.
It was on July 15, 1908, that the notification committee visited
the Vice-Presidential candidate at his home in Vincennes, Indiana.
The notification speech was delivered by Joseph A. Parker, of Louis-
ville, Ky. Mr. Williams responded, giving the keynote of his party
and criticised the Democratic and Republican platforms.
The notification was a non-partisan affair and was preceded by
an open-air band concert at the Grand Hotel. Mayor George E.
Greene, a Democrat, made the welcoming address. He said in part :
"You have done Vincennes another great honor. Mr. Williams,
whom you have chosen for your candidate for Vice-President, is a
gifted speaker, a deep thinker and has a broad knowledge of the law.
His chief study is politics and literature, and these make him a born
leader."
Members of the notification committee were Mr. Williams' guests
for two days, and spent most of their time at his residence.
i7
CHAPTER XXIV.
PRINCIPLES AND CLAIMS OF THE PEOPLE'S PARTY.
BY THOMAS E. WATSON AND SAMUEL S. WILLIAMS.
Mr. Watson declares that the People's Party espouses the prin-
ciples of the true democracy. These principles are set forth in its
platform, published in a previous chapter. On this point Mr. Watson
says:
"Judging by the principles of historic democracy the Bryanites
of to-day have no right to call themselves Democrats. By the same
token the Populists of to-day are the true political representatives of
Jefferson and Jackson. Measured by the teachings of John C. Cal-
houn, of Thomas H. Benton, of Thomas Jefferson and George Mason,
I am the Democrat and Mr. Bryan the Hamiltonian.
"I stand for the financial system of our fathers, that which is
embodied in the Constitution of the United States, and which was
practiced consistently for nearly one hundred years. The matured
wisdom of John C. Calhoun, as evidencel in his masterful speeches
upon finance ; the lifelong lessons of Thomas Jefferson, and the prin-
ciples announced during the great fight that Benton and Jackson made
upon the national banks, have ever been my source of authority for
the faith that is in me upon the pre-eminently important question of
money. On every other principle that marked as distinctive from all
others the creed of Jefferson and Jackson I stand with them, and I
cannot but believe that the country must return to these ancient land-
marks before there will be a return of that general prosperity which
was the fruit of this tree previous to the time when it was uprooted,
during the terrible era of the Civil War.
"For eighteen years my position has been the same. For
eighteen years I have battled against all odds for the creed of our
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GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 259
fathers. If necessary I am ready to battle for them eighteen other
years, and as long as I can raise a hand or open my lips.
"How is it with Mr. Bryan, who is claiming to be a Democrat,
and who appropriates as an unquestionable political asset of his own
the one hundred and fifty-six electoral votes of the South? In 1896
he and I stood together. The convention which nominated him nomi-
nated me. His acceptance was in writing, as was mine. To-day I
stand by the same creed that Bryan and Watson stood for in 1896,
and I only regret that the recreancy of Mr. Bryan and his truckling
to Wall Street have deprived us of the irresistible strength that co-
operation would have given to us.
"The greatest purpose of my life now is to put the South back
into the position of national influence which she held before the Civil
War, and to bring back the reign of Democratic principles as they
were practiced in the forties and fifties.
"If the South will follow me in this campaign, revolting against
the odious conditions under which she is expected to serve Mr. Bryan,
she will at once resume her old place in the sisterhood of States.
"Let the South become politically uncertain and she will once
more become politically great.
THE TRIUMPH OF POPULISM.
"Stand your grounds, comrades, stand your ground! Things are
coming your way.
"The leaven of your principles is at work throughout the Union.
In State laws and in Presidential politics your influence can be seen.
Your stand for the right, regardless of popularity and the sweets of
official position, is bearing fruit, and you, the despised of all parties,
are become the respected of all. That you are the only true Jefferson-
ian Democrats is being universally recognized. That you alone stand
for the political supremacy of the whites is being felt. That yours is
the only political party which can bring about political union between
the West and South, to overthrow the hateful domination of Eastern
and Northern capitalism, will become clearer with every campaign.
HEARST'S INDEPENDENCE PARTY ATTACKED.
"In January of this year the Hearst party met in Indianapolis
and adopted a platform which favored ship subsidies, national banks,
260 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
and governmental loans to these banks. It opposed tariff revision and
opposed the governmental ownership of railroads.
"The Jeffersonian and other Populist papers ridiculed the Hearst
platform and warned you of the Hearst movement.
"During the last days of July the Hearst crowd assembled itself
together again in Chicago and threw away their Indianapolis plat-
form. Six months was as long as the Hearst crowd could afford to
wear the same suit of clothes.
STEALS POPULIST PLATFORM.
"Their new platform is almost entirely an appropriation of Popu-
list doctrines.
"Why this startling conversion from Wall Streetism to Popu-
lism? This has happened: It has been demonstrated to Mr. Hearst
that he cannot openly carry the reformers over to Wall Street.
"It being the purpose of Hearst to capture the old-guard Popu-
lists for his own sinister purpose, he has now adopted a Populist plat-
form, instead of the Wall Street platform of six months ago.
HIRELINGS LEAD THE PARTY.
"If Hearst were sincere in his conversion to Populism he would
have given his support to the Populist ticket rather than put out his
employees to run against it. Its so-called leaders are his editors and
employees. Almost without exception those who are prominent in its
movement are upon Hearst's pay roll.
"Hearst says to Populism : 'I've adopted your principles. Now
come into my parlor.'
"In answer to his insolence insolence born of the belief that
with his money he can buy enough men to make him President in
1912 we Populists say:
" 'We shall not enter your parlor, for we know that had you sin-
cerely believed in the principles you now profess you would not have
set up a new party, owned and controlled by your copyright and your
purse. Were you honestly a Populist, as you now pretend to be, you
would not be exerting all your power to destroy men who were true
to Populism when you were a partner of first the one and then the
other of the vilest elements of the two old parties.'
"In a country like ours, where the sense of individual freedom
is so strong, the people will never consent to compromise their own
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 261
liberty of action by becoming members of a personally conducted and
privately owned political organization.
"Comrades! Stand your ground. This Hearst ambuscade is
about the last danger that you must encounter. Warned in time,
avoid it.
"After that, straight Populism will be triumphant."
SOME FACTS AND ARGUMENTS.
BY SAMUEL W. WILLIAMS, VICE-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE.
"The People's Party has the courage of its convictions and stands
up for the rights of the common people. In 1888 our party cast one
million votes and William J. Bryan, of Nebraska, first came into the
limelight by stumping the State of Nebraska for the People's Party
ticket. The Populist Party carried the State of Nebraska. In 1894
our strength had so rapidly increased that we elected more than
thirty members of Congress and eight or ten members of the United
States Senate and many Governors and State and local tickets. These
triumphs of the common people startled the trusts, and a scheme was
set on foot to destroy the People's Party.
THE OLD PARTIES CANNOT BE TRUSTED.
"Plutocracy has the Republican Party as its avowed cham-
pion.
"Plutocracy uses the Democratic Party to serve as a dog in the
manger to keep a real party out of opposition.
"I submit to you that while the People's Party in open and
express terms condemns government by injunction and declares, as it
has always declared in favor of a distinct department of govern-
ment, to wit, executive, legislative and judicial; that in fact there is
no more difference between the Democratic and Republican positions
on this question than there is between tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum.
"The Democratic Party gave us soup houses and distress in 1903,
during its last administration, and now in 1908 the Democratic Na-
tional Convention brazenly insults popular intelligence by giving
unqualified endorsement to Cleveland's administration.
"The Republican Party was sired by Alexander Hamilton though
it is a posthumous child. But for Alexander Hamilton and his teach-
262 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
ings federal judges would not be appointed to their office; would not
hold the same for life, and these offices would not be a part of the
patronage to be bestowed by a political President for party service
rendered to him and his.
"Except for Alexander Hamilton and his influence the American
people would elect their President and Vice-President of the United
States by a direct vote of the people without the intervention of the
cumbrous machinery called the Electoral College. Keep in mind the
fact that the Republican Party has been continuously in power for
forty-eight years, with the exception of eight years of Cleveland at
the helm. Therefore the Republican Party stands responsible, justly,
at the bar of public opinion for all legislation on the statute books, as
well as for existing conditions resulting from these laws.
"In the cesspool of tariff infamy under the sickening and wither-
ing heat of currency contraction, trusts and poverty breathe and thrive
and multiply like typhus germs in a clogged sewer.
"The principles enunciated in the platform of the People's Party
would correct the above evils and restore Jeffersonian Democracy to
our country.
BANKS AND MONEY.
"One erroneous impression in the public mind is that the People's
Party is opposed to banks and makes war on bankers as such. It is
my duty to correct this statement; the bank of discount and deposit
is as necessary to the commercial and social well being of a community
as is the grocery store or the meat market, and as convenient as a
collar button or a wheelbarrow, and personally the average banker
is a man of high repute and great goodness of heart. We would not
destroy banks and we would fix bankers so no war would be made on
them.
"But the Populist demand is that all money in circulation shall
be legal tender for all debts, public and private, and shall be issued
to the public without the intervention of banks. The only way to
regulate the value of money is to regulate its volume. I mean by that,
regulate the amount of money in existence, that is to say, in circula-
tion. The Populist not only demands that Congress shall issue the
money, but that it shall regulate its value and regulate it in such a
way as to give a sufficient volume of money to the country at all
times to properly satisfy the demands of commerce and labor."
CHAPTER XXV.
THE INDEPENDENCE PARTY NATIONAL CONVENTION
OF 1908.
The National Independence Party was formally organized on
Washington's Birthday, February 22, 1908, in Chicago, 111. In
launching his party Mr. Hearst declared that both the old parties
have ceased to stand for any definite idea. "The word Democracy/'
he says, "defines no doctrine," and the word Republican, he declares,
"expresses no principle." He declares that both of the parties are
divided within themselves, one wing of it standing for one thing
and another for the very opposite thing. Speaking to this point at
the launching of his party in Chicago, Mr. Hearst said : "Men are
Democrats by inheritance and Republicans by tradition. There are
Democrats who believe in free trade and Democrats who believe in
protection. There are trust Democrats and anti-trust Democrats.
There are Democrats who believe in public ownership of public utili-
ties and Democrats who believe in private ownership of public utilities.
There are Democrats who differ fundamentally from other Democrats,
and who agree absolutely with certain Republicans. Of all the vari-
ous parties which exist in the nation, I have found that the two
that are the most bitterly, the most utterly and most uncompromis-
ingly opposed to each other are the radical Democratic party and
the conservative Democratic party."
The Literary Digest of March 7th, in commenting upon the new,
party, observed:
"In view of this chaos in the old parties, Mr. Hearst calls upon
all true patriots to rally to his standard and support a party which
stands, he avers, for the principles of Washington, Jefferson, Jack-
son, and Lincoln. Some of the cardinal principles in the platform
of the new party are enunciated as follows :
"Direct nominations by the people of all candidates for office.
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264 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
"The election of United States Senators and Judges by the people.
"An income tax and the referendum.
"The right of the people to recall public officials from public
service.
The immediate government ownership of railroad and telegraph
lines.
Emergency currency to be issued only by the government.
An eight-hour day for workingmen.
A law making blacklisting illegal.
An interstate commerce court to enforce the rulings of the Inter-
state Commerce Commission.
A ship subsidy for the development of commerce.
National postal savings banks.
Nothing was said at that convention about the new party's
candidate for the Presidency, but it was generally taken by the press
and the public that Mr. Hearst would carry the standard himself. As
the Savannah News (Dem.) observes:
"There doesn't seem to be any doubt that Mr. Hearst will be at
the head of the ticket. It is difficult to think of any other man in that
position. It is Mr. Hearst's party. Its principles are his, and it is
but natural that he should be its leader.
"Of course he doesn't expect to be elected. He does expect,
however, to make such an impression that the new party will be heard
from in the Presidential campaign of 1912."
Many politicians then refused and still refuse to see anything
more in this affair than a new "third party," like the many that have
sprung up and disappeared from time to time in former years. Says
the Detroit Free Press (Ind. Dem.) :
"As the political tides have been charted in the past, this would
seem to be an unpromising year for new political parties or for third
parties generally, whether new or old. While dissatisfaction due to
business disturbance has contributed to the popular interest in such
parties in former campaign years, they have generally made slight
headway except as a protest against too great conservtism in admin-
istration and a refusal to inaugurate reforms. . . .
"The policies of both of the two old parties embrace enough of the
actually radical or at least of the reformatory at present to satisfy all
except a negligible quantity of the voters, leaving to third parties
BENJAMIN HANFORD
Socialist Candidate for Vice-President.
GOVERNORS OF MASSACHUSETTS, FLORIDA, ARIZONA, TENNESSEE,
MISSISSIPPI, TEXAS.
Curtis Guild, Jr., Massachusetts.
Napoleon B. Broward, Florida.
Joseph II. Kibbey, Arizona.
Malcolm R. Patterson, Tennessee
K. F. Noel, Mississippi.
Thomas M. Campbell, Texai.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 265
little on which to make appeal. Declarations for an income tax, for
labor legislation, for government ownership of telegraph lines, etc.,
are hardly distinctive enough to render the Independence League plat-
form attractive to large masses of the electorate.
"While, however, conditions give small opportunity for new par-
ties or third parties in a national sense, it is just possible that the
situation in some particular States might give them importance to the
extent to which such States may be able to affect the national election.
Mr. Hearst's Independence League contributed to sweeping changes
in New York at the last election in that State. If it develops as a
national movement in the coming election a fractional part of the
strength it then developed, it might have possibilities in the way of
complicating matters.
"However, the national election will take place under conditions
differing greatly from those present in the State election."
Mr. Watterson's Louisville Courier- Journal (Dem.) told Mr.
Hearst plainly that his new party was not wanted. To quote :
"It is difficult to see the exact need of the party Mr. Hearst thus
has set loose. Much of what it advocates may be found already exist-
ing in the platforms or in the speeches of high exponents of the two
pre-existing parties. It seems to have picked out some of the worst
and most pernicious doctrines of the old parties and made them the
archstones of its political faith.
"As a matter of fact, what the country needs is an actual, sin-
cere, and strict return to the ideals of Washington, Jefferson, Jackson,
and Lincoln. Both the old parties embrace, as it is, a superfluity of
iniquity in their latter-day platform and practices. No farther exten-
sion or concentration of this iniquity is wholesome or desirable. The
people wish a square deal, equality before the law, freedom from
capitalistic domination, honest elections, and home rule. Also they
want relief from the brays of demagogues and the prejudices and
vagaries of agitators."
Evidently Mr. Hearst agreed with Mr. Watterson in the above
statement as to the needs of the country. But he did not agree with
him in the belief that the needs of the country would be met by the
old parties; and he, therefore, launched his new party in a National
Convention at Chicago, July 27, 1908, himself acting as temporary
chairman and sounding the key-note of its principles.
266 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
THE FIRST NATIONAL CONVENTION OF THE INDEPENDENCE PARTY,
CHICAGO, JULY 27, 1908.
The National Independence Party opened its first convention at
8.30 P. M. in Orchestra Hall, Chicago, July 27, 1908. Laudable
zeal and enthusiasm marked the proceedings from the hour the doors
were thrown open. In a speech of dramatic earnestness William
Randolph Hearst sounded the key-note for the first campaign of
the new-born party the party of which he is legitimately entitled
to be called the father. It was a business-like body of men. The
delegates were men of convictions and they felt that they had met
for a serious purpose, calling upon them to meet a national crisis,
in which important history was about to be made.
The applause for the pointed sections of Mr. Hearst's speech
came like whipcracks, short and sharp. As he pressed on with the
delivery of his denunciation of the two great parties, the delegates
followed him, half rose from their seats, and cheered him to the echo
when he announced the imperative demand for a third party "that
shall purge the channels of justice, drive the money changers from
the temple and restore the government of the fathers."
For the rest, this convention was much like other conventions
with decorations galore, inspiring music, cheering songs, daintily
gowned women, waving banners, gaily colored fans, etc., but through
it all the observation could be made that it was a convention drawn
direct from the people. The spacious interior of the Auditorium
was gay with decorations of the national colors. Delegates gathered
on the ground floor with their respective State and Territorial stand-
ards, and above them, extending in horseshoe shape around the hall,
and still further above, in the first and second gallery, the spectators
assembled. The platform was occupied by members of the National
Committee and their wives and invited guests. The Auditorium
was completely filled long before the hour had arrived for calling the
convention to order, and a large congregation stood in front of the
building unable to gain entrance. As the hour for calling the con-
vention approached, the scene within the hall became one of great
animation. The entrance of the delegation with their appropriate
emblems of the new political effort was most interesting. Practi-
cally every State carried a banner on which was inscribed the fitting
sentiment, as for instance, Oklahoma, whose banner read :
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 267
"A New State, New Ideas; a New Party. We Blaze the Way."
And Iowa, whose banner read :
"The Iowa Idea. Protect the Farmer and Worker, Not the
Special Interests."
And Oregon:
"No Chicago Steam Roller and No Denver Stone Crusher To-
day."
New Jersey: "The Home of the Trusts Wants to Smash 'em."
While the fall of the gavel was awaited the delegates joined in
fraternal cheering, Ohio cheering Pennsylvania, New York cheering
Illinois, Massachusetts cheering California and Oregon, and Florida
ending finally with a tremendous cheer for the new National Inde-
pendence Party.
i
NATIONAL HYMN BRINGS DELEGATES TO THEIR FEET.
The band played the old-time rallying tunes and fresh enthusiasm
was stirred by "Suwanee River," "Old Folks at Home," "Dixie,"
and at length, "The Star Spangled Banner," which brought forth
the first deafening demonstration of the night, the delegates rising
and cheering repeatedly the swelling chorus of the national anthem.
HEARST CHEERS.
Shortly after SP. M. William Randolph Hearst entered the hall
and was recognized half way down the aisle. The convention was
instantly in an uproar. The cheering continued for many minutes,
while the recipient of the honor mounted the steps to the platform
and shook hands with Secretary Walsh. \Vhen he moved back on
the main floor to take his seat with the New York delegation one
of the old-time demonstrations was let loose. The delegates in single
file, bearing aloft their State standard, marched around the hall, their
cheers ringing above the music of the lustily playing band. It was
many minutes before order could be restored. Mr. Hearst stood
at the presiding officer's table for thirteen minutes while the delegates
filed before him swinging their hats and flags. Finally he retreated,
and some semblance of order was restored. At the end of nineteen
minutes the enthusiastic Californians and merry Oklahomians were
subdued.
268 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
THE CONVENTION FORMALLY OPENED.
It was thirty-five minutes past the scheduled time when the tem-
porary sergeant-at-arms rapped for order and asked the delegates
to vacate the aisles. Ex-Congressman Wilton W. Howard, of Ala-
bama, took the gavel and introduced Charles A. Walsh, of Iowa, sec-
retary of the provisional national committees, who read the call for
the convention.
This document declared the purpose of the gathering to be the
foundation of an independent party and the nomination of candi-
dates for President and Vice-President.
HISSES GREET BRYANTS NAME.
The reading was interrupted by cries of "Hearst!" and one man
in the balcony cried "Bryan !" A storm of hisses that followed was
stilled by the gavel.
Father P. D. O'Calahan, of Chicago, delivered the invocation.
Mr. Howard, at the conclusion of the invocation, announced the
names of the temporary officers of the convention. His mention of
the name of Mr. Hearst as temporary chairman was received with an
outburst of applause, and Mr. Hearst, when he mounted the rostrum,
escorted by a committee of three appointed by the Chair, was enthu-
siastically welcomed. The band struck up "The Star Spangled Ban-
ner" and the convention rose en masse, cheering wildly.
The New York delegation gave repeated cheers in honor of their
leader, who stood waiting for the demonstration to subside.
When quiet had been restored Mr. Hearst began to speak. His
first sentence was cheered. When he reached that portion of his
address in which he paid his respects to Bryan, Taggart, Sullivan,
Ryan and other Democratic leaders, he was compelled to stop for
another minute and let the applause subside. His characterization
of John Sharp Williams as John "Shrimp" Williams provoked a
storm of applause and laughter. During the twenty-eight minutes
it took the orator to deliver his address he stood on the edge of the
platform, his tall figure standing out in bold relief against the back-
ground of flags. Whenever he reached a point he desired to empha-
size, he leaned forward, extending his hand above his head and
swept his eyes slowly over the hall and keyed his voice to penetrate
to the topmost gallery. Mr. Hearst mentioned the name of Mr.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 269
Bryan only three times. In the first instance he waited, as though
to encourage Mr. Bryan's friends to show their friendship; but there
was not a single cheer for the Nebraskan. When the orator had
finished, there were shouts of "You're the man we want for our candi-
date." Mr. Hearst's speech in full was as follows:
KEYNOTE OF THE INDEPENDENCE PARTY.
"My friends, this is the first national convention of the Indepen-
dence Party.
"Whether it shall prove an historical event or merely a passing
political incident depends upon the wisdom and patriotism with which
we shall deliberate and act.
"If the men who met in Independence Hall in Philadelphia on
the Fourth of July, 1776, had had within them the feeling of hesita-
tion, any disposition toward compromise or concession, that day
would now pass as any other day upon the calendar.
"But the patriots who assembled there had courage in their
hearts, determination in their minds, high purpose in their souls, and
the Fourth of July is saluted throughout the world as the birthday
of Liberty for all men.
"It is too much to say that our convention can ever reach the
importance of the second Continental Congress, but the principles
they met to declare we have met to preserve, and the liberties they
assembled to secure we have assembled to protect.
"I believe, therefore, that we will do a service to our fellow-
citizens second only to the inestimable service rendered by the
founders of this Government if we shall found a party which will
remain unfailingly faithful to the cause of the plain people, to the
principles of the Declaration of Independence and to the fundamental
American ideas of liberty, equality and opportunity for all.
NEED OF A NEW PARTY.
"I believe that if any party is necessary in this country to pre-
serve the Government as the fathers framed it, a new party is neces-
sary; if any party is necessary to promote progress and prosperity,
to encourage the honest business man and protect the honest working-
man, a new party is necessary; if any party is necessary to represent
the typical American citizens that constitute the people in their strug-
270 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
gle with the tyrannical monopolies which constitute the trusts, a new
party is necessary.
"In 1792 Thomas Jefferson, who had penned the principles of
the Declaration of Independence, founded the Democratic-Republican
party to perpetuate those principles.
"In 1840 this party, founded to be the party of the people, had
become the party of privilege, and the Democratic party came into
being and crystallized about the personality and principles of Andrew
Jackson. In 1854 the Democratic Party had become the property
of an arrogant aristocracy which denounced the self-evident truths
of the Declaration of Independence as 'self-evident lies.'
"Then the Republican Party was born to restore the action of the
Government to the principles of Washington and Jefferson, and Abra-
ham Lincoln led it to victory.
"Is it not time, is there not need for a new party which shall
take up the work of the parties of Jefferson, of Jackson and of Lin-
coln and preserve for us and for the citizens of the future the rights
and liberties which these parties in their hour of usefulness preserved
for the citizens of their time?
DECADENCE OF THE OLD PARTIES.
"The old parties, in this day of their decadence, are no longer
equal to this work, for they have become unfaithful to the principles
which inspired them and unworthy of the patriots who founded them.
The Republican Party is the open and avowed handmaiden of the
trusts. It scorns those who would rescue it, repudiates those who
would reform it and glories brazenly in its profitable infamy. The
Democratic Party is merely envious of its sordid sister's ill-gotten
finery. It upbraids her at one election and imitates her at the next.
"The Republican leaders are the political attorneys of trusts and
monopolies, the representatives in public life of those giant corpora-
tions which have superseded the people in this Republic as the source
of power and the seat of authority.
"The Democratic vanguard is a Falstaff's army. It is led by a
knight arrayed in a motley of modified professions and compromised
principles, of altered opinions and retracted statements. It is officered
by such soldiers of fortune as Sullivan and Hopkins and Murphy and
McClellan; by Tom Taggart, the roulette gambler; and Tom Ryan,
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 271
the Wall Street gambler; and Belmont, the race-track gambler.
It is composed of such political mercenaries as Bailey, of the Standard
Oil, and Williams, of the Southern Railway, and Kinky-Dink and
Bathhouse John and Red Duffy and Nigger Mike all harmonized
at last and all marching together in a rhythmic cadence strongly
suggestive of the lockstep. A FalstafFs army whose banner bears
on one side a watchword for the people and on the other a password
for the trusts, whose only object is office at any cost, whose motto,
'After Us the Deluge.'
"Assuming that Mr. Bryan himself is all that his most ardent
admirers claim him to be, a great lawyer, an enlightened statesman,
an inspired patriot, still a man is known by the company he keeps,
and no decent Democrat can tolerate his free companions. No honest
citizen can let down the bars of office to such an Ali Baba's band of
boodlers and bravos. No prudent citizen will support a combina-
tion to which Taggart supplies a candidate and Parker a platform,
for which Ryan will pay the freight and the people will pay the
penalty.
"Back of both parties and underwriting each are those Captain
Kidds of industry, those highwaymen of high finance, who realize
that to plunder safely the people's purse they must first possess the
people's government.
AN ATTEMPTED BRIBERY.
"When I was running for Governor in New York an emissary
of one of the biggest men in Wall Street called upon me and said
that his client offered to contribute $100,000 to my campaign fund and
to raise several hundred thousand more if my views were reasonable
in regard to honest business.
"I told the emissary that the offer was declined with thanks.
I said that the gentlemen making it were merely proposing to waste
their good money, for wherever business was honest I would deem
it my duty as a public official to promote and encourage it without
any hundred-thousand-dollar bribes, and wherever business was dis-
honest not all the money in Wall Street would influence my attitude
toward it.
"I merely mention this incident to show what I believe should
be the attitude of any honest candidate and the policy of any honest
party.
272 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
"No lawyer would serve his client honestly who had received
a retaining fee from the opposite side, and no party can honestly
represent the citizens where their interests conflict with the exac-
tions of the trusts if it has been contaminated by a corporation cam-
paign fund and subsidized into silence and subserviency.
A STAND ON BUSINESS.
"I urge our party to take a broad and liberal stand toward the
legitimate business enterprises of the country, but to distinguish be-
tween concerns which plunder through political pull and pay for
political protection.
"Good wine needs no bush, and honest business needs no bribe.
"Honest business and prosperity are almost synonymous terms.
As one develops the other increases; when one is unduly disturbed
the other fails.
"Reforms must be made as the country develops and the people
progress, but these reforms should be carried out by those in authority
without spite or prejudice, without egotism or sensationalism, without
a brass band or a big stick.
"Not all who ask to be let alone really want to be let alone.
"The thief may well ask to be let alone in his thievery, but the
legitimate business man should ask for all the encouragement that
an intelligent business administration can properly provide. It is
a fundamental function of government to keep the peace, and to keep
the peace it must interfere to prevent fraud and violence and extor-
tion and oppression.
"It is a fundamental function of government to maintain moral-
ity, and to maintain morality it must interfere to secure business
morality as well as personal morality.
A CONSTRUCTIVE PARTY WANTED.
"It is a legitimate and proper function of government to promote
conditions that will increase wealth and bring about a just distribu-
tion of wealth that will secure increased profits for honest business
men and insure a fair division of profits for honest workingmen.
"We all want prosperity, and, what is more, we want pros-
perity for all.
"I urge our party, therefore, to be intelligently and courageously
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 273
constructive, not merely obstructive like the Republican Party or
destructive like the Democratic Party.
A COMPARISON OF PLATFORMS.
"The Republican platform says nothing and means nothing. It
is a platform of statistical inventions and political evasions. It is
obviously the product of a party whose sole purpose is to stand pat
and whose sole desire is to stay pat.
"The Democratic platform contains some good and original
things, but, as has been said, the original things are not good and the
good things are not original. It was built by political jackdaws,
who feathered their nests with the plumes of others without under-
standing of their significance or intention as to their performance.
It is the habitation of a hermit crab which has no shell of its own and
invades the first convenient one without regard to property or pro-
priety.
"It is a platform, too, of reconciliation and retraction, of atone-
ment and apology, of harmony and hypocrisy, for in compliance with
a former compact, Parker has pronounced peace, Bill Bailey has
poured Standard Oil upon the troubled waters and Bryan has killed
not only the fatted calf but the goose that laid the golden egg.
"No man can serve two masters, and no man can conciliate the
conflicting elements of the Democratic Party. He who tries must
serve one and deceive the other, must make public pretense to the
people and private compact with the trusts.
"Our party is not a party of factions, or sections, or cliques, or
classes. We have no warring wings to pacify, no contradictory
declarations to modify, no corrupt bosses to satisfy. Let us act boldly
and speak plainly. Let us make a platform so clear and so sincere
that every citizen will understand our position and have confidence
in our intention. Let us nominate candidates from among the many
men here present, whose lives and deeds are a guarantee of the
genuineness of their attitude a pledge of the sincerity of our pro-
fessions. Then let us go forth to an honorable effort for a righteous
cause, to battle and to victory."
Mr. Hearst delivered his address with intense earnestness that
carried the convention with him from the start to the close of his
address. At its conclusion he was cheered for several minutes.
18
274 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
Following Mr. Hearst's speech, James H. O'Neil, of Rhode
Island, presented to the temporary chairman a "union label" gavel.
Another gavel was presented by J. D. Bush, of New York. While
the latter was speaking, a delegate in the rear called, "Has that gavel
got the label on it?"
Mr. Hearst made a brief speech of acceptance of the two gavels.
Reuben R. Lyon, of New York, was called to the chair and
directed the secretary to read the membership lists of the various
convention committees and it was announced that all the committees
would meet immediately after the adjournment. There were no con-
tests for seats, and the business before all the committees, with the
exception of that on resolutions, was expected to be largely of a
perfunctory character.
After an address by C. A. Windle, of Chicago, the first session
of the convention adjourned until 2 o'clock p. M. the next day, July
28th.
SECOND DAY OF THE CONVENTION.
PLATFORM ADOPTED. HISGIN AND GRAVES NOMINATED.
When the second day's session of the Independence Party con-
vention began, Reuben R. Lyon, of New York, occupied the chair,
Mr. Hearst having resigned that honor.
The Rev. Dr. A. J. Messing, of Chicago, invoked the divine
blessing on the convention. In his prayer Dr. Messing mentioned
the fight of the Independence Party against the untrustworthy cor-
porations and prayed that the movement would grow in strength until
evil systems of government were destroyed.
CREDENTIALS COMMITTEE MAKES ITS REPORT.
The first order of business was the report of the Committee on
Credentials. No contests were filed except in the Fourteenth Dis-
trict of Massachusetts, and in this case the contestant was seated.
The committee's report was adopted.
The report of the Committee on Permanent Organization, Rules
and Order of Business was called for. These permanent convention
officers were selected:
Chairman, Charles A. Walsh, of Iowa; secretary, William A.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 275
Deford, of Kansas; assistant secretaries, A. S. Miller, of Alabama,
Edward Rainey, of California; sergeants-at-arms, A. O. Kruger, of
California, Andrew Goven, of New York, and Frank Brush, of
Illinois.
The report also declared in favor of the adoption of the two-
thirds vote for all nominations. Seconding speeches were limited to
five minutes each, but no limit was placed on their total number.
Chairman Walsh was escorted to the platform by delegates Clapp,
of Georgia ; Palliser, of New York, and Knight, of Washington.
He was given an enthusiastic reception.
Chairman Walsh, in his speech, held up to the convention the
principles which caused the abandonment of the old parties. His
speech was received with great appreciation and frequently punctuated
with applause.
SPEECH OF CHARLES A. WALSH OUTLINING THE PURPOSES OF THE
NEW INDEPENDENCE PARTY.
"Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Convention : For the high
honor conferred upon me in being made the permanent chairman of
this momentous gathering, it is my hope to show my gratitude through
untiring zeal for the cause to which we give nation-wide expression
to-day.
"We are at the threshold of a new era in the history of our
beloved country.
"We have reached the parting of the ways with our former
political associations. In the long years that have brought many
of us, scarred and whitened, down to the irrevocable step which we are
about to take, we have followed with all the zeal, all the loyalty,
all the honesty and energy which possessed us, either the one or the
other of the old party standards, glorying in their victories, unflinch-
ingly facing their defeats watching with sadness the rise of un-
worthy leaders, the upraising of new idols, the slow but steady wasting
away of the vigor which made the old parties the useful engines of our
political activities.
"We have fought valiantly and hoped ardently for a return to
the old pathways for a re-infusion of the old spirit, but the years
have rolled by and brought with them naught but black despair, until,
in the desperation that is born of a love of country transcending
276 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
all bonds of party fealty, \ve have taken the step that brings us to-
gether to-day united in a heaven-blessed cause.
REASON FOR DESERTING THE OLD PARTIES.
"The path of duty lies straight and well defined before us. We
cannot neglect to follow it and retain our self-respect. We have seen
the once great Republican Party the party founded by Lincoln
turned into a vast commercial enterprise for the aggrandizement of
the money power.
"The party of trusts, it has become the greatest of all the trusts
itself, with the national House of Representatives as its directorate
and the United States Senate as its executive committee.
"We have seen it construct a tariff wall around those interests in
which the Havemeyers and their kind have been most concerned,
and the interests of the plain people have been shunted aside all
legislation, financial, remedial, industrial, skilfully contrived to benefit
the men who from the banking houses of Wall Street absolutely con-
trolled its destinies.
"Labor has been slighted, the farmer uncared for, the interests
of the people generally neglected, the traditions of the fathers trodden
under foot, and the old landmarks and sign posts torn down and up-
rooted in the mad riot of greed and self-interest which have become
the dominant creed of the party.
"We have seen the once great Democratic Party turned into a
wing or annex of this party of trusts its traditions mocked, its creed
ignored, its principles violated ruthlessly, its old leaders turned out
at the back door, while the front door was flung wide open for the
entrance of the Ryans and the Belmonts, who are to-day most potent
in the council halls where once sat a Jefferson, a Jackson and a Tilden.
"We have seen the Rockefellers and the Morgans, the Ryans
and the Belmonts, the Hills and the Harrimans dominating forces
of the two old parties, the bi-partisan board of the amalgamated politi-
cal parties, for revenue only breaking bread and drinking wine to-
gether across the same board. And then what ?
A NEW LEADER ARISES.
"When, after the constant and heroic proclaiming of the new
declaration of independence heralded across the land by your tempo-
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 277
rary chairman, William Randolph Hearst when, after Mr. Hearst
had blazed in letters of fire the new doctrine of reform, and the people
had heard and lifted up their voices in a mighty demand a cry that
reached finally, even to the banquet hall where the Belshazzar's feast
of the plutocratic bosses was in progress those political bacchana-
lians, reading at last the handwriting on the wall, seized upon the
fundamental truths which Mr. Hearst had voiced, and behold in
diluted form and macerated fashion, they now present them as their
own and once more bid the people follow in the wake of their chariot
wheels.
"The time for that has gone by. For the last time the people
have been tricked. The hour has struck and the people themselves
are in command. The awakening is betokened by our presence in
this hall to-day.
"They revile us, joke and laugh scornfully. They say we have
gone astray in pursuit of false gods and have departed from our faith.
I say we have not. It is we who have stood steadfast,. We have
not retreated, men of the old parties, it is you who have fallen behind.
" 'Come on ! Come on !' we say, 'to the capture of the redoubt
of special privilege and self-interest. Join your forces with ours, that
government of the people, by the people and for the people, shall not
perish from the earth.' '
GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS.
Succeeding Chairman Walsh's speech the regular order of busi-
ness was taken up. The Committee on Platform was not quite ready
to report. The names of the new National Committemen were an-
nounced.
When Massachusetts was reached and the name of Thomas
Hisgen was called, there was a great demonstration, with hearty
cheers, which came from all parts of the hall.
While awaiting the report George W. McCaskrin, who was intro-
duced as the "next Governor of Illinois," addressed the convention.
Other stirring addresses followed by various speakers.
JOSEPH R. BUCHANAN SPEAKS ON LABOR.
Joseph R. Buchanan, of New Jersey, was called to the stage
to explain the attitude of labor toward the Independenne Party. He
278 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
said he believed this attitude to be favorable, for the men who have
for years been interested in organized labor have realized the futility
of expecting any relief from unjust conditions.
Referring to the commitment of the labor leaders to the Demo-
cratic Party, Mr. Buchanan said that the rank and file of workingmen
are not going to be fooled by the old tricksters who for years have
been fooling them.
E. T. O'Loughlin, of BrBooklyn, stirred the convention by an
appeal in favor of the white slaves of field and factory, and Wilkin-
son, of New York, recited an ode on independence.
William Johnson, a negro delegate from Chicago, took the plat-
form and in a spirited address recited the demands of his race to
such effect that the convention rose almost to a man and tendered the
black man an ovation. Among other things he said: "You should
encourage the black man to come into the fold. He is drifting away
from the old parties."
ADOPTED AMID CHEERS.
The committee, with the typewritten copy of the party's first
platform, entered at 5.20 P. M. Dr. Taylor, chairman of the Reso-
lutions Committee, presented it, and Clarence J. Shearn, of New
York, read it with splendid effect, after which came a most remark-
able demonstration.
In the history of all the political conventions of the United States,
no party platform was ever received so enthusiastically as the twenty-
hour effort of the first Committee on Resolutions of the new Indepen-
dence Party. For twenty minutes the delegates cheered and rounded
the hall with their standards.
There were not the vacant seats that usually mark the delegates'
section of the convention hall when the platform is to be read. Nearly
every delegate was in his place, and vitally interested in every word
that fell from the lips of the reader. Almost every plank was cheered
as it was read. The platform was adopted unanimously, and the
convention took a recess until 8 o'clock P. M.
NIGHT SESSION.
At the night session the convention quickly got down to nomi-
nations for President. Dr. L. A. Fearley, of Alabama, took the ros-
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 279
trum and placed in nomination Mulford W. Howard, of that State.
The resumption of the call brought no response till California
yielded to Massachusetts, and the Rev. Roland D. Sawyer placed
Thomas L. Hisgen in nomination. When Mr. Sawyer eulogized
Mr. Hisgen as a man "who has tasted in his soul the oppression of
predatory wealth and fought it back tooth and nail, asking no quarter
and giving none a man who stands for everything John D. Rocke-
feller does not," the delegates yelled their delight and shouted franti-
cally. "That's right, soak Standard Oil John!" And when Mr. Saw-
yer formally placed the Bay State man in nomination there was a
tempest of cheers. (The speech nominating Mr. Hisgen will be found
in the biography of the candidate.) Ladies in the balcony, among
whom was the wife of Mr. Hisgen, urged the men to greater efforts.
A banner bearing Hisgen's portrait was brought to the platform and
was joined by the California, Minnesota, Illinois, Washington and
Nebraska standards. When the demonstration subsided the call pro-
ceeded until Georgia was reached, and Bernard Sutler, of Atlanta, pre-
sented the name of John Temple Graves.
Mr. Sutler made a snappy speech, which set the convention hall
ringing with cheers. New Jersey, Wisconsin, Connecticut and Vir-
ginia joined Georgia in the cheering.
BRYAN'S NAME CAUSES ROW.
The roll call progressed until Kansas was reached. J. I. Shep-
pard asked if it was possible to vote for any candidate not a member
of the party. The reply was that the question had not yet arisen.
Mr. Sheppard took the platform, announcing that he had a candidate.
He made quite a lengthy speech before the delegates understood
whom he meant to nominate. Finally he mentioned the "candidate
of the Democratic Party." A storm of hisses and boos greeted him.
The hall was in an uproar, the galleries persisting in breaking
in with jeers. Mr. Sheppard spoke a few minutes when Charles H.
Mitchell, of Illinois, offered a point of order that it was evident that
the speaker was about to place in nomination a man who was not
a member of the Independence Party. He demanded that the con-
vention proceed to name a candidate of its own.
Several delegates attempted to mount the rostrum to do physical
violence to the speaker. Sergeants-at-arms held back the infuriated
men by sheer physical strength.
280 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
Mr. Mitchell persisted in his point of order, and Mr. Sheppard
said:
"Of course I don't want to deceive you. I intend, if I am allowed
to finish, to nominate William J. Bryan."
The hall broke into an uproar. A dozen delegates again strug-
gled in the main aisle to reach Mr. Sheppard. Canes and fists were
shaken while howls of execration went up from all sides.
Quiet was a long time coming, but finally Chairman Walsh was
able to rule. He declared the nomination of a man who was not
a member of the Independence Party was out of order.
A frantic yell of approval went up. Sheppard started to leave
the platform, and Sergeants-at-Arms Frank Brust and Max Annen-
berg, realizing what might happen to Sheppard, kept close behind
him.
A crowd of delegates closed in, and, for a minute or two, Shep-
pard was in actual danger.
NOMINATIONS RESUMED.
Quiet was restored with the ejection of Sheppard and nominat-
ing speeches were resumed.
Judge Waterbury, of Kansas, took the platform to "put my State
right." He denied Mr. Sheppard acted with the knowledge of the
delegation, the denunciation of Sheppard bringing cheers. It was
later announced that J. I Sheppard had been withdrawn from the
National Committee of the party and would be no longer active in
its affairs. The exciting Sheppard affair was the only disturbing
evidence of the convention. Judge Waterbury, who had set "Kansas
right," was put in Sheppard's place on the National Committee.
Maryland and Michigan seconded Graves and California, Minne-
sota and Montana declared for Hisgen. Mississippi and Missouri
added their indorsement to Howard.
New York sent to the rostrum Judge John Palmire, who placed
Reuben R. Lyon, of that State, in nomination. John T. Martin,
also of New York, seconded the nomination of Graves.
When Ohio was called, the name of William Randolph Hearst
was mentioned as a candidate for the first time by A. F. Otto, of Cin-
cinnati, from the floor, declaring Ohio would cast her solid vote for
Mr. Hearst.
Only a ripple of applause followed the speech of Mr. Otto, it
3 S,
I I
WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST
Founder of the Independence Party.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS . 281
being generally understood that Mr. Hearst did not desire the nomi-
nation.
Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah and Vermont seconded His-
gen, and South Carolina and Virginia seconded Graves
West Virginia's call brought a resignation from the convention,
two delegates leaving because they were not satisfied with the plat-
form.
Washington and Wyoming seconded Hisgen and the District of
Columbia Graves. Then the convention proceeded to ballot.
HISGIN AND GRAVES THE TICKET.
The vote for President on the first ballot resulted : Hisgen, 396 ;
Graves, 213; Howard, 200; Lyon, 71; Hearst, 49. On the second
ballot Hisgen received 590 votes; Graves dropped to 180, and Howard
to 109. Hearst held his 49, and Lyon was eliminated.
When order had been partly restored a committee, consisting of
John Temple Graves, of Georgia; Milford W. Howard, of Alabama,
and Reuben R. Lyon, of New York, was appointed to notify Mr.
Hisgen of his nomination and escort him to the platform.
Pending the return of the committee, Clarence J. Shearn, of New
York, was recognized by the chair and placed John Temple Graves in
nomination for the Vice-Presidency.
In his speech Mr. Hearn said in part :
"I have a most pleasant duty to perform. We need to comple-
ment the nomination we have just made a man who can carry our
principles to all parts of the country. I have in mind such a man.
"From what we know of his loyalty, his fealty and his devotion
to the Independence Party, I know he will accept the unanimous call
of this convention to join with 'Honest Tom' Hisgen. I nominate
Colonel John Temple Graves."
The mention of Mr. Graves's name was greeted with a yell of
approval.
E. G. Ballard, of Indiana, placed Charles F. S. Neal, of Indiana,
in nomination. Stephen Charters, of Ansonia, was placed in nomi-
nation by John Kelly, of Connecticut. C. A. Wendle, of Illinois,
named Dr. Howard Taylor, of Illinois. Dr. Taylor withdrew his
name. Connecticut withdrew the name of Charters and moved to
suspend the rules and make Graves's nomination unanimous. This
was done by acclamation and the convention adjourned sine die.
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE INDEPENDENCE PARTY PLATFORM.
ADOPTED AT CHICAGO, JULY 28, 1908.
We, the Independent American citizens, representing the Inde-
pendence Party in forty-four States and two Territories, have met in
national convention to nominate, absolutely independent of all politi-
cal parties, candidates for President and Vice-President of the United
States.
Our action is based upon a determination to wrest the conduct
of public affairs from the hands of selfish interests, political trick-
sters and corrupt bosses, and make the government, as the founders
intended, an agency for the common good.
At a period of unexampled national prosperity and promise a
staggering blow was dealt to legitimate business by the unmolested
practice of stock watering and dishonest financiering. Multitudes of
defenseless investors, thousands of honest business men and an army
of idle workingmen are paying the penalty.
Year by year, fostered by wasteful and reckless governmental
extravagance, by the manipulation of trusts and by a privilege-creat-
ing tariff, the cost of living mounts higher and higher. Day by day
the control of the Government drifts further away from the people
and more firmly into the grip of machine politicians and party bosses.
The Republican and Democratic parties are not only responsible
for these conditions, but are committed to their indefinite continuance.
Prodigal of promises, they are so barren of performance that to a new
party of independent voters the country must look for the establish-
ment of a new policy and a return to genuine popular government.
TO RESTORE NATION^ PRINCIPLES.
Our object is not to introduce violent innovations or startling
new theories. We, of the Independence Party, look back, as Lin-
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GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 283
coin did, to the Declaration of Independence as the fountainhead of
all political inspiration.
It is not our purpose to attempt to revolutionize the American
system of government, but to restore the action of the government
to the principles of Washington and Jefferson and Lincoln.
It is not our purpose, either, to effect a radical change in the
American system of government, but to conserve for the citizens
of the United States their privileges and liberties won for them by
the founders of this Government, and to perpetuate the principles and
policies upon which the nation's greatness has been built.
The Independence Party is, therefore, a conservative force in
American politics, devoted to the preservation of American liberty
and independence and to honesty in elections, to opportunity in busi-
ness and to equality before the law. Those who believe in the Inde-
pendence Party and work with it are convinced that a genuine democ-
racy should exist, that a true republican form of government should
continue, that the power of government should rest with the majority
of the people, and that the government should be conducted for the
benefit of the whole citizenship rather than for the special advantages
of any particular class.
FOR DIRECT NOMINATIONS.
As of first importance in order to restore the power of govern-
ment to the people, to make their will supreme in the primaries, in the
elections and in control of public officials after they have been elected,
we declare for direct nominations, the initiative and referendum
and the right to recall.
It is idle to cry out against the evil of bossism while we perpetu-
ate a system under which the boss is inevitable. The destruction of
an individual boss is of little value.
The people in their politics must establish a system which will
eliminate not only an objectionable boss, but the system of bossism.
Representative government is made a mockery by the system of
modern party conventions dominated by bosses and controlled by
cliques.
We demand the natural remedy of direct nominations by which
the people not only elect, but, which is far more important, select their
representatives.
284 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
We believe in the principles of initiative and referendum. We
particularly demand that no franchise grab go into operation until
terms and conditions have been approved by popular vote in the
locality interested.
We demand for the people the right to recall public officials in
the public service. The power to make public officials resides in the
people, and in them also should reside the power to make and remove
from office any official who demonstrates his unfitness or betrays the
public trust.
MONEY IN CAMPAIGNS.
Of next importance in destroying the power of selfish special
interests and the corrupt political bosses whom they control is to
wrest from their hands their main weapon, the corruption fund. We
demand severe and effective legislation against all forms of corrupt
practices at elections and advocate prohibiting the use of any money
at elections except for meetings, literature and the necessary traveling
expenses of candidates. Bidding for votes, the Republican and Dem-
ocratic candidates are making an outcry about publicity of contribu-
tions, although the Republican and Democratic parties have for years
consistently blocked every effort to pass a corrupt practices act. Pub-
licity of contributions is desirable and should be required, but the main
matter of importance is the use to which contributions are put.
We believe that the dishonest use of money in the past, whether
contributed by individuals or by corporations, has been chiefly respon-
sible for the corruption which has undermined our system of popular
government.
We demand honest conduct of public officers and businesslike,
economical administration of public affairs, and we condemn the gross
extravagance of the Federal Administration and its appalling annual
increase in appropriations. Unnecassary appropriations mean unne-
cessary taxes, and unnecessary taxes, whether direct or indirect, are
paid by the people and add to the increasing cost of living.
We condemn the evil of overcapitalization. Modern industrial
conditions make the corporation and stock company a necessity, but
overcapitalization in corporations is as harmful and criminal as is
personal dishonesty in an individual. Compelling the payment of
dividends upon great sums that have never been invested, upon masses
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 285
of watered stock not justified by the property and overcapitalization
prevent the better wages, the better public service and the lower cost
that should result from American inventive genius and that wide or-
ganization which is replacing costly individual competition. The col-
lapse of dishonestly inflated enterprises robs investors, closes banks,
destroys confidence and engenders panics.
LABOR PLANK BUNCOMBE.
The Independence Party advocates as a primary necessity for
sounder business conditions and improved public service the enact-
ment of laws, State and national, to prevent watering of stock, dis-
honest issues of bonds and other forms of corporate frauds.
We denounce the so-called labor planks of the Republican and
Democratic platforms as political buncombe and contemptible clap-
trap unworthy of national parties claiming to be serious and sincere.
The Republican declaration that "no injunction or temporary
restraining order should be issued without notice, except where ir-
reparable injury would result from delay," is empty verbiage, for a
showing of irreparable injury can always be made and is always
made in ex parte affidavits.
The Democratic declaration that "injunctions should not be issued
in any case in which injunctions would not issue if no industrial
dispute were involved" is meaningless and worthless.
Such insincere and meaningless declarations place a low estimate
upon the intelligence of the average American workingman and ex-
hibit either ignorance of or indifference to the real interests of labor.
The Independence Party condemns the arbitrary use of the writ
of injunction and contempt proceedings as a violation of the funda-
mental American right of trial by jury.
DEMANDS JURY TRIAL.
From the foundation of our Government down to 1872 the Fed-
eral Judiciary act prohibited the issue of any injunction without
reasonable notice until after a hearing. We assert that in all actions
growing out of a dispute between employers and employees concerning
terms or conditions of employment no injunction should issue until
after a trial upon the merits, that such trial should be had before a
jury, and that in no case of alleged contempt should any person be
deprived of liberty without a trial by jury.
286 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
The Independence Party believes that the distribution of wealth
is as important as the creation of wealth, and indorses those organi-
zations among farmers and others which tend to bring about a just
distribution of wealth through good wages for workers and good
prices for farmers and which protect the employer and the consumer
through equality of price for labor and for product.
We indorse the eight-hour day, favor its application to all Gov-
ernment employees and demand the enactment of laws requiring that
alLwork done for the Government, whether Federal or State, and
whether done directly or indirectly through contractors or sub-con-
tractors, shall be done on an eight-hour basis.
We offer the enactment of a law condemning as illegal any com-
bination or conspiracy to blacklist employees.
W T e demand protection for workmen through enforced use of
standard safety appliances and provisions of hygienic conditions in
the operation of factories, railways, mills, mines and all industrial un-
dertakings.
AGAINST CHILD LABOR.
We advocate State and Federal inspection of railways to secure
a greater safety for railway employees and for the traveling public.
We call for the enactment of stringent laws fixing employers' lia-
bilities and a rigid prohibition of child labor through co-operation
between the State Governments and the National Government.
We condemn the manufacture and sale of prison-made goods
in the open market in competition with free-labor manufactured
goods. We demand that convicts be employed directly by the dif-
ferent States in the manufacture of products for use in State institu-
tions, and in making good roads, and in no case shall convicts be
hired out to contractors or sub-contractors.
We favor a creation of a Department of Labor, including mines
and mining, the head of which shall be a member of the President's
cabinet.
The great abuses of grain inspection, by which the producers are
plundered, demand immediate and vigorous correction. To that end
we favor Federal inspection under a strict Civil Service law.
We declare that the right to issue money is inherent in the Gov-
ernment and demand that any further necessary issue of currency
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 287
shall be made by the Government and shall be full legal tender for
all debts, public and private.
FOR TARIFF REVISION.
We demand a revision of the tariff, not by the friends of the
tariff, but by the friends of the people, and declare for a gradual
reduction of tariff duties with just consideration for the rights of
the consuming public and of established industry. There should be
no protection for oppressive trusts which sell cheaply abroad and take
advantage of the tariff at home to crush competition, raise prices,
control production and limit work and wages.
The railroads must be kept open to all upon exactly equal terms.
Every form of rebate and discrimination and railroad rates is a crime
against business and must be stamped out. We demand adequate rail-
road facilities and advocate a bill empowering shippers in time of
need to compel railroads to provide sufficient cars for freight and pas-
senger traffic and other railroad facilities through summary appeal
to the courts.
We favor the creation of an interstate commerce court, whose
sole function it shall be to review speedily and enforce summarily
the orders of the Interstate Commerce Commisison.
The Interstate Commerce Commission should have the power
to initiate investigation into the reasonableness of rates and practices,
and no increase in rates should be put into effect until opportunity
for such investigation is afforded. The Interstate Commerce Com-
mission should proceed at once with a physical valuation of railroads
engaged in interstate commerce.
URGES STRONG ANTI-TRUST LAW.
We denounce all combinations for restraint of trade and for the
establishment of monopoly in all products of labor, and declare that
such combinations are not combinations for production, but for ex-
tortion, and that activity in this direction is not industry, but robbery.
In case of infractions of the Anti-Trust law or Interstate Com-
merce act we believe in the enforcement of a prison penalty against
the guilty and responsible individuals controlling the management
of the offending corporations, rather than a fine imposed upon stock'
holders.
288 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
We advocate the extension of the principle of public ownership
for public utilities, including railroads, as rapidly as municipal, State
or National Government shall demonstrate ability to conduct public
utilities for the public benefit. We favor specifically government
ownership of the telegraphs, such as prevails in every other civilized
country in the world, and demand as an immediate measure that the
Government shall purchase and operate the telegraphs in connection
with the postal service.
PARCELS POST SYSTEM.
The parcels post system should be rapidly and widely extended,
and Government postal savings banks should be established where
people's deposits will be secure, the money to be loaned to the people
in the locality of the several banks and at a rate of interest to be fixed
by the Government.
We favor the immediate development of a national system of
good roads connecting all States and national aid to States in the con-
struction and maintenance of post roads.
We favor a court review of the censorship and arbitrary rulings
of the Post Office Department.
We advocate such legislation, both State and national, as will
suppress the bucketshop and prohibit the fictitious selling of farm prod-
ucts for future delivery.
We favor the creation of a Department of Public Health to be
presided over by a member of the medical profession, this department
to exercise authority over matters of public health, hygiene and sani-
tation which come properly within the jurisdiction of the National
Government and do not interfere with the rights of States or muni-
cipalities.
OPPOSES ASIATIC IMMIGRATION.
We oppose Asiatic immigration, which does not amalgamate
with our population, creates race issues and un-American conditions
and which reduces wages and tends to lower the high standard of
living and the high standard of morality which American civilization
has established. We demand the passage of an exclusion act which
shall protect American workingmen from competition with Asiatic
cheap labor and which shall protect American civilization from the
contamination of Asiatic conditions.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 289
The Independence Party declares for peace and against aggres-
sion, and will promote the movement for the settlement of interna-
tional disputes by arbitration.
We believe, however, that a small navy is poor economy, and
that a strong navy is the best protection in time of war and the best
preventive of war. We, therefore, favor the speedy building of a
navy sufficiently strong to protect at the same time both the Atlantic
and Pacific coasts of the United States.
We favor the development of the merchant marine by the build-
ing and operating of such lines of ships as may be necessary by the
Government.
We rejoice in the adoption by both the Democratic and Repub-
lican platforms of the demand of the Independence Party for the im-
proved national waterways and the Mississippi inland deep waterways
project to complete a ship canal from the Gulf to the Great Lakes.
We favor the extension of this system to the tributaries of the Mis-
sissippi, by means of which thirty States shall be served and twenty
thousand miles added to the coast line of the United States.
The reclamation of arid lands should be continued and the irri-
gation commission now contemplated by the Government extended
and steps taken for the conservation of the country's natural resources,
which should be guarded not only against devastation and waste, but
against falling into the control of monopoly.
PROTECTION OF PUBLIC LANDS.
The abuses growing out of the administration of our forest pre-
serves must be corrected and provision should be made for free graz-
ing from public lands outside of forest or other reservation. In be-
half of the people residing in arid portions of our Western States
we protest vigorously against the policy of the Federal Government
in selling the exclusive use of water and electric powers derived from
public works to private corporations, thus creating a monopoly and
subjecting citizens living in these sections to exorbitant charges for
light and power and diverting enterprises originally started for public
benefit into channels for corporate greed and oppression, and we de-
mand that no more exclusive contracts be made.
American citizens abroad, whether native born or naturalized,
and of whatever race or creed, must be secured in the enforcement
290 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
of all rights and privileges under our treaties, and wherever such
rights are withheld by any country on the ground of race or religious
faith, steps should be taken to secure the removal of such unjust
discrimination.
POPULAR ELECTION PLANK.
We advocate the popular election of United States Senators and
of judges, both State and Federal, and favor a graduated income tax
and any constitutional amendments necessary to these ends.
Equality and opportunity, the largest measure of individual lib-
erty consistent with equal rights, the overthrow of the rule of special
interest and the restoration of government by the majority exercised
for the benefit of the whole community these are the purposes to
which the Independence Party is pledged, and we invite the co-opera-
tion of all patriotic and all progressive citizens, irrespective of party,
who are in sympathy with these principles and in favor of their
practical enforcement."
CHAPTER XXVII.
NATIONAL LEADERS OF THE INDEPENDENCE PARTY.
WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST THE FOUNDER.
The largest individual newspaper proprietor perhaps that the
world has ever known by this we mean the one man who controls
the largest number of papers and has the largest united circulation
ever under one open management in this or any other country is
Mr. William Randolph Hearst, proprietor of the San Francisco
Examiner, the Chicago American and Examiner, the New York Jour-
nal and Examiner and the Boston Journal and Examiner.
For many years Mr. Hearst has been a prominent national figure.
In 1896 and in 1900 he was an ardent supporter of William Jennings
Bryan, the Democratic nominee, and with his powerful journals he has
exercised an enormous influence in reform movements in the Demo-
cratic party. He has claimed at all times to be a champion and
friend of the laboring man. His remarkable success in the news-
paper world has aroused the jealousy of competitive journals wherever
his paper is circulated, and the press generally has not hesitated to
class him as the arch-leader of the so-called Yellow Journalists of
America. In 1904 Hearst was prominently mentioned as a Demo-
cratic candidate for President, and went before the National Con-
vention of the party at St. Louis with a formidable following. The
nomination of Judge Alton D. Parker, of New York, did much to
dampen Mr. Hearst's ardor for the Democratic cause, and from that
day forward he and his papers gradually drifted away from the party
moorings. In Chicago and New York he inaugurated and cham-
pioned what he called the Independence Voters' League, with which,
through his paper, he seriously discomfited both the Democratic and
Republican parties in the municipal elections of both of those cities.
In New York he ran for Mayor of the City on his Independence Voters'
League Platform. The race between him and George B. McClellan,
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292 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
the Democratic candidate, was so close that both parties claimed the
victory. The official count gave McClellan the office, but Hearst
maintained, through his journals, that he had been elected and was
counted out by fraud. By persistent agitation of the subject in his
paper he forced an investigation in 1908. The recount, while it
showed a gain in Mr. Hearst's favor, did not give him sufficient
votes to reverse the result that made McClellan Mayor.
In his campaign for Governor of New York in 1906 he very
nearly caried the State under similar conditions and in Massachusetts
his Independence League won second place, making the Democrats
a third party. In view of the above remarkable achievements, it is
no idle fancy to suppose that the party of Hearst will have a large
support in the campaign of 1908.
Mr. Hearst returned from Europe only a few days before the meet-
ing of the National Independence Party convention in Chicago. He
hurried at once to the convention and was made temporary chairman
of it, and in a thrilling speech sounded the keynote of his party. He
was afterwards made chairman of the National Committee, and ap-
pointing two able lieutenants to attend to the details, he at once
prepared to tour the country in the interest of his party candidates,
Messrs. Hisgen and Graves.
Mr. Hearst is a man in the prime of life. He is the son of the
late United States Senator, George Hearst, of California. He was
born in San Francisco, in 1863, was educated in the public schools
of that city and Harvard University. He was married in New York,
April 28, 1903. to Miss Millicent Willson. Mr. Hearst is editor and
proprietor of the San Francisco Examiner, which he has controlled
since 1886. He founded the New York Journal, in 1895. He later
bought the New York Advertiser, and changed its name to the New
York Morning American. It was to the editorship of that paper that
John Temple Graves, the Vice-Presidential candidate of the Indepen-
dence Party, was called in 1907. In 1900. Mr. Hearst started the
Chicago American and two years later the Chicago Morning Exam-
iner. In 1904 he started both the Boston American and the Los
Angeles, California, Examiner.
Prior to the inauguration of his new party, Mr. Hearst was a
Democrat. By that party he was elected to the fifty-eighth and
fifty-ninth Congress from the Eleventh District of New York.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 293
INDEPENDENCE PARTY CANDIDATES.
BY WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST.
In answer to a request for an expression of an opinion concern-
ign the candidates of the party which he had founded, Mr. Hearst
said:
"I feel confident that the candidates of the Independence Party
are able, honest representative American men, admirably adapted to
the platform, and I am positive that the platform is one of the most
inspiring documents ever issued in American politics.
"Mr. Hisgen is a clean, strong, sound and sensible business man,
who has acquired his property by methods so honorable that he is
universally known as 'Honest Tom Hisgen.' This title, acknowl-
edged even by his opponents, is the highest testimonial to his char-
acter, and the fact that he has conducted his business successfully in
competition with the Standard Oil, the most powerful and most
unscrupulous monopoly in the world, is the highest testimonal to his
ability and independence. Mr. Hisgen is the kind of man that you
respect the moment that you see him, that you admire as you come- to
know him, and that you love and honor when acquaintance has
ripened into friendship. Therefore the more men there are who know
Mr. Hisgen the more men there are who will vote for him and work
for him with both the enthusiasm born of personal devotion and the
knowledge that they are performing a patriotic duty.
"Mr. John Temple Graves is a man of the same splendid honesty
and ability and independence as Mr. Hisgen, although he. has exer-
cised these admirable qualities in a different sphere of usefulness.
Mr. Graves has been editor and part proprietor of many publications
of great importance and wide influence, and he has exerted that influ-
ence persistently and potentially in sincere service to his fellow-men.
No wrong has escaped the attack, no right has failed of the support of
his powerful pen.
"He is a masterful writer, a marvelous orator ; a man of unusual
talents and unusually conscientious in the employment of those talents.
He is a true Southern gentleman, than which there is no higher praise.
He is typical of the South's best traditions, representative of its noblest
qualities. There is no better or better-known Southern man in public
life. He is not only the embodiment of honor himself, but he has
294 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
always declined to associate himself with any cause or institution that
is not equally honorable.
"A few years ago he was editor-in-chief and minority stockholder
of one of the leading newspapers in the South. His place was impor-
tant and profitable, but when the majority stockholders insisted that
the paper support some questionable scheme of the Southern Railway,
Mr. Graves relinquished his lucrative position, abandoned his stock-
holdings, and indignantly left the paper; nor was he satisfied with
mere ineffective protest. He promptly started another newspaper, ral-
lied the people around him, defeated the Southern Railway's iniquitous
scheme, and by his words and his actions so discredited the traitorous
paper he had left that it closed its doors disgraced and went out of
business. The people have need of such men in public life. The
people have need of such business men, successful men, able, honest
and loyal men, and I believe the people have the gratitude and the
good judgment to elect such men to serve them.
"On the other tickets we have the eternal and inevitable lawyers.
One is a political lawyer and the other is a lawyer politician. One is
a lawyer whose specialty is injunctions, and the other is a lawyer
whose specialty is wills and legacies.
"One is representative of the great trusts and monopolies and
privilege-seeking interests. The other is representative of a complac-
ent selfishness and sordid self-interest equally monumental and menac-
ing.
"The candidates of the Independence Party are typical American
citizens, really representative of the honest business, the productive
industry that has made the country.
"It is a personal sacrifice for both of them to go into politics, but
they think it is their duty, and I think it is the duty of all such con-
scientious and characteristic Americans to take an active interest in
the conduct of their Government. The presence of such men in public
life will do more than anything else to purify American politics and
perpetuate this American republic."
THOMAS L. HISGEN, CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT.
In addition to Mr. Hearst's estimates as above set forth it is
proper to give additional personal items of the candidates' lives.
Thomas L. Hisgen was born in Petersburg, Ind., November
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 295
26, 1858. His present home is in West Springfield, Mass. He is
wealthy and has devoted much of his time to fighting the Oil Trust,
and he has done it successfully. He occupies in New England a posi-
tion similar to that of Lewis Emery, Jr., in Pennsylvania, having been
a consistent and bitter opponent to the Standard Oil Company.
Mr. Hisgen is a self-made man. He was born of poor parents
and has amassed his own fortune honestly. He began work early and
did not enjoy extensive educational advantages. At the age of sixteen
he became a clerk in an Albany clothing store. His father had experi-
mented with a formula for the manufacture of axle grease, but could
not make it a commercial success, whereupon his sons established a
small factory and manufactured the grease for sale.
The business is now large and successful, and it is said that the
Standard Oil Company once offered $600,000 for the plant, but the
Hisgens would not sell. Then followed a bitter fight with the Stan-
dard Oil Company, which forced the Hisgens into the oil business
themselves, as the people who bought their axle grease had difficulty
in buying kerosene.
The story of this heroic fight and the victory of the Hisgen
brothers over the Standard Oil has been widely published in the press
during the last few years.
For years Mr. Hisgen has fought the Oil Trust, which, by all
methods at its command, tried to drive him from the field. He won
the respect and support of consumers in Western Massachusetts, and
is one of the few men who has waged war successfully against the
great corporation.
He declined to be owned, bought, bullied or frightened. He
has conducted his business persistently in his own way, defying trust
orders, as every independent American aspires to do. He is making
money in his business, in his own way, as his own boss, and Standard
Oil has been unable to crush him or to rule him. He has the respect
of every man because he has succeeded in the real American style of
live and let live. His employees are his friends, and his neighbors in
business the dominating trusts excepted are also his friends. He
has known how to protect and maintain his own interests, and that in
spite of the direct and persistent attack of the most powerful trust in
the world.
Before his alliance with the Independence League Mr. Hisgen
296 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
was a Democrat, and ran once for Lieutenant-Governor of Massa-
chusetts on the Democratic ticket. He got into politics because the
Standard Oil Company undertook to drive him out of business. In
1906 he polled 150,000 votes as a joint candidate of the Democrats
and Independence League for State Auditor, and his fight with the
octopus led to his nomination for Governor in 1907 by the Independ-
ence League. He polled more votes than the regular Democratic
nominee in this contest.
Mr. Hisgen is not by nature a politician. He is a splendid type
of the upright successful business man. His business interests and
desire for honest methods and fair competition forced him into a fight
which he conducted so manfully and above board that the country
looked on with admiration, and dubbed him "Honest Tom" Hisgen,
and in consequence forced political honors upon him. He has proved
himself a campaigner of ability. He is a forceful speaker. In the
race for Governor he made a personal canvass of the State, and his
clear-cut arguments were rewarded by a vote of 6,000 in excess of Mr.
Whitney, his Democratic rival. This greatly increased Hisgen's
popularity, and made him the logical candidate for the first Presi-
dential nomination of his party.
REV. ROLAND S. SAWYER'S EULOGY.
We cannot better close this article than by quoting the speech of
Rev. Mr. Sawyer, placing Mr. Hisgen in nomination at Chicago.
After paying his respects ( ?) to Mr. Rockefeller and commenting on
the $29,000,000 fine, and Hisgen's part in exposing the unlawful
methods of the Standard Oil Company, Mr. Sawyer said of Mr.
Hisgen personally :
"I present the name of a man, a man who has tasted in his own
soul of the oppressions of predatory wealth, and in his own experience
has fought them back tooth and nail, asking no quarter and giving
none a man standing for everything that John D. Rockefeller does
not.
"So, because it is fitting that when the people are striking at
Standard Oil, as representative of the whole line of robber trusts, we
should offer them as a candidate a man who has fought and will fight
as long as breath is in his body the Standard Oil system, because it
is expedient, because it is politic, because it is wise, I offer to this
GOVERNORS OF SOUTH DAKOTA, CONNECTICUT, KENTUCKY, MONTANA,
NEW HAMPSHIRE, COLORADO.
Coe I. Crawford, South Dakota.
Rollln S. Woodruff, Connecticut.
August E. Willson, Kentucky
Edwin L. Norrls, Montana.
Charles M. Floyd, New Hampshire,
Henry A. Buchtel, Colorado.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 297
convention as its candidate for President of the United States in this
initial campaign the name of Thomas L. Hisgen, of Massachusetts."
When Mr. Sawyer eulogized Mr. Hisgen as a man "who has
tasted in his soul the oppression of predatory wealth and fought it
back tooth and nail, asking no quarter and giving none a man who
stands for everything John D. Rockefeller does not," the delegates
yelled their delight, and Mrs. Hisgen, wife of the candidate, standing
in a box like a vision of white in a bower of banners and national
colors, blushing with pride and happy as a bride, joined her lady
companions, who were waving handkerchiefs and banners to urge on
the marching admirers of her husband.
The home life of the candidate and his family is said to be ideal.
Mr. and Mrs. Hisgen have three children.
JOHN TEMPLE GRAVES, CANDIDATE FOR VICE-PRESIDENT.
For many years John Temple Graves, the Independence Party
candidate for Vice-President, has been called by his friends "The
Little Giant of the South." This is doubtless in recognition of his
small physical stature and his giant intellect. Since the days of Henry
W. Grady there has perhaps been no one more worthy to be called
his successor as a journalist and as an orator than John Temple
Graves, who was born at Willington Church, Abbeville County, South
Carolina, November 9, 1856.
As a statesman and an orator Mr. Graves doubtless inherits much
of his talent from the same ancestry as his illutrious great-uncle, John
C. Calhoun, of national fame. Mr. Graves' mother was the daughter
of William Calhoun, the eldest brother of the famous lawyer, states-
man, orator and Secessionist of South Carolina, who Daniel Webster
said was the most impressive personage in the national legislature,
and that he "trod the floor of the Senate with the stately dignity of a
tribune of old."
EDUCATION AND OCCUPATION.
John Temple Graves graduated from the University of Georgia
in 1875 before he was twenty-one years of age and entered at once
upon a journalistic career. In 1881 he removed to Jacksonville, Fla.,
and became the editor of the Daily Florida Union. A few years later
he was made editor of the Atlanta Daily Journal, and for two
years was editor of the Tribune, of Rome, Ga. In 1905 he became
298 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
editor-in-chief and co-proprietor of the Atlanta Daily News, and later
of the Georgian, which he continued to edit until 1907, when he
removed to New York to become editor-in-chief of the New York
American, which position he occupied when nominated for the Vice-
Presidency of the Independence Party.
LONG POLITICAL TRAINING.
From early life Mr. Graves has taken an active interest in the
political questions of the country. His position as editor of the papers
referred to has put him in touch with the leading political thought,
in 1884 he was made the Presidential elector at large from the State
of Florida, and his popularity as a public speaker enabled him to lead
the ballot at that time. In 1888, while living in Rome, Ga., he was
sent by that State in the same political capacity, and again led the
ballot. In 1905 he was a candidate for United States Senator from
Georgia, but withdrew before the election.
A SECOND HENRY W. GRADY.
It is as a public orator and writer on public questions along
advanced lines that Mr. Graves has attained his greatest fame. As
was suggested in the beginning, he has been classed with Henry W.
Grady both as a speaker and leader of progressive and patriotic senti-
ment in the South. At the death of Mr. Grady Mr. Graves, who was
then quite a young man, pronounced an oration upon that great
Georgian second in eloquence perhaps to no other eulogy delivered in
memory of any other American. This oration has been copied in
scores of books of choice selections within the past twenty years, and
hundreds of young men in colleges have used it in public speaking.
Like Henry W. Grady, Mr. Graves has been in demand as an
orator at prominent conventions in all sections of the country. In
1893 an d 1895 he was the orator for the New England Society at
Boston. In 1890 he spoke for the same society in Philadelphia. In
1895 and 1896 he addressed the Merchants' Club in Boston. In 1889
he accepted an invitation to deliver the oration before the New York
Southern Club. In 1895, when the World's Congress of Journalists
met at Chicago, Mr. Graves was the orator of the occasion. He also
spoke the same year as the orator of the World's Congress of Dentists
in Chicago.
Mr. Graves is a bold thinker, and by many regarded as erratic.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 299
His theory for settling the race problem by setting apart certain States
of the Union, to be occupied and wholly controlled by the negroes,
and in which white men might not become citizens and vote, was
a curious and original idea, for which Mr. Graves came in for much
criticism, friendly and unfriendly, by both the black and white people
of the country. His theory, therefore, offers much food for thought.
PROPOSED BRYAN-ROOSEVELT TICKET.
In 1907 Mr. Graves delivered an address on the "Era of Good
Feeling," at the Bryan banquet, Chattanooga, Tenn. In this speech
he urged upon Mr. Bryan, who was present, that as a representative
of the Democratic Party and in recognition of the Democratic doc-
trines which Mr. Roosevelt had put in force, that he, Mr. Bryan,
should renominate Mr. Roosevelt as the candidate of both parties to
carry to a successful conclusion the fight Mr. Roosevelt was making
in behalf of the people against predatory wealth, and that Bryan
should accept the Vice-Presidential nomination on the same ticket.
This doctrine was considered erratic by both the Democratic and
Republican leaders, to whom the idea of reconciling the parties, and
especially of harnessing the two representative leaders of those parties
in the same team, seemed ridiculous. It is needless to say, however,
that Mr. Graves was deeply and sincerely in earnest in the proposi-
tion, and many patriotic people in the country who were not controlled
by party bonds applauded the suggestion, and believed if it were not
a feasible thing it would be, at least, a good thing for the country if
Mr. Graves' suggestion could be adopted. In leaving the Democratic
Party at the formation of the Independence Party Mr. Graves
explained that he believed the old party and its leaders were hope-
lessly encumbered with the domination of wealth, and that Jeffer-
sonian principles demanded a new party.
Outside of the newspaper world Mr. Graves has been industrious
in a literary way. He has written much for the magazines and been
one of the country's most popular lecturers. Among his productions
may be named: "The History of Florida of To-Day," "A History
of Colleton, South Carolina," "Twelve Standard Lectures," "Plat-
form of To-Day," "Speeches and Selections for Schools," "Era of
Good Feeling," and "The Negro."
Mr. Graves has been twice married. His present wife was Miss
Anne E. Cothran, of Rome, Ga., whom he married in 1890.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
CLAIMS OF THE INDEPENDENCE PARTY AND SUM-
MARY OF ITS PRINCIPLES.
BY JOHN TEMPLE GRAVES.
Surely no new party has ever given more shining evidence of its
vitality and more flattering promise of success than the Independence
Party. From the first municipal election in New York, in which the
candidate of the Independence League astonished the republic by his
extraordinary display of strength through the Massachusetts election
which landed its gubernatorial nominee six thousand votes in advance
of the State Democratic ticket, to the Chicago election, which swept
the municipal field for Dunne and municipal ownership, the record
of the league which is now the party beginning its national career
under the inspiring convention of July, 1908, has been one trium-
phant story of advancement and growth.
The leaders of this party are willing to fight, and they are willing
to wait for success. They do not expect to leap in a single national
campaign into control of the Government. But they have absolute
confidence in the justice and rectitude of their declaration of prin-
ciples. They are absolutely united and harmonious in their political
creeds. They have a leader of extraordinary sagacity and of unpar-
alleled devotion to their cause.
And if it takes one campaign or two campaigns, or even three,
they are willing to work and to wait, and to trust time and the people
for the vindication of their righteous creeds and the triumph of their
sincere and patriotic principles.
WHY I LEFT THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.
I left the Democratic Party because I lost faith in that party's
ability or willingness to do anything of value for the rank and file of
the population in this great nation of 90,000,000 people. The Demo-
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GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 301
i
cratic Party has rapidly degenerated into a motley aggregation of
office holders and office seekers. It has shown itself willing and
ready to trade its principles. Its organization is controlled by selfish,
plotting, unworthy men, who use the party name for what they get
out of it in personal aggrandizement.
Why, the wobbling itinerary of that party in recent years ought
to make any self-respecting citizen ashamed to belong to it. When has
that party ever done anything of consequence that it has not reversed
and apologized for? From the conservative Grover Cleveland to the
radical Bryan it pendulated for years. The swing of the pendulum
from Bryan back to the conservative pole was seen at St. Louis in
1904, when Parker was nominated on the shameless and treasonable
plea that he was not objectionable to the trusts.
RADICAL ONCE MORE.
Now the party is radical once more, or, rather, affects radical-
ism merely because it has the radical Bryan as its standard bearer.
But don't we know does not all the world know that one-half of
the delegates who shouted for him when they nominated him at
Denver were denouncing him a few years ago, and that the moment
they left the convention hall they were against him to a man.
In the great Democratic States of the nation there is no longer
any faith in the decadent Democracy of to-day. It is felt by all honest
men that the first great mission of the Independence Party should
be to destroy the fetish worship of a party name to abolish forever
the horrible slavery of the millions of American voters who adhere
to a party in whose principles they don't believe and whose practice
they know has been and is to throttle the voice of independent Ameri-
cans.
This great party, founded by Jefferson and glorified by genera-
tions of liberty-loving Americans, is now a pitiable, moribund rem-
nant. It is torn by faction. On every vital issue and beneficent
measure to-day before the people this party is hopelessly divided.
NO HOPE FROM THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.
The Republicans have been promising to give all the people a
square deal. The Democrats would like to have had a hand in the
dealing. But the Independence Party aims to get a new deal. There
is no square deal without a new deal. Let us have it.
302 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
Quimby S. Backus, Independence Party candidate for Governor
of Vermont, who has successfully operated a large independent or
anti-trust manufacturing plant at Brandon, in his native State, said:
"I hold that, it is the Republican Party has left me, not I who
has left the Republican Party. I was a Republican all my life. But
when I became satisfied that the great party of Lincoln had abandoned
the principles of equity and justice on which it was founded I was
forced to realize that I could not act with that party."
MISSION OF THE INDEPENDENCE PARTY.
The greatest mission of the Independence Party is to show the
American voter how he can work out his own salvation. The essence
of this salvation is freedom from boss rule. Legislation in State and
nation is largely controlled by bosses. No independent people will
long tolerate the rule of bosses, which is necessarily corrupt.
The rank and file of the voting population are always honest.
When they begin to realize, as they inevitably will realize, that the
two old parties represent only the shell, with bosses and henchmen
in control, the great body of American voters will turn to the party
that has all the vital and beneficent principles of American party
government. That party is the Independence Party, the real suc-
cessor of what has been best and noblest in the Democratic and
Republican parties of the past.
We can do nothing better to argue the claims of this new party
upon all patriotic Americans than to summarize the principles set forth
in the platform adopted at its national convention, July 28th, in Chi-
cago. Read them over and answer yes or no to each enunciation for
yourself. This is what the Independence Party favors :
Direct nominations, initiative and referendum and right of recall.
Legislation against corrupt practices and use of money at elections.
Cessation of over-capitalization and other corporate frauds. No
injunctions in labor cases before trial and a jury trial in contempt
cases. Removal of organizations of farmers and workers from
operation of Sherman anti-trust law. Eight-hour day for Govern-
ment employees. Law to prevent blacklisting of employees. Better
protection for lives and health of workers. State and federal inspec-
tion of railroads for safety. Employers' liability law. Prohibition
of child labor. Prohibition of competition of convict labor. Crea-
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 303
tion of a Department of Labor, including mines and mining. All
money to be issued by Government through central bank. Tariff
revision by friends of the people. Better supervision of railroads and
physical valuation of their property. An effective anti-trust law
carrying a prison penalty. Government ownership of railroads as
soon as practicable and immediate Government ownership of tele-
graphs. Parcels post and postal savings banks. Good roads.
Statehood for Arizona and New Mexico. Court review of postal
censorship and rulings. Prohibition of fictitious sales of farm
products for future delivery and suppression of bucket shops. A
national health bureau. Exclusion of Asiatic cheap labor. A greater
navy. Extension of inland waterways and conservation of natural
resources. Protection of American citizens abroad. Popular election
of United States Senators and State and federal judges. A gradu-
ated income tax.
THE HOPE OF THE COUNTRY THE NEW PARTY.
What more could patriotic voters ask than that the above declara-
tions be enacted into laws ?
The Independence Party is as natural and logical a movement
as ever grew out of political conditions and expanded in the spirit of
the government and the necessities of the people. It came because it
was needed. It was born as one predestined to service and to victory.
Before its first articulate cry its lusty stirrings in the womb of
circumstance had set political parties in unrest, and its birth, post-
poned until its appointed time, comes at last in responsive loyalty to
the laws of nature and to the call of liberty.
And I, who was raised in the ranks of the Democratic Party to
revere its traditions and to cherish its sacred principles- rather than its
fallible leaders, have been compelled to forsake the ancient and sink-
ing craft of a Democracy which no longer carries the faith of my
fathers, and to find in this new vital and independent party that real
and unstained Democracy which is yet and will always be the dream
and the aspiration of my political life.
CHAPTER XXIX.
THE NATIONAL PROHIBITION PARTY AND THE
CONVENTION OF 1908.
BLACK States have the free saloon
LIGHT LINES indicate the States
that have local option
WHITE shows the Prohibition
States
Eight States straight Pro-
nibition. Black dots on Ten-
nessee and Vermont indicate
only places that have saloons
It is the fashion with the old parties to ridicule the idea of
bringing the question of prohibition into politics. Even many earnest
prohibitionists declare that prohibition should not be the basis of a
political party; and while they favor it, and many of them vote for it
in local and State contests, they withhold their votes from the party
in national Presidential elections. The chief stock argument for not
voting the national Prohibition ticket is that the great majority of
American voters are either Republicans or Democrats in their general
policy of government; and, believing that either the Democratic or
Republican party must win, and that the Prohibition party cannot win,
they cast their votes against the party that they would really prefer to
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GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 305
have in power on the ground that it is their duty to vote for the party
of their choice in the contest between the two, one of which must be
successful.
All the greater honor then, say the loyal supporters of prohibition,
to those who do stand by the ticket, preferring rather to be defeated
under its banner than to be victorious under any other. They are the
little leaven through which they hope in time to leaven all the mighty
lump of American politics and bring about ultimately national pro-
hibition.
That they are succeeding in this is undoubtedly true, and whether
prohibition shall triumph in its own name, or whether it shall work its
leaven into one or both of the great parties to such an extent that its
principles, opposing the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors,
shall become a law of the land, the Prohibition party will have accom-
plished its purpose.
The year 1907 witnessed a tremendous advance in the United
States in the movement to prohibit the sale of intoxicating liquors. In
the South it was practically the only issue. There are now seven
prohibition States and many local option States, as is shown by the
accompanying map. Maine, Georgia, North Dakota, Kansas, Okla-
homa, Alabama and North Carolina have gone both bodily and wholly
into the prohibition rank. These States are left white on the map
shown.
The first step in the prohibition movement has nearly always been
local option, by which is meant that each locality or county has the
right to vote as to whether or not saloons shall be licensed within their
bounds. The States in which local option prevails are marked in light
lines. In nearly all of these local option States the dry territory has
been steadily increasing for ten years. In the South as a whole it has
more than doubled. In Texas it has tripled, and it is confidently pre-
dicted by prohibitionists that both Texas and Kentucky will within less
than three years take their places with the other prohibition States. In
fact, Governor Wilson, of Kentucky, was elected in November, 1907,
on a prohibition platform, and ninety-seven out of the one hundred and
nineteen counties in the State went wholly "dry" and of the remaining
twenty-two counties only four were wholly "wet." This seems an
extraordinary condition for Kentucky, where one hundred million
dollars is invested in distilleries the home of the famous blue grass
whiskey.
306 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
WHERE PROHIBITION IS GAINING.
From statistics gathered early in 1908 the following interesting
facts appear, showing the remarkable growth of the prohil ition senti-
ment and how rapidly it is crystallizing into law :
In Tennessee liquor can be had publicly only in the cities of
Memphis, Nashville and Chattanooga.
Georgia became a prohibition State on January i, 1908, and the
law is so drastic that wine cannot be used at communion services in
churches, nor can druggists sell any form of liquor except pure alcohol.
Alabama by act of the Legislature in November, 1907, became
a prohibition State.
Florida has thirty-four of its forty-seven counties dry, and Gov-
ernor Broward is actively leading a campaign for State prohibition.
South Carolina recently repealed its famous dispensary law and
substituted local option by counties. A movement for State prohibi-
tion has been started, and seventeen out of forty-one counties have
voted for no saloons.
North Carolina in April, 1908, joined the prohibition column,
under the lead of Governor Glenn.
Virginia has seventy-two dry counties out of 118.
West Virginia has thirty out of fifty-five, and Governor Dawson
is actively fighting the liquor traffic.
Fourteen of Maryland's twenty-three counties are dry.
In Delaware the election in November, 1907, resulted in two of
the three counties going dry.
Louisiana has eighteen dry parishes and parts of others are also
dry, and it is illegal to solicit orders for liquor in any of the dry
districts.
Arkansas has sixty out of seventy-five counties dry and many
dry towns in the others.
Missouri's local option law has made forty-four of her 115 coun-
ties abolish saloons. Sunday closing even in St. Louis is rigorously
enforced.
Texas is one of the most notable examples of the revolution, for
147 counties are absolutely dry, fifty-three are partly dry and only
forty-seven are totally wet. The sale of liquor on dining cars is for-
bidden, and a traveler on a train may not even drink from his own
flask.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 307
Oklahoma has just adopted a constitution that forbids the sale
of liquor.
Kansas is a prohibition State, and the last of the "speak-easy"
saloons has just been suppressed by popular opinion.
Nebraska has local option by villages and cities; 400 are dry,
600 wet.
South Dakota is about one-quarter dry.
North Dakota has been a prohibition State so long that in some
of the counties there are no jails.
Minnesota has 123 dry towns and rigid Sunday closing.
Iowa, once a prohibition State, has sixty-five out of ninety-nine
counties dry and eleven other counties have only one saloon each.
Wisconsin has 650 dry towns.
Michigan, under a county option law, has only one dry county.
A prohibition wave is rolling through Illinois, and more than
3,000,000 people are in the dry district.
Six hundred and eighty of Indiana's 1,016 townships are dry,
and the prohibition advocates expect to increase the license fee to
$1,000.
In Ohio 1,140 out of 1,376 townships are dry and 60 per cent of
the municipalities.
Pennsylvania seems little affected by the temperance wave, but
there is one dry county.
New Jersey has no local option, but has recently begun a vigor-
ous closing of saloons on Sundays.
New York has township option, under which 602 towns in the
State have no saloons.
Only wenty-four towns in Vermont allow liquor to be sold.
New Hampshire is nominally a prohibition State, but only 62
per cent of the population lives in really dry territory.
Massachusetts has 250 dry and 100 wet towns.
Connecticut has ninety-six dry towns out of 176, and every
saloon must be run by its actual owner.
About half of Rhode Island is dry.
In Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona the Anti-Saloon League
has started a campaign that has already resulted in the passage of a
local option law in the first named State.
In Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Utah, although the saloons
308 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
run about as they like, they are beginning to realize that sentiment
is changing. The Mormon Church is fighting them, and the prohibi-
tion people have already persuaded Idaho to adopt a Sunday closing
law.
On the Pacific Slope, California has four dry counties and much
dry territory in the others, while in Oregon twelve counties are dry
and 170 municipalities in the twenty-one wet counties are also dry.
Washington has fifty dry towns.
NATIONAL PROHIBITION COMING.
Mr. Charles R. Jones, National Chairman of the Prohibition
Party, says : "The record of four years since the last Presidential
election is an eye-opener to the patriots and politicians alike. Nearly
two-thirds of the area of our country and nearly one-half of the people
are now under Prohibition protection. During the last four years
the amount of Prohibition territory has been doubled, and twenty
million people added to those living in Prohibition cities, counties and
States, making over forty million souls now by their own choice in
saloon-freed districts. In 1904 there were scarcely one hundred Pro-
hibition cities of 5,000 or over. There are to-day two hundred and
fifty Prohibition cities in the United States having a population of
over 5,000 each. In 1904 the National Liquor League of the United
States was organized at Cincinnati to put the lid on the apparent
beginning of Prohibition Renaissance. Four years of the "National
Liquor League of the United States," with its distribution of twenty
millions of leaflets against Prohibition has resulted in adding twenty
million people to the Prohibition population of the country.
"One of the most striking contrasts between 1904 and 1908 is
seen in the attitude of the daily and secular press toward the Prohibi-
tion question. Since 1904 leading daily papers in all parts of the
country have begun to exclude liquor advertisements from their
columns, and they are to-day giving ten times more attention and far
more friendly treatment of the Prohibition issue than was the case
in 1904. The entire nation has become alive to this issue within the
last twelve months. It is the greatest national issue since the Declara-
tion of Independence, since it benefits and blesses every section alike."
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 309
THE NATIONAL PROHIBITION CONVENTION. 1908.
"COLUMBUS, O., July i5th.
"Fifteen hundred delegates to the National Prohibition Conven-
tion were called to order here this morning in Memorial Hall by
Charles R. Jones, of Chicago, chairman of the national committee,
who then turned the meeting over to the temporary chairman, Robert
H. Patton, of Illinois."
The above was the first news flashed over the wires concerning
the meeting of the convention. As a matter of fact, it had been
announced that 1,500 delegates would attend the convention, and when
they thronged into the hall it was easy to guess there were that num-
ber. The report of the Committee on Credentials, however, announced
accurately that thirty-seven States and one Territory were represented
and that 1,126 delegates were present. There were no contests of the
seats. This was the largest delegation of any national party in 1908,
and they made the shortest platform on record.
THE ENTERING OF THE DELEGATIONS.
An eager throng of friends filled the galleries before the official
representatives of the various States had assembled.
As the delegations entered the hall they cheered for their choice
for President, and some had topical songs to awaken enthusiasm.
There was no ban against advertising the aspirants for the nomination,
and a thirty-foot banner was carried in hailing Joseph P. Tracy, of
Detroit, Mich., as the "salt of the earth."
The first demonstration in the hall was aroused by the arrival
of the Massachusetts delegation, carrying a standard surmounted by
a water wagon and bearing a water bucket as a pendant. The delega-
tion sang "The Old Oaken Bucket."
Chairman Jones rapped for silence at 10.35 o'clock and called the
tenth national convention to order. He said that since the Prohibi-
tion Party was organized, thirty-six years ago, the movement has
spread, until now 40,000,000 people lived in territory which was out-
lawed the saloon. He predicted an extensive increase in the prohibi-
tion vote this year.
The Rev. E. L. Eaton, of Illinois, offered the invocation. As he
prayed for the hastening of the time "when there shall be no drunkards
310 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
and no drunkard makers," there was a chorus of amens from the
delegates and audience.
The committee recommended that Mrs. Carrie Nation be given
a seat in the convention as a representative of the District of Colum-
bia. The report was adopted without dissent.
There were two sessions of the convention during the day. Both
worked under the temporary organization, and they adjourned until
the next day without hearing the report of the committee appointed
to select its permanent officers.
PATTON'S KEYNOTE SPEECH.
After the opening exercises the meeting was presided over by
Temporary Chairman Robert H. Patton, of Illinois. The nominating
of the members of the various committees and receiving the reports
of the committees on rules and on credentials and Mr. Patton's
speech, sounding the keynote of prohibition, constituted the day's busi-
ness. In his address Mr. Patton vigorously attacked the position of
the Republican and Democratic parties on the liquor question. At
times he moved his hearers to great enthusiasm. As he proceeded
driving shafts at the other national parties he was cheered again and
again.
"Take off your coat," and "hit him again," cried voices from the
delegates, and these were interspersed with "amens." The speaker
took off his coat and then paid his compliments to the late Herman
Raster, of Illinois, author of the personal liberty plank of -the 1872
Republican platform. This plank, known as the "sixteenth plank,"
was denounced by Mr. Patton. He claimed that the Republicans had
stuck to the error ever since. Mr. Patton further stated that Abraham
Lincoln, next to the abolition of slavery, believed in the abolition of
the liquor traffic. On this point he said :
"Place alongside the attitude of the Republican party since 1872
the well-established views of Abraham Lincoln on this question. I
hold in my hands absolute proof that Lincoln was in favor of the
prohibition of the liquor traffic. On January 29, 1853, Mr. Lincoln,
in the company of thirty-eight other citizens of Springfield, listened
to a radical prohibition sermon, and afterward in writing requested
its publication. The document I hold in my hand is one of the
original copies of that publication, including the sermon and the letters
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 311
signed by Lincoln and others. This copy was found by myself in our
law office in Springfield among some old papers of the old law firm
of Lincoln & Herndon. I quote from the sermon the following :
" 'The liquor traffic is a cancer in society, eating out its vitals and
threatening destruction, and all attempts to regulate it will not only
prove abortive but aggravate the evil. No, there must be no more
effort to regulate the cancer ; it must be eradicated ; not a root must be
left behind.
" 'The remedy, the most effectual, would be the passage of a law
altogether abolishing the liquor traffic, except for mechanical, chemical,
medicinal and sacramental purposes.'
"These words I have quoted were uttered by the Rev. James
Smith and the letter written him, requesting their publication by Lin-
coln and others, was as follows :
" 'SPRINGFIELD, ILL., January 29, 1853.
" 'REV. JAMES SMITH, D.D.
" 'SiR : The undersigned have listened with great satisfaction
to the discourse on the subject of temperance delivered by you last
evening, and believing that if published and circulated among the
people it would be productive of good, would respectfully request a
copy thereof for publication.
" 'Very sincerely your friends,
" 'A. LINCOLN AND 38 OTHERS/
"We may well congratulate ourselves that our party is the only
party to-day that stands for these principles which Lincoln himself
approved and published in 1853."
Passing from the Republican party, Mr. Patton spoke of that
"very talkative man from Lincoln," and said that in the last sixteen
years Mr. Bryan "has championed everything else under the sun in
the way of a political issue except the prohibition question."
Just before the close of the morning session an address of wel-
come to the delegates was made by Mayor C. A. Bond, of Columbus,
the response for the convention being made by William P. F. Fer-
guson, of Chicago.
All the larger delegations representing the States which cast the
heaviest votes for the cause were on the ground, including Illinois,
312 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
Pennsylvania, Indiana, New York, Ohio, Iowa, California, Minne-
sota, Michigan and Wisconsin.
With seventeen names in the list of candidates the contest for
the nomination for President took on an interesting aspect. Charles
Scanlon, of Pittsburg, and Joseph P. Tracey, of Detroit, appeared to
have an advantage over the field. Other States arranged to push
favorite sons, among the leaders being Fred W. Wheeler, of Cali-
fornia, who also had a following among New England delegates;
Daniel R. Sheen, of Illinois, and Alfred I. Manierre, of New York.
Joshua Levering, of Baltimore, who was a candidate in 1896, did
not take seriously the talk of renominating him. Rev. J. B. Cranfill,
of Texas, was much talked of. Members of the Indiana delegation
endorsed Judge Samuel A. Artman, of Indiana, as their candidate.
Judge Artman is a Republican, and was running as a candidate for
a second term as Circuit Judge.
Mr. Patton's speech created a profound impression. Immedi-
ately he had spoken his boom for the Presidency started, and before
the morning adjournment had been taken it was fairly under way.
The Indiana delegates led the movement in his behalf.
Mr. Patton, however, sincerely requested that his name be not
considered, and his friends reluctantly yielded to his wishes. Hence
he was not presented as a candidate at the next day's session.
SECOND DAY OF THE CONVENTION, JULY i6TH.
PERMANENT OFFICERS CHOSEN AND THE PLATFORM ADOPTED.
At the morning session of the convention the Committee on
Permanent Organization reported as its selection for permanent chair-
man Charles Scanlon, of Pittsburg. In all other respects the tem-
porary organization was made permanent. The report was unani-
mously adopted.
Mr. Scanlon spoke briefly, and then recognized Felix T.
McWhirter, treasurer of the national committee, who made an appeal
for funds to meet campaign expenses. The delegates responded with
generous contributions.
The report of the Committee on Resolutions was presented by
the chairman, Professor Samuel Dickie, president of Albion College,
Michigan. He moved the adoption of the platform as read.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 313
Several delegates attempted to introduce amendments, but were
sharply cut off by Chairman Scanlon, who refused to recognize any
man until the question had been put.
The platform was then adopted by a viva voce vote amid ringing
cheers.
The convention then took a recess until 2 p. M.
NOMINATIONS FOR PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENT MADE.
Nominations for the Presidency were the first order of business
at the afternoon session.
A rule was adopted limiting nominating speeches to fifteen min-
utes each and seconding speeches to five minutes each, two seconding
speeches for each candidate.
Before names of candidates were presented Treasurer McWhirter
announced that $17,900 had been contributed at the forenoon session.
The first name presented was that of Frederick F. Wheeler, of
Los Angeles, Cal., who was placed in nomination by James H.
Woertendyke, of Riverside, Cal.
Colorado yielded to Texas, and Charles S. Pierce placed in
nomination J. B. Cranfill, of Dallas, whose name was received with
much applause.
Daniel R. Sheen, of Peoria, 111., was placed in nomination by
Oliver W. Stewart.
Kentucky, through L. L. Pickett, presented the name of William
B. Palmore, of St. Louis, declaring the South had "much prohibition
thought lying around loose," but that it needed a man who could con-
centrate this strength and get it to the polls. Mr. Pickett took his
seat amid cheers and with many of the delegates waving flags and
cheering wildly.
Joseph P. Tracy, of Detroit, was nominated by Dr. Samuel
Dickie, of Michigan, as "the business man" candidate.
HOW WOLFENBARGER NOMINATED CHAFIN.
When Nebraska was reached in the roll-call for the presentation
of Presidential candidates, Hon. A. G. Wolfenbarger responded in
these words, which, as a result of the balloting, are of special interest :
"My position in nominating a candidate, not from my own State,
might be called audacious, but the psychological moment is here, when
314 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
with eight great States already above the political horizon, with the
air charged with the rising hope of millions heretofore in the bondage
of this universal curse, only the breath of God will be required to fan
into a consuming fire this sentiment which will forever destroy the
liquor traffic in our nation. I would not for a moment disparage the
candidacy or ambition of a single favorite son among the intellectual
giants and moral heroes whose names have already been presented in
eloquent language, but there is a name that has not yet been spoken
which represents the most magnificent manhood, the most dauntless
chivalry and the most statesmanly qualities of this new crusade. The
platform we have adopted may almost be said to have been cut in
sections from the burning paragraphs of his matchless speeches. He
is a peerless orator, an able lawyer, a learned publicist, a model father.
His familiarity with the reform history and sentiments of Abraham
Lincoln has enabled him to give us both through history and tradition
the facts suppressed by the biographers of the great commoner, which
make it clear that the immortal Lincoln was one of the foremost
prohibitionists of the nation and believed not in license, but in the
utter destruction of the world's blighting curse. Let us for a time
consider the interests of the whole people of this nation, and choose
a standard-bearer who will evoke spontaneous enthusiasm, not from
one nor a dozen State delegates, but from the rank and file of the
Prohibition party as it represents the consecrated womanhood and
the patriotic manhood of our entire nation. With malice toward none
and charity for all, with pride in his leadership, and believing him to
be the choicest spirit among the galaxy of candidates for this position,
I ask you to join Nebraska and more than a dozen other States in
naming for our standard-bearer in this campaign Hon. Eugene W.
Chafin, not alone of Illinois, but of the United States of America."
New York presented the name of Alfred L. Manierre, the nomi-
nating speech being made by Dr. Charles H. Mead.
CARRIE NATION SPEAKS.
"North Carolina," called the clerk.
"North Carolina yields to the District of Columbia," came the
reply.
A cheer went up as Mrs. Carrie Nation, who represented the Dis-
trict, made her way to the platform. She declared that the candidate
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 315
must be a man who did not use tobacco. She was called to order and
forced to close abruptly.
M. A. Waterman, of Kansas, seconded the nomination of W. B.
Palmore; Frank N. Rand, of Massachusetts, spoke for Charm, of Illi-
nois, and H. P. Terris, of Missouri, declared his State was for Pal-
more.
Dr. J. E. Stockwell, of New York, seconded Manierre, and North
Carolina joined the forces of Cranfill, of Texas.
B. L. Rockwood, of Pennsylvania, seconded Chafin. George
Hoffman, also from the Keystone State and representing a part of the
delegation from Pennsylvania, was for Tracy.
EUGENE W. CHAFIN FOR PRESIDENT.
The roll was called for the vote, but the first ballot resulted in no
nomination. Many of the States divided their votes among all of the
candidates in a desire to compliment them.
Three candidates not formally placed in nomination received
votes. These were Oliver W. Stewart, of Illinois ; George R. Stewart,
of Tennessee, and Charles Scanlon, of Pittsburg.
While the clerks were casting up the result great confusion pre-
vailed, bands of delegates parading up and down and shouting wildly
for their respective candidates. It was fully fifteen minutes before
quiet was restored.
Dr. Cranfill withdrew and asked his friends to vote for Palmore.
THE SECOND BALLOT.
It was evident during the progress of the second ballot that Pal-
more had made decided gains, and his followers were jubilant.
Mr. Wheeler withdrew his name, but did not ask his friends to
vote for any particular candidate.
The calling of the roll for the third ballot was at once begun.
Delegates from Illinois and New York ran through the hall announc-
ing they had decided to vote solidly for Chafin. Indiana and Wis-
consin decided to follow them.
The vote was almost entirely between Palmore and Chafin, with
scattering votes for Sheen, Tracy and Manierre. When Missouri was
reached Mr. Tracy announced that he desired to withdraw his name,
but several more votes were cast for him before the ballot ended, with
this result :
316 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
Chafin 636
Palmore 4 1 5
Tracy 7
Manierre 4
Sheen i
Dr. Palmore immediately made a motion declaring the nomina-
tion unanimous, and it was carried with a cheer.
Mr. Chafin, who was a delegate to the convention, was escorted
to the platform and formally declared by Chairman Scanlon to be
the Presidential nominee. In a short speech he returned thanks to the
convention, declaring he would rather be the nominee of the Prohibi-
tion party than the successful candidate of any other.
AARON S. WATKINS FOR VICE-PRESIDENT.
When Mr. Chafin left the stand a motion was made by Norton
Clark, of Michigan, declaring that Dr. William B. Palmore should be
chosen as the Vice-Presidential candidate by acclamation. The motion
was carried with a roar of approval, and the secretary was instructed
to cast for Dr. Palmore the unanimous vote of the convention.
Doctor Palmore, in returning his thanks to the convention,
stated that he did not feel that he could accept the nomination and
insisted upon withdrawing from the ticket.
NOMINATIONS CALLED FOR.
The announcement was made to the convention and other nomi-
nations were called for.
H. F. McClain, of Ohio, made a brief speech, nominating for
the Vice-Presidency Prof. Aaron S. Watkins, of Ada, Ohio. T. B.
Demaree, of Kentucky, and Charles F. Holler, of Indiana, were then
placed in nomination, and a roll call was ordered, which resulted :
Holler 41
Watkins 585
Demaree 126
On motion of the chairman of the Kentucky delegation, the
nomination of Watkins was made unanimous.
The convention then adjourned.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 317
BOTH CANDIDATES FOR GOVERNOR.
It is a notable fact that both the candidates were running for Gov-
ernor of their respective States on the Prohibition ticket, at the time
they were nominated for the Presidency and Vice-Presidency at the
National Convention. They had both, previously, made a campaign
for the Governor's office. They are also both Methodists in their
Church relations. Professor Watkins is an ordained minister and
preached to various Methodist congregations in Ohio for twelve years.
THE NEW PROHIBITION NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
The new National Executive Committee of the Prohibition Party
for the next four years consists of the following nine members, chosen
Wednesday, July 15, 1908:
Chairman, Charles R. Jones, Chicago, 111. ; Vice-Chairman, A. G.
Wolfenbarger, Lincoln, Neb. ; Secretary, W. G. Calderwood, Minne-
apolis, Minn. ; Treasurer, Felix T. McWhirter, Indianapolis, Ind. ;
Samuel Dickie, Albion, Mich. ; O. W. Stewart, Chicago, 111. ; J. B.
Cranfill, Dallas, Tex. ; Finley C. Hendrickson, Cumberland, Md. ; and
A. A. Stevens, Tyrone, Pa.
A few days after the convention Chairman Jones announced that
the candidates would begin promptly their active campaign, Mr. Chafin
going to the West and Professor Watkins to the East, during the
month of August. Commencing September the ist, both candidates
will start on a regular, systematized campaign tour in opposite direc-
tions, so planned as to cover every section of the Union.
Never did the party organization enter a national campaign with
better equipped facilities at headquarters, with so strong a financial
backing, or with an office force so adequate to meet every emergency
which may arise.
Receipts for the national work for the past three years were as
follows: 1905, $14,837,94; 1906, $22,154.72; 1907, $32,745.93; 1908
(first six months, including $18,000 raised in thirty minutes at the
convention), approximately $40,000.00.
CHAPTER XXX.
THE NATIONAL PROHIBITION PLATFORM.
The Prohibition national platform was adopted at Columbus,
Ohio, July 16, 1908. In contrast with the other party platforms, it
is noticable for its brevity and clearness of statement. It is the shortest
platform on record for any national party, containing less than 400
words. The platform follows :
The Prohibition Party of the United States, assembled in con-
vention at Columbus, O., July 15-16, 1908, expressing gratitude to
Almighty God for the victories of our principles in the past, for
encouragement at present, and for confidence of early and triumphant
success in the future, makes the following declaration of principles
and pledges their enactment into law when placed in power :
1. The submission by Congress to the several States of an amend-
ment to the Federal Constitution prohibiting the sale, importation, ex-
portation or transportation of alcoholic liquors for beverage purposes.
2. The immediate prohibition of the liquor traffic for beverage
purposes in the District of Columbia, in the Territories and all places
over which the national government has jurisdiction, the repeal of the
internal revenue tax on alcoholic liquors and the prohibition of the
interstate traffic therein.
3. The election of United States Senators by direct vote of the
people.
4. Equitable graduated income and inheritance taxes.
5. The establishment of postal savings banks and the guaranty
of deposits in banks.
6. The regulation of all corporations doing an interstate com-
merce business.
7. The creation of a permanent tariff commission.
8. The strict enforcement of law instead of the official tolerance
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 319
and practical license of the social evil which prevails in many of our
cities, and its unspeakable traffic in girls.
9. Uniform marriage and divorce laws.
10. An equitable and constitutional employers' liability act.
1 1 . Court review of postoffice department decisions.
12. The probihition of child labor in mines, workshops and
factories.
13. Legislation basing suffrage only upon intelligence and ability
to read and write the English language.
14. The preservation of the mineral and forest resources of the
country and the improvement of the highways and waterways.
Believing in the righteousness of our cause and in the final
triumph of our principles, and convinced of the unwillingness of the
Republican and Democratic parties to deal with these issues, we invite
to full party fellowship all citizens who are with us agreed.
WHAT THE PROHIBITION PARTY PROPOSES TO DO IN THIS CAMPAIGN.
Educate every thinking voter in the facts and truths of the Pro-
hibition reform.
Make it impossible for any editor or public man to oppose Pro-
hibition through ignorance of the truth.
Organize every election district in the nation.
Enroll and put a NATIONAL ISSUE Button on the lapels of
from 1,000,000 to 5,000,000 voters of America.
Force the liquor men to show their actual strength.
Compel recognition of the Prohibition issue by next Congress,
and its immediate passage of the Littlefield Interstate Liquor Bill or
similar measure for the protection of 45,000,000 people now living in
no-license territory.
Elect a nucleus of Prohibition leaders to Congress.
Elect our Natiopal Prohibition Candidates, which is not impos-
sible, by securing the attention and support of Prohibition voters early
enough in the campaign to split the liquor parties and provoke a
national uprising of all opposed to the drink curse.
Every one of these achievements will tremendously strengthen
and inspire the nation-wide movement for local County and State
Prohibition and all law-enforcement endeavor.
CHAPTER XXXI.
EUGENE W. CHAFIN.
PROHIBITION CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT, 1908.
Mr. Chafin has been a prohibition advocate for many years and
has been prominently honored in the past by his party. He was born
on a farm near East Troy, Wisconsin, November i, 1852, where he
grew to manhood in the country. His parents were poor and he
earned money by working on a neighbor's farm to pay his way through
the University of Wisconsin, from which he graduated and received
the degree of Bachelor of Law. On leaving college he went to
Waukesha, Wisconsin, where he entered upon his profession in 1876
and practiced there for twenty-five years, rising to prominence in his
profession, as is shown by the fact that he appeared before the Supreme
Court of the State in more than half a hundred cases.
Almost coincident with the beginning of his law practice Mr.
Chafin became active in the temperance work. His powers as a
public speaker brought him constantly before the public as an orator,
and his executive ability singled him out as a man upon whom respon-
sibility of office could safely be placed. In 1882 he became the
Prohibition candidate of his district for Congress. From 1886 to
1890 he was the Grand Chief Templar for Wisconsin in the Order of
Good Templars. In 1886, and again in 1900, he ran on the Prohibi-
tion ticket for Attorney General of Wisconsin. In 1898 he was
nominated by his party for Governor of the State. Of course, the
nominations of the Prohibition Party in Wisconsin, so far as elections
to office were concerned, were empty honors, but they were neverthe-
less conferred upon men who were worthy of these honors, in the
event of success, and who from principle were willing to labor for a
cause that they knew in the beginning could not succeed at that time.
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GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 321
MR. CHAFIN BECOMES A CITIZEN OF ILLINOIS.
Early in 1901 Mr. Chafin removed his home from Waukesha,
Wisconsin, to Chicago, Illinois. This was done in the interest of his
large and growing practice in the law. But his legal successes and
very arduous duties, in the metropolis of the West, increased rather
than lessened his ardor in the cause of Prohibition. The wickedness
of the great city, with its thousands of saloons open every day, every
night and every Sunday, luring their hundreds of thousands of victims
to disgrace and destruction, appealed irresistibly to the earnest and
powerful advocate from the quiet Wisconsin town, and he threw him-
self immediately into the work. He became superintendent of the
Washingtonian Home in Chicago the first year of his residence there,
which position he held from 1901 to 1904.
In 1902 the Prohibitionists of Illinois honored Mr. Chafm with
a nomination for Congress, and he made a heroic fight against a
forlorn hope as he had done for a similar position in Wisconsin. The
only reward that could come from his campaign was the sowing of
the seeds of temperance where he believed it would take root, and in
time produce its legitimate harvest. With eloquence and logic he
pleaded the cause of Prohibition so faithfully and earnestly that the
State of his adoption became as proud to do him honor as had his
native State of Wisconsin. Two years later, in 1904, he was nomi-
nated for Attorney-General of the State of Illinois on the Prohibition
ticket and made another characteristic fight. The same year the Good
Templars conferred upon him the honor of Grand Chief Templar of
Illinois, and he has since been active as a speaker and organizer in
nearly all temperance and prohibition movements.
Illinois had a greater honor in store for him in 1908, when his
party made him the candidate for Governor of the State, thus dupli-
cating the honor which Wisconsin had conferred upon him eight
years before. It was natural, therefore, that the National Convention
of the Prohibition Party, which met in Columbus, Ohio, in July,
1908, after sifting through a large number of available and strong
Presidential aspirants, should have settled their eyes upon this oft-
honored son of the West and choose him for the standard bearer of
temperance and prohibition in the national campaign for the highest
office in our nation. For more than thirty years he had been tested
and tried and always proved a warrior, faithful to the duty imposed
322 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
upon him, eloquent, courageous and valiant, who, in his fight for a
principle, met defeat without being conquered, or without losing one
whit of his faith and sure confidence in the final triumph of the cause
of prohibition, whether its party shall ever be placed in power or not.
It was doubtless the recent work done by Mr. Chafin that made
its greatest impression upon those who stood near him in the prohibi-
tion cause. Last winter, when the United Societies of Chicago,
comprising the saloonkeepers and liquor interests, got up petitions
signed by 175,000 people, urging the election commissioners to submit
to a vote the question whether the State law on Sunday closing should
be repealed, which question in reality was whether it should be en-
forced, the Prohibitionists immediately attacked the proposal, saying
that the enforcement of a law was not a question to be submitted
to vote. And they won out in their contention. In the fight Mr.
Chafin was their leading attorney.
Mrs. Chafin, like the wife of William Jennings Bryan and Mrs.
Taft, is an inspiration and a helper of her husband, and it is doubtless
due to the fact that she seconds him so loyally in his efforts to further
the cause of temperance and prohibition that his success is largely due.
Mrs. Chafin was Miss Carrie A. Hankins, of Waukesha, Wisconsin.
It was in her home town that she met the rising young lawyer and
learned to admire him. And there they were married on November
24, 1 88 1. They have one daughter fifteen years of age.
Mr. Chafin takes an active interest in literature, and along
political and historical lines has done some literary work of credit.
As far back as 1876 he compiled a Voter's Hand Book. Twenty years
later he prepared a volume of the Lives of the Presidents. He is a
believer in harmless sports and games, but he is an earnest foe to
gambling, and, in order to discourage ordinary card playing with a
less tempting game, he invented and published, in 1907, a set of
Presidential Cabinet History Cards, which have been everywhere
approved and largely sold in homes where ordinary card playing is
discouraged. Mr. and Mrs. Chafin are prominent members of the
Methodist Church.
Mr. Chafin did not seek the nomination of his party for President.
It came to him spontaneously after the convention had deliberated
and considered various other prominent candidates. When he was
nominated he made a brief and heartfelt speech to the convention.
He was escorted to the platform by the Hon. A. G. Wolfenbarger,
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 323
who had placed his name in nomination, and the State Chairman,
Alonzo E. Wilson. He was too much overcome and even surprised
to speak at length, but with manifest feeling said much, in a few
sentences, closing with the following words :
"No man in this United States will be more honored than I have
been this year with the nomination at your hands. I was not a candi-
date for the nomination at any time during the balloting. We are
going into the greatest campaign in the history of our party. I shall
try to get as many votes as possible for that party. I had my heart
set on being governor of the State of Illinois, and never aspired to the
nomination for the Presidency. All that I have to say is that I thank
you, one and all, from the bottom of my heart for this the greatest
honor conferred this year by any of the political parties, because I
would rather be a nominee of this convention and this party than
be president of the United States at the head of any other ticket."
Mr. Chafin lost no time in launching the Prohibition Campaign,
in a ringing speech delivered at Evanston, Illinois, a few days after
his nomination, followed by a campaign through the West.
VISITS BRYAN. SAVES A NEGRO'S LIFE.
Early in August he visited Lincoln, Neb., the home of William
Jennings Bryan, and knowing Mr. Bryan to be a total abstainer, as is
also his running mate, John W. Kern, Mr. Chafin thought this fact
sufficient to warrant his calling upon the Democratic candidate at
"Fairview." Mr. Bryan welcomed him cordially and, at the request
of a photographer, they celebrated the event by posing together before
the camera, the first two rivals for the Presidency to do so.
When the disgraceful race riot occurred at Springfield, 111.,
August I4th and I5th, Mr. Chafin, who was in the city at that time,
boldly risked his own life and saved the life of a negro who had
been attacked, by standing between him and his assailants and threat-
ening to shoot the first man who struck the defenseless black man.
His determined and heroic action cowed and dispersed the mob.
CHAPTER XXXII.
AARON SHERMAN WATKINS,
PROHIBITION CANDIDATE FOR VICE-PRESIDENT, 1908.
Prof. Aaron Sherman Watkins, the running mate of Eugene W.
Chafin, on the Prohibition ticket, is a lawyer, a minister and a college
professor. He was born on a farm in Logan County, Ohio, November
29, 1863. His ancestors were Quakers, though he himself is a
Methodist minister, and he traces his lineage back to George Fox and
William Penn, the pioneers and founders of Quakerism in America.
Young Watkins's education was begun in the common schools of
his vicinity in Ohio. Later he went to the Ohio Northwestern Uni-
versity at Ada, where he now makes his home. Also attended Taylor
University at Upland, Indiana. It was in these two schools that he
completed his education.
For twelve years after his graduation Mr. Watkins, as a regularly
ordained minister, served Methodist churches in Ohio. His practice
in the law has necessarily been limited, but his equipment as a lawyer
enables him to grasp and handle from a legal standpoint the great
questions of public policy that come before him as a candidate for the
high position to which he has been named by the party. As an
educator Mr. Watkins stands among the leaders, and his influence
upon the youth of the country through that calling and the ministry is
strongly felt. At present he is vice-president of the Ohio Northern
University, of which institution he was formerly a student. In addi-
tion to his official duties he is the Professor of Literature and Philoso-
phy in that institution, a position which he has held since 1905. Be-
fore he entered the ministry Mr. Watkins taught school six years. He
studied law with his brother, Judge Watkins, of Huntington, Indiana,
and was admitted to the bar in that State.
Like Mr. Chafin, his chief in the race, Mr. Watkins is happily
married a helpful wife, who, in addition to being a devoted mother
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GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 325
to her promising daughter, believes it her duty as well as pleasure to
second her husband in every laudable undertaking. Like him, she
is an ardent Prohibitionist and a prominent worker in Prohibition
circles.
In 1904 Mr. Watkins entered politics as the Prohibition candidate
for Congress in the Ninth Ohio District and polled 1,100 votes, the
most ever counted for a Prohibition candidate in that District.
Mr. Watkins next came to wide attention among the Prohibition-
ists of the country by his phenomenal campaign for Governor of Ohio
in 1905. In that year the Republicans were seeking the re-election
of Herrick, and the Democrats, supported for the first time in history
by the Anti-Saloon League, were running Pattison. The excitement
was so intense and the pressure so great that the extermination of the
Prohibition Party seemed inevitable. In that crisis the Prohibitionists
nominated Professor Watkins. He made a most energetic campaign,
traveling more than five thousand miles, speaking in all parts of the
State and polling a marvelously large vote. On Tuesday, July I4th,
just before his nomination as Vice-President, the Prohibitionists of
Ohio again nominated him for Governor. He withdrew from the
State ticket when nominated for Vice-President. The State Commit-
tee fills such vacancies.
Mr. Watkins, like Mr. Chafin, was taken completely by surprise
at receiving the nomination for the Vice-Presidency, and he thus
addressed the delegates :
"I am going to thank you for the honor as well as I can. I have
been using my voice all afternoon for Palmore. I will try and express
my profound gratification. I would rather be second choice for
second place on this ticket than first choice for any other first place.
I would rather be a servant in the house of Prohibition than head of
the procession in the party of the saloonkeepers. I thank you for
the honor. Whatever else I can do for the good of humanity and the
glory of the King of Kings I will do."
CHAPTER XXXIII.
WHY PROHIBITION IS A POLITICAL ISSUE AND WHAT
IT STANDS FOR.
BY ALONZO E. WILSON, GOVERNOR HANLY, OF INDIANA, AND SILAS C.
SWALLOW.
The Prohibition Party stands for prohibiting the manufacture and
sale of intoxicating liquors as a beverage, or for any purpose, except
for necessary scientific and strictly guarded medicinal use. This
would necessarily abolish the saloon the curse of the nation and
it would stop the serving of intoxicants, in any form, in clubs, hotels
or other public and private places, or otherwise placing it within easy
reach of the public.
Prohibition necessarily becomes a political issue, because the
enactment of such national laws as will prohibit its manufacture and
sale can be secured only through the demand of a majority of the
voters in the nation. And, since it has been impossible to induce
either of the dominant but liquor-supported and liquor-fearing par-
ties to introduce a prohibition plank in their national platforms, it is
necessary to have a national Prohibition Party to register the national
strength of the voters for this measure, and force the sentiment finally
into the stronger parties as an issue, or, better still, educate public
sentiment until the Prohibition Party shall triumph in its own name.
The remarkable growth of prohibition and its complete victory over
rum and corruption in eight States already has established the fact
that it is an issue in those States, and its forcing local option into the
territory occupied by half the population of the Union gives its advo-
cates a faith which beholds a vision of a rumless nation the first to
be so and that the greatest nation of the earth, at no distant day.
Prohibition is a greater issue than the method of electing Sen-
ators, which is made so much of by other parties. It is a greater
issue than Imperialism, which attaches weaker people to us, because
it asks the question as to whether our own citizens shall be made the
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GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 327
subjects of King Alcohol. It is a greater issue to the laboring man
than the anti-injunction laws and all the other laws for which he is
asking, because alcohol places more burdens upon the shoulders of the
toiler, robs the workingman and his family of more of their rights
and comforts, consumes more of his hard earnings, and presses down
the crown of thorns upon his brow with a more relentless hand than
all the other combined injustices that he has to suffer.
Prohibition is a greater issue than the tariff, over which the
Democrats and Republicans have waged war for half a century,
because King Alcohol takes from our citizens every year many times
the amount of the tariff revenues, and gives them woe and destruction
instead of benefit for the tribute of millions they pay him.
Space forbids that we enter extensively into this subject, or that
we should call upon the hosts of prohibition orators, whose burning
words have fired the hearts of this nation, to speak in these pages and
tell us why they fear and hate the liquor traffic. We let one quotation,
and that not from a member of the Prohibition Party, stand for all.
Read it, and see if you do not want to vote the Prohibition ticket.
WHY I HATE THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC.
BY GOVERNOR J. FRANK HANLY, OF INDIANA.
Governor Hanly, of Indiana, is a Republican, and was prominent in the Chicago
convention in June. But he is an ardent temperance advocate, and in all but party
name is a prohibitionist. The following speech was delivered in 1908, and is one
of the strongest moral arguments against the liquor traffic:
"Personally, I have seen so much of the evils of the liquor traffic
in the last four years, so much of its economic waste, so much of its
physical ruin, so much of its mental blight, so much of its tears and
heartache, that I have come to regard the business as one that must
be held and controlled by strong and effective laws. I bear no malice
toward those engaged in the business, but I hate the traffic. I hate
its every phase. I hate it for its intolerance. I hate it for its
arrogance. I hate it for its hypocrisy. I hate it for its cant and craft
and false pretense. I hate it for its commercialism. I hate it for its
greed and avarice. I hate it for its sordid love of gain at any price.
"I hate it for its domination in politics. I hate it for its corrupt-
328 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
ing influence in civic affairs. I hate it for its incessant effort to
debauch the suffrage of the country, for the cowards it makes of
public men. I hate it for its utter disregard of law. I hate it for its
ruthless trampling of the solemn compacts of State constitutions.
"I hate it for the load it straps to labor's back, for the palsied
hands it gives to toil, for its wounds to genius, for the tragedies of
its might-have-beens. I hate it for the human wrecks it has caused.
I hate it for the almshouses it peoples, for the prisons it fills, for the
insanity it begets, for its countless graves in potters' fields.
f 'I hate it for the mental ruin it imposes upon its victims, for its
spiritual blight, for its moral degradation. I hate it for the crimes
it has committeed. I hate it for the homes it has destroyed. I hate it
for the hearts it has broken. I hate it for the malice it has planted
in the hearts of men for its poison, for its bitterness for the Dead
Sea fruit with which it starves their souls.
"I hate it for the grief it causes womanhood the scalding tears,
the hopes deferred, the strangled aspirations, its burden of want and
care.
" I hate it for its heartless cruelty to the aged, the infirm and the
helpless, for the shadow it throws upon the lives of children, for its
monstrous injustice to blameless little ones.
"I hate it as virtue hates vice, as truth hates error, as righteous-
ness hates sin, as justice hates wrong, as liberty hates tyranny, as free-
dom hates oppression.
"I hate it as Abraham Lincoln hated slavery. And as he some-
times saw in prophetic vision the end of slavery and the coming of
the time when the sun should shine and the rain should fall upon no
slave in all the republic, so I sometimes seem to see the end of this
unholy traffic, the coming of the time when, if it does not wholly
cease to be, it shall find no safe habitation anywhere beneath 'Old
Glory's' stainless stars."
THE NATIONAL ASPECT OF THE PROBLEM.
From the above personal view of one reflecting the views of
millions, let us turn to the national aspect of the problem, for this is a
national campaign, and in the light of these suggestions make up our
minds to vote for or against the nation's enemy.
The legalized drink traffic is not the saloon alone. The political
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 329
vision of the average good citizen does not see beyond the grog shop
in his town or neighborhood. The saloon is only a small part of this
national evil. The dram shops are now largely controlled or owned
by the brewery. To attack the individual saloon is good, but to close
the brewery is better. It is far better to outlaw 2,000 breweries and as
many distilleries than to attempt to close 200,000 dram shops one at
a time. We cannot assail the individual saloon without drawing out
the reserve power of the brewery. He who thinks this is a local ques-
tion should open his eyes and see the nations of the civilized world
grappling with this deadly foe.
CITIZENSHIP NATION WIDE.
The citizen's first duty is to his country rather than to the State
or county. He is proud to be an American citizen. What concerns
the welfare and morality of the people in one section concerns all.
What is good for one town in exalting public morality should be
shared by all. Polygamy at first was a local evil, then a county ques-
tion, a State issue, a federal problem. It concerned the morals of the
people, endangering the whole social fabric, and if wrong for one
section was wrong everywhere. Squatter sovereignty was local option
on the slavery question. Chains on any man, white or black, was just
as wrong in one town, county or State as any other. It was a moral
question and hence a national issue. Polygamy was outlawed finally
by the national government. Slavery, no longer a State issue, was
driven from the land, but not before it shook the foundation of the
republic.
PROTECTED BY FEDERAL LAW.
The liquor traffic is not only entrenched in appetite, not only in
avarice, but in national law and national politics. The associations of
distillers, brewers and wholesale and retail dealers are banded together
for the protection of their business. They hold the rod of terror over
the trembling heads of the politicians in both great parties. The liquor
men are about equally divided between the two parties, except when
they desire to punish a party that has refused to do its bidding, then
they stand together and their enemy goes down into crushing defeat.
If non-partisan sentiment is able to get a paper law through these
parties it meets the fate of the civil service or anti-polygamy laws
330 GREAT ISSUES AND 'NATIONAL LEADERS
secured by pressure of sentiment and enacted as a statute, and becomes
a football between the parties, each charging the other with the
hypocrisy of which each knows it is guilty.
NATION'S ENEMY.
The drink traffic is the nation's greatest enemy. The whole sys-
tem of license endangers our country and threatens our peace and
prosperity. The words of Shakespeare well apply: "Why man he
doth bestride the narrow world like a Colossus and we petty men walk
under his huge legs and peek about to find ourselves dishonorable
graves." "If destruction be our lot," said Abraham Lincoln, "we
must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we
must live through all time or die by suicide." This governmental
policy is rapidly ruining our citizens and blighting our homes. The
saloon is bad everywhere and we have no right to permit any city or
State to debauch its citizens. The United States Supreme Court has
declared : "No legislature can bargain away the public health or public
morals. The people themselves cannot do it, much less their servants.
Government is organized with a view to their preservation." It is
clearly a national evil, fostered and protected by the federal govern-
ment.
ALL VOTERS STOCKHOLDERS.
Every distillery, brewery and saloon must have a federal license
before its doors can swing open for business. Uncle Sam last year
collected about $185,000,000 revenue from this institution. Every
voter shared in the profits, as this vast sum went into the treasury of
the American Government, which is only a corporation with all voters
as stockholders. The stockholders are controlled by factions or par-
ties, and parties run the government Both old parties are committed
to the license party regulating the liquor traffic. The party candidate
is our agent. The party is our agent. The government that issues
the license is our agent. The brewer who manufactures the poison
is our agent, and the rum seller who sells it is our agent. The keys
of all distilleries and breweries are in the hands of our agents; and
our agents, when we say so, will change the policy, and not before.
YOUR DUTY TO SPEAK AT THE BALLOT BOX.
The government is made up of individuals. The will of the
majority is the policy in force. For forty years thousands of Christian
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 331
citizens have been voting for license. In the spring they vote against
it, but in the fall they give Uncle Sam permission to license blind pig
keepers in their town or saloon keepers in the next town. How is the
government to know that we are against the partnership in the liquor
business unless we protest against our country manufacturing drunk-
ards and gathering in blood money from the victims of the curse.
It can never be legalized without sin. Is it not sin to vote for license
or a party that sustains license and continues the life of the saloon?
On the judgment day we will have to answer for our part in sustain-
ing this iniquity. On election day you will vote for four more years
of the liquor traffic, or will vote against it. Which shall it be ?
AN APPEAL TO CHURCH MEMBERS.
Rev. Silas C. Swallow, prohibition candidate for President in
1904, urges church members to support the prohibition cause. "Let
us look for a moment," he says, "at what the man of the world sees
in the church members' attitude toward this greatest of all political
issues. He sees millions of churchmen led by ministers passing resolu-
tions to the effect that 'no political party should receive the support of
Christian men so long as it fails to put itself on record in an attitude
of open hostility to the liquor traffic,' and then 90 per cent of these
same ministers and members voting for parties not thus on record
as hostile to but as in accord with the promotion of the liquor business.
He sees this Christian government in profit-sharing partnership with
the business that, according to Gladstone, creates more misery than
war, pestilence and famine combined. He sees nearly two billions
spent for intoxicants and caring for their results, which is three times
the capital stock of all the national banks. For every dollar in revenue
received by the government it costs the taxpayer sixteen to care for
its results.
"He sees a large proportion of the breweries, distilleries, saloons,
brothels and low-down theatres owned by professedly Christian men
and women. And he holds the Church responsible for the liquor traffic,
for against all its crimes he sees a church vote which, if cast solidly
in one election for candidates pledged to destroy the liquor traffic,
would beget such a rivalry between political parties to secure this vote
as would annihilate the traffic in a very short time."
CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE FORUM OF THE CANDIDATES.
BBIEF ADDRESSES BY TAFT, BRYAN, CHAFIN, DEBS, WATSON AND
GRAVES.
In the previous chapters of this work the principles and .claims
of each particular party have been set forth with such fullness in the
accounts of the conventions, the platforms and the keynote speeches
that it is hardly necessary to do more here than to refer the reader to
the later speeches and letters of acceptance published broadcast in the
newspapers immediately they were given utterance. These speeches
and letters may now be had, each in its completeness, free of charge,
by writing to the National Campaign Committees of the respective
parties, the address of which any local party organization can furnish.
These acceptance speeches and letters really constitute "the forum of
the candidates," since they contain each Presidential candidate's per-
sonal discussion of the principles and issues before the nation in the
campaign of 1908, as endorsed by their own and the other parties.
In view of the above, and also since it would consume more space than
could possibly be allotted to include them complete in this volume, the
purpose of this chapter is, first, to refer the reader to the sources
from which he may obtain them, without cost to himself, and, second,
to insert the following extract from a few of the many subjects dis-
cussed at length by the candidates :
REPUBLICAN DOCTRINE OF PROTECTION AND THE REVISION OF THE
TARIFF.
BY WILLIAM H. TAFT.
The Republican doctrine of protection, as definitely announced
by the Republican convention of this year and by previous conven-
tions, is that a tariff shall be imposed on all important products,
whether of the factory, farm or mine, sufficiently great to equal the
(332)
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 333
difference between the cost of production abroad and at home, and
that this difference should, of course, include the difference between
the higher wages paid in this country and the wages paid abroad
and embrace a reasonable profit to the American producer. A sys-
tem of protection thus adopted and put in force has led to the estab-
lishment of a rate of wages here that has greatly enhanced the
standard of living of the laboring man. It is the policy of the Repub-
lican Party permanently to continue that standard of living. In 1897
the Dingley Tariff Bill was passed, under which we have had, as
already said, a period of enormous prosperity.
NECESSITY FOR REVISION OF TARIFF.
The consequent material development has greatly changed the
conditions under which many articles described by the schedules
of the tariff are now produced. The tariff in a number of schedules
exceeds the difference between the cost of production of such articles
abroad and at home, including a reasonable profit to the American
producer. The excess over that difference serves no useful purpose,
but offers a temptation to those who would monopolize the produc-
tion and the sale of such articles in this country, to profit by the exces-
sive rate. On the other hand, there are other schedules in which the
tariff is not sufficiently high to give the measure of protection which
they should receive upon Republican principles, and as to those the
tariff should be raised. A revision of the tariff undertaken upon this
principle, which is at the basis of our present business system, begun
promptly upon the incoming of the new administration, and consid-
ered at a special session with the preliminary investigations already
begun by the appropriate committees of the House and Senate, will
make the disturbance of business incident to such a change as little
as possible.
DEMOCRATIC TARIFF PLAN AND ITS BAD EFFECT ON BUSINESS
CONDITIONS.
The Democratic Party in its platform has not had the courage of
its previous convictions on the subject of the tariff, denounced by it
in 1904 as a system of the robbery of the many for the benefit of the
few, but it does declare its intention to change the tariff with a view
to reaching a revenue basis and thus to depart from the protective
\
334 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
system. The introduction into power of a party with this avowed
purpose cannot but halt the gradual recovery from our recent finan-
cial depression and produce business disaster compared with which our
recent panic and depression will seem small indeed.
COMBINATIONS AND TRUSTS.
BY WILLIAM H. TAFT.
The combination of capital in large plants to manufacture goods
with the greatest economy is just as necessary as the assembling of
the parts of a machine to the economical and more rapid manufac-
ture of what in old times was made by hand. The Government
should not interfere with one any more than the other, and when
such aggregations of capital are legitimate and are properly con-
trolled, for they are then the natural results of modern enterprise
and are beneficial to the public. In the proper operation of competi-
tion the public will soon share with the manufacturer the advantage
in economy of operation and lower prices.
WHAT IS AN UNLAWFUL TRUST ?
When, however, such combinations are not based on any eco-
nomic principle but are made merely for the purpose of controlling
the market, to maintain or raise prices, restrict output and drive out
competitors, the public derives no benefit and we have a monopoly.
There must be some use by the company of the comparatively great
size of its capital and plant and extent of its output, either to coerce
persons to buy of it rather than of some competitor or to coerce
those who would compete with it to give up their business. There
must usually, in other words, be shown an element of duress in the
conduct of its business toward the customers in the trade and its
competitors before mere aggregation of capital or plant becomes an
unlawful monopoly. It is perfectly conceivable that in the interest
of economy of production a great number of plants may be legiti-
mately assembled under the ownership of one corporation. It is
important, therefore, that such large aggregations of capital and
combination should be controlled so that the public may have the
advantage of reasonable prices and that the avenues of enterprise
may be kept open to the individual and the smaller corporation wish-
ing to engage in business.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 335
MERE AGGREGATION OF CAPITAL NOT A VIOLATION OF ANTI-TRUST LAW.
In a country like this, where, in good times, there is an enormous
floating capital awaiting investment, the period before which effec-
tive competition, by construction of new plants, can be introduced
into any business, is comparatively short, rarely exceeding a year,
and is usually even less than that. Existence of actual plant is not,
therefore, necessary to potential competition. Many enterprises have
been organized on the theory that mere aggregation of all, or nearly
all, existing plants in a line of manufacture, without regard to
economy of production, destroys competition. They have, most of
them, gone into bankruptcy. Competition in a profitable business
will not be affected by the mere aggregation of many existing plants
under one company, unless the company thereby effects great econ-
omy, the benefit of which it shares with the public, or takes some
illegal method to avoid competition and to perpetuate a hold on the
business.
PROPER TREATMENT OF TRUSTS.
Unlawful trusts should be restrained with all the efficiency of
injunctive process, and the persons engaged in maintaining them
should be punished with all the severity of criminal prosecution, in
order that the methods pursued in the operation of their business
shall be brought within the law. To destroy them and to eliminate
the wealth they represent from the producing capital of the country
would entail enormous loss, and would throw out of employment
myriads of workingmen and working women. Such a result is
wholly unnecessary to the accomplishment of the needed reform, and
will inflict upon the innocent far greater punishment than upon the
guilty.
DESTRUCTIVE POLICY OF DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM.
The Democratic platform does not propose to destroy the plants
of the trusts physically, but it proposes to do the same thing in a
different way. The business of this country is largely dependent on
a protective system of tariffs. The business done by many of the
so-called "trusts" is protected with the other businesses of the country,
The Democratic platform proposes to take off the tariff on all articles
coming into competition with those produced by the so-called "trusts,"
336 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
and to put them on the free list. If such a course would be utterly
destructive of their business, as is intended, it would not only destroy
the trusts, but all of their smaller competitors. The ruthless and
impracticable character of the proposition grows plainer as its effects
upon the whole community are realized.
THE TARIFF QUESTION.
BY WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN.
There is a fundamental difference between a revenue tariff and
a protective tariff. A revenue tariff is so laid as to collect revenue, and
you stop when you get enough. A protective tariff may be so laid as
to burden the people far in excess of the tax collector, and you never
know when to stop. A protective tariff is framed by the manufac-
turers, and experience has shown that they exaggerate their needs and
disregard the interest of those who pay the taxes. The low tariff of
1846 was so satisfactory that when the Republican Party was organ-
ized ten years later the principle of protection was not mentioned in
the platform. During the Civil War the tariff was raised to secure
revenue to carry on the war ; but when the war closed, the high tariff
was continued on the theory that the infant industries needed it until
they could stand on their feet ; but after a while the infant industries
grew so large that they could not only stand on their own feet, but
walk all over the feet of other people. Then the protectionists declared
that the tariff must be continued as a permanent thing, but that it
should be only high enough to cover the difference in the cost of pro-
duction here and abroad. Under the pretense that they were framing
such a tariff, the manufacturers have been collecting about twice as
much on an average as the entire cost of production; and while they
have been charging high prices at home, they have been in many
cases selling abroad in competition with the world.
All recognize now that the tariff must be revised. The only ques-
tion is, Who shall revise it? Our answer is that the tariff revision
must come from those who have suffered, and not from those who
have profited by the high tariff. The fact that the Republicans, now
in complete control of the Government, refused to allow any revision
whatever at the last session of Congress, under the plea that it was
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 337
better to postpone tariff reform until after the next election, is proof
conclusive that they cannot be trusted to respond to the growing
demand for the reduction of import duties.
THE LABOR QUESTION.
BY WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN.
In a broad sense every public question is a labor question, for
the wage earner constitutes so large a proportion of our population
that he is affected by every governmental problem. There are,
however, some questions in which the laboring man is especially inter-
ested, and among these three may be named the eight-hour day, the
settlement of labor disputes, and government by injunction.
The demand for an eight-hour day is a just demand, for the
laboring man is a part of society and a citizen, as well as a worker.
He is entitled to the comforts of home, and he must prepare himself
for a diligent discharge of his civic duties. If the laboring man is
driven from his couch to his task and from his task back to his bed
again, he cannot properly meet the responsibilities which rest upon
him as a citizen.
The second question relates to the settlement of differences be-
tween labor and capital. That there should be some method of con-
ciliation all must admit. Society at large is interested scarcely less
than employer and employee in the harmonious co-operation of labor
and capital in the production of the nation's wealth, and this har-
monious co-operation is possible only on the basis of justice.
What is known as government by injunction is merely a device
employed to avoid a trial by jury. The right of trial by jury is so
sacred that it cannot be taken away from the meanest criminal. Why
should it be denied to the wage earner, who has never been convicted
of a crime? At first this subject was little understood, but now the
people are so well informed upon it that they are prepared to insist
that in contempt cases the defendant shall be allowed a jury when the
alleged contempt is committed outside the presence of the court. The
Republican platform and candidates do not endorse this view. It was
defeated by a large majority in their convention. They would uphold
"the dignity of the courts." The Democratic platform on the con-
338 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
trary declares for the rights of the people, whose servants the courts
are in the just administration of the laws.
HOPE OF EMANCIPATION FROM RUM RULE.
BY EUGENE W. CHAFIN.
When Lincoln took the oath of office five former Presidents were
living. They did nothing to help him in the great struggle which
resulted in the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitu-
tion. They were the representatives of two dominant political par-
ties, Whig and Democratic, which for about fifty years opposed the
bringing of any great new question into the political arena.
We are now approaching the close of another fifty years where
two dominant political parties, Republican and Democratic, have allied
themselves with the most gigantic crime that ever cursed the world,
the legalized liquor traffic and it is our patriotic duty, even though
the majority may favor it, to destroy the liquor traffic and add another
amendment to the Constitution, which would mark the highest achieve-
ment of civilization in the world's history.
If one or more political parties are to be kept in power twenty-
five or fifty years, each succeeding administration carrying out the
policy of the past, and refusing to enact into law the progress attained,
then such party or parties have turned our democracy into despotism.
We are dangerously near that condition of things in the pending
Presidential campaign. The attempt made by the Republican and
Democratic parties to create a fictitious issue is the most farcical in
our history, in the face of the fact that during the past four years
the question of the prohibition of the liquor traffic has attracted wider
attention of the press and the people than all other public issues com-
bined.
The calm thought and common sense of the moral citizenship
have pronounced sentence of death upon the liquor traffic, and the
only thing that stays its execution is the protecting care of these two
old political parties, kept alive by blind political party prejudice.
LINCOLN CALLED AS WITNESS.
To show that these parties are wrong and that the Prohibition
Party is right, I will call but one witness. He was the greatest man
who lived in the nineteenth century Abraham Lincoln. He made five
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 339
speeches in his lifetime, which constituted his political creed. One of
them was upon the liquor question, for he was a total abstainer and
a prohibitionist. At Springfield, 111., February 2, 1842, he said:
"The demon of intemperance ever seems to have delighted in
sucking the blood of genius and generosity. He ever seems to have
gone forth, like the Egyptian angel of death, commissioned to slay
if not the first, the fairest born of every family. To all the living
everywhere we cry, Come! sound the moral resurrection trump. Of
our political revolution of '76 we are all justly proud. . . . Turn
now to the temperance revolution ; in it we shall find a stronger bond-
age broken, a viler slavery manumitted, a greater tyrant deposed.
In it more of want supplied, more disease healed, more sorrow as-
suaged. . . . And when the victory shall be complete when there
shall be neither a slave nor a drunkard on the earth how proud the
title of that land, which may truly claim to be the birthplace and the
cradle of both those revolutions."
I have studied the platforms of all other political parties. Ours
gives the voter the only opportunity he will have this year to cast his
ballot against the liquor traffic, and for other reforms being earnestly
demanded by the American people. The lofty ideals of twentieth
century statesmanship calls for a United States Senate born of an
intelligent people's conscience ; the development of the trusts has
changed entirely all the old theories of a protective tariff and free
trade, and the people demand legislation in their interest on this
important matter, which can best be worked out by a permanent tariff
commission. We are the only party that strikes a blow at the social
evil, so closely allied to the liquor traffic.
While not a line of history will be changed by the election of a
Republican or Democrat, the triumph of the Prohibition Party and
the placing of its platform in the Constitution and upon the statute
book will write the longest, brightest, purest and most beneficent chap-
ter of history that has marked the progress of civilization since gov-
ernments were instituted among men.
WHAT SOCIALISM MEANS.
BY EUGENE V. DEBS.
There are those who sneeringly class socialism among the "isms"
that appear and disappear as passing fads, and pretend to dismiss it
340 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
with an impatient wave of the hand. But the philosophers and deep
thinkers of the world are giving it their most serious thought.
To the workingman in particular it is important to know what
socialism is and what it means.
Let us endeavor to make it so clear to him that he will readily
grasp it and the moment he does he becomes a socialist.
It is our conviction that no workingman can clearly understand
what socialism means without becoming and remaining a socialist.
It is simply impossible for him to be anything else, and the only reason
that all workingmen are not socialists is that they do not know what
it means.
They have heard of socialism and they have heard of anarchy
and of other things all mixed together and without going to any
trouble about it they conclude that it is all the same thing and a good
thing to let alone.
Why? Because the capitalist editor has said so; the politician
has sworn to it, and the preacher has said amen to it, and surely that
ought to settle it.
But it doesn't. It settles but one thing, and that is that the
capitalist is opposed to socialism and that the editor and politician
and preacher are but the voices of the capitalist. There are some
exceptions, but not enough to affect the rule.
Socialism is first of all a political movement of the working class,
clearly defined and uncompromising, which aims at the overthrow
of the prevailing capitalist system by securing control of the national
government and by the exercise of the public powers, supplanting the
existing capitalist class government with socialist administration
that is to say, changing a republic in name into a republic in fact.
Socialism also means a coming phase of civilization, next in
order to the present one, in which the collective people will own and
operate the sources and means of wealth production, in which all will
have equal right to work and all will co-operate together in producing
wealth and all will enjoy all the fruit of their collective labor.
In the present system of society, called the capitalist system,
since it is controlled by and supported in the interest of the capitalist
class, we have two general classes of people; first, capitalists, and,
second, workers. The capitalists are few, the workers are many.
Socialism means that the capitalists shall become workers, shall cease
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 341
to be a power; that the workers shall own and control the machinery
and the products, and that labor shall get all the fruits of labor; and
that we shall have a co-operative system instead of a competitive
system. This alone can make men free.
Socialism does not expect to win in the campaign of 1908. But
it does expect to poll the largest vote in the history of the party ; and
it must ultimately win not only here but throughout the world. Be-
cause it is right. It is the doctrine of the brotherhood of man and
the emancipation of the race.
Taft will be elected, not because Bryan is not considered safe by
the capitalists, but because the capitalists do not care to longer asso-
ciate themselves with the dying middle class. 'Meantime socialism is
growing by leaps and bounds.
The magazines are printing all they can get on socialism, and
one wants an interview with me for its October number, to answer
the question, "What is the matter with America?"
We will poll a larger vote this year than even the socialists think,
for the enforced idleness of the working class has driven them to
action, and their action will be expressed this year at the ballot box.
THE MONEY QUESTION.
BY THOMAS E. WATSON.
Last fall there was a panic, in spite of the fact that we had a
greater amount of material wealth than ever before. Bankruptcy
went stalking through the land, and the cry of distress rang from sea
to sea. J. P. Morgan was Commander-in-Chief of the Wall Street
"patriots" who forced the panic, last fall, just as he was in 1893 5
and to Morgan, Roosevelt's administration virtually said, as Mr.
Cleveland had said in 1893 : "^ nothing else but bonds will do you,
come and get the bonds !"
What brought on the panic of 1907? The volume of real money
has been so greatly lessened, in comparison to the country's need for
money, that it is not difficult to "corner" the available supply. New
York did this last fall. Credits of all sorts had been recklessly ex-
tended, and when real money was needed, New York was found to be
in possession of it, and New York held on to it. Neither banks nor
individuals could get back their own money from New York without
342 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
paying an extortionate price for it. How could the situation have
been relieved ?
The government should have broken the New York corner on
money by issuing its own treasury notes just as Andrew Jackson
did in 1837.
When the British were being led into that death trap at New
Orleans in 1815 and their whole campaign was falling into wreck
and ruin, one of the generals who had served under the Duke of Wel-
lington in Portugal and Spain, cried out : "Oh, for an hour of the old
Duke!"
There have been at least two occasions when the American
people might have cried : "Oh, for an hour of the grim warrior who
made that British general feel the need of the old Duke! Oh, for
an hour of Andrew Jackson !"
One of the occasions was when, in 1893, a so-called Democratic
President exclaimed in dismay: "My God, Gates, the bankers have
got the Government by the leg!"
The other time was last winter, when the Secretary of the Treas-
ury was handing out those Panama bonds a violation of law for
which he ought to have been impeached, just as Mr. Carlisle should
have been impeached, in 1893, when the "endless chain" was filling
Wall Street's ravenous maw with unlawfully issued bonds !
By Treasury rulings and by acts of Congress our money system
has been revolutionized. The system of the Constitution has been
set aside. The Government has been made to abdicate one of its
most important functions. It would not be more dangerous to dele-
gate to private individuals the right to declare war and make treaties
than it is to delegate the power to control the creation and distribu-
tion of the national currency.
HOPE OF POPULISM IN THE INDEPENDENCE PARTY.
BY JOHN TEMPLE GRAVES.
NOTE. John Temple Graves, the Vice-Presidential candidate of the Independence Party, and
Thos. E. Watson, running as the People's Party candidate for President, are both popular Georgians.
In Chapter XXIV will be found an extract from Mr. Watson's attack on the Independence Party s
accusing them of appropriating the People's Party principles. The following is a part of Mr. Graves'
answer to Mr. Watson:
It is, to say the least, ungracious in Mr. Watson to speak of the
Independents as a one-man party. He has made of the Populists far
more a one-man party than the Independents have ever been or will
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 343
ever be. He has been as many times the defeated candidate of the
Populists as Mr. Bryan has been of the Democrats. He seems to be
by the official records the one man in it as absolute as Roosevelt, as
dictatorial as Bryan and as unsuccessful as the last.
He prescribes its tenets, dictates its policies in things personal
and otherwise, and is invariably named as its candidate.
There has not been in fifty years a convention freer from the boss
and the steam roller than the one just adjourned. Mr. Hearst was
three thousand miles across the sea during all the preliminaries that
led up to it.
No fair and truthful man can deny to the Independence conven-
tion the merit of a freedom worthy of its name.
And it was as representative as it was free. Of the seven hun-
dred delegates present from all sections there were not a dozen men
directly or indirectly connected with the Hearst newspapers.
I am perfectly sure that Mr. Watson in his eager criticism speaks
for himself and not for the Populists. There is no discounting the
character and purpose of that great old party. There was never an
honester and truer political organization in America. They bettered
the entire tone of the political era in which they flourished.
But the brave old "Pops" have shot their arrow now, and should
fall in with new friends under a new and larger name. They have
gone down under Mr. Watson's leadership in successive Presidential
years, steadily losing their numbers but never their integrity.
In the last national campaign they polled about 114,000 votes!
The Independence Party polled twice that number in the city of
New York alone !
The hope of the Populist Party is in the Independence Party,
as, beyond the diminishing few who cling to the fortune of Mr. Wat-
son, the majority of these brave and honest men are falling into line
behind this young militant and soon to be triumphant party of the
people.
CHAPTER XXXV.
FUN OF THE CAMPAIGNS.
TOASTS, SONGS, JOKES, PARTY HITS AND ANECDOTES.
Every campaign gives rise to a number of jokes, toasts and party
hits that are not only pleasing literature, but have their bearing and
influence upon the issues at hand and their place in campaign history.
Therefore, we devote a section of this work to such a collection
as has particularly struck the fancy of the editor. They have enter-
tained him and he inserts them here as a sort of scrap-book collection
for the entertainment rather than for the edification of his readers.
While the spoils belong to the victors, there is a certain courtesy
and consideration due to those who made a brave fight for the prin-
ciples they believed in but did not win ; therefore, we begin this collec-
tion with :
A TOAST TO THE "ALSO RANS."
Ye have drunk, O my friends, to the victors,
Ye have toasted the valiant and strong;
To the great of the earth ye have drunk in your mirth,
To the wise ye have lifted your song.
It is well they are worthy, my brothers,
As aught that the firmament spans,
But I pledge you a health to the others
A health to the "also rans."
To the men who went down in the struggle,
To the runners who finished unplaced,
To the weak and the young, the unknown, the unsung,
The depraved, the oppressed, the disgraced.
Ye are blooded, developed, completed;
They were bred without stamina, class ;
'Tis to them, the surpassed, the defeated,
I bow as I drain my glass.
(344)
HON. GEORGE GRAY, OF DELAWARE.
WILLIAM H. BERRY, OP PENNSYLVANIA.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 345
Who are ye that should dare to reject them?
Do ye know what the handicaps weighed ?
Did ye suffer the pain, run the race, stand the strain,
That ye scoff at the pace that they made?
It may be that they ran overweighted,
It may be they were left at the post
Far or near, 'tis to them, the ill-fated,
I bow as I drink my toast.
They have lost, they are ill, they are weary :
Ye have won, ye are well, ye are strong.
By the drops that they bled, by the tears that they shed,
By your mirth, by your wine, by your song,
By all that has e'er helped to sweeten
Your lives, by your hopes, by your plans,
I pledge you the health of the beaten,
The health of the "also rans."
Francis Lyman Windolph, in To-day and other Poems.
FRANKLIN'S TOAST AT THE COURT OF FRANCE.
They lifted their glasses and one said : "I give you the King of
France, and I will call him the Sun; and I give you the King of
England, and call him the Moon;" and then, turning to Franklin, he
said : "What will you do for a toast, with the sun and moon already
engaged ?" Franklin raised his glass, and said : "I cannot give you
the sun, or the moon, or the stars, nor call my country such, but I
give you the United States, and call them Joshua, the son of Nun,
who made the sun and the moon and the stars to stand still as long as
he pleased." Rev. H. M. Gattaher.
WHAT LIBERTY IS.
Years ago there was an insurrection in Massachusetts. There
were thousands of men in arms against the State authorities. One
of the leaders, Luke Day, thus spoke at Springfield: "My boys,"
said he, "they talk to you about liberty; they tell you that liberty
means the right to do what you have a mind to do. That is not
liberty. Liberty is the right to make other folks do what you want
to have them do." James W . Beckman.
346 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
GUARANTEEING BANK DEPOSITS IN CHINA.
In these days of disordered finance it might be well to investigate
the system in vogue in China. It is nine hundred years since the
failure of a bank in China. Over nine hundred years ago, in the
reign of Hi Hung, a bank failed. Hi Hung had the failure investi-
gated, and to his indignation found it had been due to reckless and
shady conduct on the part of the directors and president. Hi Hung
at once issued an edict that the next time a bank failed the heads of
its president and directors were to be cut off. This edict, which has
never been revoked, has made China's banking institutions the safest
in the world. How would it do for some of our enterprising politi-
cians to start a new party taking for its main issue the Chinese method
of guaranteeing bank deposits ?
MUSIC IN POLITICS.
In recent campaigns there has not been much music of a personal
character, but the present contest promises to revive the old cus-
tom. Governor Haskell, of Oklahoma, was reported in August,
1908, to have said: "I care not who writes the platforms, if 1 am
permitted to write the songs." He accordingly called back the muse,
who had lent him fame as a schoolboy verse writer, and has written
two songs that special singers will render in the campaign. One of
them is entitled "Bryan the Nation's Defender," and the other "Bill
Bryan's the People's Choice." Songs and jokes have their power.
Senator "Bob" Taylor is commonly accredited with "fiddling and
singing and story-telling his way into the Governorship of Tennessee
and the Senate of the United States."
Sixty-eight years ago the followers of William Henry Harrison
sang him into the White House. The Hutchinson Family did a lot
of singing for the Republicans in 1856 and 1860. But the old timers
outdid the moderns, if not in elegance of verse, at least in the rough-
hewn significance of the words, as are shown by the following :
SAMPLES OF OLD TIME CAMPAIGN SONGS.
One of the earliest campaign songs was composed by the Jeffer-
sonians in 1800, and ran:
"The Federalists are down at last,
The Monarchists completely cast !
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 347
The Aristocrats are stripped of power,
Storms o'er the British faction lower,
Soon we Republicans shall see
Columbia's sons from bondage free !
Lord ! how the Federalists will stare
At Jefferson in Adams' chair!"
During the campaign of 1840 the feeling ran high between the
two political parties. The contest was between Martin Van Buren,
nicknamed "Martin the First," and the Indian fighter, William Henry
Harrison, and the latter's following had numerous spicy songs to
appeal to the public. One goes to the tune of "Yankee Doodle :"
"That Matty loves the workingman,
No workingman can doubt, sirs ;
For well he doth pursue the place
That turns the workers out, sirs.
"He turns them out of Whig employ,
He turns them out of bread, sirs ;
And middlemen doth he annoy
By striking business dead, sirs!
"For Matty is a Democrat,
Sing Yankee Doodle Dandy !
With spoons of gold and English coach,
And servants always handy!"
The most famous of Harrison's songs was that called "Tippe-
canoe and Tyler, Too," which ran :
"What has caused this commotion, motion, motion,
Our country through ?
It is the ball a-rolling on, for Tippecanoe and Tyler, too !
And with them we will beat Van !
Van ! Van ! The used-up man !
"Let them talk about hard cider, cider, cider,
And log cabins, too
It will only help speed the ball for Tippecanoe and Tyler, too !
Van! Van! Van!
You're not our man !"
348 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
"UP SALT RIVER."
The expression, "Up Salt River," which was often used in
former days to describe political defeat, owes its origin to a river of
that name, a branch of the Ohio running through Kentucky. When
Henry Clay was running against Jackson in 1832 he employed a boat-
man to row him up the Ohio toward Louisville, where he was to
make an important political speech. The boatman was an adherent
of Jackson, and he missed his way accidentally, on purpose, and
rowed Clay up Salt River, and, therefore, Clay did not reach Louis-
ville in time and was defeated. This term was made use of in the
campaign of 1840 in this song:
"Our vessel is ready, we cannot delay,
For Harrison's coming and we must away
Up Salt River! Up Salt River!
Up Salt River; Oh, high-ho!"
HENRY CLAY AND THE FULL DINNER PAIL.
The full dinner pail was much in evidence in the Polk-Clay
political fight as it was during McKinley's two campaigns. Clay's
friends gave the toast :
"Here's health to the workingman's friends!
Here's good luck to the plow and the loom !
Him who will not join in support of our cause
May light dinners and ill-luck illume!"
ROUGH AND READY.
In the campaign of 1848 the partisans of "Old Rough and
Ready," as Zachary Taylor was nicknamed, sounded this slogan :
"Clear the track if your toes are tender,
For honest Zach can never surrender."
THE WHIG'S SONG OF 1840.
At one time the Whig Party called itself "the same old 'coon"
that carried the country in 1840, and used the song :
"The moon was shining silver bright,
The stars with glory crowned the night,
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 349
High on a limb that 'same old 'coon'
Was singing to himself this tune :
Get out of my way you're all unlucky!
Clear the track for old Kentucky!"
But when the Polk forces won they turned the tables by chanting
this parody :
"Not a cheer was heard not a single shot,
As away to a ditch they hurried ;
No bank-paid orator rose to spout
O'er the hole where the 'coon was buried.
"So rapidly tumbling him all alone,
With his tail's wounded stump quite gory,
They raised a faint shout, 'twixt a cheer and a groan
And left him alone in his glory!"
BUCHANAN'S CAMPAIGN SONGS.
James Buchanan, often called "the Government hack," had to
suffer much abuse from his political opponents, who hesitated at
nothing when trying to defeat him. One of their songs ran :
"The dough ! the dough ! the facial dough !
The nose that yields when you tweak it so !
It sighs for the spoils it sells its soul
For a spoonful of pap from the Treasury bowl."
But Buchanan's friends same back at his enemies in this song :
"When Fremont raised a flag so high
On Rocky Mountains' peak,
One little busy bee did fly,
And light upon his cheek.
"But when November's ides arrive
To greet the Colonel's sight,
Straight from the Democratic hive
Two B's on him will light
Buch and Breck."
350 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
i
CRUEL TO FILLMORE.
Millard Fillmore, who had been an accidental President, desired
to be an elected one, but he was extremely unpopular, as this song
testifies, and was defeated :
"There lives a man in Buffalo,
His name is Millard Fillmore,
Who thinks the Union's sunk so low
It ought to take one pill more
To purge away the 'prejudice'
Which true men have for freedom.
A canting, pompous wretch he is,
Who'll cheat you if you heed him."
LINCOLN AND YANKEE DOODLE.
Lincoln did not escape the campaign poets, for at that time feeling
ran high. This song, to the tune of "Yankee Doodle," was very
popular :
"Lincoln came to Washington
To view the situation,
And found the world all upside down.
A rumpus in the nation.
"He heard the Secesh laugh to scorn,
And call him but a noodle.
'Laugh on,' he cried, 'as sure's you're born,
I still am Yankee Doodle !' "
DEFIANCE TO ANDREW JOHNSON.
When Andrew Johnson went to lay the cornerstone of the monu-
ment erected to the memory of Stephen A. Douglas, he made political
speeches instead of returning, to Washington, in the hope that he
could stir up interest in his boom for Presidential candidate. This
made his enemies very angry, and they sang this song all over the
country. It is on the tune of "Just Before the Battle, Mother :"
"Just before the battle, Andy,
We are thinking most of you,
While we get our ballots ready
But, be sure, they're not for you!
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 351
"No, dear Andy, you'll not get there,
But you'll get what you deserve ;
Oh, yes, you'll get your leave of absence,
As you swing around the curve !
"You have swung around the circle;
That you ought to swing 'tis true;
Oh, you tried to veto Congress,
But I guess we'll veto you !"
MARTIAL STRAINS FOR GRANT.
Grant's campaign songs, as was natural, all had a martial strain,
and people's patriotism was worked up to a high pitch by the songs
circulated by his friends. It was Miles O'Reilly who wrote the most
popular and catchy one, and it is from this song that Roscoe Conkling
took the lines when placing General Grant's name before the conven-
tion. It is called, "Come, Fill Your Glasses, Fellows," and runs :
"So, boys ! a bumper,
While we all in chorus chant
For next President we nominate
Our own Ulysses Grant !
"And if he asked what State he hails from,
This our sole reply shall be :
From near Appomattox Courthouse
With its famous apple tree !
"For 'twas there to our Ulysses
That Lee gave up the fight ;
Now, boys! 'To Grant for President,
And God defend the right !' "
GRANDFATHER'S HAT.
Benjamin Harrison, grandson of former President Harrison,
was let down fairly easily by his opponents, for this is the worst
song used against him :
"His grandfather's hat is too large for his head,
But Ben tried it on, just the same;
352 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
It fits him too much, as has sometimes been said,
With regards to his grandfather's fame !
It was bought long ago, and it made a fine show,
In the jolly hard cider campaign ;
But it won't fit a bit on young Ben's brain."
THE BRYAN SONG IN TWO CAMPAIGNS.
William Jennings Bryan has twice gone down to defeat, and in
each campaign his friends used the song which they consider fits him
exactly. The song is to the tune of "The Old Oaken Bucket :"
"Or, true as tried steel is our great standard bearer,
So noble, so fearless, frank, candid and just;
To friends and to foes where's the man could be fairer,
And straight from the shoulder he makes a home thrust ;
So plain and so clear is his argumentation
The mists of false logic he soon can dispel,
A man without peer 'mong the men of the nation,
Our William J. Bryan we all love so well.
Refrain : "Our William J. Bryan,
Our great Jennings Bryan;
This peerless man Bryan
We all love so well!"
CAMPAIGN OF 1908.
NAMING BABIES FOR THE CANDIDATES.
Baby naming for the candidates began early. The first name,
William, standing for both Mr. Bryan and Mr. Taft, is now a great
favorite with fond parents. Hence, there promises to be an unprece-
dented crop of "Bills" in the next generation, following the army of
"Theodores."
One mother, however, who has a soft spot in her heart for the
Secretary, hesitated to name her boy after him, because she feared the
Taft part would be vernacularized into "Taffy," and she hates nick-
names. In her uncertainty she wrote the following letter :
"DEAR MR. TAFT: My baby is just two weeks old and we want
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 353
to name him after you, William Taft , but we are just a little
bit afraid to do it. If we do so the boys might get to calling him
'Taffy,' which is a very good nickname as nicknames go ; but we detest
them all. When you were a boy were you called 'Taffy?' If not, we
will have him christened immediately. We will call him William
Howard , if they called you 'Taffy.' '
The Secretary's reply is not recorded, but it is safe to say that
the little Maryland boy will be called William Taft, for instead of
being called "Taffy," the Secretary was familiarly dubbed plain "Bill."
"CALL ME BILL."
The cry of "Taft! Taft! Big Bill Taft," was a familiar
slogan at the Republican convention at Chicago, and will doubtless do
duty in torchlight processions throughout the campaign. The reading
public is familiar with the jokes about Mr. Taft's tact in relieving the
reporters' embarrassment when perplexed as to whether they should
address him as Mr. Secretary, Judge, Your Honor, or what, by saying
jocularly, "Anything will do, boys. Call me 'Bill.' ' Mr. Bryan was
quite as happy in his reply when a delegation of newspaper men told
him of the incident and asked him if he too was willing to be called
"Bill." "Call me anything," responded the Commoner, with his char-
acteristic smile, "so you make my 'calling and election sure.' '
Here is a sample Columbus Glee Club song, sung to the tune of
"School Days:"
"Me, Oh, My, Oh, Oh, dear old State Ohio.
Mother and trainer of Presidents.
Maker and shaper of great events.
Now we're here in 1908.
Favorite son of our great State."
Another is this one to "Budweiser, a Friend of Mine:"
"William H. Taft is a friend of mine, friend of mine, friend of mine.
What care we if the sun don't shine,
So long as we have our Billy.
Everybody is feeling so fine, feeling so fine, feeling so 'fine,
For President Teddy is a friend of Big Billy,
And Billy's a friend of mine,"
23
354 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
TAFT AND "HE."
(Poking fun at Taft.)
"Unlike his mentor bold, Taft seems
Most diffident and shy,
For in his modest message he
Puts blinkers on his 'I.'
"At times the timid candidate
With Roosevelt's name makes free,
But evidently thinks there is
Much virtue in a 'he.'
" 'He demonstrated/ 'he has said,'
'He set the standard high,'
" 'He pressed to passage/ 'He secured'
All this without an 'I.'
"When Taft finds out the public says
Ha-ha! to his 'He-he!'
Perhaps he then will substitute
The editorial 'We.' "
THE WATER WAGON.
A Prohibition Song for 1908, by H. L. Peeke.
NOTE. After seeing the water-wagon at the Columbus Convention, ! suggested to Mr. Fillmore,
who led^the chorus, the idea of combining the water-wagon sentiment with the tune " Wait for th
Wagon." The chorus is our joint product. The verses, such as they are, are my own. Sung to the
air of " Wait for the Wagon. H. L. PEEKE.
"Oh rise up, Mr. Voter, and vote along with me,
To kill the liquor traffic and make this country free ;
Upon election morning I will stand by your side
So climb the water wagon and we'll all take a ride.
Chorus: "Wait for the wagon,
The good old water wagon,
The Prohibition wagon,
And we'll all take a ride.
"The good old water wagon is coming 'round the bend,
And of the liquor traffic it soon will see the end ;
It now can see its finish, for it cannot long abide,
So climb the water wagon and we'll all take a ride.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 355
"We hail the water wagon with loud resounding cheers!
It's running over whisky and wines and gins and beers ;
The men who ride upon it are on the children's side,
So climb the water wagon and we'll all take a ride.
"The brewers will be Chafin when they hear our candidate,
He's got the wagon headed straight for the White House gate ;
The brewer knows he cannot head off the temp'rance tide,
So climb the water wagon and we'll all take a ride.
"The third of next November its work will all be done,
And when the vote is counted, at setting of the sun,
We know our noble Chafin to Washington will guide
The good old water wagon if we all take a ride."
WHEN LABOR RULES THE WORLD.
A Socialist Labor Song, by A. D., San ]os6, Cal.
"Down deep in the recesses
Of the toiler's wrinkled brain
Dame Nature placed a pregnant hope
That long has dormant lain,
Through age of superstition,
Of brutality and wrong.
But we see the long night paling,
And the faint red gleams of morn :
And we know that in the dawning.
When the shadows dark have flown,
That the strong right arm of Labor
Will arise and claim its own.
"Then the earth will yield her bounties
To the conquering sons of Toil ;
Then no more shall profit mongers
From the worker take their spoil ;
Then the slums and dens shall vanish
And the soldiers be sent home,
And the cannon will be melted,
And no murder will be done.
The sword shall turn to pruning hook
And war will be unknown,
And prophecy will be fulfilled.
When Labor claims its own.
356 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
"Never more in dismal sweatshops
Shall the child and mother ply;
Strikes and lockouts will be over,
People will not wish to die.
Oh ! There is a city building
In the sturdy worker's brain;
I see its arch and colonnade,
That pen may not explain :
Its minarets and sun-lit spires,
The towers and the dome
That shall daunt the vaulted heaven
When Labor claims its own.
"There will be glad songs of triumph,
There will be glad tears of joy,
And the merriment of children
Playing 'neath the azure sky ;
And the bells will all be ringing,
And the red flag float the air;
Youth and maid will trip fantastic,
There'll be music everywhere;
Mother Earth be filled with laughter
At her children coming home:
Tis the Festival of Ages,
When Labor claims its own.
"But you say I am a dreamer
Very well, so let it be ;
You have said the same of others,
You may say the same of me.
But behold yon Labor's army
Everywhere throughout the earth
Working now in all the nations
East and West and South and North.
List ! D'you hear that crackling rumble
Underneath the bench and throne?
'Tis an ominous sound that's saying
Labor soon shall claim its own !"
BOOK II.
Historical and Miscellaneous
CHAPTER XXXVI.
FOUR HUNDRED YEARS OF AMERICAN PROGRESS.
Four hundred and sixteen years ago Columbus discovered the
new world. One hundred and fifteen years after his landing the first
permanent settlement was established at Jamestown, Virginia. Two
hundred and eighty-four years after his coming our infant republic,
with a smaller population in the whole country than we now have in
the city of New York alone, was born.
With the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution as
its basic law, this infant among the nations in one hundred and thirty-
two years has become, at once, the acknowledged commercial giant of
the earth, and the model government of mankind. The thirteen scat-
tered colonies of three million people, who Patrick Henry declared
were "invincible to any force which our enemies can send against us"
have expanded into the forty-six "United States of America," with
their island possessions in the Atlantic and the Pacific, peopled by
not less than ninety millions of human beings, the freest, richest, most
industrious, and most enterprising of any people upon the face of the
earth. The infant despised by the proud nations of Europe has become
a Hercules, feared and respected by the haughtiest of them, no less
than it is loved and revered by the weaker nations of the earth as a
model and a peacemaker. For a long time Europeans claimed the
right to settle among themselves the affairs of the world; they have
now to deal with the United States in this self-imposed duty. And
it is significant of the high moral attitude occupied by this country,
that one of the first enterprises in which it was asked to join these
ancient nations had for its end to do away with the horrors of war,
and substitute for the drawn sword in the settlement of national dis-
putes a great supreme court of arbitration.
This is but one of the lessons to be drawn from the history of
the great republic of the West. It has long been said that this history
(359)
360 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
lacks interest, that it. is devoid of the romance which we find in that
of the Eastern world, has nothing in it of the striking and dramatic,
and is too young and new to be worth men's attention when compared
with that of the ancient nations, which has come down from the mists
of prehistoric time. Yet we think those who familiarize themselves
with story of hardship, deprivation and heroic defense of God-given
liberty will not be ready to admit this assertion. They will find in the
history of the United States an abundance of the elements of romance.
It has, besides, the merit of being a complete and fully rounded his-
tory. We can trace it from its birth, and put upon record the entire
story of the evolution of a nation, a fact which it would be difficult to
affirm of any of the older nations of the world.
FROM THE BEST STOCK OF EUROPE.
If we go back to the origin of our country, it is to find it made
up of a singular mixture of the best people of Europe. The word best
is used here in a special sense. The settlers in this country were not
the rich and titled. They came not from that proud nobility which
claims to possess bluer blood than the common herd, but from the plain
people of Europe, from the workers, not the idlers, and this rare dis-
tinction they have kept up until the present day. But of this class of
the world's workers, they were the best and noblest. They were men
who thought for themselves, and refused to be bound in the trammels
of a State religion ; men who were ready to dare the perils of the sea
and the hardships of a barren shore for the blessings of liberty and
free thought; men of sturdy thrift, unflinching energy, daring enter-
prise, the true stuff out of which alone a nation like ours could be
built.
Such was the character of the Pilgrims and the Puritans, the
hardy empire-builders of New England, of the Quakers of New Jersey
and Pennsylvania, the Catholics of Maryland, the Huguenots of the
South, the Moravians and other German Protestants, the sturdy
Scotch-Irish, and the others who sought this country as a haven of
refuge for free thought. We cannot say the same for the Hollanders
of New Amsterdam, the Swedes of Delaware, and the English of Vir-
ginia, so far as their purpose is concerned ; yet they, too, proved hardy
and industrious settlers, and the Cavaliers whom the troubles in Eng-
land drove to Virginia showed their good blood by the prominent
GOVERNORS OP ILLINOIS, NORTH CAROLINA, INDIANA, KANSAS, VIRGINIA, IOWA.
Charles S. Deneen, Illinois.
Robert B. Glenn, North Carolina.
J. Frank Hanly, Indiana.
Edward W. Hoch, Kansas.
Claude A. Swanson, Virginia.
Albert B. Cummins, Iowa.
GOVERNORS OP UTAH, WISCONSIN, NEBRASKA, SOUTH CAROLINA,
RHODE ISLAND, MICHIGAN.
John C. Cutler. Utah.
George L. Sheldon, Nebraska.
James Fl. Hlggins, Rhode Island.
J. O. Davidson, Wisconsin.
Martin F. Ansel. South Carolina
Fred. M. Warner, Michigan.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 361
part which their descendants played in the winning of our independ-
ence and the making of our government. While the various peoples
named took part in the settlement of the colonies, the bulk of the set-
tlers were of English birth, and Anglo-Saxon thrift and energy be-
came the foundation stones upon which our nation has been built. Of
the others, nearly the whole of them were of Teutonic origin, while
the Huguenots, whom oppression drove from France, were of the very
bone and sinew of that despot-ridden land. It may fairly be said, then,
that the founders of our nation came from the cream of the popula-
tions of Europe, born of sturdy Teutonic stock, and comprising thrift,
energy, endurance, love of liberty and freedom of thought to a degree
never equaled in the makers of any other nation upon the earth. They
were of solid oak in mind and frame, and the edifice they built had
for its foundation the natural rights of man, and for its superstructure
that spirit of liberty which has ever since throbbed warmly in trie
American heart.
A COMMON ASPIRATION FOR LIBERTY.
It was well for the colonies that this underlying unity of aim
existed, for aside from this they were strikingly distinct in character
and aspirations. Sparsely settled, strung at intervals along the far-
extended Atlantic coast, silhouetted against a stern background of
wilderness and mountain range, their sole bond of brotherhood was
their common aspiration for liberty, while in all other respects they
were unlike in aims and purposes. The spirit of political liberty was
strongest in the New England colonies, and these held their own
against every effort to rob them of their rights with an unflinching
boldness which is worthy of the highest praise, and which set a noble
example for the remaining colonists. Next to them in bold opposition
to tyranny were the people of the Carolinas, who sturdily resisted an
effort to make them the enslaved subjects of a land-holding nobility.
In Pennsylvania and Maryland political rights were granted by high-
minded proprietors, and in these colonies no struggle for self-govern-
ment was necessary. Only in Virginia and New York was autocratic
rule established, and in both of these it gradually yielded to the steady
demand for self-government.
On the other hand, New England, while politically the freest was
religiously the most autocratic. The Puritans, who had crossed the
362 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
ocean in search of freedom of thought, refused to grant a similar
freedom to those who came later, and sought to found a system as
intolerant as that from which they had fled. A natural revulsion from
their oppressive measures gave rise in Rhode Island to the first gov-
ernment on the face of the earth in which absolute religious liberty
was established. Among the more southern colonies, a similar free-
dom, so far as liberty of Christian worship is concerned, was granted
by William Penn and Lord Baltimore. But this freedom was main-
tained only in Rhode Island and Pennsylvania, religious intolerance
being the rule, to a greater or less degree, in all the other colonies ; the
Puritanism of New England being replaced elsewhere by the Church
of England autocracy.
The diversity in political condition, religion and character of the
settlers tended to keep the colonies separate, while a like diversity in
commercial interests created jealousies which built up new barriers
between them. The unity that might have been looked for between
these feeble and remote communities, spread like links of a broken
chain far along an ocean coast, had these and other diverse conditions
to contend with, and they promised to develop into a series of weak
and separate nations rather than into a strong and single common-
wealth.
FIRST STEPS TOWARD UNION.
The influences that overcame this tendency to disunion were
many and important. We can only glance at them here. They may
be divided into two classes, warlike hostility and industrial oppression.
The first step toward union was taken in 1643, when four of the New
England colonies formed a confederation for defense against the Dutch
and Indians. "The United Colonies of New England" constituted in
its way a federal republic, the prototype of that of the United States.
The second step of importance in this connection was taken in 1754,
when a convention was held at Albany to devise measures of defense
against the French. Benjamin Franklin proposed a plan of colonial
union, which was accepted by the convention. But the jealousy of
the colonies prevented its adoption. They had grown into communi-
ties of some strength and with a degree of pride in their separate
freedom, and were not ready to yield to a central authority. The
British Government also opposed it, not wishing to see the colonies
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 363
gain the strength which would have come to them from political union.
As a result, the plan fell to the ground.
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
The next important influence tending toward union was the
oppressive policy of Great Britain. The industries and commerce of
the colonies had long been seriously restricted by the measures of the
mother-country, and after the war with France an attempt was made
to tax the colonists, though they were sternly refused representation
in Parliament, the tax-levying body. Community in oppression pro-
duced unity in feeling; the colonies joined hands, and in 1765 a con-
gress of their representatives was held in New York, which appealed
to the King for their just political rights. Nine years afterward, in
1774, a second congress was held, brought together by much more
imminent common dangers. In the following year a third congress
was convened. This continued in session for years, its two most
important acts being the Declaration of Independence from Great
Britain and the Confederation of States, the first form of union which
the colonies adopted. This Confederation was in no true sense a
Union. The jealousies and fears of the colonies made themselves
apparent, and the central government was given so little power that it
threatened to fall to pieces of its own weight. It could pass laws,
but could not make the people obey them. It could incur debts, but
could not raise money by taxation to pay them. The States kept
nearly all the power to themselves, and each acted almost as if it were
an independent nation, while the Congress and the Confederation was
left without money and almost without authority.
This state of affairs soon grew intolerable. "We are," said
Washington, "one nation to-day, and thirteen to-morrow." Such a
union it was impossible to maintain. It was evident that the com-
pact must give way; that there must be one strong government or
thirteen weak ones. This last alternative frightened the States. None
of them was strong enough to hold its own against foreign govern-
ments. They must form a strong union or leave themselves at the
mercy of ambitious foes.
THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1787.
It was this state of affairs that led to the Constitutional Con-
vention of 1787, by whose wisdom the National Union which has
364
proved so solid a bond was organized. The Constitution made by
this body gave rise to the Republic of the United States. A subse-
quent act, which in 1898 added a number of distant island possessions
to our Union, and vastly widened its interests and its importance in
the world's councils, made of it a "Greater Republic," a mighty domin-
ion whose possessions extended half round the globe.
While the changes here briefly outlined were taking place, the
country was growing with phenomenal rapidity. From all parts of
northern and western Europe, and above all from Great Britain, new
settlers were crowding to our shores, while the descendants of the
original settlers were increasing in numbers. How many people there
were here is in doubt, but it is thought that in 1700 there were more
than 200,000, in 1750 about 1,100,000, and in 1776 about 2,500,000.
The first census, taken in 1790, just after the Federal Union was
formed, gave a population of nearly 4,000,000.
A people growing at this rate could not be long confined to the
narrow ocean border of the early settlements. A rich and fertile
country lay back, extending how far no one knew, and soon there was
a movement to the West, which carried the people over the mountains
and into the broad plains beyond. A war was fought with France for
the possession of the Ohio country. Boone and other bold pioneers
led hardy settlers into Kentucky and Tennessee, and George Rogers
Clark descended the Ohio and drove the British troops from the north-
west territory, gaining that vast region for the new Union.
After the War for Independence the movement westward went
on with rapidity. The first settlement in Ohio was made at Marietta
in 1788; Cincinnati was founded. in 1790; in 1803 St. Louis was a
little village of log-cabis; and in 1831 the site of Chicago was occu-
pied by a dozen settlers gathered round Fort Dearborn. But while the
cities were thus slow in starting, the country between them was rapidly
filling up, the Indians giving way step by step as the vanguard of the
great march pressed upon them; here down the Ohio in bullet-proof
boats, there across the mountains on foot or in wagons. A great
national road stretched westward from Cumberland, Maryland, which
in time reached the Mississippi, and over whose broad and solid sur-
face a steady stream of emigrant wagons poured into the great West.
At the same time steamboats were beginning to run on the Eastern
waters, and soon these were carrying the increasing multitude down
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 365
the Ohio and the Mississippi into the vast Western realm. Later
came the railroad to complete this phase of our history, and provide
a means of transportation by whose aid millions could travel with ease
where a bare handful had made their way with peril and hardship
of old.
REMARKABLE EXPANSION OF TERRITORY.
Up to 1803 our national domain was bounded on the west by the
Mississippi, but in that year the vast territory of Louisiana was pur-
chased from France and the United States was extended to the sum-
mit of the Rocky Mountains, its territory being more than doubled in
area. Here was a mighty domain for future settlement, across which
two daring travelers, Lewis and Clark, journeyed through tribes of
Indians never before heard of, not ending their long route until they
had passed down the broad Columbia to the waters of the Pacific.
From time to time new domains were added to the great republic.
In 1819 Florida was purchased from Spain. In 1845 Texas was added
to the Union. In 1846 the Oregon country was made part of the
United States. In 1848, as a result of the Mexican War, an immense
tract extending from Texas to the Pacific was acquired, and the land
of gold became part of the republic. In 1853 another tract was pur-
chased from Mexico, and the domain of the United States, as it existed
at the beginning of the Civil War, was completed. It constituted a
great section of the North American continent, extending across it
from the Atlantic to the Pacific, north and south from the Great
Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, a fertile, well-watered and prolific land,
capable of becoming the nursery of one of the greatest nations on the
earth. Beginning, at the close of the Revolution, with an area of
827,844 square miles, it now embraced 3,026,484 square miles of ter-
ritory, having increased within a century to nearly four times its
original size.
STILL FURTHER EXPANSION.
In 1867 a new step was taken, in the addition to this country of
a region of land separated from its immediate domain. This was the
territory of Alaska, of more than 577,000 square miles in extent, and
whose natural wealth has made it a far more valuable acquisition than
was originally dreamed of. In 1898 the Greater Republic, as it at
366 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
present exists, was completed by the acquisition of the island of Porto
Rico in the West Indies, and the Hawaiian and Philippine Island
groups in the Pacific Ocean. These, while adding not greatly to our
territory, may prove to possess a value in their products, fully justify-
ing their acquisition. At present, however, their value is political
rather than industrial, as bringing the United States into new and
important relations with the other great nations of the earth.
The growth of population in this country is shown strikingly in
the remarkable development of its cities. In 1790 the three largest
cities were not larger than many of our mLior cities to-day. Phila-
delphia had 42,000 population; New York, 33,000, and Boston, 18,000.
Charleston and Baltimore were still smaller, and Savannah was quite
small. There were only five cities with over 10,000 population. Of
inland towns, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, with something over 6,000
population, was the largest. In 1900, no years afterwards, New
York had over 3,000,000, Philadelphia aover 1,000,000, and Chicago,
a city not sixty years old, over 1,500,000. As for cities surpassing
those of a century before, they were hundreds in number. A similar
great growth has taken place in the States. From the original thir-
teen, hugging closely the Atlantic coast, we now possess forty-six,
crossing the continent from ocean to ocean, and have besides a vast
territorial area.
RESOURCES OF THE GREATER REPUBLIC.
The thirteen original States, sparsely peopled, poor and strug-
gling for existence, have expanded into a great galaxy of States, rich,
powerful and prosperous, with grand cities, flourishing rural com-
munities, measureless resources, and an enterprise which no difficulty
can baffle and no hardship can check. Our territory could support
hundreds of millions of population, and still be much less crowded
than some of the countries of Europe. Its products include those of
every zone; hundreds of thousands of square miles of its soil are of
virgin richness ; its mineral wealth is so great that its precious metals
have affected the monetary standards of the world, and its vast min-
eral and agricultural wealth is as yet only partly developed. Vast as
has been the production of gold in California, its annual output is of
less value than that of wheat. In wheat, corn and cotton, indeed, the
product of this country is simply stupendous; while, in addition to its
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 367
gold and silver, it is a mighty storehouse of coal, iron, copper, lead,
petroleum and many other products of nature that are of high value
to mankind.
In its progress towards its present condition, our country has been
markedly successful in two great fields of human effort, in war and in
peace. A brief preliminary statement of its success in the first of these,
and of the causes of its several wars, may be desirable. The early
colonists had three enemies to contend with : the original inhabitants
of the land, the Spanish settlers in the South, and the French in the
North and West. Its dealings with the aborigines have been one con-
tinuous series of conflicts, the red man being driven back step by step
until to-day he holds but a small fraction of his once great territory.
Yet the Indians are probably as numerous to-day as they were origi-
nally, and are certainly better off in their present peaceful and partly
civilized condition than they were in their former savage and war-
like state.
WARS FOR ANGLO-SAXON SUPREMACY.
The Spaniards were never numerous in this country, and were
forced to retire after a few conflicts of no special importance. Such
was not the case with the French, who were numerous and aggressive,
and with whom the colonists were at war on four successive occasions,
the last being that fierce conflict in which it was decided whether the
Anglo-Saxon or the French race should be dominant in this country.
The famous battle on the Plains of Abraham settled the question, and
with the fall of Quebec the power of France in America fell, never to
rise again.
A direct and almost an immediate consequence of this struggle
for dominion was the struggle for liberty between colonists and the
mother country. The oppressive measures of Great Britain led to a
war of seven years' duration, in which more clearly and decisively
than ever before the colonists showed their warlike spirit and political
genius, and whose outcome was the independence of this country. At
its conclusion the United States stepped into line with the nations of
the world, a free community, with a mission to fulfil and a destiny to
accomplish a mission and a destiny which are still in process of de-
velopment, and whose final outcome no man can foresee.
The next series of events in the history of our wars arose from
368 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
the mighty struggle in Europe between France and Great Britain and
the piratical activity of the Barbary States. The latter were forced
to respect the power of the United States by several naval demonstra-
tions and conflicts; and a naval war with France, in which our ships
were strikingly successful, induced that country to show us greater
respect. But the wrongs which we suffered from Great Britain were
not so easily settled, and led to a war of three years' continuance, in
which the honors were fairly divided on land, but in which our sailors
surprised the world by their prowess in naval conflict. The proud
boast that "Britannia rules the waves" lost its pertinence after our
two striking victories on Lake Erie and Lake Champlain, and our
remarkable success in a dozen conflicts at sea. Alike in this war and
in the Revolution the United States showed that skill and courage in
naval warfare which have recently been repeated in the Spanish War.
WARS FROM POLITICAL AND SOCIAL CAUSES.
The wars of which we have spoken had a warrant for their
being. They were largely unavoidable results of existing conditions.
This cannot justly be said of the next struggle upon which the United
States entered, the Mexican War, since this was a politician's war pure
and simple, one which could easily have been avoided, and which was
entered into with the avowed purpose of acquiring territory. In this
it succeeded, the country gaining a great and highly valuable tract,
whose wealth in the precious metals is unsurpassed by any equal section
of the earth, and which is still richer in agricultural than in mineral
wealth.
The next conflict that arose was the most vital and important of
all our wars, with the exception of that by which we gained our inde-
pendence. The Constitution of 1787 did not succeed in forming a per-
fect Union between the States. An element of dissension was left, a
"rift within the lute," then seemingly small and unimportant, but des-
tined to grow to dangerous proportions. This was the slavery ques-
tion, disposed of in the Constitution by a compromise, which, like every
compromise with evil, failed in its purpose. The question continued to
exist. It grew threatening, portentous, and finally overshadowed the
whole political domain. Every effort to settle it peacefully only added
to the strain; the union between the States weakened as this mighty
hammer of discord struck down their combining links; finally the
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 369
bonds yielded, the slavery question thrust itself like a great wedge
between, and a mighty struggle began to decide whether the Union
should stand or fall. While the war was fought for the preservation
of the Union, it was clearly perceived that this union could never be
stable while the disorganizing element remained, and the war led
inevitably to the abolition of slavery, the apple of discord which had
been thrown between the States. The greatness of the result was
adequate to the greatness of the conflict. With the end of the Civil
War, for the first time in their history, an actual and stable Union was
established between the States.
We have one more war to record, the brief but important struggle
of 1898, entered into by the United States under the double impulse of
indignation against the barbarous destruction of the Maine, and of
sympathy for the starving and oppressed people of Cuba. It yielded
results undreamed of in its origin. Not only was Cuba wrested from
the feeble and inhuman hands of Spain, but new possessions in the
oceans of the east and west were added to the United States, and, for
the first time, this country took its predestined place among the nations
engaged in shaping the destiny of the world, and rose to imperial
dignity in the estimation of the rulers of Europe.
THE VICTORIES OF PEACE.
Such has been the record of this country in war. Its record in
peace has been marked by as steady a career of victory, and with results
stupendous almost beyond the conception of man, when we consider
that the most of them have been achieved within a little more than a
century. During the colonial period the energies of the American
people were confined largely to agriculture, Great Britain sternly pro-
hibiting any progress in manufacture and any important development
of commerce. It need hardly be said that the restless and active spirit
of the colonist chafed under these restrictions, and that the attempt to
clip the expanding wings of the American eagle had as much to do
with bringing on the War of the Revolution as had Great Britain's
futile efforts at taxation. The genius of a great people cannot thus be
cribbed and confined, and American enterprise was bound to find a
way, or carve itself a way through the barriers raised by British
avarice and tyranny.
It was after the Revolution that the progress of this country
first fairly began. The fetters which bound its hands thrown off, it
24
370 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
entered upon a career of prosperity which broadened with the years,
and extended until not only the whole continent, but the whole world
felt its influence and was embraced by its results. Manufacture, no
longer held in check, sprang up and spread with marvelous rapidity.
Commerce, now gaining access to all seas and all lands, expanded with
equal speed. Enterprise everywhere made itself manifest, and inven-
tion began its long and wonderful career.
INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT.
In fact, freedom was barely won before our inventors were
actively at work. Before the Constitution was formed John Fitch was
experimenting with his steamboat on the Delaware, and Oliver Evans
was seeking to move wagons by steam in the streets of Philadelphia.
Not many years elapsed before both were successful, and Eli Whit-
ney with his cotton-gin had set free the leading industry of the South
and enabled it to begin that remarkable career which proved so
momentous in American history, since to it we owe the Civil War
with all its great results.
With the opening of the nineteenth century the development of
the industries and of the inventive faculty of the Americans went on
with enhanced rapidity. The century was but a few years old when
Fulton, with his improved steamboat, solved the question of inland
water transportation. By the end of the first quarter of the century
this was solved in another way by the completion of the Erie Canal,
the longest and hitherto the most valuable of artificial waterways.
The railroad locomotive, though invented in England, was prefigured
when Oliver Evans' steam road-wagon ran sturdily through the streets
of Philadelphia. To the same inventor we owe another triumph of
American genius, the grain elevator, which the development of agri-
culture has rendered of incomparable value. The railroad, though not
a native here, has had here its greatest development, and with its
more than 180,000 miles of length has no rival in any country upon
the earth. To it may be added the Morse system of telegraphy, the
telephone and phonograph, the electric light and electric motor, and
all that wonderful series of inventions in electrical science which has
been due to American genius.
We cannot begin to name the multitude of inventions in trie
mechanical industries which have raised manufacture from an art to
a science and filled the world with the multitude of its products. It
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 371
will suffice to name among them the steam hammer, the sewing
machine, the cylinder printing press, the type-setting machine, rubber
vulcanizer, and the innumerable improvements in steam engines and
labor-saving apparatus of all kinds. These manufacturing expedients
have been equaled in number and importance by those applied to agri-
culture, including machines for plowing, reaping, sowing the seed,
threshing the grain, cutting the grass, and a hundred other valuable
processes, which have fairly revolutionized the art of tilling the earth,
and enable our farmers to feed not only our own population, but to
send millions of bushels of grain annually abroad.
MARVELS OF THE PAST CENTURY.
In truth, we have entered here upon an interminable field, so full
of triumphs of invention and ingenuity, and so stupendous in its
results as to form one of the chief marvels of this wonderful century,
and to place our nation, in the field of human industry and mechanical
achievement, foremost among the nations of the world. Its triumphs
have not been confined to manufacture and agriculture; it has been
as active in commerce, and now stands first in the bulk of its exports
and imports. In every other direction of industry it has been as active,
as in fisheries, in forestry, in great works of engineering, in vast
mining operations; and from the seas, the earth, the mountain sides,
our laborers are wresting annually from nature a stupendous return
in wealth.
Our progress in the industries has been aided and inspired by
an equal progress in educational facilities, and the intellectual develop-
ment of our people has kept pace with their material advance. The
United States spends more money for the education of its youth than
any other country in the world, and among her institutions the school-
house and the college stand most prominent. While the lower educa-
tion has been abundantly attended to, the higher education has been
by no means neglected, and amply endowed colleges and universities
are found in every State and in almost every city of the land. In
addition to the school-house, libraries are multiplying with rapidity,
art galleries and museums of science are rising everywhere, temples
to music and the drama are found in all our cities, the press is turning
out books and newspapers with almost abnormal energy, and in every-
thing calculated to enhance the intelligence of the people the United
States has no superior, if any equal, among the nations of the earth.
372 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
THE GREATNESS OF THE REPUBLIC.
It may seem unnecessary to tell the people of the United States
the story of their growth. The greatness to which this nation has
attained is too evident to need to be put in words. It has, in fact,
been made evident in two great and a multitude of smaller exhibitions
in which the marvels of American progress have been shown, either
by themselves or in contrast with those of foreign lands. The first of
these, the Centennial Exposition of 1876, had a double effect: it opened
our eyes at once to our triumphs and our deficiencies, to the particulars
in which we excelled and those in which we were inferior to foreign
peoples. In the next great exhibition, that at Chicago in 1893, we
had the satisfaction to perceive, not only that we had made great
progress in our points of superiority, but had worked nobly and
heartily to overcome our defects, and were able to show ourselves the
foremost nation of the world in many branches of manufacture, and
we were easily the leaders in those modern inventions of an epoch-
making character in machinery.
The Spanish-American War lifted another veil from off the face
of the Western republic, and revealed it to all civilization, for the
first time, in its benignty, majesty and strength as a world power. It
was fortunate to receive this recognition in the role of a friend to all
humanity and a foe to the death of tyranny and oppression. Through
this war mighty islands of both oceans came under our protection and
dominion, and their millions of people felt their shackles fall, and
breathed, for the first time, the air of freedom. Since that date the
glory of our nation has been recognized throughout the world by
the elevation and progress of these her foster children.
The World's Fair at St. Louis was the greatest that the world
has seen. All lands sent their displays and all peoples came. Such a
cosmopolitan collection of humanity and human products, and inven-
tions, and such a picture of achievements, perhaps, would have been
impossible in any other land beneath the sun. After that American
eyes were turned to greater internal perfection and improvements.
Graft and corruption had naturally crept into the economic system
of this mighty nation. And the way it has been assailed and is being
rooted out is the chief glory of America in this good year of 1908.
Whatever party may be in power in the future, our people have spoken,
and the good work shall go on.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
FROM WASHINGTON TO ROOSEVELT.
BIRD'S EYE-VIEW OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ADMINISTRATIONS OF
1 2O YEARS.
In this year, 1908, it is declared by leading statesmen that our
nation is facing the most momentous crisis in our history since the
campaign of 1860. Whether this be true or not, we are, at least,
taking gigantic steps as a world power, and approaching the most
important historical period since Lincoln ran for the Presidency. A
number of candidates are now before us for that high office, and the
American people are called upon to select, from among them, the.
fittest man to guide our Ship of State in its course as a world power.
It is, therefore, well, in learning about these distinguished aspirants,
and in weighing their qualifications, that we shall take a bird's eye-
view of the doings of the eminent men who have preceded them in
this high office, and briefly outline what was accomplished in the
administration of each.
When the office of President was to be filled for the first time,,
grave problems were to be solved. The hardships and sufferings of
the struggle for independence were yet present in the minds of all
men; the weakness and failure of the government instituted by the
Articles of Confederation had compelled an attempt "to form a more
perfect Union;" the eyes of the civilized world were upon the strug-
gling people, and to men who had not an abiding faith in the principles
for which the battles of the Revolution had been fought, it seemed
that the experiment of popular government was to end in early, com-
plete, and appropriate catastrophe.
In such circumstances, it was well that the public needs were so
great and so immediate as to make men willing to forget their differ-
ences and consider measures for the common good; and particularly
was it well for the future of our country that there was one man upon
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374 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
whom all could agree as uniting the wisdom, the moderation, the
experience, the dignity necessary to the first President of the United
States.
GEORGE WASHINGTON, 1732-1799. TWO TERMS, 1789-1797.
George Washington was the only man ever unanimously elected
President. He undertook the duties of the Chief Magistracy with a
deep sense of their importance and their difficulty, but with the courage
and devotion which characterized all his conduct. He selected for his
Cabinet men of widely different political views, but men whose names
were not new to Americans, men whose past services justified the
belief that they would find means of leading the country out of its
present difficulties, and of setting the affairs of the government on a
sure foundation. Jefferson, Hamilton, Knox and Randolph might
well be trusted to concert wise measures.
Washington's second election was, like the first, without opposi-
tion, and for four years more he continued to guide the affairs of
state. A national bank had been established early in his first term,
and also the Philadelphia Mint, and the currency of the country was
now on a fairly satisfactory basis; a census had been taken in 1790
and showed that the country had already begun to grow in population,
and the outlook was much more favorable than four years earlier.
JOHN ADAMS, 1735-1826. ONE TERM, 1797-180 1.
Upon the announcement of Washington's retirement, the two
parties, which had been gradually developing an organization, pre-
pared to contest the election of the second President. The Feder-
alists, who advocated a strong central government, favored John
Adams, and the Republicans, who "claimed to be the friends of liberty
and the rights of men, the advocates of economy, and of the rights of
the States," desired the election of Thomas Jefferson. The Federalists
were in a slight majority, and Mr. Adams was elected. He was a
native of Massachusetts, and had borne a leading part in the struggle
for independence and the development of the government. He was
one of the leaders in Massachusetts in resisting the oppressive meas-
ures which brought on the Revolution ; he seconded the resolution for
the Declaration of Independence, and assisted in framing that remark-
able document ; with Franklin and Jay, he negotiated the treaty which
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 375
established our independence; he had represented his country as Min-
ister to France, and to Holland, and was the first United States
Minister to England; he had been Vice-President during Washing-
ton's two administrations, and was now to assume office as the second
President.
His Presidency opened with every prospect of war with the
French. That nation had taken offense because we preserved an atti-
tude of neutrality in their contest with Great Britain. They actually
began war by capturing our merchant ships, and the French Directory
refused to receive the new United States Minister, while three com-
missioners, who were sent to make one more effort for peace, were
insulted. Under the influence of the war spirit thus excited, the
Federalists in Congress passed two acts, known as the Alien and Sedi-
tion Laws, which resulted in the downfall of their party. The former
gave the President authority to order out of the country any alien
whom he considered dangerous to its welfare, and the latter was
intended to suppress conspiracies and malicious abuse of the govern-
ment. They excited great opposition and were almost immediately
repealed. The war had already been terminated on the accession of
Napoleon Bonaparte to power in France.
THOMAS JEFFERSON, 1743-1826. TWO TERMS,
Mr. Adams failed of re-election, largely because of the division
of sentiment in regard to the French war. His great patriotism, high
moral courage, and his ability as a statesman, were somewhat marred
by a strange lack of tact, and a stupendous vanity, which sometimes
made him ridiculous, but his countrymen could well afford to forget
such minor faults, and remember only his manifold services in their
common cause. He was succeeded by a man no less great. Thomas
Jefferson was the son of a Virginia planter, received his education at
William and Mary College, studied law and engaged in its practice.
He resolved on entering public life, never to engage, while in public
office, in any kind of enterprise for the improvement of his fortune,
nor to wear any other character than that of a farmer. When he
came to the Presidency his country already owed him much. As a
member of the Continental Congress he wrote the draft of the Decla-
ration of Independence; returning to Virginia, he inaugurated a
reformed system of laws in that State, and, becoming its Governor,
376 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
rendered invaluable aid to the army during the closing years of the
Revolution; he shared with Gouverneur Morris the credit of devising
our decimal system of money; he succeeded Franklin as Minister to
France, and on his return from that post, was informed that Wash-
ington had chosen him for the first Secretary of State. He wished to
decline further public service, but "It is not for an individual," said
he to the President, "to choose his post ; you are to marshal us as may
be best for the public good." A difference of three electoral votes
made Adams President and Jefferson Vice-President, but in 1800 a
political revolution reversed the majority and made him the third
President. Although a leader of a party, he exerted himself to allay
partisan rancor, and he resolutely refused to make official positions
for his political friends by removing from office men whose only
offense was a difference of political opinion.
Jefferson was re-elected by a largely increased majority. During
his administration, the territory of Louisiana was purchased from
France; the famous expedition of Lewis and Clarke set out to explore
this new domain ; the importation of slaves was forbidden ; the pirates
of Tripoli and Algiers were suppressed; the first steamboat began to
navigate the Hudson, and the growing troubles with Great Britain
and France caused the enactment of laws called the Embargo and
Non-intercourse Acts, intended, by cutting off our commerce with
those countries, to compel them to respect our neutrality. These two
measures resulted in little but failure, as they caused great distress at
home, and were repealed before they could have much effect abroad.
JAMES MADISON, 1751-1836. TWO TERMS, 1809-1817.
When James Madison came to be the fourth President, he found
the difficulties with England and France still unsettled. These coun-
tries being ancient enemies and being almost continually at war, it was
almost impossible to be on friendly terms with one without making an
enemy of the other; neither would respect our rights as a neutral
nation; each was in the habit of seizing and selling our ships and
cargoes bound for the ports of the other, and England, in addition,
assumed the right to search our vessels, examine their crews, and
compel to enter her service any sailor who had been an English sub-
ject. These troubles were not new. Jay's treaty, in 1795, had vainly
attempted to adjust a part of them, and as our country grew in
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 377
strength, it gradually became impossible for the people longer to
submit.
The War of 1812, the "Second War for Independence/' occupied
most of Madison's administration, and though not vigorously con-
ducted, it demonstrated the military and naval resources of the country
and caused the American flag to be respected all over the world; and
by cutting off the supply of foreign goods, it compelled the starting
of cotton and woolen mills in this country, and this resulted in the
building up of home manufactures.
The Presidency of Mr. Madison is not the portion of his career
upon which his fame rests; his best services to his country were in
his work as a constructive statesman. In the shaping of the Consti-
tution and in securing its adoption he shared with Hamilton the chief
honors. He was, doubtless, happy when, at the close of his second
administration, he could retire to his Virginia estate and spend the
remaining twenty years of his life in scholarly ease.
JAMES MONROE,- 1758-1831. TWO TERMS, 1817-1827.
Madison was succeeded by another Virginian, a gallant soldier
of the Revolution, who had laid down his books at William and Mary
College to complete his education in the Continental army. James
Monroe was eighteen years old when he took part in the battle o^
Trenton, and his record justified the confidence with which his country-
men universally regarded him. In his inaugural address he took as ,1
symbol of the enduring character of the Union, the foundation of the
Capitol, near which he stood to deliver the address and which had
survived the ruins of the beautiful building recently burnt by th!e
British.
So popular was President Monroe, and so wisely did he admin-
ister the affairs of state, that on his re-election there was not opposing
candidate and he lacked but one of a unanimous vote in the electoral
college. This vote was cast for John Quincy Adams, simply in order
"that no later mortal should stand in Washington's shoes" in being
unanimously elected. Monroe's two terms comprise an eventful period
in our history; the government pensioned its Revolutionary soldiers
and their widows, spending in all $65,000,000 in this noble work;
Florida was purchased from Spain; the National Road was begun
at Cumberland, Md., finally to extend as far as Illinois, and to be of
378 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
inestimable service in the opening and development of the West; but
the subject which took the deepest hold upon the minds of the people
was that of the extension of slavery. Following the "Era of Good
Feeling" ushered in by Monroe's administration, came a serious divi-
sion in public feeling as to whether slavery should be permitted in the
northern part of the territory west of the Mississippi. The question
arose so suddenly and was so fiercely debated that Jefferson declared
that it terrified him, "like a fire-bell in the night," and he feared serious
trouble between the States, the actual outbreak of which was post-
poned, by a series of compromises, for a period of forty years. Henry
Clay's Missouri Compromise quieted the quarrel for some twenty-five
years.
President Monroe is perhaps most widely renowned as the author
of the "Monroe Doctrine" that no European nation has a right to
interfere with the affairs of any American State a doctrine to which
our government has steadily adhered. It is interesting to note that
the man who had served his country so well in the high position of its
chief magistrate was willing, after the close of his second term, to
accept so humble a post as that of Justice of the Peace, and so continue
a public servant; but it is sad to relate that Mr. Monroe's great
generosity and public spirit left him, in his old age, embarrassed by
debt and obliged to sell his residence at Oak Hill, in Virginia, to end
his days in the home of a son-in-law, in New York.
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, 1767-1848. ONE TERM, 1825-1829.
The "Era of Good Feeling" had left no organized national parties
in politics, and there were four candidates voted for to succeed Mori-
roe. This resulted in there being no majority in the electoral college,
and the final choice was therefore made by the House of Representa-
tives, John Quincy Adams thus becoming the sixth President He
was, perhaps, as well equipped for the position, at least in breadth of
information, knowledge of statecraft, and experience in political
affairs, as any man who has ever filled it. At the age of fifteen he was
secretary to the Minister to Russia ; after graduating at Harvard, and
practicing law for a few years, he became United States Minister at
The Hague, and afterwards at Berlin, St. Petersburg and London;
he had represented Massachusetts in the National Senate, and during
the Presidency of Mr. Monroe he had been Secretary of State. His
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 379
administration was not marked by any measure of national impor-
tance, but is notable as the era in which a number of projects for the
promotion of commercial intercourse met with the success they de-
served.
We have already mentioned the National Road. It was no more
important than the Erie Canal, "Clinton's Big Ditch," as it was de-
risively called, which was opened in 1825; and the experiments with
"steam wagons" resulted, in 1828, in the opening of a line of railroad
which now forms part of the Baltimore and Ohio system. The first
spadeful of earth was turned by the venerable Charles Carroll, of
Carrollton, the only survivor of the signers of the Declaration of
Independence, who remarked, in so doing, that he considered this
among the most important acts of his life, "second only to that of
signing the Declaration of Independence, if second to that."
It is also to be noted that this era marks the beginning of that
social movement which in less than seventy years has resulted in
so marked a change in the views of Americans regarding the use of
intoxicants.
ANDREW JACKSON, 1767-1845. TWO TERMS, 1829-1837.
Andrew Jackson, the seventh President, was the first who was
not a citizen either of Massachusetts or Virginia. He was also the
first who was not already known to his countrymen as a distinguished
statesman. He was exceedingly popular, however, owing to his mili-
tary services and to his energetic, honest and fearless, though head-
strong character. He had led a strange and eventful life. In his
boyhood he had known all the hardships and privations of absolute
poverty; at the age of fourteen he was a prisoner of war, and was
nearly starved by his British captors. He studied law and emigrated
from North Carolina to Tennessee. After that territory became a
State he represented it in Congress, and for a short time in the Senate.
He was continually involved in quarrels, fought several duels, and
made many bitter enemies as well as many warm friends. His success
in leading the Tennessee militia against the Indians gained for him
the reputation which caused his appointment to command in the South-
west near the close of the War of 1812, and his brilliant defense of
New Orleans gave "Old Hickory" a place in the hearts of his country-
men, which resulted in their electing him to succeed John Quincy
380 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
Adams as President, and his ability and integrity were so manifest
that he was re-elected in 1832 by the electoral votes of all the States
except seven.
AN INTERESTING PERIOD.
No period of our history is more interesting than the eight years
of Jackson's administration. He was the first President to dismiss
large numbers of officials in order to replace them by his own partisans.
The anti-slavery movement took definite shape during this time, and
William Lloyd Garrison began the publication of the famous Libera-
tor, and American literature had its beginnings.
At this time came the first serious danger of a rupture between
the States. It grew out of the tariff legislation, which South Carolina,
under the head of John C. Calhoun, undertook to nullify. The pay-,
ment of the duties was refused, but the President sent General Scott
to Charleston to enforce the law, and under the advice of Henry Clay
a new and more satisfactory tariff was adopted. This difficulty and
Jackson's determined opposition to the United States Bank, his fight
against it, resulting in its destruction, are the events of this adminis-
tration, which produced the most marked and lasting effect upon our
national history. After the close of his second term he lived in retire-
ment at his home, the famous "Hermitage," near Nashville, until his
death, eight years later.
MARTIN VAN BUREN, 1872-1862. ONE TERM, 1837-184!.
Martin Van Buren had hardly entered upon the duties of the
Presidency when the great panic of 1837 occurred. It resulted from
a variety of causes, among which may be mentioned the great number
of worthless banks which sprang up after the discontinuance of the
United States Bank; the prevalence of wild speculation, particularly
in land, and the action of the government in demanding that the banks
should repay their deposits in coin. One good effect of this great
public calamity was the establishment of a Treasury of the United
States, independent of any bank or system of banks.
It was during this administration that the Mormons formed their
settlement in Nauvoo, Illinois, and in 1840 a regular line of steam-
ships was established between Liverpool and Boston.
Mr. Van Buren was a native of New York, had served his State
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 381
in various offices of trust, including that of Governor; had been its
representative in the United States Senate ; had been Minister to Eng-
land, Secretary of State during most of Jackson's first administration,
and Vice-President during his second. He continued, for several
years after the close of his term as President, to take an active part in
politics, and in 1848 he was the candidate of the anti-slavery Demo-
crats, or "Free Democracy," for President, after which he took no
part in public affairs, though he lived at his native place, in Columbia
County, New York, until nearly the middle of the War of the
Rebellion.
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, 1773-184!.. ONE MONTH, 1841.
For forty years the Democrats had retained control of the Na-
tional Government, but the administration of Van Buren had not been
popular, and the change in public sentiment was so great that in the
election of 1840 he was defeated by General William Henry Harrison,
who had been the unsuccessful candidate four years before. The
political campaign was the most exciting that had yet occurred; the
enthusiasm for the Whig candidate was very great, and the "Log-cabin
and Hard-cider" campaign will be long remembered.
The character of the successful candidate justified high expecta-
tions of his administration. Left at an early age to depend upon
himself, he had entered the army and won distinction under General
Wayne, in the Indian wars; he had been long identified with the de-
velopment of what are now Indiana and Ohio; had represented Ohio
in the United States Senate, and filled several other offices of more
or less note, and was living, when elected, on his farm, not far from
Cincinnati. He made a judicious selection of cabinet officers, but
within a month after his inauguration, and before any definite line of
policy had been established, he died, after a very brief illness, probably
caused by the fatigue and excitement of his inauguration.
JOHN TYLER, 1790-1862. ONE PARTIAL TERM, 1841-1845.
John Tyler was the first Vice-President of the United States to
become President. He had been made the Whig candidate largely
from motives of policy, as he had been an active Democrat, and as a
member of that party had been elected Governor of Virginia, and had
represented that State in the United States Senate. He had, however,
382 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
been opposed to both Jackson and Van Buren, and had for some time
been acting with the Whigs. He soon quarreled, however, with the
Whig Congress, the subject of contention being the proposed revival
of the United States Bank. This quarrel continued throughout the
Presidential term, to the great hindrance of public business. Two
events which marked a new era, the one in our methods of communi-
cation, the other in the relief of human suffering, took place during
this time ; they were the invention of the electric telegraph and the use
of ether in surgery. The events of greatest political importance were
the settlement, by the Ashburton treaty, of a troublesome dispute with
Great Britain, concerning the northeastern boundary of the United
States, and, just at the close of Tyler's administration, the annexation
of Texas. The latter was a step which had for some time been under
discussion, it being advocated by the South as a pro-slavery measure,
and opposed by the anti-slavery party. Texas had made itself inde-
pendent of Mexico, and asked to be annexed to the United States, a
request which was thus finally granted. Mr. Tyler returned to private
life at the close of his Presidential term, and took little part in public
affairs until the breaking out of the Civil War. At the time of his
death he was a member of the Confederate Congress.
JAMES KNOX POLK, 1795-1849. ONE TERM, 1845-1849.
The Democrats were again successful in 1844, and on March 4,
1845, James K. Polk became the eleventh President. He was a native
of North Carolina, but in boyhood had removed with his father to
Tennessee. He was well educated, and was unusually successful in
his profession of the law. He was for fourteen years a member of
Congress and was Speaker of the House for five consecutive sessions.
On his declining a re-election to Congress he was made Governor of
Tennessee, and as a candidate for the Presidency in 1844 was success-
ful in uniting the warring factions of the Democrats. He came to the
Presidency at a critical time. The annexation of Texas had involved
the country in difficulties with Mexico, and the question of the northern
boundary west of the Rocky Mountains threatened to interrupt the
cordial relations between the United States and England. The latter
question was settled by accepting the parallel of forty-nine degrees of
north latitude, thus making the "boundary continuous with that east
of the mountains, but the trouble with Mexico culminated in war,
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 383
which resulted, in less than two years, in the complete conquest of that
country. California and New Mexico were ceded to the United States
on the payment of $15,000,000 and the assumption of certain debts of
Mexico. It was just at this time that gold was discovered in Cali-
fornia, and the wonderful emigration to that territory began. Mr.
Polk survived his Presidential term only some three months.
ZACHARY TAYLOR, 1784-1850. ONE PARTIAL TERM, 1849-1850.
The pendulum of popular favor had again swung over to the side
of the Whigs, and their candidate was elected the twelfth President.
General Zachary Taylor had grown up amid the privations and diffi-
culties of frontier life in Kentucky. By the influence of Madison, the
then Secretary of State, who was a relative of the family, he received
an appointment as lieutenant in the United States Army, and served
with great distinction in the Indian wars which then harassed our
frontiers. At the time of the annexation of Texas he was in com-
mand of the army in the Southwest, with the rank of Brigadier-Gen-
eral. His management of affairs during the time which preceded the
Mexican War was marked by great discretion, and his brilliant con-
duct of the opening campaign brought him great popularity and led
to his nomination for the Presidency by the Whigs, to the great
chagrin of some of the leaders of the party who saw in his success the
disappointment of their own ambition, and who distrusted a candidate
who had no experience in legislative or executive affairs. This dis-
trust, however, has not been shared by the majority of the people,
either in the case of General Taylor or of other Presidential candidates
of purely military renown, and such a candidate has usually been sure
of success.
The question of the extension of slavery was again being fiercely
agitated, and seemed once more likely to disrupt the country. General
Taylor lived only some sixteen montfjs after his inauguration, dying
before the heat of debate in Congress had abated.
. MILLARD FILLMORE, 1800-1874. ONE PARTIAL TERM, 1850-1853.
The Vice-President, who, by the death of General Taylor, came
to be the Chief Magistrate of the country, was Millard Fillmore, of
New York. He was an admirable type of the American citizen, owing
this high position to his own attainments, and to his own unaided
384 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
exertions. He received no pecuniary assistance after his fourteenth
year, except a small loan, which he punctually repaid. With exceed-
ingly little previous education, he began, at the age of nineteen, the
study of law, which he prosecuted under the most adverse circum-
stances, but so successfully as to place him in the front rank of the
lawyers of the State of New York. He was for several terms a mem-
ber of the lower House of Congress, where he distinguished himself
as a wise, prudent, honest legislator. He was Chairman of the Com-
mittee on Ways and Means which framed the tariff of 1842, and
although he claimed no originality for the principles on which it was
based, he is justly entitled to be considered its author.
UNCLE TOM'S CABIN.
His Presidential term is chiefly remembered by the debate in
Congress on the extension of slavery in the territory gained by the
Mexican War, resulting in the adoption of the compromise measures
proposed by Henry Clay, including the Fugitive Slave Law. This
law, which gave the owners of runaway slaves the right to call on all
citizens to assist in arresting and restoring them to their owners, was
exceedingly unpopular in the North, and did much to prevent Mr.
Fillmore's renomination, and to increase anti-slavery sentiment in the
North.
Mrs. Stowe's famous story, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," was pub-
lished in 1852, and had a great influence in hastening the impending
conflict. At the close of his term Mr. Fillmore retired to Buffalo,
where he resided until his death, in 1874.
Soon were heard the thunderous attacks of the abolitionists and
a whisper of the opening of the "underground railroad" for escaping
slaves. The work of the "Great Pacificator" Henry Clay and the
measures he proposed seemed soon about to be lost in bitter and
bloody strife of civil war.
FRANKLIN PIERCE, 1804-1868. ONE TERM, 1853-1857.
Again the Whigs were retired from control of the National Gov-
ernment and a Democratic President elected. Franklin Pierce had
been a life-long resident of New Hampshire. He was a graduate of
Bowdoin College, was widely known as an able and successful lawyer,
and though his name was not especially connected with any great
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 385
measure, he had represented his State in both Houses of Congress.
He expressed in his inaugural address the belief that all questions
concerning slavery should be considered settled by the compromise
measures of 1850, and the hope that "no sectional, or ambitious, or
fanatical excitement might again threaten the durability of our insti-
tutions or obscure the light of our prosperity."
CRYSTAL PALACE.
Among the notable events of his administration may be men-
tioned the international exhibition in the "Crystal Palace," in New
York, in 1853, in which the pre-eminence of Americans in the inven-
tion of labor-saving machinery was manifested; the expedition of
Commodore Perry to Japan, which resulted in opening to American
commerce the ports of that interesting country, which no foreigners
had previously been allowed to enter; and the adjustment of a dispute
with Mexico concerning the western portion of the boundary between
the two countries, resulting in the purchase by the United States of a
considerable district, included in the present territories of Arizona
and New Mexico. But the facts which chiefly characterize this ad-
ministration concern the irrepressible conflict about slavery. The
Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 repealed the Missouri Compromise, and
made the question of slavery in all the territories optional with the peo-
ple of the territories, as had been done by the Compromise of 1850 for
the territory acquired from Mexico. The passage of this law led to
much ill-feeling, and to great efforts by both Northern abolitionists and
Southern slaveholders to encourage the emigration of their sympa-
thizers to Kansas, in order to govern the decision in regard to slavery.
The strife of these opposing parties became so serious as to result in
much bloodshed, and from 1854 to 1859 that territory deserved the
name of "Bleeding Kansas," and during much of that time it was
in a state of civil war.
JAMES BUCHANAN, 1791-1868. ONE TERM, 1857-1861.
Mr. Pierce took no prominent part in public affairs after his retire-
ment from the Presidency. The Whig party had now finally disap-
peared, and in the election of 1856 the Democrats were once more
successful. James Buchanan was a Pennsylvania lawyer, a graduate
of Dickinson College, and so prominent in his profession that his name
25
3 86 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
appears in the "Pennsylvania Reports," between 1812 and 1831, more
frequently than that of any other lawyer. He had served ten years
in Congress, had represented his country as Minister to Russia and
to England, and as Secretary of State under President Polk had been
called upon to adjust questions of the gravest and most delicate
character.
DRED SCOTT DECISION.
At the opening of his administration the public strife was greatly
allayed by the general confidence in the ability and the high patriotism
of the President ; but the announcement of the "Dred Scott Decision,"
which had been deferred so as not to give new cause for excitement
during a Presidential campaign, stirred the nation to a degree before
unknown. This decision declared the Missouri Compromise uncon-
stitutional, and therefore void, that Congress has no right to forbid
the carrying of slaves into any State or territory, and opened all the
free States to at least a temporary establishment of slavery. This
was the beginning of the end of the contest. The attempt of John
Brown, a citizen of Kansas, with about twenty men, to liberate the
slaves in Virginia, their seizure of the government buildings at
Harper's Ferry, their capture, and the hanging of the leader, with
six of his men, only hastened the final conflict.
PANIC OF 1857.
A great business panic occurred in 1857, and the discovery of
silver in Nevada and Colorado the following year; the no less impor-
tant discovery of petroleum and natural gas in Pennsylvania occurred
in 1859.
After the Presidential election of 1860 it became evident that the
South would not quietly submit to the defeat which they had received,
and South Carolina, followed by six other Southern States, adopted
"ordinances of secession," assuming to dissolve their union with the
other States, and declaring themselves free and independent nations.
The President took no action to prevent secession, and most of the
forts, arsenals, and other national property within these States were
seized. Mr. Buchanan retired to private life at the close of his term
as President.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 387
ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 1809-1865. TWO TERMS (DIED IN OFFICE),
1861-1865.
Of all the men since Washington who have been President of the
United States, Abraham Lincoln holds the largest share in the affec-
tions of the people. His lowly origin, his early poverty and privation,
and never-failing kindness with which throughout his life he met all
classes of men, and the homely and genial wit which enlivened his
discussion of grave matters of state as well as his casual and friendly
conversation, gave him a place in the hearts of the common people
not held by any other American, while his unequaled knowledge of
men, his ability to cope with unforeseen difficulties, his lofty purpose
and perfect honesty, together with his practical good sense, not only
brought him the respect and esteem of all who came to know him,
but place him among the greatest statesmen, not of America alone,
but of all countries in all times.
Born and reared in the backwoods, with nothing in his surround-
ings to stimulate ambition, chopping wood and splitting rails, learning
to read from the spelling-book and the Bible, sitting up half the night
to read Pilgrim's Progress and ^Esop's Fables "by the blaze of the
logs his own axe had split," he came to manhood with little education,
but with perfect health and gigantic strength. At the age of twenty-
five he took up the study of law, and early began to take part in the
local political movements. He had represented his district in Con-
gress, but at the time of his nomination for President had little repu-
tation outside of Illinois.
THE CIVIL WAR.
He came to the Presidency amid a multitude of adverse circum-
stances. With seven States already seceded, the border States appar-
ently ready to follow, with the capital surrounded by a hostile popula-
tion, and without the confidence of the leaders of his own party, his
would indeed seem a difficult task. His first measures were intended
to convince the people of the South, if they were willing to be con-
vinced, that he had no hostile intention, but at the same time that he
proposed to "preserve, protect, and defend" the Union, and to main-
tain the rights and the authority of the government. The story of
the War of the Rebellion cannot be told here. It is a story the like
388 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
of which forms part of the history of no other nation the story of a
war engaging at one time 1,700,000 men, the war debt of the North,
represent but a part of the cost of the war, amounting to $3,000,000,-
ooo, and the expense frequently exceeding $3,500,000 a day.
EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION.
Aside from the essential military features of the war, the most
notable event of Mr. Lincoln's administration was the freeing of the
slaves, which was done as a war measure, by the Emancipation Proc-
lamation, January i, 1863, thus finally, after the expiration of nearly
a hundred years, making good in our country the words of the Decla-
ration of Independence, that "all men are created equal."
It can be truthfully said that President Lincoln carried the ad-
ministration of the government in this troublous time, not only as
a load upon his brain, but as a burden in his heart; a united country
was the object of all his efforts, and when, only a month after his
second inauguration, he was assassinated by a misguided and mis-
taken Southern sympathizer, the bullet of the murderer removed as
true a friend as the South possessed. The war was already at an
end, and had Abraham Lincoln lived to rebuild and reconstruct the
Union he had saved, many of the difficulties of the era of reconstruc-
tion might have been avoided difficulties whose evil effects have not
yet disappeared from our national politics.
ANDREW JOHNSON,, 1808-1875. ONE PARTIAL TERM, 1865-1869.
Andrew Johnson was a native of North Carolina. He was the
son of poor parents, and learning the tailor's trade, he earned his
living for a number of years as a journeyman. He taught himself to
read, and after emigrating to Tennessee he learned from his wife
to write and cipher. He represented his district for several terms
in Congress, and was chosen United States Senator in 1857. He
was nominated for Vice-President by the Republicans in 1864, mainly
to invite votes from the opposite party, as until the war he had been
a consistent Democrat. Unfortunately, he differed with the leading
Republicans in Congress on the question of the manner in which the
States lately in rebellion were to resume their places in the govern-
ment, and the difference grew into a violent quarrel, which lasted
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 389
till the close of his term, and resulted, in 1868, in the impeachment of
the President by Congress. He was acquitted, however, the vote in
the Senate lacking one of the two-thirds necessary to convict. The
chief political events of the administration were the readmission of
six of the seceded States and the adoption of three amendments to
the Constitution the Thirteenth, abolishing slavery; the Fourteenth,
making the negro a citizen, and the Fifteenth, giving him the right
to vote.
During this time, also, the government began the payment of
the war debt, the first Atlantic cable was laid, and Alaska was added
to our national domain.
ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT, l822-l868. TWO TERMS, 1869-1877.
The success which had attended the Union armies after they
passed under the command of General Ulysses S. Grant made him
the popular idol and obviously the most available candidate for Presi-
dent. He was a native of Ohio, a graduate of West Point, and had
served in the Mexican War, where he was promoted for meritorious
conduct in battle. At the opening of the Civil War he raised a com-
pany of volunteers in Illinois, of which State he was then a citizen,
was soon made a brigadier-general, and from that point the story of
his life is a part of the history of the war.
General Grant was the recipient of honors from foreign rulers
and governments such as have been bestowed upon no other Amer-
ican President. His fame as a general was recognized throughout
the world, and although he had no experience in civil affairs, he had
the tact to call into his Cabinet men of great ability, and while he may
have been sometimes misled by designing men, his administration was <
so popular that he was re-elected by a greatly increased majority, and
indeed might have been chosen for a third term, had not the public
feeling been found so strongly opposed to violating the custom in-
augurated by Washington of giving to no President more than two
terms of office. During these two terms the first Pacific railway was
completed; representatives from all the remaining seceded States were
admitted to Congress ; a treaty was concluded with England providing
for the arbitration of the Alabama and other claims, which seemed at
one time likely to involve the two countries in war ; the great fires, in
Chicago and Boston destroyed many millions of property; a panic of
390 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
almost unprecedented severity occurred (1873), and the Centennial
Exhibition took place at Philadelphia. After the close of his term as
President, General Grant made a tour of the world, being everywhere
received with the greatest honor, after which he resided in New York
until attacked by the disease which ended his life on Mount McGregor,
in 1885.
RUTHERFORD B. HAYES, 1822-1893. ONE TERM, l8/7-l88l.
It has frequently happened that when several rival leaders of the
same political party have been candidates for President, the Presi-
dential Convention has found it wisest to nominate some less promi-
nent man, thus avoiding the loss which might result from the choice
of either of the more conspicuous aspirants for the office, and the
consequent offense to the supporters of the others. This was the case
when a successor to General Grant was to be chosen. While Ruther-
ford B. Hayes had been a brigadier-general in the Union Army, and
had twice been elected Governor of Ohio, he was by no means con-
spicuous as a national leader. There was great dissatisfaction with
the course of the men who had obtained control of the political ma-
chinery of the Republican party, and the election depended on the
counting of the electoral votes of Louisiana and Florida. To settle
the legality of these votes, the famous Electoral Commission was
appointed by Congress, and decided in favor of General Hayes as
against his competitor, Samuel J. Tilden. The quiet and peaceful
solution of this dispute is one of the greatest triumphs of our system
of government. The Republican party had been in office for four
Presidential terms, had successfully conducted the affairs of the nation
during the trying and dangerous periods of the Civil War and Re-
construction. Many of the measures which had been during this time
adopted as a part of our system had been consistently and strenuously
opposed by the Democrats. Under these circumstances the Repub-
licans viewed the possible accession to power of the Democratic party
with a degree of alarm, which has since proved to be unjustifiable.
Each party claimed, and probably believed, that its candidate had
been elected, and each was disposed to insist on its rights under the
Constitution. Such a dispute in a country where men's passions are
less under the control of their reason, would inevitably have led to
civil war. The two Houses of Congress were of different politics,
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 391
and their agreement upon what seemed an equitable method of adjust-
ing the dispute, together with the acquiescence of all parties in the
decision of the tribunal thus created, make it a remarkable instance of
the adaptability of our institutions, and go far to justify the most
complete faith in their permanence. General Hayes was a successful
lawyer, a life-long citizen of Ohio, and while his administration gave
great offense to many political leaders, it was generally satisfactory
to the people. At the close of his term he retired to his native State.
The chief events of his Presidency were: His withdrawal of
troops from the South, thus leaving the people of that section to
settle their own questions in their own way; the great railroad and
coal strikes, during which United States troops had to be employed
to suppress violence at Pittsburg, and the resumption of specie pay-
ments, in 1879.
JAMES A. GARFIELD, 1831-1881. ONE PARTIAL TERM, 1 88 1.
The twentieth President was likewise a citizen of Ohio. The
early life of James A. Garfield was somewhat similar to that of
Abraham Lincoln. He had, however, the advantage of early contact
with cultivated people, and while he at one time drove mules upon
the tow-path of a canal, and paid for his tuition by acting as janitor
of the school house, he had opportunities for education of which he
availed himself to the utmost, paying his own way through school
and finally graduating at Williams College. At the opening of the
war he entered the Union Army, and was promoted for his services
at the battle of Chickamauga to the rank of major-general. He left
the army to enter Congress, where he took a leading part, and was
chosen Senator for Ohio, but before taking his seat was elected Presi-
dent. He surrounded himself with able advisers, and high hopes were
entertained of a notably successful administration, when he was shot
by a disappointed office-seeker, dying after two months of suffering,
during which the public sympathy was excited to an extraordinary
degree and was manifested in every possible way.
The single event for which the few months of his Presidency
are remarkable is the quarrel between the President and Senator
Conkling, of New York, as to some of the Federal appointments in
that State. The Senator from New York resigned, and the difficulty
was not adjusted at the time of the President's death.
392 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
CHESTER ALAN ARTHUR, 1830-1886. ONE PARTIAL TERM, 1881-1885.
The Vice-President elected with Garfield was Chester A. Arthur,
of New York. He was not widely known outside of his own State
before his nomination, and he was made the candidate in order to
retain the favor of a large portion of the Republican party in New
York, which had advocated the claims of another candidate, and it
was feared would not otherwise assist in the election of Garfield.
Mr. Arthur had great experience as a political manager, but
little knowledge of the manner in which the government is conducted ;
but he proved a careful, conscientious President, and the country was
well satisfied with his administration. As he had been an adherent of
the political faction with which President Garfield, at the time of his
assassination, was at war, lie was placed in an exceedingly delicate
position, and grave fears were entertained by many people that back-
ward steps would be taken; but the new President extricated himself
from his difficulties with a dignity and a tact which astonished even
those who knew him best, and which gained for him the respect of
the entire country.
During the term of President Arthur, Congress passed the Civil
Service Act, providing for the appointment of subordinate employees
of the government on the basis of merit rather than that of political
influence; the completion of the great East River Bridge united the
cities of New York and Brooklyn, and the immense growth and pros-
perity of the New South justified the brightest anticipations for the
future of that section. Mr. Arthur died in New York a few months
after the close of his term.
STEPHEN GROVER CLEVELAND, 1837. FIRST TERM, 1885-1889.
SECOND TERM, 1893-1897.
The Republican party had now held control of the government
for twenty-five years, and Grover Cleveland was the first Democratic
President since Buchanan. Although a native of New Jersey, he had
been since boyhood a citizen of New York. He began the study of
law in Buffalo at the age of eighteen, and early took an active part in
politics. Having filled several local offices, he was, in 1882, elected
Governor of the State by a phenomenal majority, and in 1884 was the
successful candidate for President.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 393
The transfer of the government from the hands of one political
party to its opponent resulted in no disturbance to the business or
social relations of the people, and although a large number of office-
holders were replaced by men of the opposite political faith, the busi-
ness of the government went on as before.
During Cleveland's administration laws were enacted providing
for the succession to the Presidency of the various members of the
Cabinet in case of the death or disability of the President and Vice-
President; laying down rules for the counting of the electoral votes,
thus supplying the strange deficiency of the Constitution in this
respect ; regulating interstate commerce, and forbidding the immigra-
tion of Chinese laborers into this country. Events of great impor-
tance were the extended labor strikes, which occurred in 1886, and
the Anarchist riot in Chicago in May of that year. Although his
administration had been very satisfactory to the country at large, Mr.
Cleveland failed of re-election, the principal question at issue being
that of a protective tariff. He left Washington to take up the practice
of law in New York City.
BENJAMIN HARRISON, 1833. ONE TERM, 1889-1893.
Mr. Cleveland was succeeded by General Benjamin Harrison,
who secured 233 electoral votes to 168 cast for Mr. Cleveland. Mr.
Harrison was the grandson of the ninth President, and the great-
grandson of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
He was a native of Ohio, was well educated, and was for many years
one of the leading lawyers of Indiana. He entered the Union army
in 1862, and was promoted until, near the close of the war, he reached
the rank of brigadier-general. He was made a United States Senator
in 1880, and came to the Presidency well equipped for the discharge
of its duties.
During his four years of service many events took place which,
have had great weight in molding the future of the country. A
Congress of the American Republics met in Washington, in 1889,
and devised measures by which it was hoped to bring about a closer
commercial union between the Americans ; six new States were added
to the Union ; the tariff laws were revised and clauses added granting
to such nations as offer us reciprocal advantages free admission for
certain of their exports ; the country is being rapidly furnished with a
394 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
new and efficient navy ; the long-standing difficulty with England con-
cerning seal fishing in Behring Sea was adjusted by a treaty provid-
ing for arbitration, and annoying difficulties with Germany, Italy and
Chile were happily settled.
DEMOCRATIC LANDSLIDE.
The Presidential campaign of 1892 was remarkable in several
respects. The leading candidates, ex-President Cleveland and Presi-
dent Harrison, were both men of the highest character and integrity,
each of whom had served the country with notable ability as President
for a term of four years. The people were, therefore, so well ac-
quainted with the candidates that personalities entered little into the
campaign, and the canvass was conducted with less popular enthusiasm
and excitement than ever before. The question most largely discussed
was that of the McKinley tariff, but other important questions, such
as the free coinage of silver and the revival of State banks, entered
largely into the discussion, and had much to do with influencing the
result, especially in the Western States, where party lines were very
largely broken up. The result of the election was almost a political
revolution, ex-President Cleveland being elected by an overwhelming
majority. The Populists also polled a very large vote.
The result of the election was generally accepted as meaning a
condemnation of the McKinley tariff. For the first time in thirty
years the Democratic party had full possession of all branches of the
government.
GROVER CLEVELAND, 1893-1897. PANIC OF 1893.
In the spring and summer of 1893 the country experienced an
unexpected and remarkable stringency in the money market, which
was largely attributed to the operations of what is known as the
Sherman law, by which the government was compelled to purchase
4,500,000 ounces of silver every month. President Cleveland called
an extra session of Congress to meet early in August, for the purpose
of repealing the purchasing clause of the "Sherman Law." This
appeared to bring some relief in the way of restoring confidence, but
it did not come until the country had suffered greatly from the gen-
eral depression of trade and the withdrawal of credits. The banks in
New York, Philadelphia and Boston declined to pay large sums on
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 395
the checks of their customers in currency, but insisted upon payments
being accepted in Clearing House certificates. President Cleveland
was very generally commended for his wise and patriotic action in
dealing with the questions affecting the public interest during this
critical period, though he met with serious opposition within his
own party.
THE HAWAIIAN DIFFICULTY.
One of the most unusual and important events of 1893 was the
movement for the annexation of the Sandwich Islands. Early in the
year, by a successful revolution, without bloodshed, the native Queen,
Lilioukalani, was overthrown and a provisional government estab-
lished, the chief officers of which were Americans by birth or paren-
tage. A proposition for annexation was made by them to the United
States, and a treaty looking to that end was negotiated under the
administration of President Harrison, and sent to the Senate for
ratification. On President Cleveland's accession to office in March,
he withdrew the treaty, and sent Hon. James H. Blount as commis-
sioner to Hawaii to make further investigation. After some months
Mr. Blount made a report, stating that the Hawaiian revolution had
been accomplished by the active aid of the American minister, who
had used American war vessels and troops for that purpose. The
President thereupon made a demand upon the provisional govern-
ment that the Queen should be restored, and in a special message to
Congress urged that view. The provisional government of Hawaii,
however, declined to comply, and Congress took no measures to
restore the monarchy. The affair occasioned intense feeling in the
United States, public opinion in regard to annexation and the policy
of the President being sharply divided.
CHINA AND JAPAN.
During the war between China and Japan, in 1894, President
Cleveland had a conspicuous opportunity to show the world the great
advantage this country enjoys as a mediator between other belligerent
nations, owing to our well-known policy of avoiding foreign entangle-
ments.
396 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
CONFLICT BETWEEN CAPITAL AND LABOR.
In July, 1894, occurred one of the most tremendous conflicts
between capital and labor that have ever taken place in this country.
The American Railway Union, a labor organization of railway em-
ployees, ordered a general strike on all railroads running Pullman
cars. For two weeks traffic was almost at a standstill, and a reign
of terror existed in Chicago, and also in parts of California and other
States of the West. The railroad tracks entering Chicago were be-
sieged by a violent mob ; cars were derailed and burned, switches torn
up, miles of loaded freight cars set on fire, and every means employed
to stop completely the movement of trains. President Cleveland
finally sent troops of the regular army to Chicago, and the riot was
soon quelled. In December, 1894, Eugene V. Debs and other leaders
of the strike were sentenced to terms of imprisonment.
ANOTHER POLITICAL REVOLUTION.
The autumn of 1894 brought a political revolution even greater
than that of 1892 the Republicans being nearly everywhere vic-
torious. The universal depression of business, and the failure of Con-
gress to deal with the tariff and financial measures, created a great
revulsion of feeling against the Democrats, who were overwhelm-
ingly defeated in nearly ever State of the Union. The extent of the
revolution is shown by the fact that while the House of Representa-
tives elected in 1892 contained 219 Democrats and 127 Republicans,
the House elected in 1894 contained 104 Democrats and 246 Repub-
licans.
The Presidential nominations of 1896 showed that the President
did not have the full support of his party. His administration was
not endorsed except by the gold wing, which held a convention at
Indianapolis.
William McKinley was inaugurated March 4, 1897, having Con-
gress in both branches of the same political faith as himself. The
Senate of the Fifty-fifth Congress stood: Democrats, 34; Repub-
licans, 46; Independents and Populists, 10. The House, Democrats,
134; Republicans, 206; Independents and Populists, 16. In the Fifty-
sixth Congress it stood: Senate, Democrats, 26; Republicans, 55;
Independents, 9. In the House: Democrats, 163; Republicans, 185;
Independents, 9.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 397
WILLIAM M'KINLEY, 1843-1901. FIRST TERM, 1897-1901. SECOND
PARTIAL TERM, 1 90 1.
In the summer of 1900 the Cuban people were asked to hold a
convention and form a constitution, with the single proviso that it
should contain no clauses favoring European aggression or inimical
to American interests. This done, American troops and officials would
be withdrawn and Cuba be given over to the Cubans.
The occupation of Porto Rico, on the contrary, was permanent.
It had been fully ceded to the United States, and steps were taken to
make it a constituent part of that country. But the period of transi-
tion from Spanish to American rule was not favorable to the interests
of the people, who suffered severely, their business being wrecked by
tariff discrimination. Action by Congress was demanded, and a bill
was passed greatly reducing the tariff in Porto Rico, but not giving
free trade with the United States, though many held that this was
the constitutional right of the islanders. Under this new tariff busi-
ness was resumed, and the lost prosperity of the island was gradually
restored.
The occupation of our new possessions in the Pacific presented
serious difficulties. This was not the case with Hawaii, which fell
peacefully under its new rule, and in 1900 was made a territory of
the United States. With the Philippine Islands the case was dif-
ferent. There hostility to American rule soon showed itself, and
eventually an insurrection began, leading to a war, which proved
far more protracted and sanguinary than that with Spain.
THE INSURRECTION IN LUZON.
On the 30th of December, 1898, President McKinley had issued
a proclamation to the Philippine people, in which he offered them a
large measure of local self-government, the right to hold office, a fair
judiciary and freedom of speech and of the press. These concessions
were not satisfactory to their leaders, and in January, 1899, a con-
ference was held with General Otis in which the Philippine spokes-
man demanded a greater degree of self-government than he had
authority to grant. As the debate in the Senate upon the treaty of
peace with Spain approached its termination, and promised to end in
the ratification of the treaty and the cession of the islands to the
398 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
United States, the restlessness and hostility of the natives increased,
and on the night of February 4th the threatened outbreak came, in a
fierce attack on the American outposts at Manila. A severe battle
ensued, continuing for two days, and ending in the defeat of the
natives, who had suffered severely and were driven back for miles
beyond the city limits. This inaugurated the Philippine war, which
was speedily organized by the formation of a native republic, with
Emilio Aguinaldo as President and Commander-in-Chief of the army.
Not until the capture of this brave leader by a ruse of General Fun-
ston was the war successfully brought to an end.
THE BOXER OUTBREAK.
Meanwhile the aggressions of European powers in China had
aroused the sentiment of the Dowager-Empress against moderniza-
tion, and she seized the government with a coterie of conservative
advisers.
This revolution in the palace soon made itself felt in the hovel.
A secret society of the common people, known as "The Boxers," rose
in arms, made a murderous onslaught upon the missionaries, who
were widely domiciled within the realm, and soon appeared in the
capital. Here, aided by many of the soldiers, and led by men high in
rank in the anti-foreign party, they made a virulent assault upon the
legation buildings, and put the ministers of the nations in imminent
peril of their lives. These exalted officials were cut off from all com-
munication with their governments, stories of their massacre alone
filtering through, and the powers, roused to desperation by the danger
of their envoys, sent ships and troops in all haste to the nearest point
to Pekin. In this movement the United States actively joined, its
minister, Edwin H. Conger, and the members of the embassy sharing
the common periil.
A small force, made up of soldiers and marines of various nations,
under Admiral Seymour, of the British navy, set out on June nth for
Pekin. This movement failed. The railroad was found to be torn
up, a strong force of Chinese blocked the way, and Seymour and his
men were forced to turn back and barely escaped with their lives.
At the same time a naval attack was made on the forts at Taku ;
Admiral Remey, of the United States Navy, refusing to take part in
this ill-advised action. Its immediate result was an assault in force by
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 399
Boxers and troops on the foreign quarter of the city of Tien Tsin, in
which the Chinese fought with an unexpected skill and persistence.
They were repulsed, but only after the hardest fight which foreigners
had ever experienced on Chinese soil. Early in August a force, con-
sisting of some 16,000 Japanese, Russians, Americans and British, set
out for Pekin. A severe struggle was looked for, and their ability to
reach Pekin seemed very doubtful. At Peitsang, some twelve miles
on the route, the Chinese made a desperate resistance, which augured
ill for the enterprise. On the I4'ch the gates of the capital were as-
sailed, the feeble opposition from within was overcome, and the troops
marched in triumph to the British legation, the stout walls of which
had offered a haven of refuge to the imperiled legationers. So far as
the United States was concerned, the work was at an end. That
country wanted no share in the partition of China. All it demanded
was an "open door" to commerce, an equal share in the important
Chinese trade. No sooner was its minister rescued than it was an-
nounced that the American troops would be withdrawn as soon as
proper relations with the Chinese Government had been consum-
mated, and that in no case would the United States support any land-
seizing projects of the nations of Europe.
THE LEGAL STATUS OF OUR INSULAR POSSESSIONS.
The presence of the President in Washington was needed, for
important political questions had arisen demanding his immediate
attention and extended consultation with the members of his Cabinet.
These arose in consequence of a decision of the Supreme Court of
the United States fixing the status of our insular possessions. In a
number of instances duties had been collected on goods imported from
Porto Rico and Hawaii to this country, and in one instance fourteen
diamonds brought by a soldier from the Philippine Islands had been
seized for non-payment of duty. A decision was rendered by this
court on May 28, 1901, to the effect, that before the Treaty of Paris
Porto Rico was a foreign country and its exports were subject to full
duties. After that treaty it became a domestic territory, and as such
subject to the jurisdiction of Congress while it continued a territorial
possession, the decision being that Congress has the right to admin-
ister the government of a territory and to lay such duties upon its
400 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
commerce as it deems suitable. The effect of this decision was that,
from the signing of the Treaty of Paris till the passage of the Foraker
act fixing the duties at 15 per cent, no duties could legally be collected
on Porto Rican goods. After that act was passed the duties desig-
nated by it could be exacted.
This crucial decision fixed the status of all our insular possessions
under civil control. But the court adjourned without rendering an
opinion on the Philippine case, and as the Philippine Islands differed
from Porto Rico in being under military control, the question as to
the right of the government to collect duties upon Philippine goods
remained unsettled. Many held that the President had no authority
to exact duties, and that it would be necessary to call an extra session
of Congress in order to pass a law governing the Philippine customs;
but the President decided that this was not needed, and that existing
acts of Congress governed this special case.
AFFAIRS IN CUBA AND CHINA.
This was one of the questions which confronted President Mc-
Kinley on his return to Washington. Another had to do with Cuban
affairs. The Cuban Constitutional Convention had accepted the act
of Congress fixing the relations between the United States and Cuba
and establishing what might be called a mild form of protectorate
over the island; but its acceptance was vitiated by conditions which
the President declined to accept, and the question was returned to the
convention with the decisive understanding that the Platt amendment
must be accepted in its entirety, or the military occupation of Cuba
would necessarily, continue. On June 12, 1901, the Cuban Conven-
tion accepted this amendment in its original form, and the sole ob-
stacle to Cuban independence was removed.
Meanwhile the Chinese situation had been modified by the with-
drawal of the American troops, except a legation guard ; other nations
also ordering the withdrawal of their troops and restoring the gov-
ernment to the Chinese. The indemnity demanded from and accepted
by China amounted to $237,000,000, with interest at not over 4 per
cent. This large sum was objected to by the United States Govern-
ment, but was adopted on the demand of the other nations concerned.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 401
OTHER EVENTS OF NATIONAL IMPORTANCE.
Among other events of national importance was the settlement
of the vexed question of the number of soldiers in the army. The
provision to make it 100,000 men was modified on suggestion of Gen-
eral Miles, and the number fixed at 76,000, making one soldier for
every 1,000 of the population. The problem of a ship canal from the
Atlantic to the Pacific was also given a new phase by a proposition
from the French Panama Canal Company to sell their partly com-
pleted canal to the United States. This opened the question as to the
comparative availability of the two routes, the Nicaragua and the
Panama, and left the final choice open to future decision.
One of the most striking events of the year 1901 was the forma-
tion of an industrial combination on an unprecedented scale, a gigantic
union of the steel manufacturing interests of the country, and the
immense capital of $1,100,000,000. A line of steamships was pur-
chased in the interest of this concern, the railroad magnates of the
country added to their holdings, and showed indications of an eventual
general combination of transportation facilities, and the public stood
aghast at these vast operations, in doubt as to where they would end,
or how the interests of the great multitude would be affected. In the
spring of 1902 this combination of interests was added to by a stu-
pendous amalgamation of the transatlantic steamship lines, embracing
nearly all the great passenger and freight steamships plying between
Europe and America; the whole controlled by the American capital-
ists, who were at the head of the new steel and railroad combinations.
It was with such vast financial and industrial operations that the new
century began its career.
ASSASSINATION OF M'KINLEY.
On the afternoon of Friday, September 6, 1901, this country and
the whole world were thrown into consternation as the news was
flashed over the wires that President McKinley had fallen by the hand
of an assassin. There was every hope at first that he would recover,
but after some days there came a relapse, and, although all that
surgical and medical skill could do was done, President McKinley
died early on the morning of September I4th.
402 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
THEODORE ROOSEVELT, 1858. PARTIAL TERM, 1901-1904.
By the provision of the Constitution governing the succession,
Theodore Roosevelt, the Vice-President, became President of the
United States upon the death of William McKinley. He was at the
time seeking recreation in the Adirondacks, but, on receiving the news,
he sped with all haste to Buffalo, where, on September I4th, he took
the oath of office, at the same time pledging himself to carry out the
policy of his predecessor. In addition to his pledge to conform to the
policy of the McKinley administration, he requested all the members
of the Cabinet to remain in office till the end of his term. These
assurances dissipated the feeling of dread that the new President
might inaugurate an untried and disastrous policy, as in some previous
instances of the same kind.
THE ISTHMIAN CANAL.
Several events of much importance took place in the early months
of the new administration, chief among them being definite prelimi-
nary negotiations toward the construction of an isthmian canal. As
a result of the offer of sale by the French Panama Canal Company,
for $40,000,000, and the subsequent report in favor of the Panama
route, under the new circumstances, by the canal commission, a treaty
was negotiated with Colombia on January 22, 1903, giving to the
United States the requisite powers to construct a canal across the
Isthmus of Panama, with "the use and control" of a strip of territory
five kilometers (three miles) wide on each side of the canal, all the
requisite right of neutrality and defense being guaranteed. For these
rights and privileges the United States was to pay Colombia $10,-
000,000, and after the first nine years a rental of $250,000 annually.
On June I9th, the Senate passed a bill in accordance with this
treaty, agreeing to pay the French company $40,000,00 for its rights
in the unfinished canal, and to Colombia such sum as might be agreed
upon, and authorizing the President, in case the Panama route should
not be acquired, to take steps toward the construction of a canal by
the Nicaragua route. The Republic of Colombia was given eight
months from January 22d for the ratification of the treaty, little doubt
being felt on this point; but the Senate of that country, for reasons
not clearly defined, rejected the treaty.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 403
The people of Panama, angered at the prospective loss of the
canal, which they ardently desired, proclaimed a revolution and the
establishment of an independent republic on November 3, 1903. From
that time events moved rapidly. A brief bombardment of the city of
Panama by a Colombian gunboat on the 3d, the landing of United
States marines to protect the railway property on the 4th, the evacua-
tion of Colon by the Colombian troops on the 5th, the tentative recog-
nition of the new government of Panama by the United States on the
6th, and the reception of Philippe Bunan-Varilla as Minister from
the new republic on the I3th, were the chief occurrences.
On November i8th a canal treaty between the United States and
Panama was signed by Secretary Hay and Minister Varilla, and was
ratified shortly afterward by the authorities of the new government.
This treaty differed from the previous one, in favor of the United
States, in the following particulars: It conceded a strip of five miles
wide on each side of the canal, a perpetual lease, and absolute control
by the United States of the canal strip in police, judicial and sanitary
matters, while the $10,000,000 bonus and the annual lease were to be
paid to Panama instead of Colombia.
CUBAN RECIPROCITY.
Among the measures considered during this session of the Fifty-
seventh Congress, one of the most important had to do with Cuban
affairs. In accordance with the constitution adopted for the new
Republic of Cuba, an election was held on the last day of 1901, Tomas
Estrada Palma being chosen for President. The final act in giving
full independence to the island republic was the withdrawal of United
States troops, which was fixed to take place May 20, 1902.
President Roosevelt, feeling that we owed some degree of protec-
tion to the country which he had launched on the high seas of inde-
pendence, advocated in his message a measure of tariff reciprocity
with Cuba, and a bill was finally approved December i6th. The
President signed the treaty on the following day, December 17, 1903.
The treaty provided that a reduction of 20 per cent from the rates of
the Dingley tariff bill of 1897 should be made on all articles of Cuban
production imported into the United States ; Cuba agreeing in return
to make reductions from her tariff rates ranging from 20 to 40 per
404 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
cent on all imported articles of United States production. Thus was
settled a question which had remained open since 1898.
THE ANTHRACITE COAL STRIKE.
Roosevelt's first administration was notable for events of great
importance in the industrial field. The greatest industrial upheaval
of the period, a dispute between the anthracite coal miners of Penn-
sylvania a.nd the operators, ended in a serious strike, nearly one hun-
dred and fifty thousand miners being involved. This strike began on
May 15, 1902, and continued until late in the autumn, by which time
anthracite coal had grown so scarce and high in price as to cause
intense fear of suffering from cold. Coal went up to $20 and more
per ton and was hard to get at any grice.
The situation at length grew so intolerable that President Roose-
velt sought to settle it, and the workmen were finally induced to accept
the decision of a commission of arbitration appointed by him. In
consequence, on October 2Oth, the strike came to an end. The commis-
sioners chosen were Judge George Gray, of the United States Circuit
Court; General John M. Wilson, United States Army; Edward W.
Parker, Edward E. Clark, Thomas H. Watkins, Bishop John L.
Spalding, and Carroll D. Wright, United States Commissioner of
Labor. The commission began its sessions on October 24th, and con-
tinued in session for several months. Its final decision was accepted
with satisfaction by both parties, each gaining some of the points in
contention, and this ended a labor dispute which had affected the
people at large more widely and seriously than any other ever known
in this country.
THE BOUNDARY OF ALASKA.
The boundary between Alaska and Canada, which had been a
subject of serious dispute since the discovery of the valuable gold
deposits of the Klondike, was finally adjusted in 1903 in favor of the
United States. Canada alleged that the true meaning of the boun-
dary established in 1825 by treaty between Russia and Great Britain
was that the line should not follow the windings of the coast at ten
leagues inland, but should be measured from a line intersecting head-
lands and promontories along the coast. This would have given
Canada the head of Lynn Canal and access to the sea without crossing
United States territory.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 405
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE.
To the eight executive departments of the government those of
State, War, Navy, Treasury, Post Office, Justice and Interior and
Agriculture a ninth was added in February, 1903, entitled the "De-
partment of Commerce and Industry," to take control of the rapidly
growing interests of exports, manufactures, transportation and in-
ternal commerce, in which the United States had reached the head of
the great nations of the world. To indicate the magnitude of the
business interests involved, it may be stated that the Bureau of Statis-
tics, which became a part of the new department, estimated the in-
ternal commerce of the country alone at $20,000,000,000, or equal to
the entire international commerce of the world. George B. Cortelyou,
who had served as secretary to the President during several admin-
istrations, was placed at the head of the new department, and became
a ninth member of the President's cabinet.
THE REGULATION OF TRUSTS.
In President Roosevelt's message to Congress of December 2,
1902, an earnest appeal was made for legislation for the regulation
and control of industrial organizations, or trusts, to prevent their
becoming monopolies, and in this way operating against the public
welfare. In response to this appeal Congress passed a bill for the
prevention of discrimination or the giving of rebates in railroad
freight charges, making favoritism of this kind punishable by fine
and imprisonment.
Since then, down to the present, the fight against corruption
under a fearless President has waxed warmer and hotter, until the
nation has been thrown into a seething current of reform. Every
great corporation dealing in public necessities or services has passed
under the scalpel of investigation, and punishment has been meted
out and reform inaugurated where the people's interest demanded.
The Standard Oil Company, the railroads and the meat trusts were
singled out and investigated and regulated as had never before been
done. Life insurance extravagance was curbed, and a general straight-
erning up of business methods and improvement of business morals
has characterized Roosevelt's two administrations.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
DRAMATIC PASSAGES, TRICKS AND TURNING POINTS
IN AMERICAN POLITICS.
BY GEORGE BARTON,
DISTINGUISHED WRITER ON POLITICAL HISTORY.
THE ORATORY OF NATIONAL CONVENTIONS.
Twelve years ago, an eloquent Nebraskan, by a single flight of
oratory, captured a great national convention, and nominated himself
for the Presidency. It has truly been said that no more startling
individual triumph has been recorded in the politics of the century
than that which followed the one effort which enabled William Jen-
nings Bryan to emerge "from mist and obscurity into the bright
sunlight."
This remarkable triumph naturally directs attention to the power
of political oratory and its ability to sway the emotions and the
reasons of men. The convention halls of great political parties are
the national forums wherein the ablest and most eloquent of American
orators are incited to their loftiest efforts. If we except Elaine's
eulogy of the martyred Garfield, and John Hay's admirable oration
on the murdered McKinley, both of which are sure to be numbered
among the classics, few great political orations are comparable with
those notable efforts which sometimes illumine the proceedings of
national political conventions.
It has often been doubted whether oratory, or even eloquence
has any part in bringing about the deliberate results of these large
conventions. James A. Garfield, in the speech which he made in
the National Republican Convention at Chicago in 1880, nominat-
ing John Sherman for the Presidency, put this doubt into words.
He said that not in that brilliant gathering, where fifteen thousand
(406)
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 407
men and women were assembled, was the destiny of the Republic to
be decreed; not there, where he saw the enthusiastic faces of 756
delegates waiting to cast their votes into the urn and determine the
wishes of their party; but by four million Republican firesides,
where the thoughtful fathers, with wives and children about them,
with the calm thoughts inspired by love of home and love of coun-
try, with the history of the past, the hope of the future, and the
knowledge of the great men who had adorned and blessed the nation
in days gone by there God would prepare the verdict that should
determine the wisdom of the work about to be performed by the
convention. Some of these sentiments cannot be gainsaid; but it is
quite certain that in the clays gone by men have captured the multitude
by the magic of their voices, and it is possible that history may still
repeat itself.
CONKLING'S NOMINATION OF GRANT.
The late Roscoe Conkling had few equals as a speaker, and his
address nominating General Grant for the Presidency at the Chicago
Convention in 1880, still stands forth as a masterpiece of nominating
oratory. His opening sentence captured the convention, or at least
that portion of it which stood by Grant so loyally to the last. It
was, "When asked whence comes our candidate, we say, from Ap-
pomattox." That single sentence cast a flood of light upon the
whole history of the candidate who was about to be placed in nomi-
nation. It showed the grim unpretending soldier who had little to
say, but who always achieved notable results. Some of the other
paragraphs in that notable address will live forever, and have been
used and re-used in their entirety and in modified forms by political
orators from that day to this. For instance, note this sentence
against the enemies of Grant: "The ammunition of calumny has all
been exploded; the powder has all been burned at once; its force is
spent, and General Grant's name will glitter as a bright and imper-
ishable star in the diadem of the Republic when they who have tried
to tarnish it will have mouldered in forgotten graves and their mem-
ories and epitaphs have vanished utterly." And then its conclusion,
which was : "We have only to listen above the din and look beyond
the dust of an hour to behold the Republican party advancing to
victory, with its greatest marshal at its head." Senator Conkling's
408 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
oratory breathed of his personality it was dogmatic, majestic and
imperious; but in spite of all this and the unwavering persistence of
the 306, Grant did not obtain the nomination in that convention.
ELAINE, THE PLUMED KNIGHT.
Another notable nominating speech was the oration for such
it was wherein Robert G. Ingersoll placed the names of James G.
Elaine before the Republican delegates who had gathered in national
convention at Cincinnati in 1876. Ingersoll said that the country
crowned with the vast and marvelous achievements of its first cen-
tury, asked for a man who had the audacity of genius; asked for a
man who was the grandest combination of heart, conscience and
brain beneath her flag. Then he pictured Elaine as a statesman who
had preserved in Congress what our soldiers had won upon the
field; and from this proceeded to discuss the charges that had been
made against Elaine by his enemies. He accounted for them by
saying that Elaine was the man who had torn from the throat of
treason the tongue of slander, and who was, moreover, an intellec-
tual athlete who had stood in the arena of debate and challenged
all comers. Then came that imperishable sentence: "Like an armed
warrior, like a plumed knight, James G. Elaine marched down the
halls of the American Congress and threw his shining lance full and
fair against the brazen foreheads of the defamers of his country and
the maligners of his honor." This is the portion of Ingersoll's ad-
dress which will live when the other parts of it have been forgotten.
And yet his peroration aroused his hearers to a state of almost
hysterical enthusiasm. It was when he said that Illinois, in nomi-
nating Elaine for the Presidency, did so in the name of the Republic,
in the name of all her defenders, in the name of all her supporters,
in the name of all her soldiers living, in the name of all her soldiers
dead upon the field of battle, and in the name of those who perished
in the skeleton clutch of famine at Andersonville and Libby. It was
also in this speech that Ingersoll gave Elaine that other caption, "The
Prince of Parliamentarians."
GARFIELD'S BOOMERANG SPEECH.
General Garfield was a splendid orator a fact that he demon-
strated both on the floor of the House of Representatives and the
LEADING STATESMEN OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.
Senator Benj. R. Tillman, South Carolina.
Senator Joseph W. Bailey, Texas.
Senator John W. Daniel, Virginia.
Joseph W. Folk, Missouri.
Rep. John S. Williams. Mississippi.
Rep. W. Bourke Cockran, New York.
LEADING MEN OF THE CAMPAIGN OF 1908.
Senator Charles Dick, Ohio.
Senator Albert .1. Beverldge. Indiana.
Senator Nelson W. Aldrich, Rhode Ij, \nd.
Senator J. P. Dollivf r. Iowa.
Thomas P. Gore, Ol lahoma.
Seen tary George B. Cortelyou, New York.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 409
United States Senate. His speech in the National Republican
Convention at Chicago in 1880, in nominating Elaine, has probably
been one of the most discussed and most criticised pieces of nomi-
nating oratory in the last half century. Garfield's unexpected nomi-
nation for the Presidency in that convention brought with it a flood
of rumors regarding his loyalty to John Sherman. Those who try
to impeach his sincerity point to this nominating speech as a proof
of their skepticism. There were several sentences in it that might
be construed in this manner. He compared the demonstrations in
the convention to an ocean in a tempest. He said he had seen the
sea lashed into a fury and tossed into a spray, and had gazed upon
it when its grandeur moved the soul of the dullest man; but he said
that he also remembered that it was not the billows, but the calm
level of the sea from which all heights and depths were measured.
Then he warned the convention that its enthusiastic temper might
not mark the healthful pulse of the people. Going on in this delib-
erate manner, he spoke of the possibilities of defeat, and warned the
delegates to deliberate very carefully before making their choice.
When he said, "We 'want a man whose life and opinions embody
all the achievements of which I have spoken," a voice in the gallery
cried out : "Garfield, Garfield." When General Garfield went on
and added, "We want one who will act in no spirit of unkindness
towards those we lately met in battle," several other voices among
the delegates echoed and re-echoed the cry of "Garfield, Garfield."
In concluding his address, he said : "I do not present him as a better
Republican, or as a better man than thousands of others we honor,
but I present him for your deliberate consideration. I nominate
John Sherman, of Ohio." Those who desire to be critical point to
this as a very cold way of presenting the name of a favorite candi-
date; but it is proper to say that nothing specific has ever been pro-
duced to show that General Garfield did not act with perfect good
faith towards Senator Sherman in that convention.
HANCOCK THE "SUPERB."
Daniel Dougherty's speech nominating General Winfield Scott
Hancock for the Presidency in the Democratic National Convention
in Cincinnati in 1880 was also one of the notable pieces of platform
oratory. The speech did not last more than five minutes; but it
410 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
compressed a great deal of meat in a very few lines of space, and
brought forth a beautiful sentence by which Hancock was denomi-
nated as the "superb." Dougherty, in the ardor of his speech, cried
out: "With him as our chieftain, the bloody banner of the Repub-
licans will fall from their palsied grasp."
The speech of Daniel H. Hastings, of Pennsylvania, nominat-
ing John Sherman at another and later convention, is also pointed
out as a model of what these things should be. Hastings also made
a hit in the Chicago Convention of 1896, when he presented the
name of Matthew Stanley Quay as the choice of the Pennsylvania
delegates for the Presidency. On that occasion, Senator Platt, of
New York, through Chauncey M. Depew, nominated Governor
Morton, of New York, as the choice of the Empire State delegates
for the Presidency. This was a compliment of both Quay and Mor-
ton, as well as a unique and delicate way of showing how the notable
leaders of the party held the delegates of their State in hand. Hastings
only spoke for three or four minutes, but also with great vigor and
effect. His last sentence may be quoted as a specimen of how to
condense a great deal of thought into a few words. It was when he
said, speaking of Quay, "His mental endowments, broad-minded
statesmanship, ripe experience, marvelous sagacity, unassuming
modesty, knightly courage and true Americanism are unexcelled.
Nominate him, and he will elect himself."
BRYAN'S "CROWN OF THORNS" AND "CROSS OF GOLD" SPEECH.
The most recent experience of the effect of convention hall oratory
in America was that of 1896 in Chicago, when W. J. Bryan, com-
ing in as a contested delegate, finally left the hall as the nominee
of the Democratic party for the Presidency of the United States. His
great "crown of thorns and cross of gold" speech was made upon
the question of the adoption of the silver platform, reported on by
the Committee on Resolutions. David B. Hill, of New York, made
the speech on behalf of the minority of the committee, protesting
against the silver plank. This speech of Hill's was really a notable
effort and never received anything like the publicity or credit that
it deserved. This was probably because it was calm, cold-blooded,
reasoning argument from beginning to end, and one that naturally
fell unheeded on the ears of the hysterically inclined delegates who
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 411
composed the greater part of the convention. The great effect of
Bryan's speech came rather from the manner of its delivery than
from what it actually contained. For instance, the part that was
most enthusiastically applauded, and which set the convention in
an uproar for nearly half an hour, was an argument in favor of the
workingman in contradistinction to what is generally known as the
"business man." Mr. Bryan, in this argument, said that the man
who was employed for wages was as much a business man as the
corporation counsel in a great metropolis; that the merchant at the
cross-roads store was as much a business man as the big merchant
of New York; that the farmer who went forth in the morning and
toiled all day was as much of a business man as the man who went
upon the Board of Trade and bet upon the price of grain; that the
man who went a thousand feet under the earth or climbed two thou-
sand feet upon the cliffs and brought forth from their hiding places
the precious metals to be poured into the channels of trade was as
much a business man as the few financial magnates who in a back
room cornered the money of the world. Of course, none of these
points could be controverted; but the manner in which they were
set forth by Mr. Bryan and the magic of his eloquence cast a spell
over the men whom he was addressing, and they received them as
something entirely new. And then when he stood up in a heroic
attitude and exclaimed that the silver men were fighting in defense
of their homes, their families and their posterity, the applause of
the multitude knew no bounds. It was at this point in his address
that Mr. Bryan cried out: "You shall not press upon the brow of
labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a
cross of gold."
II. THE STRATEGY OF AMERICAN POLITICS.
The chairman of the campaign committee of a great political
party, in these days, is called upon to perform a task, compared to
which the twelve labors of Hercules were a dull and uninteresting
performance. He must have a prodigious memory, a persuasive
personality, a sense of humor, an outstretched hand and a closed
heart, a fertile brain, a nerve of steel, the knack of suppressing idiotic
candidates, the faculty of drawing liberal contributions from unwill-
ing pockets, the strength to keep his mouth shut when tempted to
412 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
talk, the art of appearing interested when listening to bores, the
ability to pack thirty hours of work into every twenty-four-hour day,
and the shrewdness to grasp, immediately, the strategic possibilities
of every situation that arises during the campaign.
A distinguished soldier once said, that in all battles, a moment
occurs when the bravest troops, after having made the greatest
efforts, feel inclined to run. This observation applies with equal
force to momentous political contests. A campaign that has lasted
for months may be won or lost in a day, an hour, or a moment. The
master of men, who has been in many engagements, always discerns
that moment. He endeavors to inspire his troops with confidence.
He is quick to conceive and prompt to execute. It is his mission to
place the enemy on the defensive, and then while the men on both
sides are busily engaged in mock battle, to win the day by some
brilliant piece of political strategy.
The conduct of a political campaign calls for the highest order
of executive intelligence. Candidates and parties no longer blunder
into victory. The successive stages of a campaign are marked out
with the greatest precision, and the seasoned campaigner handles
his men and his materials with the same carefulness with which a
captain plans his battles and moves his troops. He employs scouts
and spies, and maintains an organized secret service with which he
endeavors to ascertain the weakness, the strength and the general
resources of the enemy. Public meetings and literature form but
the smoke of battle, beneath the cover of which he executes his
cleverest manceuvres and forms the lines of battle which may lead
to ultimate victory.
A man of ordinary capacity can swim with the tide and make
a good showing; but it requires unusual cleverness, if not positive
genius, to stem the current of a losing campaign, and to grasp
victory from the abyss of defeat. Timid men predominate in every
army, and if a sufficient number can be influenced the result is
assured. During a certain memorable campaign for a gubernatorial
nomination, the victor owed his ultimate selection to two brass
bands and eight transparencies. The action lay in an Eastern State,
and the occasion was a fierce factional fight in the party organiza-
tion. The leaders of the opposing forces were the Governor of the
State and the Mayor of the chief city of the commonwealth.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 413
The Governor had been the recognized leader of his party for
many years. The Mayor, flushed with newly acquired power, sought
to snatch the sceptre of authority from the older man. The issue
came when the Governor announced his candidacy for renomination.
The Mayor, once his friend and follower, raised the standard of
revolt and placed himself at the head of the recalcitrant forces. The
contest, lasting over three months, was fought with unexampled
bitterness and stubbornness. Officeholders, newspapers, corporations
and personal friends of the candidates threw themselves into the thick
of the fight with energy and enthusiasm, until every nook and corner
of the State was in an uproar. Voters argued on the street corners,,
wrote letters, and shouted themselves hoarse at unnumbered mass
meetings. Results hinged upon the election of delegates to the State
Convention. Both sides claimed to have won a majority of these
delegates.
MAYOR AGAINST GOVERNOR.
Skirmishes in precincts, wards and districts being at an end, the
battle was transferred to the State Capitol, where the convention was
to be held. Each side had a number of pledged delegates, who formed
a solid phalanx that could be neither bribed, bamboozled, nor bullied.
Every day added to the tenseness of the situation. Here and there a
doubtful delegate came out in the open and declared himself. But the
gains and losses from these sources just balanced themselves. On the
night before the convention, each side called a caucus of their fol-
lowing. It was to be the first tangible test of strength, and the result
was looked forward to with undisguished anxiety.
The caucus of both factions was held behind closed doors, and
admittance was by ticket only. The stuffy tobacco-laden halls where
the meetings took place, were packed to the point of suffocation. It
was a common saying that the Governor had taught the Mayor all
that he knew about politics, but not all that he (the Governor) knew
about the subtle game. The proof of that was to be demonstrated at
the critical juncture. The Mayor's caucus, composed chiefly of the
younger element of the party, was so filled with enthusiasm that it was
difficult to call the roll. Finally order was partially restored, and the
performance began. As delegate after delegate responded to his name,
he was greeted with ear-splitting cheers; 189 votes were needed for a
4 i4 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
choice; and when the secretary had ceased, 183 men had been recorded
in favor of the Mayor. The result was received in dead silence. In
politics, a miss is as good as a mile, and the failure of those six neces-
sary votes to respond was accepted as the silence of defeat. Whispered
conferences, pale-faced mutterings, and the confused running hither
and thither only served to emphasize impending disaster. And there
they sat for ten or fifteen minutes in a state of hopeless inactivity.
Simultaneously the roll was being called at the rival caucus. The
Governor sat upon the platform, looking, if he did not feel, confident.
The monotonous call preceded, slowly, painfully, until the last name
had been reached. Several delegates were keeping score on bits of
paper, and they realized, almost at the same moment, that only 181 del-
egates had responded to their names, and that the Governor was eight
votes short of the required number. But the chief actor was on the
alert. Before the truth had time to dawn on the bewildered caucus, he
was on his feet.
THE GOVERNOR'S STRATAGEM.
"I notice," he shouted, in fine disregard of the truth, "that a
number of delegates have entered the hall since the roll-call began. I
would ask that the secretary call the names of those who have failed
to answer to the roll."
Hope sprang up in the breasts of the unknowing ones ; confidence
was restored. The secretary called the names, and a dozen apt lieu-
tenants benevolently answered to the names of those who were not
fortunate enough to be present. Ere the sound of the secretary's voice
had died out, the Governor was on his feet again, shouting :
"We have 192 delegates and have won the fight."
Bedlam broke loose. Hats were thrown in the air, handkerchiefs
waved, canes whirled, and men slapped one another on the back and
joined in one mighty shout that penetrated the Mayor's caucus, and
threw a pall, like a wet blanket, over the helpless and inactive majority
that sat there, moping in sickly silence. But the Governor had not
completed his coup d'etat. Mysteriously two brass bands emerged
from nowhere ; six brawny men with lighted transparencies appeared ;
a man with a pot of paint, inscribed upon them, in wide lettering, the
cabalistic "192." Over the figures was the word "Victory," and
beneath them various allusions to the fact that "our old commander"
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 415
was still in the saddle. Box after box of red fire and hundreds of
roman candles were magically discovered; a parade was hastily impro-
vised ; the procession started, and the Governor in an open barouche,
amid the strains of martial music and a lavish display of pyrotechnics,
stood bowing his thanks to the multitudes that lined the sidewalks.
All that remained was the formality of holding the convention.
The doubtful delegates that had sat on the fence for many weary
weeks gracefully dropped over into the Governor's back yard. Men
who in reality wanted only a fair opportunity to desert his standard,
assured him of their life long devotion. Delegation after delegation
composed of men who despise a loser, deserted the Mayor. It was
even proposed, in an outburst of ardor, that the Mayor should place
the Governor in nomination. But the Governor shook his head depre-
catingly; said, with a fine show of magnanimity, that his rival had
made a splendid fight and should be given an opportunity of showing
his strength in the convention. When the next day dawned and the
Governor had received the votes of four-fifths of the delegates, he,
with becoming humility, said he owed his victory entirely to the loyal
fellows who had remained with him throughout the campaign. And
when the Mayor, leaving his seat, advanced sheepishly up the middle
aisle of the convention hall, and moved to make the nomination unani-
mous, the Governor, with beautiful dramatic effect, walked from the
platform and publicly shook him by the hand.
And the two bands played on! And the six transparencies were
relegated to their political limbo, where all used-up political parapher-
nalia is supposed to go.
QUAY AND THE NEW YORK DIRECTORY.
The story of how Matthew Stanley Quay met and worsted Tam-
many Hall on its own battlefield, in 1888, and elected a President of
the United States, constitutes one of the dramatic pages of American
political history. Men differ widely in their estimates of the char-
acter and career of Senator Quay; but all concede that he was
without a peer as an organizer, and that few approach him for
masterly political generalship. When he was unexpectedly elected
to the Chairmanship of the Republican National Committee in 1888,
he deliberately went off on a ten days' fishing trip. The unthinking
were astonished at this apparent indifference to the responsibilities of
4 i6 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
the exceptionally important position to which he had been called. But
confirmed fishermen are usually philosophers, and all the time that
Chairman Quay was pulling in the elusive fish he was thinking out his
plan of campaign. He reached three definite conclusions. First, that
the election of General Harrison hinged chiefly, if not entirely, upon
a Republican victory in the Empire State. Second, that to win New
York it was absolutely essential to keep down the Democratic majority
in New York City. Third, that to keep down the big Tammany plu-
ralities, it was necessary to head off the wholesale registration of
unqualified voters.
Having carefully thought out all of this, Quay proceeded to New
York and opened headquarters in a brown-stone house on Fifth Ave-
nue. He saw many visitors, arranged for collecting campaign funds,
and sent out tons of literature. Frequenters of the room sniffed the
air and said it was the same old campaign conducted on the same old
principles.
But simultaneously with Quay's arrival in New York, a dapper
looking chap, with the manners of a sharp business man, opened a
suite of rooms on Broadway, and announced that he was about to pub-
lish a new city directory. Scores of canvassers were engaged and
dozens of typewriters were put to work. Evidently the task of gather-
ing the names of the citizens of New York was to be done in a
methodical and complete manner. New York, indifferent at best,
simply noted that a new business concern had begun operations, and
went on attending to its affairs. The canvassers were industrious
men. They worked from morning until night, and from Monday
until Saturday, for weeks and months. If one had been of a curious
turn of mind, he would have noticed that the canvassers paid particular
attention to the East Side and the Tenderloin district, and that an
unusual effort was made to get the exact name and occupation of every
man in every room of the tenements and rookeries of that section.
"Say dat I'm associated with Pepperpot Morgan" was one of the char-
acteristic retorts from a seven-point tough to a canvasser.
MAKING MAPS OF THE CITY.
After the names had been dumped in by the canvassers by the tens
of thousands, affairs took a new turn at the city directory head-
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 417
quarters. A force of competent draughtsmen were employed, and they
were placed at work making- maps of the city. Before they finished
there were hundreds of these maps, filled with red lines and dotted
lines and shaded lines. Every house in every street in New York
appeared on these maps. If the house was a tenement house, or a
lodging house, or a saloon, or a speak-easy, the fact was noted on the
map. Surely this must be the most remarkable city directory ever
published in the metropolis. Besides designating the location and
character of each house, data were prepared showing the number of
rooms contained in each store or dwelling, the number of people
beneath its roof, and the number of persons that could, by any possi-
bility, be crowded within its four walls.
Strange to say, these books were never sent to a publisher. But
if a Sherlock Holmes had watched the directory house carefully, he
would have discovered that the books, from time to time, were dis-
creetly caried to the rooms of the National Republican Committee
and that Colonel Quay would sit up, far in the night, studying these
queer maps. When he concluded his study, he had grasped the poli-
tics of New York as thoroughly as if he had lived in the metropolis
all of his life. More than that, he had in his possession the char-
acter of every house, the name and reputation of every occupant
of the house, the number of votes that each precinct should give, and
the number it could give.
And the sachems of Tammany Hall, puffed up with the prestige
of a wonderfully successful organization, sat in their wigwams and
smoked their pipes and sneered at the quiet little man who had come
over from the village of Philadelphia to show Manhattan how the
national election should be conducted. The spies that had been sent
to the rooms of the Republican National Committee reported that
the enemy was conducting "a campaign of education" and that Quay,
who was a sleepy looking fellow, spent most of his time, alone, in his
private office, reading books. Whereat their was great merriment in
the wigwam. A campaign of education? It was the dream of a
theorist! A political chairman spending his time reading books?
How absurd to practical men. But the directory establishment went
merrily on, and Quay continued his readings. The elevated trains
whizzed by the offices of the new city directory company and the New
418 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
Yorkers glanced idly in at the second story windows and wondered
when the directory would be published. And the Tammanyites slept
on in fancied security.
On the eve of the election the truth came out, and Tammany
stood aghast. But Quay had the information and had proof in his
possession that would lead to the arrest and imprisonment of every
man that attempted to register falsely. To prove that he was in earnest,
he deposited $50,000 in a responsible national bank, to be used in
paying rewards to those who gave information that would lead to the
conviction of those falsely registering. New York never had a cleaner
registration than it had that year. Harrison was elected President of
the United States and Quay became the most abused man in American
politics.
THE MAN WHO WAS LOST IN THE MOUNTAINS.
During a recent campaign the National Republican Committee
made a successful attempt to distract the attention of the opposition
by making a pretence of carrying a number of Southern States, includ-
ing Tennessee, North Carolina and West Virginia. Trusted men were
sent into these States, with instructions to build up organizations, to
strengthen those already in existence, and to do all in their power to
carry an occasional Congressional District in order to insure a work-
ing party majority in the National House of Representatives.
The man who went into North Carolina was one of the shrewdest
political workers in America. He was patient and persistent, and
familiar with every little detail of his profession. He worked quietly,
too, and he had been in the State for six weeks before his presence
was suspected by the enemy. Then the Democratic National Com-
mittee went after him with resolution and energy. They, too, sent a
man into the State, and his orders were to undo all of the work of the
first man, to mingle with the people, and to advertise the fact that a
carpet-bagger was in their midst for the purpose of having a Demo-
cratic State give a majority for a Republican candidate.
The Republican emissary was justly startled at this outlook. The
thought of losing all the results of his patient labor was discouraging.
But that was not the worst; the rough mountaineers, when they
learned the truth, might do him physical violence. So he telegraphed
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 419
the situation to New York, and asked for instructions. In due time
came the reply, "Lose him in the mountains." Beneath this was a
cautionary postscript, "Do not take these instructions literally." The
rush and bustle of work in the New York headquarters blotted out all
recollection of North Carolina. The Democratic Committee consid-
ered it so safely anchored in their column that it was given very little
thought. The Republicans were so engrossed in trying to carry really
debatable States that the forgot the Turpentine State. Election day
came and passed, and nothing was heard from North Carolina. The
man who had so glibly ordered his agent to "lose" his opponent "in
the woods" felt troubled. What if he had been fool enough to take
such a hint seriously ! Murder was a horrible crime ; none the less so
when it was a political crime.
While he was in the midst of his unpleasant cogitations, who
should come in but his North Carolina emissary, dressed in a new
Scotch plaid suit, stroking his moustache and smelling of the barber
shop, and smiling in a very broad way.
"Hello, Buck!" shouted the headquarters man; I'm awfully glad
to see you. How are you anyhow ?"
"Never felt better; I'm in the pink of condition," was the still
smiling response.
'What did you do with that man in North Carolina?" in tones
of the deepest solicitude.
"Oh, I got rid of him all right; he didn't trouble me after I got
your telegram."
"You didn't you didn't kill him!" in an awed and sepulchral
voice.
"Naw!" was the reply in rising tones; "I'm not a bungler. I
had him arrested for passing counterfeit money; he was put in prison
and kept there until after the election."
And the smile returned to the countenance of the headquarters
man.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
THE DANGER OF CENTRALIZATION AND THE LOSS OF
INDIVIDUALITY.
BY WOODROW WILSON,
PRESIDENT OF PRINCETON UNIVERSITY.
Our peculiar and fundamental moral problem is this: where and
how shall we separate the individual from the mass, lift the individual
soul out of the confusion and distraction of modern societies, unions,
brotherhoods, leagues, alliances, corporations, and trusts into some
clear place of vision, where it may think and see apart, looking beyond
the things of the day to the things that abide. You will find that you
cannot pool your conscience; you had better, then, not try to pool
your morals. Keep your liberty in the one and you can afford to
live with the other.
Look about you with candid eye and you shall find that the
malady of the age is lack of individual courage, lack of individual
integrity of thought and action. We need not speak of other countries
or sweep a whole age into our generalization. Let us confine our view
to our own day and our own country. What is the law of life in
America now? Is it that every man should form his own moral judg-
ments and speak them fearlessly, that every man should seek to govern
his own life and square it with his own independent moral judgments?
Of course there never has been a time or a society in which the indi-
viduals emerged from the mass in noticeable multitudes and the air
was quick with active independence. It has always been the excep-
tional individual here and there who asserted his own rights of con-
science and took command of his own conduct. Does America to-day
show a large or a small proportion of such men ? That is our ultimate
test of vitality.
(420)
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 421
"A people is but the attempt of many
To rise to the completer life of one,
And those who live as models to the mass,
Are singly of more value than they all."
Let us start, then, with the open eyes of men who see the truth.
We know the difference between right and wrong, between what is
honorable and what is dishonorable, between what stands square with
conscience and what lies athwart its standards. Let us go out and
honor ourselves by enacting righteousness in the field of affairs; by
refusing to put our conscience at the service of any man, of any
corporation; by playing a part, at whatever temporary cost, which
will not cost us our individual liberty and integrity.
I shall not have to lay before you any elaborate picture of the
world we now live in as preface to my moral. Men do not choose
their parts in life separately and individually in our day, as they did
in the days of our fathers. The men are becoming rare now who
have businesses of their own, undertaken upon their own individual
capital and built up and conducted independently upon their own
responsibility. Professional men are rare who rise to the top of their
profession without attaching themselves more or less intimately to
institutions or corporations of some sort doctors to hospitals, law-
yers to great corporate undertakings, men of science to the great
enterprises in which science is applied.
Every affair of life takes on more and more the aspect and prac-
tice of wide organization; many men are drawn together in a com-
mon discipline and body; each man finds himself a small part of some
great whole, whose operation is decided by votes taken about long
tables in directors' rooms, whose morals are composite morals, a com-
promise combination of what the material interests of the body dic-
tate and what the enterprise of its managers suggests, the character
of every man who participates being merged in the general com-
pound. Each man concerned feels the range of his own choice to be
very narrow, and is forced to be content with seeing questions of
conscience either ignored or administered by commission. It is a com-
posite world, and its standards are for the time being sadly confused
by its attempt to compound its morals with its material ambitions,
to set up composite notions of righteousness and dispense virtue
through the intricacies of an elaborate organization.
422 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
The tendencies of our minds, the tendencies of our age, have
affected alike our standards and our conduct. We have grown very
"practical." We have seen the life about us and the life of which we
form a part take on a certain organization in which men were, so to
say, pooled and compounded, and enormous material energy, unex-
ampled business efficiency have been the result. We have stood
amazed, with a sort of childish delight, at the work of our own hands.
Success upon the grand scale has meant power upon a scale unpre-
cedented, the power of the individual and the power of the nation.
The eyes of all the world have been turned upon America in uneasy
wonder and admiration, with a touch of fear as well as of amaze-
ment. We have said, "Behold, it is a good thing! Look at its tre-
mendous efficiency! It is the glory of America, of the practical
American genius, the colossal success which has crowned all the rest
that preceded it. What if the individual is submerged? That is the
inevitable result of the system. It may be moralized, that is, con-
trolled, as a whole, by law, but it would break down under the too
great self-assertion of the individual." The moralist, not infatuated
by the gross material results, can only reply : "Then it will inevitably
break down."
Our present cynicism will not last, is not lasting. The ten-
dency to be "practical" will not conquer the tendency to be moral.
The great awakening we have just had to the moral aspects of so
much of modern business is but the beginning of the change. The
moralist will dictate both to the lawyer and to the man of business.
There is no more subtle dissolvent of morals than sentimentality,
and there is no more hopeless method of seeking to moralize an age
than beginning at the edges. Go straight to the point. Put every
individual, great and small, upon a stern probation. Let him not
escape your judgment because he is unfortunate and well meaning.
Be just. Distinguish what is not really unrighteous. Go to Christ
for the abiding standards of moral judgment. Be sure that you
allow the individual his real liberty to live truly and serve loyally.
Do not impose your private judgments upon him, but within the limits
of Christian justice judge inflexibly. Let standards be standards, not
sliding scales that follow your sympathies. Judge men according to
their essential character, but demand that they have some essential
character to be judged, and be not time-servers.
CHAPTER XL.
THE NEGRO IN AMERICA.
BY BOOKER T. WASHINGTON AND OTHERS.
That the negro is a mighty factor in the industrial, commercial,
political and social history of America, and that he will become more
and more so as the years go by, needs no argument with the student
of history, or the political economists and statesmen, who forecast the
future from the signs of the present and the records of the past The
one point on which all agree is that the negro is here to stay; and,
however much strife there may be between him and his white fellow
citizens, all will admit that the negro has proved himself to be a loyal
American, proud of his country and patriotic; and that he has no in-
tention of leaving the land of his former slavery and his present
citizenship. The negro problem is a serious one, and it is also a
national problem. It is not confined to the South, as many superficial
thinkers are wont to supppse. The terrible race riots in Springfield,
111., in August, 1908, show that it is a race problem and not a sec-
tional question. It is introduced into this book because of its impor-
tant national significance. To those who would study the question
broadly from an economic, political and social standpoint we must
advise that they seek the libraries, where they will find utterances by
well-known students of the problem, published in numerous magazines
and recent books. This significant suggestion is offered by Andrew
Carnegie :
"After a period of fifty years we are to inquire whether the
American negro has proved his capacity to develop and improve. This
I propose to answer by citing facts.
"The first question the ethnologist will naturally ask is : 'Has he
proved himself able to live in contact with civilization, and increase
as a freeman, or does he slowly die out like the American Indian,
Maori or Hawaiian?' The census answers that the total number of
(423)
424 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
negroes in America in 1880 was 6,580,793; in 1900 was 8,840,789.
Increase in twenty years 2,259,996, equal to 34.3 per cent, almost
double the rate of increase of the United Kingdom, and within 3 per
cent of the increase of America, white and black combined. The
negro race numbers to-day about 10,000,000. It does not increase as
fast as the white in America because there is no black immigration;
taking only native whites and blacks, their relative increase must be
about equal. There is no trace of decline here, but a surprisingly
rapid rate of increase, one of the surest proofs of a virile race cal-
culated to survive in the struggle for existence. The first test, there-
fore, we may consider successfully met." Mr. Carnegie in his able
article in "Government," Volume III, No. 3, from which the -above
paragraph is quoted, discusses the achievements and possibilities of
the negro race in a logical and convincing manner, that leaves little
doubt as to the black man's fixedness as a factor in American life and
government, and the necessity of providing properly for his recogni-
tion and advancement with the least possible danger to the two races
and the least possible friction between them.
Senator Benjamin R. Tillman, of South Carolina, sees grave
threatenings of race war and slaughter, increasing with the coming
years, in the whole country and particularly in the South if the negro
is allowed to continue to exercise the right of the ballot. He believes
it is better in fact that it is only safe to withhold the right of suf-
frage in America from all except the Caucasian race. This he argues
would discriminate against no race in particular, but against Indian,
Chinaman, Japanese and African alike and would insure the per-
petuity of the "white man's rule" in the United States, and avoid
race war that he believes is now a dire menace to the nation.
John Temple Graves advocates the enfranchisement of the negro
and the disfranchisement of the white man in certain States. This he
thinks would tend to segregate the two races, prevent trouble and
elevate them both, without denying political rights to either race.
The scope of this article does not permit dwelling upon these
theories, however interesting and worthy of place and thought they
may be. It is better that we devote the space at command to the con-
sideration of the question as far as possible from the negro's stand-
point by one of their own leaders.
GEORGE B. McCLELLAN .
This picture shows the Mayor of the Metropolis of North America
at his desk in the City Hall.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 425
THE NEGRO'S CLAIM UPON AMERICA.
BY BOOKER T. WASHINGTON.
As set forth in an address delivered before the National Educational Association
in 1908 at Cleveland, Ohio.
"One-fourth of the physical territory in the United States is
comprised in a territory in which the negro is depended upon very
largely as the chief laborer. A careful examination into the facts
will convince one that in our Southern States the productive power of
the individual, especially on the farm, is less by three or four times
than the productive -power of our Northern and Western States.
"Against his own will the negro has been settled upon a large part
of our territory. For reasons which I need not try to explain in detail,
the negro, in my opinion, is going to remain upon this territory. He
is going to remain here; he is going to occupy the field very largely
as a laborer, and for these reasons :
"First, that he does not care to go away;
"Second, because the white man does not want him to go ; and
"Third, because he is here first, and this act within itself, aside
from other conditions, will for a number of years prevent other labor-
ing classes from going very largely into the Southern States.
"The broad question then which I wish to present to the American
people is this : Shall we permit the negro to remain upon this terri-
tory, getting the least out of the soil, or shall we by education and
proper industrial training fit him to get the most out of the soil ? The
negro race in America now numbers not far from ten millions. Within
a few years, perhaps in this generation, the race will have increased
to fifteen millions. I repeat that they are going to remain in this
country for all time, and principally in the Southern States. These
millions of my race can be made useless or useful. They can be made
to help or to hinder. They can be made to become criminals or law-
abiding citizens. They can be made potent factors of the intelligence
of our country, or they can become a load of ignorance, dragging
down our civilization. Which shall it be ?
"I do not ask you to undertake the impossible or impracticable.
It has been clearly demonstrated that education makes the negro less
criminal, that it makes him less thriftless, that it makes him more
industrious, that it makes him more helpful in the maintenance of his
duty as a citizen in the community in which he lives. It has also been
426 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
demonstrated in proportion as the negro is educated he becomes more
useful as a producer ; that he secures a home ; that he becomes a tax-
payer. The negro already pays taxes in America after only a few
years of freedom and opportunity upon more than $350,000,000 worth
of property. He started in poverty a little more than forty years ago.
He now owns and occupies over 500,000 homes and farms. He owns
and controls, mainly in the Southern States, thirty-three banks. He
now has 16,000 ministers, 24,000 churches and $27,000,000 Worth of
church property.
"There is no need for a law to compel the negro to educate his
children. Wherever a schoolhouse is opened the negro child fills the
schoolroom. Our people stand ready at all times to make sacrifices
in order to educate their children.
"Some people are fond of asserting that education as a force to
uplift the negro is a failure. Education has never been tried upon the
rank and file of our people on a scale large enough to warrant any
such judgment. The great bulk of our people have scarcely been
touched by education. According to official statistics, two years ago
there were 1,400,000 children of my race of school age who were not
even enrolled in the public schools, and a large portion of those
enrolled, especially in the country districts, were in school only four or
five months during the year. Do you know what it means to the
good name and future security of this country to have in one part of
it a million and a half children growing each year wholly without
education? An untrained horse or dog is useless and non-effective;
how much more so is this true of a human being?
"On the basis of school population each child in the Northern
States had spent upon him last year for his education for teaching
purposes about five dollars. On the basis of school population each
negro child in the South had spent upon him for teaching purposes
about fifty cents. At this rate it is impossible to educate the children of
ten millions of people sufficiently to make them useful or effective citi-
zens. I do not complain or criticise the South, but I simply state facts.
The South out of its poverty has done well and it deserves credit for
what it has done. It has had to rehabilitate during the days since the
war its industrial, educational, social and political conditions. Not
only has the negro child suffered for education, but the white child
has been a sufferer in almost an equal degree. No section of our
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 427
country is making as great a struggle in taxing itself so heavily for
education as the South ; but notwithstanding these facts, it still remains
that a large proportion of the negro children are without educational
opportunities.
"What is the remedy? What is the one great need of the race
to-day ? In my opinion it is strong, unselfish, intelligent negro leaders
and workers, and by that I mean teachers such as we are trying to
send out from Hampton, from Fisk, Talladega and Tuskegee, and
scores of other educational centers in the South. We need increasing
numbers of men and women of common sense, who will go out among
our people in the country districts and teach them, first of all, the dig-
nity of labor ; who will teach them proper farming methods ; who will
teach them how to work six days in the week instead of spending
half the week in idleness; who will teach them how to save their
money, instead of spending it for whiskey and superficial show; who
will teach them how to tax themselves, if necessary, here in order to
build a schoolhouse and extend the school term to seven or eight
months in the year. We need educated leaders and workers who will
teach our people how to live upon friendly and mutually helpful terms
with the white man who is their neighbor; leaders and workers who
will teach the masses that our race, like all races, must begin at the
bottom and lay the proper citizenship in industrial directions. This
class of leaders and workers the Tuskegee Institute is trying to
furnish, but our work should be strengthened, it should be increased
and multiplied many fold. Every man and woman that trained at
Hampton and Tuskegee is in demand. If we could turn out five times
as many they would find work in the Southern States among our own
people, or they would be employed by the Southern white people, who
want their services in various lines of industry.
"Some people are fond of passing judgment upon the progress of
the race based upon their observation of that class of negroes who are
found in the police courts. It is always unsafe and unfair to depend
upon the police courts to get one's impression of the progress and
standing of any race of people. In this respect I ask the American
people to judge my race as other races are judged; that is, by their
best representatives, and not by their worst representatives. It would
be entirely unfair for me to pass judgment upon the industry, the
intelligence and moral standing of the people in Cleveland by what
428 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
I might observe any morning in your police courts. I do not do this.
I pass judgment upon your civilization, by what I see in your indus-
trial, your business, your educational, and your church life. The
negro should be judged after the same manner; that is, by his best
representatives and not by his worst. It is unfortunately true that in
most parts of our country the white man does not come in contact
with the best civilization of the negro. The average white man rarely
sees what the negro is doing in his business, industrial, educational,
moral and domestic life.
"I have referred to two classes of colored people one that is
making progress, another that is retarding progress. It would be
unfair for me not to refer to two classes of Southern white people.
One class that has no faith in the progress of the negro you are all
familiar with through newspaper reports, but I wish you to understand
that there is a class of Southern white people which is growing in
numbers and in influence, a class of educated and cultured brave white
people in the South who are just as much interested in the permanent
welfare and progress of the negro race as any similar class to be
found in the North and elsewhere, and it is largely through the
co-operation of the intelligent negroes with this class of Southern
white people that the two are fast getting to the point where lynch-
ings and the causes that provoke lynchings are disappearing. Twenty
years ago in one year we had over two hundred cases of lynchings in
the Southern States. During the past twelve months I am quite sure
that there have been only fifty-six such cases. It is largely through
the influence and help of this liberal class of Southern white people
that the city of Atlanta has been reconstructed as far as racial rela-
tions are concerned. It is through the influence of this class of people
that the barrooms and sale of whiskey, which has proven so hurtful
to the economical and moral uplift of our people, are disappearing.
This wave of temperance which is sweeping through the entire country
means that within a few years the hurtful influence of the open bar-
room and the legal sale of whiskey will be a thing of the past. In the
majority of cases the influence back of crimes which provoke lynchings
and the lynchings themselves has been bad whiskey in the stomachs
and in the brains of bad white people and bad black people.
"One man cannot hold another down in the ditch without remain-
ing there with him. The interests of both races are bound up
together by a tie which we cannot tear asunder if we would.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 429
"Do not misunderstand me. We are making progress in the
South, but the country owes it to the negro, to the South and to itself
that still greater progress shall be made in the future than in the past.
"I may be in doubt concerning some elements in our Southern sit-
uation, but of one thing I feel absolutely sure, and that is that ignor-
ance and racial prejudice never proved a settlement for any problem
on earth. So long as we can go along patiently, quietly, persistently,
giving all the people more skill, increased habits of industry, more
intelligence and a higher idea of morality and religion, we can be
absolutely sure that we are traveling a safe and sure road."
THE SPRINGFIELD, ILL., RACE RIOT.
Commenting upon the race riot and lynchings at Springfield, 111.,
Mr. Washington gave out a letter August 20, 1908, from which the
following extract is taken :
"How long can our Christian civilization stand this ? I am mak-
ing no special plea for the negro, innocent or guilty, but I am calling
attention to the danger that threatens our civilization.
"For the negro criminal, and especially for the negro loafer, gam-
bler and drunkard, I have nothing but the severest condemnation ; and
no legal punishment is too severe for the brute that assaults a woman.
But let the punishment be meted out by the law.
"It requires no courage for five hundred men to tie the hands
of an individual to the stake or to hang or to shoot him. But young
men and boys who have once witnessed or who have read in the
papers of these exciting scenes often get the idea that there is some-
thing heroic in attacking some individual in the community who is
least able to defend himself.
"No doubt the people who engage in lynchings, and excuse them,
believe that they will have the effect of striking terror to the guilty.
But who shall say whether the persons lynched are guilty? There
is no way of distinguishing the innocent from the guilty except by
due process of law. That is what courts are for. Those who have
examined into the facts know only too well that in the wild justice
of the mob it is frequently the innocent man who is executed.
"These lynchings terrify the innocent, but they often embolden
the criminal ; and those who lynch a man, however guilty he may be,
are violating the law themselves, and that is criminal."
CHAPTER XLL
ORGANIZED LABOR IN AMERICA, ITS RIGHTS AND ITS
DEMANDS.
DISCUSSED BY SAMUEL GOMPERS AND JOHN MITCHELL.
The American Federation of Labor is the medium by which or-
ganized labor in American hopes to accomplish its purposes. Samuel
Gompers, one of the founders of the American Federation, the editor
of its official magazine, its President for fifteen years, the author of a
number of pamphlets and of many speeches on the labor question, is
the leader of the labor campaign. It was Mr. Gompers who carried
the claims of labor so valiantly before the Republican Convention at
Chicago and again had his views prominently before the Democratic
Convention at Denver.
It is no longer possible for the old parties to disregard the claims
of labor unless they are willing to drive it into one of the several new
organizations which have already formed to champion its cause.
When we consider that the Federation to-day represents 116 national
and international trade unions, with nearly 28,000 State, city and local
organizations with a membership of over 2,000,000 voters, we begin
to get an idea of what united labor moving solidly together may mean
in a political campaign. When we add to this the fact that Mr. Gom-
pers and his associates are working earnestly with fair prospects to
attract to their cause the 1,260,000 trade unionists not affiliated with
the Federation, and that they are also bringing the working man's
claim to bear strongly upon approximately 2,000,000 working men
who are not members of the union, the "power of the movement be-
comes more apparent. The Farmers' Union if it should unite with
the labor movement can probably throw another million votes in
that direction. When we consider that the strength suggested would
aggregate one-fifth of the total vote and population of the United
(430)
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 431
States which Mr. Gompers claims are knitting rapidly and more
closely together every year, it is not difficult to realize the power
which labor will wield even in this campaign.
In the last Presidential contest the Republicans polled 7,623,486
and the Democrats 5,077,971. Against these there were in the Social-
ist Party, the Prohibition Party, the People's Party and the Social
Labor Party a vote of 709,251. The Socialist, the Populist, the In-
dependence Party and the American Party all appeal strongly to the
labor vote, and it is not a wild statement of Mr. Gompers that it is
entirely possible for them to attract to their standard, if they can
unite, from one a quarter to one and a half millions votes.
Another significant fact is that labor is strongest in the so-called
doubtful States. Therefore, it is easy to be seen that the laboring
man holds the balance of power and could easily throw the election
either way between the leading parties. He could oppose the con-
gressional majority and change the complexion of the Legislatures in
several of the doubtful States.
The campaign of labor in the several small parties which repre-
sent it is vigorously on. Labor leaders are educating their men up
to the point of breaking old party affiliations and making the cause of
labor one of the issues of this campaign. More than fifteen hundred
organizers are now at work night after night and day after day in
every large city of the country organizing the force of labor and
preaching to them the possibilities that they might accomplish if they
stick together. Mr. Gompers himself is one of the most active of these
campaigners. At every meeting they pass resolutions which demand
that their bills now pending before Congress shall be passed, and these
demands are passed on to the Congressional Representatives.
With Mr. Gompers the campaign of labor is a cold, hard, busi-
ness proposition. The following statement by him sets forth some of
his principal arguments and strongest claims enunciated boldly and
openly and discussed by him publicly before the meeting of either the
Republican or Democratic Conventions. It was these claims and
these demands that labor placed before those conventions; and it is
these claims and demands that the smaller parties attempt to give to
labor in their platforms, which constitute at least a part of the reason
urged by their, leaders for the union of all labor interests in one grand
struggle for the good of the working man.
432 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
LEGISLATION THROUGH THE BALLOT.
"There are so many laboring men in this country, if all were to
unite they could control practically every election in districts in which
they live ; if fifty or even twenty-five per cent were to merge the result
would be momentous," sums up his statements. To bring about that
merger education is necessary education in the line of argument
sufficiently strong to impress upon Labor the benefit of such action.
"Labor has realized in a vague way, with the growth of the trades
union idea, the possibilities of its strength," continues Mr. Gompers.
"It has also fixed firmly in its mind what legislation is vital if it
would progress. That legislation it knows can only be secured
through the intelligent, concerted use of the ballot. The problem is
simple, even if the working out of it involves tremendous work.
"Although it had talked and planned, Labor never entered upon
any important campaign until 1906, and even that did not call for the
full strength of its organization. It only expended a little more than
$8,000 in all its effort, but the results were as gratifying as they were
surprising to the country. It showed by demonstration what could
be done.
"The present campaign, international in scope and perfected in
detail, was precipitated by a decision of the United States Supreme
Court in February of this year. It was impressed upon us that if we
would continue to progress, if we would continue at all working out
our destiny, the effect of that decision must be nullified by an amend-
ment to existing law.
THE HATTERS' CASE.
"This was the decision in the now celebrated 'Hatters' case.' In
that case it was decided that a labor union is a combination or trust
within the scope of the Sherman Anti-Trust law, and is therefore
subject to its provisions. It is subject to the same penalties and has
the same limitations or restrictions as a business combination organ-
ized for profit and with capital stock.
"The Loewe Company are hat manufacturers of Connecticut.
The United Hatters of America is the union organization of the
workmen engaged in that branch of industry. Although seventy of
the eighty fur hat manufacturers of the country are unionized shops,
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 433
the Loewe Company refused to follow them and an industrial com-
plication arose between the employer and employee. Action was
brought by the manufacturers in the United States Circuit Court of
Connecticut, for an alleged violation of the Anti-Trust law. In this
court the contention of the union that the law did not apply to it was
sustained. The case was appealed to the Circuit Court of Appeals,
which framed the single question: 'Can Loewe & Co. maintain an
action against the defendants (Hatters) under Section 7 of the Sher-
man Anti-Trust law ?' Section 7 provides that a person aggrieved by
any illegal combination in restraint of interstate trade may recover
threefold the damages sustained in addition to other costs.
EXEMPTION FOR TRADES UNIONS NEEDED.
"The contention of the Loewe Company was that by reason of
an alleged boycott or other action by the Hatters and the American
Federation of Labor its trade with other States had been crippled to
the amount of $80,000. The Supreme Court sent back the case to be
tried on its merits.
"We need not discuss here the opinion entertained as to the
justice of the decision," continued Mr. Gompers, "although I contend
it is manifestly proper for anyone to discuss and even to criticise
such acts. The point I wish to make is that if trades unions and
associations of producers generally are specifically exempted from the
provisions of the law, no more actions of this nature can be main-
tained. We cannot obtain this exemption without an amendment to
the law and that only Congress can do. Therefore we have besought
Congress to do this for us, because we believe that when the law was
passed organizations like ours were not intended to be affected. It
is the legitimate right of any association to do this, even as the pub-
lishers of the country may appeal to Congress to remove the duty
on wood-pulp.
"The immediate result of this decision was a Conference of
Protest at Washington, March i8th, which was participated in by
representatives of 118 national and international unions, representa-
tives of the American Society of Equity, the great farmers' associa-
tion, and of the railway brotherhoods. It lasted two days and the
outcome was the draft of an amendment, which should remove us
from the grasp of the Anti-Trust law. This reads as follows :
434 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
"'That nothing in said act (Sherman Anti-Trust law), or in
this act, is intended, nor shall any provision thereof hereafter be
enforced so as to apply to organizations or associations not for profit
and without capital stock, nor to the members of such organizations
or associations.
"That nothing in said act (Sherman Anti-Trust law), or in
this act, is intended, nor shall any provision thereof hereafter be
enforced so as to apply to any arrangements, agreements, or combi-
nations among persons engaged in agriculture or horticulture made
with a view of enhancing the price of their own agricultural or horti-
cultural products/
"It met with unanimous approval, and so did the other legislative
measures we are advocating. A protest was at once drawn up and
this was submitted to both Speaker Cannon and Vice-President Fair-
banks as President of the Senate. The words of the delegation were
courteous, but they stated that Labor was in no mood to be trifled
with. It meant business and it would hold responsible the men who
have the power to obtain for us what we are asking. We do not
know to-day what Congress will do we have hopes that it will see
a light and do something. There are favoring signs, but in any event
we lost no time once our determination had been spread abroad. At
once an address was transmitted to every labor organization of the
country. It was a call to action and read as follows :
LABOR'S CALL TO ACTION.
" 'Every legitimate pressure must now be brought to bear upon
Congress in the effort to secure the passage of our amendment to the
Sherman law.
" 'Hold mass meetings in every city and town in the United
States on the evening of the third Sunday or Monday in April, iQth
or 2Oth, and at that meeting voice fully and unmistakably Labor's
protest against the Supreme Court decision which strips Labor of the
rights and liberties which we had supposed were guaranteed by the
Constitution. Resolutions should be adopted urging upon the present
Congress the passage of the amendment to the Sherman law and
warning Congress that it will be held responsible for failure to enact
such legislation.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 435
'' 'Labor should spare no activity to impress upon Congress its
insistent demand for the passage of this amendment.
' 'In addition to the hold of the mass meeting of April i9th or
2Oth, and on such other dates as may be fixed in future and the for-
warding of resolutions expressing Labor's protest and determination,
every member of organized labor should write a personal letter to the
Congressman of his district and to the two United States Senators
of his State insisting that they use their efforts and cast their vote
for the passage of our amendment to the Sherman law and other
legislation mentioned in Labor's protest, and warning them that Labor
and its friends will hold them responsible. That Labor proposes to be
represented in Congress by men who will do justice to the workers
and all the people that it proposes to exercise every political and
industrial activity to this end that upon the record of this Congress
will be based the workers' decision as to a candidate's future desir-
ability as a member of Congress."
The foregoing quotations are from statements made by Mr.
Gompers some weeks before the meeting of the Republican and Demo-
cratic National Conventions of 1908. Prior to these conventions
Mr. Gompers and his associates carefully prepared certain demands of
organized labor, to be presented to both parties for adoption, and he,
with members of the Executive Council of the American Federation
of Labor (composed of both Republicans and Democrats Mr. Gom-
pers himself being a Republican), attended both national conventions.
The Republicans did not accede to the Executive Council's demands,
as they desired and had hoped. The Democrats, on the other hand,
incorporated their recommendations, with but slight modification, into
the national platform.
BOTH PARTIES HAVE SPOKEN CHOOSE BETWEEN THEM.
BY SAMUEL GOMPERS, PRESIDENT OF AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR.
An editorial, headed, "Both Parties Have Spoken Choose
Between Them," appeared in the American Federationist of August,
1908. In that editorial Mr. Gompers printed a full statement of the
efforts made before both conventions, setting forth what had been
asked of, and what had been granted by, the two respective parties.
436 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
The following extracts from that editorial make clear Mr. Gompers'
attitude and his recommendations to organized labor :
"From the time of the close of Congress in 1906, when the trade
unionists made their campaign, when a number of labor's opponents
were defeated for re-election to Congress and the majorities of others
materially cut down ; when the majority of the dominant party in the
House of Representatives was reduced nearly one-half, to the present
day, there has been one continuous labor campaign. There has been
neither halting nor deviation from the course which labor marked out
for itself in the march toward progress and freedom.
"Of course we understand that the capitalist enemies to labor
would have it tamely and complacently accept their absolute domina-
tion, rule, and the edicts of their congressional and judicial representa-
tives and mouthpieces, and to endure all the wrongs and injustice
which may be imposed upon the toilers.
"The determination of the Executive Council of the American
Federation of Labor to place before the conventions of the two great
political parties some of the most important demands which labor
makes upon them and upon society has been thought-compelling and
caused universal discussion of labor's position, particularly in regard
to the abuse of the injunction process and how it may be remedied.
LABOR'S DEMANDS TO THE FRONT.
"For several months there has not been any one question which
has so thoroughly engrossed the attention of all the people of our
country as that embodied in labor's demands and which has become
popularly known as the injunction abuse.
"The agitation and discussion of labor's rights, labor's demands,
which in its last analysis means the rights and freedom of all our
people, will, beyond doubt, be the most important issue in the Presi-
dential and Congressional campaign. Indeed, the labor question is, and
must inevitably become, the mooted question until it is settled and
settled right. So widespread has been the discussion that the people
of the entire civilized world feel an intense interest, as shown even
by the cablegrams from Europe published in our daily press.
"Let us unite, federate, and co-operate to the end that the
humanizing aspirations and influences of the organized labor move-
ment of our country may free the workers, and in freeing the workers
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 437
remove from all our people the last vestige of political class oppres-
sion and tyranny.
"Let the toilers, their friends and sympathizers, rise above
political partisanship and in the best sense be American citizens,
revering the history, memory, and tradition of Washington, Jeffer-
son and Lincoln, and make of our republic the great commonwealth
of real sovereigns and freemen.
"Attention is called to the following resolutions, unanimously
adopted at the convention of the American Federation of Labor :
" 'Resolved, That, as our efforts are centered against all forms
of industrial slavery and economic wrong, we must also direct our
utmost energies to remove all forms of political servitude and party
slavery, to the end that the working people may act as a unit at the
polls at every election.
'' 'Resolved, That the American Federation of Labor most firmly
and unequivocally favors the independent use of the ballot by the
trades unionists and workingmen, united regardless of party, that
we may elect men from our own ranks to make new laws and admin-
ister them along the lines laid down in the legislative demands of the
American Federation of Labor, and at the same time secure an impar-
tial judiciary that will not govern us by arbitrary injunctions of the
courts, nor act as the pliant tools of corporate wealth.'
LABOR'S RESPONSIBILITY.
"The issues confronting the new national life are labor issues
primarily and fundamentally. Organized labor cannot, if it would,
shirk its responsibility here. The toilers should not be on the defen-
sive with respect to vital issues affecting them. They should and
must devise an offensive movement looking to a firmer and more
stable establishment of their inalienable rights. Nothing is volun-
tarily contributed to the interests of labor on the part of the wealth
possessors or of partisan politicians.
"It is a paradox second to none in the line of human evolution
and progress that labor, the sovereign, should plead for safeguards
at the hands of its own creatures.
"Congress and other law-making bodies must be made to feel
that labor is entitled to its just share in enactments particularly affect-
ing its own rights and interests. Labor has little to expect at the
438 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
hands of those in responsible charge of the last session of Congress.
We have much to look for in policies outlined and sought to be carried
forward that have their initiative in the organized labor movement.
In improving the condition of the workers, in securing for them their
rights, liberty, and sovereignty, there is not involved the tearing clown
or the destruction of any one or of anything. The labor movement
and its results encompass the well-being of every man, woman, and
child the country over. Organized labor is not destructive, but con-
structive.
"It devolves upon organized labor by organization, agitation,
and education to shape the next Executive and the next Congress to
ends that will justify the maximum efforts which may be put forth
in behalf of the great cause of the rights of the workers, which, in
its essence, is the cause of human liberty.
"We call upon the workers of our common country to stand
faithfully by our friends, oppose and defeat our enemies, whether
they be candidates for President, for Congress, or other offices,
whether executive, legislative, or judicial.
ATTITUDE OF THE TWO PARTIES.
"Recently the two great political parties of the country have
held their conventions, set forth their respective platforms, nominated
their candidates for President, and appealed to the voters for support.
The president and members of the Executive Council of the American
Federation of Labor attended both the Republican and Democratic
conventions for the purpose of presentnig labor's demands and asking
their incorporation in the platforms in a manner which should clearly
affirm the position of the workers, especially in relation to the abuse
of the injunction and the right to organize and carry on the legitimate
business of organization without being classed as trusts under the
Supreme Court interpretation of the Sherman anti-trust law.
"We now know at first hand the exact attitude of the two great
parties and what treatment to expect at their hands.
"To state the case briefly, the national convention of the Repub-
lican Party, at Chicago, refused to incorporate the demands of labor
in its platform, and instead inserted a plank on injunctions which
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 439
endorses the existing abuse of the injunction as applied to labor dis-
putes.
"The Democratic convention, at Denver, on the other hand,
made labor's demands a part of its platform.
"Labor asked the Republican convention for bread, and it gave
a stone.
"The Van Cleaves and the Republican press in phrase and car-
toon sneeringly told labor to 'Go to Denver.' Well, we did; and
we shall tell what happened there. The Executive Council of the
American Federation of Labor went to Denver at the time of the
Democratic convention and submitted its requests and demands to
the committee on platform, which, except for the preamble and change
of party name, is identical with that submitted to the Republican con-
vention. The Platform Committee incorporated the plank, which
was adopted by the Democratic convention substantially identical with
labor's principal demands.
"We have no hesitation in urging the workers and our friends
throughout the country to support the party in this campaign, which
has shown its sympathy with our wrongs and its desire to remedy
them and to see that the rights of the people are restored.
"We say this not necessarily because it is the Democratic Party
which has done this. We would urge the workers to support any
party which had incorporated our demands into its platform and
promised to work for their fulfilment.
NO PROMISE TO DELIVER LABOR VOTE.
"A deliberate attempt is being made by the opposition press to
make it appear that 'Gompers has promised to deliver the labor vote
to the Democratic Party.'
"Such a statement is so absurd as to hardly need refutation.
We recognize the absolute right of every citizen to cast his vote for
any candidate and with any party that he pleases. Far be it from
us to attempt to coerce the votes of the workers, nor are we so asinine
as to promise to 'deliver the labor vote.'
"But we do, in all seriousness, urge the workers and all good
citizens to consider most carefully and thoughtfully the attitude of
the two great political parties toward the fundamental rights and prin-
440 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
ciples embodied in labor's demands. Study their respective plat-
forms, and then vote as conscience dictates.
"We now urge upon the workers to take up the campaign with
the utmost enthusiasm and energy. Scan every candidate's record ;
study his party platform. Be not deceived by vague, unofficial, plaus-
ible assurances of friendship. Let partisan affiliations be cast aside
in the great struggle to preserve our rights and our freedom.
"Already the campaign of lying and misrepresentation is in full
swing. Labor's attitude and that of its representatives is falsely
stated. Wrong conclusions are purposely drawn in order to mislead
labor and its friends from the concerted action which will tend to
protect and preserve our industrial and civic rights.
"Not only in our own interest, but in the interest of all the people
of our country, for the preservation of real liberty, for the elimination
of bitterness and class hatred, for the perpetuation of all that is best
and truest, we can never rest until the last vestige of injustice has
been removed from our public life. The real purposes and high
aspirations of our movement and the legislation it seeks at the hands
of the law-making power of our country shall be better understood
by all our people, and the great uplifting work which we have already
achieved shall find better appreciation among those who now so
unjustly attack and antagonize us.
"The labor movement in its historic and logical development
will yet secure for the toilers, and all our people, right and justice
and universal happiness and freedom."
"Resolved, That all organized labor be, and is hereby called upon
and urged, to make special preparations for holding great demonstra-
tions the coming Labor Day, the first Monday in September, 1908;
that all friends and sympathizers with the principles and the
aspirations of labor be invited to participate with the wage-earners'
in the demonstrations and festivities incident to a most thorough and
comprehensive observance and celebration of Labor Day, 1908."
Resolution adopted by the Executive Council of the American Fed-
eration of Labor, Denver, July 7, 1908.
FAVORITE SONS AND LEADERS OP THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.
Senator Henry C. Lodge, Massachusetts.
Senator Philander C. Knox, Pennsylvania.
Representative Joseph G. Cannon, Illinois.
Senator Joseph B. Foraker, Ohio.
Vlce-Pres. Charles W. Fairbanks, Indiana.
Senator Robert M. La Follet'te, Wisconsin.
GOVERNORS OF CALIFORNIA, MISSOURI, IDAHO, ALABAMA, OREGON,
NEW JERSEY.
James N. Glllett, California.
Joseph W. Folk, Missouri.
Frank R. Goodlng, Idaho.
Braxton B. Comer, Alabama.
George E. Chamberlain. Oregon.
John F. Fort, New Jersey.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 441
COAL MINING AND THE COAL MINER.
BY JOHN MITCHELL, EX-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED MINE WORKERS
OF AMERICA.
John Mitchell was president of the United Mine Workers of
America from 1898 to 1908, when he was succeeded by T. L. Lewis,
as national president. Mr. Mitchell is now head of the Trade Agree-
ment Department of the National Civic Federation, with headquarters
in New York. The object of this organization is to harmonize capital
and labor in just and equitable relations, to conserve the interests of
both, and for the general welfare of the people and the nation.
While Mr. Mitchell has always been classed as a Democrat (as Mr.
Gompers has heretofore been a Republican), and though he was
prominently considered as the Vice-Presidential candidate of the
party in 1908, it is nevertheless Mr. Mitchell's desire to keep per-
sonally out of active politics, and to leave labor free to vote without
undue influence from its leaders.
NON-COMMITTAL ON POLITICAL SITUATION.
On the political situation Mr. Mitchell says :
"I will not say whether or not I am in sympathy with the stand
taken by Mr. Gompers. I will not say what side I am on, or make
any predictions. I do not think, however, that Mr. Gompers has been
fairly treated by the press. He has not promised, as claimed, to
'deliver' the labor vote to any party. He worked for labor's interests
in the platforms of both parties, and he appealed to labor voters to
compare the two and choose between them. I believe the Democratic
plank states the remedy which will give the necessary relief.
"I am still and will remain a member of the National Executive
Council of the American Federation of Labor, but I did not attend
the conference of the heads of national labor organizations called to
agree on a political program.
"I am on friendly terms with President Roosevelt and think
highly of him, but that would not sway me politically. I have never
met Mr. Taft and do not know what kind of a man he is except from
what I have read about him. I have met Mr. Bryan twice, but also
know little about him.
442 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
"I want to say positively that I am not talking politics ; will not
give any opinion as to what will likely occur or who is going to be
elected. I want to avoid being put in a position where it might be
said I am going to take part in the campaign, which I am not."
ADDRESS AT THE CONGRESS OF GOVERNORS.
John Mitchell was one of those leaders who, with Andrew Car-
negie, James J. Hill and William Jennings Bryan, was invited by
President Roosevelt to the Conference of Governors, which met at his
call in May, 1908, in Washignton, D. C, to consider the conservation
of our national resources. Mr. Mitchell delivered an address before
that conference, from which we make the following extract by his
permission :
"In discussing the conservation of our natural resources I shall
confine my remarks to that phase of the question with which I am
most familiar.
"It has been well said that 'coal is the earth's great storage bat-
tery of solar energy. In the nation's welfare it represents the basis
of the heat, power, and light upon which the nation's comfort and the
nation's industries depend. Man may replant the forests and the
rivers will resume their courses to the seas, but the vegetation neces-
sary to produce coal cannot be restored once it has been exhausted.'
COAL MAY BE EXHAUSTED IN TWO HUNDRED YEARS.
"Mining experts predict that under present methods of produc-
tion the coal deposits of the United States will be entirely exhausted
within two hundred years.
"The low cost at which coal is produced and the low price at
which it is sold to large consumers is the most pronounced incentive
to waste and extravagance.
"Consumers of coal in other countries pay from one and one-half
to two and one-half times as much for fuel as is paid by American
manufacturing and railroad companies. In other words, large cor-
porations in our country purchase bituminous coal at the mines for
less than one dollar per ton, while like concerns in other countries
pay from two to three dollars per ton.
"The conclusion is inevitable that this very cheapness is an
extravagance and not an economy. By reason of improper firing
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 443
and imperfect furnaces, three tons of coal are consumed in creating
the power which, under proper conditions, would be generated by the
use of one ton.
"The great waste in the production of coal does not at all
approximate, however, the waste and extravagance in its consump-
tion. It is interesting to note that under the present process of burning
only from 5 to 10 per cent of the heat units in bituminous coal are
utilized, the remaining 90 or 95 per cent being wasted. If it were
possible to utilize all the heat units, our coal supply, which experts
predict will be exhausted by the close of the next century, would last
for more than two thousand years.
DUTY OF THE NATION TO THE MINE WORKER.
"The present generation has no moral right to destroy those
resources which were not created by man or given solely to us.
"Our extravagant wastefulness in the use of our fuel supply, both
in production and consumption, is equalled only by our criminal dis-
regard of the personal safety and the lives of the men who toil under
ground. For every 190,000 tons of coal produced a miner is killed
and several are seriously injured. For each 1,000 men employed, 3.40
are killed annually. Last year nearly 2,500 men were killed and more
than 6,000 were seriously injured in the mining industry of our
country. No other country in the world shows so large a percentage
of fatalities. Indeed, in those foreign countries in which mining is
most hazardous, the proportion of men killed to the number employed
is from 50 to 75 per cent less than in our own country.
"It is a sad commentary upon our vaunted civilization that more
men are killed or crippled in mining in the United States than in any
other nation on earth. In our mad rush for spoils and profits we not
only waste and destroy those natural resources with which God has
so bountifully provided us, but we press forward in the race, sacri-
ficing also unnecessarily the lives and the comfort of our fellow-
beings.
"It seems to me that the time has come when we should stop a
moment to think not alone of those inanimate things that make for
comfort and prosperity, but also of the men and the women and the
children whose toil and deprivation have made and will continue to
make our country and our people the most progressive and the most
intelligent of all the nations and all the peoples of the earth."
CHAPTER XLIL
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE STATE GOVERNORS AND CON-
DENSED INFORMATION ABOUT THE STATES.
In this department will be found a short life sketch of the Gov-
ernor of each of the forty-seven States and Territories in the United
States of America, together with certain useful information concern-
ing the admission, area, population, political party in power, salary
of the Governor, length of term, date of expiration of present term,
and other information of a concise historical and statistical character.
For convenience of reference the biographies are arranged in alpha-
betical order of the States.
ALABAMA.
GOVERNOR BRAXTON B. COMER (Democrat). Term of service,
1907 to 1911. Salary, $5,000. Governor Comer is a native of the
State of Alabama. He was born in Barbour County, November 7,
1848. He was educated at the Universities of Alabama and of
Georgia. It was while in school in the latter State that he met his
future wife, then Miss Eva Harris, whom he married at the age of
twenty-four at Cuthbert, Georgia. From early in life Mr. Comer
became active both in business and in public affairs, and grew steadily
in favor as a public-spirited citizen and as a business man. In 1890
he established his home in Birmingham, where he became President
of the City National Bank and also of the Central Cotton Mills. On
his inauguration as Governor of Alabama he took up his residence
in the city of Montgomery, his present official address. In his execu-
tive capacity the Governor of Alabama is a Commander-in-Chief of
the militia, has a limited veto in legislation and exercises the power
usually entrusted to State Governors. Alabama is one of the old
(444)
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 445
States of the Union, having been admitted in 1819. The State has
an area of 52,250 square miles and is divided into sixty-six counties.
It is one of the most prominent of the Southern States, both in agri-
cultural and mineral wealth. Iron and coal are especially abundant.
Since 1820 its population has grown from 85,000 whites and 42,000
blacks to over 1,100,000 whites and nearly 1,000,00 colored
people making a total of approximately 2,000,000 at the present
time.
ARIZONA.
GOVERNOR JOSEPH H. KIBBEY (Republican), four years; term
expires, March, 1909; salary, $3,000. Mr. Kibbey has been Chief
Executive of the Territory of Arizona since March 7, 1905. He is
a lawyer and a native of the State of Indiana, having been born at
Centreville, in that State, March 4, 1853. He was educated at Earl-
ham College, Richmond, Indiana, where he was married to Miss Nora
Burbank in the year 1877, two years after his admission to the bar in
1875. Mr. Kibbey removed to Arizona at the age of thirty-five and
began the practice of law in that Territory in the year 1888. The
next year he was made Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the
Territory, which position he held until 1893. He was a member of
the Territorial Council during 1902 and 1904. During the latter
year he became Attorney-General of Arizona, which position he filled
until he was appointed Governor in 1905.
At the expiration of the present term, February 27, 1909, the
President of the United States will appoint the next Governor of the
Territory.
Arizona was formed out of the territory ceded by Mexico in
1848 and additional land acquired by the Gadsden Treaty in 1853.
The Territory was organized in 1863. Efforts were made in recent
years to induce Arizona and New Mexico to unite, forming one State
with population sufficient to be admitted to the Union. The disposi-
tion of the people, however, is to remain separate and wait for
admission until they have sufficient individual strength. The Terri-
tory has 113,020 square miles, divided into thirteen counties, and has
a population approximating 150,000, of whom perhaps 28,000 to
30,000 are Indians.
446 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
ARKANSAS.
GOVERNOR JOHN SEBASTIAN LITTLE (Democrat), 2 years; term
expires January, 1909; salary, $3,000. Governor Little is a native
Arkansian born at Jenny Lind, Sebastian County, on the fifteenth
day of March, 1853. He was educated entirely within the limits of
his State, where he attended the common schools and Cane Hill Col-
lege. He was admitted to the bar at the age of twenty-one, and
when twenty-four became District-Attorney of the Twelfth Circuit of
the State, in which capacity he served for seven years. In 1885 he
became a member of the State Legislature and from 1886 to 1890 was
a Circuit Judge. His popularity among his legal associates is shown
by the fact that he was made chairman of the State Judicial Conven-
tion in 1893. Mr. Little became prominent in national politics in
1894, when he was elected to Congress to fill the unexpired term of
Clifton R. Breckenridge. In this position his services were so emi-
nently satisfactory to his constituency that he was re-elected to suc-
ceed himself for six consecutive times, serving in the Fifty-fourth,
Fifty-fifth, Fifty-sixth, Fifty-seventh, Fifty-eighth and Fifty-ninth
Congresses, covering a period of twelve years, from 1895 to 1907,
when he resigned the position of Representative to take up the reigns
as Governor of the State, to which he had been elected. Unfortunately,
Governor Little became physically disabled for the duties of his office.
Hence, X. O. Pindall, as Acting Governor, officiates in his stead.
George W. Donaghey was nominated by the Democratic party
for the next Governor to succeed to the office in 1909.
Arkansas was organized as a Territory in 1819 and admitted to
the Union as a State in 1836. The State has an area of 53,850 square
miles, divided into seventy-five counties, and a population approximat-
ing 1,600,000, of whom a little more than one-quarter are colored.
CALIFORNIA.
GOVERNOR JAMES NORRIS GILLETT (Republican) ; salary, 6,000;
4 years; term expires, January, 1911. Governor Gillett is a native of
Wisconsin. He was born at Viroqua, in that State, September 20,
1860, and was educated at the High School ef Sparta, in that State.
At the age of twenty-one he was admitted to the bar. He became
active in politics after moving to California, where he was elected to
the Legislature as a State Senator in 1897, and six yedrs later was
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 447
sent to Congress from the First California District. After a service
of four years in the National Legislature he was made Governor of
the State in 1907 for a term of four years. Mr. Gillett was married
in San Francisco in 1898 to Miss Isabella Eizgraber.
California until 1848 belonged politically to Mexico. It was
ceded to the United States in 1849 an d was admitted as a State in
1850. California has an area of 158,360 square miles and a popula-
tion estimated at 1,800,000, more than one-sixth of which is foreign
born. There are estimated to be between 60,000 and 70,000 Chinese
and Japanese. The Chinese population has materially decreased and
the Japanese rapidly increased within the last decade.
COLORADO.
GOVERNOR HENRY AUGUSTUS BUCHTEL (Republican); salary,
$5,000; 2 years; term expires, January, 1909. The Chief Executive
of Colorado is sometimes called the preacher Governor. He went
from a long and active ministry in the Methodist Episcopal Church
to the Governor's chair. He is also an educator of renown, being
Chancellor of the University of Denver since January I, 1900. Gov-
ernor Buchtel is a native son of Ohio, where he was born, near the
City of Akron, September 30, 1847. He is the son of Dr. Jonathan
B. Buchtel. His early education was received in private schools of
South Bend, Indiana. He was graduated at De Pauw (then Asbury)
University in 1875 with a degree of A.M. His D.D. was conferred
upon him in 1884 and LL.D. in 1900 by his Alma Mater.
Mrs. Buchtel was Miss Mary N. Stevenson and had served as a
missionary in Bulgaria previous to her marriage, which occurred on
February 4, 1873. While in the ministry Dr. Buchtel served as pastor
of the Methodist Episcopal Churches of Zionsville, Indiana; Green-
castle, Indiana; Knightstown, Indiana; Grace Church, Richmond,
Indiana; Trinity Church, Lafayette, Indiana; Evans Chapel and
Trinity Church, Denver, Colorado; Central Avenue Church, Indian-
apolis, Indiana; First Church, Mt. Vernon, New York, and Calvary
Church, East Orange, New Jersey.
Colorado was organized into a territory out of parts of Utah,
New Mexico, Kansas and Nebraska in 1861, and in 1876 was ad-
mitted to the Union as a State. It has an area of 103,925 square
miles, divided into fifty-nine counties. Its population is estimated at
650,000.
448 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
CONNECTICUT.
GOVERNOR ROLLIN S. WOODRUFF (Republican), 2 years; term,
January, 1907, to January, 1909; salary, $4,000. More and more it
is coming to be considered that business training is an important item
in the qualification for the administration of affairs of state. Gov-
ernor Woodruff has been for many years a merchant. He was born
in Rochester, Connecticut, July 14, 1854, and, like Grover Cleveland
and some other eminent statesmen, he remained a bachelor until late
in life. He married Miss K. E. Perkins, of New Haven, in 1906.
Governor Woodruff engaged in business at the age of sixteen. He
was president of the Connecticut Computing Machine Company and a
member of the firm of C. S. Mersick & Co. During all this time he
took an active interest in public affairs, and it was his business ability,
coupled with his general knowledge and public spirit, that secured for
him the Governorship on the Republican ticket in Janunary, 1907.
Connecticut is one of the original thirteen States. It has an area
of 5,004 square miles, divided into eight counties. Its population in
1900 was 908,420, nearly all white. There are about 15,000 colored
people in the State.
DELAWARE.
GOVERNOR PRESTON LEA (Republican); term, 1905 to 1909;
salary, $2,000. Governor Lea is a native of Wilmington, Delaware,
where he was born on November 12, 1841, and -where he still resides
and where he was married on November 28, 1870, to Adelaide Moore,
who died October 3, 1888. He was married a second time in 1897
to Eliza Naudain Corbit, also of Wilmington. Governor Lea has
had a long and successful business career. He was educated at Law-
renceville, New Jersey, and at the age of eighteen entered his father's
mill, and since his father's death, more than thirty years ago, he has
been the president of the firm of William Lea & Sons Company. He
has also been the president of the Union National Bank for twenty
years. He is also an ex-president of the Equitable Guarantee and
Trust Company.
Governor Lea is also prominent in insurance circles, having
served as vice-president of the Farmers' Mutual Insurance Company.
He is also a prominent railroad man, having served as director of the
Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad and as an official
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 449
of the Wilmington Railway Company. It was his large business
ability as well as his public spirit which caused him to be singled out
by the Republican party for Governor of the State.
The history of Delaware is unique. It was held in the earlier
period successively by the Swedes, the Dutch and the English previous
to its entering the Union in 1787 as one of the thirteen original States.
Delaware is a very small commonwealth, having an area of only 2,050
square miles. There are only three counties in the State, and its
population numbered in 1900 less than 200,000, of whom 13,000 were
foreign born.
FLORIDA.
GOVERNOR NAPOLEON BONAPARTE BROWARD (Democrat), four
years; term expires, 1909; salary, $5,000. Governor Broward is a
native of Florida. He was born on a farm in Duval County, of that
State, April 19, 1857. Both his parents died when the boy was twelve
years old. He is a self-made man, having attended the country
schools in his early youth. At fourteen years of age we have him in
the log camp of his uncle. He later worked as a farm hand, as a
steamboat roustabout, as a seaman on sailing vessels and fishing boats
and a cod fisherman on the Grand Banks. In 1887 he was running a
wood yard and was part owner of a steamboat. In 1889 he entered
politics as sheriff of Duval County, which position he held until 1900,
when he became a member of the State Legislature. In 1904 he was
elected Governor.
Hon. Albert W. Gilchrist, of Punta Gorda, was named by the
Democratic party as the candidate for the term beginning January,
1909.
Florida was organized as a territory in 1822 and admitted to the
Union in 1845. I* nas an area f 58,680 square miles, divided into
forty-six counties, with a population of about 600,000.
GEORGIA.
GOVERNOR HOKE SMITH (Democrat), 2 years; term expires,
January, 1909; salary, $5,000. Governor Smith is a native of North
Carolina. He was born at Newton, in that State, September 2, 1855.
He was educated in a school conducted by his father. When a youth
of seventeen, in 1872, he moved to Georgia and successively taught
450
school, studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1873 before he was
twenty-one years of age. He has practiced law principally in Atlanta.
In 1882 he began his political career by going as a delegate to the
Democratic State Convention. In 1883 he was married to Miss Birdie
Cobb. In 1892 he was a delegate to the National Democratic Con-
vention. The next year he was made Secretary of the Interior of the
United States under Grover Cleveland. Throughout his political
career Mr. Smith has retained his connection with the law firm of
Smith, Berner, Smith & Hastings. He is notably a public-spirited
man. He was for several years president of the Atlanta Board of
Education; and, as proprietor of the Atlanta Journal for twelve years,
was active in the newspaper world.
Joseph M. Brown, of Marietta, Georgia, was nominated by the
Democratic party in June, 1908, to succeed to the office of Governor
on July i, 1909.
Georgia was one of the original thirteen States. It has an area
of 59,475 square miles and a population approximating 2,500,000.
IDAHO.
GOVERNOR FRANK R. GOODING (Republican), two years; term
expires, January, 1909; salary, $5,000. Governor Gooding is one of
the few foreigners to be elected Governor of one of the United States
of America. He is a native of England and removed to this country
in 1867 with his parents, who settled at Paw Paw, Michigan, where
he attended school. When young Gooding was fifteen years of age
he went to California and at twenty-one settled in Idaho, where he
has since been actively engaged in pursuits for the development of the
resources of his adopted State. He is an extensive farmer. His
ranch covers several thousand acres of land. He has always been
interested in public affairs generally and has advocated boldly those
political measures which he believed best conserved the interests of the
citizens of his State. Before assuming the office of Governor he had
served as a member of the State Senate and for four years was chair-
man of the Republican State Central Committee.
Idaho is one of the young States of the Union, having been ad-
mitted in 1890. The State has an area of 84,800 square miles, divided
into twenty-three counties. The population of the state in 1906 was
estimated at 205,704, largely of the Mormon faith.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 451
ILLINOIS.
GOVERNOR CHARLES S. DENEEN (Republican), four years; term
expires, January, 1909; salary, $12,000. Governor Deneen enjoys
the distinction of drawing the largest salary of any Governor in the
Union. He was born in Edwardsville, 111., May 4, 1863, and was
educated at the public schools of Lebanon and McKendree College,
where he graduated in 1882. After teaching school for some years he
studied law and was admitted to the bar. It was not until after his
marriage in 1891 to Miss Bina Day Maloney, of Mt. Carroll, Illinois,
that he. entered politics. In 1892 he was elected to the Illinois House
of Representatives. Later he began his practice of law in Chicago,
where he served as State's Attorney for Cook County, in which the
City of Chicago is located, from 1896 to 1904. It was while serving
in this capacity that he was elected Governor of the State, the duties
of which office he assumed in 1905.
The State of Illinois was admitted to the Union in 1819. It has
an area of 56,650 square miles, divided into one hundred and two
counties. The growth in population in Illinois has been marvelous.
In 1820 there were but 53,000 people in the State. In 1906 the
population was estimated at 5,418,000 about one hundred times as
many as there were in 1820. Nearly one-half of the inhabitants of
the State, however, live in the city of Chicago, which, next to New
York, is the largest city in our country. The population of Chicago
in 1907 was estimated at 2,367,000 souls. Of this vast population
nearly one-half were foreign born, 332,000 coming from Germany
alone, 114,000 from Ireland and 100,000 from Sweden.
INDIANA.
GOVERNOR J. FRANK HANLY (Republican), four years; term
expires, January, 1909; salary, $8,000. Governor Hanly is both a
school teacher and a lawyer by professions as well as a statesman.
He has served his country in various capacities. He was born at St.
Joseph, Illinois, April 4, 1863, and is largely a self-made man, his
education being confined to the common schools of Champaign
County, Illinois. That young Hanly was not afraid of spoiling his
career by taking unto himself a wife before he had entered profes-
sional life is evinced by the fact that he was married some months
before he was nineteen to Miss Eva A. Simmer. For several years
452 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
he taught school in Warren County, Indiana, studying law at odd
times.
Young Hanly was admitted to the bar in 1889 at the age of
twenty-six and began his practice at Williamsport, Indiana. He
entered politics immediately and was elected to the State Senate in
1890. In 1894 he was sent to Congress, serving one term. In 1899
he was Republican candidate for the United States Senate and in
1905 was elected Governor. Governor Hanly has always been an
aggressive and forceful personage. He is an ardent temperance
advocate. Some of his utterances on this subject are quoted by pro-
hibitionists and other opponents of the liquor traffic. He* was a
prominent figure in the Republican National Convention in Chicago
in 1908, where he placed Charles W. Fairbanks in nomination for
the Presidency.
Indiana was admitted to the Union in 1816, two years before the
admission of Illinois. The State has an area of 36,350 square miles,
divided into ninety-two counties, with a population estimated in 1908
at 2,800,000 inhabitants.
IOWA.
. GOVERNOR ALBERT B. CUMMINS (Republican), two years; term
expires, January, 1909; salary, $5,000. Governor Cummins is a
native of Pennsylvania, where he was born February 15, 1850. He
was educated in the public schools and carries the title of LL.D from
Waynesburg College and also from Cornell College, Iowa. Governor
Cummins is an accomplished surveyor. Before he entered the law he
was chief engineer of the Cincinnati, Richmond and Fort Wayne
Railroad. In 1874 he was married to Miss Ida L. Gallery, of Eaton
Rapids, Michigan, and in the same year was admitted to the bar in
Illinois and practiced law in Chicago until 1878, when he removed to
Des Moines, Iowa.
Mr. Cummins entered politics in 1888 as a member of the Iowa
Legislature; and quickly rose to prominence. He was a candidate for
the United States Senate in 1894, and a member of the Republican
National Committee from 1896 to 1900. In 1902 he was elected
Governor of Iowa, which position he will continue to hold until
January, 1909. The Governor is known as a liberal Republican.
He is a champion of the reform movements inagurated by President
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 453
Roosevelt and even goes farther than Mr. Roosevelt, perhaps, in
demanding the government control or regulation of the railroads and
other great public servants.
Iowa at one time formed a part of the territory of Missouri. At
another it was a part of Michigan. Later it was transferred to Wis-
consin. In 1838 it was made a distinct territory, and eight years
later was admitted as a State into the Union. Its area is 56,025
square miles, divided into ninety-nine counties, with a population
estimated in 1908 at 2,300,000, of which about one-seventh are for-
eign born.
KANSAS.
GOVERNOR EDWARD WALLIS HOCH (Republican) two years ; term
expires, January, 1909; salary, $5,000. Governor Hoch is a son of
the Blue Grass section of the Blue Grass State. He was born at
Danville, Kentucky, March 17, 1849. He was educated in the public
schools and in Central College of that town. Mr. Hoch moved to
Kansas when quite a young man. It was in that State that he married
Miss Sarah Louisa Dickerson on May 23, 1876, at Marion, Kansas.
By trade Governor Hoch is a journalist. He was the editor and pro-
prietor of the Merion (Kansas) Record since 1874. He entered
politics in 1889, when he went as a member of the Kansas House of
Representatives, of which he was made Speaker in 1893. Governor
Hoch is a man of pronounced religious convictions and has been
prominent in the Methodist Church for a number of years. He is
now serving his second term as Governor, having been elected first in
1905 and succeeding himself in 1907.
Kansas was admitted to the Union as a State in 1861. It has
an area of 82,080 square miles and a total population of about
1,700,000.
KENTUCKY.
GOVERNOR AUGUST EVERETT WILLSON (Republican), four
years; term expires, December, 1911; salary, $6,500. Governor
Willson is an eminent lawyer and a man of extensive education. He
was born at Maysville, Kentucky, October 13, 1846. He graduated
with the degree of A.M. from Harvard University in 1869 and began
the study of law in that school the next year. He later read law in the
law offices of Lothrop, Bishop & Lincoln in Boston, and later with
454 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
John M. Harlan, of Louisville, Kentucky. Mr. Willson has long
been prominently associated with the Republican party. He was the
nominee of that party for Congress from the Fifth Congressional
District of Kentucky in 1884-86-88-92. He also represented his dis-
trict to the Republican National Conventions in 1884-1888-1892-1904.
He was married July 23, 1877, to Miss Mary Elizabeth Ekin, daughter
of Colonel James A. Ekin, Chief Clerk of the Treasury Department.
Kentucky is one of the old States of the Union, having been
admitted in 1792. It has an area of 40,400 square miles, divided into
one hundred and nineteen counties. The population in 1908 was
estimated at 2,400,000, of which nearly 300,000 are negroes.
LOUISIANA.
GOVERNOR JARED Y. SANDERS (Democrat) of Baton Rouge, was
elected April 21, 1908, and inaugurated May 18, 1908, as Governor
Blanchard's successor in office for a term of four years. His term will
expire in May, 1912. He was born January 29, 1869, near Morgan
City, La. His father was a planter, but died when the son was quite
small. In 1882 a flood swept away the plantation on which the wid-
owed mother resided with her eight children, of which Jared, then
twelve years of age, was the oldest. The boy bravely went to work
in a country store to help support the family. After clerking several
years he became a printer on the St. Mary Banner, a country weekly.
In 1890 he was made editor of this paper, and incidentally studied law
at odd times. In 1893 ne entered Tulane University, where he gradu-
ated the following year, and has since practiced with marked success.
Mr. Sanders' political career began in 1892, when he was elected to
the State Legislature, in which he served twelve years, being Speaker
of the House for four years 1900 to 1904 when he was elected
Lieutenant-Governor. As a member of the State Constitutional Con-
vention in 1898 he is credited with influencing measures that did much
to eliminate the negro from Louisiana politics.
Louisiana belonged to France until it was purchased by Thomas
Jefferson in 1803. Nine years later in 1812 it was admitted to the
Union as a State. The area of Louisiana is 48,720 square miles,
divided into fifty-nine parishes, corresponding with the counties in
the other States. The population of the State was estimated in 1908
to be about 1,500,000, of whom more than 700,000 are negroes.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 455
MAINE.
GOVERNOR WILLIAM T. COBB (Republican), two years; term
expires, December, 1908; salary, $3,000. Governor Cobb was born in
Rockland, Me., July 23, 1857. He received his education at Bowdoin
College, of which he is still a trustee. He also graduated in law at
Harvard. Business appealed to him, however, and he devoted much
of his time to the manufacture and sale of lime. He ran on the Repub-
lican ticket for Governor of his State in 1905 and was elected, and
again in 1907. The office of the Governor of Maine is unique in
that the Governor is assisted by an Advisory Council consisting of
seven members, chosen every two years by joint ballot of Senators
and Representatives. This council's advice and consent are required
for all important appointments, and it must also sanction warrants for
the payment of money from the treasury.
Maine was part of Massachusetts until 1819. It was admitted to
the Union as a State in 1820. Its area is 33,040 square miles, divided
into sixteen counties. The population in 1908 is estimated to be
about 725,000.
MARYLAND.
GOVERNOR AUSTIN L. CROTHERS (Democrat), four years; term
expires, January, 1912; salary, $4,500. Like many prominent men,
Governor Crothers grew up on the farm. He was born in Cecil
County, Md., in the year 1860. He attended the public schools of his
neighborhood and later went to the West Nottingham Academy. For
a while after leaving the academy he taught school. Later he took
up the .study of law, in which he graduated from the University of
Maryland in 1890, when thirty years of age. He was at once ad-
mitted to the Cecil Bar and entered upon an active practice. Next
year, 1901, he became State's Attorney, in which capacity he served
for four years. It was in 1897, however, that Mr. Crothers became
actively engaged in politics. He was at that time elected to the State
Senate to succeed his brother, and at once became a leader of the
Democratic party in the State Legislature. He served as chairman of
the Committee of Finance and in this position made an impression
upon the State officials which paved the way to his later exaltation.
The tendency which he showed to guard the outlay of the people's
money against expenditure on wild cat legislative schemes marked his
456 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
administration of the Committee of Finance with distinction. It,
however, made him enemies also, as was shown by the fact that he
was defeated for the same position on the two succeeding elections.
On March 28, 1906, Governor Warfield appointed him Associate
Judge to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Judge Edwin H.
Brown, which position Judge Crothers occupied to the time he as-
sumed the duties of Governor in 1908.
Maryland entered the Union as one of the original thirteen
States. It has an area of 12,210 square miles, divided into twenty-
four counties, with a population estimated in 1906 at 1,275,000. Bal-
timore is its largest city, with a population of nearly 600,000.
MASSACHUSETTS.
GOVERNOR CURTIS GUILD, JR. (Republican), one year, term ex-
pires January, 1909; salary, $8,000. Governor Guild is a native of
Boston, where he was born February 2, 1860. He is the son of the
well-known author and journalist, Curtis Guild, Sr., President of the
Boston Society, one of the early proprietors of the Boston Traveler,
and also the founder and editor of the Boston Commercial Bulletin.
Governor Guild graduated from Harvard in 1881 with the highest
honors, made a tour of Europe and entered the office of his father's
paper, the Commercial Bulletin, in which position he served succes-
sively in various capacities from bill collector to editor, becoming, in
1902, the sole owner of the paper. Governor Guild has long been
active as a volunteer public speaker on the Republican side, and a
power not only in New England, but in the Central, West and South-
ern States. He was a delegate at large from Massachusetts, to the
National Republican Convention in 1896. He was made a brigadier-
general of the State militia at the outbreak of the Spanish-American
War, and after the war closed served on the staff of General Fitzhugh
Lee. In 1900 he was President Roosevelt's companion on the stump
in the West. From 1902 to 1905 he served as Lieutenant-Governor of
Massachusetts. In 1906 he was elected Governor, in which capacity
he has since served. Governor Guild has served in various capacities
in the public interest, both before and since he became Governor.
Massachusetts was one of the most prominent of the original
thirteen States, and when she was admitted to the Union had a large
territory, and her possessions then included largely what is now the
GOVERNORS OF NEW YORK, PENNSYLVANIA, MINNESOTA, DELAWARE,
OKLAHOMA, WEST VIRGINIA.
Charles E. Hughes, New York.
Edwin S. Stuart, Pennsylvania.
John A. Johnson, Minnesota.
Preston Lea, Delaware.
Charles N. Haskell, Oklahoma.
William M. O. Dawson, West Virginia.
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GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 457
State of Maine. At present she has 8,040 square miles; her popu-
lation numbers approximately 3,000,000, most of whom are engaged
in manufacturing and mercantile pursuits. Massachusetts and Rhode
Island stand alone among the States in the fact that they elect their
Governors every year. In no other State does the Governor serve
less than two years, and most of them have a four-year term..
MICHIGAN.
GOVERNOR FRED M. WARNER (Republican), two years, term
expires January, 1909; salary, $4,000. Governor Warner is by trade
a manufacturer of cheese. He is a foreigner by birth, being a native
of Nottinghamshire, England, where he was born July 21, 1865. His
parents removed to America when he was three months old, and a
few months later his mother died. The child was adopted by Hon.
P. D. Warner, of Farmington, Mich. He was sent to the public
schools of that town, where he graduated at fourteen, and later at-
tended the Michigan State Agricultural College, where he learned the
business of cheesemaking.
At the age of twenty-three Mr. Warner was married to Miss
Martha M. Davis, and the next year established a cheese factory at
Farmington, and later established three others at various points, all
of which he still operates. He also conducts a cold storage plant, and
is a director in the Exchange Bank of Farmington. Mr. Warner
entered politics at the age of thirty, when he was elected a member of
the village council at Farmington, in which he served nine years, and
was seven times the president of his home town. In the year 1900
he was elected Secretary of State, to which office he was re-elected in
1902, and from which office he stepped into that of the Governor of
Michigan in 1904, and was re-elected to enter his second term in 1907.
Michigan was admitted to the Union in 1837. ^ nas an area f
58,915 square miles, and the inhabitants in 1908 estimated at 2,650,000.
MINNESOTA.
GOVERNOR JOHN A. JOHNSON (Democrat), two years; term ex-
pires, January, 1909; salary, $7,000. It has been said that Governor
Johnson is "a Democrat by accident," having been called, when quite a
young man, to the editorship of a small Democratic paper in his
458 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL, LEADERS
native town of St. Peter, Minnesota, where he was born, July 28,
1861. It was his work on this paper and his interesting columns,
"It's a Fact" and others, under which he classified impressive bits of
news, philosophical statements and epigrammatic expressions that
brought him into prominence as a man of wide learning and deep
thought. Governor Johnson's learning, however, was not of th
schools, but such as he had gleaned from extensive reading, as his
parents, who were emigrants from Sweden, were extremely poor, and
the boy had small educational advantages. He left school when less
than fourteen years of age to assist his widowed mother in taking
care of the younger members of the family; and from that time on
he became not only the supporter of his mother and his younger
brothers and sisters, but the head of the Johnson household.
At the age of thirteen the boy went to work in a drug store in
St. Peter, using every odd moment in reading substantial books. Soon
after he was twenty-one years of age he became editor and partly
interested in the St. Peter Herald. This gave him the opportunity
he wanted for extensive reading and research, but, unlike many men
of brilliant minds, he did not overlook the importance of physical
culture exercise. To obtain this he served seven years in the Minne-
sota National Guard, of which organization he became the captain.
Later he went as State Senator from the St. Peter District. In 1904
he was elected Governor and re-elected in 1906. Governor Johnson
was married at St. Peter, June I, 1894, to Miss Elinore Preston. Like
William Jennings Bryan, he is a prominent member of the Presby-
terian Church.
Governor Johnson was renominated in August, 1908. He was
nominated for President of the United States before the Democratic
Convention at Denver, July n, 1908, receiving 46 votes. He was
also urged to allow his name to be placed before the convention for
Vice-President, but declined.
Minnesota east of the Mississippi River came to the United States
under the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. The State was admitted to
the Union in 1858. It has an area of 83,365 square miles and its
population in 1906 was estimated at 2,025,615. Its foreign born
inhabitants number about 550,000, the Norwegian, Swedish and Ger-
man elements being particularly strong.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 459
MISSISSIPPI.
GOVERNOR E. F. NOEL (Democrat), four years; term expires,
January, 1912 ; salary, $4,500. Governor Noel was born in the country
near Lexington, Mississippi, March 4, 1856. He attended the district
schools in Louisville, Kentucky, and spent three years in the high
school of that city. He later read law in the office of his uncle,
Major D. W. Sanders, of Louisville. Was admitted to the bar at
the age of twenty-one in 1877. He immediately began the practice
of law at his old home in Lexington, Mississippi, where he has since
continued to live. In 1895 ne became a member of the firm of Noel
& Pepper. He was also made vice-president and attorney of the Bank
of Lexington. He served as captain of Company K, Second Infantry,
Mississippi Volunteers, in the Spanish-American War. Like most
young lawyers, Governor Noel yielded to the political bee early in
life. He became a member of the Mississippi House of Representa-
tives in 1881 and served as District-Attorney from 1887 to 1891.
Was a member of the Senate from 1895 to 1903. In 1905 he was
married to Mrs. Alice Tye Neilson. In 1907 he was elected for a
four-year term as Governor of the State, entering office in January,
1908. Governor Noel is a thirty-two degree Mason and also a promi-
nent member of the Baptist Church.
Mississippi was admitted to the Union in 1817. It contains
seventy-six counties, covering an area of 46,810 square miles. The
population in 1906 was 1,706,000, of whom over 9,000 are negroes.
MISSOURI.
GOVERNOR JOSEPH W. FOLK (Democrat), four years; term ex-
pires January, 1909 ; salary, $5,000. Mr. Folk is one of the youngest
Governors in the country. He was born at Brdwnsville, Tenn., Oc-
tober 28, 1869, in which State he grew up and finished his education
at the Vanderbilt University. He was admitted to the bar in St.
Louis in 1890, and at once entered public life as a circuit attorney in
St. Louis from 1900 to 1904. He gained prominence by the prosecu-
tion of numerous bribery cases. Like Governor Hughes of New York,
in his prosecution of the life insurance and other frauds, young Folk
became a popular idol and was regarded as the best man in the Gov-
ernor's chair for the prosecution of graft and dishonesty. In 1905 he
460 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
was made Governor of Missouri for a term of four years. Mr. Folk
was married in his native town of Brownsville, Tenn., November 10,
1896, to Miss Gertrude Glass. He has been prominent in national
politics, and was among those mentioned before the Democratic Con-
vention in 1908 as Vice-Presidential candidate, but declined to let his
name go before the convention.
Missouri was admitted to the Union in 1821 with a population
at that time of less than 60,000 people in the State. In 1906 its popu-
lation was estimated at 3,366,000, a little over 200,000 being foreign
born. The State has an area of 69,415 square miles, divided into 115
counties.
MONTANA.
GOVERNOR JOSEPH K. TOOLE (Democrat), term four years;
expires January 4, 1909; salary, $5,000. Joseph Toole is a native of
Savananh, Mo., where he was born May 12, 1851. He was educated
in the public school of his native town and the academy of St. Joseph,
Mo. At the age of nineteen he removed to Montana and soon after
established himself in the practice of law. He has been intimately
associated in the public life of Montana from the days when it was a
territory. He was District Attorney for two terms and was a member
of the Territorial Legislature in 1879. From 1884 to 1888 he served
as a delegate to Congress; and in 1889 became a member of the
Constitutional Convention of the State, which was that year admitted
to the Union. In recognition of the work he did in that capacity
Mr. Toole was elected as the first Governor, serving one four-year
term, ending in 1893. In 1900 he was again called to serve his State
as Governor, and in 1904 he was again elected. Hence, at the expira-
tion of his present term in 1909 he will have served three times as
Governor of Montana.
On April i, 1908, Governor Toole resigned his office, and Edwin
L. Norris became Governor for the unexpired portion of the term.
Montana as a State is not yet a quarter of a century old, it hav-
ing been admitted to the Union on Washington's Birthday, February
22, 1889. The State has an area of 145,310 square miles. In 1870
it had a population of 20,595 souls. In 1906 the population was
estimated at 303,575.
GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS 461
NEBRASKA.
GOVERNOR GEORGE L. SHELDON (Republican), three years; term
expires, January, 1909; salary, $2,500. Governor Sheldon is a native
of Nebraska born in Nehawka of that State, May 31, 1870, three
years after his State was admitted to the Union. Governor Sheldon
is a man of broad education. He graduated with a degree of B.L.
from the University of Nebraska in 1892 and the next year took the
degree of A.B. at Harvard. Two years later, in 1895, he married
Miss Rose Higgins, of Roseville, 111. In 1898, when this country
went to war with Spain, he became the captain of Company B of
the Third Nebraska Volunteer Infantry. In 1907 he was inaugurated
Governor of his State for a term of two years.
Nebraska was admitted to the Union in 1867. The State has an
area of 77,520 square miles. The population is estimated at 1,100,000,
of whom about 180,000 are foreign born.
NEVADA.
GOVERNOR JOHN SPARKS (Democrat), four years; term expires,
December, 1910; salary, $4,000.
Governor John Sparks, at the time of his death, May 22, 1908,
was serving his second term as Governor of Nevada. Don. S. Dick-
erson succeeded to the office to fill the unexpired term. Mr. Dicker-
son is thirty-four years old the youngest Governor his State has
had. Inasmuch as this is Governor Sparks' term, it is proper that this
sketch should refer to him. He was a native of Mississippi, having
been born in that State in August, 1843. He went to Nevada in
his young manhood and interested himself in mining. He was, at
the time of his death, one of the extensive operators in the State
and his mines were run under Union Labor. As a public-spirited
citizen Governor Sparks insisted that the climate of Nevada was
better adapted for cattle raising than any other in the world. To
prove it he ran an extensive ranch near Reno, that State.
The historic strike of the miners, which began in 1907, necessi-
tating the sending of United States Troops to the State and the vio-
lent criticism of President Roosevelt, gave Governor Sparks, who was
ill at the time, great worry, and perhaps aggravated the Bright's
disease from which he was suffering, and ultimately died.
Nevada was ceded to the United States by Mexico in 1848 as a
portion of California. It was admitted to the Union as a State in
462 GREAT ISSUES AND NATIONAL LEADERS
1864. The State has an area of 110,700 square miles. Notwith-
standing this large area, in point of population it has the smallest
number of inhabitants ever admitted to the Union, being less than
35,000 people at the time of its admission; and its present population
is less than 50,000. Another interesting fact about Nevada's popula-
tion is that in 1880 there were 62,000 people in the State, which
presents the singular condition of having diminished in population
rather than increased during the past thirty years. The State is rich
in minerals and precious metals, and it has made marked progress
during the last decade.
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
GOVERNOR CHARLES M. FLOYD (Republican), two years; term
expires, 1909; salary, $2,000. Charles M. Floyd was elected Gov-
ernor of New Hampshire in 1907 to serve for a term of two years.
He was born on a farm in Derry, New Hampshire, June 5, 1861,
and was educated in the public schools of his native town. At an
early age he entered upon a business career in which he has been pre-
eminently successful. He is connected with several important manu-
facturing enterprises. He also holds the position of trustee of the
Amoskeag Savings 