A History of the Republican Party Part 19

The Democratic National Convention met at Kansas City, Mo., July 4-6, 1900. There was a long wrangle in the Committee on Resolutions over the silver plank in the platform, but it was finally adopted by a vote of 26 to 24, and the Convention adopted the platform by acclamation. The platform declared that while not taking a backward step from any position of the party, Imperialism growing out of the Spanish war was the paramount issue. The Kansas City platform is here given in full as of great interest in the pending campaign.

DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM, 1900.

We, the representatives of the Democratic Party of the United States, a.s.sembled in national convention, on the anniversary of the adoption of the declaration of independence, do reaffirm our faith in that immortal proclamation of the inalienable rights of man, and our allegiance to the const.i.tution framed in harmony therewith by the fathers of the republic.

We hold with the United States Supreme Court that the declaration of independence is the spirit of our government, of which the const.i.tution is the form and letter.

We declare again that all governments inst.i.tuted among men derive their just powers from the consent of the governed; that any government not based upon the consent of the governed is a tyranny, and that to impose upon any people a government of force is to subst.i.tute the methods of imperialism for those of a republic. We hold that the const.i.tution follows the flag, and denounce the doctrine that an executive or Congress, deriving their existence and their powers from the const.i.tution, can exercise lawful authority beyond it, or in violation of it.

We a.s.sert that no nation can long endure half republic and half empire, and we warn the American people that imperialism abroad will lead quickly and inevitably to despotism at home.

PORTO RICO LAW DENOUNCED.

Believing in these fundamental principles, we denounce the Porto Rico law, enacted by a Republican Congress against the protest and opposition of the Democratic minority, as a bold and open violation of the nation's organic law, and a flagrant breach of the national good faith.

It imposes upon the people of Porto Rico a government without their consent, and taxation without representation. It dishonors the American people by repudiating a solemn pledge made in their behalf by the commanding General of our army, which the Porto Ricans welcomed to a peaceful and unresisted occupation of their land. It doomed to poverty and distress a people whose helplessness appeals with peculiar force to our justice and magnanimity.

In this, the first act of its imperialistic programme, the Republican party seeks to commit the United States to a colonial policy, inconsistent with Republican inst.i.tutions, and condemned by the Supreme Court in numerous decisions.

PLEDGES TO THE CUBANS.

We demand the prompt and honest fulfillment of our pledge to the Cuban people and the world that the United States has no disposition or intention to exercise sovereignity, jurisdiction, or control over the Island of Cuba, except for its pacification. The war ended nearly two years ago, profound peace reigns over all the island, and still the administration keeps the government of the island from its people, while Republican carpet-bag officials plunder its revenues and exploit the colonial theory, to the disgrace of the American people.

THE PHILIPPINE QUESTION.

We condemn and denounce the Philippine policy of the present administration. It has involved the republic in unnecessary war, sacrificed the lives of many of our n.o.blest sons, and placed the United States, previously known and applauded throughout the world as the champion of freedom, in the false and un-American position of crus.h.i.+ng with military force the efforts of our former allies to achieve liberty and self-government. The Filipinos cannot become citizens without endangering our civilization; they cannot become subjects without imperiling our form of government, and we are not willing to surrender our civilization or to convert the republic into an empire; we favor an immediate declaration of the nation's purpose to give to the Filipinos first, a stable form of government; second, independence; and, third, protection from outside interference such as has been given for nearly a century to the republics of Central and South America.

The greedy commercialism which dictated the Philippine policy of the Republican administration attempts to justify it with the plea that it will pay, but even this sordid and unworthy plea fails when brought to the test of facts. The war of criminal aggression against the Filipinos, entailing an annual expense of many millions, has already cost more than any possible profit that could accrue from the entire Philippine trade for years to come. Furthermore, when trade is extended at the expense of liberty the price is always too high.

We are not opposed to territorial expansion when it takes in desirable territory which can be erected into states in the Union and whose people are willing and fit to become American citizens.

We favor trade expansion by every peaceful and legitimate means. But we are unalterably opposed to the seizing or purchasing of distant islands to be governed outside the const.i.tution and whose people can never become citizens.

We are in favor of extending the republic's influence among the nations, but believe that influence should be extended, not by force and violence, but through the persuasive power of a high and honorable example.

The importance of other questions now pending before the American people is in no wise diminished, and the Democratic party takes no backward step from its position on them, but the burning issue of imperialism growing out of the Spanish war involves the very existence of the republic and the destruction of our free inst.i.tutions. We regard it as the paramount issue of the campaign.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Marcus A. Hanna.]

THE MONROE DOCTRINE.

The declaration in the Republican platform adopted at the Philadelphia convention, held in June, 1900, that the Republican party "steadfastly adheres to the policy announced in the Monroe doctrine" is manifestly insincere and deceptive. This profession is contradicted by the avowed policy of that party in opposition to the spirit of the Monroe doctrine to acquire and hold sovereignity over large areas of territory and large numbers of people in the Eastern hemisphere. We insist on the strict maintenance of the Monroe doctrine and in all its integrity, both in letter and in spirit, as necessary to prevent the extension of European authority on this continent and as essential to our supremacy in American affairs. At the same time we declare that no American people shall ever be held by force in unwilling subjection to European authority.

OPPOSITION TO MILITARISM.

We oppose militarism. It means conquest abroad and intimidation and oppression at home. It means the strong arm which has ever been fatal to free inst.i.tutions. It is what millions of our citizens have fled from in Europe. It will impose upon our peace-loving people a large standing army and unnecessary burden of taxation and a constant menace to their liberties.

A small standing army with a well-disciplined state militia are amply sufficient in time of peace. This republic has no place for a vast military service and conscription.

When the nation is in danger the volunteer soldier is his country's best defender. The national guard of the United States should ever be cherished in the patriotic hearts of a free people. Such organizations are ever an element of strength and safety.

For the first time in our history and co-evil with the Philippine conquest has there been a wholesale departure from our time-honored and approved system of volunteer organization. We denounce it as un-American, un-Democratic, and un-Republican, and as a subversion of the ancient and fixed principles of a free people.

TRUSTS DENOUNCED.

Private monopolies are indefensible and intolerable. They destroy compet.i.tion, control the price of all material, and of the finished product, thus robbing both producer and consumer. They lessen the employment of labor and arbitrarily fix the terms and conditions thereof, and deprive individual energy and small capital of their opportunity for betterment. They are the most efficient means yet devised for appropriating the fruits of industry to the benefit of the few at the expense of the many, and unless their insatiate greed is checked all wealth will be aggregated in a few hands and the republic destroyed.

The dishonest paltering with the trust evil by the Republican party in state and national platforms is conclusive proof of the truth of the charge that trusts are the legitimate product of Republican policies; that they are fostered by Republican laws, and that they are protected by the Republican administration in return for campaign subscriptions and political support.

We pledge the Democratic party to an increasing warfare in nation, state, and city against private monopoly in every form. Existing laws against trusts must be enforced and more stringent ones must be enacted providing for publicity as to the affairs of corporations engaged in interstate commerce and requiring all corporations to show, before doing business outside the state of their origin, that they have no water in their stock and that they have not attempted and are not attempting, to monopolize any branch of business or the production of any articles of merchandise, and the whole const.i.tutional power of Congress over interstate commerce, the mails, and all modes of interstate communication shall be exercised by the enactment of comprehensive laws upon the subject of trusts.

Tariff laws should be amended by putting the products of trusts upon the free list to prevent monopoly under the plea of protection.

The failure of the present Republican administration, with an absolute control over all the branches of the national government, to enact any legislation designed to prevent or even curtail the absorbing power of trusts and illegal combinations, or to enforce the anti-trust laws already on the statute books, proves the insincerity of the high-sounding phrases of the Republican platform.

Corporations should be protected in all their rights and their legitimate interests should be respected, but any attempt by corporations to interfere with the public affairs of the people or to control the sovereignity which creates them should be forbidden under such penalties as will make such attempts impossible.

We condemn the Dingley tariff law as a trust-breeding measure, skillfully devised to give the few favors which they do not deserve and to place upon the many burdens which they should not bear.

INTERSTATE COMMERCE LAW.

We favor such an enlargement of the scope of the interstate commerce law as will enable the commission to protect individuals and communities from discriminations and the public from unjust and unfair transportation rates.

DECLARATION FOR 16 TO 1.

We reaffirm and indorse the principles of the national Democratic platform adopted at Chicago in 1896, and we reiterate the demand of that platform for an American financial system, made by the American people for themselves, which shall restore and maintain a bimetalic level, and as part of such system the immediate restoration of the free and unlimited coinage of silver and gold at the present legal ratio of 16 to 1, without waiting for the aid or consent of any other nation.

CURRENCY LAW DENOUNCED.

We denounce the currency bill enacted at the last session of Congress as a step forward in the Republican policy which aims to discredit the sovereign right of the national government to issue all money, whether coin or paper, and to bestow upon national banks the power to issue and control the volume of paper money for their own benefit.

A permanent national bank currency, secured by government bonds, must have a permanent debt to rest upon, and if the bank currency is to increase with population and business the debt must also increase. The Republican currency scheme is therefore a scheme for fastening upon taxpayers a perpetual and growing debt for the benefit of the banks.

We are opposed to this private corporation paper circulated as money, but without legal-tender qualities, and demand the retirement of the national bank notes as fast as government paper or silver certificates can be subst.i.tuted for them.

SENATORS ELECTED BY THE PEOPLE.

We favor an amendment to the Federal const.i.tution providing for the election of United States Senators by direct vote of the people, and we favor direct legislation wherever practicable.

GOVERNMENT BY INJUNCTION.

We are opposed to government by injunction; we denounce the blacklist, and favor arbitration as a means of settling disputes between corporations and their employes.

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

In the interest of American labor and the uplifting of the workingmen, as the cornerstone of the prosperity of our country, we recommend that Congress create a department of labor, in charge of a secretary, with a seat in the Cabinet, believing that the elevation of the American labor will bring with it increased production and increased prosperity to our country at home and to our commerce abroad.

PENSIONS.

We are proud of the courage and fidelity of the American soldier and sailors in all our wars; we favor liberal pensions to them and their dependents, and we reiterate the position taken in the Chicago platform in 1896, that the fact of enlistment and service shall be deemed conclusive evidence against disease and disability before enlistment.