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. We favor the establishment of a postal savings bank system Postal Savings. for the convenience of the people and the encouragement of

thrift.

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. Trusts. But experience has shown that its effectiveness can be strengthened 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 corporations engaged in interstate commerce having power and opportunity to effect monopolies,

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 advantages formerly possessed by Railroads. the large shipper over the small 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, 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,

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 Railroad and and firemen; the reduction in the hours of labor of trainmen and Government railroad telegraphers, the successful exercise of the powers of Employes. mediation and arbitration between interstate railroads and their employes, and the law making a beginning in the policy of compensation for injured employes 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.

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

Wage Earners
Generally.

of all public works, to increase the list of employes who shall have preferred claims for wages under the bankruptcy laws, to adopt a child labor statute for the District of Columbia, to direct an investigation into the condition of working women and children, and, later, of employes of telephone and telegraph companies 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 wellbeing means the wellbeing of all. But more important than all other considerations is that of good citizenship, and we especially stand for the needs of every American, whatever his occupation, in his capacity as a self-respecting citizen.

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 Court Procedure. 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.

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 The American Republican party during the last twelve years has accomplished Farmer. 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 life. Free rural mail delivery has been established; it now reaches millions of our citizens, and we favor its extension until every community in the land receives the full benefits of the postal serviec. 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 other wise to make clear to the public the best methods of road construction.

The total area under hay and clover in Canada in 1910 was 8,515,400 acres, yielding 15,498,000 tons, valued at $149,716,000.

The Republican party has been for more than fifty years the consistent friend of the American negro. It gave him freedom and citizenship. It wrote into the

Rights of the Negro.

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 enforcement in letter and spirit of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments to the Constitution, which were designed for the protection and advancement of the negro, 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 the 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 present 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 manoeuvres of army and Army and militia; fortifying new naval bases and completing the construction Navy. of coaling stations; instituting a female nurse corps for naval hospitals and ships, and adding two new battleships, ten torpedo boat destroyers, three steam colliers and eight submarines to the strength of the navy. Although at peace with all the world and secure in the consciousness that the American people do not desire and will not provoke a war with any other country, we nevertheless declare our unalterable 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.

We commend the vigorous efforts made by the administration to protect American citizens in foreign lands and pledge ourselves to insist on the just and equal protection of all our citizens abroad. It is the unquestioned Protection duty of the government to procure for all our citizens, without of American distinction, the rights of travel and sojourn in friendly countries, Citizenship and we declare ourselves in favor of all proper efforts tending to Abroad.

Extension of

that end.

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 $3,000,000,000 and gives employment to a vast amount of labor and capital which Foreign Commerce. 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.

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 Arbitration and the Senate of the United States eleven Hague conventions were Hague Treaties. 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. 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.

We adhere to the Republican doctrine of encouragement to American shipping and urge such legislation as will revive the merchant marine prestige of the Merchant Marine. country, so essential to national defence, the enlargement of foreign trade and the industrial prosperity of our own people. Another Republican policy which must ever be maintained is that of generous provision for those who have fought the country's battles and for the widows and orphans of those who have fallen. We commend the increase Veterans of in the widows' pensions made by the present Congress and declare the Wars. 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 declarations that the Civil Service laws, enacted, extended and enforced by the Republican party, shall continue to be maintained and obeyed.

In January, 1911, there were under construction in the shipyards of the United Kingdom 263 merchant vessels of a gross tonnage of 1,131,000.

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. In the interest of the great mineral industries Bureau of Mires and Mining. of our country we earnestly favor the establishment of a bureau of mines and mining.

Cuba, Porto Rico, the Philippines

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 between 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 wellbeing of the people is in every respect promoted and conserved.

and Panama.

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 is established and life and property are made secure. Education and practical experience are there advancing the capacity of the people for government, 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.

Centenary of the
Birth of Lincoln.

We favor the immediate admission of the territories of New Mexico and Arizona as separate states in the Union.

February 12, 1909, will be the 100th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, an immortal spirit, whose fame has brightened 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 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. 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

Democratic Incapacity

for Government.

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
Between Democracy
and Republicanism.

Beyond all platform declarations there are fundamental differences 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 currency; 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 Republicanism 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 Republicanism is that one stands for vacillation and timidity in government, 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 wise and regulated individualism. Socialism would destroy wealth, Republicanism would prevent 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 opportunity, 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 belleves 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.

In January, 1911, there were under construction in the shipyards of France merchant vessels of a gross tonnage of 109,000.

DEMOCRATIC.

The Democratic national convention was held in Denver, Col., on July 7-10. Theodore A. Bell, of California, was temporary chairman of the convention and Henry D. Clayton. of Alabama, permanent chairman. On the permanent rollcall there were 1,006 delegates. William J. Bryan, of Nebraska, was nominated for President on July 10 on the first ballot, receiving 892 votes, to 59% for George Gray, of Delaware, and 46 for John A. Johnson, of Minnesota. delegates did not vote.

The rolicall by states was as follows:

John

Bryan. Gray. son.

Eight

John

Bryan. Gray son.

78

John W. Kern, of Indiana, was nominated by acclamation for Vice-President.

The Platform.

The platform, adopted unanimously on July 10, was as follows:

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.

The

We rejoice at the increasing signs of an awakening throughout the country. various investigations have traced graft and political corruption to the representatives of predatory wealth, and laid bare the unscrupulous methods by which they have debauched elections and preyed upon a defenceless public through the subservient officials whom they have raised to place and power.

The conscience of the nation is now aroused to free the government from the grip of those who have made it a business asset of the favor seeking corporations; it must become again a people's government, and be administered in all its departments according to the Jeffersonian maxim, "Equal rights to all and special privileges to none."

"Shall the people rule?" is the overshadowing issue which manifests itself in all the questions now under discussion. The Republican Congress in session Just ended has made appropriations amounting to $1,008,000,000, exceeding the total expenditures of the last fiscal year by $90,000,000, and leaving a deficit of more than $60,000,000 Economy in Al- for the fiscal year. We denounce the needless waste of the ministration. people's money which has resulted in this appalling increase as a shameful violation of all prudent conditions of government, as no less than a crime against the millions of working men and women, from whose earnings the great proportion of these colossal 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 administration 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 administration.

Coincident with the enormous increase in expenditures is a like addition to the number of officeholders. During the last year 23,784 were added, costing $16,156,000, and in the last six years of the Republican administraOfficeholders. tion the total number of new offices created, aside from many commissions, has been 99.319, entailing an additional 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 Administration to keep the Republican party in power at public expense

In January, 1911, there were under construction in the shipyards of Germany merchant vessels of a gross tonnage of 160,000.

by thus increasing the number of its retainers and dependents. Such procedure we declare to be no less dangerous and corrupt than the open purchase of votes at the polls.

The House of Representatives was designed by the fathers of the Constitution to be the popular branch of our government, responsive to the public will.

The House of Representatives, as controlled in recent Arbitrary Power years by the Republican party, has ceased to be a deliberative of Speaker. and executive 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 representatives 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.

We condemn as a violation of 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 Misuse of the Presidency is scarcely less repugnant to public sentiment than Patronage. a 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.

We demand federal legislation forever terminating the partnership 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

Publicity of Cam

paign Contributions.

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, unchallenged by the Republican National Committee, of a single individual, that he himself, at the personal request of the Republican candidate for the Presidency, raised over $250,000 to be used in a single state during the closing hours of the last campaign. 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 in behalf of or consent to the contribution by a corporation of any money or anything of value to be used In furthering the election of a President or Vice-President of the United States, or of any member of Congress thereof.

We denounce the action of the Republican party, having the 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 campaign 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 at Chicago refused, when the plank was presented to it, to declare against such practices.

We pledge the Democratic party to the enactment of a law preventing 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 contributions above a reasonable minimum.

The Rights of the States.

Believing, with Jefferson, in "the support of the state governments in all their rights as the most competent administration for our domestic concerns and the surest bulwark against anti-republican tendencies," 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 authority 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.

We favor the election of United States SenPopular Election of Senators. ators by direct vote of the people, and regard this reform as the gateway to other National reforms. We welcome the belated promise of tariff reform now affected by the Republican party in tardy recognition of the righteousness of the Democratic posi

In January, 1911, there were under construction in the shipyards of Holland merchant vessels with a gross tonnage of 47,000.