SPEECH BY ELIHU ROOT, AS CHAIRMAN OF REPUBLICAN STATE CONVENTION AT SARATOGA, NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 14th, 1908. SPEECH BY ELIHU ROOT, AS CHAIRMAN OF REPUBLICAN STATE CONVENTION AT SAR- ATOGA, NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 14th, 1908. Utica, N. Y. Thomas J. Griffiths, Hotel and Liberty Sts. £760 By Transfer AUG 3 1914 i' Gentlemen of the Convention: Just a decade has passed since we were assembled in this place engaged in the business of nominating Theodore Roosevelt for Governor of New York. W'c are now to nominate a successor to Charles E. Hugirjs as Governor ; and we are to perform that duty accord- ing to our wisdom, our 103-alty to party and to country in such a way that the Empire State shall surely cast her electoral vote for the Republican candidate to succeed the same Theodore Roosevelt as President of the United States. May we not discern in the performance of that duty an opportunity broader in its scope, more compelling in its obligation than the mere attainment of local success? May we not do our work here in such a way and in such a spirit that throughout all the country. Republicans shall be inspired with courage and hope, and every doubtful voter shall be convinced by proof that in this great representative State, the home of the candidate for Vice President, Republicans are sincere in their professions, loyal to their principles, unselfish in their patriotism, truly representative of the body of the people and worthy of the great traditions of the party of Lincoln ? We have a record which forbids discouragement or doubt in the performance of our task. We can turn to the administrations, now drawing to a close, both in the State and in the nation, and with confidence ask every American voter to say whether they ha\-e not met all the great fundamental requisites of good govern- ment, whether they do not justify the belief that it is best for the counlry to kcc]) in ])o\ver the party which is responsible for them and is entitled to the credit of them. Have not these administrations within the State and in the nation been honest? Have they not been capable? Have they not been efficient? Have they not set before all the people of America examples of pure, high minded and patriotic service in public office? Have they not raised the standard of public dutv which the young men of America set for them- selves? Have they not done us honor before the world ? 'i'hese are the true tests by which to determine whether it is wise to C(^ntinue a political party in power. It is such tests as these that we all apply in our pri\ate affairs when we select a business agent or a trustee or a lawver or a teacher for c^ur children. Common sense dictates their application in the selection of our agents and trustees for public business. All parties make promises before election agreeal)lc to the ear and satis- fving to the wishes of voters: but will they keep the Ijniniises? What is the evidence that they are made up of men who have the hmiesl will, tlie firmness of character and the abihlw wilhonl wliich such ]:)romises are wi Tthless ?' Lnok tn the rei'ord : see what parties ha\'C done in the i)asl, and learn tliere which slmuld be trusted for the future. Look not to petty, refmed details, but to the broad (|uestion whether, taken as a whole, their wisdom, etliciency and honesty in the past give promise of wisdom, efficienc)- and honesty in the fntni'e. Tlie answer to this ipiestion will be worth more as a guide to the voters at the coiTiing election than all the discussion ox'er fine spun theories and sanguine i-< injectni'es that can be I'rowded into a Presi- dential campaign. There liave been two special and notable characteris- tics in which these two administrations have been alike. One is that they have both gone directly to the people of the country, to the great body of the electors themselves, for their inspiration and their strength. Neither Governor nor President has relied upon that ^■iew of expediency in the conduct of public affairs \\hich is to be gained by secret conferences in closed rooms. They have construed their representation of the people as being immediate and without intervening authority or interpreters. When they have formed opinions as to the lines of policy which it was wise to follow in the performance of their duties, they have explained their opinions directly, through the press and through public speeches, to the people who elected them. and. having got back the people's answer, they have given due weight and effect to it, in accordance with the true principles of representative government. The second special resemblance is in a much more than ordinarv vigor and sternness in the enforcement of law, which have characterized both State and National administrations. Does the Constitution of the State say that no gambling shall be allowed in the State? Then it seems to the State administration a compulsory and inevitable conclusion to be forthwith acted upon with all the power of the State, that such allowance must be stopped at all hazards, no matter who is hurt or who is offended. Do the laws of the United States declare that there shall be no discrimina- tion in railroad rates between shippers great or small ? Then discriminations and rebates must be stopped by the whole aggressive force of the National Govern- ment, whatever the cost, however great and powerful may be the offenders pursued, however injurious may be their enmity. The novelty of this strenuous law 6. enforccnicnl has nut Cdiisisled in applxini;' any new lliciiries of g"i)\-t'rnnKMilal contml or in ilic cxercisj o! anv new powers, but rather in lireaking np the sleepy old methods of procedure, in securing practically ade- quate administrative statutes to give life to the old Constitutional and statutory declarations of general rules which were by themselves ineffective, and in ])utting force and momentum into the attack on estab- lished and customary evils. W'licn continuous and widespread violations of law liave b.en profitable and many persons have a special ])ecnniar\- interest against any interference with them, tliey i)resent a degree of resistance to law enforcement \vhicli can be overcome only l)y an awakened public interest, and In- a degree of apparent excitement wliich sometimes seems like luidue violence, for force nnist l)e proportioned to resistance. It is impossible to l)urst open doors softlw An incident to this kind of vigorous law enforcement is the resentment and revengeful feeling of the peo|)le whose profits are interfered with. Of this feeling, awakened by Repu1)lican law enforce- ment, tlie Democratic j^arty now gladly takes the benefit, and one of the serious (|uestic:)ns of this cam- paign is to be whether the ])eople of the country are going to permit the Republican j^arty to suffer for haxing enforced the law in the vState and the nation. or whether tliex' are g'»ing to liack up law enforcement b\- their approwd sliown in their \()tes for tlie l\.e]iul)- hcan candidates. In e\ery de])arlment of the National Cio\-ernment since the decisive approval of Republican administra- tif)n gixcn in the great majorities four years ago, there has been ])ractical effectiveness of action which should b^' highly satisfactory to all the ])eople of the countr}- who really care about ha\iiig the ( lox-ernment business well and creditabb' done. 7. The financial panic of last autumn which resulted, as so many panics have before, from reckless extrava- gance and wild speculation, was checked by the firm hand and clear understanding of national financial administration. Confidence was restored. The panic has passed away, revealing a substantial business soundness and widely diffused wealth throughout the country, unprecedented in our history and the result of a long period of wise and able Republican administra- tion ; and the Republican Congress, against much Democratic opposition, has enacted a wise law to make such a panic as that impossible in the future. Our War Department has continued to be an agent for peace and for the spread of American ideals of ordered liberty. The Filipinos, already initiated by us in the practice of local self-government in their Barrios and Provinces, have now been taught the first step towards national self-government by the successful inauguration of the Philippine Legislative Assembly. Cuba has been pacified. Her armies, on the verge of bloodshed, have been induced to lay down their arms, and, under the intervening government and guidance of the United States, through perfectly peaceful and orderly elections, Cuba is about to embark in her second attempt at independent self-government. Under the medical officers of the army the Isthmus of Panama, where pestilence had ruled for centuries and workmen died like flies, has been made healthful and safe ; yellow fever has been banished, malaria has been reduced and the death rate among the thirty thousand employes engaged in the canal work has been reduced to the ordinary average level of our American cities. Under the engineer officers of the army the work of excavation and construction is progressing with a rapidity never before known upon any work in 8. the world, and llic simple continuance of the present conditions will within the next seven years crown the work by the completion of the canal, to the imperishable honor of America as a benefactor of civilization. What will happen if the American people change the admin- istration with all the chances of incapacity, inexperience and doubtful experiment no one can forecast. The extraordinary voyage of our battle ship tleet. circumnavigating South America, to the extreme nortliern boundary of our western coast, across the wide Pacilic to far off New Zealand and Australia, and so along its way around the w'orld, has evoked much discussion as to both political and naval policy. In both of these the developments of the voyage have shown tliat the policy of the Administration was sound and far sighted. There i.s one other thing wdiich the voyage has shown beyond peradventure ; it is that there has been only sound and honest work under the Navy Department in construction, in equipment and in training. The unexam])]ed test to which this fleet has been subjected absolutely excludes any possibility of graft or slackness or false ])retence in naval adminis- tration. The Post Oflice Department has increased its receipts from $82,665,462.73 in 1897 to $183,585,005.57 in 1907. It has increased the number of pieces handled from 5. 781. 002. 143 in 1897 to 12,255,666.367 in 1907. It has increased the Rural Free Delivery routes from 83 in 1897 t^ 37728 in 1907. and 39,270 in 1908. ser\-ing sixteen million ])eop]e. while it has decreased the numbci- (if ])ost offices from 76,945 in 1901 I0 62,659 in 1907. Tlie great increase in circulation of ncws])a])ers and magazines along the Rural l-'ree Deli\er\- routes, the bringing of u]) to d;ite information about niark-cts and im])ro\enients and current c\cnts to the farmer, the rehef to the isolation of farm Hfe, all testify to the wisdom of this beneficent Republican policy, which had its origin under President McKinley and its great development under President Roosevelt. The Post Office Department has effected a saving of nearly five millions a year by reform in the weighing of railway mails. It has almost completed the list of parcels-post conventions with the other nations of the world. It has given security of tenure to good post- masters, has reduced the hours of labor and has increased the promptness and efficiency of the ser\'ice. The Department of Justice has borne the burden of vast and complicated litigation necessary to the legal assault upon widespread and deeply intrenched abuses defeufled by wealth and influence and power in many fields. By investigations and suits and prosecutions it has substantially put an end to the almost universal practice of railroad rebates. It has halted and made it plain that if allowed to continue in the same way it will inevitably end the oppressive and unfair practices through which great combinations of capital have been acquiring monopolies and crushing weaker competitors. It has compelled the land thieves and timber thieves who had fastened themselves upon the great Govern- ment domains in the west to give up their plunder. By prosecutions under the penal clauses of the postal laws it has put an end to lotteries in the United States. It has conducted an effective campaign against the practice of peonage, a thin disguise under which slavery was again reappearing in certain regions of the south. Under the wise policy of recent Republican legislation it has asserted the value of American citizenship by scrutinizing for the first time in our history the pro- ceedings in the niultitude of courts which have power to grant naturalization, and by prosecuting the fraudulent lO. practices under which, unchecked, the hberahty of the United States towards the immigrant had so often been abused. By active proceedings it has given new hfe to tlie eight hour lal)or and contract hibor provisions of the I'ederal statutes. It has enforced the ordinary laws and conducted the ordinary legal business of the Government faithfully and effectively. In the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture a new era lias been inaugurated, of protection, preserva- tion and enlargement of the natural wealth of the United States. The reclamation of the arid lands of the west In- irrigation was provided for by the act of the I\ei)ublican Congress of the 17th of June, 1902, a fitting- supplement to that other great Republican measure, the homestead law. Under that act more than 25,000,000 acres of desert lands are being rapidly con- verted into fruitful farms, without entailing the ulti- mate cost of a dollar to the national treasury. Twenty- five irrigation projects are under construction. On the I St of January last 1,881 miles of canals had been dug; 281 great dams and other large structures for the storage and utilization of w-ater had l)cen l)uilt ; 42,447,000 cubic yards of earth and rock had been excavated : thirteen and a half miles of tunnels had been dri\en, and alread\-. with ])ractically all of the projects still uncompleted, eight new towns have been estab- lished and over fourteen thousand of our people have made new homes on the reclaimed land. The forest policy of Rei)ul)lican administration under the Department of Agriculture h;is been far in advance of the general ])ul)lic .'ipi)reciation of its importance. Over 166,000.000 acres of public forest land have been placed under the administration of the forest service, and bv strict rmd well organized su])ervision are ]ire- ser\i'(l fi-oni spoliation and from fire as gi-cat reser\-oirs II. of water supply for the interests of navigatiiMi, irriga- tion, power and domestic use. The forests are not only preserved, but they are used for grazing- where they can be grazed without injury, and for cutting the ripe timber that can be cut without injury. The cost of supervision, protection and utilization has risen as the area set aside has ificreased, from $350,000 in 1904 to $1,790,678.79 in 1907, but the receipts from the sale of timber and grazing have risen from $58,436.19 in 1904 to $1,571,059.44 in 1907, so that the service is already almost self supporting. Sixty-seven million acres of public lands underlaid by coal which under former practices would have been sold at a small mini- mum price, and, too often, had been taken up by fraudulent entries as agricultural lands for the benefit of some corporation or syndicate, have been withdrawn from entry. Fifty million acres of the lands thus with- drawn have been examined and valued by the Geo- logical Survey service and restored to public purchase as coal lands at a true and reasonable valuation. At fifteen hundred stations throughout the United States the. flow of streams has been gauged and a knowledge of their flood and low stages and average discharge has been obtained through the Geological Survey. These investigations have shown where millions of wasted horse power can be utilized, and at the same time destructive floods controlled and an equal flow' of water preserved for the uses of navigation in the east and irrigation in the west. The grazing lands of the ])ul)lic domain had been greatly encroached upon by the great cattle owners, and during the past five years fences unlawfully enclosing public lands have been removed from 3,518,583 acres and action has been taken to remove such enclosures from an additional 3,763,186 acres. 12. During the past eight years over a milHon dollars have been collected by the Departments of the Interior and of Justice in penalties for timber trespasses. For all sorts of offences aimed at the public domain during that period over three thousand indictments have been found ; over 870 convictions have been had and over 250 prison sentences have been imposed. \\'^ithin the same period 7,874 fraudulent land entries have been cancelled, restoring to public entry over 2,259,840 acres. Government initiative and Government activity in the conservation of our national resources have awakened the whole country to a sense of the wasteful- ness which has depleted our wealth in the past and the necessity of economy in the future. In the meantime the Department of Agriculture is increasing the value of every acre of land by scientific researches and experiments anrl practical instruclii^n which are teaching our people to make their land more productive and to combat the enemies of animal and ])]ant life. Careful, well (Organized and systematic inspection and super\ision under the meat inspection law and the pure food law of 1906, have restored the credit (^f our meat i)ro(lucts and are protecting our people from fraudulent and adulterated foods. The De]')artment of Commerce and Lab(n" has. for the fu'st time, established immediate and ])ractical co-operation between the Government and the organ- ized commercial bodies of the country. It is sifting with greater efficiency than e\"er before, under the recent legislation of Congress, the crowds of immi- grants who come to our pc^rts. and excluding criminals. paupers, the diseased and contract laborers. It is bringing publicity into the workings of the great cor- porations. It is in\-estigating the conditions surround- ing woman and child labor in the United States. It is 13- keeping the producers and merchants of the countr\- constantly fully informed as to the markets and trade conditions of the entire world. All of these Departments are performing with integrity and efficiency the vast mass of ordinary duties of government devolving upon them, those duties which are so inconspicuous and unnoticed, but so important for the welfare of the country. Search where you may : in no private business, corporate or indixidual. in this or any other country, can be found a higher standard of integrity, fidelity and competency than exists to-day in the Government of the United States in all its Departments. Our country has not lived unto itself alone. It is at peace with all the world, but it is not the peace of isola- tion. W^e have grown so great that we are touching elbows with the people of every other country. Our vast trade seeks every market; our millions of immi- grants maintain ties of citizenship or relationship with everv countrv : our travelers throng every foreign high- way \\> could not, if we would, escape from the responsibilities, the duties and the opportunities, of active membership in the community of nations. On that great international field we must play our part, whether we will or no. We must maintain and enlarge (Hu- trade ; we must protect our citizens, native and naturalized, in every right; we must establish and maintain a strength of potential defence which shall discourage predatory attacks that our wealth would otherwise in\-ite ; we must render justice to all countries and to their people, so that there shall be no just cause for assaults upon us; we must promote friendly inter- course and better knowledge between our people and all others, so that there shall be no quarrels born of misunderstanding. Beyond all this, we must do our part 14. according to the measure of our wealth and power, to promote the peace of the world, to encourage and to aid the weak, the unfortunate and the undeveloped peoples of mankind along the pathway of civilization, and to spread throughout the world the ordered liherty and justice which has been our heritage. In these things we have not failed. In the second great Peace Conference at The Hague the American representatives bore their part of useful service with distinction, and contributed in full measure to the results of the Conference, which constitute one of the greatest advances ever made towards the reasonable and peaceable regulation of international conduct. Twel\-e treaties agreed upon at that Conference all designed to reduce the probability or mitigate the horrors of war have been approved by the Senate and ratified by the President. Following the Conference the United States has put itself definitely upon the basis of the peaceful settlement of international disputes by concluding general treaties of arbitration with England, France, Spain. Portugal, the Netherlands, Denmark. Sweden. Norway. Switzer- land. Italy. Mexico and Japan. All of these have been confirmed by the Senate, and many others are in course of negotiation. Threatened tariff wars l)etween the I'nitcd States and Germany and the United States and {""ranee have been averted by commercial agreements under the power conferred ui)i)n the President in the third section of the Dingley tariff act. The long unsettled questions with Canada have l)een carried far along the way towards a conclusion. Under one treaty already made a commission is disposing of the last remaining questions of doubt and dispute along our three thousand miles of boundary. Under another 15- treaty a commission is framing joint international regu- lations for the preservation of the food supply in the great lakes and other boundary waters. Under a third treaty we have agreed upon the submission to The Hague Tribunal of the century old controversies relating to the Newfoundland fisheries, while pendmg this arbitration, from year to year, our fishermen are protected in their rights by a friendly uiodtis z'k'ciuii. In China the boycott against American goods caused bv Chinese exclusion has been abandoned, and China is herself giving valuable aid towards preventing the emigration of her coolies to America. Under authoritv of Congress we are about remitting all the punitive part of the indemnity stipulated for after the Boxer rebellion, and the Chinese Government is of its o^vn motion formulating a plan to apply the remitted part of the indemnity to the sending of Chinese students annually to be educated in the United States. All the wild outcries of the sensational press at home and abroad have failed to destroy the good understand- ing between the Governments of Japan and of the United States. The difficulties which arose in San Francisco have l^een disposed of. The two Govern- ments are actively co-operating with perfect mutual understanding for the prevention of Japanese labor immigration into the United States. Our treaty of arbitration ratified during the past summer was fol- lowed by a treaty for the mutual protection of trade marks, copyrights and patents in China. On the special invitation of Japan we are making preparations to participate on a scale which we have never before attempted, in her great international exposition which is to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the accession of her Emperor ; and upon the special invitation of Japan our fleet is about to visit the harbor of Tokyo where it i6. will be received with a hospitality not marred by a single discordant note. (3iir course in the Pan-American Conference at Rio de Janeiro in 1906 and the friendly intercourse which has f(jllowed have dispelled the susi)icion and distrust with which we were once regarded by the people of Latin -America, and with the single exception of the irresponsible and abnormal Dictator of Venezuela, genuine friendship and good will bridge the gulf of race and language between ourselves and every people of the Western Hemisphere. Regarding the countries about the Caribbean sea, whose nearness to the Panama canal route makes their fortunes of special interest to us, we have developed and followed a definite course of policy which may be described by saying "We do not wish to take possession of any of those countries our selves ; we are not willing to have any other foreign nation take possession of them ; and to prevent the necessity of the one or the possibilty of the other, we do wish to help them govern themselves in peace and order and prosperity." That is the key to our treatment of Cuba. Under that policy we have made a treaty with San Domingo under which the presence of a single American ci\il officer, as Receiver of Customs, with the moral power of the United States behind him to demonstrate the hopelessness of an_\- attempt at revolution, has substi- tuted uninterrupted ])eace iov continuous turmoil and bloodshed, has more than doubled the Government rex'cnues, has brought about an adjustment of the debt and a restoration of solvency, ai d has established a revival of industry and of commerce, lender the same policy we have been collaborating with Mexico, once .an enemy and now a close and \alued friend, to mitigate the conditions of revolution and war atiiono- the Central 17- American States; and a Peace Conference during the past winter, under the guidance of the two greater countries, has resulted in a series of treaties and the estabhshment of an International Central American Court for the settlement of differences — substantial ad- vances along the slow and difficult pathway to estab- lished order. In the meantime the reorganization of our consular service and the practice of promotion for merit in the diplomatic service has increased the efficiency and use- fulness of all our representatives abroad. We con- tributed substantially towards maintaining the peace of Europe in the Conference at Algeciras, and the greatest war of modern times was ended when Japan and Russia were brought together under the congenial infiuence of American conciliation in the treaty of Portsmouth. The prosperity and well being of our people as a whole corresponds to the efticiency of the Government, which justly represents them. Never anywhere in the long history of mankind's struggles for better condi- tions, has there been among so many millions of people so great a diffusion of wealth, such universal comfort of living, such ready rewards for industry and enter- prise, such unlimited opportunities for education and indi\-idual advancement and such independence and dignit}' of manhood as in our country now. \\'e are all familiar with the amazing statistics that mark our prosperity. Our foreign trade last year amounted to $3,315,272,503. The balance of trade in our favor last year was $446,429,653, and in the last four years it has amounted to $1,825,520,202. The value of our farm products last year was $3,958,000,- 000. According to the last census there were 5,739,657 1 8. separate farms, and the li\'e stock upon those farms is valued at $4,331,230,000. The value of our manufac- tured products in 1905 amounted to $16,866,703,985. Our bank deposits of all kinds last year amounted to $13,077,330,466. There were last year in the United States 8,588,811 savings bank depositors, with an aggregate deposit of $3,495,410,087. During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1906, there were instructed in the schools of the United States 18,434,847 scholars, and of these 210,333 ^vere students in universities, colleges, professional and technical schools. Chinxhes and hospi- tals and lil)raries abound. Associations for mutual aid and for ])ublic Ijenefit numl)er their metnbers and their revenues by millions. Our people are keenly alive to the public interest and competent for the discussion of public questions. Expression of opinion is free as the air we breathe. Respect for law is general; disregard of it is the rare exception. At no time and in no country has mere wealth secured for its ])ossessor less public con- sideration or ha\e the liigh qualities of personal man- hood availed so much for honor and opportunity. Government did not make these conditions, l)ut the)- would ha\e been impossible without wise and good government, and wise and good government is neces- sarv to their continuance. Let tis all put our shc^ulders to the wheel of reform. Let us press along in the ])ath of progress, constantly impro\ing conditions and lea\'ing no class or condition of men who do not share in the im])ro\emcnt ; but let us n(^t forget that true reform ])rocccds, not b\' o\crtnrning or destroying in order to subslitule tlie conjeclural future of sanguine thcor\', but al\\a\> b\- building steadil)' and surely on the safe foundations of all that is good in the present. Wisflnm. >ki!l, exi)erience in the operations of Covern- ment, practical ca]jacit\- couibini'd with hiinc>t purpose 19. arc necessary to make true reform effective. Without these, declarations and jjuljhc speeches, however, elo- quent, and proposals, however attractive, are mere w^ords and will never he realized. The suhstantial question for the voters to answer in November is. how shall we secure a continuance of the good government under which we have attained to all our blessings: how select public agents who will maintain the peace and order and prosperity we now have; and at the same time press forward and make practically effective the reforms which this Republican Administration has inaugurated, and upon the \alue and beneficence of which all parties are agreed. Plainly the true successor to this • great dutv is Secretary Taft. His wide experience and long vears of successful service under heavy responsibilities as jurist, legislator, administrator, his intimate acquain- tance with the puljlic affairs of our country, internal and external, prove his wisdom, his skill, and his capacity. The confidence and sympathy and intimate association with which he has stood by and aided President Roosevelt in every stage of the policies which by the common consent of both parties now lie before us to be continued and developed in practical effective- ness, indicate him as the best possible man to continue those policies. The character that we know so w^ell, with its courage, firmness and energy, its unselfishness, modesty, frankness and honor assures us of his honest purpose and his eminent fitness for the greatest of offices. The Democratic party announces as the issue of this campaign upon w hich they ask the voters of the country to take the powers of administration and legislation away from the party that has thus proved its compe- tency, and to embark upon the experiment of Demo- 20. cratic control — as "tlie oxershadow in<;- issue" the ques- tion "Shall the ])e()ple rule?" Do not the jieople rule? lliis is a representative g-overnment. It surely is not ])roposed to do away with representation and ha\'e eig"ht}--fi\e millions of people make and execute their laws directly, without the inter- vention of legislative and executive agents. Are not the laws heing made and executed by the agents whom the people have selected for that purpose? I find that by the Lawful returns of the last Presidential election Theodore Roosevelt received 2.541,296 more votes for the Presidency than Alton B. Parker. Has he not a good title to the office? -\re not the people ruling tin-ough him, their chosen Executive, so far as his part c)f the government is concerned? Has not every Con- gressional District been represented in Congress by the man whom a majority of its voters selected? Is not every State represented in the Senate by Senators chosen by its own Legislature, selected by the people of the State for the performance of that xevy duty ? But Mr. Bryan gives specifications. He says there are three reasons why the people do not rule. First, because there is corru])t use of money at elec- tions. Does he mean to say that the two millions and a half of votes which constittited Air. Roosevelt's ma- jority were bought ; that to such a frightful extent the American electorate is \enal ? Docs he ])roducc any e\'idence of such a charge? Xot the slightest. Docs he prf)duce any facts tending to sustain even a suspicion of tlic justice of such a charge? None whatever. For one. I deny its truth, and I assert that American elec- tions are fair and honest elections, and tliat the Govern- ment in W'ashingti »n lias been wielding tlic jiowers vested in it under the Constitution by the clear and unquestionable will of the people of the United States. 21. Campaign funds were raised and used in the last elec- tion by both parties, as they ought to have been raised and used. Mr. Bryan's managers are appealing for contributions of campaign funds to-day. The universal and intelligent discussion of great questions of public policy by the American people during a Presidential campaign is the most useful and the most hope inspiring- school of government in the world. It is that which makes the people ever more competent to govern justly and wisely. No money expended to promote that great exercise of governing intelligence is ill-spent; and to furnish eighty-five million people with material for discussion, to reach them w-ith information and argu- ment and refutation of argument, and appeals, through public speech and through the mails and private can- vass, requires organization, the labor of thousands of men and the expenditure of great sums. The repetition of small expenses among a great multitude of people s])read over a vast territory mounts up with a rapidity difficult to realize. The postage on a single letter mailed to each of the fourteen million voters of the country amounts to $280,000. To such proper and useful purposes and to such purposes only was the Republican campaign fund of the last election devoted. The second reason wdiy Mr. Bryan says the people do not rule is that we have not direct election of Sena- tors, and he holds the Republican party responsible for not having procured an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to provide for that. There is no more necessity for an amendment to the Constitution providing for the direct election of Senators than there is for an amendment to the Constitution providing for the direct election of President. If the people of any State wish any particular man to be chosen as Senator, thev have only to instruct their Legislature, as the 22. people of a considerable number of States make it their practice to do now, and no Legislature will ever for a moment think of disobeying the instructions any more than Presidential electors violate their obligations. The proposed amendment is simply to enable the people of each State to escape from the performance of the duty of electing a Legislature than can be trusted. Are we l)rei)ared to abandon the performance of that duty? Are we to assume that our State Legislatures must necessarily and for all time be unfit to represent the people of the State? If so. what becomes of the gov- ernment of the State? Is that with all its multitude of important duties to be left unfit? If any State Legis- lature cannot now Ije trusted, the true reform would seem to be in the direction of selecting the Legislature. Speaking for myself alone. I believe that the selection of Legislative candidates by direct primaries would be a material improvement, and would greatly increase the sense of immediate responsibility to their constituents on the part of the members of the State Legislatures. In such primaries the voters could instruct their can- didates if they saw fit and as they saw fit. regarding the selection of Senators. But that is a (|uestion the people of each State can settle for themselves without any amendment of the Constitution, and however they settle it, they rule in the way they prefer to rule. If any Legislature under tlie Constitution does not choose a Senator who i)roperl}' represents the people of the State, it is because the people of the State have failed in their dut\' in the selection of their Legislature. Let them perform their duty under the Constitution as it is, rather than clamor for an amendment to the Constitu- tion to enal)le them to esca])e that dutw In the long run, to secure good government we must ultimately come down to the faithful performance of dut}- by the 23- people of tlic country at the polls, and no expedient or change of form will take the place of that performance. The third reason why the people do not rule, says Mr. Bryan, is to be found in the rules of the House of Representatives. The Denver Convention declared in its platform that it "observed with amazement the popu- lar branch of our Federal Government helpless to obtain either the consideration or enactment of measures desired by a majority of its members." Who makes the rules of the House of Representatives? Why, a majority of its members, and a majority can change them as it will. Manifestly, there must be rules to control the conduct of the business of the House, or no business could be done. Over thirty thousand bills were introduced in the last session of Congress, and there are 386 members. If one-tenth of the members had attempted to speak five minutes each on one-tenth of the bills that were introduced, working eight hours a day for the average legislative session and permitting the transaction of no other business, they would have been speaking still, and the term of office, of the entire Congress would expire l^efore one-fourth of the one- tenth could be heard. Plainly there must be rules to limit oratory, to provide for the selection of the measures which shall come up for discussion, and to provide for the transaction of the real business of legis- lation. All legislative bodies have to adopt such rules, and the larger the body the more necessary are the rules and the more stringent they have to be. It is an invari- able incident to the transaction of all legislative business that from time to time members who are not allowed to talk as long and as often as they please to the exclusion of others and who cannot ha\'e the measures they are particularly interested in acted upon in preference to other measures, rise up and cry out against the rules, 24. as the Democrats are crying out against them now. The real trouble is that the Democrats in the House of Representatives are a minority and cannot have their own way because they are a minority. The real Demo- cratic grievance is, not that the majority does not rule, but that it does rule. The rules at present in force in the House of Representatives are those adopted under Speaker Reed when the Democratic members of the House had stopped all public business by refusing to answer to their names and insisting that unless they answered, although personally present, they could not be counted as making up a quorum. The amazement with which the Democratic party observes that those rules are still in force must be greatly increased by the knowledge of the fact that the same rules w'ere con- tinued and enforced by the Democratic House under the Democratic Speaker, Mr. Crisp, when they suc- ceeded to the Republican House over which Mr. Reed presided. Consideration of the paramount issue now proposed by the Democracy, "Shall the people rule?", forces the conclusion that the draftsmen of the Democratic plat- form are to be acquitted of the offence of insulting the intelligence of the American people by a piece of cheap buncombe, only because they have fallen into the con- fusion which beset the three tailors of Tooley Street, who began their proclamation "W^e the people of England," and that they think the peo])le do not rule because they do not themselves rule. The Democratic platform assails the Republican National Administration for the increase in tlie number of office holders and the great exi)enditures of the Ciov- ernmcnt, whicli the ])latl'orm characterizes as exlraxa- gant. Tt demands that the National Government shall do a great variety of things which can be done only as. through the employment of numerous agents and the expenditure of great sums of money, but it declares the employment of the agents and the expenditure of the money to be unjustifiable and extravagant. It gives specifically the number of office holders added and the number of million dollars expended, but is silent as to the work that has been accomplished. In the numbers so given by the Democratic platform are included the carriers who deliver the mails upon the thirty-nine thousand rural free delivery routes. Would the Demo- cratic party discharge them from office and stop the rural free delivery ? If not, is it honest for their plat- form to invite the condemnation of the people for the addition of these thirty-nine thousand letter carriers without disclosing what they were for? The increase of expense which they declare to be extravagant includes the cost of the Panama canal. Would they stop work on the canal ? If not, is it honest to include that cost in the figures of added expense which they call extravagance and not disclose the purpose for which the expense was added? The employment of agents and the expenditure of money made necessary in the prosecution of trusts, the regulation of railroads, the prevention of rebates, the restoration of public lands, the conservation of natural resources, the regu- lation of immigration and of naturalization, the im- provement of agriculture, the upbuilding of the navy, the extension of our foreign trade, all the vast activities of the National Government along the very lines that the Democratic party is insisting upon, are included in these figures which the Democratic platform charges as extravagance without one word to indicate what is the fact, that full and necessary service was rendered by every additional officer and full value received for every dollar. The expenditures of the present Republican 26. Administration have been well within the means of the country, and there remains to it in the Treasury a surplus of revenues collected during this Administra- tion over and above the expenditures. Every additional office holder employed and every dollar of increase of expenditure have been authorized bv the direct repre- sentatives of the people of the I'nited States in Con- gress as being wise expenditure in the jniblic interest. Every dollar has been honestly expended in accordance with that authority, and in charging extravagance by a mere statement of the amount expended and the number of officers employed, without any reference to what was accomplished, the Democratic party must stand con- victed of an attempt to mislead the people of the United States by the mere force of large figures. The Democratic platform charges also that the action of the present Chief Executive in using the patronage of his high office to secure the nomination of Mr. Taft to the Presidency is "a violation of the spirit of our institutions." Is there a man of full age in the United States who does not know that the power which Mr. Roosevelt brought to the support of Mr. Taft's candi- dacy was not patronage but his extraordinary and phe- nomenal popularity and leadership among the masses of the people of the country, a popularity of which Mr. Bryan is now attempting to secure the benefit by declar- ing himself Mr. Roosevelt's natural successor? Ts there one who does not know that if Mr. Roosevelt had desired to perpetuate his power, he could have been ufMuinated by raising his finger, and that his advocacy of Mr. Taft's nomination was because it was necessary for him to secure the nomination of soiue one in order to prevent his own nomination ? Ts there one who does not believe in his heart of licarts that tlie selection of Mr. Taft bv Mr. Roosevelt as his candidate for the 27. Presidency at the very moment when he himself was thrusting aside the Presidency, was with the honest purpose to secure the best possible administrator of the great policies that were dear to his heart? Is it to a dishonest purpose that Mr. Bryan claims to be the heir, and is it possible to ascribe a desire to perpetuate per- sonal power to the man who held the highest power in his grasp and rejected it? It is but a short time since these same voices of de- traction were charging the President with the purpose of usurping supreme and perpetual authority for him- self. Yet he has proved himself capable of a renuncia- tion of power exceptional in history, and has con- tributed to our system of government a precedent which forever sets a limit upon the continuance of the Presi- dential office. It is but a short time since these same voices were heard declaring that the President's character was so rashly belligerent that his Presidency would involve the country in certain war. Yet he has proved to be the greatest peacemaker of the generation. Mr. Bryan charges that the Republican party is responsible for the abuses of corporate wealth. As well might he charge that the man who plants cotton is responsible for the boll weevil, or that the man who plants fruit trees is responsible for the San Jose scale. Until the millenium has brought the eradication of human selfishness and greed, social abuses will come according to the shifting conditions of the times. Ad- versity and prosperity, wealth and poverty have each their own kinds of abuse. Constant vigilance and con- stant activity to meet and put an end to abuses as they arise is the task of government and of good citizenship; but the work is never finished. The Republican party has produced the conditions which have made our great prosperity possible, and it is dealing with the evils 28. which have been incident to that prosperity with vigor and effectiveness. There are two substantial proposals made by the Democratic party as to the poHcy which they will follow if they are brought into power. One is that they will wipe out the protective tariff and substitute a tariff for revenue only. I shall not discuss that proposition, but it ought not to be for- gotten. The eleven years which have passed since the Dingley tariff was enacted have brought about many changes in the conditions to w^hich the tariff law is applied. Many of these changes have resulted from the very prosperity which the protection afforded by the tariff has produced. In the nature of things, such changes must occur and from time to time, every tariff must be revised and adapted to the new conditions. As the period of revision, however, is always one of uncer- tainty and a consequent injury to business, revisions ought not to be made too often, or upon slight grounds. The Republican party has not considered that sufficient grounds for thus disturbing business have existed here- tofore. It now considers that sufficient grounds do now exist and it has pledged itself immediately after the 4th of March next to devote an extraordinary session of Congress to making such a revision in accordance with the true principles of protection. One of the ques- tions that must be determined by the coming election is whether we shall have such a revision, or whether we shall have the principle of protection abandoned and a new tariff enacted in accordance with the principles of free trade, and containing only such duties as are neces- sary to raise revenue for the support of the Government without any protective purpose. The last time the Democratic party was in power it attempted such a change of policy and the result was 29- the Wilson- Gorman tariff of 1893. The very threat of such a proceeding at that time stopped business, closed the mills, threw millions of men out of employment and was accompanied by universal business depression and disaster. Are we ready to repeat that experience now. as we surely shall if we put the Democratic party in power ? The other proposition of the Democratic platform is to require all national banks to guarantee the payment of deposits by all other national banks. This is another patent financial nostrum, advertised to catch the fancy of the multitude ; and it should be suppressed under the pure food law until it is correctly labelled, "a measure to compel legitimate business to bear the risks of specu- lation." It might well be called a measure to destroy the national banking system, for who will wish to invest his money in a business where it is not merely subject to the risks assumed by the men whom he and his asso- ciates select to manage it. but is subject also to be called upon for the payment of an unlimited amount of debts of an indefinite number of persons over whom and whose obligations he and his associates have no control whatever ? A bank deposit is a very simple business transaction. The depositor in effect loans his money to the bank, which borrows it upon a promise to repay it on the lender's order, with or without a stipulated interest. Banks seldom fail to pay the debts thus contracted. Although the deposits are ordinarily many times the capital, losses are exceedingly small. The principal reason why this is so is that bankers are ordinarily men who have established a good reputation in the community for honesty and business sense. People ordinarily will not risk their money by lending it to men who have not these claims to confidence. Under the law 30. any one who can furnish $25,000 can start a bank, but in practice, as a rule no one can start a bank who cannot also furnish a character which leads the community to trust him and deposit their money with him. If, how- ever, the sound and honest banks of the country guar- antee the debts of every bank, a well earned reputation for honesty and business judgment will no longer be necessary as a part of the banker's capital. It will no longer be necessary for the community to consider whether a banker is honest or not. Any scalawag can start a bank and obtain deposits on the credit of all the banks of the country. Any one who wishes to use funds in speculative enterprises can start a bank, invite deposits and thus borrow money on the credit of the entire banking capital of the United States. With such opportunities who can doubt that the standard of char- acter of the bankers of the country would deteriorate and the use of banking funds for speculative enter- prises would increase and that the losses which the honest bankers would be required to make good would increase correspondingly ? This burden would fall not merely upon the stock- holders of the banks, but upon the depositors also. Much banking capital would inexitably be driven out of the l)usiness and such as remained would have to make good its losses by reducing the rate of interest to its depositors and increasing the rate of interest upon loans. The profits of the banking business, like those of the merchant, the manufacturer and the farmer, depend upon good management. The attempt to make all the profits of good management 1)ear all the losses (tf barl management is a step in the socialistic process which would level all distinctions between thrift, enter- prise and sound judgment on the one hand, and reck- lessness, incapacity and failure on the other. 31. Except for campaign purposes there is no occasion for any such scheme. The business men of the country need no guarantee of bank deposits. They know with whom they are deahng when they select a bank for deposits, and their intelhgence and knowledge of affairs are amply sufficient for their own protection in making the selection. The wage earners of the country, the multitude of people of small savings, not familiar with business, so far as they live in places where there are savings banks, have practically perfect safety for their deposits, and over eight and a half millions of them are enjoying that safety now with a good rate of interest. For them if they prefer it and for all those who live in places which are not accessible to savings banks, the Republican party proposes that the Government shall furnish absolute security through a postal savings bank, so that the wage earner can deposit his savings at the nearest post-office and have the guarantee of the Gov- ernment that it shall be returned; but that guarantee will be accompanied by the possession and control of the money itself, so that neither the depositor nor the Government can lose. This simple supplement to the banking and savings bank system meets everv require- ment, and. unlike the Democratic proposal, it has been proved safe and practicable by the experience of many countries and it violates no principle of sound finance or of common sense. ^^llat evidence of Democratic fitness to be entrusted with power, is to be found in the record of its candidate for the Presidency? It is with profound satisfaction that we recognize the purity and uprightness of Mr. Bryan's character, and we cannot withhold our admira- tion from the skill and attractiveness of his oratory ; but when a candidate for high office can furnish no evidence of fitness derived from the actual performance of 32. official duty, and relies entirely upon what he proposes to do in the future, we must test, so far as we can, the soundness of his judgment by the substance of his proposals, not by his manner of presenting them. It was skillful for Mr. Bryan to say that he is bound by the omissions of the Democratic platform as well as by what it contains ; but who dictated the omissions as well as the platform ? Can an omission of to-day wipe out public utterances of the past and remove them from memory as a basis for judgment upon the public man? The same eloquent voice which now with so much con- fidence is telling us how the Government ought to be conducted was heard in Mr. Bryan's candidacy of 1896 urging upon the American people as the panacea for all evils and an absolute necessity for our prosperity, the free and unlimited coinage of silver at the ratio of sixteen to one. Was he right then ? Was his judgment sound then? Would it have been wise for the people of the country to elect him President then in order to carry out the policy to which he was then devoted ? With the same confidence during his second candi- dacy he was heard to declare that the paramount issue before the American people was that of imperialism. Where is that issue now ? However tired some Amer- icans may be of the burden of the Philippines, what must be our estimate of the political wisdom and sense of proportion for which in the year 1900 the so-called question of imperialism filled the horizon and obscured the sky as the one paramount issue before the American ]:)eople. On the 30th of August, 1906, Mr. Bryan announced upon his return from Europe, as the result of deliberate reflection, that Government ownership of railroads was the cure-all demanded bv the public interest. "T have reached the conclusion." he declared, "that there will 33 he no permanent relief on ihe railroad (jueslion from the discrimination hetween individnals and hetween places and from extortionate rates nntil the railroads are the proi)erty of the Government and are o])erated by the Government in the interest of the peojjle." That declaration he has re])eated many times in snl)stance. The Republican party l)elieves in the rei4uIation of railroads. It believes that their managers otight to be made and can be made to obe}- the law. It believes that l)y an enforcement of the law, not sj)asmodic and sensa- tional. l)ut stead}', hrm and persistent, excessive and discriminating rates can be stopped; and it is now and has been for a considerable period engaged in snch enforcement with marked efficiencv and success. It proposes for the Presidency a candidate who declares his ])nr])ose to continue and complete that enforcement of the law and whose competency to do so with success has been proxed. Mr. Bryan does not believe in the regulation of railroads. He does not believe it prac- ticable. He regards it as bound to fail, although he is willing to criticise the Re])ublican party for not accom- plishing that vast and com])licate(l task all at once. It is natural to observe that if the i)eople of the country desire railroads to be regulated, and the laws regarding them to be enforced, it would be wise to entrust that regulation to Mr. Taft, who believes in regulatit )n and has faith in the wisdom and effectiveness of the law, rather than in the hands of one who believes that all effort to regulate must prove futile. The chief importance of this subject, however, rests in the light it throws upon the candidate's qualification for the Presidential office. It is an essential charac- teristic of our system of government that it aims to afford individual opportunity for enterprise rather than to exercise paternal control. Americans have all felt 34 from the earliest times that undue extension of govern- mental power threatened liberty and tended to dull the initiative which has made us great as a nation. It has been only upon the most long continued consideration and with many doubts that we have yielded step by step to the enlargements of governmental regulation made necessary by the increasing complications of modern life and business. The apostle of the doctrine that the functions of government should be confined within the narrowest possible limits was Thomas Jefferson, whose disciple Mr. Bryan to-day prc^fesses to be. Under his inspiration the true Democratic party continually resisted the extension of governmental functions. It opposed the use of Government moneys for internal impro\ements. It (Apposed the building of ihe Paciiic railroads. It opposed the National Bank act. It denied the right of the National Government til im])(ise a ])rotective tariff. It has steadfastly main- t.iined tlie broadest construction of State rights and the narrowest construction of national rights. Yet Mr. Bryan, while inscribing the name of Tln^mas Jefferson upon his standard, seriously proposes that the Federal Government shall not merel}' regulate the operations of railroads which are engaged in interstate commerce, but shall ac(|uire and own and operate itself all the great railroads of the country. C^)nsider for a moment the situation which would exist in the State of New York with the Federal Government owning and Federal officers in Washington controlling with all the rights of ownershi]) the New York & New Haven, the New York Central, the West Shore, the Ontario & Western, The Delaware i\: Hudson, the Delaware, Lackawanna ^^ Western, the Frie, the Lehigh Valley, the I'altimore ^'