Jasper County Democrat, Volume 3, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 October 1900 — PRINCIPLES OF THE PARTY. [ARTICLE]

PRINCIPLES OF THE PARTY.

Decl n ration of Indeprn fence Ex presses What Democracy Stands For. The fundamental principles of the Democratic party are best expressed in ‘the Declaration of Independence. The Democracy stands for individual freedom, for equality of rights and opportunltles, for political, religious and industrial liberty. Its trend has always ; been In the direction of popular government, although more than once ha machinery haa fallen Into the hands of the enemies of the people and has been devoted to the interests of special classes. This had bappcuml before the great re birth of the parly of Thomas Jefferson in 1896. Thnt'year wftnessed a revolution In the party and tlie beginning of a revolution In the Country. The Democracy again took solid ground upon the great principles of the Declaration and it has since held that grounil with courage, with zeal and with lofty determination. The Democratic plat form in 1896 declared no new or strange doctrine. It I but rested and reaffirmed old truths for which the party had stood In its I best days and tinder Its greatest leadership. The spirit, of it wns long i>efore voiced in the philosophy of Thomas Jefferson ami In the heroic pollpy of Andrew Jackson. It dealt wIU; now phases of old questloua; and In essenev it marked the revolt of the tribute-pay- 1| era agalust the tribute-takers. In 1900 the Democracy stands ag.tin uj>on the old foundations. It fs afol the champion of equal rights. It Is still the evangel of liberty. It atlll stands In solid phalanx against the forces of privilege. In 1896 the apparent issue involved the question of coinage; but the real Issue was whether thia, country should continue to governed by the people or whether It should give up Its old Iddata ami become the submissive appanage of a' grasping plutocracy. , > The real Issue is the same this year that It was foHr.yeam ago. Nejy manifestations ttan? bfleft developed, hhl'lt is iilUt a quest lon whether tor a claW mirthe country or

whether it shall bo controlled by the people for the people. The ancient war between Hamilton and Jefferson la being fought again under the opposing standards of McKinley and Bryan. The latter stands stood for the principles of the Declaration of Independence. The former stands as Hamilton stood for government of a class, by a class, for a class. The Democratic party believes that governments were instituted among men, not for the purpose of exploiting the masses and the enrichment of favorites, but for the purpose of securing to all their inalienable right to life, to liberty and to the pursuit of happiness. that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. It therefore stands In unalterable and inflexible opposition to imperialism, which is the denial of the right of self-government. It holds that we cannot hold a subject colony without violating the fundamental principle of the republic; and it condemns as wicked and wanton a war that is being waged without legal authority for the overthrow of free gov< ament In a foreign land and the establishment thd<e of sovereignty against the wishes and in defiance of the rights of its inhabitants.

If the United States have a right to overthrow' the Filipino republic they have the right to overthrow any other republic or any other government they may select for a victim. They may go to Central America and to South America or to China or to Africa and under pretext of civilizing and christianizing the inhabitants they may destroy their governments and institutions and compel them to submit to American rule. The pretense that we bought from Spain the sovereignty of the Philippines in no sense saves us from the inherent wickedness of our assault upon the liberties of a foreign people. The tatter bud Tight«r, and ts were not owned by Spain. Spain therefore could not sell them. Nor could we buy them. What Spain sold was her outlawed claim to trample upon those rights. What we purchased was thia claim; and the Republican party Is asserting it w ith brute force in defiance of filorals and law and the foundation principles of our own free Institutions.

But the Democratic party stands for freedom at home as well as for freedom abroad. It is therefore in favor of trial by jury and against government by injunction. Trial by jury for hundreds of years has been considered the strongest defense of freemen. It is now challenged by the Republican party and in the name of law and order its overthrow is foreshadowed in Judicial usurpation—the worst of tyrannies. Thomas Jefferson feared the encroachments of the judiciary in his time; and it was Marshall whose interpretation of the constitution was the first great triumph of imperialism over democracy. In later years the federal government has steadily encroached upon the liberties of the citizen; one by one the safeguards of freedom have been overborne; and now the common people must face the threat of irresponsible power exercised by the federal bench through the subtle enginery of the injunction.

If men have a right to themselves they have a right to use their own powers; and if they have a right to the use of their own powers, they have a right to the use of those things which they produce by the exercise of their powers. They have the right to work; they have a right to the things they make; and If this be so, they have the right to exchange the results of their labor with their neighbors or with any one they please. In other words, they hare the right to trade; they have a right to buy where they can buy To the best advantage; to sell where tbey can secure the most for their product. The Republican party denies this principle. Under the false name of protection It compels workers to exchange, the products of their labor in a market artificially restricted; to purehuse In a market where free competition has been throttled by taw for the benefit of certain favored'classes. Tl® result Is * robpory of tabor; It is compelled to accept the terms and conditions offered by the bcneflelnrles of the rcwrlctlv® law. The Democratic party stands f<rt froe 'competition an<L-for the right of all men steely to exchange with each othyr the results of their’ toll, it is therefore opposed to trusts and to all d< vices for ft® kiHlng'or cwn-the rsstjclctton of trade. A protective tariff Is a declaration of war against trade; it is an invitation tp combination arti monopoly; It puts a premium.upon ungrpsslng and forestalling: It Is the hftrjlmatdon If not the mother of trukts.

An Encouraging 81 gn. The Yermont nud Maine electlaas make 1t certain tliat the Gold Den'gb-' crats arc very generally voting with hlielr party again. That being the cnw*. tliuro are strong reasons for saying thy t Mr. Ikryun, besides the Southern Statws will get all of the states in which Mr. McKinley was vlctbrlods by a smaU majority Io 1896. There, are enough nf those States to Insure a majority of the electoral vote* for Mr, Bryan.—Savannah News. Silence "that Cuts !>cep. The silence of Tom Rood and Beujamlp Harrison will persuade more of tbo old guard of the Republican party to votA against Imperialism tlinn the roarings of Roosevelt, the ranting* of Grosvenor and the vfitidevflle oratory of Jonathan Deliver will befool Into voting for the Hanna-McKinley policies of criminal aggression and trust tatteta-ing.-itoWM Olty Times.