Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 October 1890 — THE REPUBLICAN RECORD. [ARTICLE]

THE REPUBLICAN RECORD.

In its national platform for 1888, the Republican party promised that it would enact laws to secure certain objects, if the people would return it to power in the ensuing election. The people took the party at its word and placed its candidate in the White House apd a Republican majority in the House of Representa. tives. Eighteen months have passed and the time has recurred another Congressional election. The questions before the people, then, are thtse: Has the Republican party kept its promises? In what respects, if any. has it failed? HEBE ARE THE FACTS. 1‘ The Republican party promised a Federal Elections Law. That law has passed the House and is pending in the Senate, through which it will pass in December. 2. The Republican party promised to Revise, the Tariff in conformity with the policy of protection. It has done so through the McKinley bill, which the New York Tribune pronounces “the wisest, bravest and best tariff measure that has ever been framed.” 3. The Republican party promised to restore silver to its money uses. It has done so in a law which has had the effect of raising the value of silver 26 cents, and of wheat 22J cents. 4. The Republican party promised to pass a just pension law. It has done so in a measure which increases the pension appropriations to $2 out of every $5 collected by the Government. 5. The Republican party promised to do all it could towards the revival of the American merchant marine. It has done so in the two shipping bills which have passed the Senate and are now pending in the House, through which they will soon be carried. 6. The Republican party promised to exclude cheap labor and alien contract labor from our shores. It has done so, and has also passed a dozen other measures asked for by the labor organizations of the land. 7. The Republican party promised taadmit such Territories as are fitted fornStatehodd. It has done so by pushing North Dakota. South Dakota, Montana and Washington through a Democratic House, and by admitting Idaho and Wyoming. 8. The Republican party promised to rebuild the navy and construct harbor defenses. It has done so by authorizing six new vessels of w r ar and numerous fortifications. 9i The Republican party promised cheap letter postage. A bill reducing letter postage to one Cent per ounce has been favorably reported to the House, and is now on its passage. This is the record of eighteen months, and the Fifty-first Cpngress still has another year in which to complete its work. What more can the people ask? Is not a party that redeems all its pledges in the first term of its Congress and the first years of its administration clearly ontitled to a lenewal of public confidence? If the Republicans turn out and vote in November, the victory will be theirs.