Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 February 1908 — THE WORD IN SEASON [ARTICLE]

THE WORD IN SEASON

Senator Beveridge Delivers Timely and Outspoken Address to Indiana Lincoln League. , TRUE FUNCTION OF THE PARTY . . / r Courageous. Utterance Regarded as Applying to Certain Conditions Said to Exist in This State Will Command the Attention of the Whole Party in Indiana. Wabash, Ind., Feb. 14.—Before the Indiana Lincoln League last night Senator Albert J. Beveridge made a speech which will command the attention of his party in this state, because of the courage of his utterance and because It is regarded as applying to certain conditions which he alleged exist in this state. With much vigor, but yet with care and precision, he denounced the use of money to secure the nomination of certain candidates; declared that the true function of the party machinery should be to win at the elections and not to try to nominate pet candidates. He declared that such methods were unworthy pf the Republican party, and if continued would bring defeat to the party which practiced them and to the particular candidates in whose interests they were used. He spoke in part as follows: The Republican party began as the organized conscience of the nation, and the organized conscience of the nation it must remain. If politicians use it for the spoils of office; If men corrupt It with money; If purchased newspapers become its oracle, the heart of the nation will turn from It. For to the conscience and mind of the American people a party name is nothing, but the soul and purpose o^ 1 a moral movement are everything. I speak these words to night to the young Republicans of Indiana because they need to be spoken. Once more we are in a historic movement. Two years ago I named it “the movement for the moral regeneration of American business.” It Is a movement just like the one that Abraham Lincoln led, that Andrew Jackson led, that George Washington led. And as those names have become immortal because they represent Immortal movements In history, so will the name of him who leads this movement today likewise become Immortal; and for the same reason that Washington’s, Jackson’s and Lincoln’s names have become fixed stays In the heavens of human achievement, so beside them will shine the name of Theodore Roosevelt. ' Let the people beware of those who protest much, and perform little in their behalf, whether In nation or state. Above all, let the Republican party beware of lip service to the people and heart treachery to the people in Its own ranks. For let us never forget that we shall lose, and deserve to lose, when we cease to be the party of American Ideals; and that we shall not only lose, but be disgraced if our leaders, preaching ideals with the fervor of the missionary, prevent those ideals from being made realities with the cunning of the politician. Remember what Lincoln said of' just such men; remember what he called that kind of politicians: “Such politicians.’’ said he, “are a set of men who have interests aside from the interests of the people.” Fairbanks Indiana's Candidate-

The Indiana delegation Is going to Chicago for Vice President Fairbanks. Statements are being sent out that after a few ballots shall have been cast for him, the delegation is to be delivered to this candidate or that candidate. This Is an Insult to the Republicans In this state which, in their name, I denounce. The Republicans in Indiana whom we will represent are not to be traded or delivered. We will vote for our own candidate until he Is nominated, or until he himself tells us to vote no longer for him; and if that time ever comes, the delegation will not be delivered to anyone. The self-respecting, independent men who compose that delegation will then vote for whom they please. As a body wo are going to Chicago for Mr. Fairbanlw, and for him alone. Four years ago, at our state convention, I called the Republican party the Hero and Now party. It is not Republican to bo reminiscent; it la Republican only to be prophetic. It is not American to swell with pride and say, "See what I have done"; it is American only to say, “Here is what yet needs to bo done, here is why it needs to bo done, and here is how it needs to be done —and we propose to do it.” Things to Bo Done. And other things do need to bo done. Nearly twenty years ago the Sherman law was enacted. Wo have traveled a oontury since then. In that day the organisation of industry had just begun and men were alarmed; today we know that the organisation of Industry alone can’serve the, people—that railroad consolidations alone can carry i cheaply. safely, quickly the nation's passengers and freight. And so while ea the one hand wo have provided for punishing the robberies committed by trusts upon the people and put tn jail the wealthy anarchists who break the people’s laws, we should also provide that honest men may oombine for honest business; honest railroad managers oonsoiidato their lines for honest

traffic, that the business of the country may go forward. And so the Sherman law must be amended and brought down to date. Tariff Commission. A straight-out revenue tariff gives everything away and gets nothing in return; a straight-out protective tariff gives nothing away and gets nothing in return. We must have a tariff by which we can open the markets of the world —one highly protective tariff to apply to the nations that will not grant us favors in their markets, and another tariff, still protective, for nations that will give us favors In their ■ markets. . Laws must be passed to help labor. When a man is crushed or killed throughjio fault of his own, but by the fault of a fellow laborer, the law now gives his helpless wife and children no damages. This is infamous. We must pass a law that will change it. There are those who fear the laboring man. I do not fear him —J have been One of him. If the laboring man is treated justly, he will not be a menace but a blessing. Yet there are men who in Washington privately call him an anarchist and do all they can to prevent justice being done him. These men exist in both parties, and I do not blame organized labor for striking such men wherever they find them, and striking to kill politically. Indiana Not for Sale. Four years ago in a speech at Indianapolis, I said that Indiana is not for sale. Tfie people of Indiana rebuked the attempt then made to corrupt them by nearly a hundred thousand majority for our presidential ticket and one hundred and thirty-five thousand majority for our legislative ticket. I repeat that statement now. Indiana is not for sale. Indiana cannot be bought. The Republican party cannot be bought. Unpleasant rumors have been flying over our state ‘ for six months past. It is said that Indiana is being flooded with money. It is said that thousands of dollars are being spent. It is the common talk on the streets. It is in the mouths of the people. We must show the people that this is false. Let the Opposition soil themselves with corrupt gold if they will; but let us be clean-hand-ed, even though we be penniless. When the liquor Interests contribute vast sums for the success of any party at the polls, or any candidate in convention; when railroad interests pour thousands of dollars Into the same hands for the same purpose; when men Inside and outside the state contribute money to the same end—the people should mark the party or the mAn who is the object of this unholy favor for black and irretrievable defeat. - Nine years I have been in public life, and every day of every year of that period proves to me more and more clearly that most dangers to the people's government spring from the one poisoned fountain of corrupt use of money in politics, legislation and administration. • Thousands of Dollars Spent for a Candidate. I declare to you tonight what for twenty-five years I have said to the people of this state, that any man in any party who spends 150,000 or $5,000 or any other sum but his legitimate expenses, or in whose behalf such sums are spent for nomination at convention or election at the polls should be rejected by his party in convention and by the people at the polls as the worst foe of both. Let the people decide, let the people rule, unbought by money, uninfluenced by bribes of any kind. Promises of official positions at Indianapolis or at Washington are just as much bribery as the paying over of actual cash. "Pet” Candidates. Another thing that is on the lips of men and is common talk of the people is that the state central committees of both parties are leaving their legitimate work of managalng the campaigns of the candidates of their party after they have been nominated, and are managing the campaigns of candidates for nominations. I do not believe this of the Republican state committee, but everybody knows it has been true of the Opposition state committee. Our own state committee is composed of my personal friends, and I never can believe that they are trying to nominate pet candidates. To do so would be to prostitute the party to the uses of a machine, and the history of other states \is that machinemade goods are not desired by the people at the polls. Look at the plight of the opposition party in Kentucky; look at the fate that has overtaken Governor Beckham. Where the voters of any party became convinced that their servant, the state committee, is trying to name a candidate for the party, instead of lotting the party name a candidate for Itself, the voters should defeat such a candidate in convention before the people defeat him at the polls. Unbowed Conventions. Let ns have definite policies flowing from high ideals for the Republican party; pure primaries for the Republican party; unbowed conventions for the Republican party; fearless, truthful, clean candidates for the Republican party. These must be our Republican watchwords. The time has gone by when a bad maa can put a placard on his coat with the word “Republican” printed on It, and because of that name got Republican votes. I appeal to Republicans—l appeal to the whole people—for the ideals that In Lincoln's day made men leave wife and child and fireside for camps of disease and hunger and fields of battle and death. The government is for the people—if it la not, It ought to be abolished.