Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 March 1909 — BEVERIDGE DEFINES PARTY POLICIES [ARTICLE]

BEVERIDGE DEFINES PARTY POLICIES

Senator Speaks to L Republican Editors PARTY HARMON PREVAILS In an Address to Members of Editorial Association and Republican Members of Legislature, Senator Albert J. Beveridge Flays Machines and Factions and Makes Clear His Position on the Patronage Question — Notable Party Affair Concluding With Enthusiastic “Love Feast.”

Indianapolis, Ind., Feb. 26. —In an address last night to the Indiana edi tors and the Republican members of the legislature at the annua] banquet of the Republican State Editorial association, Senator Beveridge very dearly Refined the policies of the party, touching upon most of the important ques I tions immediately before the state and nation. President Strohm, on behalf of the association, Introduced the Senator as the sole and exclusive leader ot the Republican party in Indiana. The Senator’s address called forth great applause by those present, and the banquet concluded in an enthusiastic love feast. The Senator said: Parties exist for the people; not the people for parties. A man should belong to a party only because he believes that its deeds, purposes and tendencies are best for the nation. So we see that broadest patriotism is wisest partisanship. Where a party degenerates into a mere organization, trying to keep voters together not for the welfare of the nation, but for mere partisan success and the personal advancement of particular men, it becomes unworthy of the support or respect of the thinking citizen. J These general principles must determine the course and conduct of the Republican party, both as to its organization and its policies. Just as a party exists for the people instead of people existing for the party, so a party organization must exist for the party instead of the party existing for the organization. This is the great truth which must control us in the reorganisation cf our party which takes place every two'years. Our county and state committees must work exclusively for the election of ail candidates; not at all for the nomination of any candidate. In nominating our candidates we must be governed by. the good old American rule. “A free fight, no interference, and let the best man win.” Opportunities In Republicanism. Napoleon vitalized France and won bls victories with this single sentence: “Every soldier of France carries a marshal’s baton in his knapsack.” Let us apply his wisdom to the nomination of our candidates and say, “Any Republican can have any nomination who can win it himself.’’ Let every young man in Indiana understand that from this time forth, if he enters the Republican party, the door of advancement will not be closed upon him; and that he may enter and mount to the seats \ of power if he has the strength. And let all the people know that Republican candidates are chosen only because each candidate is so able, energetic, pure in character and clean in life that he won the nomination of his own merits, unaided and unhindered by any party committee. This rule is merely a combination of ■heer justice and common sense. It prevents an organization from becoming a machine, which UAWe natural tendency of every organization,- no matter how excellent the men who compose it—it is the natural tendency of every one of us. Equally important, this rule will secure the beat candidates; and more and more we must look to that. More and more the citizen is coming to care about the fitness of the man and less and less about what party label he wears—and in this the citlsen is right tn times like these. Publie office exists to transact the bus!-' nets of the people; and the people want the beet man they can find to transact that business. The longer I am in public life the clearer ft becomes to me that good government, and even finally the fate of our Institutions, depends upon the character and quality of our public men; and by the same token the success of a party depends upon the quaAity of its candidates.

Importance of Candidate*. Candidates are now as Important M platforms. For example. In the last campaign the platforms were not radt eally different —they were unlike ia detail rather than In purpose. One de-' elared for the guarantee of bank deposits, the other for postal saringa Banks; ope declared for one form of; antl-lnjunction legislation, the other for a different form; both stood for M> effective navy, the difference being* •nly tn the else of our fleets; both debated for tariff revision, ours for a modern double tariff, * th* opposition tor the obsolete single tariff on revenue lines, but involving a measure of protection. The only monumental difference was on. subject of trusts oh which the opposition's plan of con-

, trol was so ridiculous that it exacted ' laughter rather than discussion. In short, there was no conflict of fundamental principles ,as was the case in 1900, when the issue was the power of , the republic to hold and govern our possessions; or in 1896, when the issue was sound money against practical repudiation. Thus in the last campaign, candiI dates were discussed more than issues; and while Mr. Bryan and Mr. Taft were equally pure, brave and patriotic, the extraordinary fitness and unequalled training of Mr. Taft for the office weighed heavily in his favor. When some mighty Issue again em gages the thought and captivates the hearts ot all the people and divides citizens with opposing convictions into great camps, hostile in belief, parties will again snap into rigid alignment No party can hold its voters in any possible way except by the appeal of vital issues or by the excellence of candidates. The whip of an organization can no longer drive citizens into line. So we see that the old methods are obsolete. “The old order changeth, giving place to that which is new," saith Hbly Writ; and this is only a simple statement of the law of human progress. . Upon these basic principles tbe Republican party from this day forth will submjt Itself to the consideration of citizens. Let those Republicans who, for reasons which they thought ) good, have voted against us in various j districts, now understand that the door j is open for their return; that their old places at the fireside are waiting for them; and that the fatted calf is already roasting on the spits. There is no one to be punished and no one authorized to punish anyone if there were anyone to be punished. There is no decree of party outlawry to be entered, and no party court to enter it if such a decree were necessary. Spirit of 20th Century Republicanism. The wisest law of Moses, that great- i eat statesman of all time, was his inspired statute declaring the Yepr of Jubilee, when all debts were discharged, all mortgages lifted, all prisoners released and every man made free to return to his own. We ask no man’s . vote on any other ground than we will and can do that which is best for the country and do it better than other parties—let every Republican, yes, every citizen, understand that this is the spirit of twentieth century Republican- ! In the last campaign I travelled more thau seventeen thousand miles, speaking day and night to many thousands; and in all that campaign I asked no man to vote our ticket merely because he had belonged to our party. I asked the American citizens to whom I spoke to cast their ballots for what each of them thought would be best for his family and for his country. The only control which the Republican party will attempt over Its own members as to their political conduct is precisely the same as the appeal wh(ch we to all citizens of all parties for their political support; and that is that each shall be governed by his conscience and judgment as to the superior worthiness of our candidates and wisdom of policies. Factions Mean Death to Party Success. If this be our party policy—and it will be —there can be no factions among us. There must be no factions among us; there shall be no factions. Factions within a party are a contradiction in terms. The theories of parI ties and factions are In deadly hostility. A party is a group of citizens In support of principles or policies; in approval or disapproval of general ten- j dencles; In endorsement or condemnation of the people’s work well done or badly done by the party which the people have commissioned to do it. A faction is a coterie of political brigands gathered about a subtle and scheming leader for purposes of their mutual personal advancement. The very nature of a faction prevents its thinking of the public good. It never Is devoted to any principle or policy. It considers only the personal Interests of its leaders and its members. But the personal interest or career of any man amounts to nothing from the viewpoint of the public good. The only thing the people care for so far as any public man is concerned is whether he is the best public servant they can get to do their work. So we see that the man who tries to create a faction within a party is a traitor to the party. Every party should extend the hand of peace to all men excepting only the man who tries to build np a faction within it; and that man •very party should strike, for it is hither that man’s life or the party’s life, since a faction within a party means death to the party.

Welfare of the People Everything. I say all parties as well as our own because I want other parties to be clean and vigorous. I care little for a victory won by my own party because other parties are weak; I care much for the victory of my own party because It is stronger and better than other parties which also are strong and good. After all, the welfare of any party, as such, is nothing; the welfare of the people Is everything. And the people will be better served If the op position Is strong, pure and high purposed; for which such opposition hespan nature forope us to be still purer, abler and higher purposed than our opponents. Thus the nation mounts

•ver upward to a more righteous prosperity a broader liberty and a fairer life. Thus are the people freed from old abuses, saved” from new evils, protected from new dangers. One instrument for organizing factions and building machines is the distribution of patronage for those purposes instead of for the purpose of the public service. I have quoted the Bible that “the old order changeth, giving place to that which is new.” We see this in every great .law in our history; and it is Immediately before us in every one of the historic reforms of the decade now closing. We created the department of commerce and labor, enlarged the powers of the Interstate Commerce Commission, reorganized the ancient methods which made our army obsolete, applied the civil service to nearly all government employes, and are reforming our consular serivce—every one of these acts and many others illustrate the divine, law that “the' old order changeth, giv jg place to that which is new.” That part of the spoils system which still remains must, in its turn and in the ripeness of time, also give way to a simpler and juster method which will better serve the people. I Intend to fight for such a law that this needed change. Of course, such a:law cannot be passed next year, or the year after, for nearly every great reform moves slowly; but while the present system exists, I mean to use It in the spirit of that new day which is dawning. Public Service Determining Factor in Appointments. Appointments to all offices will be made from the viewpoint of public service. No machine will be builded or tolerated. So far as I am concerned, every man appointed to office through my recommendation will be absolutely free in his political action. He may" support any man he chooses for nomination to any office uninfluenced by me and unbossed by any man. I speak of the political action of the officeholder because I do not think that when a man becomes an officeholder he ceases to be a citizen. He should be as much Interested in his party’s nominations as any other citizen. Nor should party service not be considered—if two men are equally good the one who serves his party most worthily should be preferred. The man who turns his back on friends will turn his back on principles; but a public man’s first duty is to the people, and when he uses patronage to pay personal obligations by appointing unfit men, he betrays his. trust Tariff Revision. What, now, of the things we stand for? First of all, we stand for tariff revision. That will be accomplished within the next four months. It will be a better tariff than ever we have had. It will not satisfy everyone, for no human work ever has accomplished that. The Opposition will attack that tariff in the next campaign, because there is nothing else for the Opplsition to do. But the people will not permit that tariff to be overthrown, because they know that the Opposition could not give as good a tariff to take the place of ours; and because to decree another revision right on top of it would mean disaster to the whole country. It is hard enough to have a tariff upheaval every ten years, and no country could stand one every two years. Also they will know that the Opposition’s attack upon the tariff will not be sincere, because the Opposition Itself will help to make that tariff. I say this deliberately, carefully weighing my words. If the tariff is not reduced, or indeed, if it is retained on some articles, it will be because Opposition senators and congressmen demand it. No mat ter what apparent fight they make .’or political effect against the new tariff bill, Opposition congressmen and Senators will personally ask the ways and means committee of the house and the finance committee of the senate to retain a tariff on hides produced in Texas; on lumber, produced In Mississippi and other southern states; on sugar, produced In Louisiana—on every product In every state represented by Oppoeltlon senators and congressmen. Opposition senators will have the absolute power to prevent any bill passing that keeps a tariff on lumber, hides, wool, sugar—but I say that they will wage only a sham battle against duties on these articles, If, Indeed, they wage that; and that they will take practical measures to see that protective duties are retained on tmngs produced in their own states, of which the above are Illustrations. I •ay now that the only real fight for a reduction of duties on steel, hides, lumber, wool and sugar will be made by Republican senators. So the Opposition will go into the next campaign attacking the tariff purely for campaign purposes, when they have themselves helped to make the very tariff they attack. For. this and for the additional reason than another immediate revision would upset all business conditions, the Opposition will be helpless upon the issue of the tariff in next year's campaign. Maximum and Minimum Tariff.

But we will not only make a new tariff which shall be more accurate, just and fair than any we ever have had; we will inaugurate the tariff policy of the Modern world—but entirely now *o us. I mean that we will enact a maximum and minimum tariff, such as has worked so well in Germany, France, Italy, Japan and almost every other modern nation, and which Great Britain herself is on the eve of adopting. A maximum and minimum tariff means merely this: one general tariff, honestly protective of American industries, which we will grant to any nation that will grant us its lowest

tariff; and another, much higher, which we will apply to any nation that will not grant us its lowest tariff Any nation which will open its markets to cur producers may pay our minimum tariff rates, and'any nation that will not open its markets to our producers must pay our maximum tariff rates. I opened the fight for the maximum and minimum tariff two years ago; it is now in sight, and the work will go on until it is accomplished. We mean to have tariff peace with all the world, and we offer our minimum tariff to secure that peace; we mean to have tariff peace with all the world, and we have our maximum tariff in reserve to compel that peace. We know that our own markets will be congested and the growth of our producing interests checked unless we have an outlet in foreign markets; and both common sense and the experience of our rivals show us that a maximum and minimum tariff is the best way to get foreign trade. The simplest mind can see this at a glance, and every student knows it to be a scientific and historic fact; yet the Opposition opposes a maximum and minimum tariff. They do this because oi the obsolete and foolish political tactics of opposing everything that the party in power proposes; and also because they decline to this great question. The Opposition are still making the old-time tariff argument* which they made a generation ago; and yet in the last generation the world has made greater progress In fiscal and economic questions than in any two centuries of its history. Expert Tariff Commission Necessary. Nor is this all. We intend J:o provide a body of experts to study prices, trade, foreign tariffs and all economic conditions at home and abroad, so that hereafter congress may have all the facts upon this question. Our tariff covers such a multitude of subjects, American business is so great and varied, that ccngress can no longer do the preparatory work of finding out the facts and making the classifications. Congress never could do this work well, and the time has come when the subject is so vast that it cannot do it at all. A board of experts will be perform these labors which congress cannot perform. Thus congress will be free to do its legitimate work of fixing the duties according to the facts these experts find out for congress and fixing them according to classifications these experts arrange for congress. What this board of experts is named is absolutely immaterial. When I began this fight one year ago I said that I was not wedded to my own bill or to any other bill, but that I was determilled upon the principle. At that time it seemed hopeless to get any law of any kind providing for these experts. Yet so rapidly did public opinion around the idea that before the close of the last session the senate directed the finance committee to employ department clerks to aid in the work of our present revision; and so vigorously has public opinion become since then Chat it is now probable that a permanent board of expe'ts will be prvided for in the new tariff bill. If it is, it will be the speediest triumph of a great principle ever achieved in our history, excepting only the vital principle Involved in the meat inspection bill, which is the furthest advance in federal power the republic has made since the constitution was adopted. But whether we succeed at the special session or later, a board of tariff experts is inevitable. Yet to this plain, businesslike reform—indeed, we may call it business necessity—the Opposition is opposed, although it is demanded by every great producing interest throughout the whole republic—by stock raisers and manufacturers, by farmers and merchants. These great producing forces have formally petitioned congress not once, but many times, to provide this Indispensable reform. Great associations like the National Grange, the Farmers’ Congress, the National Stock Raisers’ association, the National Manufacturers’ association and boards of commerce from ocean to ocean are agitating this question through their publications, their lecturers and speakers, and through their daily correspondence. So once more we see the old tale again told of the Republican party leading the nation's advance and the Opposition resisting it Injunctions. Next, we propose to modify the power ui uie ivuerai courts in issuing Injunctions, so that no citizen beneath tbe flag can feel that courts have been oppressive, and yet that the property of no citizen shall bo tn danger. Ev-ery-man must have his day in court and must be heard speedily. This government exists for all the people, and not for classes of people; and those who say that there should be no limit on Injunctions, as well as those who say that Injunctions should be de-* stroyed, are equally wrong. We cannot make laws for the exclusive benefit of any class, state or section; we must make them for the good of all. Sherman Law Obsolete. Very soon the Sherman law must be recast. In Its present form it no longer fits conditions. Purely economic laws like tbe Sherman law must change as economic conditions change. That law is nearly a quarter of a century old In years and more than a century old hi spirit It was enacted when the country’s commerce was small compared with that of today; when methods of producing and distributing the necessities ot scores of millions of people had not developed as they have now. And so it is that the Sherman law cannot now prevent

abuses which these cnanges have created, while preventing benefits to the people which those changes have produced. i Methods of Nominating Candidates. The other elementary question immediately before us is the method of nominating candidates. This is not work for the nation’s legislature; but as it affects the election of congressmen and senators, it is a national subject and therefore I speak of it? Until recent years, all candidates were nominated by conventions; but in jother states than Indiana this frequently re 'suited disastrously for the people. Here and there the convention system developed into the boss system; and candidates of both' parties became the creatures of bosses of both parties, and, when elected, the servants of bossas instead of servants of the people. The selection of senators by legislatures often resulted in corrupt scandals. In somfe cases, senatorships were bought openly; in others, candidates for the legislature were nominated by the money of senatorial candidates spent secretly. In still other cases, professional master bosses were pent to the senate and kept there by the interests they served. .« So self-protection forced the people to take the nomination of party candidates into their own hands. This is essentially right. If the people elect candidates, why should not the people nominate candidates? If senators represent the people, why should not the people tell their legislatures whom they want elected? Importance of Thorough Primary Law. I favor a primary" law by which the people at the ballot box will nominate every officer from constable to congressman and senator, and also nominate the state committee and state chairman. It is the people’s offices which all these candidates must fill if they are elected; it is the party’s campaign which party committees must conduct. Therefore the people composing the party should name the men who conduct the party’s campaign and nominate the men to elect whom the party’s campaign is being waged. ) But it is far better to have no primary law whatever than a half way primary law. That law is a fraud which permits a party committee which is itself not named by the people to direct a primary here or yonder or not at all. A primary law which directs primaries in cities and denies them in the country is an injustice to both. This is one of the extremely few cases admitting of no compromise, because it is a question of fundamental principle of government. Indiana should enact a most thorough and well-guarded primary law, or else it should wipe from its statute books the fragmentary, grotesque anu unjust primary laws which now deface our statute books. Anything short of a thorough-going reform is merely a shield and an excuse for manipulators and bosses. If we have a thorough primary law the whole question is in the hands of the people, and the people themselves are responsible for their action; if we have no primary law at all, bosses and manipulators are alone responsible for unwise or evil action, and in the course of time the people can and will bring them to account. Republicanism Means Victory. The Republican party is the party of young men because it means progress; the party of'all men because it means the Nation. United not by distributing offices among contending factions but by that force which alone can bind them together steadily and worthily—a common devotion to common Ideals; not by the pirate’s lust to capture spoils but by the patriot’s passion to serve his country, we are aligning our- r selves anew for battle and even now are ready for the engagement to begin. With no discord in our ranks, strengthened by perfect confidence in one another, we will achieve victory because we will deserve victory.